The Half-Blood Elite 1: Lapislázuli

Chapter 2

My father arrived home at night with an order of delightful hamburgers. He always fulfilled my wishes since I was the only woman in his life. So, if one day I get a partner, this person will have to learn to pamper me a lot, as my father does.

We ate our dinner while he told me how it went at work.

When we finished dinner, we turned on the TV. Today was Friday, and Friday was the night of Friends.

'Is something new in the school?' He asked me, with his eyes on the TV.

'Not much. Just today, a new exchange student arrived at the school. It's strange 'cause in about two months, the school year is going to end.'I said with my eyes on the TV. 'And he is very weird, I added.

'Weird?' he asked.

I thought of telling him about my encounter with Maximous Blak in the supermarket, but instead I said: 'I don't know, the accent, maybe.' I felt his eyes on me, eyes that, instead of being blue like mine, were a deep brown. So the blue eyes came from my mother's genes, I guess. 'What?' I asked, letting my eyes look at him.

'What is his name?' his question made me frown. Why does he want to know his name?

'Maximous Blak' I responded after a while. His eyes studied me and then returned to the TV. 'Why do you ask?' He just shrugged like a child.

He watched the TV thoughtfully. I tried to give less importance to the recent weird conversation. I know that he is taking care of me in his special way. I was the only family that he had. So I watched it on TV.

But suddenly, he got up and said: 'I'm going to bed, Little. I'm tired. Tomorrow I have work to do.' I frowned, but before I could get around to telling him anything, he had gone off to his room.

...

Saturday.

A beautiful rainy day. A gray day that focuses on calming anxious and introverted people like me.

After I woke up with a bad headache, my mood was worse than before, but the sound of the rain was helping lessen the pain, adding the help of medicine. After a time, I got up and walked to the bathroom. When I finished my needs, I walked to the kitchen for some black coffee.

When I finished with my coffee, I went to my father's bedroom, because at the weekends, he has to go to work, but instead of the rest of the week, he entered some hours later, and I was always the one who woke him up. But when I entered his room, I noticed that his bed was made, and that's something strange, because I was always the one who made his bed. Frowning, I went to his office and stood in front of his door. I took a deep breath and knocked at the door, and no one answered. Confused, I grabbed the knob and turned it, but it did not budge. The door was locked.

Immediately, I took my phone and dialed his number. At first, the call went to his voicemail. Something was wrong. My dad always answers my calls, even to tell me he is busy. On the second ring, the call took time, but finally the call was answered.

'Dad!' I shouted, and my voice sounded relieved.

'Ice.' His voice sounded strange, as if he had been running for a long time.

'Dad? You are OK?' I asked, worried.

'I'm OK, don't worry. You don't have to wait for me tonight because I have a lot of work to do, Little one' he said, as if he was in a hurry.

'OK, but...' but before I could finish my sentence, my father hung up the phone.

What was happening? Suddenly, my father started to act strangely, and his voice sounded nervous. What was happening to him? Something bad? Was he hiding something?

No, he wouldn't do that. If he has something to tell me, he will do it. I have nothing to worry about. He is my father, the kindest man in the world, the most honest person I have ever known. Arthur Gray never had a problem with anyone.

I had nothing to worry about, I repeated to myself.

I sighed and walked to my room. I lay in bed and looked at the ceiling.

It was a nice day to be in bed and watch a movie or something. It was a nice day to stay at home, and I had to take advantage of it. So I took my computer and searched for a movie to watch.

Around 4 pm, my stomach started to ask for food. So I went to the kitchen happy because yesterday I bought a lot of delicious food, but instead of that, I only found a note.

Sorry, Little, I was in a hurry, so I took all of it to eat on my way to work. I will leave you some money, love ya.

And this is the moment that I wanted to kill my father. We are humans that hate cooking food, so we always buy fast food. The day that one of us started to cook will be the day one of us was replaced by an alien that looks exactly like us. And for the sake of the kitchen, we stay away from it. We want to avoid a m******e.

I sighed, then my eyes went to the window. The rain was falling strongly now.

But my stomach growled again, so I had to obey what it demanded.

I went to my room to change my clothes for something warmer, because the rain and the wind brought cold weather. When I was ready, I grabbed the money and left the house. I took my bicycle for a quick trip and an umbrella to protect the holly food.

When I arrived at the supermarket, I found my boots covered in dirt, but I entered with no problem. Sorry for employees that have to clean it. I was hungry and mad, so I think it was better for them to reply something to me.

Meanwhile, I took everything that I needed to survive the day. My father has left me enough money to buy a lot of food. Then I paid for it and made my way home. I tried to protect the food with an umbrella, but a few drops of rain got inside of it. I couldn't avoid it.

But I couldn't avoid looking at the sky. It was a different gray day. It was a little bit sad, nostalgic. Like if it were predicting that something bad was going to happen.

Or that maybe I was getting crazy more and more. That could be another possibility.

I was riding my bicycle calmly, enjoying the rain, while my clothes were getting wet because my umbrella was only protecting the food, until my eyes met with a silhouette of another person, another crazy person under the rain.

He was walking calmly, with his hands hidden in his jacket pockets.

In a moment, our eyes met.

And then he smiled at me.

His arrogant and evil smile.

' Who is the stalker now? ' He asked mockingly, while my feet started to ride the bike faster. I want to get away from him.

But something made me stop, and I didn't know why.

There I was, in the middle of the street, on a rainy day. Waiting for what exactly, For a cold?

And then I looked back at him, whose eyes were on me with curiosity.

Something in this scene, in the picture of him standing under the rain and his eyes meeting mine. I have a feeling as if this were a kind of dejavu.

'I know you?' I asked. This question may sound a little stupid, but on the other hand, my mouth could not stop the words coming out of them.

But he laughed loudly, like I was the first person who told him the best joke in his entire life. I was trying to be serious, but this guy has a big immaturity problem.

'It doesn't matter, anyway' I added, watching his big and stupid sarcastic smile. He is annoying. Very annoying.

So I left him behind.

...

I didn't feel anything.

Cold weather, the snow under my feet, or the cold wind, I felt absolutely nothing.

After a time, I walked in the cold snow, but it felt like I was walking on the soft sand. And I walked for like two hours? Five?

I didn't feel any danger for the moment, but the feeling of being watched was there. I was alone, I think.

In a moment, I was starting to realize that I had just walked in circles. A similar tree or the same scratches in the trees, but the snow has never shown footprints.

But everything in this scenery was unknown to me. The sensation that I didn't belong here remained in my chest like a dagger.

And I don't know why it hurts.

I touched my chest instantly. And my eyes looked strangely at a white dress that reached my ankles, and a chill ran down my spine.

Why was I wearing a summer dress in such a place?

Suddenly, my body felt weak. I was feeling weak, and the only thing I could think about at that moment was throwing myself into the snow and looking at the landscape. So I did it, losing myself in that sight, asking myself why I was there. Why was I in a strange place?

I closed my eyes, feeling how the snowflakes made contact with my skin as if they were thick and light raindrops.

The peace I had fallen into while I listened to the calming sound of the wind was dissipated by the thunderous sound of lightning.

I opened my eyes and sat up in alarm.

In that peaceful and sad landscape, there was fire growing among the trees, thus reaching me a smell of scorched wood, making my nostrils burn.

What happened?

The peaceful and nostalgic landscape soon turned to destruction and chaos. The trees burned, and the ashes mixed with the snow, thus turning into a grayish tone. The blue sky had become a reddish blue tone, illuminated by the orange flames that spread through the forest.

'If the cold of the snow didn't affect me, neither would the fire, right?' I wondered.

Approaching the blazing flames, I reached out my hand. I wanted to touch those glowing and destructive flames. But when my skin came in contact with them, I removed it immediately. The smell of charred skin washed over me with the stinging and burning pain that spread up my entire arm. I groaned in pain. Tears welled up in my eyes because of that heat and sulfur.

Why did the fire affect me?

I stepped away from the fire and looked at my hand. My breathing quickened. The skin on my palm was charred and red, the flesh sticking out. I looked at my dress, gathered strength, and cut a piece of it to bandage my hand. I didn't want the wound to get infected. I clenched my teeth, holding back the urge to cry from the pain. I put my hand on my chest, and when I straightened up, I realized that the flames were beginning to surround me.

I looked at the forest and began to walk towards a path between the flames, trying to be careful as I entered that place. I had to get out of there.

I couldn't have felt the cold, but the heat? Why could I feel it?

After minutes of walking, burning some parts of my feet with scorched and hot wood, I came to a sector where the flames did not touch the forest but surrounded it in a medium and perfect circle.

Weird.

I stood in the middle of the circle, groaning in pain. My hand was throbbing, and the pain was unbearable. I felt like I would faint at any moment.

I staggered and fell to the ground covered in ash and snow, looking at a dark sky, a landscape where destruction and chaos reigned.

Why had I walked to the center of the destruction?

'Help, please, I'm injured!' I screamed at the nothingness.

My breath quickened, and tears of pain and despair fell from my eyes. My screams echoed through the destruction. Why had I thought it would be a good idea to go into the flames? So what? To burn until my death?

The pain paralyzed me.

I felt the burn seeping into my bones. My skin crawled.

As soon as the darkness overtook me, I fell into unconsciousness.

...

My eyes widened, and I sat up on my bed abruptly.

I had gotten used to dreaming of strange and unreal things. But whenever I entered the world of dreams, I forgot about my previous experiences, that I had dreamed of that landscape several times before. I remembered everything once I came back to reality. Sometimes I would put together theories about it, but after starting to have them more often, I learned to ignore them as if it were just another dream.

Like it was a normal thing.

But this time was different. So horribly different.

A stinging pain shot through my arm, causing me to let out a high-pitched groan.

I immediately headed towards the bathroom, as that pain felt like my hand was on fire.

My right hand immediately went underwater. When I looked at it, my heart raced. In the middle of the palm of my hand, I had a big and painful burn.

How...? Does the dream...?

Impossible.

That dream could not have been responsible.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror and frowned. Some slight bags under my eyes formed, and my hair was messy, but my eyes were a blue that I had never seen in my reflection, a bright and pale blue, which stood out among my paleness.

I was so engrossed in looking at my reflection that the sound of a door opening startled me. I turned off the faucet and stuck my ear on the door, trying to hear any sounds coming from the hallway. Footsteps, walking away, echoed slightly. What was my father doing at that time? Wait, what time is it?

Confused, after waiting for a while, I left the bathroom and headed towards my room, but something disturbing caught my attention. Remember how I said there were three rooms? One was mine, another was my father's and the last one was... my father's office, which I was strictly forbidden to enter.

Why have I forbidden that room? The reason is a funny story.

There was only one occasion on which I got in, but it was when I was nine years old, and it was only 5 seconds later when he noticed and gave me an angry look.

That door, which was always locked at that moment, was a little bit open, but there was no light coming from there. My father always left it closed because of that anecdote, and I mustn't know the things that he hid in that room.

I looked at the door of his room and sighed. I wasn't supposed to enter, but I wasn't a person known for following the rules, so I went ahead and opened the door slightly so as not to make the slightest noise. When I opened it completely, I turned on the light, and the room was empty.

I walked in at a slow pace and looked amazed at the shelves. My father had complete collections of books, but he never lent anything.

How much betrayal my little blue eyes saw.

I stroked the smooth but worn covers of each book. Many of them were in other languages I didn't recognize, Latin perhaps? Did my father know these languages?

Suddenly I felt strange. I never knew that my father spoke so many languages, so I understand that he knows them because every book has been well-worn from so many readings.

It was turning into a strange night. Maybe I was still in a dream?

To check, I pinched my arm and groaned in pain. It was not a dream.

I looked towards the desk when blue eyes, similar to mine, stared back at me. I took the frame and looked at the picture of a 5-year-old myself with some braids and overalls. I was going to put it back in its place, but something shiny behind the photo caught my attention. There was a silver bag.

When I took the bag and turned it over, I saw my name written on it. I opened it carefully, and inside it was a shiny blue chain with a grayish-white half-moon pendant. It seemed to me that it shone a little more at my touch, but had it only been a flash of light bounce, or not?

I put it in the pocket of my pajamas and left the room confused. My head ached from thinking so much. Perhaps it was all my imagination or a product that I have a very forgetful mind.

But I still had a feeling that something was wrong. What was that dream? Why did my father have a necklace for me hidden? Was it a gift, or did I go ahead getting it? And the dream? The burn? Had I been burned before I went to sleep?

It can be only my impressions, the imagination of a tired mind.

Hours ago, I had fallen asleep waiting for my father.

What time is it now? I looked at my cell phone, which appeared at 1 a.m. My father should already be in his room.

It could be him entering his room when I was asleep. That was why he didn't have to lock the office.

Sighing, I turned around and settled on my stomach. I needed to sleep because I was already going crazy.

Little by little, my eyes closed. When darkness invaded me, I fell into it. And unknown yellowish-brown eyes appeared in front of me.

Then a whisper rang in my ears:

-It's time for you to wake up-

...

'Sir, it's confirmed.' said a male voice in the middle of a silent night.

A hooded man lay in front of that house, under a tree, camouflaging himself with the darkness. At that late hour of the night there wasn't any soul on the street. There was a harsh laugh from the other end of the line.

'Well done. I suppose you'll take care of it yourself, right?' He added, amused and happy. The hooded man bit his tongue and smiled.

'You know me well, sir. You know that I work alone.' he answered, arrogantly. The other voice gave an amused laugh.

'We trust you. I want you here next week'. A happiness full of joy was evident in every word he said. Then he ended the call.

The hooded man put the cell phone away and remained thoughtful, observing the house. For a long time he had tried to find them.

Follow the trail and put it together as if they were pieces of some value puzzle. Finally, after a lot of work, he found what he was looking for.

Now all that remained was to act.

It was time to kill.