Dominion (13 page)

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T
hree days!

It had been three days, and Abigail Cells was still alive!

Yesterday after my attempt to befriend her ended up with my saving her, she calmed down a little around me. And now as I sat with her and her friends, including Tristan, she didn’t look like she minded having me around.

With a little magic, I made sure she forgot about my knowing how she saved her friends, so she didn’t ask me about it any further. History class was in a few minutes, so Tristan and Abigail decided to rehearse their Titanic presentation. Danny, Jake, and I suddenly realized we hadn’t prepared for the project. The guys started freaking out, talking about how Mr. Bernard was going to give them an F.

“
We are toast,” Danny moaned as he pulled his schoolbag away and snatched Tristan’s textbook.

“
We’re using that,” Abigail protested.

“
Really? All the extra after-school work and you’re still not done? What are you two doing, writing a freaking novel?” I asked, and her friends laughed.

Abigail looked offended. “At least we have a novel. What do you guys have?” she asked.

“
We have something,” Jake said. “It’s a surprise.”

Tristan and Sarah tried to get us to tell them what it was, but we refused because even we didn’t know what it was.

“
Gideon, what is it?” Abigail asked, slightly lifting her eyes and catching my gaze, and then it happened—I babbled.

“
We…hmm…we’re just messing with you. We don’t have anything.” I was completely and utterly—well, I didn’t really have words to excuse my behavior.

“
Way to keep a secret, man,” Danny said as the bell rang for class to start. It was no surprise that Tristan and Abigail got an A. Actually, Mr. Bernard had said, ”A-plus-plus,” and then he gave Jake, Danny, and me an F because we didn’t have anything. I’d written
The Titanic is sinkable
on a piece of paper, and we had read it out loud in unison.

After school, Tristan and I invisibly followed Abigail to the community library where she read to the after-school children.

“
I know what you’re doing, Gideon,” Tristan said. “You’re trying to befriend the girl just so you can—”

“
Kill her faster?” I finished Tristan’s pathetic assumption with a wicked smile. “Give yourself a pat on the back, handsome. That’s correct.” Abigail looked so happy reading for the children.

“
Gideon, don’t hurt that poor girl because of me.”

“
Do I need to take a seat for this?” I asked. “Is this the part where you lecture me about good guy stuff?”

“
Please don’t hurt her,” Tristan pleaded once more as if he didn’t hear me.

“
This is really sad,” I whispered, more to myself than to him, as I saw how distressed he was over Abigail’s life. What about
his
life? Right, he didn’t care about his life. “I’d love to stand here and chat, but I’m on a mission,” I said with my eyes on Abigail.

“
Gideon, what are—?” Tristan didn’t finish because I disappeared behind one of the shelves, made myself visible, and then quickly rushed into view.

“
Is there room for one more student?” I asked the moment I reached the area where Abigail sat with the children. Abigail looked up quickly when she heard my voice.

“
You’re too old, aren’t you?” one of the children asked in a tiny voice that made me want to slap the hell out of her.

“
I’m sure there’s room for one more. Class, this is Gideon.” Abigail made space on the floor for me to sit beside her. Tristan remained where he stood, staring at me without even blinking.

“
You seem to be everywhere,” she said the moment I sat down.

“
I came to borrow a book and saw you guys,” I lied.

“
And here I was thinking you were allergic to books,” she teased.

“
Now that you mention it, I think I’m allergic to school books.”

Abigail was about to say something when one of the boys asked, “Is Abigail your girlfriend?”

“
Yes, and I’m going to kiss her right now.” I made a slight movement toward Abigail, and all the children started making noises of disgust.

“
Ewwwww!”

Abigail smiled and then quickly looked away from me.

I winked at Ben and Felix, who stood quietly off to the side, appearing amused.

“
I have a question. How does it feel to fall in love?” a little girl asked. Two of her front teeth were missing.

How the hell would I know?

Everyone was quiet, so I knew I had to answer.

“
Well,” I cleared my throat and tried to remember all the cheesy sayings I had heard about falling in love. “It’s unexplainable.” I looked at Abigail, which turned out to be a stupid decision because when my eyes met hers, I felt a stir of emotions in my chest. “And unexpected,” I whispered to myself.

CHASING DAWN

“
Watch your thoughts; they become words.

Watch your words; they become actions.

Watch your actions; they become habits.

Watch your habits; they become character.

Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”

Lao-Tze

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I
remembered when Thursday mornings meant getting breakfast at the town square just before I left for Earth. And by getting breakfast, I meant killing innocent creatures for the fun of it.

This Thursday morning, however, the moment the sun rose, I stormed out of my room as if someone was after me.

“
Wow, Gideon, slow down. Where are you going?” Valoel asked the moment I rushed down the stairs.

I stopped. My entire family was in the living room, and all of them stared at me.

“
I…” I looked from my father to my mother and then to Valoel. They wore the same look on their faces—surprise. “School. I’m going to school. You know, to try and kill Tristan’s ènas and stuff.” And then without waiting for them to respond, I raced out the door.

“
Is he all right?” I overhead my mother asking.

“
I don’t know. I think so,” Valoel answered.

“
Can you find out if he’s okay?” My father asked, and not wanting to hear more, I flew into the air.

When I arrived at school, I stopped in front of the main gate before making myself visible. Since I couldn’t sense Tristan, I knew Abigail wasn’t at school yet.

I paced in front of the main gate. The students who passed either smiled or stared at me. I had formed a plan—follow Abigail to the library, and when everyone was busy having fun, kill her unexpectedly so Tristan wouldn’t know what was coming. I could pretend to be involved and let the children play games that would get them to laugh, which would also encourage Tristan to laugh and feel happy. Just when he would least expect it,
bang
! I’d kill Abigail.

Five minutes passed as I paced, just waiting for her—the longest five minutes of my existence. I was about to give up when I spotted Abigail’s limo pulling into the parking lot, with Tristan invisibly beside it.

When her limo stopped and Abigail got out, her eyes quickly found me. She smiled and waved. I did the same, until her mother got out of the limo and signaled for me to come over.

“
Mom, this is Gideon. Gideon, my mom,” Abigail introduced.

I stretched out my hand and greeted her. “Nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Cells,” I said politely, and Tristan, who stood beside Abigail, smiled at me.

“
So, you’re Gideon,” Mrs. Cells said, looking from me to her daughter. “The boyfriend from the library?”

Abigail blushed. “He—”

Her mother cut her off and turned to me. Suddenly, I felt as if I were in a spotlight. “A librarian called yesterday to remind Abigail to bring her boyfriend today because the children requested it,” Mrs. Cells said. “A boyfriend whom I was told is named Gideon.”

I didn’t know what to tell Mrs. Cells, and the situation would have been much better if Tristan wasn’t standing beside Abigail and grinning at us. “Mom, would you just—”

“
So, are you and my daughter dating?” she asked, ignoring Abigail.

Based on the expression on Mrs. Cells’ face, I knew she wanted me to say no, but I was pretty sure no would be the wrong answer. I breathed in. “I…Abigail says I’m a jerk, and unless I can prove otherwise, I can’t answer that question.” After I said this, both Abigail and her mother gawked at me.

“
Honey, is he a jerk?” Mrs. Cells asked with a teasing smile.

We both looked at Abigail. “Hmm…he is…well, you know, he’s…don’t you have work, Mom?” Abigail’s mother and I laughed.

“
All right, I know when I’m not wanted.” Mrs. Cells turned to me again. “I’ve got my eyes on you, young man.” She gave Abigail a goodbye kiss on the cheek and reentered the limo.

Abigail and I stood and waved as it drove away.

“
That could have been worse,” I whispered with my eyes on the limo.

Abigail looked shy and awkward as she responded, “Way worse.” We started heading into the school with Tristan close behind us.

The day went well—too well. I spent every moment with Abigail and didn’t get any chance to kill her because Tristan was everywhere.

When school was over, I found myself at the library once more. One moment Abigail had been leaving school and saying goodbye, telling us she was going to the library, and the next moment, I was telling her I wanted to join her because the children loved me. What I didn’t tell her was how much I didn’t like them back.

Felix and Ben had both stared at me when Abigail said I was going to be riding with her to the library. Inside the limo, Abigail kept looking at Ben and then back at me, as if she were waiting for something to happen. I asked her what was wrong, but she said it was nothing.

Tristan followed us invisibly to the library.

The book Abigail wanted to read to the children had been delayed in shipping, and thanks to me and my big mouth, I suggested we make up our own story.

We had come up with a ridiculous tale about a pirate captain, an evil stepmother, a beautiful maiden, and an awesome knight. Now it was up to us to act it out.

I still couldn’t believe the fast, unexpected twist in my plot to kill Abigail. How had I let four days go by without killing her? Was I going soft? Why couldn’t I just get rid of her? Had I even been trying hard enough to get rid of her? Of course I had.

So why the heck was I sitting beside her with my hand in hers, playing with a bunch of useless children?

“
I’ll be the pirate!” Vincent exclaimed when we asked for volunteers.

Once the roles were assigned, we started acting out the scenes of our story. Finally, we reached the ending, and I, playing the awesome knight, rescued the beautiful maiden, Abigail.

“
O wonderful knight, thank you so much for rescuing me.” Abigail curtseyed.

“
My pleasure, beautiful maiden.” I bowed. “Marry me,” I said and stepped closer, taking her hands in mine. “Please, marry me,” I said earnestly, and then Abigail’s heartbeat quickened, and I realized it was because I was standing so close.

“
Where’s the pastor?” I heard someone ask. I stared into Abigail’s beautiful eyes.

What the hell was I doing? Was I sick?

“
I’m here,” someone said. “Dearly beloved—”

“
I object!” Vincent shouted, and both Abigail and I turned to him. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” We all laughed, except for Tristan, who for some reason didn’t seem to understand what I was doing. He stood invisibly behind the children.

“
We are…blah blah…” the young pastor said. “You are married. You may now kiss the bride.”

My eyes met Abigail’s, and for a split second, I wanted my lie to be true. I wanted Abigail to be my girlfriend. I wanted it to be true so I could kiss her. Yeah, now I knew for sure that I was sick!

Abigail’s heart pounded faster when I leaned toward her. What was wrong with me?

“
We don’t...” Whatever Abigail started to say trailed off.

I could feel Abigail’s breath on my lips because of how close we were. It took every bit of willpower I had to not kiss her fully on the lips. When my lips finally touched her, they pressed against the corner of her mouth.

The children cheered, and at the sound of their voices, I pulled away.

My eyes met Tristan’s, and the look on his face was indecipherable. Could he tell something was wrong with me, or was he as surprised as I was?

After that rather awful displacement of my sanity, I said a quick goodbye and left, coming up with a ridiculous excuse that I needed to go home and help my mother move furniture. Abigail offered to drive me, but I said I’d take the bus.