Morrigan slipped on the sleek, light brown leather gloves, making a fist to see how the fabric folded around her knuckles. She bit her lower lip, as she pondered how she ended up in this situation.
How long ago had it been? Perhaps a few days, maybe a week? Whenever it was, she entered her small backyard garden in hopes of a few more grown apples that she could use to pay off her crop tax. All of her trees or plants typically thrived even during the frigid winters, a blessing that so many regular citizens prayed for, yet they had been consistently failing this year. She was lucky enough not to have fallen victim to the Leiths’ cruelty for all this time, yet now she barely had enough food to feed her deathly ill father and herself, much less pay the absurdly high tax.
So, when she first picked up a shriveled, ghastly apple, she nearly dropped it in shock when she realized it was alive and breathing. Well, it wasn’t alive in a human, animalistic way, but in her hands she could feel each microcosm and cell. She reached down and picked it up, watching as it grew in her hands. Fresh, ripe, red, and ever expanding to twice its original size before she grabbed it through her tattered shirt. That’s how she figured out it couldn’t work through fabric.
She now bounced her knee and tapped her gloved fingers on the table, eyeing the front door. God, how long was it going to take him to get here? Ah, she thought, tasting the iron that coated her tongue, I bit my lip too hard. She took off her right hand glove and swiped her thumb over her plush skin, feeling it heal over. Morrigan grew accustomed to her newfound powers, but she was still wary of her abilities. An ordinary for her entire life, finding out she was a Leith, more so one that didn’t even exist, made her spiteful. She had been subjected to systematic oppression her entire life, her family, her friends, yet this revelation seemed to ignite a true hatred for all Leiths.
“Morning, Morr! Sorry I’ve been gone for a bit, but I brought you this!” He shoved open her creaky front door with cupped hands to reveal an origami crane. “Ta-da! Isn’t it cute? I bought some colored paper from the market to make it. Also, nice gloves, they really fit you.”
Morrigan smiled, comforted by his presence as she stood up to grab the crane. “I’ll just add this to my collection of the other five hundred blue cranes you made.”
“I keep trying to find one that matches your eye color, but it changes in every lighting,” he got closer and squinted into her eyes. “Today, it looks gray. I guess I just have to make you five hundred more,” he laughed, his dimples indenting his freckled cheeks.
Morrigan and Juro had been friends since childhood, and she found it easy to confide in him. At some point, it seemed like he was staying over at her place more than his own home, but whenever she questioned it, he’d brush it off. She sat back down, placing the crane on the table facing him.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“What’s wrong? What are you worried about?” Juro pulled a chair out across from her, putting both of his arms on the table. “Is your dad hanging in there?”
She glanced towards the ground, her hands fidgeting. “I’ll explain that in a second. You trust me right? This is kind of going to sound insane.”
“Yeah, of course I do,” he replied before adding, “To an extent.”
“I think I might be a Leith, but it all happened very suddenly,” she pulled a bowl of shriveled apples across the bumpy table and took off her glove. “Watch.”
Juro gawked as he watched the apple grow before his eyes, utterly amazed.
“It’s not just food. It’s anything that’s alive.” She dug her sharp nails into her translucent skin, watching blood begin to trickle out. She quickly healed it and wiped off the blood. “I can turn off my pain, I can recover my injuries, I can do anything as long as it involves life.”
A boyish grin lit up Juro’s face as he clasped his hands together. “Morr, this is incredible! You can save your dad now, right? Which of the powers even is this? Is that why you’re wearing these gloves?” He reached out to grab her hand.
She flinched, quickly drawing it back. “You can’t touch me. It’s gotten better, but I don’t know if I have full control over it.”
“But it’s safe through fabric, right?” He picked up her glove from the table and slid it back onto her hand, maintaining eye contact.
Embarrassed, Morrigan jumped up, covering her face. “I’m just paranoid about it, which is why I’m scared to do anything with my dad, especially since it’s so severe. I haven’t told anyone else yet. Do you wanna head over and show them?”
“Sure, why not. Bruno and Alyssa should be out of school soon by the time we get there.” He leaned backwards on the chair, teetering on the edge of the back two legs. “How many apples do you think I can juggle like this?”
“I’m going to let my dad know then come back.”
“Do you want me to come?”
“No, it’s ok. Help yourself to some of the apples, though.” She exited the room, quietly shutting the door behind her.
As she headed to her father’s room, she couldn’t help but feel a bit bitter, even as she heard a loud thud and yelp from down the hall when Juro fell flat on the ground. Leiths could only inherit their powers from family bloodlines. Even though she was a unique case, having a power that did not exist suddenly appearing, her father had to have known something.
She approached the dark, wooden door, hesitating in front of it as she watched the eerie light stream out from beneath. The muffled buzzing and words of the radio crackled constantly; it was a miracle that it still worked. Her dad insisted that the radio had to stay on; for years it played in the background, never turning off even as his condition worsened. Holding her breath, she placed her hand on the rusty doorknob and entered.