To Mai Surprise
Disclaimer: I do not own The Nine Lives of Chloe King, nor do I profit from any of my stories.
Chapter 5
We ran through alleys and across rooftops, finally making it back to the apartment. Jasmine immediately got on the phone with Aunt Val; Mimi went into the kitchen to talk to her father. I quietly lead Alek into the office, saying, "the radio transcriptions are right in here. They're already decoded for the most part."
While I rummaged through the files on Valentina's desk, Alek studied the paintings on the walls.
"Aunt Val collects artifacts. Most of the stuff here relates to the Mai. The rest of the antiques she collects are at the store. She uses the antiquity collecting as a cover mostly, but she does profit from it. The San Francisco Mai are doing pretty well, but Valentina has her own business." I hand him a card on the table.
"'Valentina Bayar's Precious Antiques,'" he reads aloud. "Isn't that near the vintage clothing shop on 8th? The one you always get coffee at?"
I looked up. "How do you know where I get coffee?" I questioned.
He blushed, saying "I may have seen you there once or twice…" Was he embarrassed? I sent him a questioning look.
Alek shrugged. "I don't think I've been in the antique shop, or the clothing shop for that matter. But I do enjoy a good coffee on occasion…"
I laughed, "Are you trying to ask me out?"
Alek raised an eyebrow. "Why? Did you want me to? Can't resist me? Not that I blame you." He smirked and walked over towards the glass display case on the windowsill.
"Hey! Don't touch that!" I yelled. "Those are Valentina's, she will kill you if you mess with her stuff." I walked over towards Alek.
"What are they?" he asked, motioning to the weapons in front of us.
"They are ancient daggers. The one on the left is said to be the Uniter's. The prophecy engraved on the hilt is one of many, all written over two thousand years ago."
Alek pointed at the dagger on the right. "Is that blood? The other one is perfectly clean. Why is this one all…" he shrugged, "gross?"
With a sigh, I answered his question. "The one on the right is cursed by The Order. It will corrupt the soul of any person who lays a hand on the dagger." I turned around. "No one is willing to risk cleaning the blood off…"
"I see." Alek fell into step next to me. "Chloe, what's wrong?" he asked.
"The blood… It's… well…" I struggled to keep my voice steady. Setting down the files I had been holding, I reached into another folder. I pulled out an article that had been ripped out of a newspaper. The words were in Russian, but there was a black-and-white photograph that clearly showed the dagger in question.
Alek took the paper from me. He probably couldn't read Russian, so I told him what it was about. "This dagger was used in the murder of twelve people. Four murders were committed in Russia, the rest in Ukraine." I sighed. "The last two of the murders were in Yalta. I was seven years old."
A flash of recognition passed through his eyes. "Your parents?" I nodded. "Oh Chloe, I'm so sorry! How did you survive?"
"I was hiding. When they came for us, my mother locked me in the cellar and called Aunt Valentina. I had been down there for two hours when Aunt Val showed up. But by then it was too late." Shaking my head, I tried to clear away the feeling of despair. "Anyway…"
There was a sharp knock on the door before Jasmine entered. "We have to leave. Mom wants us to meet her in LA." She turned to look at Alek. "Mr. Vacinni will take you home. I'm sorry, but you two can continue talking tomorrow." I followed her out the door, quickly stopping by my room to grab my overnight bag.
The remainder of my evening consisted of a quiet car ride home, a brief recap of my game for Mum's benefit, and a restless night's sleep. The Mai were invading my thoughts. Was it even physically possible? What should I tell Mum? If I started acting weird all of a sudden, she was bound to be suspicious.
When I finally fell asleep, my dreams were haunted by the blond angel with blue cat eyes. Chloe King. Chloe Diane King, to be specific. My dream could have been sexual, no. A sexy dream about Chloe would be much better. Embarrassing? Of course. But no. I dreamed of battle, of Chloe risking her life to save me.
I woke up in a cold sweat. The clock read "6:23" so I thought I might as well get out of bed. Mum was already off to work by the time I made it downstairs, but she left a note telling me that she would be home early tomorrow to make dinner. Though Mum's cooking was nothing to brag about, I enjoyed hating our weekly family dinners. The mandatory dinners were a welcome annoyance; they made me feel... normal. I'm sure if I had grown up with a regular family, I would be irritated to the extreme.
A car horn honked from the driveway. Ty was here to pick me up. I didn't have my license, much less a car, so the guys always made fun of me.
I felt like a zombie as walked the halls at school. Everything had changed, but everything was really still the same. Whether it was my new powers kicking in, or if it was just all in my head, I felt different. Walking past groups of people in the halls, I picked up not bits and pieces of conversation but a sea of voices surrounding me. I was fine during my first two classes because I didn't talk to anyone in math or science. My English class, on the other hand, had become an explosion of sound. The teacher barely noticed me make my escape; she was focused on getting the classes attention. I made my way to the nurse's office. Maybe if I lie down and sleep, my headache will go away...
When the bell rang, I woke up. The commotion in the halls signaled lunch. I got up, shut out all the noise of the students, and walked towards the cafeteria. Looking around, I didn't see Chloe. I didn't see Jasmine either... About to leave, I spotted Chloe's friends, the two weird ones. They whispered about me as I walked up to them. The girl, Amy, looked at me as I approached.
"Do either of you know where Chloe is? Or Jasmine?" I asked, trying to sound casual.
"Maybe, why?" said the guy suspiciously. His name is Paul, I think.
"No reason, just wondering..." I replied. Oh, so now these two hate me to? I turned to go.
"Hey, wait!" said a voice behind me, Amy sounded pissed. I turned around, just in time to feel her hand rest threateningly on my neck. "If you mess with Chloe, you'll regret it. She has been hurt too many times already." Suddenly, the bell rang. With a glare, Amy grabbed Paul's hand and stomped off. With a sigh, I took off to my next class. More than anything, I wanted to go back to the way things were a week ago. No worries, no problems, no crazy cat-girls... or their friends...
When I got home after school, Mum was already cooking dinner. Not wanting to have to endure anything burnt, I offered to help. Over the years, I have learned to fend for myself, so I could cook pretty well. Better than Mum could, that's for sure. Cooking with her was always fun. In the past, I felt like I could talk to her about anything.
I could come to her with questions about girls, sex, school, etc. She noticed right away that I had something weighing me down. Deciding that I wasn't ready to talk about the Mai yet, I opted for a different explanation. "Well, there's this girl..." I said, as her eyes lit up.
"Oh Alek! You know my opinion on your taste in girlfriends..." She started, but I interrupted her.
"No Mum, she's not like any of them. We're not even dating." I sighed.
"Are you going to ask her?" Mum asked, curiosity getting the better of her.
"I don't know. Chloe has rejected every guy who asked her out in the past. And—"
"Alek! Is this about Chloe? Chloe King? I knew it! I knew you weren't over her!" Mum laughed, then reverted back to questioning. "I thought she refused to talk to you? So, what happened? Why her?" She turned from the stove to look at me. "After all this time... you're still in love with her!"
I only shrugged, no sense in lying. "Yeah, I think so," I sheepishly replied, mentally preparing myself for further interrogation.
Mum and I talked for an hour, then she went to bed while I did the dishes. Tomorrow was a Friday. Might as well get ready for bed as well. I went upstairs, took off my shoes and jacket, and was about to go shower when I heard a noise outside my window.
Sitting on the open window sill, I saw a small shadow on the roof. I quickly stood up, but was conflicted. Should I run inside, or investigate? The question was answered for me when the shadow disappeared.
The figure reappeared, this time a foot away from me.
I looked up, only to meet the eyes that had haunted me for the past 24 hours. "Chloe?" I asked, though I knew it was her.
She looked up, meeting my eyes. "Alek, we need to talk."
Hey everyone! I really didn't want to post this chapter because I didn't get very many reviews. I'm a very spiteful person, you see.
If I don't get enough reviews, I won't publish Chapter 6. Yes, I will write it. But if I don't have enough reviews, I just won't post it.
I know there are people reading my work, I get emails all the time saying that people are following me. That is awesome and all, but I really like reviews. They make me happy. Trust me, you all would prefer that I be happy.
Much love and appreciation,
Crimson Crow