Semblance (22 page)

Chapter Twenty-Five

I had fallen way behind in my classes, which I soon discovered after the lecture started. My professor had already made it into the Baroque period of classical music history, which was two hundred pages further in our textbook than I had last read.

I unleashed a loud groan, which could have turned Chewbacca on, turning a few heads over in my direction.

As the professor began droning on about Bach and his fugues, I couldn’t help but glance around the room to see if I could spot the tail that Shadow had put on me. It was rather awkward knowing that someone was watching my every move. What if I had to fix a wedgy, or something equally as embarrassing?

I glanced over Justin, who was watching me from afar. As soon as my gaze met his, he instinctively looked down, as if disgusted by my presence.

I didn’t like the feeling of having things unresolved with Justin. For two lonely years, he was my only friend, and I was still sentimental to that.

Why did he have to go and do something stupid like fall in love with me?

My attention returned to the lecture as I concentrated on taking notes off the board.

There was only two weeks left in the semester and I was determined to see it through to the end. With all the drastic changes in my life over the past couple of weeks, the university was the only connection I had left to the past life that I once knew—the path that I had chosen for myself.

#

I sat alone in the campus cafeteria, staring at my plate of cold fries and chicken burger. After the amazing meals I had while being with Shadow, University food seriously tasted like ass.

As I pushed around a fry into a puddle of ketchup, Justin snuck up from behind and sat down in the seat across from me.

“Justin!” I was so delighted that I almost broke out into tears. “I missed you.”

“Did you really?” he asked, skeptical.

“Of course you bonehead,” I replied. “I hated the way we left things since I last saw you.”

Justin nodded. “I’ve been a dick,” he said, “And I’m sorry. You just have to understand that it’s difficult for me to look at you right now.”

I nodded, suddenly feeling a morose ache clenching at my heart. “I’m sorry as well,” I replied.

“For what?” Justin asked. “For being true to how you feel?”

I had no response for him.

“I’ll always love you Aria, that’s never going to change,” he said. “Buy maybe after some time it won’t hurt so much anymore. You’re the most amazing person I know—that’s why I fell in love with you in the first place—and to have you completely out of my life would be the stupidest thing for me to ever do. But I just need a little time.”

“And then we can be friends again?” I asked.

“I really hope so,” Justin replied. “I just need to stop hurting every time I look at you. But I would like to imagine the possibility that I’ll be able to get over you one day.”

“You can smell my shit, if that’ll help,” I joked. “Whenever I need to get over someone, I just picture them taking a shit on the toilet and that knocks them off their pedestal. I’m offering you one better.”

Justin flashed me an awkward look. “You’re a strange girl.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I know.”

“I appreciate the offer to inhale the fragrance of your poop, but I think this is one wound that can only be healed by time apart.”

“But you’ll promise when you’re ready, you’ll call me right?” I asked, “And then we can hang out together like old times?”

“Whenever I get over you, I’ll call you,” Justin agreed.

I leaned back in my chair and smiled. “I can live with that.”

Justin looked at me with longing eyes, before rising from his seat. He was about to walk away but paused and turned around.

“You want me to smell your shit…really?” he asked incredulously.

“Hey, you should know by now that I always try to think outside the box.”

“Forget the box. You’re thinking outside of a different universe.”

“Call me soon,” I replied.

Justin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Goodbye Aria.”

I watched him walk away from the table, his shoulders slumped and his heart broken while tears streamed down the side of my cheeks and onto my plate.

#

“Take you for a ride honey?” Calisto said as the silver S Class Mercedes convertible pulled up next to me. I had just finished my counterpoint theory lecture.

“Calisto,” I said, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“Shadow wanted to make sure you made it home safely,” Calisto said. “Since you don’t have a car, he’s worried that you might encounter some unruly individuals on public transit; people shadier than the usual pocket jerking pervert.”

“He really is the protective type, isn’t he?” I sighed as I opened the door to the car and entered.

“He sure is,” Calisto said. “You see that guy over there?”

My eyes followed the invisible line that her finger pointed to and zeroed in on a man serving sausages from a Bavarian-themed hotdog stand.

“The hot dog guy?”

“That guy is one of the Midnight Society’s most trusted killers,” Calisto said. “He can turn anything in his hands into a weapon, including those bratwurst sausages he’s cooking up.”

“Shadow is having me followed by the hot dog guy?”

“Well, not only the hot dog guy,” Calisto said as her head tilted over to a couple of mean looking sons-of-bitches hanging out in front of an Asian-inspired bubble tea stand. Their eyes were fixated on the two of us.

“Those guys are Society guys as well?” I asked.

“Well they definitely don’t look like bubble tea enthusiasts, do they?” Calisto laughed.

“Point taken,” I said. “Man, I’m suddenly feeling like I’m on the Truman Show, where every move I make is being watched.”

“It probably is,” Calisto said.

“I hate it.”

“Welcome to the lifestyles of the rich and dangerous,” Calisto said. “Let’s roll out before I’m tempted to grab a delicious looking fraternity boy and do some things to them that I’ll most likely regret the next morning.”

I nodded, as Calisto changed the gears on her standard convertible and we sped off from the University like a high end Thelma and Lousie.

I assumed that Calisto was going to take me back to the Tremaine estate, where Shadow was waiting for me.

On the radio, the rich and earthly tones of Regina Spektor were playing and I leaned back in my seat and decided to enjoy the ride. I still wasn’t used to being chauffeured around all the time, but it was nice that I didn’t have to endure a long subway ride back to the estate.

“My brother loves you, you know,” Calisto said, her eyes fixated on the road. “It’s been years since he opened up his heart to anyone.”

I couldn’t help but smile and felt my cheeks grow hot just thinking about him.

“He means a lot to me as well,” I said. “Honestly, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have met him. I guess it’s kind of funny how fate works.”

“Sweetheart, I’m glad that my brother ended up choosing you over all those power hungry bitches—even if it was meant to be a ‘fuck you’ to the entire organization,” Calisto said. “And I’m glad that he’s taken a liking to you. There’s something about you that’s very sweet; very innocent.”

“Something like a virgin?” I laughed.

“Yeah,” she smiled. “If you haven’t noticed by now, I tend to be a story teller when I’m schmoozing the scotch drinking, ass kissing fuckers. Someday, I’m tempted to tell them that sticking their thumb up their asshole is the key to eternal youth, just to see if they’ll try it. I swear they’re all mindless sheep that follow the trends.”

“You dislike the society as much as Shadow?” I asked.

Calisto shrugged her shoulders, while making a left turn onto ninth avenue.

“There are things I like about it—like my massive wardrobe and the luxury of going anywhere in the world as I please—but there’s a lot to it that I’m sick of as well.”

“Such as?”

“The politics,” Calisto replied without hesitation. “Aside from Shadow, there’s not a single person on that council that I feel like I can turn to whenever I need to talk to someone, get things off my chest.”

“You can always talk to me,” I offered. “I’m good for more than just a party.”

Calisto smiled and nodded.

“I’d like that Aria,” she said. “You know, I thought Shadow was being foolish when he named you to the council, but I’m starting to appreciate having someone on there that won’t stab me in the back whenever there’s a bounty on the table.”

“What about Lincoln?” I asked, deciding to slip in another good word for him. I watched Calisto’s expressions carefully.

“Shadow
does
put a lot of trust in him, but…” her voice trailed off.

“But what?”

“He was once a street rat,” she replied. “And you know what they say about street rats.”

“Not particularly.”

“I won’t go into the clichés, but the bottom line, Lincoln’s roots involve lying, stealing, and cheating.”

“How’s that different from the rest of the Midnight Society? It seems like you guys do it under a veil of secrecy while street rats do their dirty business out in the open.”

“A good point,” Calisto said, “But with Lincoln, I just don’t know. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice guy, he’s been good to me, and he knows how to fuck my brains out, but I feel like he’s hiding something too nasty for my liking.”

“Shadow’s the same way,” I said.

“Yes…he is,” she paused. “You do know about our tragic family history and the reason why Shadow’s gone all dark knight on us, right?”

I nodded.

“I’m surprised you can accept something like that so easily.”

“It’s your past that shapes you, really,” I said, “And a part of falling in love with Shadow is accepting all the skeletons in his closet.”

The car pulled to a stop at a red light, and Calisto turned to me, sadness taking hold of her beautiful visage.

“Shadow hides a lot of the knowledge of my parents’ murder from me,” she said. “And sometimes, I don’t know whether to love him or hate him for it.”

“Why would you hate him for wanting to protect you from that horrible night?”

“Because I’m his sister, and they were my parents too,” Calisto said. “Fuck, sometimes, when I’m sleeping at the estate, I wake up in the middle of the night and visit him in the study. He’s often staring out the window like a zombie, and I know that in his mind, he’s reliving those events. I have no idea what he saw that day, and if he’ll ever share it with me.”

“You’ve never tried to figure it out yourself?” I asked.

“I know the basics,” Calisto said. “I know that my parents were murdered and their bodies were found in the study. As far as the gruesome details and the how and the why, I know nothing. Shadow kept that from me.”

“With your resourcefulness, I’m sure you can dig out all the information pretty easily,” I said.

The light turned green and Calisto put her foot on the pedal.

“Here’s the thing as well,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’m also a giant pussy. Fuck, am I ever a pussy. I’m terrified about what I might discover.”

“Well I don’t blame you. Having your parents murdered is a pretty traumatic event,” I said.

“I see what the details of my parent’s death did to Shadow, and I’m scared it’ll be too overwhelming for me to handle. But on the other hand, I want to be there for my brother, to support him in all of this. He’s all alone on this crusade of his. Maybe if I was there to help him, I can ease his burden; distribute the hardships equally amongst the both of us, you know?”

I nodded.

“But I’m too much of a chicken shit to take that on,” she replied as tears began rolling down the curves of her delicate cheeks. “So I wind up hating myself and I’m angry that Shadow shielded me from the truth.”

“Your brother is being the man he thinks you need,” I replied. “He’s taking on all the suffering just so you can be happy and live your life.”

“I never asked him too.”

“If the tables were turned, would you do the same for him?” I asked.

Calisto nodded. “I’d take a bullet for him.” She wiped her eyes with her finger tips and took a deep breath. “Abraham meant a lot to him; he meant a lot to both of us. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that Lucien pays with his life.”

The Benz turned into a ritzy looking plaza, stopping in front of the Velvet Beanery, a trendy café that sold overpriced coffee with the aftertaste of burnt beans.

“I need a caffeine fix,” Calisto said, grabbing her hand held purse. “I’ll be two seconds. Do you want anything, love?”

I shook my head. I had already three cups today in between lectures and I was afraid that another cup would rupture my tiny bladder. Calisto disappeared into the shop, leaving me alone in the car.