Spirit Elfen

Chapter 3

3

Honi was late. Again. Why the heck could that boy not show up on time? Did he think his time was more valuable than hers? Adi sat at their usual table, her arms crossed, irritation rising by the minute.

She’d sent him a text yesterday, asking to meet up. Seriously. She had to schedule appointments with her boyfriend now. Did he want to be in a relationship with her at all?

When they’d first met, there’d been such a current of attraction between them. That spark was still there, but they didn’t spend enough time with each other for it to go anywhere. They had different lecture schedules now—Honi’s anthropology classes and her German classes were taught in opposite parts of the university. Honi was working hard, both teaching freshmen classes and preparing his master’s thesis.

The thesis that she’d largely influenced. She’d told him lesser-known German fairy tales, and they’d both been amazed at the parallels to Honi’s Great Plains tribal stories. Her suggested title, “Similarities in Global Mythologies: A Comparison of Legends of the Indigenous People of the Great Plains and European Folk Tales,” had been enthusiastically accepted by Honi’s academic advisor.

Honi wanted to graduate as quickly as possible, and Adi appreciated that. His tribe supplemented his college education, and their funds were limited. And yet—was she not important enough for him to carve out a little of his time? Adi looked at the phone in front of her. No message, no email, and he was now officially thirty minutes late. If he’d been anybody else, she would have left already.

She took a deep breath and held it for a moment. Right, time to go. Her lips pressed into a tight line, she grabbed her bag and got up. She’d made her way to the door and reached out for the handle when it flew open towards her. Startled, she stepped back.

Honi rushed in, his lungs pumping as if he’d been running. He barely avoided colliding with Adi. His eyes widened when he realized she was about to leave.

“I’m really sorry!” he panted. “John called, and I had to talk to him.”

Adi’s brow furrowed. Of course. Making her wait half an hour was perfectly acceptable, because John called. She barely contained her internal eye roll. It wasn’t the first time, either. Honi had stood her up so many times because of John’s phone calls, she’d lost count.

“And you didn’t think you might let me know?” she asked in a deceptively quiet voice. The quiet before the storm. Honi had that deer-in-the-headlights look, torn between running away and facing her.

“No? Yes?” Then he took a deep breath and composed himself. “I apologized, didn’t I? What else do you want me to say?”

Adi’s face hurt with trying to keep calm. “How about, ‘it won’t happen again’? Oh wait, you said that last time. And the time before.”

Her arms crossed, she scowled at him. She was taking a stand, right here, in the open door of the cafeteria. Maybe not the best place, but hey, he had it coming. Honi visibly sagged as he took her arm.

“Come inside, let’s talk. I really am sorry, but it was important.”

Adi allowed herself to be escorted back to a table. Before she could ask him to get her something, he was already at the counter, ordering beverages and rhubarb pie. Her lips tightened even further. This wasn’t good. Every time he had bad news for her, he tried to sweeten her up. Adi rubbed her hand over her face. She was so tired of the drama, of John whistling and Honi jumping.

He came back, balancing a tray with chocolate frappé, tea, and two plates with pie. Holding the tray with one hand, he carefully set the dishes on the tabletop. Then he plopped into the seat opposite Adi’s. There was a weariness about him, the way he held his head and refused to meet her eyes.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Adi spoke first. “So what did he want?”

“Who?”

Adi glared at him. “Who do you think? John, of course.”

Honi stared at his folded hands. “He asked me to come see him and go over the stipend budget.” His tone was flat and defeated.

Adi sat up straighter. “Is there an issue with your grant?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t say. I suppose I’ll find out soon.” Honi hesitated again. “He… he suggested you’re a distraction. He wants me to stop seeing you so much.”

What the hell?

“Seriously? I’m sorry, we’re hardly seeing each other as it is. How am I a distraction? When I help you with your coursework? When I type up your notes?”

Adi’s voice had been rising, and Honi’s eyes darted around the room. That pissed her off even more.

“What, am I embarrassing you?”

“He didn’t tell me to break it off with you. He just said that you might distract me from my purpose…” His voice trailed off as he realized what he’d said.

Adi’s emotional dial had moved to anger and come out the other side. There were so many things wrong with what she’d just heard. She felt herself go ice-cold.

“I might distract you from your purpose,” she parroted him. “Which is what? I thought your purpose was to train me to be a spirit walker like you?”

She laughed bitterly. “Scratch that, I’m already a spirit walker, and as I recall, a better one than you. If anything, you’re distracting me from my purpose of balancing the worlds.” She glared at him so hard that if her eyes were able to shoot flames, he would have crumbled to ash. “And what would you have said if John had ordered you to break it off?”

When Honi just stared at her, stunned, with his mouth open, she stood up. “You know what? We’re done here. Why don’t you go see John and call me when you’re back? I’ll decide then if I’m in the mood to be distracting you again.”

She stood up and, with a final look at Honi’s dumbstruck face, whirled around and walked away. The satisfaction of having the last word lasted exactly until the door slammed shut behind her.

The entire way back to the dorm, Adi was fuming.

“What a complete ass-hat. How dare he? What the hell? He is such an idiot.”

She was halfway between the cafeteria building and the library before she noticed the weird glances other students were throwing her. Several girls coming her way jumped aside to let her pass. She heard them whisper and caught a few words.

“That’s the crazy chick from last year.”

Yep, that’s who she was. The crazy chick. Except she wasn’t. She was a spirit walker, one of the chosen few who could travel between the spirit realm and the human world.

The thought acted like a cold shower. She took a deep breath, and the anger disappeared as quickly as it had come on. Honi was the only other spirit walker she knew of. He’d saved her life. He’d sacrificed himself to keep her safe. She loved him, and he loved her. But somehow, over the last few months, it didn’t seem enough anymore.

What do you do when the reality of everyday life encroaches on your relationship? What if the feelings you have for another person are strong, but maybe not strong enough to survive when you’re no longer the top priority in their lives?

Adi opened the door to her tiny room and made a beeline to her bed. As she lay down, arms behind her head, she thought of Honi, and her chest ached. He had the warmest eyes, like black cherries. When they made love, his long, glossy hair fell like a curtain around both their faces while he kissed her.

Adi continued thinking about the young man, how much they’d been through. After a while, the fabric under her head felt uncomfortably wet. She impatiently wiped the moisture from her face. It was too early to call it a day. But maybe… maybe they needed a break.

She sat up and walked to her desk. The letter was still there, waiting for her. She hadn’t even managed to tell Honi about it. Her anger at his dismissive behavior had overridden everything. She picked up the paper and read through it again. It was only nine months. If they were meant to be, they would survive it. And maybe if she went away, it would give Honi a chance to work out his issues with his tribal elders.

It took a lot of commitment to make a relationship work at the best of times. If Honi wasn’t that interested, she’d give him an out. The time apart might help him focus on what he really wanted.

Adi sighed. She’d never thought she would leave the young Mekui’te voluntarily, but the way their relationship was going, she had no choice. If she made him choose between her, his tribe, and his family, she was not at all sure she’d win.