-1Night's Children: Acteus Reus
AN: Super duper long chapter ahead! If it's too long, review or message me and I'll cut it in half.
EDIT I've split this chapter in half since it got a little lengthy, both parts were uploaded at the same time so enjoy!
Chapter Five: On the Fritz
Imy inhaled deeply as she felt the sun shining on her face, the smell of ocean in the air and warm sand underneath her as she sprawled out lazily on the beach. Out in the distance, she could hear the frustrated curses of Aria as she attempted to stand straight on the surfboard, Carlos egging her on to the side where he was instructing her.
To her right, Riley was quietly reading a book for her Literature class, covered head to toe in clothing despite the warm weather and the fact that everyone else was wearing swimsuits.
The girls had taken a few hours before they were set to go hunt Followers to spend at the beach, since Carlos was adamant about teaching Aria how to surf. After okaying the battle plan, skimpy as it was, by Jimena, the Daughters of the Moon realized they had almost a full afternoon of free time and were using it to its fullest advantage. Aria and Carlos were surfing- dismally trying, in Aria's case, Tessa actually went ahead with her scheduled piano lesson with Twiggy- something which received no small amount of snickers from the teleporter, and Imy was soaking up rays. Riley, who had initially refused going with due to a mountain load of homework from her advanced classes, had been forcefully dragged along, textbook in hand.
Jimena had only allowed the girls to bail out of training because she had scheduled a job interview, but they decided any break was still a blessing. Art was going to be joining them at the club, as he and Zahi were spending the afternoon posting flyers to advertise the open spot in their band.
Imy exhaled through her nostrils while bringing down her sunglasses from the top of her head. It seemed lately that she and Art hadn't been able to spend enough time together simply as girlfriend and boyfriend. Sure, they saw each other at school, battled evil together, and she was going to temporarily be singing in their group, but it didn't seem to compensate for the fact that their last real date had been when they had first started going out, before Imy had even known about Art's servus past.
Of course, after she had found out about said past, she had broken up with him, but that was besides the point.
After awhile, she just started to get sick of that whole destiny thing. She was sure they all were, but for entirely different reasons. Unlike the other Daughters, Imy had complete control over her power and enjoyed using it. Riley acted like hers was a curse, Aria held a similar attitude even after discovering her greater role as a Daughter of Eileithyia, and Tessa's manipulation powers weren't even near manageable. Imy loved the ability to teleport, it'd saved her life and had covered her ass far too many times to count. She didn't think she'd be able to part with it, when the time for her seventeenth birthday approached.
Imy winced, her sixteenth birthday, the halfway marker, was quickly arriving- in April. As it was now March, she only had a few weeks left of being fifteen, before she would be the first one out of the current generation of goddesses to turn sixteen. She would also be the first one to turn seventeen, the first one to make the ultimate decision awaiting them all. It was a heavy burden.
Her mouth suddenly acquired a bitter taste, she only had a year left of being a Daughter of the Moon, and she wasn't sure she was ready to say goodbye to the lifestyle yet. She had met Art, Tessa, Aria, Carlos, and Zahi through being a goddess, had discovered her parents' secret life. If she chose to forget, it would be like having to start completely over.
Her inner musing was violently interrupted as something came hurtling towards the sand near her head. Startled, she had almost teleported out of instinct, but her mind reigned in the reaction and she settled for a startled, "Shit!"
Her heart rate noticeably slowed down when she discovered that it was just a football, and she hesitantly picked it up, her eyes darting towards its source. "Oh no," She mumbled.
Slowly jogging up to her was none other than a shirtless Ian Saratoga, and Imy's stare glanced towards the couple in the water, Aria being readjusted on the surfboard for about the hundredth time by Carlos's careful hands.
"Can you toss it-" His voice fell as his eyes widened in recognition, "Hey Imy." He said, "Small world, huh?"
Imy felt the words stammering on the tip of her pierced tongue, "Uh huh," She muttered intelligibly, "Here," She said carefully throwing the ball at Ian.
He caught it easily, "Hi Riley," He said, just noticing the girl hidden in the shade.
Riley, who had not looked up from her book throughout the entire exchange, merely gave a half wave, a distracted appearance on her face.
"You guys were great last night," Ian complimented, a fellow musician himself.
Imy smiled, but it twitched on one side nervously as she prayed he would leave before seeing the two together, "Thanks, we're playing there again tonight."
He rose an eyebrow, "I thought you were booked at Planet Bang?"
Imy rolled her eyes, "We got stuck filling in for my boyfriend's dead-beat band." She said with humor.
Ian shifted slightly. While the blond had once held a rather large crush on Imy, it had seemed that he had moved on after he began getting closer to Aria. Unfortunately, Aria found Carlos and Imy couldn't help but feel the well of sympathy that emerged for the poor kid. Ian was a really nice guy, and he deserved someone who would care for him.
Which was why Imy was trying desperately to skirt him along, so he wouldn't see the new happy couple, "We'll see you tonight, then?"
Ian shook his head, "I've actually got plans," His face softened as he prepared to go back to his friends a few meters away, "Listen, Imy, what do you know about Carlos?"
Her mouth dropped open, before she remembered common sense, "Carlos is kind of a bone head, but he's genuine."
A sad smile graced his features, "If Aria wants to see another guy, that's fine. I just want to make sure she doesn't end up with some asshole."
"He's not an asshole," Riley said, licking her thumb and flipping a page, her words quiet as she continued to speed-read.
Ian nodded, and cleared his throat awkwardly, "Well, I'll see you at school then." He said goodbye uncomfortably, turning around and heading the way he came.
Imy exhaled and slumped against her towel, "That was close."
"He's lying."
Imy's eyes widened and she rolled over to face her friend, "What?"
"Ian, he's lying," Riley repeated, before clarifying, "About being fine with Aria and Carlos."
Imy sighed, "I can't blame him- besides, it's not really our business anyway."
Another page was turned, "True."
Imy stretched languidly, pulling her arms up over her head, "This will sound weird, but I almost want to be the one to go fight Followers tonight instead of Tessa and Aria."
"Why?"
"I've been feeling really bottled up lately," Imy admitted, "I can't repress the urge to use my power, and training with Jimena just isn't cutting it. Besides, going against a few lackeys of the Atrox would blow off some rage certain people have been causing me."
"This is going to be about Tatum, isn't it?" Muttered Riley as she scribbled something on a page.
"How'd you know?" Imy commented dryly.
"Just the radiating urge to kill that's been hanging around you lately," Riley replied, before stating, "You shouldn't let her affect you this way. It's distorting your rationality."
She huffed, "Well excuse me, Ms. Empathy."
Riley didn't even look up, but arched an eyebrow at the title.
"She just rubs me the wrong way," Imy said, "And I would stop hating her if she would just quit trying to get on my bad side."
"How is she going about with that?"
"Moving here-"
"That's hardly her fault."
"-Making me seem immature in front of my parents-"
"You were standing on a chair and yelling at the top of your lungs."
"-hitting on Art-"
"She didn't know you were dating Art. Probably still doesn't." Riley reasoned.
Imy groaned, rubbing her forehead with her fingertips, "I know what you're saying makes sense, but it's just…this gut feeling, I guess. She's up to something."
Riley shrugged, "I haven't gotten any feelings of deceit off of her." She paused, contemplative, "I haven't gotten anything from her, actually."
Imy, interest perked, sat up halfway, "You mentioned that at our house, what do you mean?"
Riley pursed her lips thoughtfully, "Normally, I can pick up emotions around people whether I like it or not. Tatum didn't have any emotions to receive."
"So she's not human," Imy deducted, before saying under her breath, "Called that one."
Riley shook her head, "Not necessarily. Some types of people are harder to read than others. More experienced Followers, for instance-"
"You think she's a Follower?"
"-or good actors." Riley continued, "Repressing emotion is uncommon in normal people, but it isn't impossible. I wouldn't read much into it."
"But there's a possibility," Imy pried.
Riley exhaled, "A small one, but there's been other people I haven't been able to read easily."
"Who?" She queried.
"Officer Jacobson, your mom sometimes…" She tensed, "Trysten. Before he…you know."
Imy fell silent, processing this. Noting that her friend had once again fallen into a more withdrawn phase, she sighed deciding to drop the issue for now, "I suppose she would have had to been a Follower for a long time to be able to guard herself from you."
Riley nodded, "The only one I've come across that can do it is Tymmie, and there's no way Tatum would be near his skill level."
"You have a point, but I still don't trust her." Imy said carefully.
"I wouldn't expect you to," Riley agreed, "You've been fighting since before I met you."
Imy's gaze trailed to the ocean, watching as Aria finally rode her first wave, "Should we tell the others?"
"About what?"
"About Tatum's 'repressed emotions'?"
There was a stretched period of silence, before, "No. Let them enjoy themselves for once."
OoO
Tessa waved goodbye as Twiggy's van pulled away from her apartment building, turning around and entering the stairwell almost immediately. As she climbed the stairs and fidgeted in her purse for a pair of keys, she mused absently that Twiggy wasn't nearly as bad as the other girls made him out to be. He wasn't patient, that was a given by how he would growl whenever she missed a key, and there was a faint reek about him, but he wasn't a horrible person, per se. Just kind of quiet, and he fidgeted a lot while she was there, which she thought was rather odd.
Gingerly, she unlocked the door to the apartment she shared with her older brother, and wasn't surprised to see aforementioned brother there. He was sitting on a couch, facing a television that he had obviously just turned on, as he pretended that he was vegging out as opposed to waiting anxiously for his sister to come home.
"Hi, Ez," She greeted, setting her purse down.
The Lockland's residence wasn't shabby, by any means, but nor was it the most luxurious of places. There were the bare necessities, as money ran a little tight seeing as Ezra was working his way through college and their father's child support money was practically nonexistent. It didn't help that their deceased mother hadn't taken out a life insurance plan, and Ezra was still paying off funeral expenses five years later. Tessa's raids for drug money once upon a time hadn't assisted matters either, and she honestly felt guilty. Especially when she looked at her older brother.
Ezra was older far beyond his years, having had to take care of his kid sister throughout his entire life. Their parents weren't exactly attentive, between their dad's numerous affairs and their mother's drug excursions. Yet Ezra had come out of the entire hell that was their childhood relatively unscathed, save the tedious worrying and overprotective streak. At any rate, the neurotic qualities were a far cry better than Tessa's methods of coping, which had included mimicking her mother's destructive behavior.
Until recently, of course.
"How was your date?" Ezra asked in a false nonchalant tone, as he flipped the channels on the television that he obviously wasn't watching.
"It wasn't a date," Corrected Tessa quickly.
Ezra exhaled, "OhthankGod," He said rapidly, before continuing, "Tess, that guy seemed like a bad influence-"
"He's fine," Tessa cut him off as she turned towards her room, "Smelly, but fine."
Her older brother, giving up on the charade, turned off the television, "So what exactly are you doing tonight?"
Tessa grit her teeth, but tried to mentally remind herself that she deserved the overbearingly inquisitive reactions from her brother due to her past mistakes, "Going out to Planet Bang with Aria and Carlos."
"Is Carlos the cult member?" Ezra demanded.
Tessa blinked, "What?"
"…Never mind." Ezra mumbled under his breath, "For how long?"
"A few hours, I'll probably be home around one or two," She said, shrugging as her hand closed around the door knob for her room, "They're coming over here first though, if that's okay?"
Ezra cleared his throat, "Of course, I like meeting your friends."
Tessa snorted, "That's a lie if I ever heard one."
He shifted awkwardly on his feet, "Well, if they're nice, honor student friends instead of the filthy, detriment to society, stoners you usually bring home, I'd have no problem meeting your school mates-"
Just because she honestly couldn't help herself, she ribbed her brother a little more, "Oh, they don't go to school any more. Aria's really a prostitute and Carlos deals heroin."
"Why do you do this to me? Am I a bad brother? Did I break one of your favorite toys as a child resulting in some sort of bottled up aggression and resentment towards me?" Ezra was a psychology major. "Are you acting out? Is this a call for help?"
The blonde Daughter laughed at his antics, knowing that he was doing this on purpose now. It was a sort of game that they played, getting under each others' skin. Of course, it was an irrevocably insane game, but just a game nonetheless.
"It'll be fine, Ez. I've been clean for a month now," Tessa said easily.
"That's not the point. You're a young woman, Tessa, and with that there are certain dangers and precautions you need to take-"
Tessa went a little green, "Please don't tell me you're going to go into a 'birds and the bees' speech."
Ezra straightened his glasses rather professionally, "It's a perfectly natural thing…except for you. You aren't allowed to have sex. Ever."
Tessa, now thoroughly grossed out, went to her room and slammed the door shut. Ezra, nodding to himself for a job well-done, retreated back to the couch, where he turned on the television for real this time.
The illusionist sighed thoughtfully as she flung herself on the single bed in her room, her eyes staring at the cracked ceiling above her. Since she was a few inches longer than the mattress, her now bare feet hung languidly over the edge. Her mind tried to prep itself for the night ahead, and Tessa grimaced when she thought about using her powers.
She hadn't been entirely truthful when she had told Jimena or the other Daughters that she was getting a stronger control over her powers- in fact, it was beginning to go worse for her. There were a few instances where everything operated smoothly, such as last night at The RockOut, but for the most part her capabilities were sporadic and out of control. The only time they worked smoothly, with no resistance, was when…
Another disgruntled sigh escaped her lips. The only time her illusions worked perfectly was when she was under the influence of hallucinogens.
It had been a complete accident, well maybe not complete, when she had discovered the process. It was a little over a month ago, and she had been craving just a small fix at Planet Bang one night, something to ease her through the recovery stage instead of going completely cold turkey. A few hours and two blotting papers of acid later, she was on cloud nine. The amount of LSD she had consumed wasn't enough to make her entirely incoherent, so she was able to register that the weird, trippy gold substance that was hanging in the air was much easier to move than when she was sober.
It disgusted her slightly now, and the guilt was beginning to overpower her. Not only had she promised her fellow Daughters- her friends, that she would get clean of her unfortunate addiction to club drugs, but she had promised herself. And she was failing miserably, caught in a terrible predicament. On the one hand, she could continue to screw up as a Daughter, but on the other she would screw up as a teenager.
Neither option seemed very appealing, especially now that she saw first-hand how her actions effected other people, namely Ezra. She bit the inside of her cheek, her brother had sacrificed a lot to keep her out of foster homes, but the Daughters had to sacrifice more in order to preserve hope.
For now, she would focus more on training and getting things under her control, without the aid of mind-altering substances. But if that failed, and she, Imy, Riley, or Aria were in a life or death situation…
Well, odds were she'd owe Ezra one big, fat apology.
Somewhat resolved, Tessa stood up and started to rifle through the clothes in her closet, trying to find something suitable to wear while kicking immortal Followers' asses.
OoO
Two hours later found one Carlos Killingsworth and one Aria Anderson-Moore sitting very uncomfortably across from Tessa's pit bull of a brother. The pair wore clothes a little nicer compared to their attire from the last night, as the crowd at Planet Bang seemed to dress up more for partying and the last thing they wanted to do was draw attention to themselves. Carlos wore an old fatigue shirt that was unbuttoned all the way to reveal a tighter tank top Aria had picked out for him with some ripped jeans. While not all together dressy, it was a load better than his standard swim trunks and ratty white shirt. Aria had dressed chicly, wearing a short, light blue, tunic-styled dress with gold jewelry. Its low cut in the front revealed her moon amulet, which was passively glowing its normal milky color.
Ezra stared at the two teens, unblinking, as he drummed his fingertips along the sides of his crossed arms.
"Does he do drugs?" He demanded, his nerdy outward appearance quickly discarded with the dangerous tone of his voice. Ezra knew Aria well enough, but the glare he kept directing at the surfer bum clearly implied he wasn't taking any chances.
Aria clamped a hand over her boyfriend's mouth, knowing that he was about to blurt out some asinine comment, "Nope." She said quickly, while Carlos's mouth turned downwards into a frown under her palm.
"And how do you know Tessa, exactly?" The interrogation continued, stare pinpointing on Carlos.
"Chill, man, I'm just tagging along," Carlos said easily, having pried himself away from his girl's silencing hand.
"Where's Tessa?" Aria interrupted, hoping the way out would come soon.
"Getting ready," He said, "I want you all to be home by one at the latest." He instructed, and Aria suppressed the chuckle at how fatherly he sounded.
Carlos had a rather worried look on his face, "Why?"
Ezra matched the worried look with one of his own, "Why do you need to know why? In fact, should I know why you need to know why?"
Carlos scratched his head and sent a puzzled look at his girlfriend, "Did that make any sense?"
Aria shook her head slowly, "I don't think so."
"Okay, I'm ready!" Came Tessa, as she stomped out of the bathroom, "Let's go."
While all the Daughters of the Moon were beautiful in their own ways, Tessa was easily the most attractive of the four. Her hair, golden in color, had been groomed meticulously and fell in waves to the middle of her back. Big blue eyes were lightly shadowed with a golden glitter, naturally her signature color, and her outfit- a slinky red dress with a rather provocative slit up the thigh- highlighted her curves perfectly
"Change. Now." Ezra demanded, crossing his arms over his chest again.
Tessa smirked, "Why?"
"Because it's…it's…" Ezra struggled to come up with a word that didn't seem improper, "Improper!" There, that did it.
The blonde paused contemplatively, "Well, I still have that tube top and a micro skirt, but I haven't worn them since last year so they may be a little tight-"
"Put a sweater on," He compromised immediately, shuddering when he thought of his sister's wardrobe.
"Fine," She said, grabbing a cardigan that she had no intention of wearing for the rest of the night, and pulled it on to appease her sibling, "Happy?"
"Are you planning on becoming a nun anytime soon?"
"Not likely."
"Then no, I'm not happy," Ezra muttered.
Tessa exhaled and turned to her friends who seemed to be enjoying the show, "Can we please get out of here?"
Carlos was already halfway out the door, Aria going after him. Tessa smiled goodbye to her brother before taking off after them to Jimena's car.
"I want you all home on time!" Ezra yelled after them, "Or so help me, I will call your parents!"