Two Worlds Between Stars: the Seer

Adilah sat on a rock gasping for air, the hot air made breathing difficult. She calmed her breathing and continued to work on the gadget in front of her although she didn’t know what it was yet. She heard her name. “Adilah, he’s waking up,” said Aamir who sat on his knees over Flame.

“Yipee,” said Ivy sarcastically. Flame sat up slowly, “I heard,” he coughed, “that,” his eyes went wide.

“I meant for you too,” said Ivy, “what,” she said acknowledging his blank stare.

“I’m a human!” he said, staring at his bare feet. “Yeah, we found a glass with shapeshifting power so we could fix your sorry body,” she said.

“How long does it last,” he said, examining his hands.

“About another...” Adilah checked her watch, “20 minutes,” she went back to working on the invention.

“Where is my shirt? And why are these pants so tight?” he said pulling at the waistband. “Their Aamir’s,” said Yakir cheerfully. “Here’s your shirt,” Yakir said, handing him a red button-down flannel.

Flame held it away from him, “is this Aamir’s too? It’s not going to fit me,” he said. Aamir looked at Flame’s muscles, “It’s not my fault you’re so freakishly huge,” he shot back feeling his arms subconsciously.

“And it’s not my fault your arms look like noodles!” Flame said, pulling on the shirt and trying to button it up.

The button from the top broke, “owww! Said Yakir,” holding his eye, “your button hit me!”

Ivy looked over, “keep it buttoned, no one wants to see you flexing your abs,” she said. “I’M NOT!”

Adilah intervened, “You kinda are,” she said pointedly.

“Ivy why the hell do you care so much about what I do?!”

Her face went pale and her cheeks went rosy and without thinking, she yelled, “Because I care about you Flame, but you aren’t okay with allowing others into your life. So I’m trying not to,” she went silent. Flame’s expression was shocked, “I want to stay mad at you for acting like a jerk. If you don’t care about anyone else why the hell would you do anything else about me,” she scratched her arm nervously, her gaze falling to the ground.

Adilah looked up, “Flame are you going to say anything besides looking like a coward,” she said, a screwdriver in hand. She brought her legs up into a crossed position. “Well,” she said.

“Sorry,” he said meekly as if that was all he could muster.

“Hm, I always thought that flames and fire would be a symbol like the “Burning passion of love” or something but I guess it just burns away all of your human emotions,” she said.

Flame seemed ashamed. Ashamed that he didn’t say anything else, ashamed that he didn’t know how to use the stupid human feet, ashamed that he was a coward and a jerk but all he did was sit looking at the ground.

Aamir and Yakir stood side by side looking invested in the drama going on.

“I wonder when the elves will be back, I hope they’re okay, Fiare was a bit harsh on her,” said Adilah.

Aamir nodded, “Speaking of which, I wonder where Fiare disappeared off to and he seemed pretty upset,” Aamir looked at Tara’s lifeless body, or what you could see that wasn’t covered in flowers.

He looked down and shuffled his feet, “I never thought...I just never dreamt that an elder would meet their doom this way or die in general. Who’s gonna be the next forest elder? I don’t think Tara had any relatives, did she?” he said.

Meanwhile back at the Jagged Cliffs, Kala sat in the cell with her eyes closed. She wasn’t actually sleeping just feeling the ground. She had gotten used to being deaf it made it easier when Nisha was on one of her rants but that didn’t matter; she could still feel every word. She opened one grey eye and looked across the wet hall to see Iris waving to her. She knew that cheerful feeling anywhere. Iris was her best friend, the one person who took the time to learn sign language. She smiled at her and then it disappeared. She knew that angry stomp from anywhere. Nisha walked into the hall with a grin on her face.

She shook her boots, “Why is it so wet down here,” she said with disgust.

Kala shrugged at Iris, why is it so wet down here, she said carefully with her hands. Kala nodded and then looking at Nisha she shrugged again.

“Why do you do that? Why don’t you talk? You’re deaf, not mute!” she said. Iris got angry and pressed her face through the bars, “She doesn’t talk because she can’t hear! Are you an idiot!” Iris retorted.

She shuffled back as Nisha glared, “watch your mouth,” she spat, “you’re lucky my number one spy and you’re deadly otherwise you would be facing the cliffs.”

Iris gulped, “but I’m your only spy! And I’m not deadly!” she said.

Nisha crossed her arms, “I could replace you with Buck, Thalia, Mimi, Alex, literally anyone. And killing three people is called deadly, sweetheart,” she smiled her icy smile and disappeared.

Iris sat broken, she was a killer, a spy, and an orphan for all she knew; Tara hadn’t been spotted for years. She held out her locket in her palm and opened it to see her mom as a young elder. How could you miss something you don’t remember? But she did. She missed her more than anything. But she knew if Tara found out about her missions and her mistakes she probably wouldn’t take her back. Kala banged onto her iron bars, Iris looked up with her cheek resting on her fist.

You’re lucky you can’t hear, she said.

Kala tilted her head, I sit in this dungeon for hours at a time because I’m useless.

She retorted and raised her eyebrow.

You’re not useless, Iris said.

Kala put her platinum blonde hair into a bun with dusty red tips making the inside of the bun red. Kala always wore black, it let her blend into the shadows to avoid Nisha’s abuse. Nisha thinks that she doesn’t understand what she says but Kala knows how to read the vibrations in the ground like a superpower. She closed her eyes again and listened.

Iris looked at her friend. She looked peaceful but she knew that Kala was thinking a lot and that she would have to wake her up in the middle of the night to calm her down from her nightmares.

Iris looked at her clothes. Her blouse was muddy and her knees were scraped. Her hair was matted and down with the tips being blue today. She liked her color-changing hair but not that others could see her emotions. She was like a real-life emoticon. Smiling one more time at Kala she closed her eyes listening to the sloshing of the water and falling asleep to the smell of algae, wet cement, and mold. There was a mission tomorrow, they both knew it.

Aamir sat by Adilah and leaned toward her, “This is hard to watch,” he whispered, staring at the uncomfortable Ivy and the embarrassed Flame. “Where is Jupiter’s can-do spirit when you need it,” Adilah exclaimed. Just as they said her name Jupiter walked up, her face streaked with tears, and her hair was tossed and turned in all directions. Ceres held her hand, his glasses slipping from his nose and his hair tied back. “Jupiter are you okay?” said Yakir. Dari limped over and nuzzled her legs. Jupiter bent to pet her and sniffled. “Is my dad back yet,” she said. Adilah shook her head, “sorry, he uh took her death pretty hard. He’s been gone for about an hour,” she said.

Jupiter hung her head. “You don’t think anything happened to him,” she said.

“No, of course not.”

Ceres looked around, “Where’s the oaf?” he asked.

Aamir snickered, “you mean Flame. He is right there,” pointing to the muscular boy.

Ceres’s mouth dropped. Jupiter looked at him intently. Ceres glared, “Jupiter why don’t you stop paying attention to the pretty boy over there, and maybe I don’t know your boyfriend!” said Ceres with jealousy. Jupiter shook her head, “don’t be silly he’s not my type,” she said, kissing him on the cheek with a little more energy. Ceres blushed.

Fiare appeared from behind a rock looking horror-stricken, “she killed her! She killed her!” he repeated. Jupiter looked as if she flinched back, “That idiotic witch killed her!” Jupiter straightened up and looked at her father who seemed angry but was crying. He collapsed to his knees and cried into the palms of his hands. “She killed her,” he whispered and sobbed. Jupiter walked past Ceres and bent down to hug her dad.

“Who dad, who?” she asked. Fiare looked up, his cheeks streaked with tears, carving a path through the soot.

“Nisha,” he said coldly, “That stupid Seer!” he cried and started to sob again. Adilah and Aamir exchanged glances. “What did you say,” Adilah asked softly. “That stupid Seer,” he repeated, muffled by his hands.

“The Seer,” Adilah whispered. “She’s the Seer!” she cried out.

Ivy looked up, her fists clenched, “she killed our leader, our elder,” she screamed.

Flame nodded. “She needs to be avenged,” he said. Ivy looked at him. Flame smiled meekly. “She will,” said Adilah. Dari wagged her tail. “She will,” she repeated in a whisper, glancing at the dark skies in the distance and sitting back down with Fiare as the family hugged. This “mission” just got a whole lot harder.