Hedgesville, West Virginia
Caspian Residence
Sunday, August 18, 1996
5:12 PM

"I got wind that your keeper tried to molest you last night?" Nahele said as he sat in the window of Jennie’s room. He leaned his head back while his eyes were on the girl who was sitting in the middle of the floor, staring at him with an untrusting glare. “What’s with the look? I wasn’t the one who tried to rape you.”
“How’d you hear about it?” she mumbled.
“I told you,” he said, waving his hand about, “the wind.”
Jennie sighed heavily and leaned forward. “I really don’t understand any of this crap about Scions, Seraphs, and Sanction. I don’t get what crawled up Rem’s ass or why he got so pissed off yesterday.”
Turning to face her, Nahele bent downward and smiled weakly. “Bra, it’s really a difficult thing to explain. I’ve known Rem for some time, but I really never expect him to go this far…”
“Nahele,” she said, scrunching her legs up to her chest, “is being a Scion really that hard?”
“It can be,” he answered, “how you would like dying for someone…that you may or may not like? A Scion can’t help but follow the Seraph around.”
“That’s kind of sad,” she whispered, burying her face into her knees.
A light smile formed on Nahele’s lips. “Back to Rem,” he said as Jennie looked up. “So what happened to him?”
"Nick has been with him most the day," Jennie said as she spread out her legs, “and I was told Rem has been put on suspension."
"Really?" Nahele questioned with interest. “Stripped of his leadership?”
“I guess,” Jennie whispered, “I was told not to go near Rem. Reiyl is suppose to look after me.”
“And a great job he’s doing,” Nahele said with a large smile while thrusting out his thumb, “letting a member of Sanction in here to talk to his precious Seraph.”
“I don’t want him in my room,” Jennie mumbled.
“I don’t know about you,” Nahele said, “but if I had a group of assassins after me, I would want my guardian sleeping next to me.”
“You’re the assassin after me,” Jennie pointed out, “so I have nothing to fear.”
“Really?” he questioned with a smirk. “If you say so…again we’re getting off topic here.”
“Sorry,” she remarked, “Rem is to stay in his room until he can gain control of himself. I’m not sure what that’s suppose to mean, but Nick seemed pretty upset about it. Well, more upset about learning that Rem took his earring off earlier.”
“Wait.” Nahele called out, standing up. He stomped over to Jennie and knelt down in front of the girl. “You’re telling me that Rem actually took off his inhibitor?”
“Yeah,” she replied, “to look at my dream I had.”
“No way,” he responded, “that’s righteous. And he was able to do it?”
“Yeah,” she whispered, blinking.
“Most excellent!” Nahele shouted as he grabbed a hold of Jennie’s shoulders and shaking her slightly. “That means that Rem’s really improving with his skills. The squid is learning.”
“You miss the water?” Jennie asked as Nahele stepped back and gave her an odd glance.
“What?” he asked, but Jennie just shook her head and smiled. “Did you notice anything about Rem while or after he used his ESP?”
“Did I…oh, his eyes,” she said, pointing to her own, “started to bleed.”
“Oh,” he said while a look of uncertainty looked away. “That’s not good. Means his powers effect him physically. Usually those mean that their powers can go aggro, but they’ll be hurting themselves in the long run.”
“What?” Jennie questioned, “Will Rem be okay?”
"He’ll be fine,“ Nahele said with a smile, giving her another thumbs up, “but he‘ll probably need another earring.”
"That inhibitor?" she asked as he nodded
"A Nexus Inhibitor is rather expensive and hard to make," Nahele remarked, looking off to the side, "so it will take some time before Rem can get another one. And that‘s probably why Rem is in lockup while you‘re under the cat‘s care."
Jennie watched as Nahele played with the shark teeth necklace that hung around his neck. He seemed amused by all the information she had told him.
“Tomorrow we’ll see what grade you’ll be in,” Nahele said as Jennie nodded.
“I already know it won’t be good,” she remarked, looking up to him. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed his attention was turned away from her, but to the window. “Something wrong?”
Throwing back his hand, he waved at her to be quiet. Jennie stilled.
“Looks like I have eyes on me,” Nahele stated, “Diver is on patrol.”
“Oh,” Jennie whispered, pushing herself forward to try to sneak a peek outside. She caught sight of an owl in the higher branches of the tree that sat outside the tree. A chill ran down her spine at the sight of the animal.
"At school then," Nahele said as he turned to look at her with an endearing smile while flicking her on the nose playfully. "Don‘t get too attached to the cat." He leapt through the open window and shifted into the form of an Io.
"Bye," she whispered, watching him fly off.
"DINNER!" The shout came from downstairs. Jennie stared at her bedroom door while hesitation built up inside her. She swallowed her doubt and pushed forward.
Stepping out into the hallway, she stretched her arms into the air and looked back to Rem's bedroom door that was closed. A cold chill rushed down her spine as she hugged herself. Never had someone been so bold with her. It had made her feel so uneasy.
She headed down the stairs and stopped when she saw Reiyl and Kasei in the kitchen. They were helping themselves to dinner. Her eyes abruptly traveled to the living room where she caught sight of Riley and Nick sitting with their dinner.
"Get something to eat." Looking back to the kitchen, she saw Reiyl walking toward her. "You need food in your stomach."
"Yeah," she said. She watched Kasei as he was piling a plate up then to Rachael who gave her a smile.
"Beef stew casserole," Rachael replied, handing Jennie a plate. "Make sure you eat plenty."
Standing quietly with the plate in her hands, Jennie watched Kasei finish shoveling food onto his dish and walk off toward the living room. She scooped out some then moved to the side as Rachael began filling up two plates.
"One for Rem?" Jennie questioned.
"Yeah, he's being punished," Rachael whispered. "Dad got really mad."
Another chill ran down her body as Jennie stared at Rem's plate. I hate you. The words ran through her mind as she thought about him.
"Are you cold?" Rachael asked abruptly as Jennie realized her hair on her arms were standing up.
"No, just thinking," she said as she smiled softly. "Thanks for dinner." Turning, she walked to the living room. Her eyes ran across everyone and settled on Reiyl who was sitting on the couch with Riley.
I hate this place. I hate everything here. They're perfect. Their skin. Their hair. They're everything I'm not. If I was one ounce of what they are, I could’ve saved my parents…
With each thought, it pushed her further over an edge. Her heart and mind was already fragile and slowly it was all starting to shatter.
And they're probably laughing at me, a little, human girl with bad hair who gets zits and is weak. They heal so quickly and I have to wait.
She blinked as she found Reiyl motioning for her to join him on the couch. Staring at him, she saw the perfection in him.
He's beautiful. Graceful. Intelligent.
"No thanks," she said aloud as she turned abruptly, leaving.
Biting her lower lip, she stood in front of the stairs. She held onto her plate tightly as she stared at the food on it. Her hands shook uncontrollably until she lost the grip to her food. She watched it fall to the carpeted floor as the contents splattered everywhere.
"Jennie?"
Turning her attention to Rachael who was walking out of the kitchen, Jennie smiled. She simply stood at the base of the stairs and forced a smile while the miserable thoughts of the past week finally caught up with her.
I just want to go home. But I was abandoned. I have no home. And my parents are gone. I have no family left. What’s the point?
Rachael reached out for Jennie, but the younger girl backed away. A look of fear filled Jennie’s face.
Don’t touch me.
"Jennie?"
Whipping her head to the other side, she saw Nick coming out of the living room. His face held of concern. Her eyes widened.
“Don’t look at me like that,“ she said aloud. “Don’t pity me.“ It was a look that disgusted her. It showed that he felt sorry for her.
“I don’t,“ Nick said, “I just want you to calm down.“
“Shut up!“ she screamed, balling up her fists. She turned swiftly on her heels and rushed up the stairs. Retreating to her room seemed like the only option, but she paused when she saw Rem standing outside his room.
Hatred was in his eyes. If anyone could answer her cry for help, she knew it was him. Despite his hatred fore her, she needed him. A smile spread across her lips while the insanity slowly ate away at the last of her mind.
"What do you want?" she asked in a low snarl while her lips curled into a sadistic grin. "Want to have your way with me? Care to end my life for me?"
Without hesitation, Rem headed toward her as she stood her ground. When he neared, he threw up his arm as the back of his hand caught her across the jaw. Her whole body was sent backward as fell over the edge of the stairwell and tumbled down the stairs.
Crashing onto the first floor in a jumbled mess, her eyes widened as pain crossed her face. Something didn't feel right. She opened her mouth, but her breath was labored.
"DAD!"
"Nick!"
Shouts were being thrown around her as Jennie tried to looked up the stairs. She could see the dark image of Rem as he stood at the top, looking down at her with a determined expression.