The Weight of the World (18 page)

June
felt stupid. She had let an anonymous gossip blog, a teen attempt at
TMZ reporting, poison her friendship with Minnie. Now Minnie was mad,
and war was an old specialty of hers.

June
slammed her palm into the concrete. The ground under her fingertips
vibrated and June felt a surge of energy rising in her body. She
wanted to shout out, to beckon some horror to burst forth and do the
kind of damage that her temper demanded. That kind of powerful
feeling frightened her and she pulled her hand back as if she had
touched a hot burner. The rumbling stopped and she felt her inner
animal settle.

“What
was that?” she whispered as she pushed herself off the ground. She
stared at the sidewalk for a long time before taking a deep breath
and putting the lid back on her emotions. June pulled a compact out
of her purse, adjusted her eye-liner, and set towards her car with
purpose.

“
Fear
is pain arising from the anticipation of evil
.”

-Aristotle

xiii.

He
always knew just where to find his sister.

While
he preferred to live, surrounded by clouds,

she
found her solace in the forests of earth.

They
were night and day.

This
day, when Apollo crossed the lush tree line

and
entered the clearing where she kept her cave,

there
was a mortal sitting with the huntress.

He
was Orion.

Apollo
hoped that he was much mistaken

when
he sighted the look of love in her eyes.

He
knew of Orion's past with Merope.

He
had to act fast.

“
Anybody
can become angry — that is easy, but to be angry with the right
person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the
right purpose, and in the right way — that is not within
everybody's power and is not easy
.”

-Aristotle

XIII.

Astin
Hill tapped on the microphone at Thompson's Grill. It was a local
family place that had live music on weekends and was one of the only
places that kids under twenty-one could go to hear bands. His band
stood behind him, ready to play at his cue.

“Good
evening, Miami. This is Astin Hill.”

At
a wave of Astin's finger, the drummer began a driving beat, but the
audience paid more attention to their burgers than the music. That
was until Astin let loose with a guitar riff that made everyone
freeze and look up at the stage. Astin Hill rocked, and he was glad
to finally be able to show it. Now that he was the front man for the
band, he took every opportunity to show off. Thompson's Grill had
never hosted such a magnetic performer.

When
the set was finished, Astin took a break. One of the waitresses
brought him a soda, on the house, and he asked for a basket of
chicken fingers. Away from the stage and the run-down, over-bright
spotlight, Astin was able to see his audience clearly. A girl he had
never met before waved and flashed him a smile. He was about to go
pull up a chair at her table when he heard his name called from
across the room.

Peter
Hadley was sitting at a booth, eating dinner with Devon's mysterious
neighbor Adam. He must have been the first on the list to get to know
him. Astin decided that Pantheon business had to come before cute
girls and headed over to meet them. He knew that he was likely to
strike out with that girl, anyway. He was never as charismatic in
conversation as he was on stage.

“Hey
guys, what's up?”

“Devon
asked Peter to show me around, let me get out of the house,” Adam
said. He was still sporting butterfly bandages from the attack a few
nights before. “You're really talented, man.”

“Thanks,”
Astin said, shrugging. He knew he was good. He sat down at the booth
and stole a french fry from Peter's basket. “I don't usually see
you around town, Pete.”

“Peter,”
Peter corrected. “I don't usually have money to go around town. I'm
a wage earner now.”

“Right.
Retail. How's that working out for you?” Astin didn't care how
desperate he got, he refused to work that kind of job. He would be
homeless on the street playing for tips before he would subject
himself to putting up with the ignorance of the masses.

“Well,
this morning I had this woman chewing me out because I knew we were
out of stock on something and she insisted that I go look. I'd had
literally six people ask me already. So she told me I was lazy and
ungrateful and implied I was stoned,” he shook his head. Peter was
used to people assuming that he was a druggie because he wore a lot
of dark colors and listened to Black Sabbath. He went on, “I went
out back and I sat down and I just waited for three minutes. I didn't
do anything. I just waited. I know as far as rebellion goes, that's
not much, but that's three minutes she can't ever have back. At the
end of her life when she's on her death-bed, that's three minutes I
stole from her that she could have spent doing something she loved,
hugging her children, or petting a dog. And I took it because she
deserved it.”

“Wow,
Peter, that's dark,” Adam said. He sipped his cola.

“That's
what retail does to you. It shows you the worst in people and makes
you want to enact justice for it. It's disgusting how people treat
minimum wage employees. Like they're better or something. If she only
knew what—” Peter looked at Adam and then changed track. “Some
day nobody will talk to me like that.”

“Like
I said, that's dark.”

The
waitress brought Astin his chicken fingers and a cup of ranch
dressing. Astin thanked her and she touched his shoulder in a flirty
way.

“Man,”
Adam said, “The perks of being a rock star.”

“Not
a star yet, but I will be.” Astin was still working on that
humility part.

“Hey,
where's Diana? Doesn't she come to your gigs?” Peter asked.

“She's
on a date,” Astin spat. “With Ryan Bear.”

“Ryan?
That's the kid with the peanut allergy, right? The reason we can't
have PB&J at school?”

Astin
shrugged, “Tall, African-American, on the track team?”

“Yeah,
that's him.” Peter seemed relaxed tonight. Despite his obvious rage
at his working situation, hanging out with Adam brought him out of
his shell. He stole a fry off of Astin's basket as fair trade, and
sat back in his seat.

“Diana's
your sister?” Adam asked.

“Yeah.
She's my twin, actually. She started dating this Bear kid, though, so
now I hardly ever see her. She's spent every waking moment over the
last three weeks with him.”

“Dude,
she'd better slow down,” Adam said. “Sounds like she's falling in
love.”

Astin
glared at Adam, “I'm aware. It's not right, spending that much time
with one guy. She's sixteen. She's not supposed to be that serious
about someone.”

Adam
shook his head, “If he's taking her out that often, he's trying to
get somewhere fast.”

Astin
put his food down. His appetite was gone.

“How's
Diana doing after that whole... migraine thing?” Peter asked.

“Fine.
She bounced back quick. But Ryan stayed at the hospital all night. I
mean... know your place, dude. That was their first date and he was
acting like they were engaged.”

“Trying
too hard,” Adam suggested.

“Or
he's really into her,” Peter said. “I know that might blow your
minds, but maybe he's actually in love with her.”

“Shut
up, Peter,” Astin said.

“You
shut up! They've been on the track team together. It's not like he's
a stranger. Maybe, God forbid, he's into Diana for more than just her
body.”

“Shut
up, Peter,” Astin growled.

“Peter,
some guy is trying to seduce his sister, have a little sympathy.”
Adam waved for the waitress to refill his soda. “When do you go
back on?” he asked Astin.

Astin
stood up and grabbed a piece of chicken. “Right now.” He marched
up to the stage, finishing his snack, and picked up his guitar to
play. A minute later the music started back up. The sound from his
guitar was a musical translation of the snarls of an angry wolf.

Ryan's
uncle owned a boat docked just south of Miami. He had loaned Ryan the
boat for the day. He and Diana had spent the afternoon tubing and
swimming. Now they were sitting back on the deck, eating a picnic of
ham and cheese sandwiches and enjoying the sunset. They would have to
drive back soon to make it in time for Diana's curfew, but they
didn't feel too rushed.

“I
always get the feeling that there's more to you than you're telling
me,” Ryan said. “The good kind of more. Like a surprise.”

Diana
looked down at her fingers. She had thrown a red and white striped
cover-up on over her swim suit and was twisting the draw string of
the hood around her thumb. “You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”

As
the sun set, it cast a golden light down on Ryan and Diana. Even in
the warm sunlight her fair skin seemed as cool as the night. Ryan
touched her cheek. “Try me.”

Her
time with Ryan had been a fairytale romance. He was playful and
well-mannered and he didn't seem to get embarrassed when Diana did
awkward things in public. He was the one person she knew in the whole
city who could spend a day outside with her, talking and playing, and
never once check his cell phone. She just didn't think he could wrap
his mind around what she was actually hiding.

Diana
shook her head. “It's really out there.”

“Diana,”
he said, locking his big brown eyes on her silver-blue ones. “When
the summer is over... I don't want this to be. Okay?”

She
nodded, “Of course.”

“You
don't have to tell me now,” he said. “But some day I hope you'll
let me in.”

Diana
took a deep breath. She reached across their empty paper plates and
took his hand. “Like I said, you won't believe me.”

Ryan
curled his fingers around hers. He stayed silent, encouraging her to
go on.

“That
night, our first date, when I blacked out. That wasn't a migraine.”

“Are
you sick?”

She
shook her head. “That night, my senses went out of control. See,
for the past few weeks I've had stronger senses than most people. I
can see perfectly in the dark. I can smell like a bloodhound. I hear
things that humans shouldn't be able to hear.”

Ryan's
brow furrowed, but he didn't interrupt her.

“But
that's not really the first time something like that has happened.
This past fall I started talking to animals.”

His
eyebrow went up. Diana dropped his hand. “I told you, you won't
believe me.”

“No,”
he said. “I mean... it's weird but, I don't think you'd lie to me.”

“You
think I'm crazy. But, you see, it's not just me. There are others.
Astin can cast sunlight from his hands. I wasn't stabbed in February
because of some schizophrenic brothers. I was stabbed because of what
I am.”

She
couldn't read Ryan's expression anymore. There were too many
conflicting emotions passing over his face.