The Gemini

13. Cold Shoulder

Jane-Anne Pearce

I paced my room restlessly, clutching my phone to my chest. The phone suddenly rang, making me gasp and drop it onto the floor.

"Crap," I muttered, sweeping the bedroom floor to find it. "Hello?" I asked, answering the call.

"Hey, Snowflake. Heard you may have had a bad day," said Makaya. I scoffed at her using that stupid nickname. She derived it from my mom's old nickname, Snow, which Makaya claimed she came up with back when they were friends. I didn't believe Makaya's story. There was no way my mom had friends.

"How did you hear about the Carter thing?" I asked.

"I hear about everything," Makaya replied. "Come on outside. We're going for a drive."

"My mom would freak out," I said.

"What Setsuka doesn't know won't kill her," Makaya answered. "I'm in the driveway. You'll be back before you know it. You know you can't say no." I could hear her charm ooze through the phone, reminding me that I couldn't refuse.

"Okay." I agreed. I opened the door slowly, making sure I didn't wake anyone up. I walked downstairs, my phone still clutched in my hand. When I got in the passenger's seat of Makaya's car, my stomach began to tie in sickly knots. I trusted Makaya, but for some reason, my body didn't.

"How are you feeling?" Makaya asked me gently, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"I'm okay," I responded, hiding the phone behind my back. "What are we doing?"

"You're not going to remember, but we're visiting Rowan," said Makaya.

"What?" I exclaimed. "Rowan's still mad at me because we were in the cafeteria and the new girl scares me and Kiara made me start a rumor and Taylor made me talk to Finn and now Carter's mad and Rowan's mad because Carter's mad and-"

"Okay," said Makaya calmly. "Take a deep breath, Snowflake. That's not your problem anymore."

The pain in my stomach got worse, complemented by a roaring migraine. "What do you mean?" I asked, massaging my temples.

"You don't have to know," said Makaya. "I wanted to do another test run, but they've got a wolf out there. We're doing it for real now, but it's gonna be just like last time."

"Last time?" I asked, my throat getting dry. Behind my back, I was trying to unlock my phone.

"Yeah. We've been working on this for months, but I finally got you to tear apart. There are two people running around in that little head of yours. So we need to get the other one to wake up." Makaya explained.

"I don't understand," I confessed.

"You don't have to," said Makaya. "I know that you're scared. You get scared every time. I don't like this either, but the only messages the monsters listen to are written in blood."

"I want to go home," I told Makaya. I heard the tiny click of a car lock as Makaya kept driving near the playground.

I slowly pulled my phone out and tried to find Rowan's contact. Makaya noticed, but she didn't panic. As the number dialed, Makaya started humming gently, making my head spin.

I wanted to tell her to run, but my thoughts were tripping over themselves and slowly strangling my consciousness away. I wasn't quite sure what I was whining about aloud as silent tears streamed across my face. It was like I already knew what would happen.