My Soul to Keep

CHAPTER 12



“Are you ready, worm?”

Saturday was trash day. One of the few chores I had around the house was garbage duty. Not only did I have to empty the trash in the house, I had to make sure the bins outside were raccoon proof at all times, and haul it all out to the curb twice a week. Such a glamorous life I lead.

Because of the scraping noise of plastic on concrete from hauling the bins out to the curb, I didn’t hear Clarisse sneak up on me. I turned around and saw no sign of her car or motorcycle, just her standing there in jeans and a T-shirt. She looked like standing five feet away from me was the last place in the universe she wanted to be.

“Good morning to you, too, Clarisse.” I turned around and started walking toward the house.

Her footsteps behind me let me know she wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. I did my best not to run inside and slam the door in her face. The truth was Clarisse scared the hell out of me. Unstable didn’t even begin to describe her, nor did bipolar. You didn’t just walk around punching people in the face and smashing trees into them. It’s just not right. Her hand on my shoulder stopped me as I reached for the door.

“Connor, wait.”

I stopped moving forward, but I didn’t turn around. “Why?” I really wanted to know. I hoped she had a good reason for me not to leave her standing there.

“I’m sorry.”

I turned around. Slowly. Of all the things I'd been expecting to come flying out of her mouth, an apology wasn’t one of them. “What did you say?”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” A billion other things flashed through my head to say. The realization I might actually be the first person Clarisse had apologized to in the last thousand years told me to keep my mouth shut.

“No, it’s not, but one apology is all you get. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, Clarisse.”

“Oh, I won’t. Ever,” she finished without batting an eyelash. “Are you ready?”

“For what?”

“Training.”

I sighed and held up a finger. It was just my index finger and not the one I wanted to give her. She cocked an eyebrow and I opened the door leading into our small kitchen. Mom sat at the Formica kitchen counter drinking coffee and reading the Cedar Hills Tribune. “Hey, Mom?”

She stopped mid sip and turned to look at me over her shoulder. She could see Clarisse standing on the back stoop behind me and looked pleased. “Yes, honey?”

“I’m gonna head to the mall with Claire. Is that okay?”

“Are you going to introduce me first?” I could tell by her voice, it wasn’t a request.

I looked behind me and saw Clarisse looking quite amused and pleased with herself. “Want to meet my mom?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” she whispered and pushed past me through the narrow outer door. “Hi, Mrs. Sullivan, I’m Claire.” She crossed the distance and held out her hand for Mom to shake.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, dear.” I groaned at the “dear”. Mom called everybody “dear”.

“Well, we gotta get going, Mom. We’ll be back later. Soon. Very soon.”

“Take your time, kiddo. Do you need any money?”

“I’m good,” I replied wanting to get out of there more than anything else I’ve ever wanted in my life. I turned to leave but Clarisse half grabbed my arm.

“Did you tell your mom?” I saw the wicked gleam in her eye and groaned.

“Tell my mom what?” I really didn’t want to know. I really, really, really didn’t want to know.

“That you’re taking me to the Halloween dance at school, silly.”

“I am?” My heart sank somewhere below my bellybutton. Jessie’s face crumpled into tears in my head. She would never forgive me, especially after my endless assurances yesterday that I had absolutely no feelings for Claire whatsoever.

“Don’t tell me you forgot already!” The laughter in her eyes made me want to throw her halfway across town.

“How could I possibly forget you, Claire? You’re my reason for living,” I said with as much venom as I could muster.

“Connor, what’s the matter with your eyes?” Mom sounded concerned. I looked at her wondering what she was talking about.

“What?”

She stood up and walked over to me. In a classic "mom" move, she took my head in her hands and turned it from side to side. She looked very confused. “That is weird. I could have sworn your eyes were red.”

Realization hit and I knew we needed to get out of there. I didn’t have my orb anymore and if Clarisse insisted on pissing me off, it better be several miles away from my mom and dad. “Must have been the light from the ceiling fan, Mom. You ready to go, Claire?”

“Sure, wo…Connor.”

“Well, you two kids have fun,” Mom said and smiled, letting go of my face.

“Thanks, Mom.” I turned and motioned for Clarisse to lead the way. It’s childish I admit, but as soon as she turned around I stuck my tongue out at her. As soon as we were outside and away from the back door, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. “What the hell were you thinking, Clarisse?”

“Whatcha mean, worm?” I wanted to wipe the smile off her face with a belt sander or maybe even one of those commercial metal grinders that could cut through bank vaults. That might be better.

“Telling my mom I’m taking you to the Halloween dance! I’m not going,” I said slowly.

“With me?”

“At all! I can’t dance, I don’t dance, and I won’t dance! You had no right.”

“And here I thought I might be doing you a favor. I’m sorry, worm. Here, I’ll go tell your mother you don’t want to go with me…” She turned and started walking back toward the house. I knew she was bluffing, so I called it. I let her walk up the steps, put her hand on the handle, push it down, open the door, start to walk inside…maybe she wasn’t bluffing. In a panic, I ran back into the house. Mom sat there, mug of coffee in her hand, and listened intently to whatever Clarisse had been saying.

“Hey, Connor, I’m doing what you told me.”

“Claire, I was only joking. Mom, don’t pay any attention to my friend here. I think her parents forgot to medicate her this morning.”

Mom looked at me like I was the one who skipped their medication. “I’m confused. You don’t want a ride to the dance?”

“No, we don’t. It should be nice out, I think a nice walk to the school might be good for the two of us,” I spat out and ignored the smug look on Clarisse’s face as I gently took her arm and led her through the back door. Again.

“Gotcha,” she whispered.

“Kiss my ass,” was all I could come up with.

* * *

The staff Clarisse conjured out of mid-air swept in an arc that knocked both my legs from underneath me and left me lying on my back looking up at her. She brought the staff down with enough speed I barely brought mine up in time to stop her from cracking my skull open.

“Good block!”

“Will you take it easy? Jeez, you have like thousands of years on me, Clarisse.”

“Don’t be a baby. I think you’re ready for swords.”

“Excuse me?”

“Swords, you know, sharp pointy metal things,” she said and tossed the staff away. It promptly vanished into nothing.

“How about you teach me how to do that instead?”

“Do what?” Clarisse leaned over and offered me a hand. I warily accepted it and she hauled me to my feet. I handed her the staff and she tossed it away into nothingness just like hers.

“Pull stuff out of midair. Teach me how to do that.”

“I don’t know if you’ll be able to, but we’ll give it a shot. Now pay attention. I can call any weapon into existence just like I do my car and motorcycle. This is a dangerous world we live in. Humans have to be afraid of other humans, but we have to be wary of everything. We’re not the most popular of entities in the world. Even the humans we change and help often resent us for buying their souls. You need to be careful out there.”

I nodded my understanding. Seeing the vampires in my homeroom made me believe her. “I get it.”

She nodded. “We’re going to start by calling your true weapon. We each have one, and everyone’s is different. This is mine,” she said and held out her hand. With a burst of light, a silvery thin sword appeared in her hand. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, I stood mesmerized as flames of blue flickered along the length of the blade. “This is Rathsmir, my blade.”

“That is so friggin’ cool. What will be mine?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m picturing some sort of spectral slingshot or a flaming whiffle-ball bat.”

“Har, har, har. What do I do?”

“Hold out your hand like you are holding something. Close your eyes. Look deep inside you and call your power to your hand. If you’re ready, it should come. Don’t get your hopes up, worm. Some of us spend centuries trying to call our weapons.”

I nodded and closed my eyes, holding out my hand like she said. I could feel my power, not in my head like I would have imagined, but everywhere in my body. It felt like somebody poured hot molten metal inside my skin, but there wasn’t any pain. I could feel my power waiting to be forged.

Holding my hand out didn’t feel right. I can’t explain why, but with my eyes closed I brought my other hand up too and pulled them apart.

The chill of metal in both palms startled me and I opened my eyes. In each hand I held an identical sword. They didn’t flame like Clarisse’s. The blades themselves were matte black, the color of coal. Red letters I had never seen before were etched on the blades from the handle to the tip of the curved blades.

I looked up at Clarisse to smile at my accomplishment, but her face stopped the smile cold. “What?”

“Get rid of them. Don’t ever call them again. Don’t speak. Don’t do anything. Banish the blades, Connor. They’re not for you.” She jumped into the air, called her wings, and flew away.

I looked down at the twin blades in my hands and didn’t know what to do. I tossed them away and called my power back.

They vanished.