Chapter 4_ Who Are You

Rinari levitated few inches above the wood floor of the guest room, not wanting to create any noise to awaken the three insentient teenagers. Her face reflected a combination of “I am dead if my daughter finds out” and “I know there is a solution”. She bit her lower lip while deep in thought. That was why when Lucia was trying to get her attention, the effort to do so just blended with the invisible air.

“Hlala uthule,” Lucia uttered, and Rinari froze mid-air. “What you’re doing won’t help. Please settle down.”

Rinari obeyed Lucia because, although her voice remained soft, subtle annoyance could be traced from her tone.

“She must not remember a single thing that happened tonight,” Rinari said. “She saw my ability.”

“I know. I’ll try my best to extract some memory from her hippocampus.” She walked towards Amethyst and positioned herself on the end where the headboard was. “I need cover,” she spoke to Rinari via a mental link.

With that, Rinari cut the bed in half using her hand. A glimmer of silver blade appeared on the end of her fingertips, which created an invisible wall. That ability of hers separated the actual room where Thea and Nicolai were from the imaginary room where Amethyst and Lucia could be hidden. The room still looked normal from the actual room’s perspective. Meaning, whoever would be at the real side, could see the room as is without seeing Amethyst and Lucia. The area where they were was opaque.

Only Rinari can walk through the wall while she cast the spell. By drawing a line between reality and make-believe, she could hide the two with no one suspecting. She stood in the middle, where she placed the wall so that she could take a peek at what was happening on both ends.

She gave Lucia the signal to begin.

Lucia hold Amethyst’s head and massaged her temples while mumbling. As she chanted, tiny orbs containing the girl’s memory popped out. The balls of light floated as Lucia pulled them out.

“Which ones should I pop?”

Before leaving her post to come near Lucia, Rinari duplicated herself—another ability that only she possessed. She left her clone as the lookout in case Thea or Nicolai woke up. Only Lucia knew her abilities. Her abilities would only work with the presence of someone trustworthy. Performing such would fail around suspicious people. Her inner prowess could sense the purity of the heart and soul of whoever would be around during the casting of her spell.

She approached the bubbles and zoomed in on each memory orb, one at a time.

“Are these all her memories of the past?”

“Nope, only that from two nights ago and tonight’s recollection.”

“Can you pull out the one from when she was five?”

Lucia’s eyes widened at Rinari’s request. “That would be dangerous if not done properly.”

Rinari remained quiet. She busied herself with magnifying the bubbles and popping those she wished to be forgotten. Then she scanned the bubbles, depicting the times when Nicolai and Amethyst were together. She grabbed the one with Nicolai on top of Amethyst in her room and showed it to Lucia.

“Guess I’m right. It was indeed Nic who visited my sweetheart,” she said with twinkling eyes.

“That explains the muddy floor in his room. He’s probably smelling his Luna.”

They both giggled at the idea.

“I’ll keep it,” Rinari said. She called for her clone and placed the orb inside the clone’s chest. “A mother’s treasure. I know my daughter will be in good hands—soon.”

Rinari popped the unwanted memories and handed the rest to Lucia to put it back in Amethyst’s head. When she saw the memory of Amethyst and Nicolai in the greenhouse, she gave it to Lucia.

“I’ll keep this then,” she said.

***

Nicolai struggled to open his eyes, blinded by the light after several hours of being unconscious. Rinari and Lucia waited for him to fill in his lungs with fresh air and adjust his senses.

He slowly got up with a hand on his head and sat at the side of the couch, resting his head on the armrest. Thea, who was also regaining consciousness, followed.

Nicolai turned to Rinari. “Is she okay auntie?”

Rinari smiled at him and patted his head. “Thank you for protecting my baby.”

“My instinct told me to do so. Besides, she tried to help me first.” He paused, as if trying to visualize what exactly happened. Then he smirked, “I’m just returning the favor.”

Lucia sat beside her son and put her head on his broad shoulder. He held his hand and massaged it, feeling for the scratches he gained from his first shifting. Then she looked at him straight into his jet-black eyes and smiled teasingly.

“Would you like to tell your two mamas a secret?”

“What are you talking about?”

Lucia checked some wounds on his arms, pointing out the new ones that still had some trace of blood. “These are from tonight,” she said. Gently twisting Nicolai’s arm to the other side, she grinned. “These scratches look like from several nights ago. Now, tell us. Have you been diving in rose bushes in someone else’s garden?”

His eyes widened in shock. He wasn’t expecting that. His face turned red when he gave Rinari a side glance. She was beaming, eager to hear his response.

“Don't get me wrong," he said, stuttering. “I was only tracking an addicting scent that night. It’s too enticing, I couldn’t resist it.” With eyes closed, he slightly paused and took a deep breath, as if trying to smell if the scent was in the air. “It’s sweet like honey mixed with jasmine and rose.”

“So? What happened next?” Lucia kept teasing him.

“Ahh! Mom?” He raked his hair with his hand in annoyance. And when he looked in Thea’s direction, he was petrified. She was throwing him knife glances while punching a fist on her other hand.

“It was you, then?” Thea stood, cracked her knuckles, and did some neck stretching. “You ended up on Rei’s bed.” She threatened to advance another step, sending Nicolai on his feet as he stomped his way out of the room.

The three girls laughed at his response and uttered the same words in sync, “Guilty as charged.”

***

Amethyst opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling painted with the wilderness. She scanned the room with blurry eyes, gray and white smoke clouded her vision. Walls with starry night artwork surrounded her, releasing an outer space vibe. She stretched her arms while yawning and sat on the bed, discarding her sleepy self.

“This isn’t my room.”

She sat still for some time, inhaling the dusty old books on the shelves at the side of the bed. She got up. The cold marble floor sent snowflakes on the soles of her feet. The biting sense traveled from her lower torso upwards, giving her a minor brain freeze.

She let her eyes familiarized the room until they landed on a vast canvas standing at the foot of the bed. She blinked several times in order to see the unfinished layout of a female’s face.

As she approached the painting, the door burst open. A handsome guy walked in. The man's towering height made her feel so tiny. His toned physique could send any girls on their knees—but not her. His cherry lips matched his cotton-white skin.

Amethyst opened her mouth to ask him a question, but no voice came out.

“Not this time again. Why do I always end up voiceless?”

As if he heard her, the man looked in her direction. His ash-blue eyes fixed on her.

“You’re awake, my love,” he said, smiling—his fangs on display. Slowly, he walked towards her. But when he was about to touch her, the room suddenly brightened. The man disappeared. To her disbelief, she found herself inside another unfamiliar room. Her mom’s smiling face greeted her.

“Welcome back, dear,” she said.

“How long have I been asleep?”

Her head spun in confusion with distorted and blurry images of people and places. But she smiled as if nothing chaotic was going on in her mind. She squinted while staring at her mother, who didn’t respond. Something’s not right.

She reached for her mom’s face, but she couldn’t feel her. She’s more like a hologram than real.

“Mom?” With tears in her eyes, she grabbed the image in front of her. “Mom!”

Tiny holes gradually getting bigger appeared in Rinari’s image before vanishing. Amethyst was left dumbfounded. While she was consoling herself, the room melted. And for the third time, she was transported to another room. There she saw Thea sleeping beside her. She ran to herself and tried to wake Thea up. But every time an attempt to communicate was made, her vitality decreased three folds, making her more exhausted.

She cried beside her best friend, hoping to be heard, but to no avail. A scream of terror escaped her throat when she saw Thea bathing in her own blood when she looked at her. She even screamed on top of her lungs upon seeing Thea’s face changed into hers.

“NO!”

She got up, out of breath. Sweat soaked her face and body.

Rinari and Lucia rushed to her side.

“Honey?” Rinari hugged her, wiping the beads of perspiration on her face.

“Mom? Are you real?” she asked and began sobbing on her mother’s shoulder. “Am I alive?”

“Shh—yes you are, hon.”

“What’s happening to me?” She trembled in fear under Rinari’s embrace. Her limbs turned to jelly because of energy loss.

“Bad dreams, baby,” Lucia said. “I’m sorry,” she added in her head.

***

Back at their home, Amethyst went straight to her room without talking to both Thea and Rinari.

“Look at her changing mood in a snap,” Thea said, tying her curls in a ponytail. She sniffed. “What’s that powerful odor?”

Rinari put her nose in the air. “I smell nothing but air freshener.” She continued unpacking, then stopped when Artemian’s words echoed in her head, “Rin’s scent was honey-sweet blended with rose petals, but Amethyst’s—it’s sinister and vile.”

Thea’s nose released a green glow, a sign that her sense of smell had activated. She followed Amethyst to her room where the stench came from. She flinched at the smell of rotten discarded garbage getting annoying as she approached the room. Rinari followed her, too. And they both stood in front of Amethyst’s room door.

“It’s her, but the scent isn’t. It smells nefarious.”

“And her mood—”

They were stunned when the door swung open. Amethyst, with a stern face, looked at them, displeased at the sight.

“What?”

“I’m going in,” Thea said when she regained her poise, trying her best not to cover her nose despite the suffocating scent invading her nostrils.

“Why? Don’t you have a house?”

“I’m on vacation, remember?” Thea asked with a swag.

Amethyst ignored them and went out straight to the kitchen. When she returned, Thea was already sitting on her bed with a serious, dubious face like that of an investigator who wouldn’t stop until the suspected person had given an answer to the burning question.

Her stares pierced through the newcomer. Her eyes, green on the left and brown on the right, were like an x-ray machine, scanning for spots of unwanted identity. 

"Aren't you going to take a bath?" she asked with a scornful face.

"Shouldn't you be minding your own business?"

"Oh," she gasped, "I'm definitely minding MY BUSINESS." She strode to Amethyst's place, sizing and sniffing her.

Amethyst grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her onto the bed. Annoyed, Thea wiped the area where Amethyst hold her, like dusting off the dirt. “Who are you?”