Wrong Arrow

24

Wrong Arrow 24

About an hour goes by in the human world.

Cupids aren't the only ones busy. In this dimension, keepers also exit. They're also called the keeper of the tales. Their jobs are to collect the love status of people before handing it out to the cupids.

Amour Headquarters is bustling with deliveries and keepers handing out assignments. Not a day goes by when things aren’t this way. Everyone’s just busy. The files never end, new applicants just keep pouring in and a lot of newcomers are getting designated to their spots.

Ristle, Dyke and Colby were busy like always. New deliveries of boxes filled with applicants can be seen everywhere in the office. At some point, Dyke decides to collapse on top of a shelf and get some shut-eye. A white owl comes flying to that exact shelf.

He turns around so that his massive wings are facing the sleeping keeper. And with one powerful clap, Dyke gets thrown off the shelf by the very strong wind. He transfers into an eagle right before he can reach the ground. Colby lands right beside him, in his human form.

A disappointed countenance outlines his face and he has his arms crossed over his chest.

“Five years with us and you still think you can hide from me. I’ll always find you, you know.” When Dyke turns back into his human form with a puff of smoke, he’s still on the ground lying on his stomach. Grumbles leaves him before coherent words reach Colby’s ears.

“I wasn’t hiding. I was just, uh, resting..” A glimpse at the boxes makes him curl his face in resentment. “I don’t understand why we have to work over time. I could be in bed or better yet, doing other important things.”

Colby rotates with a single eyebrow lifted up. The young eagle was the last to join their group. And although it’s been five years, he’s yet to grow out of his usual habit of complaining.

“Because if we don’t do this now, more boxes will come tomorrow and you understand precisely what that will mean.” Dyke scrapes the back of his head. Colby sighs, strolling away. “ Tell him Ristle.”

Said man grabs a box and takes the tape away, stating, “If that happens, it means you won’t be able to leave this room.” That alone, was horror to Dyke’s ears. Filled with impulsive motivation, he quickly runs to the pile of boxes and begins with his work. He starts drawing out the purple files and folders from within the boxes and places them on the table.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“AH!” Vaeri smacks both her hands to cover her mouth. Due to the sudden scream, multiple eyes seem to find her. Before they land on the drink on the ground. The drink Pearl held was now on the ground, splattered messily.

“Are you okay?” Stell questions her. Pearl blinks her eyes as she stares at the drink on the ground. “Are you feeling numb or anything?” Pearl shakes her head. “Wait here. I’ll go get you some water. This is why I tell you to watch what you’re eating, Sora.” Stell leaves the seat beside her to find water. Sora. He only ever uses her that name when it’s serious. It’s been a while since she’s last been called that. Pearl snaps back into reality and is about to wipe the liquid with little tissues when Vaeri stops her. “You won’t be able to clean al that up with those you know. Just wait for Stell to come back. I’m sure he’ll bring someone over. Just sit down.” The latter finds herself licking her lips.

“I can’t believe I shouted like that. Everyone was looking at me. How embarrassing. Should I buy a paper bag and cover my face with it?” Pearl gives Vaeri a look. She knows she’s one saying this to save her from feeling embarrassed. Because Vaeri could care les about what others think abut her. Pearl just chooses to play her game too, appreciating hr attempt of making her feel better. “I’m the one who should be embarrassed right now. I mean look at the mess I made.” On the side, Zach struggles to pull Harper back. The cause for all these trouble? Was because of him. Thankfully, Zach had pulled him back right before he could throw a punch at Stell.

“What is wrong..with you?” He pushes Harper back and acts as a barricade between them. Even though he had managed to pull his friend back at the very last minute, Harper still slipped through his attempt and knocked the drink instead. “I swear he gets on my nerves. I thought I could tolerate him, but I cant. He always shows up whenever I have to do something and messes it up and now this? ” Nonsense splatters from the cupid's mouth.

Zach is beyond confused at his friend’s words. To ease the built-up frustration, Harper tugs on his hair and grinds his teeth in irritation. While the girls behind them try to make sense of what’s going on, Zach attempts to make sense of the situation. Why did he react like that? It was so unlike him.

The Harper he knew would have never lost his cool so much to this extent. Something must have happened. And he won’t know until he says something.

“Hey, what do you mean?” Hands still clutching his head, he whirls his head to face Zach. That previous expression vanishes, and a Arther calm one takes its place. But it’s anything but calm. Zach could see the burning irritation within Harper’s eyes. He’s holding himself back from erupting again. A chuckle leaves his lips. And it sounds dark. “What I’m trying saying is..” He starts off rather slowly, clicking his fingers. “..that there’s something wrong, okay? And that guy? Yeah, that guy over there? Isn’t what he seems to be.” Zach follows the direction of his finger and finds it landing on Stell coming back with a bottle of water.

“I think you should go get some fresh air first. I’ll take care of things here.” If glares could kill, Stell would have been six feet under ground already. In the end, Harper attends to Zach and steps out.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Stell takes the seat beside Pearl, handing her the bottle of water.

“Yes. I’m fine. And that. Well that wasn’t me either. Something just knocked it off my hand.” She tries to explain while staring at her hand. Vaeri slowly leans away from her and gets a looks from Pearl that says ‘really?’. Stell on the other hand, attempts to make sense of the situation. Slowly, he tells her. “I don’t think that’s physically possible though, Pearl. I mean, you did zone out right before you dropped it.” Stell informs her. And he’s kinda right. In a way. She rubs the back of her neck and smiles sheepishly. A staff comes by to clean the mess up. After a a minute, they finally walk away with their mop. “You should drink more water.” She does as he says, drinking. Then she looks at the two of them with an innocent face, asking. “Anyone here know where the restroom is?” Her eyes flutters and a grin’s taken over her lips. “Do you need to go now?” Stell asks with a blink to his eyes. “No. Later. Just in case since you know, im drinking too many of this. And then I had that frappe drink too- on second thought, yes. I feel like going right now.” Pearl stands up and hands Stell her backpack before walking over to Vaeri. She links their arms together and drags her away.

“Come with me.”

Zach decides to stay behind. Stell takes out his phone and gets comfortable. What Harper said earlier. What exactly did he mean by that? Ten minutes later, they return and so does Harper, who seemed to have calmed down a bit. “I think we should et going now. It’s getting pretty late.” Vaeri agrees, checking the time on her watch. They leave the building. The sky’s already dark and the sun’s no where to be seen. In it’s place, a glowing moon shines brightly. It was obvious Stell was planning to accompany the girls home but Vaeri turns to him and says. “You should probably get going now. And by that I mean you should go home. Not with us. You don’t want to be late for tommorrow’s training. I know how you can sleep in easily when you’re tired. We don’t want to be the reason you get into trouble. “ Stell blinks his eyes, looking at the distance. “But it’s night and dangerous for-“ Stell’s words get cuts off by Vaeri. “You’re gonna say it’s dangerous because already night right? Have you forgotten that I’m a black belt? If anyone dares try to come close to me, I’m giving themhits. No mercy. We can take care of ourselves. Really.” She’s not wrong. Vaeri can throw quite a punch. She once landed a kid in the hospital for a broken arm. They, later on, found out it wasn’t Vaeri’s fault and that kid soon transferred school. He got what he deserved.

They separate ways and even Harper and Zach decide to call it a night. Once they’ve arrived at their dimension, Zach can’t help but voice out his thoughts. “I think it worked.” He says, referring to the extra care Stell had shown to Pearl today. Harper pokes the inside of his cheek as they stroll down the hall. He brings his fingers up and unclasps his dangling earrings, securing them inside his pocket. “I don’t think it did.” He says under his breath, walking ahead of his friend. Zach goes after him. “You know, you’ve been acting this way since the arcade. What happened back there?” There are currently not too many of them within Amour headquarters. While others have retired to get the rest they need, others are currently around the globe doing their assigned tasks. Harper walks a little faster. He’s obviously trying to ignore him. Zach isn’t backing down that easily.

“Nothing happened.” With the way he’s acting, it’s impossible that nothing happened. Why was he acting this way though? “You tried to beat a human. You know better than that.” He tells him.

A slight change of volume happened when he spoke. Harper grinds his teeth together. “I had my reasons.” Reason? whatever those reasons are, they had to be valid. What would have happened if he wasn't there to stop him? Not only would he bring suspiciousness to those humans, but he would also have gotten a whole lot of trouble with the high office. “And what exactly were those reasons, uh? You almost made contact with a human. So enlighten me.” They both come to a stop. Looking like he’s had enough of the nags coming from Zach, he whirls around to face him. “You’re acting as if what I did was bad. Weren’t you the first one to break the rules about touching a human?” The door between them swings open, revealing Ristle.

It just had to be the falcon. Of all keepers. Why the serious one? Both cupids could feel a shiver run down their spine. “H-hey.” Harper tries to hide the tension with a boxed smile. But even he knows it won’t work. Zach even knows that. It’s pretty clear that he heard everything. And now he’s giving the boys a serious look. “Come inside.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On the other side of the dimension, Vaeri decides to stay with Pearl. “I called my mom and she’s fine with me staying over. So what do you have for snacks?” She bounces like a little bunny, steering towards the fridge. “I can’t believe you’re still looking for food after all of that.”

“You can't blame me now, can you? I get hungry so easily these days.” Pearl takes her words for it and settles herself on the counter seat, watching as Vaeri takes out a bunch of drinks and snacks. She spreads them on the counter and begins inhaling them. “So here’s the thing. That cute ghost I keep mentioning? I think he has a goal.” Pearl raises an eyebrow. “A goal?” She repeats the word slowly. “Yes. A goal. You know. I’ve come across a lot of ghosts growing up but this one’s different. And maybe that’s why he keeps following me around. Maybe he knows I can see him and he wants me to help him cross over.” It’s no secret that Vaeri has a third eye. She see things not many people see. And although it’s scary to think about it, it’s the truth. “But I don’t know. Im just assuming things. It could be that his intentions are pure or maybe they’re not. I’ll never know unless I approach him right?” Pearl takes her words in, nodding.

And then a thought comes in. She looks at her friend, a certain glint of realization in her eyes. “So what happened today. Could it be?” Vaeri answers by nodding her head.

“Sometimes they appear to have solid human skin, while other times, they’re translucent. Like a ghost. When you dropped your drink earlier? That wasn’t you.” She states as she carefully peels an orange. “There were two of them this time. But I could only see one.”

The Following Day

Vaeri purchases a bunch of coffee in a can. She stuffs them in her bag for later use. That’s a lot of caffeine for a girl like her. But she can handle her coffee intake. She strolls down the hallway of the school building. She came an hour early than usual. Even the guard in the entrance was surprised to see her. She saw the janitor make her final check of the area and almost ran into the vice principle. She hid before they could spot her. The school buildings rather peaceful at this time. She regrets not coming at this time before. Vaeri glances behind her when she hears footsteps. It seems like her fellows students are starting to come in.

Teacher too. And lots of them. Some of which she holds great dislike.

Zach makes a quick visit to the lab room, grabbing whatever he can reach first. Harper decided to go for a pink themed tablet and they both enter the portal room.

Last night they had a long talk with Ristle, amidst boxes and folders and files. He dismissed them after he got his words through though.

Colby this time was with them in the portal room. He made sure they had their things in check before letting them go. Not even a minute goes by before Ristle shows up. He detranforms from his falcon shape and lands on the ground elegantly. Yesterday’s event was still fresh in his mind. Colby scrunches his nose ever so slightly.

“You we’re too harsh on them.”

Rislt raises a single eyebrow up. He begs to differ. “I was too harsh? I’d like to think I was just warning them so that they can stay out of trouble. We don’t want any of this news reaching the high office.” It’s not like he scolded them or anything. He just did what he did as a keeper. That’s his job. And whether he was harsh or not, that didn’t matter.

Colby hums like he doesn’t care, pushing a couple of buttons. “If you say so then. I’ll be in the lab department. Don’t come looking for me.”

The white owl then leaves the room, passing through the puffy cloud and into the open hallway.

On earth, Pearl grabs a rubber band and ties her hair up. She pulls out side bangs and finishes her looks with an orange lipstick. Checking her reflection one last time, she grabs her phone from the charging area and halts for a moment. The time reveals that it’s still six thirty.

She then saunters to the closet and grabs her bag. By the time Zach’s about to enter her place, the door swings open. He looks away, ears burning a bright red.

He clears his throat. Pearl presses a phone against her ear as she steps down her porch.

“Yeah. I’m on my way now. I know I know. I’m not lying this time. I just got out of the house. Literally.”

He follows her to school. There he sees Vaeri waiting at the entrance. When Pearl gets closer, she links her arm around hers. “I don’t think I can do it.” She tells her, causing Pearl to blink.

“You can do what?”

“I can’t talk to him. I can’t believe I forgot the tiniest important detail.”

“And that would be?”

“His face pearl. I don’t think I can look at him if he has that face.”

“So you’ll just let him go?”

“I mean I can if I wanted to. I could go back to pretending I don’t see him.” She thinks it through. Suddenly her fingers tightens around Pearls. Vaeri looks around with a serious gaze before flickering her eyes to collide with hers. “You came with someone.” She starts off.

“Uh.. I’m pretty sure I came by myself.”

Vaeri shakes her head, letting go of Pearl. “No I mean you really came with someone. And they’re here.”

“They’re..how many exactly?”

“Only one. I can’t see them though and I can’t tell if it’s a female of male since their energies kinda weak.”

Pearl finds her law nodding her a head. A lump forms in her throat and she forces it down with a gulp.

“If uh… you can feel what they are, mind sharing it to me?” She says as they enter the school building. Swarms of students have already flooded the hallway.

“Of course.” Vaeri nods her head before looking at the ground. “Oh. They’re not here anymore.”

Zach hasn’t moved from his spot. Harper shows up and stands beside him. “You’ll never believe what just happened right now.”

Harper takes a step back with a certain suspiciousness In his eyes. “Why am I scared to even ask.”

Zach’s still trying to process what he had just heard. “I’ll just throw this out there okay? Is Carr a descendant of a wizard or witch of some kind?”

“Close.” Harper answers him. “More like a shaman though. Why?”

Zach plants a hand on Harper’s shoulder. “I think I know why you’re having a hard time with her.”

Shamans were known to have gone extinct during the early eighteens. The former kind saw them as vile creatures that needed to be wiped off the face of the earth. Although he had succeeded of getting rid of everyone, it seems like it wasn’t all of them.

Harper was left speechless after Zach explained everything to him. “So… should i report this to the office?”

“It’s up to you man.”