Night's Children: Acteus Reus
AN: Awk. Ward.
Chapter Nine: Lunch Hunch
Imy didn't know whether to be relieved or suspicious when Tatum didn't appear at school the next Monday. Based upon the odd occurrences that had been happening lately, any action that was just slightly out of the ordinary was met with intense scrutiny, and Imy knew none of the Daughters of the Moon could afford to take any chances.
Imy wasn't sure how she felt about Riley and Tessa's claims that a Cinti was coming after one of the Daughters. It seemed a little sketchy, especially since Tessa and Riley both seemed rather abashed when they were asked who their sources were by Jimena. Imy outright snorted when she heard that it was Tymmie, the same bastard who had attacked her and Art, who gave the warning, as well as his underling. It didn't add up, and Imy knew better than to trust a Follower, Riley and Tessa should as well.
But then, after what she had experienced Saturday night, she wasn't sure what to believe.
Imy had lost hours of sleep, tossing and turning in her bed, as her mind mulled over who her mysterious savoir had been. Imy was sure she had never seen the girl before in her life, nor had she ever encountered a power like the one she dealt. It didn't make sense, almost everything about the girl screamed Follower, yet she had saved Imy and Art, going after Tymmie instead. If she was the supposed Cinti, then would have been the perfect time to strike, since destroying one Daughter of the Moon severely weakened the others, regardless of who the Cinti's primary target was.
It didn't make sense.
Imy found herself oddly hesitant to share her story with the other Daughters, Carlos, and Jimena when they had met back up at the apartment, settling instead for a half-truth. Judging by the nervous looks in Tessa and Riley's eyes, they had been telling half-truths as well so there was nothing stopping Imy from jumping on the deceit bandwagon. She said Tymmie had gotten afraid of something- which already wasn't honest as Tymmie didn't appear to be actually frightened of the girl, merely wary- and had disappeared. Since Art was unconscious at the time, he couldn't remember enough to contradict her.
So here she was, sitting impatiently at her desk, as she eyed Tatum's empty seat and seethed in anger because The Spawn wasn't around to give a no-felt apology to.
That's right, Imy had finally caved. Between her father's lectures and her mother's passive-aggressive guilt trips, she decided that swallowing her pride enough to apologize to the bitch who had trashed her band's equipment was better than being grounded indefinitely. But only marginally.
And now, said bitch wasn't even at school to fake-apologize to. Typical.
Imy exhaled angrily and chipped away at the florescent green polish on her nails, her shoulders stooped. Currently, she was sitting in her history class, a few minutes before the final tardy bell. She had been playing it safe lately, and teleporting to school before anyone was around.
Of course, if she were really playing it safe she wouldn't have been teleporting at all…
Imy promptly told her voice of reason to shut up, simultaneously as the bell to begin class rang. The teleporter was surprised to see Dwier filter in with the rest of the students, and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion when she saw him walk over to the teacher's desk. After a few hushed mumbles, the blond brother of The Spawn gave a grim nod and sauntered over, taking a seat two places in front of Imy's.
"Dwier, are you in this class now?" Imy greeted cheerily.
The boy seemed momentarily startled at being addressed, but he swerved in his seat and gave another flat nod, "I was transferred." He explained bluntly.
Imy smiled, "I feel bad for you then, this class sucks." She paused, a bit hesitant at first, "Where's your sister?"
Dwier arched an eyebrow, "The one you punched?"
Imy flushed, "Uh huh."
Dwier shrugged, "Faking sick, I think." He paused, "Don't worry about it too much. It had to be done by someone."
She picked up on his rather disdainful tone and she giggled a bit, "I don't know how you've managed to live with her for so long…"
Dwier shrugged again, and his eyes landed on the floor, staring at the tips of his sneakers. Imy noticed it was something he did whenever he was faced with an uncomfortable situation.
She paused, the kid was a bit socially inept, and she could sense his alienation from everyone around him. She reminded herself that Dwier was the new kid, one that wasn't very talkative to boot. Imy felt a wave of pity for the younger-brother type so she asked gently, "Are you doing anything for lunch?"
Dwier obviously didn't pick up on the hint, because he said dryly, "Eating, I guess."
Imy smiled again, "Want to eat with me and my friends?"
Dwier almost smiled back, before nodding and nervously turning back around in his seat, the hint of a blush on his cheeks.
"Today, class, we will be discussing Classic mythology and the influence of Greek customs on the Roman empire," Prattled Mr. Tosches, the history teacher, as he cleared his voice for lecture.
Imy almost rolled her eyes, the topic certainly warranted a little napping time for the overworked teleporter who could recite practically every Greek or Roman myth from memory with ease. Without any resistance, she folded her arms across the desk and her head slumped down.
OoO
Aria's heart seized up for a moment when she realized that she was not alone in the hallway. It was the middle of class, Aria had forgotten her homework in her locker and left to get it, so the place was rather desolate seeing that everyone was in their classrooms.
A slight tap on her shoulder caused the teenaged healer to whirl around on her heel, fists poised and ready to punch someone. Her fists and jaw dropped when her light brown eyes connected with Ian's darker ones.
"Um, uh, wow," She muttered intelligibly.
Ian, looking handsome as always as he leaned against the lockers casually, cleared his throat, "Hey Aria."
The healer tried to get her bearings together, "Hi." She said, fidgeting slightly as she gripped her textbook tightly.
The blond cleared his throat awkwardly, "I wanted to apologize," He proclaimed, yet again catching Aria off guard.
"What?" She stammered out, completely flabbergasted.
"At the RockOut, I was kind of an ass to you and Carmen-"
"Carlos," She corrected dumbly.
"Right, Carlos, and I'm sorry." He said, his voice sounding a bit too rehearsed for Aria's tastes as his fingers lightly rested in the pockets of his washed-out jeans, "I mean, it's not any of my business-"
Aria shook her head, "I don't blame you," She colored a bit, "Actually, I'm amazed that you're talking to me," She admitted sheepishly.
Ian gave a small little half smile, and it was easy to see why Aria once had a major crush on him, "We're still friends, aren't we?"
Aria's eyebrows furrowed into confusion, a bit shocked at seeing how…easily Ian was taking this. Of course, what they had was nothing serious, but the fact was that it was a huge blow to a guy's ego to be dumped for another guy. It happened in high school all of the time, but rarely did it go over well. Aria stared at him with something akin to amazement, he was being wonderful about all of this.
She gave a genuine smile, "Of course."
Ian grinned back, and his hand moved to rest on her shoulder, but he fought it down, "I'm glad." He paused, and started to fish through his back pocket, taking out a folded up sheet of yellow paper, "Here, take this."
Aria grabbed the small flyer cautiously, "What is it?"
"A party invite. My parents are out of town this weekend," Ian, noticing the uncertain look in Aria's eyes, quickly clarified, "You can bring Carlos if you want." He winked, "It'll be fun, it's a toga party after all."
Aria paled, "Toga party?"
"Yeah, crazy isn't it? The new girl in my art class gave me the idea," Ian replied.
Aria's eyes widened, "Tatum?"
Ian shrugged, "I don't know. She just sort of joined the conversation," He paused, his eyes glancing up to the clock that hung on the wall expectantly, "I got to go, but I'll see you there?"
Aria hesitated, all of her weekends for the next year and a half were dedicated to fighting immortal evil, there wasn't exactly room for a social outing. But when she stared at Ian, and saw his hopeful expression, she found it hard to refuse out right, "I'll try." She settled on carefully.
Ian nodded, and turned away, heading towards whatever class he was absent from, "See you Friday!" He called over his shoulder.
Aria sighed and gingerly placed the flyer inside her purse, before leaving to go to her next class.
OoO
"A toga party?" Imy muttered dumbly as she stared at the flyer Ian had given her a few moments ago. Currently, she was walking down the hall and out towards the courtyard, since the bell for lunch had just rang. Next to her was Riley, head lowered as she stared at the ground while she walked.
"It is a bit odd, considering our…profession," Riley mused, her own yellow paper tucked away in her messenger bag.
Imy snorted, "I wasn't even thinking about that."
Riley rose an eyebrow slightly, bemused.
"I mean, who throws a toga party nowadays? That shit is straight up eighties." Imy said, shaking her head, "What's next? Mullets and hair metal? Of all the lame ideas for a theme…"
Riley didn't say anything, but there was the smallest of amused grins tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Imy paused in her step, and quickly smacked her palm against her forehead, "Shit!" She proclaimed.
Riley tilted her head to the side, "What is it?"
"I completely forgot about Dwier!" She mumbled, doing a perfect about-face and grabbing onto Riley's elbow, dragging her along with her.
"Dwier?" The startled empath questioned as she struggled to regain her footing.
"I invited him to eat lunch with us since he's a social moron," Imy explained hurriedly, "But he'll probably think I've blown him off and will hate me forever."
Riley nodded sagely, "Probably."
Imy huffed and rolled her eyes, "Thanks for your everlasting support."
She shrugged, "It's what I'm here for."
A light blond head caught Imy's attention amidst the sea of teenagers, "Oy! Dwier!" She cried, cupping her hands around her mouth.
Her best friend winced, and inwardly knew she would miss her hearing, "Is that entirely necessary?"
"DWIER!" She called louder, seeing that the boy hadn't heard her.
Many people turned around to glare at the obnoxious voice, but upon realization of who it belonged to, simply groaned and kept walking. Imy had a rather nefarious reputation of being Turney High's resident bubbly psycho.
Dwier, at the clear opposite end of the hall, finally heard Imy's persistent yelling and slowly turned around. Instead of waving, or even mumbling a hello, he just walked over to the pair, giving Riley the standard grunt, and Imy an awful attempt at a smile.
"Sorry, Dwier, I completely forgot," Imy stammered, slamming her palm against her forehead.
The quiet boy only gave a hunch of his shoulders, indicating that it wasn't a big deal.
The trio were soon interrupted by Mr. Tosches as he appeared in the hallway, "Zalank!" He barked, striding over to the three with a reproachful glare.
"He can't mean you," Imy proclaimed, Riley never pissed off teachers. It was probably engraved in stone somewhere.
Riley sighed, "Zalank isn't a common name," She turned and said calmly, "Yes, Mr. Tosches?"
"Did you forget about the lunch meeting I set up with the grant committee for you?" He grunted, and Riley's face paled slightly, "I'll take that as a yes." He muttered sourly, "Come on, it starts in ten minutes." Without waiting for a response, he swerved on his heel and started stomping off towards his office.
Riley looked at Dwier and Imy apologetically, "I have to go," She said quietly, "Some other time."
Imy gaped at her best friend, "What's going on?"
Riley exhaled, "Mr. Tosches is trying to get me some financial aide for college, I keep telling him I won't need it but…" She trailed off with a simple shrug of her shoulders, "He's been really persistent about it."
Imy's eyes widened at the implication of her best friend's words. Despite Riley's claims, there was no way she could attend college without any monetary support, and if she wasn't even considering college with her brains… "Riley, are you saying-?" Imy let it hang in the air uncomfortably.
Her best friend gave a meaningful look at Dwier, "I'll talk to you about it later." She paused, "You and Dwier have fun."
Imy stood there with a face of disbelief as she watched her best friend disappear into the crowd. It wasn't until a hesitant hand landed on her shoulder that reality seemed to dawn upon her and she turned around to meet Dwier's ever-blank expression.
"Something wrong?" His words were mellow, but Imy could sense the very, very subtle tinges of concern in his tone.
Imy quickly plastered on a smile and pretended that nothing was going on, "Nope! I just space out sometimes…" She rambled apologetically, before a flicker of inspiration appeared across her features, "Why don't we go try out that new sushi place? You like sushi, right?"
Dwier responded with an unintelligible grunt.
Imy smirked and grabbed his wrist, something that made him color instantly, before she started dragging him off, "I'll take that as a yes."
OoO
Art scratched his head as he sat across the table from Aria, "So you don't know where Imy went?" He murmured awkwardly as the healer across from him nibbled on a sandwich, distraction apparent in her eyes.
Aria shrugged, "No, I haven't seen her since second hour," She paused, and another troubled look crossed over her features.
Art, sensing her unease, calmly asked, "What's up?"
Aria sighed, rubbing her temples as if she had a horrible migraine, "Ian's been acting strange…"
Art snorted. Despite his generally amiable nature, Ian was one of the few people he could just not get along with.
She glared at him over her sandwich, "He's not that bad." She defended carefully, an uneasiness crossing her features again, "That's sort of the problem."
Art rose an eyebrow and was about to ask the healing goddess to elaborate when Carlos strode up, sliding in effortlessly next to Aria. Art cleared his throat, "Carlos, have you seen Imy?" He asked the surfer, who, as always, had a rather noticeable odor about him.
Carlos shrugged, "Last I saw, she was hopping over the school's fence with that creepy guy."
Art's eyes widened in confusion, "Creepy guy?"
The other boy nodded, and failed to elaborate as he began to steal bits and pieces of Aria's lunch. The girl was too distracted with her thoughts to give him a proper berating.
Art fell silent as he wondered exactly who his girlfriend was sneaking off with. Slowly, he stood up and prepared to leave.
"Where you going?" Carlos asked, chomping viciously on a few potato chips he had stuffed into his mouth.
Art gave a wane smile, "Library, I have an English paper due." He lied smoothly, walking away with his books tucked under his arm.
Carlos watched him go, then turned to Aria, "What's his problem?"
She shrugged.
Carlos's eyes narrowed, "What's your problem?"
She seemed to debate telling him, but one look at her boyfriend sealed her resolve, "Ian's being weird."
The surfer blinked a few times, "The one you dumped?"
She colored a bit before hesitantly nodding, "He invited me- us- to a party at his house."
Carlos stared at her for a few beats, "What's wrong with that?"
Aria chewed absently on her lower lip, "You don't find it a bit odd?"
Carlos shook his head, "Sounds like someone's paranoid," He said offhandedly, stealing Aria's sandwich and chomping down.
She blinked, a somewhat dazed expression, before she gave a hesitant nod, "You're probably right. For once," She paused, and a hoity expression came across her face when she saw most of her lunch was gone. Without thinking, she smacked Carlos on the back of the head, "Bring your own damn lunch!"
Carlos rubbed the back of his head, sulking. "You're so mean to me, Aria."
OoO
Art quickly caught up towards the fenced area of the school, concern worming its way into his chest. Unlike Imy, the motivation behind Art's following was not inspired by jealousy, rather panic. He had seen the way that the front man for Absinthe had been eying his girlfriend, and someone like him definitely fit the bill for 'the creepy guy'. He reached the perimeter of the school, expecting to see Imy being carted off by a Follower, or worse, a Regulator.
He was not expecting to see his girlfriend carting off the reclusive boy he had briefly met, the same reclusive boy he could remember Tatum saying had a massive crush on Imy. Something cold slipped into his stomach as he watched Imy say something to Dwier, laughter lighting up her features prettily while he blushed awkwardly as they strolled away.
Art's fist clenched, and he stared at the ground. Was Imy looking for someone else? Looking behind his back? She had seemed…distant lately, was Art the one that was driving her away? He knew that his background wasn't something easy to accept, but Imy had never seemed to be bothered by it. Was…was she looking for someone like Dwier? Someone normal.
Art scowled, hurt overcoming him. He was a gentle person, always seeking the fault within himself before looking and blaming outwards. What had he done wrong?
"Pardon me," came a voice from behind him, and Art reluctantly tore his eyes away from the retreating-he grimaced- couple. His eyes widened when he saw a girl before him.
She was beautiful. Long, flowing dark hair rested just above the curve of her back and piercing eyes staring straight through him. She was wearing what almost looked like a school uniform, with a pleated skirt, knee high socks, and navy sweater vest. A look of confusion, and a bit of annoyance, was on her face as she stared him down.
Art blinked, "Can I help you?" He questioned dumbly.
The girl gave out a long winded sigh, "Yes, actually," she had a British accent, he noted dully, "My name's Esme Tarat, I just transferred from Macrosian Academy, do you know where the office is?"
Blankly, Art jerked a thumb towards the admin building. She eyed him coolly before turning on her heel and walking away with a prim, "Thank you."
As soon as she was out of sight, Art shook his head to clear his vision. There was something…familiar about her. But almost as quickly as she had entered his life, she left, as he gave one last glance towards the school's fence before heading in to reluctantly finish his classes for the day.
OoO
Sorry this chapter sucks. It's awkward picking a story back up that I haven't looked at in so long… the length of the chapters are going to be getting shorter too, that way it's easier for me to update.
Thanks to everyone that is still bothering to read this, and thanks to those that requested me to continue. You're the reason why I'm posting this, folks : )
And yes, the lunch scene was supposed to mirror the one earlier, hehe I'm not losing my mind and rewriting the same scene twice in one story I promise!
Next Up: We're gonna party like it's 1999...B.C.!