Children Of Deurom

Chapter 7| Frater

    “Adonis. What are you doing here?” Aidan asked his brother. It came off a bit rude, but Adonis took it as a question of shock. It had been about five months since the brothers last saw each other. If you had looked at them side by side you could never tell they were brothers, they shared certain characteristics from their mother but there were a few differences. Adonis was taller with dirty blonde hair, unlike Aidan’s dark brown hair. However, the two inherited their mother’s piercing blue eyes. “Aunt Ruby had a fall.” He responds “We gotta head over there and take care of her.” Aidan knew what his brother was telling him. When Aidan was younger, Adonis took him out of school every now and again whenever he came into town. He started working as soon as he was 18, and with him being on his guardian list even when their mother was alive, he could do it with ease. Aunt Ruby was the code to play hooky. Aidan nods and waits for his brother to finish talking with Principal before the two then walk out of the school. Adonis leads Aidan to a muscle car parked out front, black paint, leather interior, it was something that Aidan had always dreamed of having.

            “Woah!” Aidan gasps in wonder. “Is this is yours?”

            “Something like that,” Adonis responds. “Hop in.” Without hesitation, Aidan gets into the passenger seat, his brother in the driver's seat. “I’m starving, wanna grab something to eat?” Aidan nods in response. Adonis puts on a pair of sunglasses from his jacket pocket and drives off. The brothers stop off at a local diner, the two grab a booth near the window. Adonis orders a bunch of food while Aidan hopped onto his phone to text Arminius, explaining what had happened and assured him that he was ok. Adonis catches his brother texting rapidly. “Texting your girlfriend or something?” He asks.

            “No, nothing like that,” Aidan replies nervously. “Just a friend of mine.” Adonis nods his head sarcastically and quickly checks his own phone.

            “So how’s school been treating you?” Adonis asks, turning his phone off and putting it into his pocket.

            “It’s been alright. I’m passing everything.” Aidan replies.

            “That’s good,” Adonis replies. “Have you caught up on all your work?” Aidan looks up at him confused. “The principal told me about your chest cold. You missed a few days of school.” Aidan nods in realization.

            “Right. Yeah, Ian brought me all of my homework and stuff so I could do it while I was out.” Aidan told him. He didn’t like lying to his brother, but he knew that he couldn’t be involved in the Games. He wouldn’t understand.

            “You should have told me you were sick,” Adonis tells him. “I would have come up sooner.”

            “Why are you up here anyway?” Aidan asks. The question cuts into Adonis this time, maybe his brother really wasn’t happy to see him. Aidan saw the look of hurt on his brother’s face and realized the question might have come out a bit harsh. “I didn’t mean that in an offensive way or anything. I’m happy to see you.” Aidan reassures him. “I just know you’ve been busy with work that’s all.” Adonis chuckles.

            “I have been,” Adonis replies. “But never too busy to check in on you.” Adonis leans back in the booth and looks around the diner. Aidan looks at his brother trying to figure out if he’s; awkwardly avoiding eye contact, looking for their food, or checking out a waitress. If he knew his brother, it was all of the above. Adonis then turns his attention back to Aidan. “I’ve been searching for this very rare dagger for a client.” He tells him. “I’ve brought this guy like eight of them but none of them was the right one.” Adonis was sort of a treasure hunter, he would search for artifacts and sell them to museums and private collectors. He had gotten into it right after high school, Aidan always found it strange Adonis had never gone to college to get into that and just dove right into it, but he seemed to be successful so who was he to judge.

            “So what did you do with the other daggers?” Aidan asks. Just then, two waitresses come and drop off their food, Aidan was so busy with texting Arminius that he didn’t realize just how much Adonis ordered. The waitresses bring over; burgers, fries, onion rings, milkshakes, hotdogs and even more. “Damn did you think you ordered enough?”

            “I’ve been working so hard I kinda forgot about food for the past day or so.” Adonis laughs. “I figured I’d eat with you when I got here.” Aidan smiles at his brother and the two go to town on the food at the table. Aidan knew he was going to regret it, with being in training and all. But what was one day? “And to answer your question, I sold them off. Two to a museum and the rest to a few different collectors.” Adonis tells him. “I’ve found some more stuff too, and I’m holding onto them for a few days. It’s actually one of the reasons I’m in town.” Aidan quickly swallows the mouthful of burger he was chewing.

            “Why’s that?” Aidan asks.

            “I’m having an exhibit here,” Adonis replies. “Remember the museum by the hospital mom used to work at?” Aidan nods in response, remembering fondly of him and his brother wondering over there as small children when their mother would take them to work with her. “Well, I’m donating a bunch of pieces and they’re holding a bit of an event.”

“Sounds like a big thing,” Aidan replies taking a bite of another burger. “When is it?”

“It’s in two days,” Adonis replies. “You should drop by.” Aidan looks up at his brother. “Come check out all the stuff I grabbed, maybe we’ll grab dinner or something afterward.” Aidan smiles, realizing just how good it is to see his brother. He nods his head in response.

“Sounds like a plan,” Aidan tells him. The two finish up and head out. Aidan didn’t know exactly how much the bill was, but there was plenty of leftovers and Adonis left a big tip. As they went to the car a horrible realization came over Aidan. He’s gonna wanna go back to the apartment! But almost like Adonis heard him, he turns to his brother.

“I got some work to do so I’m gonna go back to my hotel room.” He tells Aidan. Hotel room? Thank god. Though in reality, Aidan was a bit hurt that his brother was going right back to work.

“You got a hotel room?” Aidan asks. “How come you didn’t come back to the house?” Adonis puts the leftovers in the back of the car and chuckles.

“That’s your house, squirt.” He tells him. “I’m not gonna put you out. And besides, the hotel is right around the corner.” Aidan cheers up a bit and gets into the car with his brother.

After Aidan was dropped off, he tossed all the leftovers in the fridge and headed down to the factory, assuming everyone would be there. He jogged the whole way there hoping that it would lessen the sickening feeling of eating all that food, it helped a bit, but he still felt like crap. He walked into the abandoned factory where Arminius, Joan, Ian, and Chloe were waiting for him.

“Right on time.” Arminius comments.

“Well, the boy did leave early.” Joan comments. Arminius scoffs at her and walks over to a corner of the factory to grab supplies. Aidan walks over to Ian and Chloe.

“So where’d you go?” Ian asks. “They just told us you were ok and you’d be here later.”

“Adonis picked me up,” Aidan replied. “He’s in town for some exhibit and wanted to catch up.” Chloe looks at him confused.

“Adonis?” She asks.

“My brother,” Aidan replies. Arminius came over with a wooden sword, different types of targets and strapped to his waist was something Aidan remembered well. The sword Aidan had used to fight Lucas.  

“Today, everyone is going to be focused on their abilities. Ian, work on some target practice, try focusing your shout into precise areas instead of a large area.” Ian acknowledges Arminius’ demand with a nod. Joan takes a few targets from Arminius and leads Ian over to a different part of the factory. “Aidan, we’re gonna work on some defense.”

“Alright,” Aidan responds. He would rather have worked on building his stamina for that fire blast move but wasn’t going to argue learning the move that saved his life.

“And Chloe, Joan is going to work on you with your offensive.” Chloe walks over to join Joan. Arminius unsheathes the sword and takes Aidan over to a farther spot of the factory. “Now Aidan.” Arminius begins. “This is basically going to be like the training this morning. Summon the fire up in a swipe or a type of wall.”

“Aren’t I going to melt the sword?” Aidan asks. “Or is the fire not hot enough to damage it?”

“Don’t worry about the sword,” Arminius tells him. “It’s enchanted. It can’t be destroyed or tarnished by the fire.” Aidan’s mind is put to ease as he begins to get into a fighting stance. “Now I’m going to come at you like I would any opponent. I’ll start slowly at first, but you’ve got ten minutes until I start acting like I’m trying to kill you, understand?”

“Yeah, I got you,” Aidan replies. Arminius gets into his own fighting stance, but takes a look at Aidan and stands up straight.

“You know your clothes aren’t protected right?” Arminius asks. Aidan looks down and realizes he was still wearing a jacket. Aidan chuckles and tosses the jacket off, only to reveal a long sleeved shirt. Of course, I pick today to wear anything that can easily catch on fire. He takes off the long sleeved shirt, revealing a sleeveless undershirt. “Better.” Arminius comments. The two get back into their respective stances, Arminius wastes no time swinging at Aidan. Aidan attempts to summon some kind of fire in a defensive manner, but it doesn’t come out right, it comes out small and weak. Something Arminius can easily cut through. Aidan has to resort to moving his body to actually dodge the sword. “Use the fire! Don’t just move! You have to know how to use the flames!” Arminius yells out, taking another swing at Aidan. Aidan starts to get frustrated, moving and dodging the sword. He trips moving backward and lands flat on the ground. Arminius goes to take a swipe at Aidan who, instinctively, fires a fire blast up at Arminius, sending him flying. Aidan looks up in panic as his mentor flies through the air and crashes into the other side of the warehouse, the sword knocked from his hand. Everyone stops what they’re doing and looks on in amazement. Aidan gets to feet and quickly hurries to Arminius who begins to stand up. He shakes the dirt off himself before beginning to shine with pride. He slaps his hand down on Aidan’s shoulder. “See that!” He proclaims. “That was great! Not entirely what we were going for but hey, you couldn’t do that this morning.” Arminius goes and picks up the sword.

“I’m sorry.” Aidan apologizes. “I tried to get it to create the wall but I just couldn’t get it for some reason.” Arminius grabs the sword and walks over to Aidan.

“Its gonna take time.” He tells Aidan. “The point is, in a pinch, you can get it out in a concentrated and powerful blast. That’s gonna keep you alive.” Arminius begins to swing the sword side to side as though he was trying to stretch out his arm. “Let’s go again.” And they did, for another three hours. By the time Arminius called for the session to be over, Aidan and Chloe were drenched in sweat and Ian was cleaning up broken plates. Aidan crashed to the floor, trying to catch his breath. Then he heard something, it was faint but it was defiantly a swish sound. Aidan rolls away from it and hops to his feet, he looks to see Arminius who had swung the sword down where Aidan was lying.

“What the hell!” Aidan yells. “You called the session!” Arminius sheathes the sword and puts it in its hiding place.

“I know,” Arminius claims. “Just wanted to make sure you were still on your toes.” I didn’t think he was really gonna dodge that. Arminius thought to himself, only having the intention of bringing the sword down next to Aidan’s head. I may actually have a shot at winning with this kid. Aidan shakes his head and grabs his jacket.

“I’m gonna walk home,” Aidan tells them before leaving the factory. Ian goes after him as does Chloe. Leaving Joan and Arminius alone in the factory.

“What were you thinking?” Joan scolds.

“Joan, I aimed for right next to him,” Arminius tells her. “I was just gonna scare him a bit, but… he dodged it and went straight into an attack position.” Joan looks at Arminius surprised.

“Impossible.” She replies. “He was on the ground exhausted.” Arminius shrugs his shoulders in response.

“Guess he’s got more fight in him than either of us realize,” Arminius tells her.

Aidan walks outside, the cold air hitting him like a Mack truck, he tosses his jacket on and drapes his shirt over his shoulder. Ian comes out after him followed by Chloe.

“Hey, are you good?” Ian asks.

“Yeah, just… little spooked I guess.” Aidan replies, still trying to catch his breath. “Wasn’t expecting it and I lost my cool a bit.”

“He could’ve killed you,” Chloe replies. Aidan shakes his head.

“Nah, he was right next to my head,” Aidan replies. “I’m too important for him to kill.” Chloe looks at Aidan with concern as Ian hops into his car.

“You sure you don’t want a ride?” Ian asks them.

“Yeah,” Aidan replies. “It’s a nice night, I think I’m gonna walk.” Ian turns his attention to Chloe who begins to contemplate it.

“Actually, I think I’m gonna walk too.” She replies. “I’m not far from here.”

“If you guys say so,” Ian replies turning the car on. He drives away giving them a wave before disappearing out of sight.

“It’s kinda dark to be walking by yourself.” Aidan comments. “Mind if I walk you home?” Chloe smiles at the request.

“Of course not.” The two began walking towards Chloe house, she lived in a cul-de-sac not far from Aidan’s house. They began talking about their training and how different their lives have become since this whole thing started, Chloe more so than Aidan. She talked with Aidan about how hard it was to talk her parents into letting her enroll in her fake exchange student program and how hard it was convincing them how quickly it worked. “I was sneaking Joan into my room about every night.” She told him. “It would have been a lot harder if my sister was still living at home.”

“Ah, you’re the baby of the family too, huh?” Aidan jokes. Chloe chuckles.

“Middle child.” She replies. “Older sister is 25 and my younger sister just started second grade.”

“Must be nice,” Aidan replies, daydreaming what it would be like to have a full house like that.

“Was this whole thing hard to convince your brother to go along with?” Chloe asks. Aidan shakes his head at her.

“He doesn’t know.” He replies causing Chloe to give him a confused look.

“But then how does it work?” She asks. “Where does he think you go? Where does Arminius stay?”

“He stays with me,” Aidan tells her. “My brother comes and goes so he’s not home a whole lot.”

“Oh,” Chloe replies, trying to think of what it would be like to not have anyone around. It must be nice at times. She thinks. But I bet it’s really lonely. “Where does he go?” She asks.

“He travels a lot.” Aidan answers. “He finds artifacts and sells them to museums and private collectors.” Chloe looks at him in bewilderment.

“That’s really cool!” She exclaims. “I always wanted to go around and travel like that. Get to see what history has been hiding all these years.” Almost without thinking, Aidan replied with

“He’s having an exhibit in two days… if you wanna go.” Almost immediately he realized it sounded like he had asked her out. Good going. The last thing I want to do is go out with someone I might have to potentially fight to the death. Dumbass! But to his surprise, Chloe shyly nods her head.

“I’d love to.” She replies. The two walk in a quiet awkwardness until they get to Chloe’s. The house was something out of a family picture book; big oak tree out front, white picket fence, two cars in the driveway (both van-like) and it sounded like a dog was running around but Aidan couldn’t see it in the dark of the night. “See you tomorrow,” Chloe says, opening the fence gate and stepping into the safety of her sanctuary.

“Good night,” Aidan shouts back. He makes sure Chloe gets through the front door before beginning to head off back to the direction of his house. He didn’t make it to the end of the street before a recognizable car pulled up next to him, Nolan’s car.

“Get in.” He demands. Aidan gets into the passenger seat and Nolan begins to drive back to the apartment, scolding him on the way. “What were you thinking walking around in the dark? You just recovered from an attack, are you trying to warrant another?” Annoyed, Aidan leans back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head to make a pillow.

“I know. I know. I’m sorry.” He apologizes. Nolan looks down at the exhausted fighter, realizing that he, himself had done the same thing at his age.

“Missed you in class today,” Nolan says, trying his best to nonchalantly ask Aidan where he was. 

“My brother took me out for the day,” Aidan replied. Nolan gets a bit nervous by this news, the teachers had spoken about Adonis during his investigation into Aidan, and it wasn’t great. They pull up into the driveway, but before they get out Nolan gives Aidan a friendly reminder.

“Just don’t let it distract you.” He tells Aidan. “Remember, you’re learning to stay alive.” Aidan condescendingly gives Nolan a thumbs up before getting out of the car and walking back to the house. Aidan walks inside and see’s Arminius passed out on the couch. He grabs a soda from the fridge and heads to his room. He plops down at his desk and opens the soda, as he starts to relax he hears his cell phone. He grabs it and quickly answers it without looking to see who it was.

“Hello.” Aidan greets.

“Sup, squirt.” It was Adonis.

“Hey, whats up?” Aidan asks.

“You just get in?” Adonis asks. “I’ve been calling you.” Aidan looks at his phone and his brother had, in fact, called him… six times.

“I’m sorry, I was at the gym,” Aidan tells him, worried about how easy it was becoming to lie to his brother.

“Working out? Good.” Adonis replies. “Listen, I’m sorry I had to bail out so early after lunch. I feel bad about it.” Aidan listens as his brother continues his apology. “I don’t get to see you that often, so I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go do something tomorrow?” Skip again? Aidan thought. I just got back to school. But the more Aidan thought about it, the more he came to the realization that it wouldn’t hurt if it was just one more day.

“Sure,” Aidan replies. “What’d you have in mind?”