Bloodlines: Everything That Glitters (2 page)

“She is no ordinary Genesis, Psenora, look at her eyes, her skin! This is the one Masaya is looking for!” Bonnie exclaimed wildly.

I stared around meeting the eyes of three of my sisters, “Please, I beg only for your silence in this matter, don’t tell anyone,” I whispered as tears began to form in my eyes. “She is not full blooded.”

“Of that we are
positive,” Centure said as she leaned in for a closer look of the baby. “What we are not sure about is what the other half may be?”

The rest of the women looked warily at me, only allowing a small portion of concern for me and the child to show through on their expressions. I could tell what they were all thinking just from reading the gaze on their faces.

Once again I inhaled deeply as I looked around to meet their eyes, “She is of a god, the last one.”

Centure shook her head softly then lifted the child from my hands, “I’ll tend to her while Felicia mends you.”

This must have been the worst part of the separation process- stitching the aura back together was even more painful than having it torn in the beginning. I watched Centure as she drifted away with my baby and was slightly tempted to stop her, but in my weakened state I couldn’t gather the strength to even move my mouth anymore. Somehow I knew I could trust her to not betray me; she’d never given me a reason not to, besides, she was my mother.

“We will keep your secret,” Gina said as she helped Felicia. “But this must be the end of your affair with the god.”

I looked up into the sunlight and slowly floated off into a light sleep. “I will no longer stay in this world,” I replied before completely shutting my eyes.

Alizarin

Sunday August 22, 2010

It was the middle of August when my family decided to move to New Market, Alabama. I can’t say I was totally against the idea of uprooting everything I had in Hot Springs and moving away. I welcomed the thought of having a fresh start. 

“Come on, Alizarin!” my brother yelled from the passenger window of the new jet-black Lexus I’d gotten a few months earlier. Since my parents didn’t spend much time at home, they tried to make up for it materially.

“We’re already ridiculously behind schedule. A few more minutes won’t kill you!” I yelled back as I took a key from my pocket and locked the front door of the barren house. I sighed. I didn’t know when I’d return—if ever. My legs barely wanted to carry me to the car as I walked away, but that could have been attributed to the lack of sleep the night before.

I reflected on all of the memories and friends I would be leaving behind; breaking the news to May and Lee that I was moving nearly five hours away was the hardest thing I’d had to do. They had been my best friends since third grade. I smiled at our adventures; there would be no more sneaking out of windows and enjoying the late-night happenings, doing circles in empty parking lots, or even just relaxing by the pool. Not to mention the enjoyable dangers we’d managed to get into a number of those times, including attempting to pin Lee to the roof of the car with duct tape before we continued circling the parking lot.

“
It’ll be alright, Alizarin; I'm sure you’ll make new friends, better ones,” my mom told me the day she and Dad broke the news. I had been more upset then than I was the day I left.

I stopped for a second and looked up at the grey-and-red, two-story house I was leaving for good. Every memory worth remembering took place right there in that town and in that very house: the first time I rode a bike, my sweet 16, and even losing my virginity. I cringed at the memory of the last thought; I hadn’t been even remotely prepared for that experience—first pain, then pleasure.

Although I’d told myself I wouldn’t reminisce, I couldn’t help but reflect on that day momentarily. Because my parents were off enjoying a four-day cruise, and Jasmine and Ash were staying with friends, Joseph had come over to help with homework and hang out for the next couple of days. I still remembered what he was wearing that night: a white-and-blue plaid shirt so tight I could see the imprint of his abs, and his blue jeans were slightly worn and ripped at the knees. I smiled as visions of his amazing green eyes and spiked blond hair danced across my brain.

But soon my smile faded when I remembered the part where after we’d done the deed he was suddenly in a rush to leave. I didn’t even have the chance to ask him where he was going or when he’d be back and, needless to say, that was the last time I saw Joseph. Not because I didn’t want to, he was just never at school anymore, and he never answered any of my phone calls. It was as if he had just disappeared off the face of the earth. After a while of thinking he’d run off with friends like he’d done countless of times before, his parents started a neighborhood search team in an effort to find him. When he eventually returned home, things were never the same.
The phrase ‘April Showers’ had developed a whole new meaning for me.

“Hey, Aliza, are you alright?”

I felt Ash’s warm hand touch my shoulder, then shook off my thoughts. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just taking a trip down memory lane, that’s all.” My heart skipped a beat as a cold chill blew across the driveway.

“We need to be taking another trip right now. Put some pep in your step and let’s get on the road.”

New beginnings
,
I thought.
New house, new life, new friends.

“You could have left with Mom and Dad, you know?” I teased while opening the driver’s door.

“And listen to six hours of nonstop music from the nineteen hundreds? I don’t think so,” he replied as he got comfortable in the passenger seat.

I gave the house one last glance, staring up at the wide window on the second story where my room had once been. “It’s all for the best isn’t it, Ash?” I said in
an almost a whisper, trying to cast the memories aside. The more I thought about it, my heart ached.

“Yeah, maybe. You might like it there more than here.”

I put the car in reverse and began backing out of the driveway; I looked up once more, shifted into drive and sped down the street. Leaves fell from the trees and stuck to the windshield as we traveled out of Hot Springs. I was surprised my parents had let Ash and I make the drive alone, since we’d never even seen the new house before. Lately though, they’d been letting us get away with more stuff than usual, including staying out after curfew. I guess it was their way of apologizing for moving us away from everything we knew and loved.

“So what are we going to do for the next six hours?” I said, turning the radio off and nudging Ash lightly.

“I know what I’m going to do,” he replied, pulling a small pillow from under the seat. “Wake me when we get there.”

I shook my head and turned the radio back on, turning the volume up as high as it could go.

“Turn it down, Aliza. Are you crazy?”

“I love this song!” I screamed over the horribly loud and horribly stupid song.

Ash sat up and hit the power button, turning the song off. “Immature.”

“You would know. It is your middle name after all.”

A light mist fell over the road as I rounded the curves in the highway. Traffic was minimal to none so I drove slightly above the speed limit. Instead of riding with the air conditioning on, I wanted to feel the coolness of the mist and warmth of the outside air blow through my hair. Since I didn’t have a convertible like Ash, I opened the sunroof, letting the breeze blow through my long hair.

I looked into the rearview, glancing at the road behind and catching a glimpse of my almond-shaped eyes. They were light hazel, in fact almost the same color as my wavy hair, which was actually closer to chestnut than hazel. I took one of my hands away from the steering wheel and ran my fingers through the tangled mess; I wished my hair was as tamable as Ash’s. Contrary to my loose waves, Ash’s hair was straight and silky; its color was even different, almost the opposite. But I’d figured he’d just inherited the jet-black from Dad, while I’d gotten light-brown from Mom. Not what you’d expect from a pair of fraternal twins, but we were merely born on the same day because nothing about us seemed the same at all—except our last name.

Ash had let his pillow rest against the window, and he snored lightly. I let the window down on his side only. When the window had completely come down, the pillow flew out and Ash’s head hit the frame of the door.

He bolted upright. “Are you freakin’ serious?” He turned to look out of the window and watched his pillow fly momentarily, then slam onto the road like a brick.

“House rules still apply. No sleeping, loser.” I repositioned myself in the seat; my back was beginning to feel strained.

“Well, while you were sleeping last night, I was up packing your shit out into the hauler. So sorry I’m not well rested, princess.”

I shrugged. “You’ll get no sympathy from me.”

We were halfway through the longest stretch of highway in America before I had started to get tired and also before I realized the gas light had come on. “I think I may have passed up the last gas station a few miles back,” I said.

“I’ll look on the GPS and see how far up another one is to keep us from having to turn around.” He picked up the monitor from the dashboard and typed in the search criteria.

I glanced over at the dimly lit screen and focused my eyes on the pinpoints. “I could have sworn we were closer than that when I last looked down at it.”

He rubbed his eyes. “The next station is about two or three miles up.”

“Yeah I saw that,” I replied tiredly, glaring blankly at the road ahead.

“Oh, hey, I almost forgot . . .” He unbuckled his seatbelt and raised himself up to reach into the backseat. He pulled out two bottles of what seemed like grape soda from his duffle bag. “I found these on the counter in the kitchen when we first got back to the old house, along with this note . . .”

He pulled a note from his pocket and handed it to me.

I shoved it away. “You read it.”

“Oh, sorry. Forgot you couldn’t read,” he teased, then held the paper up to his eyes. “In case you get thirsty.”

“That seems random. We already have water. Mom made sure of that before she left this morning,” I replied, ignoring his earlier comment.

“Yeah, it does seem a little strange.” He held one bottle up into the fading sunlight and examined it.

I took my eyes off of the road for a quick second and looked at the bottle while he still held it in the air. The light-purple mixture nearly dazzled through the clear plastic, appealing to all five of my senses. I turned my attention back to the highway and motioned for Ash to hand me a bottle. “Must be a new kind of energy drink. Hand it over, I need it.”

“How would you know that? There’s no label of any kind.” He examined the bottle, then turned his head to look at me and frowned as he tossed the bottle onto my lap. “Are you actually going to drink it?”

“I don’t see why not. Seems ok to me.” I twisted the cap off, took a tiny sip and swished the juice around in my mouth.

“What does it taste like?” Ash questioned.

I swallowed the last bit I held in my mouth. “It’s actually pretty good and tastes like grape juice or something. Drink up.” I then drank from the bottle until I had emptied it.

Ash looked at his bottle one more time, then shrugged. “What the heck.” He took the cap off and consumed the juice.

Two miles later we approached the service station. A stabbing pain shot up my back, and I jerked the wheel of the car, causing Ash’s head to lightly hit the window.

“That one was unintentional,” I said before he could return the blow.

“You have a real problem, you know that?” he replied

I stared through the windshield as I eased the car off the road. “Take a look at this place.”

The outside wood of the building was old and rotten, and there were more than a few shingles missing on the roof. I pulled up to the closest pump and put the car in park. “After this there’s no more stopping, so if you have to pee you should do it now,” I said.