Chapter 13 Melodia

In the end, my conversation with Pickati needed to wait until the day after. Apparently, the aftermath of my fight on the roof had hit the news by the time I made it home, so Mom and Dad didn’t let us leave their sight for the rest of the day.

But in time, the day ended and the next one started. And since Mom and Dad were off at church, and Arturo had taken the chance to sleep in, I was up all alone with Pickati. And since I had finally gotten down all three of the spells he had given me, he’d decided I needed a little break before learning any new ones.

So I had nothing else to do this morning but tell him everything. I laid down on my bed and stared at the ceiling, Pickati sitting at my desk and ready to listen to everything.

“I guess I should start at the beginning,” I started to tell him as my mind went back to that day.

…

It was a birthday, that part of my memory was crystal clear, even if I didn't remember whose it was. Maybe it had been a relative, or some kid from school who had invited everyone, or maybe just all the girls or something. The only person who I knew for sure wasn’t the birthday kid was me. Whoever they were, their parents pulled out all the stops.

They had rented out one of the big pavilion things in the park and everyone was running around having fun and playing games. And I was right there with the rest of them. Dad was right there too, watching the whole thing with a few other adults. I had spent the whole day playing and the sun had started to set so it was time for the part everyone went to birthdays for.

“Happy birthday to you…” We all sang, every kid’s eyes on the big old cake at the center of the table. Well, every kid’s eyes but mine. My eyes had wandered over to some older kid standing around by herself. She was far away and hiding behind a bunch of trees, but I could still barely see her.

She looked sad and I felt bad for her. As soon as the song was done and the cake was cut, I walked over to find the girl and give her some cake.

Oh, and I guess this is important. I was super little at the time, maybe seven or eight. And this girl who was watching had to be at least five years older than me. She was also dressed in ripped jeans, piercings and a t-shirt with a swear on it. I wasn’t one to judge people for their appearances, but looking back maybe going to her by myself wasn’t the best idea.

Well the important part was I had decided to walk over to her and give her my slice of cake. I kind of figured I’d be able to get another one if I said I dropped my first plate. I didn't want anyone to notice me or her, so I snuck up on her.

“Hi,” she jumped when I greeted her, reaching for her pocket before noticing it was me.

“Oh,” she let out a sigh of relief as she let her hand hang freely. “It’s just some kid. What are you doing here?”

“Here,” I said as I held the plate of cake out for her. It took her a few seconds to figure out what I was doing. She narrowed her eyes at me before slowly taking the plate.

“Aren't you going to eat any?” I shrugged at her question.

“I’ll tell them I dropped it and I’ll get another,” I said with the kind of certainty only little kids could have.

“Well, if you say so,” she started picking at the cake with her fork and eating it while watching the party. Instead of just going back and leaving her alone like I should have, I stayed behind and watched her. She took a few bites of cake before giving me a narrowed glare. “So are you going to beat it or what?”

“Whatcha doing?” The older girl sighed as she lowered her cake and leaned back on a tree.

“It’s… complicated. A little too complicated for a kid,” she smirked as I tilted my head at her.

“Complicated how?” She grit her teeth in annoyance.

“Just, complicated, trust me.”

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“Come on, tell me.”

“Fine,” she growled before pointing over to the party, “you see that girl over there?” She was pointing towards one of the girl’s I didn't know. She was standing next to a few of the others, all of them eating cake together and laughing over something we couldn't hear from there.

“Yeah I see her,” I remember being confused at the time. The older girl had a smile on her face, but I could see her starting to cry a little. She did a little snuffle before using her free hand to brush them away.

“That’s my little sister,” she finally said before grabbing her arm with her free hand. “That’s my little sister over there and I can’t even go see her.”

“Well why can’t you?” I must have sounded so annoying. No wonder that girl did what she did later. “Just walk over there and say hi.”

“I can’t. Don’t worry about it,” she growled as I got the dumbest idea I ever had. I walked away from her and back towards the party. She probably thought I had gotten bored or something and was planning on getting more cake like I said. Instead I walked right up to the girl she had pointed to.

“Hi,” I waved at them and they all said hi back. I looked right at the girl who the older girl had pointed to. “Hey, there’s someone over there hiding in the trees. She said she was your sister.”

I had been expecting her to at least look a little happy. Instead she got this deer-in-headlights kind of look before looking over at the trees. She saw the older girl before rushing back to the adults. The older girl marched right out the woods and came for me. Her eyes locked with mine and there I saw it for the first time.

The glare, the same one I always saw when someone was mad at me.

“Why would you do that?” She screamed at me as I shrunk back. “I told you to leave it alone you little…” And then she said a word which would have earned me a mouth cleaning from my mom if I said it. I’m pretty sure it was the first time I had someone throw a curse word at me. “Now everything's ruined!”

I tried to run away, but before I could take a single step, I felt something on my arm. I looked up and saw her hand on me, refusing to let go. I tried to pull away, but with how much bigger she was, I couldn’t even budge. I wasn’t sure when I had started screaming, but I was yelling my head off by then.

“Hey what are you doing to my girl?” and that was when my dad showed up. He grabbed the girl's hand and pried her off me just as the rest of the adults showed. The older girl saw the man grabbing her and did something I'd never forgive her for. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. She gave Dad one glare before everything went way too fast.

The knife came down into his leg and the world went red. Everything after that was a series of flashes. The girl running away, someone putting pressure on my dad’s leg, someone else herding me into a car. By the time everything felt normal again, I was sitting in a hospital waiting room with my mom sitting right next to me and my brother pacing the room. A doctor came out and told my mom a bunch of words. I understood some of them, but not others.

But I understood enough to know what was going on. The girl had managed to hit something important in my dad’s leg, and he’d never be able to walk normally with it again. And all because I was dumb enough to stick my nose somewhere it wasn’t wanted.

…

“I wasn’t really supposed to learn what the girl’s deal was, but I overheard someone telling my mom a few weeks later. Apparently, their parents were divorced and the two sister’s weren’t supposed to see each other. There’s this whole thing about the girl I still don’t get now. The important part was that she wasn’t supposed to be there.”

Pickati didn’t say anything as I finished up my story. Probably judging me for being such an idiot, it’s what I would have done. Maybe I messed up so much he was rethinking giving me the power of the stars? Would he ask for it back?

“Okay, so let me start with the obvious,” well he sounded strangely calm for someone about to rip into me, “you do realize none of what you just explained was your fault, right?”

“How is none of it my fault?” I demanded as I sprang up out of my bed. “I talked to the girl and I was the one who told her sister she was there!”

“Yes, you tried your best to do something nice for someone, and you were too young to realize it was a bad idea. There are a lot of people to blame for that incident, but none of them are you.”

I stared at Pickati for a little while before laying back down on the bed. Looked like he was going to be one of the ones who did the annoying thing. Why couldn’t any adult realize it was my fault? Maybe if I kept explaining myself, he’d figure it out.

“That story is actually why our family moved here to South Palm City. After what happened, Vulpsburg felt too dangerous to stay in so we moved to one of the ‘safest cities in the nation’,” I did little air quotes for that last part. I had heard my family call it that so many times before we came here, I couldn’t take it seriously anymore. “It’s also why I didn’t want to tell the rest of my family about any of this stuff with magic and the dolls.”

“Okay, you’re going to have to explain that one a bit more,” he sounded a bit confused. Wasn’t sure why, it made perfect sense to me. Guess I’d have to spell it out for him. I rolled over in my bed until I was looking right at Pickati.

“Mom and Dad tell each other everything, and if Dad learned I was fighting a whole bunch of monsters, his first instinct would be to fight them himself. And considering how tough the dolls are, there’s no way he’d walk away with just a stabbed leg. I guess I could tell Arturo, but I’m not sure I even want to risk that.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” he said as his ears pricked up. He glanced over at the door as I heard someone walking past it. Looked like the older brother in question had woken up. Pickati and I nodded to each other as he flew into the small pile of stuffed animals I had while I got out of bed to go start the day for real.