Daughter of the Sky, Son of the Earth

Chapter Twelve

Air

I had trouble sleeping that night and I got up long before my alarm went off. There were bags under my eyes and my skin looked sickly pale. It disgusted me to see me like this. 

Letting out a sigh of frustration, I leaned over the sink and closed my eyes. After I had fought off the creature, a seeing pain had crashed onto my head and I had trouble thinking as much as seeing. I knew what was happening. Zeus had explained it to me long before I needed to know. 

He had also taught me a few tricks to make the pain go away but until now, nothing had worked. I had tried taking a pill, I had been drinking water all night, a cold compress, doing yoga and I even used oils and lit my diffuser, but my headache only seemed to get worse. Zeus's trick had been to drink a special drink made by the gods themselves, but I had forgotten where I had placed the bottle, he had given me. A gold-colored elixir. I had never tasted it since there had never been a need to, I never got sick. Which was why I had hidden it until the time to use it came. And now, the time was here, and I couldn't find it. I hid it too well.

I heard the door of the bathroom open before the sound of girls coming in brought me back to my senses. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed my stuff and began to head out the door with my head down when someone said my name. "Hey Kalani, don't forget today we have cheerleading tryouts to supervise," a girl, Devaney, said with a bright smile.

I stiffened at her words. I could barely move and now I had to supervise a stupid tryout. Anger began to course through me, and I didn't know why I was acting this way. It was just a tryout, it would take an hour tops, but the anger only seemed to be fueled by that thought. 

That's when I remembered the strange dream I had had. My dark side talking back to me and in my mind, I saw her smirking at me for my behavior. 

Tensing, I shook the thoughts away and turned to Devaney. "Hey, Devaney. Sounds good, I'll see you," I said quickly, faking a smile as I tried to push my way through her group of friends.

"Kalani, you look awful. Has something happened?" Devaney asked as she grabbed a hold of my arm. 

My body tensed under her touch, and it took all in me not to snap at her. Instead, I nodded my head quickly and pointed to the door. "I better go, there's a lot I have to do before school. I'll see you later," I said before walking out of the bathroom. 

I was taking deep breaths all the way back to my dorm room, trying to calm the frustration and anger building up on me. If I lost control, anything could happen. For all I knew, the school would be blown away.

I walked into the room and was surprised to see that Joan's bed was empty and messily as if she had been in a hurry. When I had left to go take a shower, she had been sleeping and I expected her to still be sleeping like every other day. But that had been before she knew about my secret and about monsters. I didn't plan on explaining anything to her, it was for her safety, but it still made me uncomfortable that there was now a wall between us.

Needing to take off my mind about Joan, monsters, and the headache, I headed over to my makeup table and took out the makeup I only used for formal events. After seeing my reflection, I realized I was going to need more work than I had anticipated. 

When my makeup was done and my hair had been pulled back to its usual ponytail, I hurried down to the cafeteria. The halls were practically empty since everyone was already eating and mingling with their friends. 

My stomach growled as soon as the smell of food reached my nose. Even though I had a very uncomfortable headache, my body still managed to ask me for food. I didn't think I would be able to eat since everything gave me nausea, but I was wrong. 

Taking a plate, I filled it with scrambled eggs, potato hash browns, fruit, cheese, sausages, and I even managed to grab a sweet bread. Once I was satisfied with my choice, I walked over to join my friends who were already eating in our usual spot. 

As soon as I set my plate down, all eyes turned to me and they widened. Concerned looks traveled along my friends' faces as they shared a silent conversation amongst themselves. The only one who didn't seem fazed by my plate, nor my presence was Joan. She was staring at her plate. Her body was tense and her skin pale, as if she were doing a great strain by ignoring me. 

"Um Kalani, are you alright? That's a lot of food on your plate. Are you sure you're going to be able to finish all that?" Asked Mia slowly and with concern in her eyes. 

"Yes, I'm just feeling a bit hungry today," I said with a shrug while plastering a smile on my face.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and eyed my plate before murmuring, "a bit?" She chuckled and turned away. Her eyes landed on Joan who was still frozen, looking down at her plate as if it were the most interesting thing.

"Okay, there's definitely something going on here. Both of you are acting strange," Elizabeth said as she looked at Joan and me. 

I opened my mouth to speak, and Joan quickly got to her feet. Her eyes wouldn't meet mine and her voice was cold. "I'm going to head to class early. I have to meet my partner to discuss some things about our project. I'll catch you later," Joan said in a hurry, as she rushed towards the door, placing her backpack roughly on her back.

Mia and Elizabeth turned to look at me with a puzzled look and I shrug. "I don't know. I've only just seen her now. She wasn't in the room when I got there."

Both of my friends shared a look on uncertainty but thankfully dropped the subject as they asked me about the cheerleader tryouts in the afternoon.

Both of them had wanted to join the team last year but had backed out at the last minute. But now we were seniors and they said they wanted to be cheerleaders, so I managed to make the coach reconsider not letting them try out. 

I was captain of the team and I had belonged in that team since I started high school, not long after, I became co-captain and when the captain finally graduated, I took her place. I was just a girl pretending to be normal.

Once the bell rang, Elizabeth, Mia, and I headed towards our homeroom. On our way, I stopped short when I saw Joan sitting on a bench reading a book. Mia and Elizabeth noticed it too and quickly made their way towards her.

As soon as Joan felt our presence, she blushed and put her book away. "Hey, why didn't you come back with us if you were finished?" Elizabeth asked softly.

Joan gave her a small smile and shook her head. "We only just finished discussing things for our project. I didn't see the need of heading back to the cafeteria if you were already coming this way," she responded with a shrug.

I raised an eyebrow but kept my mouth shut. It hurt that Joan was acting this way because of me. I never thought she'd change just because of what she saw. A true friend would have insisted to know what was going on and would have been there for me in such a difficult time. I guess that's how you found out who your true friends in the end were. 

"Alright, then. Let's go inside before Mr. Filarecki scolds us for beating outside," Mia said with a smile as she intertwined her arm with Joan and led her inside.

I was about to walk into the classroom when I felt Elizabeth's hand on my arm holding me back. "Kalani, I don't know what's going on between you and Joan. But I know there's something going on. If you want to tell us, tell us. Mia and I won't pick sides, but it might help ease the tension between you and Joan. We're all friends here. We don't have to keep things from each other," she said warmly as her eyes stared into mine.

I had to look away. I couldn't look at Elizabeth longer because if I did, I would tell her everything and that wouldn't be good on anybody. "Don't worry about it. I'll handle it. I'll talk to her after school," I said with a small smile.

Elizabeth frowned but didn't try to convince me otherwise. Instead, the two of us walked into the room just before Mr. Filareki closed the door. 

...

Just like I told Elizabeth after the last bell rang throughout the school, I hurried to grab Joan's arm. "Hey, can I talk to you for a moment?" I asked trying to keep my voice soft. The headache was still throbbing in my head and the anger was still trying to make itself present and it took all of my self-control not to snap at her.

Joan stiffened when she realized it was me. I let out a sigh of relief when she turned around and nodded her head. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and sat back down on her chair.

"We'll save you a seat at lunch," Mia said with a warm smile before she and Elizabeth hurried out of the room to leave us to talk. 

Once the room was empty, the sound of the clock ticking made me feel more nervous about what to say. "Look Joan, I'm sorry for what you saw last night. I don't know how to explain everything to you without you thinking I'm crazy or without putting your life at risk. I just can't. But I don't want that to affect our friendship. Mia and Elizabeth have already realized something is going on and it's not fair to them either. We're all friends. So why don't we act like it?" I finished with a soft smile.

Joan eyed me closely as if I were a book she couldn't understand. Her stare wasn't hostile, but it held a certain coldness to it that made me fidget in my seat. 

"Kalani, I really don't want to know. But don't ask me to pretend that nothing happened last night. I just can't. And I'm sorry, I don't feel safe around you and I don't know if I can trust you. I'm sorry, I just can't. After lunch, I am going to go talk to the board about a change in roommates. I think it's for the best. But I agree. Mia and Elizabeth shouldn't have to choose sides. So, I will act nice around you but that's it. There will be nothing more between us than friends in common."

Her words felt like a knife piercing at my heart. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I really thought we were friends. 

A part of me was enraged that after all we had been through, she was acting so childish and immature. The wind outside started to pick up and Joan noticed since she flinched and stepped back. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, calming my racing heart. 

When I opened my eyes again, I nodded my head. "Okay, I am okay with that. And if they ask, we have made peace between us," I said curtly, and she nodded her head. 

The two of us walked towards the cafeteria, making sure to keep enough distance from one another. And as soon as the doors of the room appeared in front of us, we quickly stepped closer together and plastered fake smiles on our faces.