Legend Awaits

I couldn’t shake the feeling I had about Em. It was now Friday and she would be coming home with me to my Grandpa’s house. Em was the sweetest person in the world actually. She helped everyone with anything they asked. She actually helped with my trig homework.

“Hey, can you help me with this solution please, Em?” I asked Thursday night. She had already finished hers, and all of Miss Glure’s classes were at the spot.

“Yeah, sure. Which one?” she answered excitedly. She always seemed eager to help.

“Number 46. I have it as sine is four over seven, but the book says it is three over eight.”

“The hypotenuse is one of those with a set legs already. Remember like 3-5-4?”

“Oh, yeah. I think I used the wrong one. Thanks,” I said, relieved.

“No problem, anytime,” she smiled. She walked off over to the rest of the group that was hanging in the ‘hang-out’ room in front of the girl’s dormitory. I huffed in frustration over my homework and that I couldn’t figure out if Em was the evil Kaolin warned me about.

I sat there for another ten minute before deciding to give up. I put my head on top of the books and sighed. I rubbed my temples. I jumped as I felt someone leaning over me. I looked up to find Em hovering over me. I jumped back from her causing her to frown. She had a necklace on, which I never noticed before. It was a cross that was silver and had diamonds in it. Could evil wear crosses?

“I wasn’t going to bite,” she laughed. “I was seeing the progress you made, which wasn’t much.”

“It’s so confusing right now. My head is all loopy. I can’t think straight,” I said making up excuses as I went. Maybe I’ll tell her I’m going to take a break to pack my clothes for tomorrow. I got up from the table.

“Sit back down and do your homework. The sooner you finish, the less you have to stress out about,” she chided. I raised my arm to my room, about to say my excuse, when she said: “I don’t tell me you need to pack your bag for tomorrow.”

Did she read my mind? She always seem to know what others are about to say. “What are you, a mind reader?” I joked, but meant it.

She laughed, “You never know. Let me help you, okay?” She sat down in the seat next to where I was seating and motioned for me to sit back down. I did, and she did a really good job at explaining it all to me.

We headed back up to our rooms around nine thirty. We were both pretty bushed, and I still needed to pack my bag. I could always do it tomorrow after school. It wouldn’t take me long. Em’s room was right before mine, so I just walked over to my room.

“Good night, Em, and thanks for helping me, “ I said.

“Oh, no problem. Good night, Cralyn,” she called back. “Oh, and sweet dreams,” she added oddly and winked. It was like times like this and the mind reading trick that makes me want to believe she was the evil I was warned about. She did have the cross on, though. I had no idea if she was or wasn’t the demon Kaolin mentioned. I laid down on my bed, confused about everything.

There you are,the familiar voice said- no, thought. His voice warmed something inside me; though, I didn’t know what. I just loved the way his inner voice sounded. Does he sound like this for real?

“I’m always here,” I answered aloud. I wasn’t comfortable with the answering with thought thing.

You don’t have to answer me aloud, you know. I could hear it.

“I know, but it would be odd,” I stammered.

It’s okay. Have you figured out who the demon is yet?

“I have a hunch, but I’m not completely sure,” I admitted, ashamed to look at him because of guilt for not finding out who it actually is.

He didn’t seem angry or upset by my ignorance. He seemed encouraging. What is your hunch, Carlyn?

“Well, there is this new girl named Em that moved here the day you first came to me. She’s really nice, but it seems odd that just she would move down here. Her parents are still in Egypt doing whatever archaeologists do. She’s really helpful, yet weird and mysterious at the same time. I swear she could read my mind, too. She knows things I’m going to say before I say it, or she looks at me whenever I think of her being the evil you warned me of. But she wears a cross necklace. I don’t think a demon could wear a cross, but I could be wrong. I don’t know about anything like this. Just when I totally doubt myself, she says ‘sweet dreams’ in the most chilling voice and winks. I don’t know,” I babbled. Everything just came out in a rush; I realized I had begun to pace back and forth. I stopped and looked at Kaolin for support.

You might be on to something, Carlyn, he finally thought. She could have built up a resistance to it, was it actually touching her?”

“No,” I half shout, suddenly realizing that.

Keep a close eye on her. Every thing good is depending on you to keep her from her task.

Her task? What task? No one said anything about a task. “What is it that she wants to do?”

She wants to raise- he was cut off by a loud buzzing noise. I shot up in my bed, waking to a strange look from Zo.

“Good morning, mumbling beauty,” she teased.

“Huh?” I asked, dumfounded.

“You were mumbling in your sleep. You kept me from sleeping half the night. I went into Em’s room. She’s a sound sleeper.”

“You did what?” I shouted.

“What?” she asked, totally bewildered.

“Nothing, just a bad dream that has me shaken.”

“Well don’t let it ruin the fun we’ll have later.”

“Oh, I won’t,” I smiled.

I spent the rest of the day counting the minutes until I could go home with my friends. I was still worried about Em. What if she was the evil Kaolin keeps talking about? I couldn’t allow her near my Grandpa or my friends. I didn’t know what to do. I’ll just have to keep my friends close and my enemies closer.

*****

“Grandpa, do you remember Emnomnia’s lover’s name?” I asked, suddenly curious.

“Actually, Car, I don’t?” he answered. I could tell he was upset by not knowing this bit of information. “What about your friend here, the one from Egypt? Your parents are archaeologist doing research on her, right?” Em nodded. “Do you know, by chance, his name”

“Actually, yes I do. My parents actually found an old painting from thousand of years ago depicting an old battle of Emnomnia. Emnomnia’s back is to the artist, but her lover is turned to the artist; he was smirking and going for Emnomnia’s hand. He has green eyes as bright as new born leaves in the spring. His skin was flawless, smooth and just tan enough not to look overly dark. His messy hair was brown, but the mess looked purposely done.” I gulped at Em’s description. “He had a strong chin and jaw line. His body was perfect; every muscle just toned enough to see when he wasn’t flexing. His stomach was the most heavenly to see. He was perfect; after all, he was an angel. But he fell, as we all know.”

“What was his name?” Ivana gushed. “He sounds perfect. Well, except, the whole falling thing. How did he fall?”

Em smiled, as if remembering something. “It was a battle between some of the demons and angels. He just happened to be on of those angels. This demon was beautiful. She was the exact opposite of Emnomnia. She had golden hair. Her eyes blue as the sky. She was swift and graceful, but not as quick as Emnomnia; no one was, though. She was tan perfectly. When he laid his eyes upon her, he had to have her. He could see everything reflected in her eyes, and she wanted him like he wanted her. He loved the fact that he could actually see her, and well, um, yeah,” she said uncomfortably, talking about sexual intercourse. “He could see her eyes, her physical features, her body.

“Emnomnia was covered in strange markings, as you should know. They were black, except the moon on her forehead; it was teal. Everyone has thought that since the markings seen in paintings were black, all of them most have been, but they were wrong. He couldn’t see her features at all because of her markings. You could see her shape. And her eyes were all black, not just the iris. The entire thing. It was like staring into a bottomless well, I assume. He didn’t want to look into those eyes and see himself anymore. Her eyes weren’t gateways to her soul.” Tears were running down Em’s face. “That’s what he wanted. He wanted to see her, not the ultimate warrior she was. So, he decided to trade in love, devotion, and honor for a slut.”

“What was his name?” we all shouted.

She looked at all of us as if taking us in and finally, she said, “The bastard’s name was Kaolin.”