NEWBORN: Book One of the Newborn Trilogy (27 page)

I can’t decide whether I feel sorrier for him
or angrier at her. “Oh, Dad,” I say to him. “That’s – that’s
terrible. I’m sorry she’s being so cruel. She
can’t
be happy
– you know that, don’t you? A happy person doesn’t go this far out
of their way to make someone else miserable. She can’t be
happy.”

“I don’t know, Nora Rae,” he says. “I don’t
know much about her anymore. Everything I thought I knew is gone.
She’s a new woman with new principles and new priorities. I mean,
sure – the girl I married would never have settled so fast. On me
or anyone. All that’s changed. Everything’s changed now.”

I’ve never heard him so forlorn. I’m changing
the subject. “When are you coming to visit me?” I ask him, trying
to spin a cheerful tone around my words. “Soon, I hope! It better
be soon, Dad.”

“We’ll see.” But I can hear the smile on his
face. “I’ve got a bathroom I’m supposed to finish in two weeks and
I’m going to need every day. Anytime, once that’s done. Tell me
what works for you.”

The door opens and Kiri walks in, hauling her
cello case. “Okay, Dad,” I tell him. “I will let you know. In the
meantime stay well, stay healthy. And please oh please don’t let
Mom’s antics get you down. I think she’s gone off the deep end or
something. Whatever is happening is not positive. Don’t think she’s
having the time of her life or anything. Just try and have
yours.”

A dry chuckle. “Will do, Nora Rae, will do.
Study hard, enjoy yourself, and most of all don’t worry about your
parents – me or your mother. We’ll be fine in the long run of
things. College is a time in life that’s about you. Nobody else. So
live up to that. Ignore what’s happening at home.”

Ugh. Does he know me? “I’ll try, Dad.”

“Heh, okay. Goodnight, Nora Rae. Love
ya.”

“Night, Dad. Love you, too.”

Putting my phone on the desk, I turn around
to see Kiri removing her cello from its case. Gingerly, she sets it
on her bed and turns to me. “Want to grab a bite to eat?” she asks.
“Skipped lunch today. I’m starving!”

I look to my computer screen where my essay
on essays is unfinished. Geez, that cursor blinks a lot. “No
thanks,” I tell her. “I’ve got this essay to finish for Dr. Tuten.
It’s going slowly and I’m blank. Got nothing.”

“Take a break,” is Kiri’s solution. “That’s
what I do when I can’t think. The other thing I do? Eat! Come with
me and we can do both. Once we get back you’ll be able to finish in
half an hour.”

Scratching my thin stomach, I try feeling
something. Nope. Still no appetite. I could go with Kiri and not
eat. She’d probably think I’m weird. It’s not like I can force it
down either. It’s not necessarily the
complete
absence of
hunger, but rather the complete inability to eat food. If I force
it down it
will
come up. Wouldn’t be pretty. Might put Kiri
off her dinner. Can’t have that.

“I should keep working. I’ll be too tired if
I put it off. I promise I’ll come another time. Sound good?”

How is later going to be any
different?
my alter ego asks.

Stalling
, I point out.

Kiri’s eyes narrow. “Nora, I have never seen
you eat.”

“Yes you have!” I say desperately. These are
dangerous waters. “At – err – The Mousetrap! You saw me eat
there.”

She shakes her head. “No, I didn’t. I saw you
drink. Drink a lot, actually. But no food. Seriously, Nora – I’ve
never seen you eat as much as a pastry! Not here in our room or
anywhere. You don’t have food here.”

I stare into her glasses. “What are you
saying?”

Tenseness fills the room.

“Nothing at all,” Kiri says after a long
pause. “Simply that… that maybe you should eat more often.”

My lie comes too easily. “I do eat!”

“We’ll see about that,” Kiri remarks, her
voice high and sly. “I’m holding you to your promise to come eat
with me later. We’ll see how much you eat. Whether you’re…” Her
words falter and break apart.

“Yes?” I push, staring her down.

No answer comes.

* * *

The next month passes uneventfully.

September turns to October. The leaves change
color, their edges finding a ginger tinge before falling – the
beauty of their spiraling grace descending to the ground around
Evergreen State College like a twirling, multicolored skirt. They
build up in corners and stairwells around dorm building C.

Gabriel becomes evanescent as the days pass.
One moment he’s by my side and the next he’s running off on
errands. He informs me he’s doing reconnaissance work around the
newly discovered vampire lair.

Our romance plateaus.

We’ve reached the point where we kiss every
time we meet – whether in my dorm or on the beach at Eld Inlet. But
we have yet to go further. I can’t tell whether it’s his hesitation
or mine holding us back.

Wolf, on the other hand, has become
nonexistent. Not long after our rendezvous in the forest he starts
skipping Dr. Tuten’s class. I’m saddened by this. English 301: The
Art of the Essay, had been my favorite class. But only because Wolf
was there. Now class is stiff and boring – painful to the ears and
debilitating to the mind. Dr. Tuten seemingly wants us to copy his
tiresome style of writing. Perhaps that’s why my werewolf friend
quit. In any case, I miss him terribly.

I also miss my parents. My weekly phone calls
with Dad are continuing, though he has yet to visit me. He must
have finished that bathroom by now. As for Mom, I have neither
heard from nor seen her since I was dropped off at Evergreen. Her
unexplained disappearance from my life is painful.

Good news?

Well, Kiri has apparently forgotten about my
promise to eat with her. So I don’t have to worry about that. Kiri
is busy these days. Her music teachers heaped a leaden amount of
studying on their students. Many a night I return to find Kiri bent
over a composition book, her hair a mess and her glasses crooked as
she hastily devours Ramen noodles before rushing off to a cello
lesson.

I wish I could say my own situation is
better. My homework has doubled. It’s as though every professor
realized the semester is halfway over and are speeding up the
curriculum so as to complete the syllabus.

Considering how busy
I
am, I’m glad
Gabriel is so busy supposedly hunting vampires. Wolf is – well –
nonexistent. Being so consumed, I fear I’d fail my classes if they
were around to distract me.

I’ve had exams.

Turns out neither History nor Victorian Era
Literature are my best subjects. True, I ignored
1776
and
Sordello
entirely. But do I deserve Cs? I’m getting them
whether I deserve them or not. I’m doing much better in English
301: The Art of the Essay, and English 103: English Composition.
Turns out reading the class material helps when it’s time for
exams. The lone book I’ve read all semester is
The Great
Gatsby
. So I’m acing 103. I have a B in 301. I’ll take what I
can get.

* * *

I’m walking back to my dorm after History
145. It’s mid afternoon on a Thursday in early November. I’m
wrapped in an obtuse looking jacket – you know – the puffy kind
that looks idiotic while simultaneously being incredibly warm. It’s
not that cold yet, but I like to travel prepared.

I’m mourning the absence of Wolf in my life.
Again he failed to show for English 301 earlier today. I hoped –
faintly hoped but hoped nonetheless – he would be there. But he
didn’t show. I want so bad to talk to him. He may be upset over
what happened in the forest. He has yet to comment on the fact I
didn’t tell him I had a wizard friend. Even though we had talked
about wizards…

The thought gives me deep-seated discomfort.
I had to know this would happen. Had to know he’d find out. Worse
still, Wolf doesn’t know the extent of it. He doesn’t know I’m
interested in Gabriel beyond being my friend. Gabriel was rude to
me in the forest. I’m still peeved over that, but the conflict may
have led Wolf to believe Gabriel and I aren’t interested in each
other.

What a mess!

Traveling across Red Square in the direction
of dorm building C, my Uggs thumping loudly on the ground, I hear a
loud pop behind me. Halting, I wait for him to speak. Not a sound.
Hum… I don’t want to look around for some reason. Not if he’s going
to ignore me and expect me to address him first. I must stick to my
guns. Shrugging, I continue walking across Red Square.

“Nice jacket,” says someone behind me.
There’s no mistaking that voice, resonant and commanding, nor that
tone, soft and cold. “I suppose an Immag’s fashion sense must play
the seasons.”

Turning around, I scowl at Gabriel. “You’re
the one to talk,” I shoot at him. My eyes are narrowed and ready
for battle. “Have
you
looked in a mirror lately? You look
like a nightmare from
The Wizard of Oz
.”

Gabriel is wearing flowing robes of tangerine
today. Their eccentricity practically lights the sky on fire. Yet
he’s calling out
my
fashion sense! Only Gabriel has that
kind of tenacity of audacity, that fantastically ignorant strain of
self awareness. You know, the nonexistent kind. What hypocrisy!

He laughs, the music of him sounding inside
me. My heart warms despite itself. Here I am trying to carry out a
serious indictment and he’s turned it all around again. Why can’t I
be as manipulative?

“Take off your clothes.”

I stare at him. He’s serious.

Looking around Red Square I see nobody. How
strange. The week is over for many students including me, but this
is the center of campus. Where has everyone gone? Or has Gabriel
put a hex on the place? It doesn’t matter, because there’s no way
I’m stripping in public. Even when the public isn’t present.

“No,” I tell him, “I won’t!”

He advances on me. Drawing his wand from his
robes pocket, he balances it on his palm, the turquoise of his eyes
never leaving mine. Geez, he’s so fucking pretty. I love how the
blond of his hair flows into the tangerine of his robes. But this
isn’t the time to fawn over Gabriel. It’s the time to tell him
off.

“What are you going to do?” I ask him. “Curse
me? You wouldn’t dare!”

Eyebrows rise. “I would, actually. I have a
license to kill, maim, and torture all sub Purids. That means
–”

“I know what it means!” I exclaim. “Gabriel!
We’re in the middle of Red Square. I’m not taking my clothes
off!”

The wizard looks surprised. “You
misunderstand me. I didn’t mean
all
of your clothes. Your
jacket. I want to show you something.” Flipping his balanced wand
over on his hand, he twirls it between fingers. I can’t shake the
image of a cowboy doing the same with his pistol. The idea brings
me no comfort.

Eyeing him suspiciously, I cross my arms.
“It’s cold.”

“It won’t be for long,” he reassures.

“Why? Because you’re going to kill, maim, and
torture me like you can?”

He shakes his head. “Do it, Nora. You’ll feel
like an idiot soon.”

“I suppose nothing would make you happier,” I
talk back.

But I relent.

Stripping my weightless backpack from my
shoulders, I let it float slowly to the ground. I unzip my puffy
jacket and pull it from my body. Dropping it on the ground, too, I
hold my arms out wide, my upper body protected only by a thin, gray
turtleneck. “You can turn me into a wombat now!”

He swipes his blond hair to the side of his
forehead. “That isn’t funny, Nora. Turns out I know the
trans-species wombat spell. I’ll save it for later,” he remarks, an
unrestrained grin unfurling down his features, “for if your
werewolf friend decides to come around sometime…”

“Now
that
,” I begin, “isn’t
funny!”

“Hold out your arms.”

I exhale impatiently. “They are held
out.”

“More,” he says. “Hold them out more.”

I’ve come this far. I hold them out more.
“Hurry up, Gabriel. I’m getting cold standing here without a
jacket.”

Gabriel doesn’t answer. Instead, he touches
his wand to the cotton of my gray turtleneck. “Equilibri,” he
says.

Warmth flows through my body from my torso,
filling every crevice of my being. It happens instantly,
effortlessly, without a thought on my part. I can’t keep the
expression of amazement from my face. Geez, I planned on
not
inflating his ego with my reaction. But I can’t help myself. It’s
glorious.

“Feel good?”

Closing my eyes, I allow my arms to fall back
to my sides. “Extremely.”

“Excellent!” He exclaims happily. “The
turtleneck you’re wearing is now charmed. When you wear it your
body’s temperature will become ideal. If you wear it in the summer
it will cool you down – despite being a turtleneck. If you wear it
in the winter it’ll warm you up. Works in all seasons.”

Opening my eyes, I bathe in a bath of
turquoise and tangerine. “Oh, Gabriel,” I tell him. “The things you
can do, I – I can’t even –”

“Begin to imagine,” he finishes for me,
satisfaction glazing his face. “You’re right, Nora. You
can’t
begin to imagine. But soon –
very
soon – you
will. For how can I not share what I can do?”

Is he talking about what I think he’s talking
about?

Yes, pea brain
, says my alter ego.
Of course he is!

Shut it!
I tell her.
I’m getting
really sick of your negative attitude!

“Will you share now?” I ask him. “Today?”

Turquoise eyes widen. “I didn’t think you
were ready.”

Garr! I hate when he does this! It’s so
obvious I’ve been ready for ever. He’s the one procrastinating!
Why, you ask? I would like to know the answer myself. Thanks for
asking. Maybe Kiri is right after all…

“I’ve
been
ready,” I tell him,
annoyed. “Like, forever.”