~Part 1, Chap 2~
“So let me get this strait…your grandmother asked you what happened in school and you said…nothing?” Jackie asked.
“Well, actually I said ‘Nothing much, same old, same old.’” Devin replied, balancing on the wall with her arms eagle spread as Jackie walked below.
“So how’d you explain the article in the paper and the fact we’re off school?”
She shrugged, “Said that I wasn’t in class at that time and most people aren’t talking to me ‘cause I got in a fight with a popular girl so I didn’t know, and the people that were talking to me were too caught up to explain what happened.”
Jackie sat on the wall, “Don’t you think this is pretty stupid to be lying about?”
Devin turned, walked a few feet away and attempted to do a fancy aerial kick, but instead fell in the wet sand, “Oomf,” she tried to brush the sand off, “Not really, Gramma’s seventy and though she’s in good health she might have a heart attack, I wouldn’t like that much.”
Skelacat leaped over Jackie’s lap, “She has one too, you know.”
“Huh? Yeah, I know she has a Grandma too, I’m not stupid.”
“Oh, your talking to Skelacat again, what she say?” Jackie asked.
“She said you have one too, what are you getting at Skelacat?”
“Not what I meant, she has a guardian too, one the same type as me, though she hasn’t formed quite yet. Once she’s completely formed you’ll be able to see her and Jackie will be able to see me. Oh yeah, and that Chad-boy might get one. Quite amazing that there‘ll be so many in this close a proximity actually.”
“Really?” Devin asked, amazed, “Why do you think that is?”
“Well, it could have to do with you knowing her for so long, and her giving her heart to Chad, or maybe it’s just a freak accident.”
“So you mean-”
“What she say?!” Jackie asked, steamed, “I’m getting tired of all these secret conversations!”
“Oh, she said you might be getting a guardian like her soon, and when you do then you’ll be able to see her and I’ll be able to see yours. Also that Chad has a very slim chance of getting a guardian like her. Seems my freak-ness has rubbed off on you and what rubbed off on you then rubbed off on Chad. Ugh, try saying that ten times fast.”
“Whoo!! Thank you!!!” Jackie jumped up and hugged her.
“Ack! Assault! Assault! I’m being squished! No hugs!” Jackie released her, “Ugh, and thank you for what exactly? I didn’t do anything.”
“Your freakness.”
“JACKIE!!! DEVIN!!! TIME TO GO TO THE MALL!!!”
“Ugh,” Devin looked at Jackie and then screamed back, “OKAY! JUST A MINUTE!!!”
She got up on the wall again and concentrated, jumped up for the kick and then fell once again in the sand.
“It’s not gonna work Devin, you cant do it, maybe later. Right now, my Mum’s getting pretty impatient.”
She ignored her and tried it again, once again failing, “Okay, fine. It’s just, that’s the only one I haven’t been able to catch on to quickly. Arrrrg!” She kicked the ground on the way to the truck, “ I am mad.”
Finally at the mall, Devin and Jackie rushed towards their favorite store, Hot Topic. Not that they could afford much more than key chains but it was still nice to pretend and make sure they still had certain items until they had the money.
“So…” Jackie pointed to a SkelanimalsÔ cat, “Is this what Skelacat looks like?”
Devin looked at the plushie, “Similar, but the bones are more silvery, the body is more like fog or smoke, the heart is right only it’s inside the ribcage, and the eyes are different.”
Skelacat batted the plushie to the ground and sat in its place, “No, I don’t look like that, I’m much prettier.”
Devin laughed quietly, “How would you even know, you can’t even see yourself in a mirror.”
She shut up after noticing the cashier staring at her and the plushie on the ground. Devin laughed nervously and put the plushie back, forcing Skelacat to move. Next, they scared people out of Limited Too, this wasn’t too hard, all they had to do was sit in a corner and stare at everyone. Jackie followed one old, fat, bald guy around and when he turned around said, “Oh my god your not my mom…” Devin ran past her, ducked into the crowd, then into a Vitamin Shoppe, Jackie followed her.
“What did you do?!”
“Um…ate a donut?” Jackie just looked at her, not believing, “Seriously! This guard was following me after I snitched a few donuts so I told some guys I wanted to play a prank on him. If they kept him busy as I set it up I’d give’em five bucks apiece. Had to run before I had to give them my hard-earned cash.”
Devin grabbed a few Luna Bars and bought them, “Yeah,” Jackie replied, rolling her eyes, “Hard-earned.”
“Okay, so maybe half of it came from that preppy bitch’s purse, but I warned her!” Devin munched on a bar, “Told if she left it there then something would go missing, besides, she shouldn’t carry that much around and I gave you half even though you didn’t do anything. It’s not my fault you spent it all on Naruto stuffus.”
Jackie shrugged, “Isn’t Skelacat supposed to keep you on the right path?”
“She’s one of my guardians, not my mom.”
“Right…lets get something to eat…fries?”
“As always, I‘ll get the smoothies.”
“Ok, I’m just gonna run to the bathroom, you get a table.”
Devin got the smoothies and was waiting as one of the janitors cleaned off the table. She put down the smoothies and was about to sit when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
“Hmm?” She turned around, almost bumping into a guy. She studied his features, messy dirty-blond hair, cut right above the eyes; light blue-green eyes; muscular yet lean; in other words, hot. Still, he was too close for her liking. She grabbed his shoulders and moved him back a few steps, then she could talk to him.
He laughed, “Don’t like people too close? Well that’s okay, Don’t you go to my school? I thought I saw you in the hallway a few times but you seemed to have disappeared.”
Truth was, she had disappeared, one of her abilities that she noticed at a young age. She wish she could disappear now, but it didn’t work that way, not like invisible, more like slipping under the radar.
“I dunno, do I?”
He laughed again, it was a nice laugh, “Your funny. Well…I’m Jasper,” he held out his hand to shake.
She looked at his hand and cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t shake it. Instead, she tried to sense him, another talent, nothing. Normally she could sense if people felt violent or anything but she couldn’t tell a thing about him. What does this guy want?
He took back his hand and put it behind his back with his other hand, “Um…”
“Jasper huh?” she murmured, cutting him off, “You must be new here.”
“Yeah, how’d you know?”
She smiled sweetly, sickeningly sweetly, and her blue eyes flashed, “Because most people leave me alone.”
“Why?”
She punched him in the face. A few people jumped out of their seats and Jackie ran up to them, holding on to the bag with the French fries.
“Holy Crap Devin! Why’d you do that?!” she screamed, “What’d he do?!”
“Nothing,” she took a sip of smoothie, “Give me the fries, I’m hungry.”
“To be quite frank, that was a bit excessive.” Skelacat said, looking over Jasper.
“What was his name?”
“Jasper.”
“Didn’t you say you always thought that was the sexiest name ever?! And he’s HOT! So why did you punch him?!”
“It’s not him, it’s how I treat almost everyone-”
He groaned and got up, using the table for support. Devin tore open a pack of ketchup and squirted it in his eyes.
“God, what was that for?” He muttered, trying to get the ketchup out of his eyes.
“He’s not running away,” Jackie noticed.
“He’s not running away,” Devin echoed, voice rising as she silently freaked. Why isn’t he running?! If I have to do anything more then I’ll be dragged out by security! Run away damn you!
She grabbed a paper towel and helped him wipe ketchup out of his eyes, “Jasper,” she purred, “Why are you sitting next to me instead of running away?”
“Because I cant see.”
“Ah,” she stopped helping him and instead pulled the small, silver pentagram out of her shirt. Perhaps he’s one of those ignorant fools who think the pentagram is a sign of Satanism.
He wiped the last of the ketchup from his eyes, “Hey, cool, are you Pagan?”
“Shligenblurg!” she bit her fist, the stream of curses melded into one weird word. Jasper’s cell phone rang, after listening to someone for a moment he told them he had to go and left. Jackie and Devin ate in silence for a few minutes.
“So…what do you think?” Jackie asked.
“I wanna meet Lucifer…maybe he can help me get rid of humanity...”
“About Jasper.”
“He can rot in his hell with everyone else.”
“I’m starting to worry about you…”
“Well don’t okay! I have enough to worry about for both of us.”
“Lets go get a CD,” Jackie changed the subject.
The next day in school started out regular. Bus, classes, lunch, more classes. Devin stepped into English class, wondering who would take the place of her old teacher. She was greeted by hostile stares, a few scared looks, and general disgust. She also noticed it wasn’t her regular class, about half of it had been switched. Cautiously sitting next to Jackie and Chad, she spoke to Skelacat.
“What do you think is goin’ on?”
“I have no more knowledge of this then you do.”
There were whispers behind her and she listened in, more of a habit then anything else.
“Who’s she speaking to?”
“No one knows.”
“Yeah, it’s probably herself.”
“Since she has no one else to talk to.” The girls laughed.
“You really shouldn’t laugh, maybe she needs help?”
“Oh, you are perfect, Jasper; hot, smart, and even sensitive towards freaks like that.”
“Daisy, Jasper, Natalie, and least of all, Melody. If you have something to say, say it to my face, at least then I can see how ugly you are and pity you,” she said without turning around. The speaking stopped immediately and the girls surrounded her.
“Hello Devin, say Hi to Satan for me,” Melody sneered.
“Oh, I’ll be sure to, I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear from his wife. Not how she‘s cheating though, he‘ll have to pay for your counseling until you finally see that you really can‘t do better,” she smiled.
“Hey, Devin, Melody, stop fighting,” Jasper included himself into the throng, he had a black eye but his face was still stunningly handsome.
“Did you tell your friends how you got beat?” she sneered at him, referring to the black eye.
Daisy slapped her, “How could you do this to Jasper?!”
“Great, slapped by a bitch, is that all you can do?!” She lunged, but Jackie was suddenly behind her hand held her shoulders so she’d stay back. Melody smiled and brought her hand back to bitch slap Devin. Devin flinched, but the blow never fell.
“Melody, no,” Jasper said, Devin looked through her hair, Jasper held Melody’s wrist and was standing so she could only see his back, but she did see the look of complete surprise on Melody’s face.
Devin chuckled, “Jackie, I’m fine, you can let go.”
“Are you okay?” Jasper turned to her, trying to see past her hair.
“No, of course not.”
“Why not?”
“Jackie, grab my wrists.”
“What?” she didn’t get it.
She gulped, keeping herself under control, “Grab my wrists…and hold them behind level with my head as though they were against a wall.”
Jackie complied and Devin laughed quietly, then louder, eyes crazy as she laughed like a madwoman, “Am I okay?! I talk to a skeleton cat only I can see, hope all humanity dies from a plague, and punched you, the perfect guy, you still help me and I do this, and you ask if I’m okay?! No, I’m not okay! Why?! Because you all are alike!”
“Are you okay now?” Jackie asked.
“No, just a few more moments,” Devin answered, panting. Just then the door opened and everyone scrambled for their seats. A chill swept up and down her spine as the substitute walked in, his pale skin shown under the light, his white hair was gelled back, though his hair was white he didn’t look over thirty.
“Hello class, you may have noticed that this isn’t your normal class, that’s because you’ve all been specially chosen.”
“You mean…this is some advanced class?” Melody asked.
He turned back to the students, black eyes glimmered, “Yes, I suppose you could say that, now…you…” he pointed to Devin, “What’s your name?”
“Devin.”
“Devin…come here, since it’s my first day we’ll play a game,” she stood next to him and he handed her a piece of purple chalk, “Draw a spiral on the board.”
She did as told and immediately felt a small pinch. The teacher put a small silver thread, about three inches long, in the middle of the spiral. Turning to the class she saw a few fade away, then a few more, then they all faded away. She opened her eyes and found herself right outside a old rundown house. The sky above her head was a pumpkin-orange streaked with green and purple, below her the ground was a deep, deep brown. The sky held three moons, each shining a bright silver, but there were no shadows. It was strangely beautiful. Most of the class was either in shock or screaming. Melody had fainted and Daisy and Natalie were fanning her. Jackie, Chad, Jasper, and Devin were in awe.
“It-It feels so…dead,” Devin murmured, and shuddered. Jasper put an arm on her shoulders, “Release me or feel my wrath,” and he immediately withdrew his arm.
“Hello Class,” the teacher said, then ripped something rubbery off his face, Melody screamed and fainted again as the white of his skull showed through. He threw his “face” in a bag, “Welcome to your new school.”