Appointed (17 page)

 

With a groan, Zes woke up again. It took him a moment to remember where he was, since he still wasn't in his own room. Both Jewl and Teague had insisted he stop sleeping in the hallway and go to Teague's place. They'd ganged up on him and basically forced him to go. So reluctantly, Zes had brought what few things he had over to Teague's guest room for the night. He didn't sleep any better there than he had on the floor.

Almost every two hours he'd woken up, rolled around, and then sank back asleep. Ever since Anj fell into his coma, Zes hadn't been able to rest. In fact, he felt an awful lot like how he imagined the princess with the pea did. There was some kind of constant discomfort, only instead of it being caused by a pea under his mattress, it was as if something were inside of his spine. Whatever was going on, it stopped him from getting comfortable enough to sleep.

While he felt bad for sleeping to begin with, his body was dead tired. When he had lain down, it was as if he were filled with lead. Heavy, exhausted — in theory, he shouldn't have even been able to keep his eyes open. Yet no matter how hard he tried to sleep, he couldn't. Something kept him awake. Deep in his gut, Zes knew it had to do with Anj.

The twins had always been connected in ways that seemed implausible. Anj had better instincts than Zes. Whenever something bad happened, Anj could just tell. A long time ago when Zes had broken an arm at school and his brother had been home sick, Anj had known right away what happened on the playground. He told their mother to go to the school and complained of pain so bad that Anj had gotten an X-ray taken at the hospital too. When Zes was taken to the underworld by the demons, his brother claimed to have felt a lot of the same torture he had suffered.

Most of the time, whenever anything bad happened to Anj, Zes couldn't actually feel it physically. He felt, however, a gut suspicion that something wasn't right. He knew something was wrong. The only explanation he'd been given by the teaching staff for his brother's condition was that Anj's lack of sleep was most likely catching up to him. Mr. Thantos was the closest thing to honest by telling Zes it had something to do with the demons, but the details were scarce. It was driving him crazy. There had to be something he could do to help.

Checking the clock, Zes saw it was almost four in the morning. Day three of his brother's coma had officially begun.
I guess I'm going to have to tell Mom.
And he was not looking forward to that conversation. Especially since he knew he'd get chewed out for not saying something sooner. Anj wouldn't have wanted her to know right away, though. She'd have worried too much and then come over and smothered him. So Zes had pleaded with the staff to let his brother have a couple of days to rest, hoping everything would go back to normal. Even if Zes knew he was only deluding himself with a fantasy, he'd been banking on the theory that Anj was only catching up on much-needed sleep.

Zes left Teague's guest bedroom and frowned, once again startled by the murals on the walls. Teague was a great artist when he tried. There were lifelike images of animals and well-detailed landscapes on the walls of his den. While Zes knew it was a memory experiment, the whole thing creeped him out. Especially the large, near-perfect image of the underworld that happened to be painted right next to the guest room.

A tornado was to Zes's right, and next to that were two people, one of whom Zes was almost certain looked like Cheyenne. The details were fuzzy on the figure, but something about it made him think of her. She stood next to a young man who had wild-looking hair, almost like there were horns on his head. Maybe Denver? But that didn't seem right. Denver didn't have horns. Zes did, but they were small, not large and demonic like in the picture. The male had a circle on his arm, and looking at it made the brand on Zes's arm burn all over again.

“It's not me,” he whispered, and made his way to the kitchen to try and find something to eat, or coffee.

Zes had picked some up from the cafeteria the other day. Teague didn't keep coffee in his room, but then again, Zes didn't want to imagine the kid on the stuff. The countless amounts of soda in the refrigerator were more than enough caffeine and sugar to make him hyper. Zes, on the other hand, didn't care much for soda, at least not the citrusy kind Teague had. Rather than overload Teague's space with his own things, Zes had tried to keep things simple. Besides, he'd need the extra boost from the coffee. He had a feeling it was going to be another long day.

He started a pot and then searched through the cupboards for something to eat. Cereal seemed to be all that Teague owned. His cupboards were filled with different varieties, and his refrigerator was stocked with multiple gallons of milk. At least none of it was expired. Zes couldn't imagine eating so much cereal. He'd have gotten sick of it a long time ago. In the freezer, there were toaster pastries, a tube of cookie dough, and a box full of sticks of butter. One shelf of the cupboards was filled with boxed macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles.

Shuddering at the idea of Teague using a stove, Zes grabbed a pot and filled it with water. Macaroni and cheese sounded good to him then. It had always been one of the boy's comfort foods. Granted, the kind Zes and his brother made was a bit fancier than the stuff from the box, but it would do for the time being.

“You're up earlier than I thought,” Teague said, entering the room. He was already dressed and ready to go for the day, although the sun hadn't risen yet.

Zes shrugged. “Couldn't sleep anymore. What about you?”

“I had a bad dream.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Zes said. He wasn't sure how to respond. At least the kid had gotten up for the day instead of trying to get Zes to snuggle with him.

Secretly, Zes probably wouldn't have minded it much. He felt like he could use a hug, but he was determined to not seek out childish comforts. Besides, the only person he wanted to cuddle up to was his brother. They were always stronger together, but Zes couldn't do that. He'd tried to go into the dorm a number of times. The pain in his arm was too excruciating, almost to the point where he'd contemplated cutting the thing off.

Both of the teens were quiet for a moment. Zes took the opportunity to focus on his cooking and consider what he could add to the pot to give it more than the bland out-of-the-box flavoring.

Teague stepped closer, studying Zes's every move. “You're good at this,” he observed.

“I've had a lot of practice. I do most of the cooking at home,” Zes said, and tried to not let the boy's proximity bother him too much. They made eye contact, and for a moment Zes was caught off guard. Something about his gaze was so familiar it bothered him. Where had he seen those eyes before? Teague was supposed to be Jewl's brother, and Zes could see the similarities, but there was something else about his appearance that threw him off, almost as if he were looking into a mirror at times.

Zes shook his head.
D
on't go there.
“I notice you don't have a lot of food. Either that or you really like cereal?” He smiled, trying to be as friendly and inviting as possible. Teague needed some good, real friends. If Anj wasn't going to adopt him into the group, then Zes would.

“A little bit of both. It's easy to make and not complicated. Fast. I actually like the milk the best. I remember someone telling me once, I think it was my mom, that milk would make me strong and tall. It's one of the few things I remember her saying to me.” Teague smiled sadly. “She said she has a bet going with my dad that I'll be the tallest one in the family. I don't want to let her down. It's small and stupid, but the only thing of her I have to hold onto right now. Those memories aren't coming back fast.”

“I understand,” Zes said honestly. “I can relate to all of that. At home, I do a lot of little things to make my mom happy too, because it's the only thing I have to offer. She's kind of depressed, and whatever I can do to help, I want to. It's why I want to stay here and help even if I have the opportunity to go away.”

“Why would you go away?” Teague moved away and sat down on the counter, a move Zes greatly appreciated.

“Hmm? Oh, school. Going away for school. You know, college?”

“I don't understand why you wouldn't go away for that. Isn't that how it's supposed to be done?”

“Usually,” Zes said with a slight nod. “I've been accepted into college here too. At Vala, I mean.”

“Two schools? You must be super smart!” Teague's blue eyes were wide.

For the first time in days, Zes laughed. “So I'm told. I applied to five of them. Still haven't heard back from the others, but I don't want to go there anyway. The two I want to go to are where I've gotten replies from.”

“Which one do you like more?” Teague asked a lot of seemingly simple questions, but they were difficult to answer. Which one
did
Zes want to go to more?

His answer surprised him. “The one in the city.”

Teague went quiet, kicking his legs a little as if he were restless. Four o'clock in the morning, and he had more energy than ever. He was clearly a morning person, just like Anj. The two had more in common than Zes would ever confess to his brother. Anj wouldn't stand for it.

“So then why aren't you going to that one?” Teague asked.

“Because of my family, I guess.” Zes shrugged. Anj had made it clear that he didn't think Zes should stay at Vala, and at first, Zes had interpreted it as Anj not wanting him around anymore, not needing him. Looking back now, Zes realized what his brother had actually been trying to say.

He stirred the pot of now-soft noodles one more time before draining the water into the sink. “I've always been worried they'd need me too much to leave. But I think that's part of the problem. We've all been relying on each other a lot. So much has happened, it's kind of hard to explain. But if I have the chance to go to my dream school, then I should, right?” He glanced at Teague, hoping the boy's simple wisdom wouldn't fail him.

Teague nodded. “It's a dream. When they're good, you should take the chance to have them come true. Someone said that to me once. I think it's a good motor to live by.”

“You mean motto?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Yeah,” Zes agreed. “You're onto something there. I just don't want to let anyone down.”

“Going for your dreams shouldn't be a letdown. If it is, then they don't love you. Besides, I always thought when you grow up, you get to explore and do things. When you're all done, you can always come back home again,” Teague said.

“True,” Zes said softly.

Teague got off of the counter and grabbed some bowls. “He's going to wake up real soon. And he'll tell you the same thing.”

“How do you know he is?” Zes asked.

The boy gave him a gentle smile. “Because I said so. He has to, and everything is going to be okay. I know someone who's going to try and help him, and soon everything is going to go back to normal.”

Zes returned the smile, humoring Teague for the time being.
I'm not so sure, but I'm willing to be persuaded.
He ate, although he wasn't sure how hungry he actually was. But Zes would have done just about anything to get rid of the gnawing hollowness inside of him.

“Shiny Things, er, Jewl, said she thinks they're close to finding an answer. And my friend, the one who's going to help, he knows what's going on. He promised he'd make everything better,” Teague added, as if he could sense Zes's skepticism.

“Who's your friend?” Zes asked, curious as to how Teague knew so much about the situation to begin with. More importantly, if Jewl knew too, why wasn't
he
being let in on the secret?

“Why are you frowning? You should be happy,” Teague said.

“I am happy, thank you.”

“So then why are you frowning? It doesn't make any sense.”

After pausing to take a bite and think over his words, Zes forced a half-smile onto his face. He didn't lie to the kid, though. There was no point to it. “Because I don't know what's going on. If I knew, I'd feel a lot more at ease. Does
that
make sense?”

“Because your brother is special, someone did something bad to him. Shiny Things says the angel teacher knows what's going on but isn't telling her. But he said he's going to get his sword and kick some butt. My friend doesn't think it'll be necessary. He knows how to stop the bad people without fighting,” Teague explained.

Zes sighed, exasperated. “Who is your friend?”

“I can't tell you.” Teague lowered his gaze and bit down on his lower lip. “He said if I told anyone he was helping you guys, he'd stop and do bad things instead. So I promised not to tell his name.”

“Well, whoever he is, you tell him thank you and… and I hope he does it soon,” Zes said.
I don't know how much longer I can live like this.