La Dolce Vita
By Seniya
D is for Discipline
Part Three
If we don't discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us.
William Feather
Irma's mother, the late, great Juanita Lair, had died when Irma was only seven years old. It had not been sudden (though it had hurt all the same). She'd battled breast cancer for three long years before she passed. Still, before she'd died, she'd instilled her young daughter with all kinds of values.
Boys, hair, periods but most importantly: illegal drugs. Yes, marijuana, cocaine, heroin (Good catholic Latinas needed to know these things, after all) were taught with the fear of God, so much so that to this day Irma couldn't take an Advil without flinching. This particular lecture came to Irma's mind as she sat in the basement of the Silver Dragon.
"So ... there's an alternate dimension." Irma chewed over the words slowly, hoping that this time, it could make sense. It didn't, and not for the first time, she tried to see if the muck she smelt could possibly be hiding pot.
She and Cornelia had been pushed inside the middle of the room mere minutes after they'd arrived. The basement was small and the overwhelming smell of sulphur made it stifling, that, combined with the bad lighting and the musky smell of the books, made it very uncomfortable.
However, for some reason, she hadn't felt the need to stop the two strange women from tugging her along (hadn't felt anything except a pang of longing for sweet and sour chicken). Cornelia was sitting on a stool beside her, and strangely, she was being very quiet and receptive.
"No," Yan Lin grew tired of explaining, it showed on her face – what was worse was that each second she stayed here talking that damn changeling grew stronger. "There're infinite. But we're only focusing on one right now."
Cornelia, who had stayed at first to get closer to the hot guy she'd seen, and then because she was genuinely curious (and somehow uninspired to leave) finally hit the breaking point at the dimension thing. "First of all, the entire school is gonna know about your paint sniffing ways tomorrow." Cornelia looked at Will, who was propped up in the corner, rolled her eyes and then stood up, "second of all – I seriously appreciate it if none of you ever talked to me again."
"Not a problem," Will muttered.
"Haven't you ever done something weird ... like I once woke up on my roof. Will told me that sometimes she could make the microwave turn off and on." Hay Lin seemed eager to have the pair in their mist, even though she was clearly the only one who felt this way.
"No ..." Cornelia turned up her nose and made her way to the door.
"Actually," Irma looked thoughtful, "the pipes in my house ... they keep coming on by themselves."
"Yeah, it's called lower middle class plumbing." Cornelia adjusted her cashmere cardigan but paused at the doorway. "I'm sorry, but in here reeks like old cheese and if I don't get my sister cookies she'll eat the sofa."
"I think," Lucia indicated her regal head towards Will, "it's time for another approach. Maybe if you saw what we're talking about. Will, if you please."
Will nodded before adjusting herself and the sword in her right hand, concentrating on pushing all of her the energy into the hilt. It was hard to focus with all those eyes on her. Cornelia kept talking in the background ... Irma was laughing nervously.
Sensations and synapses all ignited and smouldered, leaving Will feeling very drained. It was like that sword was a magnet, dragging every piece of her into her right arm where it settled and then magnified. When it was over, Will blinked her eyes rapidly more than twice to clear the bright lights that now clouded her vision while her arm had that prickling sensation like if it had fallen asleep. She'd never had to transform four people before – she felt out of breath.
No one was paying her any attention however, because the new newest transformees were quite the attention getters.
"Look at how friggin' huge my boobs are!" Irma yelled, holding onto to her cleavage ad though they were a gift from God.
"What the hell is this?" Cornelia had noticed she was taller, seen the change of wardrobe (cringe) and then began threatening legal action. "What kind of game is this? Am I on Punked?"
"Oh for God's sake Barbie! Thirty seconds eating a Big Mac doesn't make you Angelina Jolie!"
"Who was talking to you? You're such a jealous, fat troll!"
"Jealous of what? Anorexia and hair extensions? Yeah, that's right, I'm so jealous!"
"Quiet!" Lucia yelled and like Will and Caleb before them, the pair found themselves quite literally, speechless.
"Wow." Hay Lin seemed transfixed by the two of them, she said to Will, "they're worse than you two."
"We do not have time for these childish arguments and games. Do you understand that what we're telling you is true?" Lucia snapped.
It hadn't ever occurred to either of them to consider the realism side to the story. True? Far from it.
Cornelia thought that it was honestly some sort of joke. Since she couldn't voice her opinion, she folded her arms across her chest and tried her best to seem unfazed, although inside she was as rattled as she'd ever been.
Yan Lin nodded, feeling the beginnings of a migraine edge across her temples. There was a large plastic clock on the wall of the basement, the kind you buy at Walmart for four dollars. It ticked and tocked noisily towards six o'clock, reminding the Lins that changelings were deadlier after night fall.
"Will, open a portal. Caleb and I will take them to Meridian."
Irma jumped up, outraged. She made motions that indicated she wasn't going anywhere but of course, couldn't speak. The end result was her doing an odd kind of interpretive dance, which no one appreciated.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Will asked. She remembered her first time being forced over to Meridian – she still hadn't been back, and for good reason. That place gave her the creeps.
"Yes. I'm sure."
"The other two need to stay here with me. There's no reason to waste valuable training time with ..."
"Fine, Yan Lin!" Lucia was growing impatient, it was obvious. Will thought that in the weeks she had known Lucia, the strain of everything seemed to be taking its toll. Gone was the vibrant, witty woman she'd met for the first time in Caleb's chambers. What remained was a dry, tired shell, which always seemed pressed for time.
Will didn't argue anymore. Although she was still tired from the transformations, she concentred on what she could remember of Meridian; the darkness, the hopelessness, and then something else as she remembered waking up on Caleb's bed, surrounded by those bug-eyed cat people.
There was that same elongated line of blinding light after the Blade of Kandrakar slashed through the open space beside her, Lucia didn't wait another second. "Caleb, get the yellow haired one. She looks like a fighter."
She wasn't. Not when Caleb put a hand on her shoulder in any case. Cornelia walked placidly into the noise and haste, with Caleb by her side. Irma however, made a fuss. Eventually, Yan Lin had to go help force her inside the portal. After they'd all disappeared, Will said, "I know it's for the greater good and everything ... but you guys really have to stop kidnapping people's kids."
"You'd better get that naiveté out of your head right now Will." Yan Lin didn't wait another second. She hurriedly went to her cupboards and removed a kettle and another one of her spell books. "Kidnapping is one of the easiest ways to get what you need. Especially tonight."
"What's happening tonight?" Will watched as Yan Lin filled the kettle with water and put it on a Bunsen burner to boil.
"You didn't hear what Cornelia said about her sister?" Hay Lin was smiling.
Will racked her brain, "you mean that she wanted cookies?"
"No, that she'd eat the sofa."
"I'm not following ..."
"Excessive hunger is one of the traits of a changeling. It's obviously possessed that girl's little sister." Yan Lin removed a pouch of leaves from a nearby drawer before telling her grandchild, "go get a flashlight."
"What do you need a flashlight for?"
The high pitched whistle of the kettle almost hid Yan Lin's ominous words, "you'll see."
There was a temporary reprieve from the overpowering scent of sulphur, temporary being the key word. Almost as quickly as that nose scratching, eye watering, throat burning aroma had left their nostrils, there came another pungent aroma.
Death.
"Oh my God!" It was Cornelia who'd first seen it, almost as soon as her eyes had adjusted to the darkness that covered Meridian. It was difficult to describe, even harder to justify in her mind (for a girl whose life had been blessed at worst) – the sight of hundreds of rotting bodies piled on top of each other.
They stood out gruesomely against the barren landscape. It was made that much worse because there was simply nothing else there. Not a tree, not a road – nothing but the hundred of bloated, blue and grey bodies. Their faces and limbs ripe with decomposition.
Beside her, Caleb stiffened, "they've been dead for days." His voice carried a thousand emotions: remorse, anger, helplessness but his face showed one: resolve.
"W-what's this place?" Cornelia edged closer to the man, her fingers (now ice cold) wrapped around his arm. It was done automatically, because she was afraid, no, terrified, but it didn't hurt her any less when he pulled away and went to inspect the mountain of flesh.
"Will brought us outside the rebel hideout." Caleb answered softly, "she doesn't ever concentrate ... but it is just as well." He turned away just as fast; apparently he'd seen enough, "this is a sign from Phobos. He wants us to see that he knows where we are."
Lucia arrived moments later, with Irma in tow. Irma's screams were now fully audible, as were her bribes for release. "My Dad will have the whole force on your ass in a second!"
Her voice died in her throat. The smell, the sights, they were overwhelming. "Where are we? What's that ... oh my God!" Her answer was obvious and soon Irma found herself distraught. "Oh, yay, I've always wanted hepatitis. Where are we?" Frantic now, and even more desperate for an answer Irma looked to anyone who could help her. "Hello!"
"You're in Meridian." Lucia was also transfixed, the dozens of bracelets on her arms rattled as she swept her fingers through her long, dark hair. "You know that this is a sign, don't you?" She was speaking to Caleb.
"It's obvious. I knew he'd been quiet for too long. He's been planning this attack for weeks. While we've been ..."
"This isn't the time Caleb. We need to look towards the future. How can we stop him? Will and Hay Lin have been training ..."
"Will isn't ready. You send her out there and she'll be killed. Hay Lin is improving but not enough."
It seemed to Cornelia and to Irma, that they'd both been forgotten in this conversation. They looked at each other, briefly, but honestly it was the first real look they'd ever shared.
"Discuss this inside. I'll be ready to lead you to another portal once they're ready to leave." Lucia vanished in that instant.
"How did she do that?" Cornelia asked.
"She's a sorceress."
"A witch?"
"Yes." Caleb walked away from the two girls, his mind was obviously elsewhere. "Do you hear that?" He didn't seem to be speaking to anyone in particular and by then Irma had had enough.
Where ever they were was a desolate place. It was like being in a vacuum, void of light and happiness. All around them were the fragments of trees, houses and walls. It was like walking into a world of memories, bathed in dull, silver moonlight.
"Um, hello ... this is all ... um, well I'm trying to stop swearing ..." Irma's panic was increasing by the second. Her survival skills had dredged up some adrenaline and her body was running on high right now with one purpose in mind: getting the hell out of Dodge.
"No ... listen ... I can ... I can feel it ..." In the meagre rays that came from the eerie twin moons, the look of wonder of Cornelia's face was just barely visible.
"Feel what?" Why wasn't Cornelia more freaked out about this, "Cornelia, haven't you noticed that we're in Edward Cullen's vacation home?"
"Would you stop talking for a second! There's ... someone's coming!"
"It's Phobos' army." Caleb was by their side in the next instant, "we need to move." He took their each of their wrists into his hands and began to pull them forward.
"Excuse me!" Irma yanked her hand away, "I don't hear anything. How do I know that this isn't a ..."
"I can feel it too." Cornelia said in an authoritative way, "stop being difficult!"
"Difficult?" What the hell was Hale's problem? "I was just kidnapped! Are you so freaking horny that you can't ..."
"We need to move!" Caleb had grabbed her again, and this time, regardless of what Irma did, she couldn't pull away.
"There's a curfew – no doubt it's past." He was pulling them through a forest – or at least what had once been a forest, but was now mere bits and pieces of fauna. The ground they walked on was muddy and slick – as they journeyed forward it grew darker still (if that were possible). "They have orders to kill all those who are outside their dwellings."
"I thought you said we were right outside your hideout place!" Irma snapped, Caleb was pulling them along at a breakneck pace and Irma was fighting to keep her balance on the soggy ground.
"We cannot lead them to the hideout. They're women and children ... Hades ..." He stopped dead in his tracks. There, in the midst of the skeletons of trees and the tangles of roots and heavy night fog stood a dozen of Phobos' soldiers.
"Well," There was a monster in the middle of them, half man, half serpent, he towered over the fog and men, "what a s-s-surprise."
She was strong for a seven year old.
All right, so at first, Will would admit, she'd had a number of problems with hog tying a child and dragging her from her house. Although, that was before said child had sprouted a row of nail sharp teeth and tried to eat her leg.
They had managed to sneak into the Hale house without incident. The adults were upstairs and the little girl was in the kitchen, sitting in front of the open refrigerator door. Her nightgown was covered in food stains – as was her face – but still she was forcing more into her mouth, seemingly unsatisfied.
She hadn't even looked up from her plate of muffins more than once when she saw the three enter the room. No, the pastries were far more important. Changeling Lillian probably wouldn't have bothered with them at all, had Yan Lin not snatched away the muffins and begun to scream long winded Gaelic curses.
That, pissed her off.
And that was how the entire fight started: with the frail seven year old running towards Will (who was the smallest) and attempting to gnaw her leg off. Will, in human form, hadn't even had time to scream before the changeling pushed her to the hardwood floor and sank her razor sharp teeth into her calf.
Hay Lin (who'd been in Will's position the last Changeling attack) took advantage of the distraction to sneak up behind the creature and pour the contents of the kettle all over her head.
Yan Lin was edging closer with the shovel but her granddaughter stopped her, "Nana! You can't hurt the little girl!"
"She's really kinda hurting me though!" Will yelled back. The Blade of Kandrakar was gripped tightly in her fist and Will used that to rap against the top of that blonde head in the hopes it would get her to back off.
Then there was the sound of shuffling footsteps upstairs and they all knew, quite belatedly, that they should have taken this mess outside.
A few seconds later the creature coughed and sputtered and began to hiss, much like a cat getting rid of lunch – Yan Lin's tea had worked.
Yan Lin grabbed the girl by her hair, "what's your name?"
"You know my name old woman!" Lillian screeched in a voice that sounded as though it came right out of Friday the 13th. "Let me go!"
"Release the child!"
Will scrambled to her feet wincing as the pain in her leg travelled upwards. She watched as Hay Lin walked over to the large stove in the corner and placed her shovel on one of the burners.
"Will, transform yourself!"
"Jesus Christ!" The pain in her leg was quite frankly unbearable, Will watched with utter disgust and blood streaked down her leg, "Yan Lin!"
"They're coming Nana!" Hay Lin spoke in a whisper, "quick, tie her up!"
"Will, hurry up!"
"Oh for God ..." The sword's hilt warmed slightly then, and Will forced all of her energy into the blurry image of her guardian form, in the next second, she had grown – and the pain in her leg had vanished.
"Let's go!" Yan Lin had gagged the monster with a wad of Bounty paper towels.
By the time the Hales had descended the stairs, the guardians and Yan Lin were already halfway down the street.
"Cedric!" Caleb spat, and in that moment the venom in his voice was almost tangible. He tried to push the two girls behind him but it was too late – Cedric's cat-like eyes had already seen them.
He smiled, a gruesome gesture which only seemed to upset his face.
"Kill the boy. And bring the women to me."
What were originally thought be shadows solidified and pushed forward, surrounding the trio in mere seconds. Countless hands rushed out – grabbing, scratching and tugging them apart.
Irma screamed as the muddy earth beneath her gave way and she felt herself falling into an abyss. All she knew was darkness, helplessness and then relief.
Something was happening.
The earth had moved.
Not like an earthquake, because it hadn't even shaken, but simply jerked upwards in pillars and columns of mud, dislodging the shadows, sending them hurtling upwards into the night.
"What was that?" Irma yelled, still flat on her back and muddy.
It was Cornelia who responded, "I-I ... dunno. I-I think ... I-I ..."
"I'm getting the hell outta here!" Irma began to scramble to her feet, but it was harder to do than she first thought – the shadows were back, fingers were on her arms and legs tugging back into the darkness.
The smell of the earth filled her nostrils and her mouth, and then there was something else. A pulse beneath her palms, the swampy muck was calling to her, she could feel it.
Irma turned her body around, trying to slash at the demons clutching at her legs and to her surprise the muck followed, surrounding the creatures face, slipping into its nostrils and mouth. Irma watched as the brute struggled for breath before failing. She saw its eyes widen in that hideous dark face before that too disappeared.
And another pillar of earth stretched upwards to the sky.
"Will, it is the easiest thing I can tell you to do." In the cemetery again (of course), this group had tied the changeling to a tombstone and by flashlight alone were interrogating the creature – and each other.
"Just zap it!" Yan Lin snapped.
"I can't just zap it. I don't know how to control the zapping thing. I've only done it once."
This discourse had been going on for a while, and Hay Lin was sleepy.
It had been discovered that the tea they had made the changeling sick, but didn't change Lillian back. The next logical solution (at least to Yan Lin) was for Will to use the sword to cleanse the creature, since it did have some healing properties.
Will, however, was being Will.
"Come on Will, just get mad or super happy ..." Hay Lin reconsidered, "no, actually maybe you should just stick with mad."
The summer air was quickly becoming chilly, and the copious trees beside the church chanted angrily in the night breeze.
"I...I don't think it's ...ow!" Will stared open mouthed at Yan Lin, who had just thrown the flashlight at her head, and clipped the side of her shoulder instead.
"What the hell was that for?"
"If you don't want to zap her then we'll have to ..."
"It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't! Ow! Hay Lin!"
"I'm so sorry Will," and she truly looked like she regretted throwing the chunk of marble at Will, "But seriously, I have a million algebra equations to do."
"What the hell!"
The changeling had been hissing angrily every few seconds whenever the hunger pangs struck, but now it just stared as its three captors began tackling each other. The old woman was quick for her age, or maybe the only advantage she had was that the brunette was on her side and the red head didn't want to fight.
Soon, they were all in a large angry crowd and the next thing the changeling knew there was a sword in its face. And it was (for a lack of a better word) screwed.
There was the foreign sensation of being full – too full – of power, of life, energy – and having it slip past your fingertips, ever so quickly into the hilt of the sword.
"Retreat!" The shadows were falling back, it was only moments after the shout had gone up that the shadows slipped away and left the three, in absolute quiet.
"Did you ... who were they?"
Caleb, although covered in blood, slick and mud, was smiling – grinning widely from ear to ear. It made him look considerably younger. "Did you see that? Cedric and his minions ran with their tails between their legs!"
"Who's Cedric?" Cornelia, stared at her hands. She sounded shocked, and she was. She had no idea that she was that powerful.
"That creature was Cedric ... he's the leader of Phobos' army. But you," He walked over to Cornelia and held her shoulders in his arms, "you were amazing."
"What about me?" Irma was ecstatic. "I kicked butt!" Cornelia's shock had even registered to her. She'd taken down dozens of shadow solders all by herself. Although she was also covered in mud and gunk as well, she was elated. She'd never been good at something before.
"This is ..." Caleb was still grinning, "do you know what this means?"
Cornelia shook her head mutely, going through the motions as though she were frozen.
"It means we stand a chance! It means that we can win this war ... it means we have hope!"
"God, my tits are huge!"
Author: Another chapter? Lol. The roll continues. Do you see how Cornelia's clinging to Will's man, the nerve! I'm still wondering if to introduce Matt, do let me know your opinion on that. Reviews please and thank you!
Also, I don't usually reply to my reviews, I don't usually have time (but I appreciate them all the same). But if there's something you want to ask me, just say in your review and I'll definitely get back to you.
To shrimp features: It's always difficult to write about a character who has special needs. Someone who is autistic or dyslexic or has cerebral palsy. It's difficult, I think, to give someone 100% accurate characteristics because these disorders vary. My cousin is eight and autistic, she has problems with wetting herself especially when she is doing something else, like watching TV or when she is around people she isn't familiar with. She doesn't talk very much and usually repeats what you ask her. She's also easily distracted and throws many tantrums. I based Irma's brother's character off of her but if it offended you in some way, it wasn't my intention.