Daeva: Black Diamond Chrysalis - Danielle Bolger (essential reading txt) 📗

And before I know it firemen are rushing me out of there saying there's been some gas leak. Any longer and I would have passed out unconscious too but fortunately I was lucky, we both were. There's a few people that weren't so much though..."

"Yeah, I heard four people died there yesterday." Eric commented. "Two were old, one with liver disease and a kid with a really bad heart. It sounds like that as long as you were healthy you escaped it but the unhealthy ones just couldn't handle the toxic fumes."

"Asking Courtney out..." Amy was still fuming. "It would have been justice if you ended up in that plaza..."

"Gosh, it's sad." Louise was shaking her head. "Four Skyward locals dead in a day. They may have been ill but it doesn't change the fact that death is cruel, no matter the age or circumstance."

"It's always cruel," Bethanie agreed, "but it is crueller some times more than others. Like when it takes a person before their time, like when it takes good people. Like when it leaves behind broken hearts."

Bart whistled. "That's deep!"

"Oh, Bethanie..." Louise sighed.

"No, it's okay!" She shrugged it off as she attempted a terrible smile. "I was just thinking of their families. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with me, I'm fine."

Amy was frowning deep into Bethanie's face however. "The spirits tell me... that you might have known someone there. Maybe not directly, but through a friend perhaps..."

"Wow, you're psychic, Amy!?" Bart exclaimed in awe.

"Yeah," Louise murmured less impressed. "You're psychic now?"

"Well," Amy shrugged. "I've always done my tarot cards but lately I feel the spirits talking to me directly!"

"Whoa!" Bart gushed. "That's incredible!"

"The spirits?" Bethanie echoed just as Kieran inputted, "Talking voices?" I noticed the two look at each and fell silent as they turned red.

"Well, it did sound like a tragedy." Eric weighed. "But I'm just glad that everyone else made it out of there without any side-effects."

Kieran was shaking his head. "It is a bit crazy actually, I was shocked when I felt completely fine after a few hours. Like, when I heard gas poisoning I was freaking out, like maybe my insides were going to boil or something, but I was let out of the hospital pretty soon. Too soon actually, I was kinda hoping to get a doctor's certificate to get the day off school today but they reckon I passed with flying colours. Jack-arses."

"Hmm..." Amy murmured. "You're aura looks a little off. It seems... less vibrant than usual."

"Yeah, thanks, mystic Amy. Now can you get me a get-out-of-school-free-card?"

"I am afraid," she reported solemnly, "that is beyond my power."

"Pfft, useless." Kieran muttered.

"Well I think you look much better, Kieran!" I reported happily. "You're looking so bright!"

Just as Bethanie gasped as she drank her juice popper Louise made her comment. "Well it's sunny again today, I'm pretty sure everyone's looking bright today!"

During Bethanie's coughs Eric stated a contemplative thought. "But that plaza incident sure was strange. A gas leak caused by a storm, never heard that before."

"I know what happened!" Bart declared triumphantly. "It was the aliens, of course. They're testing the airs before they like, go change the calibration and settings and make it habitable for them to live in before they conquer us..."

"Come what?" Louise asked confused.

Bethanie continued to cough, louder, as Amy inhaled sharply. "Yes, the aliens, that's what the spirits are telling me! Beings from another world want to invade ours!"

"Amy!" I called. "Are you for real!? You actually know!?"

The girl smirked at me. "Why of course, my grandmother is a fortune teller and she taught me all the tricks of the trade."

"Yeah," Kieran muttered. "I'm sure she taught you many tricks."

"Wow, Amy, you're the greatest!" Bart sung. "Hey, you wanna go out on a date with me sometime?"

Amy tsked. "With you? I'm sorry but you'll just drain all my aura. Besides, I wouldn't want to be the other girl whilst you chase Courtney."

Bart screwed up his face sullenly in response. Bethanie kept coughing and coughing.

"Whoa, Beth!" Kieran leaned across and patted her back. "You gonna find air again sometime this century?"

And like a miracle touch her breathlessness was cured. With a red face she murmured. "Yeah, this century, preferably before I die from old age."

Everyone laughed but me. I couldn't when I saw those black flowers reaching out of her white school blouse and over her throat.

Cutting through the laughter I interrupted. "Hey, Amy, you've got auditions for the musical this afternoon, don't you? How are you feeling?"

"Well..." The girl smiled mischievously. "I've been talking with the spirits a lot this past week for, you know, guidance on that front and you know what they've been saying - that I've got it in the barrel!"

"Wow, that's confident, Amy!" Bethanie observed still with a strained voice. "I agree you have the right to be, you're a great actress! But are you sure you're not setting yourself up for disappointment?"

Amy shrugged. "Yeah, I know, I'm talking prematurely, I haven't got the lead yet but you know, I just feel like it's so right! Like it's my turn! But you're right, Bethanie..." Amy placed a concerned hand back to her shoulder to rub. "Some other new actress could take it away from me. I admit, there's a bit of talent with these new seventh graders coming through but I'll stand by what I said because if I can't believe than no one else will! I will land the lead to the musical this year!"

"Wow, Amy!" I gushed. "I love your enthusiasm! It's just like I said, even if a good actress comes around and may look better than you for one performance it doesn't mean you can't still win your dreams!"

Amy frowned. "Right... but no one's going to look better than me here, I'm going to dazzle the audiences!"

"That's right!" Bart backed. "No one's better at drama than Amy!"

"That's..." I murmured. "Really good... Amy..."

From across the circle Bethanie's eyes bored into mine. Silently I responded, Yeah, I thought she was intimidated by Ariel too.

Following lunch was art and there I sat with Amy by my side and pulled out my printed photographs from the previous day. There I frowned as I sifted through them.

"Gosh, these are gorgeous photos, Abigail!" Louise gushed as she took a handful and began poring over them as well. "Wow, if you weren't such a good painter and sketcher then I would suggest you should become a photographer!"

"Really? You don't think the colour looks a little dull? Like it's a little under-saturated?"

"Hm..." Amy screwed her mouth to the side as inspected them. "Not really. It all looks pretty bright to me!"

"Oh, that's good. I was fiddling with the settings quite a bit yesterday because it all looked so dark on the display screen. It was cloudy then."

"Well it certainly doesn't look cloudy in these pics! It looks like the world's never been brighter!"

Right, so my eyes really have changed quite a bit, now things seen with normal sight look really sad. Depressing even.

Nodding I turned my gaze across the room where my eyes fell on an empty chair. "Amy, do you know who's auditioning for lead role this afternoon?"

"Hm, well let me think..." Amy leaned back on her stool as she contemplated. "I don't know about the other years but there's at least five girls from ours going for it. Myself of course, then Teila, Corrine, Simone then... someone else said they're going for it, who was it...? Oh, I remember! Charlie! Yeah, she's the only one who might beat me but I'm still pretty confident! She's talented and pretty but because she's so short they always seem to give her kid roles and of course, she's not as good as me!"

My eyes lingered on the empty stool. "So no one else from our grade is going for it? You don't think that Ariel will try to land the lead?"

Then Amy raised her eyebrows in confusion. "Who? Ariel? Is this some girl from another grade? Why, what have you heard, is she good?"

I gulped. "She's a new student, you really... don't remember her?"

"New student is she? What grade and what are you looking at over there!?" Amy's eyes followed my own direction and just shook her head. "Abigail, are you alright there? You've been acting really weird all day. Actually, you seem pretty sad." Then turning back ahead and locking onto Eric's back she lowered her voice. Fortunately Bart and Eric were in a deep conversion of their own so it seemed they hadn't picked up on anything we were talking about. "Did something bad happen with your date on Saturday?"

I shook my head as I looked at the dark-haired boy too. "No, it's not that, that was perfect. It's just a lot of other things are happening, bad things. Like the gas leak in the plaza and then... then a girl in year twelve she..."

Then a terrible realisation came to me. All this talk of disappearing, of Gaia changing people's memories so they had no recollection of darkness. Of Amy forgetting Ariel who was a daeva-nox, a daeva that apparently had turned completely dark, then about Bethanie's blood disappearing.

"Oh, no, please don't let that be true..." I murmured as tears began to escape down my face.

"Abigail, what's wrong?" Amy asked as she began to rub my back. "Why are you crying? Is it for those people that died in the plaza? Did you know one of them?"

"Disappearing, in all senses of the word..." My words were breaking, the sorrow of them reaching forwards as the boy in front of me turned around.

"Abigail, what's wrong?" Eric asked as he practically fell out of his chair to come in from of me.

Then all my sorrow suddenly emerged as salty water gushed from me. "I keep trying to be positive, I keep looking for the good in things but it just keeps getting sadder and sadder!"

All around me were whispers, quiet innocent questions that at first all sounded as if they were concerned about me but as they increased in number and volume they seemed to turn more hostile and cruel.

"Why is she crying"

 "Do you think she knew someone in the plaza?"

"There was a boy that died, I think that was her cousin."

"Maybe it's just that time of the month. She's always crying about the smallest things, it's probably nothing."

"God, she's just so sad."

"Pathetic, really."

"Maybe it's the curse, I heard it makes people go crazy before it kills them."

"Stop it!" I screamed as I placed my hands to my ears. "Stop being so cruel! Stop taking everything from good people!"

"Abigail, wait!" A hand reached out but I pulled away. In a hurry I escaped from my art bench, the stool being knocked over with a deafening clatter in my haste. Then I was running down the centre of the class and spilled straight through the front door. I ran and ran, not very fast because my legs just weren't very good at giving me much speed, but I ran as best I could. Outside I fled, grass breaking underfoot and the world of vibrant shimmery colours turned as grey as my photos. Then as I was breathing the air cut in sharply and it was cold, so cold and in a moment I found myself shivering despite the fact that I was still running.

When I passed a bench I stopped and collapsed next to the girl seated there who appeared to be revising over some notes.

"What year are you in? Please tell me!" I implored mere inches from her.

The girl's eyes widened with alarm. "I'm in grade twelve, why...?"

"You know her, please tell me that you know her!"

The girl, despite being much larger than me edged away fractionally. "Hey, I'm sorry, I don't know who you're talking about. Are you okay?"

"Pearl! Her name is Pearl. Please tell me that you remember her!"

When the girl moved her head gently from left to right I felt a fist clench itself around my heart.

"She's not in my grade, maybe one of