The Lily's Splendor

Chapter 13

“Please don’t ask me any questions, Reeve. At least not yet.” I said with a tired sigh as we sat down on one of the cemented round tables that decorated the courtyard. Reeve just nodded his head once before picking at his food in thoughtful silence. Looking away, I slowly ate my croissant sandwich. When I finished and was carefully crumpling up my trash, Lillian came up to our table.

“May I join you guys?” she asked. I was ready to say no but then realized that I was probably being childish. Just because she was Henry’s sister didn’t mean that I had to ignore her too.

“Sure.” I scooted my stuff over.

“I’m so sorry for my brother.” she apologized again.

“It’s okay Lillian—”

“Please, call me Lilly.” she said with an open smile.

“Pretty name,” Reeve said. Lilly looked over at him. “Thank you. I love your accent by the way.” Reeve mumbled a thank you, ducking his head when his ears turned a bright red.

“For our history project, did you want to get together somewhere so we can go over which topic we want?” Lilly turned to ask me. Reeve took the trash ball I had been forming in my hands and expertly threw it into a trash bin yards away.

“Of course. You are more than welcome to come over to my house,” I offered. My tongue had twisted funnily when I had said ‘my house’. I needed to get used to saying that. And accepting it.

“Really? Okay. Let’s exchange numbers and addresses.” she dug through her bag until she took out her phone. I noticed that while Lilly was reciting her number and address to me, Reeve had taken out a piece of paper and pen and had also begun to write things down. When I cautiously leaned close to him to try and get a peek, he folded the piece of paper and gave me an amused look.

“Did I miss something?” Lilly asked as her eyes darted back and forth between me and Reeve.

“No. Now here’s my number and address.” I recited slowly while she punched in the buttons on her touch screen phone before she turned it back off and smiled.

“Thank you. I’ll text you later so we can decide what time is good for us.” she said. After a moment of silence, she went on to say,

“I also wanted to join your table just for the sake of getting to know you guys. I remember when it had been my first day of school. I was all knots and nerves. It took me a while to make friends, but it helped that I had Henry, who was in his second year of school.”

“So Henry is a year older than you?” I asked. She nodded. “I suspect that so are you two.”

“Yup.” Reeve answered for us. I thought I saw sadness creep into Lilly’s eyes but it quickly vanished.

“I’m sorry to ask this, but wouldn’t Henry be upset with you hanging out with us?” I couldn’t help but wonder how she had managed to escape from him or if she even told him that she was sitting with us.

“No. Henry is fine with whomever I sit with. I honestly don’t understand why he is acting the way he is acting.”

“Join the club.” Reeve muttered, but I elbowed him.

“It’s okay.” Lilly laughed. Maddox suddenly appeared and walked straight towards us.

“Hey Madd.” Lilly sent him a smile.

“Hey yourself. The grouch sent me over to see how you were holding up.” Maddox said as he took a seat beside her. Lilly rolled her eyes.

“This is Maddox, my other brother.” Lilly made the introductions.

“How many brothers do you have?” Reeve asked.

“Just the two.”

“I figured you guys were siblings when I saw you at the café.” I blurted out. Maddox’s brow went up with amusement. “Really?” he said as he studied me.

“So you guys have met before?” Reeve asked as he looked from me to them.

“More like saw each other.” Lilly put in just as the bell rang, ending lunch time. “What did you choose for your recreational period?” she asked me as we gathered our stuff. I took out my folded schedule from my coat pocket and looked at the very bottom where they gave six class options: Art, Carpentry, Theatre, Marine Biology, Swimming, and Dance. It was a hard pick since I loved Marine biology and Dance. Swimming though . . . could I actually do it?

“Swimming.” I heard myself say. “What class does Henry have so I won’t have to t*****e him with my presence?” I asked.

“These two are in swimming,” Maddox barked with laughter.

“Oh.” I looked down with dismay.

“Hey, don’t let that stop you from joining the class. Let him skewer in his own grouchiness. If you like swimming, take it. Forget about Henry.” Lilly said as she patted my arm.

“What about you Reeve?” I turned to him. He lifted up his schedule for me to see the red circle embossed over ‘swimming’.

“Guess we are all headed in the same direction.” Lilly said cheerfully, surprising me by linking her arm with mine.

“Don’t expect me to do that with you Irish.” Maddox said, and the guys both rolled their eyes as they followed us girls to the gymnasium. Maddox departed for the football field, giving us a wave before jogging away to join the other football players.

~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~

“Come, I’ll show you where the girls change.” Lilly said, gently pulling me along to follow her to the back of the gym where the changing rooms are.“Mr. Faulkner?” Lilly waved at what looked like to be the coach. He looked middle-aged with a blonde stub of a pony-tail tucked underneath a red cap that matched his red shorts.

“This is Kyra; she chose to be in your class.” Lilly said, giving me a gentle push. I handed the coach my schedule, aware that he was making a study of me as he signed it and handed it back to me.

“Welcome Ms. Derketo. Lilly here will show you where the bathing suits are.” Mr. Faulkner said before going back to scribbling stuff down on his clip-board. I followed Lilly to the changing rooms and was about to grab a bathing suit from a bin when Lilly snatched my hand back and shook her head.“Trust me, you don’t want to wear any of those. I’ll lend you one of mine.”

“Okay . . .” I reluctantly followed her to her gym locker where she pulled out two black swimsuits.

“Are you sure it will fit? I am a bit taller.” I said uncertainly as she shoved one into my hands.

“That one has always been too big on me.” Lilly said as she set her stuff down and began to undress, revealing a bathing suit underneath. “If you want you can use the bathroom to change,” Lilly pointed to a swinging door to the left.

“Thanks Lilly.”

She smiled and I was about to walk away but turned back around.“Lilly?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you being nice to me?” My question had Lilly pause from tying her hair up to look at me.

“Because I don’t see why every other girl here is acting as if you’re a walking plague. I don’t understand why my brother is acting the way he is acting. But I have a feeling that you know what I am, don’t you?” her eyes probed mine.

“Yes, I do.”

“Then I’m sure you’ve noticed that there’s a thing about us. We have this unnatural beauty if you will,” Lilly had lowered her voice as she spoke, “and when I first came here, I was treated the same way you were. It will pass though. People will soon get over themselves.” she smiled.

“I hope so.” I said fiercely.

“By the way, are you . . . one of us?” Lilly asked.

“Oh, no. I’m not—I—maybe we can continue this conversation later?”

“Sure. Go get changed, I’ll wait for you out here.”

Leaving my stuff with her, I took the bathing suit with me to the restroom, feeling Lilly’s eyes watching me go.

I walked out of the bathroom, holding my folded clothes in front of me before setting them down inside Lilly’s locker.

“It fits?” Lilly asked hopefully as she eyed the bathing suit I was wearing.

“Yup, thanks again.”

“No problem,” her eyes went to my neck where my necklace still hung.“It’s beautiful,” Lilly practically said in a whisper as she fingered the crystal. I looked up and noticed Nikki dressed in a hot pink bathing suit, eyes glued to my necklace as well. For a second I thought I saw her eyes glow red but when I blinked it was gone and Nikki just smiled at me before walking out.

“Thanks. I should probably take it off.” I hastily undid the catch, putting it in the front pocket of my bag. I took in a deep breath as I felt my magic yawn and stretch. No, no. You are not needed. Stay put, I mentally shook my finger at it. A loud whistle blew from outside and Lilly and I both jogged out to line up with the other girls. I noticed that the boys were lined up on the opposite side. I caught Reeve’s eye and he winked at me. I smiled, looking away from his bare chest and wiry muscles. Instead, my eyes found Henry. He didn’t look happy as his gaze met mine.

I felt my mouth go dry as I took in his corded muscles. It didn’t help that he had his arms crossed, emphasizing his biceps. From the corner of my eye I saw Lilly happily wave at him. His mouth quirked up a little.

“Ladies! We will do this four at a time. When you hear the whistle blow, dive in and swim all the way to the end.” A female coach said, taking Mr. Faulkner’s place as he gave the same talk to the boys.

“You do know how to swim?” she aimed her question at me.

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Good,” she said before leading the girls to the edge of the wide pool. “Get into groups of four please!” she instructed.

“I’ll join you guys,” Nikki said as she came up to me and Lilly, along with Nikki’s friend, who gave me the same look that I was starting to get used to. And tired of.

“Looks like you ladies get to go first.” The coach said to us. Taking a deep breath, I took the side between the divider from the boy’s side and Lilly. No way was I swimming with Nikki. After what happened in the locker room, I felt as if a red flag had gone up.

“Go Kyra!” Reeve shouted from where he stood, pummeling the air with his fists as if we were in a competition and not a measly gym class. I blushed and gave him a thumbs-up before using my hand to smother a laugh when Coach Faulkner scolded him. “Mr. Longfellow. This is not a tournament. Nor do we care to know that she is your girlfriend and that you are her supportive boyfriend.” I practically choked when I heard his words and saw Reeve just shrug. My eyes went to Henry and all I could see was anger. Anger and hurt. I didn’t understand, especially after the way he has been acting, how on earth could he be hurt? The loud screech of the whistle broke me out of my thoughts and my knees knowingly bended while my arms went straight out in front of me, forming an upside down ‘v’, before breaking into the surface with a clean dive.

As soon as we were underwater, my eyes went to Lilly’s legs. As if she sensed me watching, her head turned, causing for her long auburn hair to cast a beautiful halo around her head as she gave me a smile that said “nope, sorry, no tail.” I gave her a funny look when she surfaced for air before going back down. Then I remembered.

Though I didn’t need to surface for air, I still had too. I had to play along and be human. I surfaced and noticed that Lilly, Nikki, and I were going at the same fast speed while Nikki’s friend hung back, gasping for air.

Odd. I can understand Lilly keeping pace with me, but Nikki? Maybe she’s in the swim team or something . . .

Though I tried to reason with myself that Nikki was just a good swimmer, something deep in my gut sensed that there was something more to Nikki than just being a good swimmer. Then it clicked for me as we pulled ourselves out of the water to let another group go. Nikki must be a mermaid too, or a siren. That would explain why she had almost every guy eating out of the palm of her hand.

“I’m impressed,” Nikki said as she came up to my side while her friend was catching her breath.

“Thanks I guess.” My attention was occupied as I watched Reeve perform wide arcs with his arms as he swam next to Henry who looked as if he was using the water as a punching bag.

“Ms. Derketo.” The coach came over with a big smile.“That was impressive swimming. Were you on the swim team at your previous school?” she asked.

“No. I just like water.” I said shyly.

“Well, if you ever think about joining, let me know,” she said before going back to the other girls.

“Now we just do a couple more laps and then its free time where we can do whatever we want.” Lilly said as we walked back to the other side.

I think I’m gonna like this class. All I have to worry about is remembering to come up for air.

~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~

“Why didn’t you tell me that you could seriously swim?” Reeve asked me as we walked to the parking lot after leaving Lilly at her SUV.

“Why didn’t you?” I teased him, bumping my shoulder to his.

“You should try swimming in the Ireland oceans. Freezing, rough waters they are. But exhilarating,” Reeve smiled as he reminisced.

“Maybe someday I’ll get to go.” I said as we made it to our cars. My eyes went to a white piece of paper, folded and tucked to my front windshield, underneath a wiper.

“What’s that?” Reeve came to peer behind my shoulder as I plucked the piece of paper and began to unfold it. The paper began to tremble as my hands shook. It was a drawing. A very good drawing, of a sequence. In the first box, I was splayed out on the floor with a cloaked figure bending over me while their hand stabbed a menacing-looking knife into my chest. The second box showed the hidden figure holding my heart as the corners of their mouth was revealed. A very feminine mouth. The third box showed the veiled figure pierce my heart with the knife before slicing a piece off and using the blade like a spoon, lifting it to their open mouth.

Reeve wrenched the paper from my hands as I slid to the ground with a hand to my stomach.

“Kyra.” Reeve bent down until he was grasping my shoulders.“Do you know who sent this to you?” he asked in a commanding voice. All I could do was shake my head as I curled into myself. Something in me was fighting to be released, trying to make itself heard. Sharp pains rolled in my stomach, causing me to clench my teeth as my fingers dug into the palms of my hands.

Oh no . . .

I didn’t realize that when I parked in the back, I had parked next to the exit. Every car would surely pass by and see me, including that big, black SUV that I saw slowly cruising until screeching into a halt with the doors slamming open.

“Kyra! Is she okay?!” Henry knelt down beside Reeve while Lilly came to my other side, placing her hand on my shoulder as her anxious eyes raked over me. Maddox stayed standing as he took in the whole scene. Groaning, I tucked my head in between my knees, wrapping my arms tightly around me.

“Kyra.” Reeve tried to pry my arms away from me.

What’s happening to me? Why do I feel so sick? And then, just as suddenly, the pain and sickness began to fade, replaced by angry tears.

“Give me that!” I practically screeched as I snatched the paper from Reeve’s hand. Pushing myself to my feet, I went over to the driver’s side of my car, stopping once when the world swam around me.

“Kyra, this is serious stuff. If someone is threatening you—” Reeve began.

“Someone threatened you?” Henry rounded on me.

“This is childish. I’m going home. I have a ton of homework.” I unlocked my car but was stopped by Reeve’s arm that held the door shut.

“This isn’t childish at all, Kyra. Those drawings are not kidding around.”

“What drawings?” Maddox asked.

“And you are clearly not well.” Lilly looked worried.

“I’m feeling much better now. It must have been something I ate.” I said as I turned to Reeve. “Reeve, please remove your arm and let me go.”

“Not until you show me what’s on that piece of paper,” Henry said as he joined Reeve.

“This note was addressed to me. I will handle it. And since when did you take up an interest in my well-being?” I rounded on him.

“Kyra—”

“No! Frankly, I’m tired of your mood swings. I know I’m not wanted here! I know what people think of me, I’ve heard them! So will you please let me go?” my voice had ended in a hoarse whisper. I couldn’t stand their eyes looking at me as I cried so I shoved Reeve’s arm away, opened my door and slammed it shut before starting the ignition and peeling away.

~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~

“Tell me what was in that paper.” Henry demanded, blocking Reeve from getting into his car.

“Do you mind?” Reeve really needed to go after Kyra.

“You are her guardian, aren’t you?” Henry said quietly. He ignored his siblings’ looks of puzzlement as he waited for Reeve’s response.

“What do you know?” Reeve had gone statue still as he seized up Henry.

“Ah, ah, ah, how can you expect me to answer when you won’t answer any of my questions?” Henry smiled cruelly. Reeve narrowed his eyes.

“Okay, this is getting us no-where. Can one of you please explain to the rest of us what is going on?” Maddox lifted his hands in the air, exasperated.

“There’s no time for explaining! If I’m guessing correctly, you know who she is and how important it is for me to be with her now!” Reeve pointed at Henry who finally relented and stepped aside. Henry and his siblings watched as Reeve got in his car and quickly maneuvered his way out, following after Kyra’s deserted trail.

“Uh Henry?” Maddox waved his massive hand in front of Henry’s face.

“What?!” Henry rounded on his brother.

“When we get home, you are going to tell us everything, point by point.” Maddox said sternly before jogging over to the driver’s seat. Lilly gave Henry’s hand a squeeze before opening the back door of the SUV and climbing in. Henry roughly sighed before getting in the car. Maddox didn’t even wait for Henry to close his door all the way before pressing hard on the gas pedal.

~*~~*~*~~*~*~~*~

I loosened my fingers on the steering wheel as soon as I began to calm down.

What just happened back there? I should have handled it better, after all it was only a drawing; a drawing of someone eating my heart. My stomach coiled at this and I placed my hand over it. The first thing I wanted to do was run to my mother and have her comfort me like she used to after every first day of school. I would come home crying because no one wanted to be my friend. A boy would talk to me here and there, but in the end I was always sitting by myself as I watched the others play.

One day though, when I was six, I remember sitting on a tire swing, eyes cast on my foot as it shuffled the sand around when all of a sudden, in a blur of motion, someone grabbed onto the tire and began to run in circles at an impossible speed before letting go.

“Hey!” I had shouted before holding on for dear life as the world spun around me. When the tire mercifully came to a stop, I dizzily got out and looked around for the perpetrator. A giggle came from behind me and I quickly whirled around only to see a blurred figure run behind a giant oak tree.

“Hello?” my small feet slowly walked to the tree and waited for someone to step out. Nothing happened. I stood there waiting until finally I sat down where I stood and cried into my arms.

“It’s okay. I’ll play with you.” a strange and yet musical girlish voice said. I felt soft hands begin to play with my loose hair. Wiping my eyes, I tried to turn around to see but her hands gently pushed my head back to face forward.

“I’m braiding your hair okay?” she said as her hands moved quickly with purpose.

“Okay.” Was all I said.

I learned a new song that day. At first she hummed, but then she began to sing in a strange language. Soon I found myself joining her until the song ended just as she finished braiding a halo around my head.

“Thank you.” I patted the braid before looking up. I half expected her to disappear,but she stayed standing where she was.

“Are you an angel?” I breathed as I took in her honey-colored ringlets, slanted blue eyes, marbled white skin with specks of gold, and her almost clear pair of wings sprouting from her back, shaped like those of a butterfly. She fell into fits of giggles at this.

“No. I’m no angel. My name is Aimee,” she said, pronouncing it emay,“and I’m going to be your friend. Want to gather flowers for your hair?” she asked giddily. Before I could say yes, she took my hand in hers and off we went to pick whatever flower we could find.

“I’m Kyra,” I said. She stopped and turned around to look at me with a knowing smile and dimples. “I know.”

All I could find were dandelions and a few wilting daisies. “These will never do.” Aimee said with a pout before burying her hands into the soil.

“Close your eyes.” she instructed, and I dutifully did. I remember hearing faint rustling noises before she finally said, “You can open your eyes now.”

“Pretty!” I had exclaimed at the wild flowers in her hands. “How did you do that?” I asked as she went to the tire swing and waited for me to sit so she could stick the flowers into my braid.

“Magic.” she had whispered with a broad smile before giving me the task of holding the bouquet and handing her a flower, one by one, while she expertly wove them into my hair.

“Will you be my best friend?” I asked her hopefully.

“I will be your best friend,” she promised. When the bell rang for the children to return to their classrooms, Aimee stepped back and helped me down from the tire swing.

“I’ll be waiting out here for you.” she said as she sat down on the tire which somehow began to slowly spin on its own. I blinked.

“Don’t you have to go in?” I asked.

“Nope. I’ll see you for lunch Kyra.” she said before the tire began to spin faster and faster until I couldn’t even see her anymore but only hear her laughter. I wished I didn’t have to go, but then I got happy as this gave me something to look forward to. I blissfully skipped to the classroom door where a group of girls were just going in.

“How did you do that to your hair?” one of them asked as she gazed at my hair with envy.

“My best friend Aimee did it for me.” I said as I gestured to the tire swing. The girls looked at each other before bursting out in laughter.

“What a baby. She still plays with imaginary friends.” Another girl with pig-tails said as they retreated inside. I looked to the tire swing and saw Aimee wave at me as her wings fluttered. My brows furrowed. Why didn’t they see her? She’s just right there! I’m not crazy. Not crazy. I tried to convince myself but the sinking feeling still came. From that day on, I accepted Aimee as a figment of my imagination. As I grew older, I saw her as a childish imaginary friend I had conjured since I had been lonely. I didn’t see Aimee anymore when I went on to middle school and I didn’t see her in high school.

Now that I have remembered, I could clearly see that Aimee had been real. Who else could have braided my hair? When my mother had picked me up she had admired my hair and I had told her that my imaginary friend had done it. Now I wondered who Aimee truly was . . .