FicWad

[The story, setting and characters have been made by the author HazyDreams91 and all rights are reserved.]



Chapter 7


It was a long drive to my friends house. Zephyr was so quiet that I had time to reflect on my actions a few minutes ago. At first I felt so pissed off, like I'd stubbed my toe on one of my mothers chairs. The type of anger that makes you want to punch the object that hurt you even though its not their fault because its an inanimate object that can't help but be solid. Then I felt relief. After everything is said and done, everyone always feels that serenity. But then it starts to form into guilt, the type of guilt that when you doubt yourself and your actions, it starts to take over. Then I felt like I wanted to cry. Had I really done the right thing?
My throat began to tingle and my eyes to water, I was definitely going to cry. I was driving and droplets of moisture were forming at the corner of my tear ducts, waiting for me to blink and release them. But once I did that, I’d most likely break into a sob. I would be damned if I’d let some stranger see me cry. Especially one who I didn’t trust enough to shed tears on their shoulder. I would wait and suck it up like the woman I was, mature woman, and deal with it later. Yea, that would be the smart thing to do.
I drove far, taking the long way to the house I intended to stop at. The entire time keeping my eyes on the road and avoiding any thoughts on negative aspects of the day. Reaching a corner, I noticed the dead silence in the car. It became increasingly awkward. Had I made a fool of myself by doing what I had? Was this stranger now confused and embarrassed by what happened? Oh god, the shame. Maybe I should drop him off somewhere and sweep this whole matter under the rug. My family would probably ask what happened to their long lost relative and I would answer respectably: “What am I his keeper?” And walk off. He looked old enough to take care of himself, then again, he’d probably try to slice peoples heads off with his sword if he felt threatened.
I sighed inwardly when I reached the narrow street, stationing my car a house down from my friends house. This street was always packed with vehicles and trashcans preventing easy parking. Luckily, today was a Wednesday, so everyone was out working or at school. Turning off the engine, I text my friend, letting her know I was by her house and if I was able to stop by with some big news. Naturally she responded with a question and I answered with a: You’ll see.
Judging by the lack of cars, her parents were gone too. They were absent most of the time, I’d hang out with her when both of us wanted to have each others company. And it was in clusters of days or weeks, never consistent. But it worked.
There was silence in the car again, re-noticing it for the third time. My mind wandered again to Kim and our fight. Was it finished? Had I screwed up a friendship over what I believed in or my pride? It was a silly fight was it not? No, it wasn’t. She’d accused a stranger of being the devil, which was not cool. But those wings of his, it could fool even an atheist. Now I had one less friend because of some guy who popped into my life unexpectedly; one I’d made a promise to. Stupidly. My eyes began to water again, I wanted to slam my head against the steering wheel to make sense of my actions.
I held it in and looked ahead with the most serious face I had ever put on. I couldn’t let Zephyr see me cry. Never. I’d be damned if he did. “My lady, are you feeling well?” He spoke for the first time in the past half hour. “I’m-” I couldn’t even finish the sentence before a tear rolled down my cheek. Then another and another. After a second the tears just came rolling down and I covered my face. “I’m fine.” I replied barely above a whisper, no one was allowed to see me this way. I could hear shuffling from the passengers seat, no doubt he was moving around trying to leave the car before this emotional mess burst into a sob and shared her ‘feelings’ with him. I was sure where he came from men still ran away from such things. It was in their genetic coding.
I tilted my head down, wiping my tears away, the flow steadily sliding down the skin of my cheek. I wiped and wiped but it just wouldn’t stop. It was embarrassing to do such a thing when someone you didn’t know was looking. Now I could add embarrassed to the list of misfortunes today. So far there was stupidity, smug argument, and now humiliation. Lovely.
As I lifted my arm up to wipe my face, something stopped it. My eyes were blurred by the tears, but I could plainly see that the shape resembled a hand. I looked in the direction it was coming from and could see Zephyr was attached to that hand. He was still here? He used his other hand and put it under my chin, using his other to wipe guilt ridden tears away. “There is no need to be shameful of what saddens you. But the sadness should not over take you and become you.” My face became hot and I slapped his hand away, that was definitely a millions times more embarrassing than what had happened before. I wiped my tears away immediately, taking note not to cry for things in front of this weirdo. Although it might’ve been a picture perfect scene in some novel or movie, it was awkward and unnecessary in real life.
“Yea…I’ll…remember that.” My sadness was gone, replaced by uncomfortable silence. I clicked the button in my seat belt and proceeded to get the hell out of the car before things got more odd. I stretched my arms out, strolling over to the sidewalk, waiting for Zephyr. I stood there looking inside the car, waiting for him. He was having trouble taking the seatbelt off. I smiled, aside from being creepy, he had his cute quirks. Mainly because he didn’t know how to handle modern objects well, like a kid. Before I reached out to grab the handle and open the car door, I saw him snatch the seat belt, pull on it, and tear it in half. My jaw dropped open with an “OH MY GOD!” and watched as he got himself out and closed the door roughly, leaving a dent in the handle. Had I not been shocked still2 I probably would’ve chewed him out that second.
“I mastered the seat belt, it would not let me part, so I had to slay it.” That did it, who the hell did he think he was? “SLAY!? SLAY?! That was my car seat belt asshole! Do you have the money to replace it!?” I flung my hands in the air in irritation, I was pissed. “Does this displease you priestess?” He frowned, his eyes showing the guilt he didn’t understand. “Displease me? I’m BEYOND displeased! I’m mad!” I walked around in a circle, trying to blow off some steam before I went at it again.
“Now you can’t ride with me in the front or anyone for that matter until that thing is fixed. I’ll get a ticket and lose my car privileges. That means I won’t be able to help you and you’ll have to walk around aimlessly because I sure as hell am not walking around with you when I have a car.” I stopped walking, facing him, thinking about throwing him in the trunk if he asked me what that meant. She’d stated before that the seatbelt was for safety, not to slay or any such thing. “Ugh!” I exclaimed, putting my hands on my head, thinking of what I was going to do. “I will repair the damage done and pardon myself properly.” He said after the rant I had just showered him with. I raised an eyebrow, questioning his statement. “With what? Magic?” I answered sarcastically. I turned around, needing my vision clear of his godly features. I’d probably end up forgiving him, he was a foreigner after all. “Damn.” I whispered, that thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. He wasn’t from around here, I was thinking irrationally again.
I sighed, releasing the last bit of irritation in my body. “Look, I’m sorry.” I said while turning around to face Zephyr. He was looking at me, his intense black eyes mirroring mine. “What?” I blushed, I didn’t like it when people stared. “There’s no need to feel displeased. I have mended the seat belt.” He kneeled, taking my hand and bowing. “Forgive me my lady. I have acted in a way to cause you grief. Take this as my apology and this gift to thank you.” I looked over at the car, realizing the seat belt was completely new. Then he dropped a bag in my hand that was heavy and jingled like money. “…this isn’t…” I opened it after taking my hand out of his. It was solid gold coins. “No way!” I stumbled back, the fence of the house catching me. I threw it back in his hands once he was up again.
“I can’t take this.” I said, my stomach doing flips from the notion of having all that money for free. “Yes you can.” He threw it back, making it land in my arms. I glared at him. “No, I can’t….” I threw it back at him again, this time it rushed pass him, but somehow he managed to catch it. “You can. And you will.” He said, determination in his eyes. Walking up to me and placing it in my hands, closing it with his own, leaving them there to keep me from opening them. I tried to pry them open, but they wouldn’t budge. I tried to snatch my hands from him, they wouldn’t move. “Damn it! That’s not fair!” He smirked, probably the first time he’d shown his true self, other than that chivalry crap that he usually did. I mean it was nice, but weird. “Then say you’ll take it and I’ll let go.” I squirmed around in his grasp until I felt defeated. “Fine, I’ll take it.” He released my hands and kept the smirk plastered on his face. It was rather sexy…
Damn it! There will be none of that…I thought to myself, there was no way I was going to let some guy tell me what to do just because he was handsome. I smirked as well, looking to my right and throwing the bag all the way to the other side of the house. “I will not!” I yelled, running over to my friends house. Once I was at the steps to the entrance, I felt Zephyr walk up behind me as I knocked. I smiled in satisfaction, he’d given up.
“You will.” He said, slipping the bag into my pocket. My body tingled at the closeness of his face to my own, I could feel his hot breath on my ear. Then the door opened and I didn’t get the chance to retaliate. “What’s up?” My friend Daniela asked me, she looked at me then looked behind me to see Zephyr. “Who’s he?” She asked plainly, eyeing him cautiously. “Dani, this is Zephyr, Zephyr Dani.” I continued to talk, getting straight to the lie I was about to say. “This is my new boyfriend, I wanted you to meet him.” I smiled at her like an idiot in love would, not that I knew what that was like. She raised an eyebrow, eyeing him up and down. “This guy’s your man?” She said, doubt in her eyes. “Yup. Found him on e-bay, now can I come in so I can talk to you more privately?”
Daniela didn’t say anything at that sarcastic comment and stepped aside to let me and Zephyr in. I motioned for him to sit on the leather couch she had in her living room, making sure he didn’t break anything on the way there. There was a glass table in the middle, and judging by the dent he made in my car door, he could probably break the thing with a tap. I sat next to him, Daniela taking the chair next to her electronic piano. She was still in her PJ’s, her feet bare on the cold wooden floor. It was something she and I shared, we liked being bare foot in our houses a lot. It was comfortable.
“So this is what you had to tell me? The big news?” She ran a hand through her hair, some of it sticking out. Then I caught scent of something odd, something bitter and smoky. “Before I get to that, have you been smoking?” She nodded, smirking. “It was pot wasn’t it?” I asked her and she raised an eyebrow as if saying ‘What do you think?’. She probably had. I stood up and walked over to her kitchen, peeking in only to find pots and pans with some food in each of them. Bags of chips laying around, milk, cereal boxes and a lot of soda cans. She’d most definitely had been smoking pot.
I walked back and sat next to Zephyr again, making sure not to seem too suspicious about anything. “Just say what you have to say, I know it has nothing to do with your love life.” My body tensed, she probably already suspected it was something serious. “I had a run in with Kimberly today, she kicked me out of her house. She wasn’t too happy about me and Zephyr.” I said, looking at her straight in the eyes. “And?” She asked, waiting for the rest to come. “It’s hard to explain. But I won’t show you first, I’ll simply tell you what it is even though it might sound crazy.” Daniela waited for me, expecting something bad probably. “Zephyr has wings.” I pressed my lips into a thin line, waiting for her to kick me out too. I sounded crazy didn’t I?
“Cool.” She responded, brushing a piece of hair from her eyes behind her ear. She had it cut short so it came right back. “Show me.” I blinked a few times before I realize she actually believed me. I turned to look at Zephyr, who was already standing up. Judging by the way she had taken the news, him showing his wings wouldn’t affect her much.
This time he was slow to pull them out, careful not to frighten Daniela. “I must be really high right now…” She responded, her eyes wide with astonishment. “It’s real, trust me.” I answered her unspoken question. Zephyr walked over to Daniela, taking her hand and helping her off her seat, placing her hand on his wings. She caressed his black feathers, focusing on every detail of them. This was turning out better than I had hoped. “Can you…fly?” She asked him, he nodded, looking down at her. Zephyr was unusually tall and Daniela unusually short, so their height differed immensely.
“The Mayans spoke of an intelligent race of beings aside from our own. Beings with supernatural powers and different physical attributes. The very ones that they depicted in their paintings across the stone walls in their temples and homes. They had carvings of gods and goddesses, even creatures with a head of an animal and the bodies of man. I’d never guessed that they actually existed.” Daniela was staring at Zephyr in the eyes and he was looking back at her. My eye brow twitched, this was getting weird. She was still holding his wing, his hand on top of hers. I cleared my throat loudly “Anyways…”
Zephyr was the first to glance at me, his eyes completely black. My eyes widened for a second, then he turned back around, did I just imagine those creepy eyes? “Um…” I began, but didn’t know where I was going with my sentence. He turned his attention to me again, this time his eyes normal, irises in tact. “Forgive me. I was merely calming her worries.” I raised my eyebrow in confusion, then I understood. The reason he was staring was so she didn’t freak out like Kim had with us. He let go of her and came back to sit with me, Daniela was still in a trance then she snapped out of it. “So…yea.” She cleared her throat too, sitting down on her piano chair. “Where did you come from?” She asked, I hadn’t even thought of asking that. Or did I already? “I have come from a universe separate from yours. It is taboo to travel between them, but I had a mission so I journeyed into the unknown.” I was interested in his story, so I asked him a few questions of my own now that I had the chance.
“What happens if people from your world find out?” I was hoping it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. “Immediate subjugation. Perhaps even death.” A knot formed in my stomach, did that mean he’d be punished that way when he returned? “But it doesn’t happen always, right?” He had been looking at Daniela, but turned to look at me. “I hold status in my universe, it does not compare to most who attempt this taboo. Very few can summon much power, they would require a highly skilled summoner to send them through the link between the two universes. Most who attempt it die.” Well that was lovely… so I could assume that someone had helped him across. “Why have you come here?” Daniela asked, the very thing that Zephyr had informed me of from the beginning. “To find his ‘queen’” I air quoted him, it was the broken record that had been playing in my head for quite some time. “Oh…and she’s here? Does that mean she broke your laws and traveled across the worlds?” I could see the muscles in his jaw become tense, there was something going on here. “Yes.”
But that made no sense to me, he came here to bring her back? Wouldn’t that mean he wasn’t really breaking a law, he was simply being a cop and going across the border to bring a criminal back? If that was the case, he’d probably be punished according to his rules. He still wasn’t suppose to be here even if there is a criminal on this side. “Tell me. What was your queen like?” I asked, trying to change the subject on the taboo. His jaw muscles softened, turning to face me. “She was kind. A strong ruler with much conviction. She believed in equality and hoped to bring all kingdoms together, both the fortunate and the poor. She never let anyone steer her wrong in her decisions, once she set her mind on something, there was little a person could do to sway her from her thoughts. She was loved by her people and those surrounding her.” My expression no doubt softened too, he seemed to think highly of his queen. She was probably like the Martin Luther King of her time. I kind of wish I could meet her someday, just to see what kind of person she was first hand.
“So why did she leave?” Daniela asked, a puzzled expression on her face. Why did she leave indeed if she was adored by everyone. A tense atmosphere befell the room, Daniela and I could feel it thickly laid out above our heads. “There was…complications.” He said, refusing to continue with the subject any longer. I sighed, feeling weird with all this information. “Well, I think its time to leave.” Daniela raised an eyebrow. “Now? You didn’t even say how you met him and if you needed my help.” My eyes narrowed in irritation, I had forgotten why I was here to begin with. “Oh yea…” I muttered, taking a deep breath. “He fell from the sky. And I do need your help, but at the moment, all we’re doing is searching blindly for this queen.” It was interesting how I managed to accept a proposition that I had no business accepting. I had no skills, no connections, or even geniuses in labs making me gadgets to help me on my quest.
“I suppose when the time comes, I’ll ring you up. For now, I need to find out more about the legends of the Mayans. Perhaps in that, we could find out where the queen is. She must be important enough for them to tell a story about.” I stood up and opened the door to let Zephyr and myself out. “If you could, please help me with that. Right now I need to take action and figure out where to start my search…” Daniela nodded and walked over to me, leaning in close to whisper something in my ear. “Be careful. Use protection.” I blushed, she simply laughed at my shyness. “Hell no. That’s not happening.”
Zephyr had a confused look, he knew nothing of what was going on. Daniela looked him over again, sighing. “Too bad.” I narrowed my eyes, but then smiled at her. “Bye, I’ll talk to you later.” She saluted me then closed the door behind us. “Is she a priestess?” He asked, probably coming to the conclusion all I had were friends that were priestess’. “Um…not sure. Maybe.” I said, walking back to the car. I had business to attend to. Zephyr walked in front of me, my eyes shifted from side to side, making sure no one was looking.
I took on a pouncing position, ready to strike. I pushed my foot off the concrete and aimed right at his back pants pocket, inserting the bag of money. “No. I won’t.” I grinned widely, running to the other side of the car and opening the door. He smirked, placing his hands on the car roof. “Perhaps you have the situation mistaken. Because you will.” My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, I felt pressure on my shoulder. The bag of gold was sitting neatly on there. “Damn it.” I glared, this was not over. “Just get in…” I said, sliding into the seat, his chuckle making the skin parallel to my spine tingle. Damn him and his foreign accent and sexy voice.


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