Almost Demon (The Sigil Cycle) (2 page)

“Just leave me alone.” 

“That’s not what I want, Gem. I want to fix things. Like how they were before.”

“You know what I want?” I said angrily. “I want you to go away.”

 “You sure about that?” he said, giving me one last expectant look and then punched the locker beside mine. 

“Oh wow, Matt, just leave it,” Charlotte said, positioning herself between his body and mine. 

“Fine.” He snorted and walked away.

“Gemmy,” Charlotte started, “I know I’ve been a crappy best friend but I am so here for you now. Wanna meet up at lunch? I don’t think we have any classes together this semester.” We both looked down at our schedules and grimaced.

“Sure. That sounds nice.”

Minutes later, the bell rang and Charlotte walked me to homeroom. My half-broken heart swelled a bit at the thought that someone was still by my side. 

The feeling of acceptance didn’t last long. I sat in the front row, thinking that if anyone was going to be giving me dirty looks, I would at least be oblivious to them. I was, however, left sitting with an empty desk on either side. Having leprosy might have made me more popular. 

Principal Kelly stood right at the door, her back to the room, blocking my view of whomever it was she arguing with.

“Please, ma’am. I know I can do it. Just give me a chance,” the voice in the hallway pleaded.

“But you aren’t qualified to teach here,” she replied.

“I’m only twenty hours’ worth of student teaching away from certification. Otherwise, consider me a university grad.”

I couldn’t make out the rest of the conversation but after a few more minutes of watching Principal Kelly shake her head, she moved aside and let the mystery man walk in.

“Class, welcome to homeroom 313. I’m Mr. Flynn and I’m new, so please bear with me.” 

Mr. Flynn was handsome in a restrained British sort of way. He looked fresh out of college, had a full head of side-swept brown hair and eyes that were nearly black. His red flannel shirt looked a bit Paul Bunyan but the tan cord blazer toned it down a few notches. 

He parked himself right in front of me. I looked up, trying to keep my eyes away from the direct view I had of his crotch. He smiled, handed me a stack of papers and said, with a distinguished accent, “Take one and pass them back.”

I did as I was told and then examined the sheets in front of me. A parental waiver that needed a signature if you wanted to use the computer lab, a schedule of events for September/October, and a sign-up sheet for extra-curricular activities.

“Aside from being your homeroom and an English lit teacher, I will also be hosting an after-school reading club on Fridays. Look-y here on the bottom of the orange page. The first few sessions will focus on Homer and the Greek Myths.”

Silence.

“Settle down. Don’t get too excited.”

A few giggles resounded from the back.

“Do keep in mind that it looks great at a college interview when you can recite a little Virgil or Frost on the fly. Any questions?” 

 The loudspeaker interrupted and let out the single tone meant for school-wide announcements. There was some reverb followed by a pert female voice.

“Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. This is Principal Kelly speaking. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all back to another productive year of higher learning. However, we must all take a moment to reflect on those who will not be returning to these halls. Please join me, as well as the esteemed members of the faculty, in a memorial dedication in honor of three shining stars that were extinguished too soon in a senseless car accident: Mimi Yin, Jenny Goodwin, and Brian Pope. We will commence before first lunch in the auditorium. There are also additional counselors on staff this week for anyone who needs it.”

My pulse sped up to a break neck speed. I couldn’t believe it.

“Freak!” I felt something wet hit the side of my cheek. I wiped off the wad of paper encased, no doubt, with a million germs, and kept my eyes on my planner.

“All right then. Let me call roll before you all run out of here.” The familiar drumbeat of panic began throbbing in my head. No way was I going to survive the assembly. 

“Gemma Pope.”

“Here,” I replied.

I looked up at the clock perched above the threshold and groaned. It was only forty-five minutes into the school day and I was already fuming. Someone could have warned me about the production the school was going to make, starring my dead brother. 

C
HAPTER
T
WO

My brother was born two minutes ahead of me and never let me forget it. He was perfect. Everyone wanted to bask in his presence, including me. I went as far as joining the cheerleading squad with my subpar gymnastic skills just so I could spend extra time with him. Brian Pope, quarterback, honor roll, member of the debate team, all neatly packaged with my dad’s good looks. Harrisport’s potential claim to fame. And I loved him more than life.

I squirmed in the plastic bucket seat while Brian looked out at me from the blown-up junior yearbook picture projected on the screen alongside Mimi’s and Jenny’s. 

“
What are you ladies up to?” Brian barged into my room and flung himself on my bed, sending me to the floor and getting more than a few chuckles out of my friends. He propped himself on his elbows and gave us all a signature smile. The kind with dimples. 

“Well,” Mimi started, “we’re trying to decide if we should bother heading down to the city or go local.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m in.”

“Brian, don’t you have other things to do? Like Allison?” I said, sticking my finger in my mouth in a fake gag.

“Gem, I am deeply offended.” He placed my hand to his heart. “You are my other half. Can’t I spend some quality time with you?”

I rolled my eyes, the irony of the situation was not lost on me. I was usually the one hanging on to him for a social life.

“Fine.” 

“Let’s just go to the lake. My dad always keeps the garage unlocked. We can grab a few kayaks,” Jenny interjected. 

“Sounds like a plan,” Brian added. ”What about Matt?”

“Well, this had started out as a girls’ only kind of day,” Mimi said.

“The lake it is,” I said reluctantly. I had hoped to get a little birthday shopping done since it was always so hard picking something out for Brian and keeping it a secret. Pushing it off until the week before didn’t seem like such a good idea now with him throwing a big fat wrench into my plans.

“But no boyfriends today. Or girlfriends. Agreed?” Jenny said.

“Yeah sure, fine,” I said.

“Yay,” Mimi squeaked, her straight black bob swaying back and forth with glee. 

“This is going to be a beautiful day, Gem,” Brian said as he put one arm around my shoulder and pulled my head in for a noogie.

And it was.

“Gem, you mind if I sit next to you?” My daydream was cut short.

I looked up and nodded, relieved to see Charlotte. 

“You think you can even sit through this? I mean, if you just want to bail and go get a slice, I am one hundred percent with you.”

If I left, it would look even worse, I thought. I would just have to bear it despite the nest of snakes swirling around my stomach.

“Thanks, but I think I can manage,” I replied. 

“Meanwhile, did you see Allison? Barf; crying crocodile tears all through math. She is definitely milking this. O’Brian already exempted her from any work in the foreseeable future.” 

“Listen,” I said. “She was Brian’s girlfriend. She obviously is having trouble dealing with it.”

“Yeah. She sure is heartbroken.”

Charlotte nodded her head to the left where Allison was seated with her crew. She gave me a pert smile. We were never friends, but we were at least friendly. The overhead lights dimmed, followed by the sound of a throat clearing over the auditorium speakers. 

“Students, faculty.” Principal Kelly never came off as an ordinary principal. The best way I could describe her was a hippie. Her thick black hair was secured to the back of her head with oriental hair combs and her eyes had an uncanny way of letting you know they were green from across the room. They almost glowed. The rest of her was hidden between layers of mismatched floral prints and Bakelite bangles. Today’s ensemble looked straight out of Past & Presents, one of a string of throwback shops that liked to sell anything second-hand and call it antique. 

“Today we have come together to cast light on these bright souls.” I watched as the fringes on her suede vest swayed back and forth in perfect sync. I had to suppress an inappropriate chuckle as I watched the audience, enraptured by her clichéd speech. The light on the rear projector went on and thus began the torture. “The best way we can keep them alive is by keeping Brian, Mimi and Jenny close in our thoughts.” The click of the remote echoed through the room while the hum of machinery drowned out any other noise. 

“Let’s journey through the last few years and let these photos tell their story.”

“Is she serious?” Charlotte whispered in my ear. 

All I could do was shrug my shoulders as I watched each jumbo Megatron-sized photo fade into the next. Static poses from three of the most important people in my life on display. 

“Why do I feel like she’s showing naked photos of me up there?” I said.

My fingers gripped the armrests and I looked down to watch my knuckles go white instead of the fiasco happening on stage. 

“Screw this, I can’t watch.” I kept my voice low. 

I bolted out of my seat and mumbled a string of Excuse me’s as I made my way down the row and out of the auditorium. I shut the door behind me and tried to forget all the negative looks as I made my way out of the choking situation. I leaned my head on the cool steel door and closed my eyes, trying to control the heat creeping up my neck. My temper ran hot and cold these days. I tried to push my mind back to the empty feeling I get while running but all I could see were the happy smiles staring back at me from those sterile school pictures. 

I was beginning to forget what Brian sounded like. The way his hands and feet looked. Things absent from photos. One measly video on my phone was all I had. I started looking through my bag, desperate for the comfort of seeing Brian alive on the tiny screen as I held back the flood of tears desperate to break through the wall of steel I had erected around my feelings.

 The thud of the door slamming rang through my ears. I was expecting to see Charlotte. Instead, I was face to face with Allison.

“Nice job.” 

“Hey.” I managed to squeak out.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how much you’ve royally effed up my life,” she started. Her face was uncomfortably close to mine. “I think it’s about time I started messing up yours.” 

“Allison, I understand you’re angry with me.”

“Brian and I had plans. We were applying to Cornell together. We were going to get an apartment and date through college until we got married. We were going to have two kids.” The words were dripping from her mouth. “You ruined it. If he wasn’t always trying to make sure you were okay then he would still be here. Poor Gem, he would tell me, she’s so lonely.”

“Allison, I don’t really know what to say.”    

“All you had to do was tell him no. You had to be a codependent sniveling baby and drag him around with you that day. Did you know that we had plans that night?” She had worked herself up to the point where her shrill voice was clawing it’s way into my head. 

That’s when she starting using her fists. A shove of my shoulder, a palm to my chin, a knee between my legs to keep me from running.
Just take it
.
I’m tired of beating myself up, maybe it was time someone else took over for a change.
 

I braced myself for more impact but the punch never came. From the corner of my eye, I watched as a pillar of black smoke took human form, save for its face, which bulged and elongated until it reminded me of the man in The Scream. It drew up its arm trailing wispy tendrils of fog across the floor, and at the end of this mystical rope was Allison, who was now walking away from me and making her way to the row of lockers opposite me. 

“Hey!” I yelled.

Just then, the apparition aimed its other arm at me and the air burst out from my lungs. All that was left was the silence. It spread its inky hand across my chest and held me in place. 

I felt like I was back in my dreams, trying to scream for help but nothing would come out. I tried harder and pushed with all my strength until tears were streaming down my face from the force and the realization that I was helpless. It whipped its other arm around and Allison spun on a dime like a puppet. The locker behind her was open and in her hand, I saw a jump rope. 

“Poor, poor, Gemma.” 

Allison waved the rope back and forth as she looped the other end through into a noose. A gray mist began filling the entire hallway until all that was left were our two faces, the ghostly friend and the orange handle in Allison’s hand that shone like a beacon.