Page 44 of Shattered Heir
Of all the days to have to endure school alone, I would not have chosen my birthday. What was it anyways about birthdays that made everyone all crazy? I mean it was just another day.
Do I really need to celebrate it? Remember it?
I paused that train of thought, during my second period. Not only was Ash absent from school on the day I needed her sassiness to distract me the most, but I would also have to endure Shad alone. I didn't understand what I had done to the Ancients that made them hate me so much, but I was positive, more than ever before, that they really did despise me. I stood and watched as my fellow classmates shuffled to and from classes, doing exactly what I should have been doing, but like the frightened, tiny person that I was, I was still waiting and afraid. I hadn't seen Cade yet. I counted that as a freak occurrence because withmytrack record for luck, it was likely that by the end of the day when I did see him, it would be painful and make up for the false sense of security I was feeling at that moment. I moved to the side of the hallway, just enough so that I could seemy math class door, yet my classmates couldn't see me, and I watched like a crazy stalker as all the kids in my class walked in. I didn't notice until my hand was pulled from my mouth that I had been biting my fingernails. I had never done that before, well in my limited recollection, I had never, which wasn't really reliable if I actually thought about it. Warmth spread up my hand.
“Biting your nails is a bad habit, sweetheart.”
I pulled my hand away from the warm touch of Cade and moved as far away as possible. Of course, he showed up right when I was most vulnerable. I was excited to see Shad—yet, after contact with Cade, I wanted to run away with everything inside of me.
“Don'tevertouch me,” I said, making sure my melody was locked up inside myself.
“That is not what you were saying when—”
“Look, Cade, I am only going to say this once, so I would try hard to pay attention.” I looked up at his almost golden eyes and gulped. His melody was out, unshielded, and I could hear it beckoning to mine, begging it to come out, to be together. My melody started to unfurl from where I kept it shielded, but I decided to focus on the monster inside of me instead, which forced my melody back into the depths of myself. The beast had her claws out, and I let her have her moment, allowing the power to pulse through me. “I thought you were Shad, your brother. Ihateyou.” I nearly spat in his face, my breaths coming in ragged as the rage and hate consumed me. I wanted to claw his face to shreds, but I snapped back to the present when a couple of football players threw a football over our heads and cheered as Cade caught it. I watched as he twisted it in his hands, ignoring the players who asked him to throw it back.
“It is cute when you let that beast out. There, sweetness, you want to hate me, but you don't.”
I let my mouth drop open, and I shoved him as hard as I could. The monster was raging, and I sunk my fingernails into the exposed skin of his arms, creating small half moon shapes on his skin. He tossed the ball across the hall and looked down at me, and as he lifted his head, I tamed the beast, the small droplets of blood from his wounds snapped me out of the powerful daze.
“Oh, I didn't mean—” I started, but Cade just bent down and licked his wounds, and I mean, yes, with his actual tongue, like he was a wolf or something.
Ew.
“Anytime you wanna hurt me, sweetheart, I am all yours—but a small reminder: if you let that monster that is inside of you out too much, you'll never be able to get her to stay caged.” He tilted my chin up to look at him. “And it would be a shame to never hear that beautiful melody play along with mine again.” With that, he smirked and turned, walking away.
I stared at his moving body, and I wondered, how on Earth does he know about the monster? Had he been able to peek through the cracks in my shielding? I had only been practicing for a little while, so I was sure to mess up often, right? But there was something about the way he said it, as if he had experienced the same thing for himself—as if he had once had a beast inside of himself, too, as if he had let it out too often, and as a result, it never went away.
I reached the door of my math classroom as the late bell rang. The teacher was talking to a few students, so I easily slipped inside and sat in my seat unnoticed. I made the mistake of looking over the table. Karen was looking like her usual annoying, stuck-up-girl self, and Shad looked as attractive asever. I gulped as I watched him for a few minutes as the teacher explained the class assignment. When she dismissed us to do our own work, I didn't look away in time, and Shad’s gaze was locked onto mine. I tried to smile and wanted more than anything for his smirk or smile to light up his face, but he only stared back at me, stared at me with a gaze that shouted that he had never seen me before. I tore my gaze away and started working on the math sheet that the teacher had given to us. I was grateful that the problems were individual, and not group assignments, but I couldn't help but notice the way Karen found little ways to talk to Shad. She asked for a pencil, a sharpener, and I smiled when Shad mentioned that there was one by the door. Karen frowned, but got up and walked over to the far end of the classroom to sharpen her pencil.
“Happy birthday, Emma,” Shad whispered, and I turned to face him. He placed a small pink single rose on the table.
“This is for me?” I asked, breathless.
“Yes, it reminded me of you. I guess, I ordered it a while back—I am not sure why.” He rubbed his head.
“I work at a flower shop,” I said, looking into his black eyes.And you bought a flower when we met for the second time, and you left me a note, telling me that I fascinated you, that you loved me at first sight. I want to say these words,but I stopped myself. I wanted to know what a pink flower meant. Obviously, Shad had given me a pink rose for a reason. He was specific in his rose-giving.
Good call. I wouldn't say that to my brother. Honestly, your affection is wasted on him, sweet; he is a lost cause—but I am not. Oh, and Happy Birthday.
Go away!I quickly shielded my melody as his laughter rumbled inside of me, making me feel sick.
“Ah, then you don't need it,” Shad said, and I watched in painful disappointment as he pulled his hand from under thetable as if to take it back, but I took the flower before he could reach it.
“I do need it,” I said, sliding it into my backpack.
“You do?” he asked, looking confused.
“If it is from you, Shad, even soulless Shad, I need it. Thank you.”
He nodded, but frowned.
“Are you okay?” I asked, reaching for his hand. He moved his hand away.
“Yes, I, soulless Shad, am just fine, Emma.” His gaze was on the math assignment, and I wondered what I had said, what had just happened to make such an important moment turn sour. Karen came and sat back down, and that ended our conversation. I couldn't do any more work as I peeked every once in a while at the pink rose in my backpack and also at the boy sitting in front of me, who had given me a gift, the perfect gift for my birthday. I didn't think I could rub the smile from my face even if Cade were in the room.
“So, how was your birthday?” Ryker asked, sitting across from me at the kitchen table. Mary and Ryker had just finished singing the happy birthday song to me, and we were all sitting around the table, eating a very festive chocolate cake with a bunch of frosting made to look like flowers.
“It’s been good, actually,” I said, taking another bite of the cake and letting the sweet sugar elicit a smile. I clung to the memory of Shad in my math class, and remembered the rose.
