Boarders

I was halfway up the steps to the brownstone when I noticed Braydie was behind me. I was so on edge that I turned and snapped, “Why are you following me?”

                Her Aura prickled pink. “Why do you think?”

                I had forgotten our predicament. “How far away can you be before we start cramping?”

                She looked hurt, “Hey, you know it’s not my fault that your Master doesn’t want to tell you anything. Don’t take it out on me.”

                I tried to think of a clever comeback, but couldn’t. I sighed heavily and turned back to the door. The old doorknob was a little sticky, so it took a moment for me to turn it. While I was concentrating on it, I was suddenly aware of Braydie’s hands on my shoulders. Suddenly my stress melted away, and was replaced by a warm and relaxing feeling. I closed my eyes in bliss, and then suddenly I realized what was happening. I jumped against the door, knocking it open.

                I tumbled into the foyer, and looked back at my shadow, eyes large. “Whoa, okay…you can’t do that.”

                Braydie raised her eyebrows. “Why not? You were relaxing, right?”

                I reached out to the stair railing for support. “Relaxing, yeah. But I don’t need to be relaxed like…well, like that.”

                Her face was blank for a moment before her Aura turned the deepest shade of chocolate brown; she grinned at me impishly. “Do I turn you on, Mono?”

                I gaped at her cocoa Aura. That only meant one thing. I shook my head tightly. “No, but you seem to be.”

                Her face went scarlet, and her Aura flushed into magenta. I felt a little bad for dropping her like that, but I wasn’t ready for her to know that I liked her; especially not in our current situation.

                “Sorry.” I mumbled. “Thanks for trying to make me feel better.”

                Braydie’s face lightened. “I’m sorry I didn’t do a better job. I’ll remember to downplay it next time…it’s just that,” She huffed, “You’re such a damn enigma. I thought that maybe if you got excited enough, you’d stop being so blank, Mono.”

                I peered at her. “Why do you call me that, anyway?”

                “’Cause you’re Mono.” She said, as if that explained everything. Then seeing my confused expression, she said, “Like monochromatic. You know different shades of the same color?”

                It suddenly dawned on me that she was talking about the rigidness of my Aura; I nodded sheepishly, and started up the stairs. I needed to think. Braydie followed me, like I figured she would. What kind of host am I that I’d just leave a guest standing in the parlor?

                The greenhouse was still bright, the day not quite as dim as it usually was when I strayed to the top level of the brownstone. I sat in my chair as usual, and tried to push the fact that there was a gorgeous girl standing in my study out of my mind. Braydie wandered over to the windows and stared out at the rooftops. My eyes were drawn to her, and I watched her for several seconds before I realized that it was pretty apparent I was staring.

                “So this is your place?” Braydie asked suddenly.

                I shrugged. “Only place Barrick really doesn’t venture to.”

                She nodded. “It’s nice; very peaceful.”

                I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and turned to see a lone figure on one of my rooftops. It was the woman who had so often been accompanied by the man. She was holding her bulging stomach like it was made of gold.

                Braydie turned and looked at me with a smile, “It’s almost ready to be born.”

                I got up and stood by her, her scent making me a little woozy. “How can you tell?”

                “Other than her size; you can see its Aura…just barely masked by hers. See it?” Braydie pointed. I peered across the distance and was aware under the woman’s aquamarine was a wisp of raspberry. It was impatient. I turned my gaze back to Braydie, amazed that she had caught that.

                “I’m a good Reader.” She explained, seeing my expression. “Except when it comes to you.”

                “Maybe not my Aura,” I admitted, “But I’m pretty transparent otherwise.”

                She snorted in apparent disbelief, and then asked, “So what’s your story?”

                I leaned up against the window. “What do you mean?”

                “Your story. We all have one. When you were orphaned, how your Master found you…that sort of thing.” She explained. “Take me, for instance. My parents died when I was four. And Archie fought for me in Chicago…”

                I interrupted, “How do you know I was orphaned?”

                Braydie looked surprised. “All of us are. No Semien’s parents live for very long; it’s because we draw on other people’s Auras in our early years, and we sort of sap up everything.”

                I was horrified. “You mean I sucked the life out of my parents?!”

                “Well…,” Braydie said, trying to find a better way of putting it. She must have failed, “Yes, that’s pretty much it; it’s not our fault though. We were just babies.”

                My gut tightened, and I looked back at the woman, who was moving back to the skylights in her building. I imagined my own mother, unaware that the thing inside of her was going to be the cause of her death. I hoped that this woman’s child would be normal.

                “That’s terrible.” I said. “It’s just…sick.”

                After the woman was out of sight, I collapsed back into my chair, the events of the day crushing down upon me. The fact that I had been instrumental in the death of my parents made my skin crawl. I cradled my head in my hands, and sighed heavily.

                “Don’t think about it too much,” Braydie advised, “Besides, if you’re a Guardian…”

                “Ah!” I yelped, “Don’t! Just don’t, okay? All I need right now is to disobey my Master. I don’t need any more information. I don’t want any more information.”

                Braydie thankfully didn’t say anything more, but when I peeked through my fingers, her Aura was a dark maroon of quiet sadness. She felt sorry for me; and that miffed me quite a bit. My life had been perfect before she had waltzed in and ruined everything. My only problem was that I couldn’t stay mad at her. It was like she was a good-feeling magnet, and I was the negative sheet of metal that was simply drawn to her.

                The day was growing dim by the time I heard Barrick’s voice downstairs, and Braydie and I left the greenhouse. The brownstone was brightly lit, and I noticed that Barrick had taken a little time to clean up. Archie was in the hallway, and had mysteriously produced two suitcases which he set in the entryway. Braydie looked at them with disdain.

                “We’re staying here?” She whined.

                I frowned at her, a little hurt. “What’s wrong with here?”

                She shot me a nasty look and then pouted in Archie’s direction. Archie shook his head, as if to tell her to cut the crap; she did so with more than a little hesitation. Barrick asked me to please take Braydie to the small guest room, and to please help her with her luggage. I complied, thinking that one of the two suitcases were hers. Archie laughed as I grabbed the light pink case, and jerked his thumb toward a thrasher car that was parked out front. There were at least four trunks strapped on the roof.

                I turned back to Braydie. “Do you always travel this heavy?”

                She sniffed at me and pushed past. She didn’t seem to like the new car that Archie had brought along either. “What happened to the limo?!”

                “It attracted too much attention, sweetheart,” Archie told her. He leaned down to whisper to me, “Mood swings. It’s a curse.”

                I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about until I noted Braydie’s sour attitude that was jumping from her skin like firecrackers. She untied the trunks and then looked at me expectantly. I put down the pink suitcase and unloaded one of the trunks, tossing a side of it to Braydie. She frowned deeply under the weight, and her Aura was a bit put out; a far cry from her optimistic self.

                Barrick and Archie pitched in and helped us move the trunks into the brownstone; I was the one who had to lug them up the stairs, however. Braydie followed me and reminded me in increasingly screechy tones to “be careful with that! It’s fragile!” I was more than a little pissed off once I have moved her into the guest room next to mine, especially when I met the cat.

                Mercury was a fat gray short hair with green eyes and a pissy mood that reflected my own. When Archie opened his carrier and let him out, I could sense Barrick’s discomfort; cats were never his thing…actually he didn’t approve of pets in general, but he surprisingly kept his mouth shut; especially when Braydie picked up the fluff-ball and rubbed her cheek on his head in an adoring fashion. I decided that I hated that cat. My hatred was amplified when I had to take all of his hairy stinky accoutrements up to Braydie’s room, and I found the monster using my doorjamb as a scratching post.  

The whole situation became even worse when I was getting ready to leave Braydie’s room to let her unpack in privacy.

                “Where are you going?” She asked.

                “Downstairs.” I replied shortly.

                She laughed. “Oh no, you’re not. I need to unpack, and if you’re downstairs, you’ll be too far away.”

                I raised my eyebrows. “Are you kidding?”

                “Look, Mono,” Braydie explained in careful tones, “We both have to sacrifice because of this, okay? I have to live here, obviously, and therefore you have to give a little something in return.”

                “Who dragged up all this crap?” I reminded her. “You can deal with me leaving the room.”

                “Leave the room and I’ll take you out,” She threatened.

                I wasn’t in the mood. I looked at her thin little frame and let out a chuckle. “I’d like to see you try.”

                I turned to leave, and was suddenly on the floor, Braydie on top of me, locking my head and left shoulder together in the crook of her elbow. I yelped and tried to use my other arm to grab her, but she was conveniently just a smidgen too far out of reach. I had been rendered totally helpless by a girl. And the kicker was that deep down inside, I was actually elated to have her in such close proximity. That only served to make me more frustrated with myself.

                I suppose I must have started yelling, because Barrick and Archie both appeared at the doorway. They stared at us with an air of mild shock, tough Archie didn’t look as surprised as Barrick did; in fact, he looked downright amused at my predicament. He turned to Barrick and said with as much seriousness as he could muster, “I have a feeling we need to lay down some law. This isn’t going to work.”

                “I would be happy to,” Barrick responded calmly, “Would you instruct your protégé to please let go of my boy?”

                 It took some persuasion, but Braydie finally got off of me, and I was able to get to my feet. I was mad; I wanted to lash back out but I knew that I’d get punished if I even dared to attack a girl. After we were calmed a bit, the adults took us downstairs to the kitchen, and made us sit beside each other in the breakfast nook. Braydie looked as though she would have loved to kick my a*s. I wanted to kick hers.

                “This behavior cannot continue.” Barrick announced firmly. “Not in my home and not outside of it. You need to appear as though you are two normal children outside of these walls, and fighting about something you cannot possibly help will only attract attention.”

                Archie leaned on the table, opposite to Braydie. He looked at each of us in turn, “I know it’s been a hard day, kids. And a lot of changes are happening very quickly. This isn’t going to be easy. Even Marcus and I are going to have a hard time living under the same roof. We all need to pitch in and try a little harder.”

                I eyed Barrick. “More rules?”

                “Rules make things easier, son.” He said, “You both need to understand what is going to be expected from the other.”

                Braydie and I glanced at one another. Mercury entered the room and yowled in our direction, as though he was telling us to cut the crap and just get the apologies over with. Braydie shook her head and whispered, “I’m scared that I’ll get out of range. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever felt before. I’m sorry I tackled you.”

                I huffed, “Yeah, okay.”

                Archie pulled out a chair and sat down. “We need to work out a schedule, I think. We decided to put you two in rooms next to one another. So there won’t be any problems with that…showering is going to be interesting.”

                Braydie blushed. “Archie!”

                He grinned, “Sorry, honey. I couldn’t resist. Seriously though, I think both of you should get up a little earlier in the morning, and Flynn needs to use the facilities first.”

                Barrick raised an eyebrow, and Archie explained, “Braydie takes longer to get ready in the morning. And if she goes first, Flynn will be racing out the door with his shoes untied.”

                “I don’t take that long,” Braydie grumped.

                 Archie snorted, and I was about to reciprocate when Barrick glared at me warningly. So instead I asked, “What about school? In the morning, Braydie’s classes are across campus.”

                “We’ll take care of that presently.” Barrick assured us. “We need to visit our dear friend Mrs. Forman in any case.”

                Archie rubbed his hands together. “And as for your free time, I think it’s best if each of you take an amount of time to do what you want, but be sure to remember the feelings of the other person. So Braydie, if you want Flynn to be in your room, you allow him to do whatever he wants…within reason.”

                “That goes for you as well, Flynn.” Barrick imposed. “If Braydie wishes to do something, you must remain within a comfortable proximity. Understood?”

                I nodded, and then asked, “It’s there any way to reverse this…effect?”

                Archie and Barrick looked at one another, and then Archie replied, “No. I’m sorry, Flynn. But this is a more-or-less permanent link.”

                My eyes widened in horror as the reality sunk in. Braydie turned pale, and she stared at me in open mortification. “You mean, for the rest of our lives?”

                “Mmmm…” Archie grunted, “Yes. It certainly looks that way.”

                Braydie let out a small scream. “But! But…no! That can’t happen! I mean, what if I get a boyfriend? Or if Mono decides he wants to go to Timbuktu or something?!”

                Archie started to say something, but Barrick cut him off, “Rest assured, we are going to research this thoroughly. And if there is a way to break this link, we will find it.”

                Archie stared at him in a way that hinted Barrick could be insane. I barely caught it before Archie sighed heavily and scratched his head. “For now, you’ll both just have to deal with this. Sorry, princess.”

                Braydie folded her arms and stared at the table, her Aura depressed. Then she asked, “What about my show next Thursday?”

                “You’ll go.” Archie assured her, “And Flynn will be backstage, fully within range.”

                I opened my mouth to protest, but Barrick shot me yet another searing look and I closed my mouth. I wondered for a moment why he had been so adamant about not telling Braydie and I what Archie obviously wanted to inform us about. It was making me anxious, though my Aura still showed nothing.

Reviews

[Rose of Gondor]

Wow...the shower thing must be really complicated.......lol...

[Jasmine Thousand]

This is getting MORE AND MORE original!
I totally didn't expect the "stomach problem" thing!
~Jasmine Thousand~