When the Good Goes Bad

Osilim and Glin*

"That stupid, weak, dumb, selfish little child!" Osilim yells. He kicks a gold cup sitting on the silver tray, sending red wine splattered across the floor. "He doesn't realize what's right for her! She needs to be introduced through us, not those ignorant little Light Children!"

Osilim stands in the middle of the lobby of his castle. Dozens of seats and lounge chairs surround his golden tables and statues of Egyptian Gods. This room is one of the five lobbies in his castle, this one themed Egypt, from the time Osilim took a vacation to the desert held in the country.

Anja lies spread out on one of the lounge chairs on the far side of the lobby, filing her nails and humming to herself. Osilim catches her roll her eyes and then glance at the red wine trailing along the floor toward her. "That stuff stains, you know." She says in her thick German accent, pointing at the liquid with her nail filer.

Osilim groans and kicks the cup again. "William needs to be taught a lesson, Anja." He stares at her dark eyes, and then notices she couldn't care less and scoffs and looks away. "We need to do something -"

The double doors on the other side of Anja open quickly and Michael walks through with papers in his hand. "Sir, we have news." He says, walking passed Anja as she gets up, and making his way to Osilim.

Osilim straightens up and takes the papers from Michael. On them are notes taken in fast handwriting stating all the locations where the girl - Glinda Prater - was spotted. Three times at McDale High school, once on Oakwood Street with a woman said to be her mother, getting into a white Volkswagen with her. The last time was at the local Library last Saturday.

Not to mention today at the mall when Osilim finally had a chance to speak with the girl.

"Who were these notes taken by?" Osilim asks, looking up from the papers and looking at Michael. "By one of our search parties?"

Michael nods, "We've been taking notes, as you've asked, sir. Those are the most recent times we've seen her and been able to record it."

"We're getting closer." Osilim says lowly, sitting down on a wooden chair and resting his cheek on his fist.

"We got her records. She attends McDale High school everyday and has two more years in that school until she graduates. We have yet to find where she lives but we have her age and mother's surname name. She turned sixteen...today, sir." Michael states.

Osilim's head snaps up in shock, "Today? Today is her birthday?" He asks. Michael nods. "She's the one, then, isn't she?" Osilim gets up and looks at Anja. Anja grins and walks over to him.

"She's most certainly the one, sir." Michael echoes. "Glinda Prater, born September 9th. Mother's surname is Prater, but her grandfather's surname were Freud."

Osilim and Michael turn around and look at Anja. She grins and shrugs, "What did I tell you? Her father is a descendant of me. Just because he's dead doesn't mean her and I aren't related." Anja says.

Osilim stands in his place, shocked that Anja was right. They really are related.

Glinda and Anja are related. Glinda's father is a descendant of Anja.

~~~

Glin walks down the hallways at school, the Monday after her run-in with Liam and that man at the mall.

She's been cleverly yet unconsciously avoiding Liam all day and talking to Kaylee instead. She's mostly forgotten about everything that's happened, trying to leave it in the past and move on. She tries to convince herself it was just her imagination and there's nothing to worry about.

Her mother never asked her again about what happened at the mall last Saturday. Plus, she's been working nearly 24/7 ever since, so there's really been no time to talk about it.

Glin has been trying desperately to focus on her school work and nothing else. Getting back to real life drama, real things, and more importantly: reality. She's reminded herself a bunch of times since Saturday that the things she experienced last week weren't real and she needs to forget about it. Liam is a good kid, nothing is unusual about him, or Kaylee, or Glin's life.

Then why couldn't Glin bring herself to talk to Liam?

"Hey, Glin." Kaylee says, skipping up next to Glin in the school hallway after lunch. She wears a red tank-top and a blue and black checkered scarf, along with black jeans and sneakers.

"Hi." Glin forces a smile, trying to make it as believable as possible.

"So, Liam has been wondering about you . . ." She states, looking at Glin with curious eyes.

Glin frowns and shrugs, "I don't see why he would need to." She says. "I'm fine, he's fine. Nothing's wrong." Glin brings her hand up to her necklace that Liam gave her for her sixteenth birthday. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me.

Just a dream.

"Glin, did anything happen recently with him? He seemed kind of . . . worried about you. I think you should talk to him, regardless." Kaylee says. Glin considers it but thinks nothing of it, shoving away any memory of last Saturday.

"I . . . um, don't think I should." Glin says. Why can't she just talk to him? Talk to him, for the love of God. "It's just - not necessary right now." Kaylee studies Glin for a long time, eventually making Glin uncomfortable as her eyes watch her's. "Really, Kaylee, everything is fine."

But Kaylee just sighs, clearly unconvinced. They finally reach the lunch room and sit down at their regular table with their packed lunches. "Well, I hope everything is really ok, because he's sitting with us for lunch today."

Glin forces a smile and a short nod, but on the inside . . . she's screaming.

Kaylee and Glin sit in silence for a long time, eating their lunch as they wait for Liam to get through the lunch line and come to their table.

Glin finally spots him making his way over. She sees him smile in a greeting and she feels her chest rise and fall nervously. Every step he takes makes her more anxious, but at the same time more excited. Will he want to talk to me? Will he feel as awkward as I feel? Will he try to act like nothing is wrong, like I'm unsuccessfully trying to do?

Glin stares at her food, moving around her yogurt with her plastic spoon. She tries to think of anything but Liam. Her mother, her mother's job, science class, history class. Even her father. What would my life be like now if my father were alive?

Liam takes a seat across from Glin and Kaylee, smiling his little boy smile, emphasizing the color of his blue eyes. But as she looks closer to his eyes, she realizes, his eyes were a lighter shade of blue before. Weren't they?

"So, ladies. What's the topic of conversation today?" He asks, popping a french fry in his mouth and chewing it while grinning happily.

Glin sighs and looks back down at her half eaten yogurt. Please don't bring up Saturday. Please don't bring up Saturday.

Luckily, he doesn't, and he and Kaylee continue a conversation about their lesson in English class. Glin sits in her seat, completely still, just staring down at the table while her cheek rests on her fist. Glin catches Liam glance at her a few times, but he immediately covers it up by smiling at Kaylee and talking about his homework for tonight.

Glin can't help but wonder why he's not even talking to her, or why he doesn't even care that she's ignoring him. Is he ignoring her as well? Does he really feel as awkward as she does?

This can't be the end of their friendship, right?

But as the day goes on, Glin realizes she's the only one holding them back from speaking to each other. Kaylee keeps telling her that Liam wants to talk but doesn't want to make Glin uncomfortable. Glin can't help but feel like she'll be the cause of their silence for the rest of high school. Why is something like this causing them to not speak to each other anymore? Why can't they just talk about it? What's holding Glin back?

I'm scared of what he'll say to me.

No. She's not. She can't be. There's nothing that scary that he could tell her. Glin lives in a reality, a utopia of her own mind. Nothing weird or creepy can be happening right under her nose. Right? And even if it were, why would Liam be the one to tell her that her world would be turned upside-down? Why would Liam be the one, out of all people, to tell her that something unnatural is really happening?

Everything is fine. Liam is normal, Glin is normal. Both their lives are mortal lives, everyday lives that don't have any fictional, made-up, paranormal stuff.

Then why is Glin still afraid to talk to Liam?

Author's Note

Not that exciting, I know. The next few chapters are going to be a little slow but once I get the plot figured out, it'll be going faster.

Reviews

[Jacques]

i liked The Mayflower because it had a sense of history which we learnt about some past which gave a lot of the ground for the present and something to look forward to the future . i'm just gonna say this out loud , i love this book , it's so good and well - written and i think this is on even - ground with TFF . i like the questions nearer to the end as it's what i was thinking aswell . i can tell you're really focused on this book and as you're focused on writing , i'll be focused on reading and reviewing . another great chapter .