Battling the Invisible

Axi was glad Drake had agreed to visit. It made meeting Macbeth’s fiancé, Brielle, more tolerable. Not that there was anything wrong with her—she was great—but every time one of his siblings brought someone home, his mom would start giving him the Look. The Look plainly stated, “Get your act together—I want grandchildren from all of you.” So whenever he felt her glare on him, he’d squeeze Drake’s shoulder and engage him in whatever random conversation came to mind.

Currently, they were hiding out in one of the rooms behind the bookshelves in the library. This had been Axi’s favorite room as a child—something straight out of one of the mystery houses he’d read about. They sat tossing darts at the board, talking about what had transpired with Argo for the 67th time.

“I still think there’s more to it,” Drake said, in his Cierra voice. Whenever they were alone, he would let his guard down and talk in his normal voice, so that the strain didn’t make him slip up at all when they were around people. “It’s just…don’t you think it’s a little weird that Argo went on that date with you, broke it off, stalked you for a couple of weeks, and then all of a sudden grabbed you in the woods to torture you? All for a competition? I mean, it’s a great cover. If I were a senior and some kid was about to fuck shit up for me, I’d be pissed for real. But I don’t know that that’s what he wants….”

“Do you think it has something to do with the champions disappearing?” Axi asked. “Maybe…maybe in a backwards way, he’s trying to protect us. I mean…” Axi stopped. He heard footsteps in the library coming toward their compartment. A minute later, the panel was pushed back, and Sarah peeked inside.

“Hi boys,” she said, giving them a winning smile. “Axi, your siblings and I are heading out for some coffee. We figured we’d welcome Brielle and Drake to the family.”

“Er…we’re good. We kind of want to—“

“No, we’re going out for coffee,” she said, winking.

It was only when he stood up to ask her if she felt alright that he noticed his mother lurking in the library stacks. “Okay. We’ll go….”

“Fab,” Sarah said, grinning. “Meet us at the cars in five.”

*

“Sarah…I know you’re from Bolivia, but I’m pretty sure “coffee” and “strip club” are not even close in either language…” Drake said, smiling as they walked into the dark building.

“Mrs. Phillips the first happens to like me,” Sarah said. “She, against all evidence to the contrary, thinks I’m a good Catholic girl who’s had a good Catholic influence on her son. Imagine what she’d say if she heard me inviting her baby and his boyfriend out to a strip bar for dear Macbeth’s bachelor party….”

The entire group laughed, including Sebastian (who had come along rather reluctantly). They walked along the corridor to the VIP room, and entered at a nod from the security guard. There was one large table that circled the actual stage. A topless waitress came around and took their orders, before making an odd hand gesture to the camera in the corner of the room.

“I’ll be back in a minute, loves,” she said.

The room dimmed even more, and Axi grinned over at Drake. He’d never been to a strip club before…

Drake smiled back and shook his head. Tossing his hair out of his eyes, he gave Axi a thumbs up and turned his attention to the two women who’d just walked out onto the stage.

*

Axi rolled over, fumbling for his phone. He nearly cried with relief when he felt his hand hit a bottle of water. After carefully drinking about half of it, he looked at his phone. Only 9:30…. “Christ god almighty…”

“Don’t let your mom hear you say that. She already broke out the Holy Water last night.”

“Drake…what the hell happened?” Axi sank back against his many pillows as Drake slid back into bed next to him.

“Well, let’s see… All of you guys got hammered. You got a lap dance from Chastity. Sebastian pole danced. Phin and Sarah dry humped in a corner until Phin had to run to the bathroom to yak. Then all of you were getting lap dances. Lidia displayed a wealth of natural talent for pole dancing, we all got busted sneaking back in, and Sarah proved herself to be the most perceptive, and coolest, woman on the planet.”

Axi knew Drake was trying to keep his voice down, but his head still felt like a cannon had hit it. “Why?” he whispered.

“She knows.”

“Know wh—holy shit!” Axi said, sitting up to fast and retching. He flopped back against the pillows again. “How?”

“When you guys were busy getting your swerve on with Chastity, Precious, and Vivica, the sober people—a.k.a. Sarah and I—were sitting back laughing and taking bets on whose hangover would be the worst…”

*

“So…Drake…”

“Yeah?”

“Was that always your name?”

Drake’s head snapped up at the question. He didn’t like the look she was giving him—one that said, very clearly, “Don’t even fucking lie to me, or I will end you.” “No…no that wasn’t always my name. I…er…changed it. A little bit after my brother quit Blueloch.”

“Hmmm…”

There was silence for a few minutes as the pair watched Lidia take a turn on the pole, much to the dismay of her brothers.

“You know what I think?” Sarah asked, scooting closer to Drake. The thumping bass line from the speakers masked her voice, so that even the bartender couldn’t hear. “I think you and Axi aren’t dating for one of two reasons—“

“Axi and I—“

“Shut it,” she said gently. “Don’t let’s bullshit. You two like each other. He was checking that bloody pocket watch every five seconds before you got here, and the kid jumped out of his seat like he’d been electrocuted when the doorbell rang. You hold doors open for him. He orders your slushies at Zoom Stop. But option one is that you two aren’t dating because you think you’ll have to fight each other at some point.”

“We will.”

Sarah shook her head. “Not necessarily. See, most students look at the competition as Last Man Standing, but it isn’t. It hasn’t ever been that way. You two could take it as a team. But we can talk about that tomorrow. What I really wanted to get in your head about was the second reason.”

“Which is?” Drake asked with a smirk.

Sarah leaned in and whispered. “You’re a girl.”

Drake, just barely, kept himself from jumping. He turned to her, unable to hide the shock. “Is your power…”

“I don’t have any powers. I’m one of the few people with absolutely no magical blood who’s been admitted to Blueloch. It’s made me…see things in ways others can’t. Don’t worry,” she said with a comforting smile. “I’m not asking you to explain, and I won’t tell anyone. But you really need to be more self-aware if you’re going to pull this off. Something about this confuses you a little bit—not like that,” she said, seeing Drake about to interrupt. “I mean… I just mean that it’s okay to feel a little torn sometimes. You have to be okay with being comfortable with this. And as for my sweet little brother-in-law over there…” They looked over to where Axi was spinning one of the dancers’ bras above his head. “He’s confused too. So…both of you get your asses in gear and shag already. The sexual tension is killing me.”

*

“She didn’t….” Axi moaned.

“She most certainly did.”

“Well…we have two options right now.”

“What is it with this family and giving choices A and B????”

“We can either go downstairs and face the music with my parents, or we can stay up here, nap, and then talk about…stuff.”

“Your mom’s making French toast.”

Axi retched again.

“Stay here it is.”

“Happy New Year, mate,” Axi said, managing a smile as he buried himself under blankets and pillows.