Darlings (11 page)

Gwen yawned. Pete stood. “You need rest. That
button over there drops the blackout shades,” he said motioning to
a small black button on the wooden headboard. “I’ll bring breakfast
to you in a bit.” 

“Pete?” Gwen asked after him. 

He stopped in the doorway. His elbow rested
on the frame, boyish eyebrow cocked. 

“Is this your room?” 

“Yah.” His smile widened as he shut the door
and made his way to the kitchen. 

Gwen laid, staring at the large tray ceiling.
She was in his bed. Her cheeks felt flush. A ray of light shined
onto her face through the slit in the heavy swirling curtains that
covered the large

window to her right. She observed little
particles of dust that floated away and back again with her every
breath. Fuzzies. She remembered sneaking into her mother’s room in
the mornings after her father had left for work. They would stand
on the bed, get pretend nets and chase the little particles they
dubbed fuzzies. She loved those lazy mornings. 

Throwing an elbow above her eyes Gwen was
suddenly annoyed with the light. Reaching above her head she pushed
the little button. Blackout shades descended over the windows,
making the large room dark, the only light radiating from the scene
on the clock. She touched her chest. The golden figure eight
glowed. 

Andrew?
She thought. No answer.
Andrew? Are you there?

I’m here, Gwen
. His voice sounded
gloomy. 

You okay?
she asked. Gwen was still
amazed at this new ability. 

Yes... You should be sleeping,
he
suggested. 

I can’t…I know Pete’s mad at you
…Gwen
stated, guilt ridden. 

Yah. Well he should be. I shouldn’t have told
you about Emma yet…

I’m glad you did. I needed to know…Do you
think about him a lot?
Gwen asked. 

Rasha? Every day. He was my hero…
Andrew’s voice faded. Gwen could feel his pain. 

Yah…Emma felt like mine…
Gwen became
lost in thought, thankfully remembering to remove her hand from the
mark first. She replaced it.
Do we really have to…end it?
She couldn’t bear to say it. The word…kill. 

Get some sleep Gwen.
He answered the
question for her. 

Chapter 5

A shower felt amazing. She worked the sweet,
nectar-smelling shampoo into her long now tangled hair.  Gwen
was feeling better after her two day “coma”. She tried to recall
any of the time, but only remembered bits and pieces here and
there. Still, her conversation with Pete was a highlight she
couldn’t forget. She was anxious to talk to her brothers and
Ashton. A note sat on the pillow beside her this morning. It
read:

Gwen-

Went to take care of some business with Tina
and the boys. Arthur took

Jonah and Mike fishing. I know we told you,
but not sure you will remember.

Don’t worry the boys are fine. Feel free to
shower in

my bathroom when you wake. Should be back
soon.

Pete

Gwen closed her eyes and took a second to
relax in the hot water. Letting the stream run onto her chest, she
inhaled the heavy air deeply, attempting to relax. The floor of the
giant shower was made of some natural cobblestone that felt great
beneath her feet. The shower head wall reminded her of a cliff.
Feeling the rough, gray, rocky wall, Gwen tried to imagine where it
came from. It was as if someone had sliced a chunk off of a
mountain, behind a waterfall, and attached it to the shower.
Sparkling white lines followed haphazard paths through the dark
rock. Yet another exquisite piece in this woodland palace. She kept
feeling for a shower door but remembered there wasn’t one. The
shower was completely open to the rest of the bathroom, which made
her feel a bit uncomfortable even though Pete said he and the
others had gone. 

Her feelings for Pete confused her. The guilt
that he had developed feelings for her and she hardly knew him was
at one end, and the resentment toward him for never telling her
about her true fate was at the other. Somewhere in between was
gratitude. Gratitude for keeping her and her brothers safe…for
now. 

Gwen tipped her head back to let the water
flow onto her neck just as she heard someone gasp. 

“Oh god! Sorry…I um…sorry.” Andrew turned
away mortified. 

 Gwen covered her chest and turned her
head just in time to see the back of Andrews. He walked to the door
and leaned against the frame, facing away from Gwen, making extra
careful not to turn around. Gwen reached for a white fluffy robe
she saw hanging outside the shower. 

Laughing uncomfortably she quickly said,
“It’s ok, really. I thought everyone was gone.” She quickly tied
the robe belt around her slim waist. 

“I was stealing some shampoo from Pete. I’ll
come back later.” He started to walk away. 

“No, I’m finished. You can stay, I mean if
you want.” Gwen secretly didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts
anymore.

“Oh uh ok…safe to turn around?” he
spluttered. 

Gwen could feel her cheeks turning pinker
than usual. “Yah, I’m covered.” She began to search for a brush.
Somewhat because she needed one, but more so to avoid the
awkwardness. Finding it among her bag of toiletries, she ran it
smoothly through her now dark wet hair. She could see Andrew in the
mirror as they talked. Hair un-styled and rings surrounding his
deep brown eyes, he looked tired in his powder blue athletic shorts
and white college T-shirt. 

“How do you feel today?” Andrew
questioned. 

“Better than you I’d say.” Gwen flipped her
head upside down and flung it swiftly back up not realizing she was
flinging water in Andrew’s direction.   

He wiped his eyes, “Well no need to shower
now.”

Gwen giggled, embarrassed. “Sorry! Makes my
hair dry better.” 

“Well then by all means feel free to spray me
with slimy hair water any time.” He said ever so seriously, though
she knew he was teasing. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. 

“Really, you truly look wiped. Didn’t you
sleep much?” Gwen asked.

He looked guilty. “Not as much as I probably
should have…” 

“Well what were you doing? I couldn’t help
but sleep.” She opened her make-up bag and began to apply a first
layer of creamy natural foundation.

“I was busy…” He sounded so
mysterious. 

Gwen brushed on a hint of golden bronzer.
Looking at him in the mirror, she sensed he didn’t want to talk
about his ventures of the last couple of days. 

“So when should the others be back? Gwen
asked, feeling a bit self-conscious. She realized she was alone in
a bedroom with yet another boy. This time in a robe. Scrambling
through her somewhat disgusting messy make-up bag, she found the
black eye liner pencil she was looking for. 

“Soon I’d say, but that thing is…we will just
say it’s a lot like your locker,” he said, looking at the pink
striped bag like it was something he found stuck to the bottom of
his shoe. 

“Hey, it serves its purpose.” Gwen looked
offended, though Andrew knew she wasn’t. 

He couldn’t argue with that. He thought she
was beautiful without any make up but she transformed into
absolutely stunning right before his eyes. 

“I wouldn’t get too dolled up today princess.
We leave for Everland in five days. Today we work on our abilities,
I guess.” 

Gwen felt somewhat excited for the first time
since she met Andrew and all of this came to light. “Don’t call me
princess and you mean like powers? Ugh, I feel so cheesy saying
that.” 

“I wouldn’t take this lightly, Gwen. It’s
truly a blood bath right now where we are going. A lot of people
are depending on your abilities.” 

She knew it was true. But humor was Gwen’s
only defense right now against a complete nervous
breakdown. 

“Did I sound like Pete just there?” Andrew
teased; a slight smile on his square tanned face. Gwen could tell
he really did mean what he said though.  

“Yah you really did, but don’t think I am
making a joke of this. I just mean. I’m Gwendolyn Darling. Not a
star athlete, not valedictorian, a decent cheerleader, satisfactory
singer. I mean, I just have never seen myself with “abilities”.
I’ve always been…average.” 

“You mean you’ve never thought of yourself
with uncanny abilities of no match to any other regal in another
world known as Everland?” His sense of humor was so dry, yet Gwen
enjoyed it. 

“Well only every other day,” she smiled. “I
thought we couldn’t use magic here?” 

“Well not on our own, but Tina will enchant
an area and we’ll be able to practice there.” Andrew clarified.

Gwen nodded in understanding. “There done.
Look ok?” she asked. 

Andrew could feel his face begin to burn, he
was thankful for his tanned skin at this moment. “You look fine,”
he shrugged.

“Well thank you, Casanova.” Gwen said rolling
her eyes. 

“I’ll let you get dressed. I have breakfast
out here. Pete said you’d want banana pancakes?” 

Gwen grinned: her favorite. 

“I’ll never get used to the weird food here.”
Andrew said as he walked out into the bedroom and then the hallway
closing the door behind him. 

The pair ate in silence, both pretending to
watch the flattest flat screen television Gwen had ever seen. It
was two sided and rose up from what looked to be the back of the
oven with the push of a button. Gobbling down her pancakes, Gwen
thought of Everland. A bloodbath, Andrew had said. She didn’t even
like looking at her own scraped knee let alone blood from anyone…or
thing else. The closest to a fight she’d ever been in was sophomore
year when Lisa Levingten slammed her into her locker door for
supposedly being the object of her boyfriend’s affection. 
Even then, Gwen walked away from the situation. Now she was
supposed to take part in an all-out war? She put down her fork,
regretting her banana feast. 

“Done?” Andrew asked. 

“Yah.” Gwen responded as Andrew reached for
her plate to take to the dishwasher. “Oh I got it.” She said, not
used to someone else being responsible for the dish
washing. 

“Tina does them all later. Well I guess I
should say has them do themselves later.” 

“Thanks,” she said. 

Just then, the crowd returned. 

“I did too get the biggest fish in the whole
lake Jonah!” Mike squeaked. 

“Alright bud for the hundredth time I’m sure
you did.” Jonah looked a little more…peppy than usual. He was
actually almost smiling. 

“Gwen!” Mike ran to his older sister and
climbed up onto her lap. “We went fishing, and hunting for toads,
and pet some animals and even a real live skunk let me pet him. Oh,
and a deer with big horns. And even a raccoon!” 

“Oh wow.” Gwen stated jubilantly, playing
into Mike’s excitement. “Was that very safe?” she questioned the
boy but peered at Pete and Jonah through the corner of her
eye. 

“Tina helped him a bit with getting the
animals to “cooperate” just a little.” Tok said.  

“Nu uh, Gwenny I tamed them all by myself,”
the boy glowered at Tok, who just shrugged and ruffled Mikes hair
as he grabbed a protein bar from the cupboard and made his way to
the family room. “Art you on watch?” Tok hollered behind him. He
kicked off his red and white tennis shoes on the way back by the
front door.  Tok looked so much like Andrew Gwen thought. All
those boys had the same style. Athletic shorts and T-shirts seemed
to be the theme. 

“Yuuup.” Art bellowed in his deep voice while
rummaging through the cupboard for a mid-morning snack. Settling on
chocolate chip granola bars, he tossed them out to Jonah Pete and
Mike. 

“Tina, did you want one?” Jonah asked,
holding up his, in a much sweeter tone than Gwen was used to
hearing out of her brother. 

Tina sweetly responded. “Um no, that’s ok,
thanks.” Gwen couldn’t believe her ears. Tina sounded
actually…nice. She even smiled. “Let’s go hang out with Tok.
Michael maybe there’s some cartoons on.” 

“Yessss!” Mike put his arms out and made
flying noises all the way into the family room. Jonah and Tina
followed. 

Stopping just before he reached the hallway
Jonah said with aversion, “Gwen, what the hell are you wearing?” he
asked examining Gwen’s attire of black spandex and nursing home
special of a sweatshirt. 

“Why don’t you ask your friend there,” she
said, sarcastically smiling. 

“What? I think it’s rather stylish,” Tina
snipped, her grin matching Gwen’s sarcastic smile. She continued to
the hallway, her black V-neck T-shirt and form fitting blue jeans,
adorned with perfectly positioned glittery stitching on the back
pockets, hugged her curves flawlessly as she swung her sassy
hips. 

“Now I get it,” Andrew said as he laughed to
himself, referring to her odd ensemble. 

Gwen was mortified. 

“Here.” Pete tossed Gwen a red bag full of
what felt like clothes, or at least that’s what she hoped.  He
had on stylish jeans and a black and red form fitting designer
shirt. His hair was the typical messy structured ‘do he always
wore. “These will probably be more suitable for
practice.” 

Gwen stood and tugged at her too small
spandex. 

“Thanks.” She brushed and tucked her wavy
auburn hair behind her ear as she looked inside. It looked like
work out attire, for the most part. 

“Go ahead and get changed if you want to and
meet us outside.” Pete said. 

Gwen restrained herself from running to the
bathroom to change out of her monstrosity of an outfit. Once
inside, she dug through the bag and got a better look at her gifts.
Within was around six pairs of black stretchy yoga pants and six
brightly colored sports bras with six more coordinating work out
tank tops. Feeling the chill already, she scrambled through the bag
in search of something warmer. Thankfully, she found two zip-up
sports jackets with hoods.