Orna Puella

- IV -

THERE

I swore very softly under my breath and grabbed my bag. Elsie looked at me with suspicion.

“What did you say?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I muttered. “I didn’t say anything.”
“…you stupid cow,” I added in my head.
“Make sure you are not late today,” she said finally, her lips tight.
“I won’t be late,” I said darkly.
“Cerylia is not going to do your chores again today, just so you know.”

I had a greatest desire to say that the last time Cerylia did my chores was when I was about to die from pneumonia and Cerylia had no choice but do her own damn laundry. I knew better though and I bit my tongue just in time. Dad won’t be home for the next two or so weeks and if I piss Elsie off, she’ll probably lock me in the closet again.

“I won’t be late,” I said evenly. “I gotta go now. My bus will be here any minute.”
“Go then,” Elsie shrugged and turned away from me.

I gritted my teeth and walked outside. The bus was the lesser evil. I knew that Elsie would never let her precious Cerylia to get anywhere near the bus since it would usually pick up all the half-breeds and outcasts. I didn’t care about that. It was either to get on the bus or to walk all the way to school. And since the school was almost fifteen miles away, I decided to take the bus.

I stood on the sidewalk, shivering in the cold October wind, thinking that dad chose a hell of a time to move into this place. Also, he chose a hell of a time to go away on one of his countless trips again and leave me with Elsie and Cerylia all by myself. This was my first day at this school and I didn’t know anybody. And I had to ride the bus with some weirdoes and half-breeds. I also thought that dad chose a hell of a bitch to marry. I couldn’t understand how he could possibly fall for someone like Elsie after mom. And yeah, I understood that mom died almost ten years ago and he wouldn’t stay a widower for the rest of his life. He was only thirty-seven. But I couldn’t understand how on earth he could fall in love with this witch Elsie.

Cerylia was even worse than her mother. She was the same age as me and she was almost an exact copy of Elsie. Both of them would be somewhat tolerable when dad was around, but the minute he left, they would turn into harpies. Elsie would never even talk to me in a normal tone of voice; she would just bark orders every five minutes. Cerylia would all but ring a bell to let me know that she needs something. Sometimes I felt worse than a slave. At least slaves were never pure breed and they knew that it was their destiny to be slaves. Ugh, sometimes I wanted to just run away from home, but I knew that dad would find me. And when he did, Elsie would make my life even more miserable.

Finally, I saw the damn bus and sighed. Here we go, I thought gloomily. My first day of adventures. Great. Just great. The bus came to a screeching halt next to me and I jumped aside when I almost got hit by a dirty wave from the puddle it stopped in. The doors squeaked open and the driver threw a curious look at me. Yeah, I thought. Don’t pick up many humans, do you? I climbed in and looked around. Oh, son of a bitch. The bus was full. Do I have to stand or something?! Finally, I saw an empty seat all the way in the back and shuffled towards it. I almost made it when the driver took off. I swayed on my feet and almost fell down, but at the last minute, I managed to throw my body into the empty seat.

“Oh for Talath’s sake…” I muttered angrily and pulled my bag on my lap. “Dickweed…”

The guy next to the window glanced at me with a smirk. His eyes were like two cherries. Dark red, almost brown. Great, I thought bitterly. A freaking half-demon. Just my luck. I ignored his smirks and stared gloomily ahead of me. The bus was moving slowly and I realized that it will be at least forty or so minutes until we finally gonna get to school. I knew that Elsie called for a Cab for Cerylia and I gritted my teeth. Great Dragon, I hate them both so freaking much!

I hugged my bag and wondered if it was allowed to smoke on the bus. Then I decided not to in case if the driver gets all pissed off and throws me out. I had no desire to walk in that wind. I glanced outside. I looked like it was about to start raining too. I sighed and pushed the thoughts of cigarette away. The half-breed next to me seemed to be quite curious why the hell a pure breed human ended up on the bus. He cocked his head to the left slightly, looking at me intently. I still ignored him. Suddenly he conjured a little ball of flames in his palm and threw it at me. I sighed and killed it almost absent-mindedly. Come on! After Elsie’s tantrums, this was a joke.

He hemmed softly and I couldn’t help but grin at that. I thought of throwing something back at him but then I caught the driver’s weary look in the rear view mirror and decided not to push my luck. He looked like he was about to kick both of us out if we do something.

“Ignore him,” the half-breed muttered. “He never kicks anyone out. He knows better.”

I finally looked at him. He looked the same age as me but I knew that age is never clear when it comes to half-demons. They could be a hundred-plus years old but still look like they were seventeen. His hair was dark and pretty long, his face solemn, with high cheekbones.

“I am Raven,” he muttered softly without shifting his gaze.

I shrugged. Whatever.

“I am Selena,” I said finally.
“How come you are on the bus?” he seemed really curious and I rolled my eyes.
“Because it beats walking,” I said shortly and he grinned.
“Right.”
“How old are you?” Now it was my turn to sound really interested. I guess I was interested. No idea why.

He blinked.

“Seventeen, why?”

I shrugged.

“No reason.”
“Are you going to ride this hearse every day?” he asked and I laughed.
“Pretty much,” I said. “Unless Talath turns Elsie into someone tolerable, which is not going to happen anytime soon.”
“Elsie?” he squinted his cherry-colored eyes.
“My stepmother,” I sighed without having a single clue why I was telling him that. “She hates me and I hate her. I was somewhat okay in my old school, but then my dad decided to move here after Elsie said that back in Antana there was too much sun for her precious Cerylia’s skin…” I snorted angrily.
“Antana is a nice place,” he said solemnly. “I used to have an Uncle there.”
“Used to? He died or something?”
“No,” Raven smirked again. “He moved here.”

I laughed again. It was really weird how much at ease I felt around him. I never felt that way around half-breeds before. Humans, yeah sure. Even elves were somewhat okay. Well, except for the snotty part. But they could be tolerable enough. Half-breeds were usually considered not quite lowlifes but somewhere around there. They were also considered a threat. Especially half-demons. One could never know what to expect from a half-demon, they could lose all control any minute and go berserk for no reason. There were three or four half-demons at my old school, and they would usually hang out together and nobody would even walk anywhere close to them, let alone talk to them.

Yet here I was, talking to Raven as if he was one of my somewhat old friends. Oh well, I thought. Who cares. Plus Elsie will probably have a cow if she finds out that I am talking to a half-demon and the thought made me smile.