The Story of Amara Kuran | Mariah Bryant
Book One, Chapter Eight
My Wrong (and Temporary) Impression
Zero leaned in the open doorway. I regarded him, but otherwise ignored him. Mike kept glancing up at him, antsy, and I gave him a smile that told him to calm down.
Mike sighed. "I'll never be able to keep up with these kids,"
I shook my head. "Mike, you are incredibly intelligent."
"Yeah, in my old school, back when I didn't have all of this other stress to deal with and back when my teachers didn't speak in Japanese."
I noticed that Mike's teeth were gritted. "How are your wounds?"
Even in English, Mike was sure that Zero could catch the gist of what we were discussing. He blushed. "Sore."
"It is the stress." I frowned. "Your body is not healing the way that it should."
Mike cocked his head. At this point, he knew a little more about vampyres' abilities. Now he wondered if I had X-ray vision. The look on his face made me crack up.
"Do not worry. I am no doctor, or anything close. I am just making an observation. Actually, I could be very wrong, being that I, myself, heal so quickly." I assured him.
The room, with the blinds closed, was very dark. It was much darker with Zero's glare sucking out all of the light. I had no problem with this, but it annoyed me that Mike had to struggle to read my notes.
"Let me read them to you in Japanese, and you tell me what you perceive." I suggested. I took the notes from him and began to recite the lesson. Mike's eyebrows pulled together in response. I felt sorry for him, and repeated it slowly. Mike took a guess, using what little knowledge of the language he had, and I ended up trying not to laugh.
"No," I smiled. "Perhaps we should move on to your Japanese tutoring."
Mike smiled at me gratefully. "Thanks."
"Hey, you have been doing an excellent job. You must not realize just how amazing it is that you have learned the basics of a language in two weeks. I am really proud of your drive to do this."
"What choice did I have?" Mike laughed, looking away.
"Well, you did not have to learn so much so quickly." I said. Then I shifted into a position so that I was looking straight at him, and cleared my face of expression. Then, I spoke a statement in Japanese, giving Mike hints with my face. Then I asked a question, and looked confused. I exclaimed that Mike's hair was on fire, and looked . . . well, more like I was seeing the funniest thing on Earth than if I was actually seeing his head in flames. Mike laughed, and translated.
"You are being a really good sport about tutoring me. I know I am a slow learner. It must be especially annoying for you, since you are supposed to be in college already."
I shook my head. "Mike, you are in all advanced classes. You are on the President's List. You have won scholarships, and made it to the state spelling bee. You have made the same grades as me! You are not a slow learning. Japanese is as hard as it sounds."
"I don't think I was this slow when taking ninth grade Spanish." Mike sighed.
I laughed. "Hello? Spanish is a Romance language, so it is not that different from English. It is far easier than a whole new language."
I heard a voice in the hallway. Curious, I turned to the doorway. Mike peered around me to see, too.
A guy who had introduced himself to me right after school as the president of the class was talking to Zero very quickly and with uninsured authority.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
Zero was silent, with an expression that suggested that his emotions of annoyance and contempt pained him.
The President looked inside the room and saw me. He gasped, and blushed. "Uh, Amara! What are you doing here? Zero, aren't you going to do anything about her? It's against the rules for a female to be in the boys' dormitories!" he said, though he was only covering up for his embarrassment and did not actually wish for me to leave.
"I knew it was against the laws, but really I did not want to sit outside in the cold to study. I am sure Mike and I can find another place to study in. Thank you for being lenient, Zero." I stood. Mike stood, too. We gathered our books quickly and moved past a rather stunned Zero. I sensed him hesitate behind us.
He would follow.
***
Zero had never encountered anyone quite as simultaneously innocent and dangerous as me. I was, of course, a vampyre who walked around like I owned the land and air wherever I was. I had the royal attitude that most vampyres had. I had the gleam in my eye, the smug air. I could walk right overtop of someone and they would do nothing but gawk. Zero hated vampyres to begin with, but I upset him an unusual amount. He had respect for me though he knew not why. He could not help it, and it ate him alive.
He clenched and unclenched his fists. Not even Kaname . . . took Zero's respect the way that I did.
And he sensed that I had thoroughly upset Yuki. She would not tell him how. Zero had never seen Yuki the way that I made her ever before. Yuki was a modest girl, but she did not let anything crush her easily. She fought hard to be strong. Now I was making anger and despair bubble in her heart. In a day (Zero thought) I had pierced through Yuki's defenses.
I sighed inwardly. Zero was not very hard to peer into, himself. My eyes unfocused, I gently read Zero's thoughts. Zero paced in his room because he unconsciously knew of my gazing into his mind.
"Amara?"
I smiled at Mike, hardly able to see him but always watching. "Zero is upset."
Zero went to the Headmaster's home as I spoke with Mike in Japanese. (He insisted on working until sundown, even through supper.) I kept listening to his thoughts because there was an important conversation he was about to have with Yuki after they ate dinner with Kaien.
"What are your thoughts about the new girl?" he asked her lowly on their way to the Night Class gates.
"Amara's . . . pretty." Yuki said glumly.
"I mean, what do you feel about her?"
Yuki glanced at Zero to find that he was genuinely worried. Yukie felt compelled to reply. "I feel that she has a good heart." she said truthfully.
"You don't think she's dangerous?"
"I feel that she has a good heart." Yuki shrugged, and let out a defeated sigh. "She is a vampyre, right?"
Zero nodded.
Yuki shook her head, as if trying to shake her thoughts away. "She's very powerful. Even I can sense that. It's had not to. But she's got good intentions."
"Okay . . ." Zero had not expected that answer.
Yuki looked away from Zero.
"Hey, Amara? You kinda got really quiet." Mike whispered to me.
I slumped down against the wall of the school, letting my head fall back against the brick. I almost dived into Yuki's mind, but I felt a wave of . . . something. I pulled back quickly. Perhaps it was a wave of danger from the immediate future – the Night Class leaving their dorms to make their way to school? I knew that was not it.
I smiled. Yukie was a very complex character.
I left the thought realm knowingly and returned to where my body was sitting beside Mike. The moonlight did wonders to his already angelic face. I smiled wider.
"Hey," I said.
Mike smiled back. "Hey."
"The Night Class students are leaving their dorms now." I informed him. "Stay quiet from here on out."
Mike nodded once.
All at once I was very aware of Mike's right hand next to mine in the grass. With the leap of my heart I clasped my hands in my lap, disguising my retreat as a bored move.
The air became very still and the footsteps of the Night Class students rang in my ears louder than the sounding of church bells, though Mike heard nothing at all. I kept myself calm. Even Mike was almost silent. He must have felt my fear.
Finally I heard footsteps approaching. I smiled with relief as Kaname stepped around the corner and crouched in front of Mike and me, a grin on his face.
"Hey, guys. How was school?" he asked, sounding truly like a big brother.
Mike smiled sheepishly. "It was difficult."
"Mike's doing great, having just begun learning the language." I told Kaname.
"Maybe after everything is over you can continue your education here. I would love to have your company." Kaname said.
I mentally kicked him in the shin. Kaname's face snapped into a repentant wince and then back to normal before Mike could notice.
Mike shrugged. "Maybe."
I quickly changed the subject. "I am not certain as to what exactly will set off the prophesy, but I know that between this past morning and tomorrow after school the trigger will have slowly been pulled. Are you going to be able to sneak out of the dorms?" I asked Kaname.
"I will try, but Kaien likes to think that even I will follow rules." my brother replied.
"It is not urgent that you get there on time. I have a feeling things will be okay if you are late."
Kaname nodded. I almost heard him ask what was going to happen to Mike, but he decided against it in the nick of time. I would not have liked it had the words escaped his lips.
Kaname sighed. "Our interrupters have arrived."
Zero walked up to us nearly without making a peep. Yuki walked behind him, using him unconsciously as a shield. I realized that this was one of the reasons my brother felt that Yuki would choose Zero instead of him.
"Kuran. You should be heading to class." Zero nodded and my brother. His eyes were very serious and threatening.
My brother almost looked as he was defeated . . . but then again, my brother always looked rather down. But then I noticed his eyes catch Yuki, and he forgot all about Zero's false authority. He became worried.
Kaname stood. He nodded and walked to class, pondering about how Yuki was so intimidated his sister. He wished he could make her pain go away, but he had no clue how.
Then he turned to me. "Goodbye." he said, his words very similar-sounding to what a commander would say before he led his troops to battle.
I nodded sadly. I yearned to embrace by big sibling, but in the presence of Yuki and Zero I suppressed it.
I stood, along with Mike. I smiled at Zero. "Again, I am sorry for undermining the rules, Disciplinary Committee. I respect the job you do. However, sometimes lines must be crossed." I bowed to them, unsure of whether or not that was proper in that case but of course not with hesitance.
Mike and I walked silently down the path to the Sun Dorms. We could feel Zero and Yuki's eyes on us, but they were out of hearing range.
"Amara?" Mike's voice suddenly sounded really tiny and scared, making me whip around to face him.
"Yes?" I answered.
What do you think should happen? If I like your idea, I may use it. (Keep in mind that I have the story planned out and that the window of opportunity only lasts until I post Chapter Seventeen.) How do you think Amara's prophesized day should go, and what should happen afterward? Use your imagination. I have left a flexible open space for my readers to fill in. Anything could happen . . .
