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THEN DO THAT OVER: SHE TALKS TO RAINBOWS Part 4 by BKWillis **** 'I'm a monstrosity. I'm a human oddity. Everybody's staring at me. I'm an outcast from society. Freak of nature Freak of nature.' --The Ramones **** Never before in Nyssaias's life had the mere act of opening a door caused such a panic. She was about to politely ask if this was the correct room for the school newspaper, but was instead stunned momentarily speechless by the sight before her. There were three students in the room. One, a pixy-faced girl with a great shock of scarlet curls, was lunged halfway across her computer desk, blocking the monitor screen with her body as she made frenzied but ill-aimed jabs at the off switch. Another girl, a brunette with a very grown-up beauty about her, was stuffing a notebook under her skirt while trying to put on an expression of beatific innocence and failing at it. The third student, who she recognized from her Geometry class as a boy named Harry Sullivan, had ripped a handful of papers from the computer printer and was cramming them into his mouth. "Er, is this a bad time?" Nyssaias asked. The two girls instantly relaxed and settled back with obvious relief, but Harry kept chewing at the paper until the notebook-girl punched him on the arm. "Spit it out, Harry!" she snapped. "It's not Mr. Maxil." "Mrrphmrph?" he replied, then swallowed. "Ah. Sorry, old girl, but I missed lunch today." The redhead quirked an uneasy smile in Nyssaias's direction. "Can we help you? There's nothing going on here, you know. Nothing at all. In fact, I can't even remember why I came in here. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." "I was told to come here and ask for Sarah--" Nyssaias began, but the dark-haired girl cut her off, eyes ablaze. "Who sent you? Was it a man with a lisp? Did he say anything about the bananas? What do you know of the Five Eyes? Does the word 'fnord' mean anything to you? I protect my sources, so don't worry. I'll refer to you as 'Deep Trachea' and no one will ever know." Nyssaias could only blink at her as she tried to sort some kind of coherence out of that. "Mr. Borusa sent me," she finally said. "And he doesn't have a lisp. I don't know about the rest of it." "Oh, you must be the help he told me he'd send!" The wild journalistic fervor faded from the girl's eyes, which were nonetheless keen and sharp as tacks. "Thanks for dropping in. I'm Sarah Jane Smith, editor-at-large for the _Wells Register_. The big dope with paper-breath is Harry Sullivan, our sports reporter, and that's our resident tech-head Melanie Bush there at the Production Desk." "Hi," said Melanie. "Nice wings." "Welcome, welcome." That was Harry. "You're that new transfer student, right? Always glad to have another pretty face around." Sarah swatted him with her notebook again. "Don't mind Harry. He's incorrigible, but we love him anyway. So, you're Nyssaias, then? I suppose this school must be a big change from the City of Dreams, eh?" The winged girl frowned a little at that. She hadn't exactly broadcast her hometown to all and sundry. Indeed, no one had even asked, since strange origins seemed to be the rule rather than the exception here and was thus a matter of little note. Her eyes flicked to the computer screen, taking in the file headers. Ah. School administrative records. No wonder they were so jumpy earlier, and no wonder they knew who she was. Well, that wasn't really any of her business, so... "It's different," she replied, "but I like it. There's always so much going on, and so many fascinating people." Sarah Jane stuck up a finger in an 'Aha!' pose. "And that's exactly why we need another reporter." She clapped a hand to Nyssaias's shoulder and gently steered her away from the computer monitor, toward a small desk with a stack of memos on it. "What I really need is someone to cover all the after-school club activities. Once we get a handle on that, I can give you some juicier assignments. Are you up for it?" "Sure. Whatever I can do to help." "Then welcome aboard." The editor solemnly hefted her notebook and tapped her lightly on each shoulder with it. "By the powers vested in me, I dub you an official _Wells Register_ reporter, with all the rights and privileges of that office, which is to say, none. Slap, jack, no tag-back. Now have a seat, and I'll explain how we do things here." The two started going through the pile of memos on the desk, which turned out to be bulletins from the various clubs announcing upcoming events or giving the results of various contests. All these would have to be compiled and fleshed-out into the Activities Column, while some of the more interesting ones would have to be followed-up on for details. For instance, the French Club was no longer meeting, its duties and membership having been taken over by the German Club. The Science, Anime, and Military Clubs had all agreed to co-sponsor this year's Fashion Club show, which would be themed 'Cyborg Battle-Bikinis of the Future' and was expected to have a much higher draw than the previous year's event, which had been co-sponsored by the school's Amish Club. And the Procrastinators' Club organizational meeting was being postponed yet again. Sarah Jane went through them all, explaining their policy and procedures regarding Activity reporting, while Melanie went back to industriously scrolling through computer files and printing them out and Harry wandered off to check with the football coaches. All the while, Sarah seemed to grow more distracted, casting odd glances Nyssaias's way or stopping to stare blankly into space at odd times. Finally, she just shoved the memos aside and looked straight into Nyssaias's eyes with a shade of that same burning inquisitiveness she'd shown earlier. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, "but if I don't ask you this, I'm going to go mad, and if you feel it's none of my business, just tell me. Are you friends with Embericles?" Taken somewhat aback by the apparent non-sequitur, Nyssaias could only shake her head. "No," she said a moment later. "I'm afraid I'm not. I've tried talking to her before, but she's not easy to draw out." "Ah. Understatement's your bag, is it?" Nyssaias, who hadn't meant that sarcastically at all, merely blinked. Sarah Jane blew out a long sigh, looking a bit subdued now. "Well, never mind, then. I was just hoping you could clear something up for me. Not that it matters, since Mr. Maxil spiked the story..." "What story is this?" "Why, the infamous Third-Floor Bathroom Incident, of course." Nyssaias could almost hear the capitals in her voice. "Biggest story of the year, and all Maxil lets me run is a few 'Get Well' messages for the victims... If you want to call them 'victims'. But even if I can't run it, I'd still like to _know_... Just because." "You're talking about the incident they arrested Embericles over? All I know about it is what I've heard, that she threw two students out the window and beat up some others." A little interrogative tone at the end invited the editor to take the bait and tell what she knew. "Ha! That's just--" She stopped abruptly and looked around, then went on in a lower voice. "That's what Mr. Maxil says happened, but that doesn't explain everything." There was an intensity about her now, as the story she hadn't been allowed to print began spilling out. "The story starts toward the end of the last school year, with an Upperclassman named Kari. Kari was dating a guy named Olvir, but things were pretty rocky between them. Sometimes they'd be all hugged-up on each other, other times they'd be at each other's throats. Then one day, when things were _really_ bad between them, they got in a huge argument in front of the school. Kari was the jealous type and was screaming all kinds of accusations at Olvir, when Embericles happened to walk by. "Things were a little different with Embericles back then. She was quiet and cold like she is now and had a bit of a reputation for meanness, but she at least participated in class and people could stand to be around her. She was just a little unnerving back then, not like now." Nyssaias, not wanting to interrupt, filed that remark away in her memory as something to ask about later. Everyone kept talking about some sort of 'evil aura' around the redhead, but Nyssaias just didn't feel anything of the sort. Sure, the girl wasn't very friendly, and maybe a little intimidating, but nothing that would make her want to avoid her. Sarah Jane went on: "I'm pretty sure it was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, because I can't imagine that what Olvir said next was anything like true. Kari's standing there yelling that she knows he's cheating in her, and Olvir pops back with, 'Yeah, that's right. In fact, I'm going out with _her_ this Saturday!' And he points at Embericles. "Apparently, he didn't think any more about what he'd said, but Kari did. If she'd had a cooler head, she'd have realized that Olvir was just being sarcastic. But she was angry and in love and all she could see was that this other girl was pretty and exotic and she let her jealousy get the best of her. After a couple of days' brooding about it, she gets her best friend Sara Kingdom to help her and they plot to do something about it. "I know this much from talking to some of her friends, but what happened next is the real mystery. Apparently, Kari and Sara cornered Embericles in the girls' restroom on the third floor. I don't know what they planned on doing to her, but the paramedics found a razor blade in Kari's pocket afterwards. Anyway, they followed Embericles into the restroom, then the screaming started. A few seconds later, we all heard the window breaking as Kari and Sara went through it. They landed on the sidewalk and it's a miracle they weren't killed outright. "Meanwhile, Olvir comes running out of class yelling, 'That's Kari!' He goes charging into the bathroom with some of his mates from the rugby team, and a moment later _they_ start yelling their heads off. One of them comes flying back out the door, unconscious, and the rest all go quiet. "It just happened that there was a policeman, Constable Mist, visiting the school that day. He went in a minute or so after the boys did. When he came out, he had Embericles at the end of his truncheon, but he was pale as a ghost and shaking, although he couldn't or wouldn't say why. "Kari and Sara both had multiple broken bones from the fall and some pretty serious cuts from the breaking glass. They were both in shallow comas for several days, too. Olvir and the boys had some bumps and bruises, and were also out of it for a day or so. They arrested Embericles and charged her with eight counts of assault and battery. Juvenile Court sent her to the Reformatory, and that was that, the violent end to a sordid tale of bullies and bad girls." Sarah paused, smiling coldly to show that that was not really that, after all. "Now, for the parts of the story that don't quite fit the official version. First of all, Embericles isn't even five feet tall and weighs less than 90 pounds. How capable does she seem of manhandling two larger, older girls, much less six strong boys?" "She doesn't, on the face of it," Nyssaias said carefully. "But she's also non-human, so..." "Exactly. But my research didn't turn up any evidence that she's ever displayed superhuman strength before, not in all the years she's been in this school system. But, maybe it only crops up when she's under stress, like the Hulk?" "That seems plausible..." "It seems that way, but here's the thing. If you pick somebody up and throw them around, especially if they're figting you at the time, you're going to leave a mark on them. Bruises and the like. Yet, the only injuries Kari and Sara had were from the window and the fall. Their doctors told me that there was no sign they'd been in a fight beforehand. And the boys, they were all unconscious, even though most of them only had bruises on their arms and hands. I was told that most of their injuries looked self-inflicted, as though they'd been running into walls." Nyssaias felt her blood beginning to run cold. "Psychokinesis?" "Uh-uh. There's enough of that about here, I was able to ask people who've had experience with it, and they all say the same thing. Basically, it doesn't matter if you hit someone with your mind or your fist, it's still a physical force that leaves a mark on human flesh. Plus, none of the school's resident psychic types registered anything like that going on. It wasn't P-K. "Now, here's the even weirder part. None of the eight injured parties can remember what happened. In every case, the last clear recollection they have is of seeing Embericles and reaching for her, then a big blank. Or maybe not _entirely_ blank. Olvir's parents tried hypnotherapy on him to recover the memory, but every time they got to that point he would get so hysterical, even while in the trance, that nothing could be done with him. Eventually, everybody just gave up and accepted that Embericles had somehow beaten them all up so badly that it gave them mental impairments. "The only person who knows for sure what happened in there is Embericles. And she isn't talking. Even at her trial, she didn't offer any sort of defense." "Have you asked her?" Sarah Jane spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness. "I would if I could, but I can't even get near her. Every time she's around, it's like I'm about to face a firing squad." That didn't seem at all right coming from this tough-minded, nervy reporter. Unless Nyssaias was reading her entirely wrong, Sarah Jane Smith did not seem like the type who'd let anyone push her around or keep her from the truth. And though it was a bit tactless, she decided to say as much. "You're _that_ afraid of her? That doesn't seem like you." Sarah wasn't offended. She just snorted and shook her head. "If it were just me, I'd be embarrassed to admit it. But it's everybody. When Embericles is around, people's spines turn to jelly. I had to sit next to her in the library the other day, and I couldn't even read, I was so scared. Every little noise panicked me and I spent the whole hour wishing I could run away and hide. And like I said, she wasn't that way before. I had a class with her three years ago, and while she was no ray of sunshine, she didn't _scare_ me. But now she does. Nobody can even get close to her." She looked Nyssaias in the eye again. "Except you, it seems. You don't feel it? You aren't afraid of her at all?" Nyssaias thought for a bit before she answered that. "No," she muttered at last. "Not like you mean. She does unsettle me. And... she might be dangerous. But I'm more afraid _for_ her than _of_ her, if that makes any sense. Being so alone can't be good for anyone. It _can't_." "I've been in school with her for six years," Sarah said gently. "As far as I know, she's always been alone. I assume she likes it that way." "It's not right." Nyssaias's voice was firm. "Everybody needs a friend." And besides, she didn't add, something was drawing her to the girl, some strange attraction that she had to get to the bottom of. "Well, I'll tell you what, Nyssaias. If you can get close enough to her to solve the mysteries about her, we'll have the story of the year. And even if the Administration won't let us run it, _we'll_ know, and that's the important thing." ---- The next morning... Cain grinned unpleasantly to himself as he snapped his cell phone shut and slipped it into his pocket. Timing was everything here if this was to look natural, as it had to for certain people's benefit. Babydoll had given the girl's ETA at three minutes, give or take, so the moment to start strolling across the schoolyard would be just about... Movement caught his eye in a window across the way as someone pulled the blinds apart to peer out of a classroom. Even at a distance, he could make out the blood-red polish on the long, elegant nails that he knew so well. Kali's Klaws, he called them in private. ...now He ambled across the yard with the sly purposelessness of a burglary lookout, trying not to grin at the feel of the hateful eyes on his back. There she came, through the gate, in all her devil-winged glory. Embericles, despite her small size, had a purposeful, ground-eating stride and he picked up his own pace just a bit to make sure that they met in just the right spot, so they'd be in plain view. She regarded him with a disinterest that he was not used to, especially from a girl. He eyed her right back with frank approval, letting his eye roam her budding curves and striking crimson tresses. "I always was a sucker for redheads," he sighed mentally, "and they've always turned out to be psychos." As she drew closer, a disturbing feeling began to creep over him, as though the shadow of something huge and incalculably deadly had fallen across him. His hearts began to beat faster and harder as his muscles tried to tense for a spring, his fight-or-flight reflex becoming more insistent with each passing second. But he'd been expecting something like this, after Babydoll's report, and as a Gallifreyan he had superior control over his body's physical responses. With an effort of will, he suppressed his instincts and walled himself off from the vague, gibbering fears that began oozing up in the back of his mind as the girl drew closer. Outwardly, he kept his demeanor as calm, cool, and nonchalant as always -- there were people watching, after all -- but inside he was fighting hard against his own body's hardwired responses. She stopped directly in front of him. "You're in my way." "I know," he said around a grin that looked only a little sick. "I needed to meet you. I need to give you something." "All I need is for you to get out of my way," she answered quietly. "Not so. One of my people inconvenienced you the other day. I need to make that up to you." He slipped a largish bundle of cash out of his pocket and peeled off several notes, then held them out to her. "That's fifty pounds. Consider that payment for taking up your time." She stared hard at the money without touching it, then up at Cain's face. "I won't work for you," she muttered. He fought the urge to squirm and fidget under her blank-eyed gaze. "I know. This is just goodwill money, no strings attached. If you won't work for me, I'd like to at least make sure that we're not enemies." Take it take it take it hurry up take it, he thought. This scene didn't need to play out too long if it was to look right. "Take it as a token of my desire to not displease such a pretty and powerful girl." He winced at his own inability to come up with a better line under pressure. The redhead's lips quirked in the tiniest suggestion of a sneer as she reached out and plucked the money from his hand, taking care not to touch him. "All right. And now you'll get out of my way and leave me alone." It was not a question. Sudden glee warred with the animal fear building in Cain's mind. He carefully maintained his outward appearance of coolness, giving no sign of the satisfaction he felt at the moment. "I certainly will, babe," he said, turning his head slightly and pointing vaguely at the building Kali was watching from. "Sorry to have disturbed you." He flashed two fingers at her, then drew one across his throat. Her face registered no curiosity abut his antics as he bowed grandly and stepped aside to let her pass into the school. "It's a pleasure doing business with you!" he called to her back, the fear that had been trying to grip his mind loosening as she strode off. He glanced at Kali's window and saw the blinds closed and the Klaws gone. Perfect. Now he did let that big, nasty, evil grin come back. Psychological warfare was sometimes the most satisfying kind of fun. ---- "Blast his crukking hearts! He _has_ hired that winged skank!" "Keep it down, Kali," Rhanda urged. "The teacher's right outside in the hallway." Kali sat with her back against the windowsill, fuming, drumming those long red nails on the wall with a noise like dancing scorpions. "You saw it!" she raged, oblivious to her companion's warnings. "That dillwad is going to send her after us. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. Shut us down before we can even get things properly under way here." "So, what do we do?" Kali smacked a fist into her hand. "Pre-emptive strike. We take care of her before she can do anything to us. I'd been thinking of doing that anyway, whether she hooked up with Cain or not. You've seen how much collections have been down the past week. Our squeezing money from these rich brats is based on us being the baddest thing going. If we're going to make this work, _we_ have to be what they're most afraid of. There can't be any doubt that we've got the monopoly on force in this rathole. The winged freak, Cain, and anybody else who stands too tall has to be pounded down. And I think starting with that psycho-skank would set a fine example for the rest of these snotty twits..." ---- As it happened. other eyes than Kali's had watched the exchange in the schoolyard. "I _knew_ it!" snarled Assistant Headmaster Maxil as he glared out his office window. So, the old troublemaker had joined with the new. He should have been expecting that, but the last few days without incidents had lulled him into a false sense of ease about Embericles's presence. He briefly considered calling one or both of them in for a confrontation right then and there, but had to reluctantly decide against it. Giving someone money was not a violation of any school rule, no matter how suspect the reasons for it. Without proof of wrongdoing, he'd just be wasting his breath. And tipping his hand, he concluded. No, the last thing he wanted was to give them too much warning that he was onto them. Delinquents were like cockroaches infesting the school; if you flushed them from cover before you were ready to stomp them, they'd just take up residence somewhere else and you'd have to keep hunting. Better to wait until all the roaches were in one spot, and the boot was ready to fall. "I'll clean out all you delinquents in one blow," he hissed. "We'll have order at this school again. And you, Embericles, I'll see you in jail where you belong. Never doubt it." ---- "...it had three holes, and I really wanted one," Xeffy was saying as the lunchtime Usual Suspects took their trays and made for their usual table. Friday was Pizza Day in the cafeteria, often the only day of the week when the students actually got something that could be positively identified as food on the first guess. "I'll have to go check that out," Ayna relpied. "I've never seen one like that." She set her tray down across from Xeffy's, then looked up in puzzlement as Nyssaias just stood there, staring at the back of the room and chewing lightly at her lip. "Something wrong, Nyss?" The angel-winged girl shook her head and smiled at her. "Sorry, Ayna. I don't mean to be rude, but I think I'm going to eat at a different table today. You two can join me, if you like." The sisters glanced back to where Nyssaias was looking and instantly chorussed, "No thanks." Xeffy's face was uncharacteristically serious. "Nyss, I'm not trying to sound petty, but I don't think that's such a good idea. People avoid her for a _reason_." "Dad always says no good comes from bad company," Ayna added darkly. "Thanks, but I feel like I need to do this. I can't explain it beyond that." So saying, Nyssaias took her tray and marched off to the last table, which, as always, was empty save for one person. She stopped right across from her. "Hi!" she said brightly, trying to will all of her considerable store of cheery niceness into the word. "Do you mind if I sit here?" Embericles glanced up at her, but said nothing, simply continuing to mechanically tear and chew her pizza. Nyssaias steeled herself inwardly. She knew this wasn't going to be easy, but it needed doing. She took the seat opposite from the redhead, offering the girl a big, sunny, friend-to-the-world smile when she glanced up ather again. "You look like you could use some company..." The girl just went on eating. Okay, so subtle conversational cues weren't going to work. Well, no problem. She'd just do the talking herself, and maybe she'd eventually hit a subject that would elicit a response. Try the obvious first... "I read your story yesterday, 'Ironclad'. I have to say, you're an excellent writer. I almost cried when I read it. Very effective. I _did_ get the sniffles later, when I got to thinking about it again. It was a powerful vision, if dark. A bit too dark for my tastes, maybe, but tastes do differ." Silence. "You don't like to talk much, do you? That's okay, I guess. Sometimes, people let other things do their talking for them. Like, I'll bet you don't talk because you'd rather let your writing express your thoughts. Still, a little face-to-face talk is good for the soul, I think. It keeps us from falling too far into ourselves." More silence. "Anyway, I just thought that you might like someone to talk to for a change. You're always so alone and so distant from everyone, and that has to be hard on a person, even a person as strong and self-possessed as you. Everyone here seems so afraid of you, they try to pretend you don't even exist, and that just isn't right. When I first saw you, I felt that there had to be something special about you, and then when I read your story, I realized just how deep and beautiful your soul must be." Now Embericles did look up at her, a steady, focused look unlike the bored, disinterested glances with which she usually viewed the world. Nyssaias felt her heart jump a little at the unexpected attentiveness. Maybe she was beginning to get through to her after all. "If you want to get your Good Deeds badge," Embericles drawled, "go feed a wino. I'm not your Community Service project." Or maybe not. Still, Nyssaias wasn't about to be put off now, when she at least had the girl noticing her. "I'm not over here because I pity you," she answered right back. "I'm here because I admire you." The bat-winged girl had gone back to methodically chewing her pizza in silence. "This is a free country, you know," Nyssaias went on. "I can sit where I like, and I'm choosing to come over here and sit with you. But if you'd rather I just leave you here, all you have to do is tell me to shove off." She waited, but Embericles said nothing. "Silence implies assent. So, I'm assuming that you want me to stay here, or at least that you _don't_ want me to _not_ stay here. And, that being the case, you can either listen to me chatter or do some chattering yourself. I-- Oops!" In the course of reaching for her fork, she managed to knock it off the tray and onto the none-too- clean floor. "Oh, bother. Now I'll have to go get another one." Before she could get up, Embericles, without raising her eyes from her food, reached out and slid her own unused fork across the table. It was a small act, insignificant on any reasonable scale of reference, merely a small hand pushing a cheap steel utensil across a table. It was just about the closest thing to 'nothing', on a cosmic scale, that could be imagined. But that simple act left Nyssaias momentarily speechless. "Why... why, thank you," she managed at last. "That's very nice of you." She couldn't help wondering if anyone had ever said those words to Embericles before. If the redhead felt the same sense of shifting paradigms that Nyssaias did from that tiny action, she gave no sign of it. That was okay, though, as Nyssaias was exactly the sort of person who could happily seize the moment for the both of them. "See," she burbled, "I knew you were a good person inside. You couldn't write so wonderfully if there wasn't a big heart inside you. And here my parents were worried about me finding friends when I left the City of Dreams!" She knew as soon as she uttered those words that she'd somehow done something very wrong. Embericles's black wings flapped once, a short, savage buffeting of air, and her spine stiffened. She jerked her head up, fixing Nyssaias with an awful, nerve- freezing glare as she pushed herself to her feet. Around them, the lunchroom went deathly quiet. Embericles's lips curled in a doglike snarl. "You talk too damn much," she growl-spat, then turned on her heel and stormed off, leaving Nyssaias to stare after her with open mouth and drooping wings trailing their immaculate snowy feathers on the floor. (to be continued) --BKWillis Copyright Notes cut due to posting limit, but same as Part 3, except that the opening quote is from the song 'Freak of Nature', by the Ramones. Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8
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