“I can’t believe this,” Austin Jackson sighed in exasperation. In addition to a gigantic hole in the wall, botched paint jobs, claw-marked carpeting, and damaged chairs and tables, it turned out that Daniel had left a bit of a mess in the bathroom. And as for the remains of Ms. Itemiser, Amanda had volunteered to handle it and that was fine with Austin. He had spent most of the night trying to convince himself that none of it had happened, but when he saw Kaine and Crystal materialize out of thin air in the school parking lot, it kind of ruined his efforts.
“Daniel, get a mop and bucket out of the janitor’s closet,” Sam ordered, pulling out a set of key given to him by Coach Nibbles that would open almost any door in the school.
“I don’t even want to know…” Crystal moaned, slapping her hand to her face. She turned to Kaine, “You know, if someone drives by, the white-hair and robe thing might draw too much attention.”
“Do you think so?” Kaine asked, smiling. His hair turned blonde instantaneously and his black and white robes blurred to baggy jeans and white wife-beater.
“Why not a tattoo while you’re at it, James Dean?” Daniel asked. Kaine tapped his forehead with his finger and the purple symbol showed up, clear as day on his brow.
“So, Daniel, were you jacking off in the bathroom?” Troy asked the skinny boy, leaning on a broom that he had brought from home.
“A gentleman never reveals,” said Daniel, with a flourishing bow, but the tips of his ears turned pink.
“Why don’t you ask Sam?” Amanda asked, closing the trunk of Austin’s car after removing some drop cloths and towels.
“Why don’t we get to work?” Sam countered, quickly, tossing her a paintbrush.
“Do we have to clean the windows?” Crystal asked. “Why can’t we just let the janitors do that?”
“We don’t have janitors at Duriarb,” Austin corrected. “We’re too high class.”
“They’re Maintenance Directors…Coordinators, some big fancy title,” Troy said. “They’re janitors,” said Amanda, hefting a bottle of window cleaner. “And I don’t think they’d be keen on scraping reside from Ms. Itemiser off the walls.”
“Okay,” Troy said, “Amanda, Austin, snap to it. I’ll stay here and supervise.” He pulled out a pair of sunglasses and took a lawn chair out of his trunk.
“Oh no, you don’t, you pansy,” Austin said, slamming the trunk shut nearly pinching Troy’s fingers, “You’re doing just as much work as the rest of us. Now carry this stuff inside and maybe I’ll let you get a drink of water when you’re through.”
“Austin wants to be a High School football coach,” Amanda whispered to Crystal.
“Are you talking about me?” Austin asked.
“No,” both girls replied.
Over the next two hours, the seven of them patched up the hole in the wall, smoothed out the carpet, and retouched the paint jobs. And Amanda took care of scraping bits of librarian out of the room. Austin and Sam retrieved an extra desk and a few chairs from James’s storage closet. Austin wondered why the school kept the desks that were in better repair stored away.
He also wondered if anyone would care that the paint job done in snow-white mist had been retouched by a splotchy milky-cream night. Amanda had said that the school should be happy that they bought a higher-quality paint to repair the damages. Besides, they couldn’t expel Austin because his parents were some of the biggest donators to the school. And Austin’s parents wouldn’t let them expel the only person that kept his grades up; besides, they liked Amanda.
He wondered if Amanda was taking all of this very well. She overreacted to all of the smallest things, but this fell under the really big category. And she was responsible for the death of Ms. Itemiser, even though the librarian-slash-demon had been trying to kill them.
“Daniel!” Amanda shouted, followed by a slap.
Austin smiled and called out, “Would you like me to break his legs, Dearest?”
“I’ve got it, Honey, thank you,” Amanda answered, twisting Daniel’s arms behind his scrawny back. Austin smiled again; Amanda was going to be fine. She always was.
“Are you two going out?” Crystal asked, wiping her sweaty bangs out of her face. The school was also too cheap to leave the air conditioning on during the weekends.
“No,” Austin said. “Everyone says we fight like a married couple, so we act like a married couple. If you want to talk to someone pining for her undying love, go talk to stick boy over there.” Austin jerked his head in the general direction of where he would have pointed. But he didn’t want to drop the five-pound cans of paint he was holding.
“Daniel?” Crystal asked, “But-but….”
“No, not your boyfriend--”
“HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!” Crystal shouted, turning a color somewhere between red and eggplant.
“Okay! Okay,” Austin said, backing away from Crystal as though she would explode, “I was pointing at Sam.” Austin put down the paint and pointed over in the direction where the tall boy meandered by Troy, occasionally glancing in the direction where Amanda was giving Daniel a lesson on safety: Pissing Amanda off isn’t safe.
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“Oh…” Crystal said in understanding. Her face faded to a normal shade.
“So,” Austin said. “You and the white-haired guy been together long?”
“HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND, EITHER,” Crystal shouted, the color coming back into her cheeks.
“ALL RIGHT!” Austin shouted back. “I just wanted to know if you knew him, really.”
“No, not really,” Crystal said, forgetting about her fit of outrage. “I just met him this year.”
“You mean he’s not from your old school?” Austin asked, placing the paint cans on the drop cloth so as not to splatter the carpet.
“No,” Crystal answered. “He just appeared in my bedroom one day…” Austin raised an eyebrow. “But it wasn’t like that! He said something about a past life, a princess and all this cryptic stuff…but he seems nice enough.”
“Yeah, all that freaky stuff aside, I’m sure he’s just your regular, run of the mill, I-pop-up-twirling-a-magic-staff kind of guy,” Austin said.
“Do you know him?” Crystal asked.
“No,” Austin said. “I’m just saying, he’s kind of weird. Not, you know, normal. I mean beyond anything I can think of, even like a Gothic lobster or something.”
“He seems all right,” Crystal said. “I don’t think he’s a threat or anything.”
“Yeah, maybe he’s just selling drugs,” Austin said. “Okay, I think we’re done.”
They closed the door, stepped out into the hall and prepared to make their way to the open side door without setting off the alarm systems in the school. No one spoke as they paced the empty main hallway. No one was sure of what to say. No one wanted to say anything. But they were all aware of one thing; whatever life they had had before was now permanently altered. For some reason, they all paused by the door. All of them stood there, wondering if they should bother with a goodbye when they knew they would be seeing each other in less than seventy-two hours.
“Do you think anyone will miss Ms. Itemiser?” Amanda began, tentatively.
“That old bag?” Austin snorted, trying to alleviate any feelings of regret Amanda might have been having. “I always knew that she was a little off.”
“A little?” Sam asked, shifting his load of cleaning supplies tot eh other arm.
“No,” Kaine said, firmly. “She was not always so. Her soul was stolen and replaced with something evil.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don’t get all Christian on us,” Troy said, smiling.
“This has nothing to do with religion; this is reality,” Kaine replied, the tone in his voice melting away the mock-casualty that they had been speaking with.
Troy gave him a cold, skeptical look. He didn’t appreciate having his façade stomped on by reality. “Whatever,” he said, turning to leave, “If someone comes asking about Ms. Itemiser, they can talk to my lawyer.”
“Say that when some multi-armed freak comes knocking at your door, kills the ones you love, and rips your world apart before your eyes,” Kaine said in a low, icy voice that sent a shiver up Austin’s spine. “Then perhaps I will respect you.”
“Is that a threat?” Troy asked in an equally soft, dangerous tone, turning around.
“It is a promise,” Kaine replied, inclining his head, solemnly.
There was a long silence.
“All right, fucker…” Troy rushed Kaine, intending to hit him.
Kaine held perfectly still. Then he vaulted up and over Troy’s head, kicking him in the nape of his neck with his heel as Troy passed. This was no small feat, as Troy was 6’5”. Troy landed face first on the floor and effectively stunned. Kaine pounced on his back with the grace of an acrobat in peak condition, twisted Troy’s hands behind his back with one hand. Almost as fast, Sam and Amanda started for Kaine. Kaine raised his free hand as if to wave goodbye, and a shock wave emanated for his hand, sending Sam and Amanda sprawling.
“Kaine,” Crystal cried, but she didn’t dare approach. “Cut it out!”
“Yeah, Kaine,” Austin said, taking a small step closer to the guy, “Stop.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Kaine said, speaking primarily to Troy. As he spoke, his hair turned white and the indigo color returned to his irises. The symbol on his forehead glowed. “On the contrary, it is my job to protect you, whether you wish it or not. Don’t doubt my abilities and don’t test my patience. Tell no one of this. When the time comes, if you need it, I will be there to protect you.
“Trust me,” Kaine raised his voice, slightly, so that Amanda and Sam, who were struggling to their feet, could hear. “Bear with me. Protect my secret, and I will aid you. Do I have your word?”
There was a long silence, broken only by Troy’s muffled struggles.
“You have my word,” Crystal said.
“And mine,” Amanda said.
“Me too,” Sam said, quickly.
Kaine looked at Austin. “You have mine,” Austin said, slowly, “when you let him up.”
Kaine looked at Troy. “I’ll let him up when I have his.”
“You have it, now let go,” Troy said, angrily. He stood and brushed himself off, indignant. Austin took a step between him and Kaine.
“You understand, now, that we are all bound to each other,” Kaine said, his musical lilt soothing the tension in the room. His hair went back to blonde and his eyes turned emerald once more. The symbol on his brow faded. “Not one of us may harm the other, and we will all feel each other’s pain as well as glory. Go in peace.”
There was another pregnant moment. Daniel chose that moment to come bounding around a corner.
“Hey, hey! What did I miss?” He shouted.
----------------------------------------
Later, driving Amanda home, Austin had a chance to find out how his friend really felt.
“Troy’s not happy,” Amanda said, staring out of the window. “But he won’t mess with Kaine. And neither will I, for that matter. I don’t trust people with glowing foreheads.”
“Yeah,” Austin agreed. “So you’re not worried about Kaine are you? That he and Crystal know your secret.”
“Why should they bother me?” Amanda asked. “I’m no threat to them. And if it comes to some kind of fight, I think I can hold my own. Still, Troy is not happy about this. Not in the least. He’ll probably talk shit about Kaine first thing Monday morning. But not about Ms. Itemiser or the priest act. Just made up stuff, you know, like he’s gay, or has an extra nipple.”
“When is Troy ever happy?” Austin pointed out.
Amanda made a gesture of agreement, “Still, I think he’ll stay quiet about the incident, and Sam always follows his lead.”
Austin detected a bit of bitterness in her voice. “You still like him?” Austin asked.
“Who? Sam?”
“No, Troy. Of course, Sam!”
“Hey, I used to have a crush on Troy, too, you know,” Amanda said, smiling wistfully.
“Yeah, like in eighth grade,” Austin pointed out.
“Yeah, I still like Sam,” Amanda admitted, “But nothing has changed, and this changes nothing, so I’m stuck.”
“Well, good buddy,” Austin said, throwing an arm around her shoulders, “Take comfort in knowing that you’re stuck with one of the sexiest guys out there: Me!”
“Oh, joy,” Amanda muttered.