Orna Puella

- V -

Arlen became even more pain in the ass after that event. He would do anything to make Raven’s life miserable. But Raven didn’t lie when he said he can take care of himself. One of those days Arlen’s jacket caught on fire after Arlen and his needle-conjuring friend assaulted Raven again. I knew better than get into the middle of the fight by now so I just watched them, hoping that Raven will take care of his own. He did. Arlen screamed when his jacket burst into flames and he pulled it off quickly and threw it on the ground. He killed the fire and glared at Raven.

“You are dead,” he promised and Raven just laughed in his face.
“Go screw yourself,” he said lightly.

I looked around. The whole thing happened on school grounds and I really didn’t want Raven to get another detention. The only teacher in sight was Brazin and I was positive that he saw the entire thing, but he looked beyond indifferent and looked away as soon as he saw me looking at him. I grinned. I knew that Brazin didn’t like Arlen. It was still surprising to me though that he would cover for the half-demon. I shrugged. Oh well, it’s good, I’ll take it.

Cerylia cornered me when I got home that day.

“What the hell?!” she hissed.
“What?” I frowned. I had no idea what she was talking about.
“You said you don’t care about Arlen!”
“Huh? I don’t and I never will…” I was getting more and more confused.
“Then why is he saying that you will be his date for the Winter Solstice dance?!” Cerylia’s eyes became angry slits.
“What?” I asked incredulously.
“Yeah!” she nodded furiously. “That’s what he is saying!!”

I shook my head.

“Cerylia,” I said evenly. “First of all, I am not even going to the Winter Solstice dance… And second of all, even I went there, I wouldn’t go with Arlen, believe me!”

She frowned slightly.

“You are not going to the dance?” she sounded like she couldn’t believe it.
“No,” I sighed. “I could care less about the stupid dance.”
“Oh,” Cerylia’s eyes twinkled with relief. “Then why is he saying that?”
“I don’t know. Probably to piss off Raven, that’s why.”

Wow, Cerylia didn’t even blink at Raven’s name. She walked in on us once when we were kissing in our garden, when I thought her and Elsie were fast asleep. At first, I thought that she will start screaming bloody murder, but to my enormous surprise, she just hemmed and went away. I guess the fact that I was with Raven made her feel safe and secure when it came to Arlen. She would even nod an occasional hello to Raven now and then. Life is indeed full of wonders.

“That would make sense,” she said doubtfully. “What about the Ball?”

Ah yes, the Annual Ball. I remember Raven telling me about it a while ago. I shrugged.

“It’s still kinda far away, but I am pretty sure I won’t go there either. Cerylia, I don’t like crowds and big events, okay?”
“Hmm,” she said. “The Ball is supposed to be spectacular. There is that thing they do with a glass slipper…”
“Glass slipper?” I blinked. Now that sounded like a dumb idea.

Cerylia laughed softly.

“Yeah. I guess it was Arlen’s dad’s idea. They make the glass slipper, right? And then they make every girl in there to try it on. The one whose foot fits perfectly is officially the Queen of the Ball. She gets presents and all… She also gets to spend the entire night with Arlen…” she sighed wistfully and I winced.

Now I was positive that I am not going anywhere close to that Ball.

“I hope you win,” I said sincerely and Cerylia beamed.

Three days before the Winter Solstice dance, Elsie announced that she will be going out of town to visit some friend of hers. The woman actually had friends, amazing… I was beyond relieved. I knew that Cerylia will be gone for the entire day of Solstice and the very idea of spending the whole day alone in the house with Elsie terrified me.

“I will be back after the holidays,” Elsie said and threw an icy look at me. “This place better be clean!”

I will clean it until my hands fall off if that gets me several days without Elsie around. Cerylia I could handle. She didn’t bother me lately. But Elsie was her usual old self.

“It will be spotless,” I nodded and Elsie narrowed her eyes at my sudden politeness.

Elsie left two days later and I almost cried with relief. Dragon, when I finally get the hell out of this house, it’ll be the happiest day of my life! I told Raven last night that Elsie is planning on leaving and he was as happy as me, which made me laugh.

“Make sure she actually leaves though,” he said finally. “It might be a trap.”

I snorted.

“She wouldn’t bother with traps,” I said. “Plus, she has no idea about you and me anyway.”
“Your step-sister didn’t tell her?” he looked shocked.
“No,” I laughed. “If Elsie finds out about us, she might do something drastic and that might affect Cerylia’s plans for Arlen…”
“Ha,” Raven said thoughtfully. “What time is she leaving?”
“She said in the morning but I have a suspicion that she won’t leave until at least noon.”
“I’ll wait for you around two then? Just to be safe?”
“Okay,” I said and then we stopped talking for several hours.

Raven was waiting for me in my garden at two sharp, just like he promised.

“Is she gone?” he asked and grinned when I nodded energetically. “Awesome!”

We went into the house and I knew that Cerylia was home but I didn’t care. Plus, I was pretty sure that if she knew Raven was here with me that will serve as a guarantee that I will not go to the Winter Solstice dance tomorrow.

That day was one of the best days in my life. We would get out of my room just to get food from the kitchen once or twice. On the second run, we bumped into Cerylia nose to nose. She blinked when she saw us, and I was astonished when she actually gawked at Raven’s bare chest. His shirt was somewhere under my bed then and he didn’t even bother looking for it.

“Errr…” I said and she blinked and looked away immediately.
“I am going to the hair salon,” she said quickly.
“Okay… See you tonight then?”
“Uh huh,” Cerylia muttered and went away without looking at us.
“That was interesting,” Raven hemmed after she walked out of the house.

I looked at him thoughtfully.

“She is going to the hair salon,” I said and he looked at me with reproach.
“I’ve heard her say that. I am not deaf, you know.”
“That means she will be doing her hair.”
“Really?!” Raven seemed genuinely surprised. “That’s what they do in hair salons?! Great Lizard, I always thought it had something to do with furniture or something… Who would’ve thought!”
“Smartass,” I laughed. “My point is…” I walked to the front door and locked it. “It usually takes Cerylia at least two hours to be finally satisfied with the way her hair looks.”
“Oh?” now he sounded interested.
“Uh huh,” I nodded smugly. “That means we are going to be alone in the house until she comes back… I would say three hours, give or take…”
“Well, happy Solstice then,” he murmured and I don’t think we came up for air until we’ve heard Cerylia’s Cab pulling into the driveway almost four hours later.

“Crap…” Raven breathed, trying to get his pants on and I was shaking with laughter.
“Forget the pants,” I said finally. “Get upstairs. I’ll be right there.”

He looked at me with puzzlement.

“Are you going to get dressed or something?” he asked carefully and I rolled my eyes and pulled my shirt on.
“Go,” I said after he just stood there. “I am going to make coffee since Elsie’s not here and she won’t yell at me for wasting her stuff.”
“Right,” he said with a crooked smile.

He was kissing me when we’ve heard the key turn in the lock. I pulled away and pushed him on the chest.

“Go!” I laughed when he trotted upstairs.

Cerylia walked in the second after Raven disappeared upstairs.

“Hey,” she said. “Making coffee?”
“Uh huh,” I nodded, thinking that if she will say something about me wasting her mother’s stuff…
“Make some for me too, will you?” she said casually and I almost coughed.

Okay, never mind.

“Sure. Your hair looks nice.”
“You think?” she looked at her reflection in the mirror doubtfully. “Turned out a little curlier than I wanted but oh well…”
“I like it,” I shrugged.

I wasn’t lying. Her hair did look good.

“Okay,” she said. “About tomorrow…”

The coffee was almost ready and I got three cups out of the cupboard.

“What about tomorrow?”

Cerylia took a deep breath.

“You are not going to the dance, right?”

I almost rolled my eyes.

“No, Cerylia,” I said patiently. “I am not going to the dance. In fact I don’t think I will even get dressed tomorrow…”

I filled one cup with coffee and handed it to her. Oh, my Dragon, she was actually blushing! Will the wonders never end?! Cerylia took the cup and sipped her coffee carefully.

“Okay,” she said finally. “Arlen finally asked me to go with him yesterday…”

Thank you, Dragon, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

“That’s great!” I knew that I sounded beyond sincere because that’s how I felt.

Cerylia’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

“Just wanted to make sure you are not going,” she muttered. “Cause, you know…”

I knew. She was worrying that I might be spiteful enough to go to the damn dance and get Arlen away from her just because I could. That what Cerylia would do if she were me.

“I am not going anywhere tomorrow, I promise,” I said and grabbed two cups of coffee from the counter. “Have fun at the dance!”

“Oh I will,” she breathed when I was walking upstairs, careful not to spill the coffee. I knew that if I get anything on Elsie’s spotless white carpet, she would kill me.