Orna Puella

- VII -

We sat outside and I ignored the wind. I could finally smoke, thank Talath! I lit a cigarette and Raven did the same. He blew smoke out of his mouth and looked at me, his cherry-colored eyes laughing like mad.

“You are insane,” he said finally. “She will make your life miserable now.”

I shrugged indifferently. I was finally able to stop laughing.

“I am used to it. There is no way she can be worse than Elsie so it doesn’t matter.”

He shook his head with amusement.

“Weirdo,” he laughed. “How did you get stuck with Elsie anyway?”

I grimaced.

“My mom died ten years ago,” I said and he stopped laughing. “It was a stupid accident. On my birthday too. My parents got me a pony and she went to check on it…” I took a deep drag on my cigarette. “Then she tripped on something and fell on one of the bricks… It got her right on the temple.”
“Ugh,” Raven muttered and I shrugged.
“I hated that freaking pony like no other,” I said softly. “I was seven, so I figured it was the pony’s fault…” I glanced at Raven. “The night after her funeral I poisoned him.”
“With what?” he sounded actually curious.
“Rat poison,” I said and flicked my almost finished cigarette away. “Got a crapload of it from the kitchen and just dumped it into his feeder. He was dead by sunrise… And then three years ago, my dad married this witch. She was all honey and sugar at first… And after they got married, she turned into a freaking harpy.”
“Does your dad know that she is a bitch to you?”
“No,” I grimaced. “He will never believe me. Every time he is around, she acts like a loving step-mom… The minute he leaves, she makes me all but lick the damn floor until it’s clean. Do you have any idea how tired I am of cleaning her freaking fireplace?”
“Have you considered more rat poison?” he asked and I snorted.
“More times than you think. But there is no way in hell I could do it… She will sense it. I told you, she is so good with magic, it’s scary. I still wonder why she didn’t turn me into something yet…”
“Doesn’t wanna lose a slave, I guess,” he shrugged.
“Yeah,” I agreed darkly. “Well, tonight will be fun. If I am not on the bus tomorrow morning, that’ll mean that she killed me.”

He laughed again.

“You’ll survive. Somehow I don’t see your stepsister cleaning the fireplace.”
“Oh, Dragon…” I sighed. “Do you know how hard it is to get ashes out of your hair?”
“Actually I do,” he nodded solemnly. “I did my share of cleaning for my mother. Finally I told her to do it herself or hire someone.”
“What did she say?” I lit another cigarette.
“She was pissed,” Raven grinned. “But she knows better than forcing me to do something I don’t wanna do. I mean, that was how she lost her wardrobe full of clothes once.”
“You burned it?” I was laughing again.
“Things kinda got out of hand,” he nodded. “But she left me alone ever since that happened.”
“Hmmm,” I said thoughtfully. “I just might introduce you to Elsie…”
“Right,” he hemmed. “That will probably get you kicked out of the house for good.”
“Will be a good thing too,” I sighed and then I heard the bell. “Great, more classes.”

Raven got up and picked up his bag.

“The rest of the day is not too bad,” he said. “Usually it’s just the EM that bugs me. Unless you hate math?”
“No.” I got up as well. “I am somewhat good at that.”
“Awesome,” he nodded with satisfaction. “I might cheat off of you then.”
“Ha,” I said seriously. “Any time.”

He was right. The rest of the day was okay and I even enjoyed the math class. The teacher was a human with a very peculiar sense of humor, which I found refreshing. Also, it seemed like Brazin - the teacher’s name - could care less about Arlen and his dad, which was great especially after he made the blond to sweat in front of the blackboard for almost thirty minutes. Well, who would’ve thought, I was smirking to myself silently, the blond sucks at math. That was awesome!

“Oh Arlen,” Brazin sighed finally. “This is beyond embarrassing. Go sit down, and for the love of Talath, read something besides the trashy magazines under your mattress, will you?”

I laughed again. I never learn. But Brazin didn’t seem to care. Arlen looked beyond pissed off. He went to his desk and sat down, slamming his hands on the top. Brazin didn’t even blink at that.

“Raven,” he said casually. “Go salvage that poor problem, will you?”

I stared at him in almost disbelief. Oh, dear Dragon… He is actually talking to half-breeds as if they were part of the normal social circle? Wow. Raven got up and went to the board. I just shook my head when he fixed the problem in less than two minutes. Right, he will cheat off of me… Whatever. Show-off.

When the day was over, it finally started to rain. I groaned when I realized that it’s only going to get worse. The sky was so dark like it was almost nighttime. All the clouds seemed to be beyond menacing, pregnant with cold spiky rain. Great… Well, at least I don’t have to walk home in this blasted weather. I threw my bag over my shoulder and started to walk towards the bus. I was wondering where Raven was, since he disappeared after math class without saying anything. Finally, I shrugged it off. Whatever.

I almost made it to the bus, wincing from the rain that was getting into my eyes, when I’ve heard screaming and cursing. I turned around and saw Arlen and some other guy were trying to knock Raven down. He was laughing like crazy and his eyes were almost scarlet by now. I guess that meant he was pissed off. I sighed and went towards them.

“You fucking half-breed!!” Arlen was shouting. “Learn the rules, will you?! Rule number one… You do NOT talk to humans unless they ask you a question...! Rule number two… You do NOT make an idiot out of me by fixing my fucking math problems!! Rule number three…”

Okay, I thought in amusement. Is the blond suicidal or something? I mean, this was my first day here and I already knew that pissing Raven off was not a good idea. And Arlen knew him for how long? I shook my head and glanced behind my shoulder. Dammit, we are going to miss the bus! I growled in frustration.

“Selena!!” someone called sharply and I turned around.

My dearest stepsister was glaring at me from underneath her umbrella. Oh, be still my heart… Is she going to actually invite me into the Cab with her?

“What the hell are you doing?!” she demanded. “Get on your bus or you’ll be late again!”

Ah, okay. Some things are very permanent.

“Go home, Cerylia,” I grinned at her. “Or you might end up cleaning your own shoes ‘cause you’ll get all that mud on them.”

She turned slightly pink. Not from embarrassment, Cerylia never got embarrassed. She was getting mad. Oh well. I turned away from her and walked towards Raven who looked like an avatar of fury by now.

The blond was screeching something when Raven slapped him on the face and Arlen howled in pain. I blinked when I saw a bright red hand imprint on his cheek. Ouch, I thought. Raven hit him with a burning hand. I started cracking up again. Oh, what the hell is wrong with me? I seriously need to learn how to shut up.

Arlen’s sidekick swirled around and glared at me. Suddenly he shook his head and then I understood why the blond brought him along to get to Raven. Something that looked like a thousand of tiny silver drops suddenly materialized around his head and charged at me. I barely had any time to react, but hey, I live with Elsie. I don’t get caught by surprise lately. I blocked it just in time, and then Raven hit the guy on the head with something that looked like a flaming bat. The guy went down and Arlen started to laugh. I looked at him incredulously.

“Oh darn,” he said, rubbing his cheek. “You just missed your bus… Pity. The weather is a bitch today.”

I looked behind me and cursed loudly. The damn bus indeed left. Raven shrugged with a grin.

“Go clean your face,” he snorted at the blond. “You look like a circus freak.”

Arlen ignored him and looked at me.

“Come on, Selena,” he said. “I’ll give you a ride.”

I smiled at him gently. I knew that I had a killer smile when I wanted. Arlen’s mouth twitched in almost victory.

“Really, Arlen,” I said. “Go clean your face. You look pretty bad. See you later.”

I walked away, knowing that Raven was right behind me. I also knew that I just made enemies with the governor’s son and I didn’t care.