The Mirrors of Fate (12 page)

“
Oh yeah, you two are still here,” Alan said faintly as he pulled Maria directly to his side.

Gina frowned in visible offence. Ellie’s face stiffened.

“
Who are you guys again?” Alan asked, seeming truly puzzled. “I remember you both. Vaguely, though.” He looked at Gina. “Oh right, you’re Gillian.”

“
Gina!” she corrected instantly.

“
Oh yeah, Gina. Whatever. Same thing.”

Ellie jumped in eagerly, grabbing at hope. “You remember me, right? Ellie Blake? Ellie, the girl who was the first to talk to you when you came?”

Alan’s face went blank. “Wow, to be honest I’ve met about three Ellies from school. I don’t remember you all unless the person stands out drastically or something. That name’s a little overused, I’m discovering.”

“
Overused?” Ellie looked like she might collapse. “My name is not overused!”

Alan shrugged. “Whatever. It’s your opinion. But nice to meet you, I guess. How long have you two been going together anyway?”

“
Whatddya mean by that?” Ellie nearly shouted.

“
I heard all this talk about lesbians when I came in.”

“
We’re not lesbians!”

“
It’s fine if you are,” he continued, with his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “Lots of people are.”

“
But
we’re
not!” Gina declared loudly and phonetically so he would make no mistake.

Alan raised his eyebrows and looked the two of them over. “If you say so.” He looked at Maria now and touched her head lightly in a sweet gesture. “You wanna go now, babes?”

“
Wait a second, since when did you two start dating?” Gina pressed on. “You just came to the school and now you’re dating her?” She gave a little
heh heh
behind her knuckles. “I didn’t know you moved that fast. I know you’re from another country and all, but if you wanted someone to show you the ropes around White Crest, there are...other people available.” She gave Maria a quick, aloof glance. “No offence, Maria.”

Maria’s eyes widened from insult. Alan gave her waist a little squeeze, letting her know he was in control of the situation.

“
I appreciate the consideration,” he said, “but I’ve found there are one too many flighty, giggling schoolgirls sticking to guys around here like leeches. It’s pretty strange, actually. The first good-looking guy they see, they get this sort of parasitic tendency.
You
would understand, wouldn’t you?”

Gina’s mascara-coated, big brown eyes widened this time. She sent a glare to Maria, one that demanded her immediate intervention if she knew what was good for her.

“
We’re going now,” Maria jumped in, saving Gina although not in the way the girl would have liked. “That is if no one has any objections.”

Gina averted her gaze and said nothing.

“
You two ladies take care,” Alan said when they pushed past the two witches.

Maria was still beaming inside when they walked away together. They traveled across the road to the other side of the street, leaving the two girls still baffled and angry there.

•

Maria looked at him seriously. “Ellie and Gina are my friends. Really, we’re friends.”

“
Try that again.”

“
But...Okay, fine, they’re my acquaintances.”

“
Still not right.”

“
What should I call them then? You expect me to say they’re my enemies? I may not like them, but I wouldn’t go that far.”

“
No. I expect you to say they’re lesbians.”

Maria laughed.

Finally, despite the rocky start to the afternoon, the day had taken on a more relaxed atmosphere. Maria and her date, to whom she had already expressed her eternal gratitude for saving her, sat comfortably around a table at an outside eatery in the Square.

Alan had already apologized for being late, though he failed to specify his reason and rightfully she should have made him. But Maria was just glad he showed up at all. They had only been chatting for a few minutes and already she was feeling wonderful. Any inhibitions she had before, or any doubts about coming were washed away by seeing him smile.

But that smile was also causing other girls and even older women in the eatery to start staring at him. One girl in particular, the same redhead she saw earlier, kept extending her neck like a crane to get a good look at him.

Maria couldn’t help biting back her jealousy, but this behavior from the staring women was understandable. Not only was he a new face to White Crest City, he had a distinctly appealing one too. But he ignored the curious women and kept his eyes centered on her the whole time. She began to wonder if Gina and Ellie’s reactions were somewhat justifiable. Why was she, rather than any other girl in the entire school, here today? She’d be stupid and naïve to believe she was the only girl he decided to take the initiative with. Look how handsome he was. And today for some reason, by God, he looked even better. His black hair glistened in the sun.

“
Why don’t you just dye the full thing black instead of piece by piece?” she found herself asking as she stared at the few streaks coursing through his blonde head.

Alan grinned and took up a bread stick from the table. “I only have time to do it piece by piece when I go home every day. Don’t worry, in a couple of days it will be fully black.”

“
I like it. But I think overall you’d look good with any col—” She caught herself before she finished, but she knew he figured out the unfinished compliment.

“
Thank you Maria,” he said, holding her gaze captive for a moment.

She blushed and glanced into her lap.

“
So, are you ready to order now?” he asked.

When she nodded they both picked up the menus in front of them.

“
So, I don’t really know much about you. How old are you?” Alan asked.

“
Eighteen.”

“
Really? I wouldn’t have guessed. You don’t look any more than sixteen.”

“
Is that a good thing?”

“
It’s always good to look younger than your age,” he reminded her with a sly wink.

A strategic sip of water from her glass prevented her from smiling giddily.

“
Wait, then you actually turned sixteen in grade nine? A little old.”

“
Yeah, well, only because I’m a Taurus. And I’m adopted, so I did have a hard time starting out and finding a home, so there were a lot of messy delays. I was pretty maladjusted, even after I came to White Crest City. But no more about me. Tell me a little about Iceland.”

He tensed slightly but ensured it went unnoticed by unleashing another smile. “About Iceland?”

“
Yeah. I haven’t been out of White Crest since I was six, and anywhere else I’ve been I don’t remember much. Iceland is obviously a cold climate, right?”

“
The name speaks for itself. Cold and boring. I much prefer here.” And that was all he could tell her.

“
How did you learn such good English? It’s practically perfect.”

So many useless questions
. “My mother.”

“
Ah, your family. Are your siblings or relatives still there, or did they come here with you?”

The words steeled him. Coldness reached his face while heat rushed to his fingertips. Momentarily he became stiff and then sank back lazily to one side in his chair.

“
You okay?” she asked.

With a new unease about him, he started chipping off cracked paint on the table before his gaze jerked up to meet hers. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” His tone sounded belittling to his own ears.

Her gaze grew concerned. “I’m sorry,” she said with gloom and guilt softening her voice. “Is your family a sensitive topic? I didn’t know.”

He blinked away the iciness in his eyes. “No, no,” he said, forcing relaxedness with a sigh. “It’s not your fault. I don’t have much family left. Any I have are up in...Iceland.”

Maria simply nodded, as though afraid to take the subject any further.

A loud voice suddenly came on the large television monitors and broke the awkwardness. “It’s quarter past the second hour and this is WCNC news! I’m Melanie Richards.” Everyone’s attention turned to the monitors.

“
What’s this?” he asked.

Maria shifted her chair so she could look at the monitor. “Oh, just the news. Throughout the day the monitors in the Square give us short news reports—you know, like, little summaries so we can watch the full report later tonight. Do they have that in Iceland?”

He said simply with a half-smile, “Once again, it’s just ice.”

She grinned awkwardly and then turned obediently to the monitor as everyone else did in the Square. Quietly she watched, oblivious that he was merely pretending to pay attention and listen. That pretence ended fast when he found his gaze searching the knots of people scattered about.

White Crest. This was White Crest, he kept telling himself. But it felt so different. No. He was the one who had grown different. Apart from a few changes, apart from a few missing faces who had kept the promise to move away somewhere better, White Crest remained the same. He was the changed one.

His master told him returning here would be this way. Warned him.
Seeing it all might traumatize you,
he said once.
Only someone weak
, he had responded to his master at the time.
But you
are
weak
, was what he got in return.

Although this was his second return to White Crest City after he had been forced to leave his home, the first and only trip his master permitted almost two years ago had been only to gather the facts about what happened to his sister. God, that trip. Rapid. Intense. A twenty-four limit. Time gave no such privilege to sit back like he was now and observe the changes to his home. But even with that privilege of time available to him now, he didn’t need it.

Only one thing did he need to be concerned about. Only one thing he fully understood. Only one truth he needed to remember. He had been robbed of too many things in this life and from this godforsaken place. And the last thing he lost, there wasn’t a shred of doubt in his mind he would not be compensated for. He did not have to lose everything he held dear to him. Maybe most things, but at least
one
thing, one person
he should have been able to keep....Her loss could have been avoided.

Isn’t that right, Maria?
He stared at her. Since learning the details about his sister’s fate during that first trip back, and also learning about the young woman who’d been by her side, he’d had nearly two agonizing years to hold on to that painful knowledge, to brood about the past, and to harbor hate for this idiot in front of him. Had Master not tried to dissuade him to return again, this ignorant girl would’ve been taken care of long ago.

All that time only increased his hate.

“
And in other important news, White Crest City Hospital might be in trouble,” the reporter said.

His train of thought was shot, and his eyes darted to one of the monitors.

“
WCC Hospital might have been the city’s only main hospital, but ‘not for long’ says Dr. Kenneth Golding, who has made plans to build his own health institute within White Crest City. If the institute is built, Dr. Golding promises better health services.”

Maria adjusted her chair to face Alan again after the reporter finished. “Ah, well, that’s actually kind of good. We need more hospitals. White Crest City Hospital has been around for over fifty years. It will be interesting to see how it holds up to this competition. WCC has a bunch of quack doctors.”

“
You sound like you know firsthand.”

“
Well, I don’t know firsthand-firsthand. I’ve never been a quack,” she chuckled, but the punch line fell flat when he did not laugh. “But actually I’ve been to the hospital before, not as a patient, though.” She paused for an awkward moment as if unsure about something. “Yeah, so, I just used to go and visit.”

“
Really?” he said, his interest piqued. “Did you interact with any of the patients there?”

“
A few, a few.” Maria looked at the menu. “I think I’m ready to order now.”

“
What are the patients like down there?”

Maria glanced up at the sky, as if trying to find a way to sum them all up. “They’re good people. I felt sorry for them.” Her voice became sensitively soft. “I don’t like that hospital though. You can’t believe how depressing and scary it is there. I don’t know what I’d do if I was forced to stay for a long time in a place like that.”

His pulse quickened. “Is there anyone in particular you remember? Like someone who touched you in a certain way?”

“
That touched me...”

“
Just off the top of your head,” he persisted and waited.

“
Well, there was this little Chinese girl. She was crippled from a bad accident. She was about...Well, she was young. The girl was so sweet.”

His eyes flinched at the casualness of her tone.
The girl. She was just some girl.