Tea Sloshing

“Stop sloshing your tea around in that infernal manner, Thomas. It’s not polite.” Thomas looked up at his Aunt through heavy lidded eyes and slowly sloshed his tea once more before swallowing it. My aunt, he thought contemplatively, putting his cup of tea down to study his red faced aunt, is so awfully fat. It must be because she swallows her tea like a pig. Much to fast.

The said Aunt meanwhile, was fidgeting in the train seat across from Thomas. She was an extremely sensible lady, who always drank her tea with disciplined fervor, and never enjoyed the way her ten year old nephew looked at her, like he was reaching into her soul with his eyes.

“’tain’t polite to look at people thataways, Thomas.” She told him constantly; He never listened. “Aunt Polly,” Thomas said in a deliberate manner, “I must tell you, there is a very important reason for my “tea sloshing”,” tea sloshing was said with definite quotes, “You probably never knew it, but tea has a multitude of flavors, and in order to enjoy the flavors to the fullest you must let it slosh back and forth, back and forth (said gently) in your mouth.” He looked passively at his wide-eyed aunt who was staring at him with her flabby mouth moving but no sound emitting from it, then picked up his cup and took a deliberate sip, making sure to slosh the tea around for demonstration.

Now that I’ve helped her, I’m sure she won’t be fat anymore, Thomas thought contentedly. He looked out the window at the rolling hills, I’m awful glad I’ve helped my Aunt out so much, but I think I shall be glad to be home again.

Mother’s tea has such better flavor.

                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~

Hello fellow people stuck in cyberspace,

Most of you won't know me. I'm Rebekah. This is my first post ever. I have been trying to get something up forever, but finally I just gave up trying to get something really good up. This is a weird little thing I wrote, and you must read it with a british accent. ;)

I hope you enjoyed.

A Knife in the Dark Parts 18-19

18 Eli

Being dead is like being asleep but you don't wake up from a bad nightmare. I don't recommend it. Kate said once that Jon was her never ending nightmare. I hope it's not true. Lucy makes me sad. When I look at her, I can only think of all the bad things in her life. We know who The Four will be because we found a page of a book that was ripped out. It read: The Four shall go to seek out our queen, to kill her. A smoke can't burn without fire. You can't save without something to die. You can't runaway from yourself. You can't live without water.
Eli
Sean
Ann
Lu
That was all it said. The page had been ripped in half. The first part was the part that scared me. If I am the smoke, what is my fire?
I woke up with Kate still asleep on top of me. Her head on my chest.
“Uh, Kate?” I said and she groaned. “Can you get off of me please? I would like to get up.”
“Yeah, okay.” She yawned, and sat up. She opened her eyes. Her black hair had a red streak in it. Not intentionally, it just did. She had blue eye unlike her brother. Her black tank top was tattered. With her hair tied up, you could see the scar on her neck. Her neck had been burned and frozen at the same time by the touch of the ghost queen. Back in Toro, my home town, Kate was the first girl I met besides my mom. With all the things that happened, I'm glad I met her at that river.
Lucy started to wake up. Her pin strait hair knotted from a bad nights sleep. She may look just like her brother, but their nothing alike. He is strong and she is soft all the way through. When he is standing tall, she is falling. Sean came in carrying Annabella.
“Oh my god. What happened to her?” I asked.
“I don't know what Leann did to her, but she needs help. Now.” Sean said as he put Annabella down. Kate ran over and put her hand on Anna's forehead.
“She's cold.” She said. “What did you do to her Sean.”
“What? You're blaming me for this?” He replied. “You think I wanted her to get hurt? She might die, and you think it was me?”
“Sean, she has a cut on her arm. Leann goes for the neck, not the arm. This was you.”
“I killed Leann, Kate!” Sean yelled. He held out his hand. It was bleeding black.
“Sean, what happened to your hand?” I asked.
“I grabbed a broken sword. Then I stabbed Leann in the back, you're welcome.” Annabella gasped for air. Her gray eyes didn't open, but she was still alive.
“First we need to help Anna, then we can argue. Okay?” I said. Sean and Kate nodded at the same time.
“I think I can help. After all, it was my sister that did this to you.” Said a man in the corner. He had bright green eyes but his black shaggy hair was making it hard to see his face. He was dressed in all black. A sword at his side, he was the kind of guy I try to avoid. His smile was sad, and the way he held his body, he felt a lot of gilt for something. I tried not to think of what he was guilty about. It only scared me more. He stepped foreword, but Sean held him back.
“Don't you think you've done enough!” Sean yelled.
“I only want to help!” Replied the guy.
“You're a killer!”
“That was six years ago, Sean! Let it go! Besides, you are the one that killed her.” I swore that this man was about to cry. I all most felt bad for him, but Sean apparently didn't.
“I don't care, just stay away from Anna. Next time I see you ‘helping her’, I'm going to kill you! Got that?!” The man burst into mist, and vanished.

19 Sean

Sean was standing in his room back in Saré. His short sword was on his bed, right where he left it. He reached out to grab it. He hadn't seen it for two years, the day of the prank. He sheathed it. Sean looked around his room. It was the same as the day he met Lucy. He picked up a picture from when he was little. His blue eyes were sparkling as his mom was taking the picture. His hair was cut short. Sean felt his hair, it had been so long ago. His hair was now to the middle of his ear. Without thinking, he grabbed the knife on his desk; he cut his hair. Blond hair all over the ground. He sighed.
“Sad?” Sean turned around and grabbed his short sword. A girl with white hair and pale skin was sitting on his bed.
“Who the hell are you?!” The girl stepped back in shock. She looked into his eyes and relaxed a little.
“It is nice to see that you have improved over the last six months. I've been watching you, Saver.”
“You know… you know who I am?” Replied Sean, his sword still pointed at her.
“I know you better then you know yourself. That's why I took you back here. I know you have a connection with it.”
“What?”
“You're not from this time, Sean. Your sister, on the other hand, is. I don't know how, but you're covered in time energy.”
“And how do you know this?”
“Because I knew you. Y-you were my boyfriend. You just disappeared when we were 16.” Sean dropped his sword and fell to his knees. He held his head in his hands. He screamed. A sharp pain had found its way into his head.
“Alice?”
“Yes, it's me.”
“Alice, help me! Their screams won't stop!”
“What can I do for you?”
“Save me, Alice.” She helped him up. He leaned on her. “Help me back to my friends?” She nodded, and he passed out.
The first time he woke up, with Eli looking down at him.
“He's starting to wake up!” He yelled to his friends. Lucy ran over and smiled at him. Then he blacked out again. The next time he woke up, Alice sitting next to him. She was looking at him, her eyes full of pain. She saw that he was awake and she smiled. She helped him sit up.
“How do you feel?” She asked.
“My head hurts,” He replied. “Ugh, what happened to me?”
“You passed out, so I took you and your friends to Rose. She help with your head. Your friend Annabella was vary scared for you.”
“Yeah, um, about that. She is kind of my girlfriend. I didn't know that I was from the past. I didn't know about you.”
“I know, she told me all about it.” She kissed him and left. Sean sighed. He finally gets a girlfriend, and then he is a time traveler? Now that's not fair. Rose walked into the little room he was in.
“I don't know who you are, but if you do anything that might hurt my sister, I will stab you in hart with your own sword. Got that?” Said Rose. Sean nodded.
“I'm not afraid of you.” He replied.
“You should be.” Her eyes showed him his reflection. He looked awful. He thought about that picture in his room. He doesn't look like that anymore. He wondered what he had looked like when he was 16. He guessed that only Alice knew.
“Why? I don't have any resin to. I am not afraid of you.”
“I don't know what she sees in you. Whatever it is, I don't see it.” She turned around and left.
It was a long time before Sean could walk again. Kate came to see him sometimes, the only person that came every day was Rose. She would help him to recover from his own past. Sometimes Anna or Eli would come to check on him. He never saw Alice again.
When Sean could stand up again, Rose showed him where he was. He was in a huge house. Rose said that it was hers. She said she and Anna lived here when they were younger. He wondered how old they were here. I big house would have scared Lucy.
“Where's Lucy? I haven't seen her for a long time.” He asked Rose. She frowned.
“Who is Lucy?” Rose replied.
“She's my twin.” Rose shrugged.
“Never met her.”
“Yes you have, she was with Alice.” They heard a scream coming from outside. Sean started to run to them, but Rose held him back.
“You stay back, I don't want you to get in my way.” She ran off.

A Blood Red Sly. Part Eight.

Epilogue

After my mom's funeral, I found myself sitting with Dell on the beach. I was wearing an odd looking hat like I usually did and she said “I haven't seen any Dragons.”

“Me neither.” I said. I was looking at the clouds and she said “Where do you think they went?”

I looked at the sky for a moment before responding “I don't know.”

“Do you think they'll ever come back?” she asked.

“Probably, someday. I'm not the first Magistra Sanguis. And I'm probably not the last one.” I said.

“If they do come back, will you fight them again?” Dell asked. I closed my eyes and said “No. What happened, happened. There's no point in pretending that I still hate them, but so long as they don't bother me, I won't bother them. I see no reason to. The Queen wanted me to kill them for her. She can do it herself if she likes. I don't care anymore.”

Dell didn't ask anymore questions, but I didn't think we would ever stop talking about the Dragons.

“Rebecca!” I heard someone call. I opened my eyes and sat up. I turned and saw Hope walking towards us. Dell sat up too and Hope came and sat next to us.

“Pretty day, isn't it?” Hope asked. I nodded and she said “Are you okay, Becca?”

I looked out at the horizon. I had never really taken the time to really look at it before. It was quite peaceful now that I looked at it.

“Yes.” I replied. “I am okay. The Dragons are gone, the Fairies are leaving me alone, and I'm no longer Magistra Sanguis.”

“That's not what I meant.” Hope said. I sighed and said “I know. I miss my mom. But she was sick for a very long time. She wasn't poisoned. The berry doesn't kill you that way. It was cancer all the way.”

Hope said nothing. She looked at the sky and said “Thank you, Rebecca Jones.”

“What?” I asked. Hope smiled and said “You helped me remember. When I was little, I used to see Dragons too. I even had a friend. I called him Chamon, because he coughed all the time and that's what it sounded like. But I grew up and they faded. When you killed the Dragon when I first met you, they started to come back for me. I saw them again every so often and when yo gave me that potion, I could see their whole world again. It's why I believed you. Why I love you now. When you drew the Dragons, I remembered more and more.”

I turned and stared at her. I blinked and said “Why didn't you tell me before?”

“Because...” she stopped and looked at the horizon like I had. “Because I was scared, Rebecca. I'm not as brave as you. I hoped it wasn't real and I blocked it out. But not you. You're a warrior. A fighter.” she then looked at me and said “It's not over, Rebecca. It never is. You both have to keep an eye out. The Fairies do not make good enemies. They don't give up, and they're bloodthirsty beasts. Don't trust them, for they are liars.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“The Queen kept secrets from you, Rebecca. When has she ever showed you true kindness?” Hope asked.

“How do you know about the secrets?” I asked.

“Because,” said Hope, “I was once a Hera Sanguis.”

“Majesty?” Relicta said as she crept up to the Queen. The Queen turned, fangs bared. She was no longer the beautiful Fairy that Rebecca Jones had met. Her hair and lips were pitch black and her skin was white as paper.

“That is it, Relicta?” she snarled.

“What will become of Rebecca Jones?” the young Fairy asked. The Queen laughed and said “If she's smart, she'll stay out of the way. But if she's stupid like Hope Gray, then she shall die, just like Hope Gray will.”

“I liked Hope.” mumbled Relicta, her skin turning white and her red eyes facing the ground.

“Silence, Relicta. You like all the Magistra Sanguis.” said the Queen harshly. “You even likes the Magister Sanguis.”

Relicta did not reply. She was in her true form now, with black hair, black lips, red, catlike eyes, fangs, white skin, and long black nails.

“Soon, Relicta, we shall either be allied with the Mortals, or declare war on them with the Draconum.” the Queen said. “For I am Queen Tenebra of the Darkness, Obscurity, Night, and Concealment.”

“Not to mention Ignorance.” muttered Relicta.

The Queen turned and said “You forget my last name, Inmisericors.” she smiled coldly and said “Merciless, Pitiless, Remourless, Relentless.”

Relicta screamed in pain and then Queen walked up to her. “Though, you were a useful servant.” and then Relicta was no more.

But from the door, a Fairy watched. She looked downwards and then looked back at her Queen. One thought ran through her mind. Traitor.

End?

Ruby (Part One)

She was called Ruby when I met her for the first time. Ruby Isabelle Clay. She had short red hair in a bob. She nearly ran into me while I was shelving books. She really liked to talk.

Her parents had died when she was just a little kid, and she'd been raised by her grandfather, a painter in Connecticut. He taught Ruby how to see the beauty in life, and the art in nature.

She'd live with him until three years ago, when she was nineteen and set out for New York, to prove herself.

She was writing a biography. "About whom?" I asked her.

"About the people who live here."

She wanted to interview me. I told her I wasn't especially interesting. Ruby said that was utter nonsense.

"There's no such thing as a not especially interesting person. And there's definitely no boring twenty something male librarians with stunning eyes.”

"Fine," I agreed begrudgingly. Ruby smiled.

"Excellent. But I won't interview you in the middle of the adult nonfiction section. Meet me tonight at seven at the Starry Night Café."

She ran off before I could tell her I didn't get off work until eight.

I managed to get out early by trading off with one of the other librarians, and made it to the Starry Night Café just after seven. As soon as I stepped in, I felt like I had stepped into one of those cafes beatniks used to hang out in.

Ruby was sitting with her notebook and pencil at a table near the window. She was drinking something in a mug. She waved me over.

“I hope you don’t mind, I got you a coffee. I figured you might need it after a long day of shelving travel guides and celebrity biographies.”

She handed me a mug, and I took it gratefully. 

“Okay, let’s get down to business,” she said scooting her chair closer to the table, and flicking a switch on her tape recorder. “Tell me everything Peter Phillips.”

Tales of Lauren Mind Games

In the middle of September, a girl was eating a cake. It was her birthday, so her older brother stole her one. It was a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, her favorite. It wasn't much, but for a couple of runaways, it was the best birthday gift she could ask for. Her brother had stolen it from a Dairy Queen. She would always remember her 10th birthday.
Lauren woke up at five every day. She would get up, eat some cereal, take a shower, then brush her teeth. When she was done, it would be about 6:30. Then she would go next door to see her brother, Jake, and his friends Colin and Tom. But today didn't go like that. She woke up at 5:36 setting her hole day off. First, she was late to meet her brother so he sent Colin to go into her room. She was still brushing her teeth when Colin walked in. He was so quiet that she didn't relies that he was there until he said something.
“Hello? Lauren?” He said. She jumped back in surprise.
“Oh, sorry. Did I scare you?” She nodded. To wasn't every day the boy you have a crush on walks in on you brushing you teeth. Then again, he wasn't anyone that would say anything about it.