Natural Selection (5 page)

Go Mrs. Soberlo! I eyed the
distinguished woman, clearly having underestimated her. She was
tall with short, grey hair heavily peppered with white. She wore a
nice suit, rather harsh in its cut, but it worked on her tall thin
frame—I bet Jamie Lee Curtis would play her if they ever made a
movie of her life. The detective noticeably cringed, and Officer
Simms hid a grin behind her hand. I looked between him and my
principal, squirming uncomfortably. Mrs. Soberlo sat with her arms
crossed and a stern look on her face saying he had better keep in
line. I understood how she had gotten her reputation with the
students, but I was grateful for it right now.

“
Very well, Miss Hoffman. I
apologize.” He didn’t really sound like he meant it, but I shrugged
and looked at my hands fidgeting in my lap. My principal merely
arched an eyebrow at him. “Yes, mm,” he said, clearing his throat
and tugging on his tie. “Was Miss Carter into
anything—unconventional?”

“
Like drugs? I don’t think
so—”

“
Not drugs, Miss Hoffman,
more like… what are the kids calling it these days? Goth,
maybe?”

“
Like funky hair colors,
tons of eyeliner, and black lipstick?” I scoffed, imagining
Mariah's oxford shirt and khaki pencil skirt she’d been wearing the
last time I saw her. “Um, no. Far from it.”

“
No fascination with the
occult?”

My eyes widened in alarm. What in the
hell was going on here? “No! I think she was in the choir at the
Methodist church.”

The detective’s brow furrowed, and he
glanced at the female officer. She shrugged picked up the folder in
front of him, walking around the table towards me. “I want to show
you a photo taken of the victim’s room. The image is graphic and
might be alarming. If you don’t think you can handle it, we’ll
understand. I know Garret can be kind of awkward, but I assure you
he’s a good detective. He just wants to figure out what happened to
your friend.” She gave the detective a hard glance, and he grimaced
and looked away. “Once you see the pictures you’ll understand...”
She paused, shooting a disapproving frown at the detective.
“…unorthodox behavior.” She glanced at Mrs. Soberlo and waited for
nod, then turned back to me.

After that build up there was no way I
could say no. I owed it to Mariah to give whatever help I could. I
nodded, and she set a black and white 8x10 in front of me. A lump
filled my throat, and I tried not to see the blood. The body wasn’t
in the photo, but I could tell something horribly violent had been
done to my friend. It could have been a still from a horror movie.
At first wasn’t able to see past the blood, but eventually the rest
of the picture registered. Lead settled in my stomach as I realized
why they’d been asking about the occult. A strange symbol had been
painted on the floor.

I recognized the ankh at the top, but
the other symbols I didn’t know. There were remnants of a black
candle in each point. I felt sick to my stomach and light headed.
My hand shook as I shoved my hair out of my face. Officer Simms
gripped my shoulder trying to comfort me, but I had to get out of
that room. Iciness pulsed through me, and I tried to push the
horrible picture away. When my hand got near it, it felt as if I
was attempting to reach into a fire. I had no idea how a simple
photograph was making me ill and weak, but it was. I looked away,
however my eyes kept skittering back. I couldn’t understand what I
was sensing. I tried to glance at other things in the picture, but
my eyes were repeatedly drawn to the black lines. No matter how
much I wanted to look away, that symbol was all I could focus on.
Whatever it was had power. I wondered if someone was harnessing
that power for their own sick purposes.

I licked my lips nervously, unable to
meet the detective eyes. A thick, waxy feeling settled into my
belly, and I struggled not to retch. I placed my hand over my mouth
and tried to breathe deeply. “That’s not the Mariah I knew.” Mrs.
Soberlo placed her hand over mine, and I tried to smile. I wanted
out of that tiny room and away from the terrible picture. Instead,
I fidgeted and pressed my lips tight, fighting the oily surge in my
stomach.

“
I don’t think Miss Hoffman
has any information for you, do you Amelia?” Mrs. Soberlo met my
eyes, her brown ones soft and kind, giving me a little
strength.

“
We were kind of friends,
but we rarely hung out except at school. I wish I could help you,
but I really don’t know anything about this.”

“
Thank you, Miss Hoffman,”
the detective said, eyeing me oddly. I wasn’t certain he entirely
believed me, but I think he was afraid to push me with Mrs. Soberlo
there—which probably made him a smart man.

As I opened the door I turned back to
him. “Should I be worried, Detective? Is there a psychopath out
there stalking teenage girls or did Mariah get caught up in
something awful?”

“
That’s what I’m trying to
figure out, Miss Hoffman.”

I made myself walk out of the room and
the office beyond. As soon as I was in the hallway I started
running and didn’t stop until I was outside in the rain, breathing
deeply with my hands on my knees. Mariah’s death was upsetting, but
I didn’t understand this reaction. I’ve never been prone to
overreaction, but something about that symbol made my insides turn
to mush. It scared me more than the idea of somebody killing
teenage girls. And that made things even worse.

I was saved from dwelling on it too
long by hands grabbing my shoulders. My face was pressed into a
muscular chest and the tears finally spilled—so hot I thought they
would burn me. We stood a long time with the rain slowly soaking us
as strength flowed into me from hands gently rubbing my back. I
knew it was Nathanial. I recognized that mysterious connection I
felt at his touch. Suddenly, the soggy Dashiki shirt he wore was
too much, and I needed his flesh against mine. I reached under the
thin fabric and placed my hands on his bare back, but it wasn’t
enough. I pulled away, fighting the need to tear his clothes
off—not in a sexual but just to feel his skin. I met his eyes and
saw a peculiar expression I couldn’t begin to decipher, something
deep and powerful lingering there. His expression turned grim, and
he reached out toward me, but I backed away, shaking my head. I
didn’t understand what was happening between us, and I was still a
little afraid of him. But more than that I was terrified how far
things could go while I was so emotionally raw. Turning around, I
ran down the street heedless of the rain or the puddles slowly
soaking my skirt.

SOMETHING WAS WRONG with me, and I
didn’t know what it was. I needed my mom in a way I’d never needed
her before, and I was prepared to run the whole way if need be.
When I saw the familiar gold sedan pull up to the curb, I nearly
sobbed in relief. I wasn’t sure if the school had called her after
my hasty departure or if Nate did, and I honestly didn’t care. I
collapsed into the passenger seat and buckled in, hugging my knees
to my chest. I almost wanted my mom to yell at me for having my
feet on the seat. I think I just needed something normal to put the
whole mess into perspective. She stared ahead in silence as we
drove through the lightly populated streets toward home. I began to
shiver, so cold I didn’t think I would ever get warm again. She
reached out, placed a hand on my knee, and turned the heat up. Her
smile was meant to be reassuring as we pulled into the driveway,
but it couldn’t penetrate the haze.

I felt like a little girl again as she
helped me change into dry clothes and gently dried and combed my
hair. She did all the right things in the way only a mom knows how.
Before I knew it I was telling her all of it: the police at school,
the symbol and its strange effect on me, even trying to tear Nate’s
shirt off so I could touch his skin. By the time I ran out of
things to tell her, we were curled up in my bed with my head
pressed to her chest so I could hear her heartbeat, her arms
wrapped tightly around me. After I stopped talking, we lay there
for a time in silence listening to the rain on the roof.

“
There’s a lot you need to
know, Lia. Stuff about you and our whole family. It’s been coming
for a while, but I’ve been trying to put it off as long as
possible. I think it’s time you knew. Let me call your father and
get him home.” With that she stood and walked out of my room,
leaving me alone with the rain on the roof and a growing sense of
dread.

When Dad got home about twenty minutes
later, he came into my room and sat at the foot of my bed the way
he had since I was a little girl. He held my eyes with his own moss
green ones, and I felt safe. Nothing bad could happen to me when
daddy was with me. We sat in silence, his hand on my knee until Mom
came back with a glass of Coke for me. Dad gave me a weak smile as
Mom settled next to him, her grey eyes lingering on me for a long
moment. My heart dropped when I recognized the sadness and regret
churning there.

“
Before I say anything, I
want to make sure you understand all three of you are my children,
and I love you,” Mom reached out and took Dad’s hand. My mind
flashed back to that overheard argument between my parents, and I
had a nagging suspicion where this conversation was going. Mom took
a deep breath and seemed to flounder for how to
continue.

“
I think the blunt approach
might be best, love,” Dad said, his expression unreadable. “We’re
not human, Lia, none of us are.”

I tried to swallow but found my mouth
too dry. I had no idea what to say. I know it might seem naïve, but
it never occurred to me that we were anything other than a
painfully normal family. How could I not know something this huge?
I didn’t have time to linger on it because Mom had a few more
whoppers to drop on me.

“
Before any of you were
born, your father and I had a little boy named Jonathon. He was
killed because of what we are,” Mom said, reaching out to take my
hand. “We come from a long line of Gaia, a type of nature
spirit.”

“
Nature spirits?” I asked,
my brow furrowing in confusion. “What like dryads and
nymphs?”

“
Not exactly,” my mother
said shaking her head, “though they are kin to us. Like apes are to
humans, I guess.” I cocked my head at her in confusion but remained
silent. After a prolonged moment of heavy silence, she continued.
“Every race has a name for nature spirits. The Algonquin referred
to us as the Earth-Mother, the Incans as Pachamama. The easiest way
to think of it is like Mother Nature. It is from the ancient Greek
goddess of the Earth that we take our name. We are
Gaia.”

My eyes widened as my brain tried to
process this information, but it made no sense. How could I go
through my entire life and not know I wasn’t what I thought I was?
I looked at my father, but his face was still hard and
unreadable.

“
Nature spirits aren’t the
only supernatural creatures in this world. There're many powerful
beings on this earth that aren’t human. Over the years, we've used
many different names for ourselves, but currently we call ourselves
Otherworlders. And the Otherworld is locked in a heated conflict
that has spawned so much hatred and tragedy.” She paused, her voice
wavering. “I was terrified that any other children we had would
become a victim of the conflict like Jon. When your father and I
found out we were pregnant, we decided we should find a stronger
Otherworlder to help protect our baby. We decided to look for a
child to raise along with our own who would be strong and able to
protect you until you were old enough to protect yourself. We
contacted an agency that specializes in Otherworld children. The
agent returned with two young candidates, one boy and one girl.” I
could see the nostalgia in her eyes as she remembered that long ago
day. “Since we wanted to give you the best protection possible, we
decided to take them both. Xander, a two-year-old djinn and Sariah,
a one year old succubus.”