Queen of Thieves

"So he broke up with you?" We were back at my apartment. We being Starla, myself... And Kelsey. I don't know why. Apparently she had found my response to the Mocha Boy rather entertaining, and had managed to make time in her very busy schedule to visit. I had come home to find her flipping through yet another magazine like it was her own house. She even offered me and Starla drinks.

And now we were having a girly night in, or so it seemed.

"Yes," I nodded, trying not to cry again.

"I think what you said to him was amazing though. He needs to know." That was Kelsey, poking about in my head for the exact details of the break-up.

"What did you say to him?" Starla asked, confused.

"I don't really remember...." we both looked towards Kelsey who smiled smugly and remained silent. A second later however, Starla clutched at her temples, her face wrinkled up.

"You could just say it to me with you mouth," she complained, rubbing her forehead. "That's not the most pleasant sensation in the world." I blushed, but Kelsey remained unperturbed.

"You get used to it." Was all she said, then she turned back to me. "I think you should forget about him. There are far better people out there," such as Dom.

Who? I thought back, and was hit by an image of the Mocha Boy. Oh, Dom.

"It's not the same. Eiron was..." I dissolve into a fresh batch of tears, and am aware of Starla running her fingers through my hair.

"Eiron was special," she says on my behalf, although I know she doesn't need to explain- Kelsey has already found the words I had been too tearful to say. "Rissa really loved him."

"I know," Kelsey said lightly. "Loved. Past tense. She'll move on."

"How can you be so sure?" Starla was asking, but there was no need. It was quite clear what Kelsey thought I would be moving on to. Or who.

Images of Dom were being projected into my brain at a rapid pace, like I was seeing a photo album of his life so far.

He rather likes you, you know.

"I don't know him," I said, adamant in my refusal.

"You don't know who?" Starla asked, but she was ignored.

"You'll get to know him. He's a good guy," Kelsey said, breezing past my objections.

"If he's so wonderful then why don't you go out with him?" Kelsey smiled, disregarding my bitter tone.

Tried that already. Our personalities don't work well together. But you two would make a wonderful couple.

"You don't even know me," I cried, frustrated by Kelsey's insistence.

"I know a lot more about you than you do," she said lightly, ignoring my outburst. "We all do." And although Dom had said the same thing earlier, it seemed a lot less deniable coming from Kelsey's mouth.



Waking up with Kelsey on my right side and Starla on my left made the thought of another day in school easier to bear.

Kelsey even made breakfast while I was in the shower- something I wasn't so sure that I was happy about.

"We'll be coming to see how you're getting along," she said, as we were just about to leave. "We may bring along a new friend," and then she flickered and was gone.

"Doesn't that unnerve you?" Starla whispered after an elongated pause.

"Yeah. It does a little bit," I replied, slinging my bag across my shoulder. "But there's nothing I can do about her."

"And that's what worries me," Starla said, doing the same. I slid another pair of sunglasses onto my nose; more for the comfort they afforded than anything else.

It had spread around the school like wildfire, and yesterday I was subject of fearful glances and hushed mutterings.

Today, I doubted they would be so tame.

We made it into school with fifteen minutes to spare, as usual, and found a quiet corner to settle ourselves in.

"You know, she's pretty, apart from the thing…" Starla said after a while. She was talking about Kelsey, of course. "Who was she talking about yesterday? She kept on referring to Dom-"

Sweetheart, my name is classified. Don't say it aloud. I could tell Starla heard it too, by the wide-eyed, uncomfortable look on her face.

"Rissa, you heard it too, right?" I nodded. "Was that…" she trailed off, evidently heeding the voice's warning. I nodded again.

Calm down. Kelsey did say we'd be dropping round to check on you.

"Five minutes after we arrive?" I asked, taking the attention away from Starla. She looked scared.

We're with you for the whole day.

"We're? Does that mean that Kel-" I was hushed by pressure over my mouth from an invisible hand.

Yes, it does. Well, she will be. She's stalking some guy currently.

"That's… a little bit creepy," Starla said.

Well, that's Kelsey for you. She'll go off on a whim, he thought, and I could imagine the smile on his face as he said that. It's nice, right Rissa? Bet you wish you could kiss it. I felt my cheeks colour, and decided to lay down the law.

"Okay, well I guess I can't stop you guys from lurking around me all day but you're not allowed to touch me, it's a little scary. And don't talk to me in class or anything, I can't afford to be distracted. Oh, and also, stay away from Starla. I don't think she relishes the thought of being 'stalked'," I shot her a smile and she giggled back at me. The bell rung then, the call for first lesson, and we got up. "Okay. Time to get this show on the road."



As I had predicted, today was worse. I got jeered at, and pens thrown at me. The teachers were always conveniently looking the other way.

Kelsey and Dom were anything but silent. They were full to the brim of righteous indignation, and Dom almost got himself- or me- caught by stopping one of the projectiles.

Most of my old friends had decided where their loyalties lay as well. I found myself suddenly sitting alone in all my classes and not one of them approached me.

They'd tried to persuade Starla to turn away from me too, but she'd made the decision to stick by me before any of them knew and she said she wasn't going to back down now. So she got cut off too. I felt bad then, but she'd ignored my protests.

We ate lunch in a secluded corner of the playground, with Kelsey and Dom for company.

We didn't say much, partially because we were eating but mainly because I wasn't sure what to say. It wasn't often I found myself being ostracised, and I'm guessing the experience was a first for Starla too.

We stretched out on the grass, basking in the glorious heat of the sun when we finished.

If I didn't think to hard, I could pretend that I was somewhere else entirely. And someone else. A completely new person.

But then, just as I was believing myself away, I'd hear Kelsey chuckle, or Dom would have some half suggestive, half mocking remark, and I'd be back on the worn grass behind the science building.

And then Lunch was over, and we had another two lessons to look forward to.

Dom and Kelsey occupied themselves by annoying me. Kelsey would not stop poking my cheek, and Dom was tugging on my hair, just hard enough to hurt, and chattering away about completely inane things in my brain.

I had asked them- in my heads- to stop so many times, but they had just ignored me and I decided to give up.

Starla was in my last class, thankfully.

She took her place next to me- earning countless dirty looks- and whispered

"Are they still here?"

I didn't need to even open my mouth to answer- Kelsey did so before me.

Still here sweetheart. Not gonna leave this jewel for the monsters to have, she said, laughing, and I felt her fingers stroke my cheek.

The last lesson was Literature, and the teacher was known to her intolerance of practically everyone and everything. She disliked most humans; I didn't want to know what she would do to me.

But I didn't need to worry. Her way of dealing with me was acting as though I wasn't there at all, until the end of the lesson, when she told me to wait behind.

Starla left reluctantly, promising to wait for me.

The woman didn't say anything for what felt like years, instead choosing to sit at her desk and shuffle through papers and occasionally mark a piece of work.

Finally- at least twenty minutes later- she looked up at me.

"Do you know why I've kept you behind Clarissa?" she asked, then uttered a short, sharp laugh. It wasn't friendly, and it wasn't happy either. "Of course you don't," she said, without giving me a chance to answer. "You couldn't. But maybe your friends do?"

"I… I don't know what you mean," I stuttered.

"Yes you do. Your pretty friends. The girl and the boy with the pretty eyes. You might as well come out now."

I felt my jaw drop open, but was powerless to stop it. Dom and Kelsey both materialised in that flickering way, grinning at me sheepishly.

"Wh- what? I don't get what's going on- I don't see it!" I stuttered.

The teacher- Barnes, her name was- gave Kelsey a pointed look.

"Your teacher- she can see. Very well," Kelsey said, than looked over to Miss Barnes for approval to carry on. "What we do is we… well, it's like we're here, but not quite here, if you see. So people can only see what is very definitely here but when you have vision like your teacher does, you can see everything. Umm, what is, what might be, what has been. Everything, ever. All at once."

I nodded, a little bit, not really understanding.

"That was a very bad explanation," Miss Barnes said.

"I know, but I'm proud of it," Kelsey replied, with a smile.

"You made bits up," Dom accused, and Kelsey nodded happily.

"So you're…" I began, and the teacher nodded. "How did you not get caught?"

"I was careful. I saw my grandmother once, when I was young. And she told me to keep it a secret," the teacher shrugged. "She is here a lot, in potentia."

"She passed," Kelsey said, to me, "before your teacher was born."

Miss Barnes gave her a look that was part shock, part irritation. "Yes, yes, a minor detail," she huffed, waving Kelsey away. "But that was what I wanted to tell you. To be careful. If you don't have to tell anyone, than you shouldn't because the powers won't go," she said.

"But I know that," I replied. "Why would they leave? Look, what I don't understand is why you didn't tell me this before. You should have been able to see me, standing here with this… thing. You could have warned me, made it so it didn't happen."

"You wouldn't have believed me," Miss Barnes said airily. "Everything in its own time."

[]She's a fatalist, Kelsey laughed in my head. I wondered if Miss Barnes could hear, but her face didn't flicker.

I sank down in my seat.

"I just want you to understand what you are. You are better than everyone else, not worse. You're an improvement on an out of date race-"

Starla opened the door and peered around, fearfully, her eyes widening when she saw Kelsey and Dom standing in plain view. She looked from them, to me, to Miss Barnes.

"What's going on here?" she whispered, and I turned to answer her, but Miss Barnes said something that stopped the answer from reaching my lips.

"Her too. I see it."

Does she mean Starla will be- I asked, to everyone, not knowing how I could direct my question.

Dom shifted uncomfortably. You know. You saw it too, he replied, looking at his feet.

I groaned in frustation, and for a second or two, the clock didn't tick.

"Rissa, did you do that?" Starla asked, her voice very small.

"I don't know," I whispered back, but Dom and Kelsey nodded for me.

"She shouldn't be able to do that," Miss Barnes said, for the first time sounding unsure of herself.

"She's a special one," Kelsey said, smiling and draping herself around my neck. "And I found her first."

"What? What does that mean?" I asked, feeling as confused as Miss Barnes looked.

It means that you're a little different, so for you, the world works out a little differently, Kelsey's words in my head did nothing to dissipate my confusion, and she refused to say anything else on the subject.

Miss Barnes dismissed me, still shocked and unsure, and I thanked her before slotting my glasses onto my face and making my way home as fast as possible with Starla, Kelsey and Dom close at my heels.