Will wasn't exactly the hottest guy in school, but Ivory believed he was cute. His greenish brown eyes however were always hiding the words he didn't want to speak. It frustrated her. Back in the day, she had the ability to invade other people's minds. Not everyone's mind — if she would try it with her brothers her brain would shrivel up, but it couldn't be that hard with a human like Will Byers.
Right now however, she could only guess what the boy was thinking. No matter how much sand would slip through her fingers, nothing would happen. Every piece of art would collapse, it would crumble until no one recognized its form. It felt like an important piece of her was robbed from her.
From the corner of her eye she looked aside. Will was walking next to her, his eyes aimed at the pavement. What was on his mind? Was he looking for words to say to her, was he shy? Or was it her brother who had swallowed up his thoughts?
She gritted her teeth as she thought back to half an hour ago, when Will had been sitting on his lap. A fierce anger bubbled up inside of her. The moment she was home, she would tell him she wouldn't take this from him. Will was her ticket home, and she wouldn't allow Onyx to ruin it for her with his stupid games!
Taking a deep breath, she tried to hide her anger. She should try to have a conversation with him. But about what? He was boring. How could she make him trust her? She had saved a seat for him during lunch and she helped him with the material being taught, but it felt like there was a massive divide between them. The two sides were only connected with a rickety rope bridge and neither of them dared to cross it.
You're on your way to his home, Ive, she reminded herself. You're doing great. Don't worry so much.
"It's here." Will stood still in front of a garden, awkwardly he pointed at the front door. He looked skittishly at her, as if he was afraid that she would tell him the house was ugly and walk away.
Well — it was true. It was an ugly house. Although that went for all houses here. They were all so... unimaginative, so ordinary. So boring. Everything was boring around here.
Nevertheless she feigned a smile and stepped on the garden path. Will put the key in the lock once he reached the door and swung it open. She heard voices further ahead in the house, whose owners she met when they reached the kitchen. Jane had hoisted herself on the counter top and was talking to a middle-aged woman, although their conversation came to an end once they saw her.
The woman rushed towards her. "Hello dear! I'm so happy to meet you! Will told me a lot about you! My name is Joyce."
Will had told her about her? That was even better than she imagined. Ivory's lips formed an enthusiastic smile and she shook Joyce's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'me."
Her glance slid to Jane, Will's sister. Or half-sister, she wasn't sure about their family ties yet. She had never spoken to the girl, but there was something odd about her — a certain vibe, making her skin crawl. It was different than the vibe surrounding Will — she could see the darkness that was still surrounding him like a shadow. Traces of domination, of defeat. If she closed her eyes, she could taste his fear on her tongue. An ancient fear, buried deep within his soul. A fear that would always come back on unguarded moments.
The same couldn't be said about Jane. She was also different than the other kids, but Ivory couldn't place her finger on it. It irritated her. And even worse, the girl sensed that she was different too. She didn't trust her either; she could see it in that inscrutable glance, the tense lines around her mouth.
Joyce offered them lemonade and cookies, and they made some small talk. That is — Ivory and Will's mother were talking. Will himself stared out of the window, seeing things no one else could see. Jane chose to look at Ivory's face instead of the world on the other side of the window, and her gaze was so intense it felt like she was trying to invade her thoughts. It tickled her curiosity. It was too bad she acted so hostile; otherwise they might have been useful to one another.
In the end, she got Will to show her his room. It was a typical boy's room, it was even a bit childish with the wallpaper full of planets and the action and fantasy figures that were displayed at the shelves. Will sat down on the edge of his bed and clutched his hands between his knees. He looked a little lost. If she didn't change anything, it might be the last time he took a girl home.
Ivory walked through the room, watched the figures and turned to the shelves that were filled with voluminous fantasy books. She thought back to that game, Dungeons & Dragons.
"Do you like fantasy?" She turned around and offered him a sweet smile. It was only a starting point, hopefully he didn't expect an in-depth discussion of books now. She had only seen a couple of fantasy movies and they hadn't been very imaginative.
Will perked up and nodded. "Did you read one of the books?"
She shook her head. "No... I'm not much of a reader."
But you should talk to my brother.
No — she didn't want him to come anywhere near her brother.
"But I have some friends who are crazy about fantasy. Lately they were talking about some game... Something with dragons?"
"Dungeons & Dragons?" His whole face lit up.
"Yeah... They wanted to try it. None of them had played it before, I think they got stuck when they were unraveling the rules."
She bit the inside of her cheek. Was she too transparent now? No — she shook it off. He had no reason to assume that she had done her research.
"Oh... Well, I can be the dungeon master? I used to play it with my friends all the time." There was a sadness in his eyes as he mentioned his friends. "Although we might be too old to play."
"That's ridiculous! Nobody is ever too old to play a game! I'm sure I can even convince my brother to join us and he's 18."
It was a lie. He wasn't 18 and she could never persuade him to join that stupid game. She didn't even know why she brought up her brother, maybe only to monitor his response.
And that response only made her grit her teeth, for there was a blush on his cheeks and he dropped his eyes. She clenched her fingers to fists until her nails were cutting her flesh. Damn it — what the hell had her brother done to that boy? They had been together for just a few minutes! He was supposed to fall in love with her! As Will looked up again, she quickly relaxed her fingers and replaced her grimace with a smile.
"So we have a deal? Are you going to teach us that game?"
He nodded enthusiastically.
Hopefully he would be just as enthusiastic when he realized that Onyx wouldn't join them. If it was up to her, the two would never meet again.
Onyx didn't even look up when she came home. She scrunched her nose at the sight of the newspaper he was reading. The newspaper. Why the hell would they care what was going on in this world? All she wanted was to go back. She headed to the couch and planted her hands on her hips.
"What the hell were you doing this afternoon!" she burst out. "You were enchanting him with your music! There are plenty of others to do your magic tricks on!"
Onyx lowered the newspaper. "I didn't mean to lure him. I can't help it his ear is more sensitive than that of everyone else."
She snorted. "And I guess you didn't mean to make him sit on your lap either?"
Her brother shrugged his shoulders. "I just taught him to play. What's the big deal?"
She thought back to Will's heated cheeks. It was a big deal! "He likes you more than he likes me."
"Well maybe you should teach him some music instead of commanding him like a damn dog," Onyx huffed.
"I don't treat him like a dog!" she bit back. "I just... I just don't want you to tie him to you with that cursed music of yours! He is mine! I need him!"
Onyx chuckled, it sounded macabre. "Well you do talk about him as if he's your pet. Don't take it out on me if he picks another owner." He smirked. "And who knows, if you behave yourself I might lend him to you. In the end, it doesn't matter who he trusts."
It did matter. She didn't want to depend on Onyx; she had to earn her return herself. If not, she would owe her brother something and that was the last thing she wanted. She wanted to survive on her own.
"Just stay away from him," she grumbled. "You're only doing this to piss me off."
"Maybe." He flipped the page of the newspaper. "And maybe I have another reason."
She rolled her eyes. She couldn't think of any other reason, he was only trying to sound mysterious now. Peeved, she turned around and walked away.