Chapter 13 "The Royal We"

Tomika blinked. And lying silent as all around her, she blinked again. And then, a third time in question to see if it was all true. She let her bleary and dazed eyes search throughout the dark to pan for promise under the shreds of moonlight making their way through the broken roof of the treetops. But such was not an easy thing to find. It did not matter much as her nearsighted vision was not so bad that she could not operate without the lenses and moreover, sharp sight was not needed for her to realize her whereabouts or satisfy what was really racking her mind. The forest. The fence. The fight. That all made sense, but still the whispers off the water creeping along the soft of the soil tried to quell the questions she held. How could she still be alive? Was she still alive? Did she even want to be alive? They did their best but could only answer imperfectly.

Everything seemed real enough in her question of mortality with nothing more clearer than the souvenir of sickness and ache left wrenching in her little body as she struggled to bring herself to her feet. Every second spent in motion felt like daggers cutting across all parts of her body. She overcame the pain and stood shakily only to stumble off balance from a pinch in her side. Her shocked cry echoed into the darkness as she clutched the epicenter of her misery while reeling backwards to catch herself on a nearby tree. She slithered back to the ground, assured this was life. There was no way a pain like this would exist in the peace of afterlife.

There, Tomika sat hollow in agony and penitent over her hopes that life would make a turn for the better in a city of eminence, and such a contradiction it was that she would hate her existence there more than anywhere she had been before. Just as she threw her head back in defeat, ready to weep the sight out of her eyes, a little sound caught her attention. She eased her gaze down to a little black rabbit that was hopping towards her, shifting its white-marked ears.

“The frak you lookin’ at?” she said.

The rabbit leaped up and took Tomika’s bracelet into its mouth, snapping the clasp as it came to land on the other side of her body. Too astonished feel affronted, she watched as the little creature made its escape. Then, the anger flooded in. She used the sudden snap of fire to drive herself to get up and get in pursuit of the bandit. The daggers would continue twisting stitches in her sides with each stride, but she forced herself to start sprinting.

The smallest sounds were useful as guides to finding her target in the dark. She skirted and swerved around trees, but soon came upon a point in the wooded maze where a dim and flickering light made itself apparent to reveal a nice silhouette of her aim to follow. Though the rabbit’s run was snaking, Tomika stayed on its tail with thoughts only of her mother’s gift nourishing her adrenaline. Her chase grew better as the light grew brighter until retribution was in mere steps. Like a veritable bird of prey, she took to the sky to pounce on the rabbit and made a valiant attempt to scoop it up into her grasp, but the creature darted to the side and escaped, leaving Tomika to skid out of the forest and into a dusty and disappointing stop at a cliffside clearing.

Tomika grumbled. Lying there on her stomach, she wished she had not awoke from the soothing numbness of her catatonia. But, softly, a voice nearby broke her from sinking into dejection.

“Did you lose something, hon?”

Tomika brought her head up to behold the reveal of the silver and diamonds sparkling in the twilight of fire as they dangled from the delicate hand of a woman sitting on a log, facing away from her.

“Yeah. Thanks,” Tomika said softly. The knowledge that the charm was steps away in security gave her the wash of relief to bring her to her feet. “I don’t know how I let that rabbit get away with my bracelet. I feel kinda stupid about the whole thing.”

“Funny thing about those little, black rabbits,” the woman said as she gazed down at the charm, “they can be really feisty, and aggressive, but at their heart, they’re some of the most sensitive creatures out there.” She tossed the bracelet into the fire. “So fragile and delicate.”

Tomika’s mouth flung open. “What the capital ‘F’ was that for?”

The woman shrugged. “No reason, really. I mean, it’s just a piece of jewelry. You can get another, right?”

“Get another?! My mother gave that to me. It had sentimental value. I can’t just buy something like that.”

“Well, if you want the bracelet that badly, go get it. It’s right there. Just pick it up and be on your way.”

“Do you think this is some kind of joke?”

“I’m being more than serious. Just stick your hand in there and take it. I’m not gonna stop you.”

“You know what, screw this. I’ve gone through way too much crap today to be dealing with this level of mess. So, just screw it.” She turned to leave.

“I don’t think your mother would like that, Tomika.”

The words built up a wall before Tomika. She stopped and turned around. “What did you say?”

“I don’t think that after nine years of all that practice, everything that you two did to bring about your perfect abilities�"I don’t think she would be too pleased with your attitude right now.”

“How the hell do you know about my mother? And how do you know my name? Better yet, who the hell are you?”

“I’ve been called a princess, a demon, a magician. I prefer the name Jules.”

“Jules?” Tomika ran around to the woman’s front and studied her face, focusing on her eyes. They were unmistakable. “Holy crap, Jules Lenoira? From the story? But I always thought your story was just a, you know..., story.”

“You and I both know that’s not true, dear. Only recently, have you begun to doubt the validity of my legend.”

“Well, can you blame me? It doesn’t make any sense. I mean, if you were such an amazing warrior, and nobody had ever seen anything like you before, why weren’t there more stories written about you? It seems like you would be something that would be in history books, you know?”

“A lot of great things are not documented in history books, dear. But that does not mean they did not happen. Sometimes, it is up to the little ones to keep the story alive.”

“All right, fine. But if you’re really Jules Lenoira, then prove it.”

“No. You’re going to prove to me that you’re Tomika Drake.”

“What?”

“The Tomika that I know, she’s fearless. She believes in herself.”

“Why does everyone keep telling me that? What does ‘believe in yourself’ even mean?”

“It means that no matter what anyone does or says to discourage you, you can find the strength within yourself to disregard all of it. It means confidence.”

“Well, it’s hard to feel confident.” Tomika went to a log opposite of Jules and sat down. “It’s hard to like anything about yourself when everyone makes you the punchline of their jokes or they look at you like your some freak or sub-human or whatever. How am I supposed to stay strong when it feels like everything and everyone’s fighting me? I don’t have the strength to deal with that everyday.”

“You just have to remember that you come from royalty, Tomika.”

“So what? That doesn’t make me royalty, now. The fact that I’m in a mansion now is only by luck... or misfortune or whatever. If my mom was still alive, we’d still be in a jank house praying nobody steals our garbage cans and copper.”

“The things you own do not determine your worth, Tomika.”

“But you just told me to remember that I came from royalty. Isn’t the whole point of being royal having more stuff than the ‘subjects’?”

“Maybe in some kingdoms, but in mine, we were not interested in conquest. We did not need more than we had, and the role of the ones in the royal position�"namely, me�"it was our job to serve the others. We protected them. Now, I ran away from that position. I do not want you to make the same mistake.”

“You want me to serve people? Been there, done that, got yelled at by some whiny loser-creep who kept staring at both my and my Auntie Rei’s b***s.”

“D****t, Tomika, I want you to be a hero! I want you to be like me. There are great dangers coming to your world soon, and only you have the power to stop them.”

“Wait, are you about to give me superpowers?”

“Yes, Tomika. The aim of this encounter is to help you gain control over your abilities.”

Tomika jumped up off of her seat. “Hell-frakkin’-yes! I’m about to be unstoppable. I’m just gonna walk up into any hood and just start crackin’ heads. I’m gonna be a frakkin’ supervillain. I’m gonna�"”

“Tomika!”

“What?”

“Nature will not let you use it to terrorize others.”

“But why not? It terrorizes us all the time. Tornadoes, and hurricanes, and volcanoes, and stuff.”

“I am aware, dear, but all of that comes of its own accord. When it comes to the matter of submitting to you, it must be able to trust that you are only calling forth its destructive nature for the greater good. It will not work with you for personal gain or leverage.”

“So, I can make an earthquake if it means that it’ll save the lives of a bunch of people? That makes absolutely no sense.”

“Yeah, well...” Jules shrugged.

“Fine. So, what do I have to do? Do I have to go on a vision quest or something? Training montage? Quiz show?”

“No, no. Nothing of the sort, dear. You have spent your whole life conditioning your body to communicate with nature. It is more than ready to trust you if you’re ready to trust it.”

“Okay. So, once again, what do I have to do?”

“Put your hand into the flames and retrieve your bracelet.”

Tomika’s eyes shot open. She tucked her hands into her armpits. “Hell, no! I like my hands. I don’t want them looking like Seal’s face.”

“Just clear your mind, Tomika. Trust yourself and trust in nature. You were born for this. You can do this.”

“I really don’t think I can.”

“You can. You needn’t fear the fire.”

Tomika focused on the flames, and though she was not at a close proximity to them, she could feel their intensity. She could feel what kind of hurt would come from contact with them, but as she thought about the pain that would come from a burn, she realized her body felt as well as it did before the fight. She still wore the blood, but she was devoid of the crippling pain. It drummed up the faith that maybe there actually was some kind of inhuman trait in her. That what her mother and Jules had been affirming was true. She walked up to the flames, and she could feel their warmth blooming the closer she got. She knelt before the fire and took a deep breath. The tangy scent of the burning logs ran down her throat. She tried to clear her mind, but thinking about clearing her mind led to the question of how does one clear their mind if they are thinking about clearing their mind. She wondered what a cleared mind felt like. She wondered about all one could wonder about. Then, she noticed her bracelet, and seeing it lie there, persisting through the heat, it made her heart race. She closed her eyes, turned away, and extended her hand out. She rushed her arm into the fire and felt a cold shock burst from her chest up into her throat. Her heart was pounding against her bones and she could hear it in her ears. The sound was calling her every word for an idiot.

“Holy-son-of-a-f****n’-b***h!” Tomika screamed as she yanked her arm from the flames. She bit her lip and tucked her arm between her legs as she rolled away from the fire. She stayed curled up in a ball as she screamed and winced through the persisting pain scraping up and down her nerves.

“It is okay, Tomika. Try again.”

“Try again?! Are you frakkin’ kidding me? My whole frakkin’ arm feels like it’s about to fall off!”

“But you must.”

“No!” Tomika tucked her chin to her chest as the burning squeezed out a few streams of tears.

“Tomika, it is imperative that you do this. You must realize your potential so you can become a protector.”

“Well, maybe I don’t wanna be a frakkin’ protector. Did you ever think about that?”

“But you need to be. There is a great evil coming, and there needs to be someone there who can stop it.”

“Then let the government handle it. They like going to war.”

“Tomika, please.”

“No. I don’t wanna be responsible for everyone’s lives. I don’t give a crap about everyone else.”

“I understand, dear. I felt the same way and because of it, almost everyone I love died. I don’t want you to make the same mistake.”

“Your screw-ups have nothing to do with me. It probably would’ve been better if everyone from your village did die so I wouldn’t have had to inherit these stupid nature crap abilities.”

“I know you’re angry. Maybe even scared because you can’t control what comes your way, but you are in control of what you do when things do come your way. Now, you have your prepared your whole life just for this moment. You cannot get discouraged, now.”

Tomika came out of her curl and crawled back to her log to sit up against it. She sighed. “I just can’t. I just don’t feel the same way that I used to about all of this. I don’t feel the same way I used to about me. You’re saying to ‘believe in myself’ and to ‘find the strength in me’. But I can’t. I can’t just believe that I’m strong, and then all of a sudden, that makes it true.”

“Yes, it does, Tomika. Consider the money in your pocket�"”

“I don’t have any money in my pocket.”

“What? Really?”

Tomika rolled her eyes. “Anyway...”

“Well, if you did have money in your pocket, it’s only paper and metal. It, itself, cannot nourish you, and outside of your country, it is not valuable. If other countries said that they would not accept it for conversion, what value would it have? It only has its power because people believe it has a value, power. The same goes for your strength. The more you believe that you are strong, the more you will feel that you can accomplish anything.”

“But if simply believing that I’m strong to bring out my strength is all I need to do, wouldn’t that mean that I would believe that I need to condition my body less, therefore having a complete inverse effect on my strength overall?”

Jules’s brow wrinkled. “I... uh... wha?”

Tomika chuckled. “Whoa, did I just outsmart a goddess?”

“Whatever. Tomika, the point is that you just need confidence.”

“Well, where am I supposed to get that from? I don’t have any.”

“Pull it from your anger, your hate, your fears.”

“Wait, are you serious? ‘Cause that totally goes against what I learned from Star Wars.”

“What are the Star Wars?”

“You know about international affairs concerning money, but you don’t know about Star Wars?”

“I only check up on your world every now and again. It takes a lot of magic to do so. But anyway, yes, Tomika, use your anger to give you confidence. Use it to give you your power. Channel your displeasure for the injustice in the world into the might that you need to fight back. That anger is not bad. If the things around you do not comfort you, if they frighten you, use your anger to fight to change it. Let your anger give you strength, and use that strength to persevere until the fight is won. You need to be the person who fights for the defenseless. You need to show them that though the world can be an evil place, there is still some good in it. There are good people worth fighting for, Tomika. Now you have a choice: Give up and go be a slave to fate, or you can try again, and show this whole world some royal magic. You can do this. I believe in you.”

There really were people worth fighting for. Tomika knew it. But to flip all she knew about that which sat before her, it was daunting. It would not be easy. But it was her dear desire to do so. She crept back up to the flames, and though they cast off a heat just as harsh as before, she steered her thoughts away from the ones like before. She kept her mind on music. Aggressive music. The type of songs that would likely frighten elderly conservatives into issuing a petition to get the artist banned from television and radio. Tomika closed her eyes and pushed her hand back into the fire. It was hot. It was burning. It was cutting into her arm and burying under her muscles to sear her limb from the inside out. But Tomika kept her arm in the fire and gritted her teeth through the pain.

And then...

On her fingertips, there was a chill. Like reaching into a freezer. Tomika eased an eye open and examined her arm. It was unscathed. “Holy crap.... Holy crap, I’m doing it!” She plucked her bracelet from the log.

“Congratulations, dear. You’ve earned nature’s respect and trust. See? Was that not easy?”

Tomika put her hand back into the fire and waved it around. “That is frakkin’ awesome. She pulled her hand from the fire. “So, this means I can do stuff like moving mountains and parting seas and stuff?”

“Actions of that magnitude would drain you of a lot of energy, but if the time came where you needed to, yes, you would be able to.”

Tomika pointed to a section of the clearing and spun her finger around. The soil stirred and swirled around slowly. Then, faster and faster. Tomika pointed up and the ground lifted up into a spike. “Oh, that is so frakkin’ cool.”

“I’m glad you are happy, dear. Now, before I send you off...” Jules picked up the satchel at her feet and tossed it to Tomika.

Tomika snatched the bag out of the air and looked into it. There as a book and more bracelets. She took one out and examined the charm on it: a black heart with tiny, pink jewels set into the face of it. “What are these for?”

“For your friends. The charms let them share your abilities.”

Tomika took the other bracelets out of the bag. There was one with a black crescent-shaped moon charm that was studded with blue jewels, one with a black-edged star filled with yellow jewels, and an “X”-shaped charm that was filled with red diamonds. “Holy crap, are you kidding me? I get to put together a team? I thought I was the chosen one.”

“Goodness, no, dear. In all of my adventures and such, I’ve learned that protecting the world is a team effort.”

“Well, if I knew I was going to have help with all of this, I would’ve been less apprehensive. Why didn't you tell me that important detail earlier?”

“Apologies, dear.”

“But let me get this straight: You’re entrusting the safety of the entire world in the hands of a bunch of teenage girls?”

“I understand it is a bit of a peculiar conscription, but just as my being the first woman to be born with this power surprised my village, you’d also be surprised to learn where a lot of great power lies. Gold doesn’t always come in a bow-tied box. Anyone can be a hero with the right amount of heart and passion. And that, along with your pure and dreaming spirits, is what makes you and your friends the best bearers of such a responsibility.”

“Okay, I get it, but why are there four? I only need three. One for Allie, one for Kerou, and one for Jizzelle.”

Just as Jules began to speak, a distant boom caught her attention. “Oh, no. I thought I had more time,” she whispered.

“What was that noise? Is it something I can help you with?”

Jules turned to Tomika. “No. You’ll know to whom the bracelet belongs in time. I wish you good luck. She shot vines from her sleeves to grab the girl and whip her over the edge of the cliff. Tomika’s scream faded into the night as another faraway rumble cut through the air followed by smoke. Jules picked up her sword from behind her log and drew out a breath as she retrieved a pendant from her pocket to give it a glance. “Let’s try this again,” she whispered to herself. She ran to the edge of cliff to catapult herself out into the dark of the sea.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tomika blinked and found herself lying down, staring down the length of a creek. She sat up and looked down at blood-soaked stone where her head once was. Then, she heard Kerou calling her name.

Kerou slid down the bottom stretch of the hill and ran to Tomika’s side. “Oh, my God, Tomika, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? That fight looked vicious from start to finish, and you’ve got a lot of blood on your face. Come on, let Jizzelle take you to the hospital.”

“No, I’m fine, I swear. I’m okay. But do you remember when you said that you were ready to believe in anything?”

“Yeah, why? Oh, and here’s your glasses.”

Tomika took the frames from Kerou and put them on. Then, she brought the satchel to her lap. “What if I told you that I just talked to one of my ancestors and she showed me how to use special powers?”

“I’d say that sounds pretty cool. But how? It doesn’t even seem like you went anywhere. The fight just ended like a second ago.”

“Really? It seemed like I was gone way longer than that. I think I went to the Spirit World. I’m not really sure, but now, I can do this.” Tomika opened her palm and made a small flame dance in it.

“Oh, my God, that is so cool! Did she give you that bag, too?”

“Yeah. And she told me that a great danger was coming soon, and I need to put together a team to stop it. So, I’ve got a big favor to ask you. I mean a really, really humongous favor.”

“Are you getting ready to ask me to help you save the world?”

“Are you getting ready to say no?”

“Uh..., no! And not ‘no’ like I don’t want to help. I mean ‘no’ I’m not about to�"nevermind. Yes! Yes, I want to help.”

“You will?!”

“I’m so on board for this. We’ll be awesome crusaders for justice like Batman and Robin or Chuck D and Flavor Flav.”

“Thank you so much, but she said we need a team. Do you think Jizzelle would help?”

“Sure she would. You saw her kick her boyfriend’s butt. She would totally wanna help fight crime and stuff.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have more friends that would oblige, would you?”

“There’s one girl I know that would be perfect. I’ll introduce you to her tomorrow. But didn’t I tell you this was gonna be the birthday weekend ever?”

“It’s been the most interesting for sure. But we’ve got to take all of this serious. If there’s a danger approaching that warranted all of this, then that must be some serious stuff coming.”

“Well, no matter what it is, and what we’re capable of, we’re gonna do it together, and we’re gonna kick some butt.”

“But what if the other girls don’t join?”

“Then it’s just us. And even if it’s just us, we can still handle it. ...Probably. I guess. ...Nah, we got this.” Kerou raised her hand. “High five. You know, since you really don't like hugs.”

Tomika laughed and slapped Kerou’s hand. “We got this. I hope.”