Sparkles and Blood, and other stories

Chapter 2: Frost and Stone

She felt her mother staring at her back, but she refused to turn or speak. Her mother couldn't fault her for praying too hard.

So God, this is how it is going to be? You're supposed to be in charge and yet here I am starving, while I bet Riordan is stuffing his face. You're supposed to know what's in people's hearts. You saw how he was looking at me. Caitlin told me I was imagining things. He doesn't stare at her, and she leaves an extra button undone and wears a padded b*a, as if she needs one. Why is it me that turns him on?

Siobhan felt her mother's presence behind her again much later at night, but once again she ignored her. She heard a sigh.

"Go to bed, Siobhan," her mother said. "Tomorrow, you will apologize to Mr. Riordan. You must learn to control yourself."

Siobhan stayed kneeling until she heard that sigh again and the presence faded. She had no idea how she knew when her mother or father were there. Sometimes other people too. It was like she felt a warmth on her skin. Her mother would call it evil and occult, so Siobhan never mentioned it and rarely gave it much thought.

Well, if I'm to apologize, you'll have to give me the words, she looked toward the fixture in her ceiling, the only ones that I can think of will get me in bigger trouble.

Siobhan woke early and grabbed a glass of milk and a granola bar for breakfast. She'd put on an extra camisole under her blouse and wore a b*a from last year. It felt tight enough that it should make her less interesting to Riordan. Maybe her mother had never had to deal with men like Riordan. She'd gone to an all girl's school until she'd met Siobhan's father and got converted and married all at once. Siobhan had never seen her parents kiss or even touch. She wondered how they managed to produce a daughter.

"Eww," she said to herself, "let's not go there at this time of the day." She walked past Pwyll's house, but she could tell he was still in bed. The school was quiet. There was the sound of volleyball practice in the gym and faint honks from the direction of the band room. She headed for the chapel for a last consultation with God before facing Riordan. The chapel was a miniature of the church that her father worked at. Some patron saint of the congregation had died and left his millions to the church. They'd built the school as an outreach of the church. A Christian education in a secular world. People paid money to send their kids to the school. Siobhan got in because her father was the pastor in the church.

Maybe you could call my father to a different church, she thought at the stark cross at the front of the chapel. Then I wouldn't have to go to school here and deal with Riordan. She felt someone enter the chapel. It wasn't unusual for students to stop in, before exams it was standing room only. The person slid onto the bench beside her.

"You must learn submission," Mr. Riordan said. "It will be your place as a wife to submit to your husband."

She just managed to stop the snort before it became audible.

"There is much that I could teach you," he put his hand on her knee. Siobhan's stomach knotted and she started shaking. His hand moved up her leg and pulled her skirt with it. She felt his fingers burn again the skin of her thighs. She took a deep breath, but his hand moved faster than she thought possible to tangle in her hair. He twisted her face so she had to look at him. "I've always thought that red hair was a sign of the devil," he said in the same voice he used to drum facts about the Second World War into their heads. "It is alluring and dangerous all at once. Witches have red hair." His other hand poked through between the buttons of her blouse. "You will not wear extra clothing beneath your blouse," he said, still in that teacher's voice. "You mustn't hide your beauty."

He kissed her with the same pouncing motion that vampires used to tear out their victim's throats. She felt he was pulling the life from her. It wasn't at all what she'd imagined a kiss to be. This was hard edges and pain. He pulled away just a tiny way from her face. "I am the chair of deacons at the Chapel. If I say the word, your father will never work again. Don't make me say that word." He kissed her again and she felt his tongue trying to push past her teeth. She wondered what he would do if she puked in his mouth.

He pushed her away and walked out of the chapel. Siobhan scrubbed at her mouth trying to get the taste of him off her.

"Why didn't you stop him?" she said to the ceiling. The room was empty, really empty. She could feel when people were around her, but she had never in her life ever felt anything when she talked to God. Siobhan stood and walked out of the Chapel. She was done with this whole God thing.

She made it to the hall and puked on the floor. She threw up until she expected to turn inside out.

"Go home and clean up," Mr. Riordan said. "You are disgusting. Mind what I said."

Siobhan washed her face in the washroom, then tried to wash her shirt. The water only made the thin material transparent. She scrubbed at it with paper towels trying to dry the fabric off, but it didn't work. She'd have to walk past his office as good as n***d. Her stomach rebelled and she puked into the sink.