REND

My phone buzzed, announcing the sunrise as it did each day. I glanced towards the ocean. The Black Spire was in the distance, greeting the sun, its imposing shadow treading the blue floor, making its daily journey to the shore. The broken window wall was already fixed as if no human in the process of turning into a monster crashed through it the day before. A 'Don't lean on the glass' sign was the only thing different—an indication something went wrong here that warranted it.

Just how wrong, the students who eat here would never know.

I pressed the cold surface of my stainless-steel water bottle against my forehead hoping it would alleviate my constricting headache.

It didn’t.

The bottle was new, along with my bag, pens, notebook, other things I bought yesterday to replace my stuff that got burned.

I was desperate for anything that would stop my headache. It felt like my head was held in a vice grip, slowly getting tighter. Painkillers weren’t any help, and my stash of various types of tea at home had no effect. The caffeine probably made the headache worse.

I opened the bottle and drank its contents. Watermelon and cucumber smoothie with honey—something I saw on the internet that could supposedly help with migraine. Yes, I was that desperate. The taste wasn’t so bad.

My skin felt gummy from lack of sleep, and I had to put a tad more makeup than usual to bring color to my unusually pale face. With superhuman healing, shouldn’t I also be impervious to headaches?

Apparently not.

My meeting yesterday with Dario and his friends, those weirdo superhero wannabes, kept replaying in my mind. That was one of the reasons I stayed up all night, and even now I was still thinking about it. Other people did it too, right? When something big happened in their lives…just keep on replaying it. The danger...the risk...it was fun. Idiotic. I scolded myself not to be like that. Logic sometimes flew out the window when I found something fun.

The other reason I didn’t get any sleep was I sort of expected to get attacked in the middle of the night. It was possible Myra changed her mind and decided to finish me off. I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, ready to summon my mask and fight. Or flee if need be. I wasn’t actually confident I could take on Myra without surprising her.

She didn't come.

I was more disappointed than a kid who stayed up all night waiting for Santa, only to find out it was his parents all along.

Deen didn't even call me; I thought she would maybe try to comfort me or something.

So...yeah...I had a headache for nothing.

I still couldn't get over how funny everything was. They, Dario’s group, thought my transformed self was their enemy and now they wanted me to join them. Or, they wanted to observe me in case I was connected with their supposed enemy. Stupid shit.

This morning, I watched my surroundings on my way to school if anyone was following me, but I didn't find anything suspicious. Maybe there was no reason for me to worry at all. They should just carry on with their heroic deeds and leave me alone.

I mean leave me alone so I could think of a plan to kill Myra and punish Dario and Everett.

What if, yesterday, I waited for Myra to come out of Deen’s house, followed her home, and then killed her? Could I pull it off? I wasn’t sure. Myra had experience in fighting, and she was regaining her strength, compared to me who didn’t know shit about fighting with powers. Or fighting at all.

Should I practice then? Such a hassle.

This was going to be the most effort I put into implementing Rule #4 ever.

I took another sip of my smoothie. “I just should’ve brought tea,” I muttered. Shuffling my feet, I went to the window, as was my morning routine, to watch the sunrise before going back to studying.

And what about their story of the Adumbrae doing sinister stuff in the city? What if that was true? I felt I needed to care about that, but I just couldn’t muster the will to do so. Just leave it to the government or the Corebrings to sort it out. The world was still in one piece; the track record of Corebrings in keeping the world safe was stellar so far.

My focus should be on keeping my secret safe, not worrying about other shit.

“Ehem-ehem” The sound of someone clearing their throat was amplified by the deathly silence of the cafeteria. I knew this voice. Knocking by the cafeteria door followed. The door was far away from me but because of the silence, the knocks eerily echoed.

Deen smiled at me from the cafeteria entrance. I was so lost in my thoughts I didn’t even notice her opening the door.

A light grey pantsuit hugged her body, highlighting her curves, making me a bit envious for a moment. But I remembered my transformation’s hotness meter was out of this world. Except for the mouth. I wasn’t sure if guys would go for me in my transformed state if they knew I had a monster mouth. I think many guys still would.

“Hello,” Amber Deen said. “It felt wrong walking into the cafeteria without your acknowledgment. This is your sanctuary, after all.” She unslung her Lrys leather bag, sat in front of me, and placed her bag on the chair beside her.

“What am I? The guardian of the cafeteria?”

“I suppose you are.” Deen chuckled. “It's rare to see you deep in thought.”

“Considering the events of yesterday, I think I get a pass to be in deep thought.”

Deen placed her elbow on the table, propping her chin. She stared into my eyes. “You’re very interesting, you know that?”

“Interesting in what way?” I said with veiled suspicion.

“You’re an introvert. You don’t really like social situations, mostly avoiding them. I notice that, you know? Yet, you’re very adept at interacting with people, not socially awkward at all. I know being an introvert doesn’t mean a person is socially awkward, but you just seem to know what to do...what to say…in any situation. Everyone likes you. A very hard feat. I seriously can’t think of anyone who doesn’t like you. Many people don’t like me—”

“Don’t say that—"

“I know when someone doesn’t like me. It comes with the exposure.”

“And the looks.”

“And the looks, yes,” she agreed. She paused for a bit then frowned. “Hey, we’re talking about you. Where was I? You're shy, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. A passive personality? On the other hand, you were audacious enough to pull that stunt in Professor Gallagher’s class. I’m not brave enough to do that.”

“Are you complimenting me? I’m not sure if I'm supposed to be happy with your perception of me.”

“I’m saying there are so many layers to you. You even saved me in the parking area. Others would’ve just ran away. Not you. You picked up a fire extinguisher and attacked that…creep.”

“You’re just saying that so I won't feel bad about it.”

“No! I really want to thank you for that. I mean it. Most people might not give you a second glance—”

“Wow. I’m so sorry I’m not as attractive as you,” I said with an exaggerated tone. I grinned to show her I was kidding. “Go on, Miss Prom Queen.”

“Not to brag, but I was prom queen,” Deen said with a smirk. I wasn’t surprised by that fact. “I was saying while you’re not in the spotlight, you’re a way more interesting person than me.”

If only she knew how right she was, but she might be surprised why I was 'not like other girls'. I still had no idea where this was going. I sloshed around my watermelon cucumber concoction. Keeping silent encourages the other person to continue talking and elaborate, especially if they were hesitating with saying something.

After several seconds of silence, Amber Deen continued, “My future is already determined. When kids are asked what do you want to be when they grow up, they say they ‘want to be successful’ without even fully knowing what that means. I’m the answer to that question. It might be too haughty for me to say this, but I cannot fail. I don’t mean something bad will happen when I fail, or I’m forced not to fail. I cannot fail, because I really can’t. I will succeed in life.

“I have the brains and beauty, the social skills, the charisma, the connections. I plan to eventually run for the law student government and become student council president. After I graduate, my family has the money and connections to put me in high places, even over others who may be more qualified than me.”

“Why are you telling me this?" I said. "Did you have like a life-flashing-before-my-eyes moment yesterday and it put your life in perspective?’

“Let me finish,” Deen snapped. I raised a brow. “Sorry,” she hastily said, embarrassed. “I was saying I have a straight path going up. I have a ladder. Effort and hard work are needed, but if I just prop the ladder to the top, I can just climb and reach it someday with certainty.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“I already know my future. The proverbial top of the world. It would’ve been great if knowing my future was because of the power of clairvoyance. But it’s not. My life is too predictable. Sad, really. That came to me yesterday.”

“Wait,” I said, drawing out saying the word as I processed what Deen was getting at. “No way,” I whispered as everything clicked inside my head. Was this the reason why Deen was strangely composed when I met her and the weirdo gang yesterday? “You didn’t…”

Deen didn’t answer me. She rummaged around her bag and took out a cutter, a small one like what I used when I was a kid doing school projects. “I can’t do this to myself, but can you do it for me? Just a small cut will do.”

“No way,” I repeated, truly disbelieving what was happening. I was so surprised it drove my headache away. I accepted the cutter. "Really? No way."

Deen presented her finger. "Just a small cut."

“Oh my god, you accepted the artificial Core?” I said, lowering my voice towards the end.

“Go on,” she said. “I wanted to check but I was too chicken to cut myself. Please, Erind.”

“Okay then.” I placed the edge of the cutter on her finger and then gently pulled it down. It didn’t cut.

“You have to press harder. It’s hard to injure me now.”

“Fine, but don’t cry if it really hurts,” I said. She assured me she wouldn’t. I pressed the blade down on her skin, gradually adding more strength until I sensed the slight snap of skin breaking. Then I dragged the cutter across her skin. A line of red appeared, oozing a minuscule amount of blood. It promptly sewed itself back together again, good as new.

Deen wiped her finger. No more blood came out. “I guess it worked,” she said.

“Are you insane?” I hissed. “I can’t believe what you’ve done.” I wasn’t expecting Deen to join them. She was law-abiding and a rule stickler, that was my read on her. She was the furthest person I would've guessed to even try something as illegal, and as permanent, as this. It hurt my pride I misjudged someone.

“Erind, you don’t understand. I felt this was the right thing to do. I chose to go here, at Cresthorne, to pursue a career in the field of Adumbrae defense. Do my part. Help out in the fight against Adumbrae. Make myself count. That was then.

“Now, I have an actual way to fight the Adumbrae. Even if we graduate here and get a job in the BID, we won’t be really fighting Adumbrae. Maybe I’ll just be managing an office. Or my parents will force me to take over our business because my older sister isn’t too keen on it. But this way…I count. I count in the fight against the Adumbrae. I can do something with my own hands, with my own power.”

“Where is it?” I whispered, referring to the artificial Core. I didn’t expect this insanity from Deen. “You have it right?”

Deen looked around the cafeteria, confirming its boring emptiness. She began to unbutton her high collared shirt, revealing a sports bra. “Myra taught me this trick,” she said, noticing my puzzled look. She pulled down the middle of her sports bra to reveal her ample cleavage…and the artificial Core. It rooted over her sternum, a small fingernail-sized growth on her otherwise flawless skin. “They told me it won’t grow past this size. I had to place it here they said. Something with its connections with the flow of energy in our body. I didn’t really understand Dario’s explanation. The sports bra is added protection for hiding it in case I’m in a situation I had to change clothes with someone around. But I think it'd be better if I could conceal it more with makeup or a fake skin patch.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” I said, more to myself. This threw out my theory that Dario’s group wanted to get close to Deen and me to get information that could lead to their enemy. No way they'd give out artificial Cores like free food samples at the mall even if they wanted to gain our trust. They truly wanted us to join them in their secret fight.

“It makes perfect sense,” replied Deen, misunderstanding me. “With this, we can help save the world! We can do our very best in law school, be the very best at our job in the future, get promoted to the highest positions, but that will never, ever, ever, ever come close to having actual powers. Powers that can make a difference.”

I gritted my teeth in frustration. I was frustrated with myself. I was way far off with my assessment of Deen. Marks against me. Grrrrr…I always get so irritated if I was wrong with something I was so sure about. I had to update my assessment of her. I knew what was going to follow. “What powers did it give you?”

“I don’t kno—”

BZzzz. We both jumped as my phone vibrated.

“I’ll be late for class, Deen,” I said, checking my phone. We had different classes today. I looked her into the eye and said, “I know you’re trying to convince me to join you. And the answer is no.” I stood up and walked out of the cafeteria before she could button back her clothes and follow me.

I should prepare myself to get pestered by Deen in the coming days.