Princess of Ruin

Chapter 6 - Into Town

Aria

"I have a problem," Emery said suddenly, limping into the sitting room of our suite. Mikela and I both looked up at her with identical confused expressions on our faces.

"Ok?" Mikela began, pressing the pause button on her laptop with her telekinesis. It was a long weekend, and we'd been continuing our tradition of old, very bad films all day. "What's your problem?" The white-haired girl was looking around the room, cheeks slightly pink.

"I find myself with a mild lack of clothing," she muttered. "I would like to purchase more clothing, but I am unaware of where I might do such a thing."

"Are you actually going to get something weather-appropriate this time?" I teased, looking over her dark grey turtleneck tanktop and black shorts.

"I thought I informed you that I do not feel cold in the same manner as most. However, I was contemplating the possibility."

"Can't you just buy clothing online?" Mikela asked. Emery turned even redder, and I found a grin spreading across my face.

"You don't know how, do you?" She refused to look at me, but I could see her ears turning pink, standing out against her pulled-back hair.

"I am...not very skilled in the realm of technology," she admitted, and I stood up, still grinning.

"Don't you worry, roomie," I said as I clapped her on the shoulder. Emery didn't have her cane and clearly wasn't expecting the contact, so she stumbled back a few steps and had to put one hand against the wall for support. My mouth opened, ready to deliver an apology, but then I remembered that she'd just glare at me if I did that. "Mikela, we're going into town."

"I'll grab my bag," my friend responded gleefully. She breezed past me, and I heard her rustle around in her room for a moment before she emerged again with her backpack, phone in hand. "I'll call Flynn, yeah?"

"Sounds great!" I turned back to Emery, who looked a bit overwhelmed by the whole experience. "Alright, Em. Let's go get you ready." I grabbed her elbow and dragged her into her room despite her protests. I'd always loved the town near our academy, even if I couldn't afford to buy anything from most of the stores.

"I do not understand why you need to assist me in this matter," she muttered as I stepped into her room. It was, unsurprisingly, very neat and clean, with the bed perfectly made and an absurdly organized desk. The only things out of place were Emery's cane leaning against the bed, her beige messenger bag slung across the back of her desk chair, and a book sitting on top of her smoothed-down comforter.

"Because I want to make sure you have everything you'll need," I replied, sifting through her messenger bag while the girl stood in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest. "Do you have a wallet or something?"

"It resides in my back pocket."

"Great. You'll need that." I pulled the messenger back of the back of Emery's chair, satisfied, and was about to leave when my eyes landed on the book again. "Princess of Ruin?" I said dubiously, picking it up. "What've you got an old fairytale for?"

"Research," Emery said quickly, striding forward and snatching the book out of my hand before placing it back on the bed. She picked up her cane before continuing, "Please, I would like to go now."

"Right, right. Let's go." Why would she need that? I wondered as we went back to the living room, where Mikela was waiting for us. It's just an old story someone made up about the first of the gifted, I thought, putting on my boots with the fuzzy interiors. I put the thought out of my mind as I grabbed my coat from its hook and held the door open for my two roommates, who stepped through quickly. Closing the door, I locked it and put the key in my pocket.

"Might I have my bag?" Emery asked as she made her way down the stairs. In the past few moons, she'd discovered the merits of the banister, and it was a relief for all of us. It made getting to the cafeteria a much less befuddling experience.

"Right. Sorry." I handed it back to her when we reached the bottom of the stairs, and she slung the bag across her chest so it bounced against her right hip. "You're certain you don't want to borrow a jacket or something?" I paused right in front of the door and looked back at my roommate, who let out an exasperated little sigh.

"Quite certain. Thank you. Might we be on our way now?" She opened the door with her free hand and stepped outside into the snow without flinching. It had been windy on-and-off all day, and just when she stepped out, a gust picked up and blew the snow into the air, obscuring her pale body.

"Hey, wait up!" I called, running after her into the cold. By the time Mikela and I caught up to the white-haired girl, she was already halfway to the nurse's office, where students wanting to leave campus signed out, and I found myself thinking that whoever registered Emery as disabled clearly had not spent very much time with the girl. Once she got going, she just kept on going until she reached her destination.

At the pace Emery had set, it didn't take very long to reach the nurse's building. She stepped inside first, holding the door for Mikela and I as we gratefully stepped into the warmth. Neither of us had really gotten the chance to get fully dressed for the outdoors, as we were both dragged off before that could happen. As a result, my hat was unable to protect my poor little ears, as it had instead been clutched tightly in my hand. Next to me, Mikela was adjusting her scarf so that it was actually wrapped around her neck, an annoyed expression on her face.

The waiting room at the infirmary was mostly empty, save for a few chairs scattered across the linoleum floor, posters promoting health and safe habits plastered on the white walls, and a wooden desk at the back with a blonde-haired receptionist.

"What can I do for you?" the receptionist asked, resting his plump, pale cheek in his hand. His other hand was rhythmically turning the brightly-colored pages of a magazine, his brown eyes staring down at the words and pictures with a very bored expression.

"Morning, Grant!" I said cheerfully as I stepped forward. "We were planning on a trip into town."

"Aria!" Grant immediately perked up, a grin spreading across his broad cheeks. As he sat up, the blonde hair held back by his headband flopped into his face, and he had to brush it away with a freckly hand. "Long time no see! So sorry I didn't realize it was you! Just you and Mikela signing out today?"

"Actually, we're bringing our roommate Emery with us." Grant looked up from his computer where he'd been about to sign us out, surprised, and looked at Emery.

"I've seen you before, haven't I?" he asked, squinting at Emery.

"I have visited the infirmary a few times, yes," she muttered, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. "My surname is Harlow, in case you do not recall."

"Right, right. I remember." Grant gave her an appraising look before saying, "You know what, I'm gonna go ask the nurse if you're cleared to leave, alright? I just wanna make sure everything's ok."

"No, you truly do not-" The receptionist had already gotten up and gone through a door at the back of the room before Emery could finish, and she let her hand fall to her side again in defeat. "Aria," she began, looking at the floor and shuffling her feet slightly.

"Y-yeah? What do you need?"

"You have a gift with technology, yes?"

"I don't see where you're going with this."

"How long would it take for you to sign me out and be far enough that they cannot see us anymore?" I raised an eyebrow and gave the girl a look. Mikela glanced at me, equally confused.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because there is no way in hell that woman is going to allow me to walk all the way into town when it is snowing, and I would rather not be trapped here." My other eyebrow lifted.

"We're rubbin' off on you, huh? You're picking up some normal-person dialect."

"Simply answer the question, Aria," she snapped, gaze icy and hard.

"Sorry. Just give me one minute. Mikela," I said, walking around the side of Grant's desk and sending him a silent apology. I did not envy the mild hell that he'd have to endure with the nurse for releasing Emery when she apparently wasn't supposed to leave.

"Got it." My friend wrapped a gloved hand around Emery's bare arm and dragged her back outside, despite the white-haired girl's protests that she could walk just fine and did not need any assistance.

"Emery Harlow, Emery Harlow," I repeated under my breath as I scrolled through the records on the computer. Finding hers, I clicked the button to sign her off campus, but the screen only came up with an error message. I frowned and opened up Emery's records, wondering if something was glitching. Emery looked incredibly grumpy in her student photo, glaring straight into the lens of the camera. As I scanned through the file, searching for the manual override, my gaze snagged on a note at the bottom, right next to the nurse's notes.

"Excused from any and all ability use," it read. The note struck me as odd, but I quickly dismissed the thought when I heard the nurse's footsteps approaching. My questing cursor finally located the manual override, and I tapped in a few commands. Just as Grant returned with the nurse, I darted out the door, blocking my ears against Nurse Jackie's indignant shriek.

"Go!" I yelled as I caught up to Mikela and Emery. As we were jogging off, a gust of wind picked up, obscuring us behind more snow. As we walked through the massive wrought-iron gates and stepped outside the campus, we finally slowed down, catching our breath. Emery in particular was wheezing, and I shot her a concerned look. At least she hadn't started coughing. She was particularly good at sounding like she was hacking up a lung and particularly terrible at convincing other people that she wasn't. It was one of the more interesting things I'd learned about her over the past two moons.

"Why didn't you think they'd let you leave?" Mikela asked as we quickly crossed the street onto the main road that led into town.

"Nurse Jackie is not especially fond of my moving in excess." Emery gave us both a look that we'd learned meant she wasn't going to say anything more, and we clamped our mouths shut, completing the rest of the short, snowy walk in silence, save of course for our boots crunching against the snow. The streets were empty due to the snowstorm a few days ago and the fact that most students, a vast majority of the foot traffic in this part of the city, were asleep still, despite its being the middle of the day.

When I started my first year at the Ektan Academy two and a half years ago, I noticed that there were very few residents in this part of the city. Instead, most of the space was filled with small shops and restaurants in brick buildings mostly marketing to students, while the majority of the population lived in the more metropolitan areas a few miles down the street. It struck me as odd when I first arrived, as my parents and little brother lived in an apartment in the center of the city, and I was used to it being crowded all the time. But it was like the academy had its own little corner, and I rather enjoyed the quiet.

I was still enjoying the quiet until my sibling came sprinting up behind us, flinging an arm over my shoulder. "Hello, friends! I was wondering when you were going to show up." They were wearing a long black coat and dark green pullover sweater today, and their hair was nearly identical to mine: wildly curly and pulled back in a long braid.

"Who is this?" Emery asked, peering at Flynn.

"Emery," I began. "I know that you don't really pay attention to people you don't have to, but you've been in Ability Training class with Flynn for eight weeks now, and they have dinner with us at least one night a week. How do you not know who this is?"

"Kindly explain something to me," she said as we walked past a few shops, glancing in the windows. "On certain days, Flynn, you have far shorter hair, but then occasionally, there is someone who sits with us who is nearly identical to Aria."

"I don't hear the question," Flynn said, peering down at Emery, who looked rather annoyed at having to look up at everyone. "And of course we look similar. We're twins."

"Here is my question: why do you appear different at times? And why are you Aria's sibling, not her brother or sister?" I mentally slapped myself in the face, suddenly realizing that nobody ever explained Flynn to Emery. It had just seemed so natural to me for years now that I oftentimes forgot it maybe wasn't so obvious to other people.

"Ohhhhhh," Flynn said, nodding in understanding. "I see your confusion. You see, I have the ability to change my appearance at will. It comes very much in handy for me, considering that my gender varies from day to day. I'm lucky in that way; I have the luxury of reflecting what I feel in my heart with my appearance."

Emery looked up at the sky in an almost philosophical manner. "I believe I understand now. I read about this in a book once. Your gender is fluid, yes? Like water?"

"Exactly," Flynn said, beaming.

"My sincerest apologies for not realizing sooner." She actually did look concerned, and I let out a little breath of relief. I very much enjoyed Emery's company, but I wasn't sure I could have lived under the same roof as her if she didn't accept Flynn. Her sheer apology almost appeared to make her more beautiful, and it made me smile to myself.

"Now, where are we going?" my sibling asked, pausing briefly to look in the window of a coffee shop.

"We were going to get clothing for Emery, but you don't have to come if you don't want," Mikela replied. Flynn pulled themself away from the window immediately and sidled up to her.

"Of course I'll come," they said in their most charming voice. "Wouldn't want our dear Emery to freeze to death in her shorts, now would we?"

"I am not cold," Emery snapped, storming ahead of the group. Her limp was noticeably worse than it was when we left school, and I signalled to Mikela that we should probably go inside somewhere soon.

"Let's stop here," Mikela said smoothly, opening the door to a large clothing store. A bell rang above the door as we stepped into the warm interior and immediately began pulling off layers before we started to sweat.

"Welcome to Brenda's clothing store! Can I help you find anything?" a small, middle-aged woman with dark brown skin and kind brown eyes asked.

"Yeah, actually. We're looking for some new clothing for our friend. Do you have any suggestions?" I pointed to Emery, who was busy brushing snow off her cane with a gloved hand.

"Of course!" the woman said. "What size are you, dear?" Emery sent her a bewildered look and then glanced down at her miniscule figure before glancing back up at the woman.

"I-I am not sure," she muttered.

"Oh, that's ok, dear," the woman said, still cheery. "I'm sure we can find something that fits you." With that, she grabbed Emery by the elbow and dragged her off down the aisles of clothing.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Flynn muttered.

"Yeah? Probably?" I replied hesitantly.

"Well, while we're here, we might as well look around," Mikela suggested. I nodded in agreement, and we dispersed into the racks of clothing. I barely glanced at anything, knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to afford any of it.

"Elizabeth is one of the most exhausting individuals I have met," Emery said, suddenly next to me, and I jumped in surprise.

"Where the hell did you come from? And who's Elizabeth?"

"Elizabeth is the woman that received us, who I finally managed to slip away from. She was continuously handing me more clothing, and I cannot support much more." I glanced at the stack of clothes slung over Emery's right arm, a myriad of colors and fabrics.

"Do you want help with that?"

"If you do not mind." She unloaded part of the stack into my arms with a sigh of relief, and I glanced at her. She'd left her cane somewhere else in the store, and she was limping heavily as we carried her clothing to the changing room.

"Are you really going to try all this on?" I asked incredulously.

"Not if I can help it, no. There is far too much there. We would be stuck here for days if I tried on every article Elizabeth gave me. Lovely woman, she is. Simply a tad enthusiastic for my tastes." We stopped outside a changing room, where I saw Emery's cane leaning against a chair, and the white-haired girl grabbed the stack of clothing from my arms. "Would you mind waiting here? I am not exactly well-versed in the realm of fashion."

"Yeah," I muttered, looking around as Emery disappeared behind the curtain. My eye caught on an adorable-looking little red dress. Bored, I took it off the rack to get a better look. It flared out at the waist and had a hole in the back, just below the halter neckline. I held the dress up against myself and looked in the mirror, wondering whether or not it would look good, even with my curvier-than-most body type.

"What is your opinion on this?" Emery asked, stepping back out from behind the curtain in a beautiful little sundress reaching to her knees. The white fabric had sunflowers painted over it, which were offset by her black gloves and socks. I was fairly certain it was the first time I'd seen Emery without her boots on.

"It looks nice," I replied, trying to keep my cheeks from pinking up. "Still not exactly winter clothing, but it's cute."

"Marvelous." She reached back inside the changing room, and a moment later, her hand emerged holding five dresses of the exact same style, just with different patterns. "I shall return." She disappeared again, and I looked back at the dress I'd stuffed behind my back. I looked at it from a different angle, still contemplating.

"You ought to try that on, you know," Emery said from behind me, having reemerged. My gaze snapped up to her with her long jeans and loose-fitting, light blue blouse.

"That's ok," I muttered. "I don't even know if it would fit me."

"You shall never know if you do not try." She snatched the dress from my hands and ushered me into the changing room. "Besides, I'd like to sit down for a while." I heard Emery let out a long, relieved sigh as she sank into the chair. I suspected the cold and walking were getting to her bad leg.

"Why are you so chipper today?" I asked, pulling the curtain open to a mess of clothing pulled off hangers and strewn around the changing room.

"Your sibling helped me to discover the wondrous marvel of coffee half an hour ago, and it is just beginning to take action." I laughed, marvelling at how different the girl was with and without caffeine. It made me wonder briefly how hard she'd crash when it wore off.

"Doesn't surprise me. They do love their coffee."

"Apparently, as do I-" Emery broke off suddenly as the earth began to shake, and she cried out, curling up into a ball on the chair with her knees tucked against her chest.

"Emery?" She didn't respond as the earth continued to tremble, and I stepped forward, concerned. "Emery!"

"No!" she shrieked, trembling, and my eyebrows lifted.

Apparently, the invincible Emery had a slight fear of earthquakes.