Emblems

Chapter 25: Normally, Normally

Chapter 25: Normally, Normally

“PASS WHAT ON?” SHE ASKED. Normally, normally, I wouldn’t ask that question. I would remember that Nicholas is a stupid idiot and that I shouldn’t be talking to him like this, much less keeping the conversation going. But this… this didn’t feel like “normally”. She’d just find out what he wanted to pass on, and if she wasn’t interested, she’d leave. “And can’t you just do it yourself or something? It’s troublesome for me,” she said.

“The truth,” he stated, sounding so serious she almost asked him what happened to the real Nicholas. “I need you to tell Daniel the truth, from me. He hates me, thinks that whatever I say is a lie. Believe me, I’ve tried bringing the topic up with him, but he clams up before I can do anything. That’s why I’m talking to you now.”

The truth? “The truth about what?”

He shook his head. “I won’t tell you anything till you promise that you’ll pass it on.”

That kind of killed her curiosity. “Well then,” she started, standing up to throw the rest of her sandwich away – she was full, had lost her appetite some time in their conversation – and leave for training. “Maybe you didn’t try hard enough when you were talking to him. Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound worth knowing. I’m not interested. Bye.”

“Hey! Wait!” His hand shot out, lightning fast, aiming to grab her wrist, but she had been ready for it, had seen the twitch of his fingers just as she turned, so she slid past it, grabbed his forearm and gave a little tug. Nicholas had already over-extended and that was all it took for him to go tumbling to the floor again. “Ouch!”

“You’re lucky there’s no one else here to see you like this,” she told him over her shoulder, turning away again to walk out the cafeteria doors.

“Wait, Amber! It involves you too!” he shouted, still on the floor, but with his hand outstretched towards her.

She allowed herself a tiny smile. Bingo. You’re not the only person that can manipulate people, Nicholas. Years of practice with Emily and Calida – I can do these kind of things too. She turned her head to glance back at him, eyes narrowed. “I’m listening…” The taunting tone in her voice wasn’t all on purpose. Nicholas had done the same to her, riling her up, confusing her, pushing her control over the Demon to its limits – it was just a little revenge. And she was okay for now. The utensils on his tray weren’t rattling or doing that humming, calling thing that they’d done before. This urge to see Nicholas squirm a bit didn’t come from the Demon, and she took a little comfort in that.

Then again she was only able to do this because Nicholas cared a lot about what he was saying. Suspicious. Especially for him, the boy with the ever-present smirk. Nicholas’s outstretched hand fell to the floor, curled into a fist, and then he stood up, swung his chair around and dropped into it, as if exhausted. “I didn’t want to tell you this…” He leant forward and braced his elbows on his knees. 

She could've been crude and said fine, don't tell me then, and walked away, to hell with all the secrets Nicholas kept. But the boy bent his head and let his pale hair shadow his face, and she looked at him, and at the way he stared down at his watch, twisting it over and over again on his wrist like the light that reflected off the face mattered somehow, like it posed a puzzle that he could never solve, maybe didn't ever want to solve. She sat down again. "What does your 'truth' have to do with me?" she asked after he didn't show any signs of speaking anytime soon.