"That wasn't so bad, was it?"
No, It was. But I don't have the heart to tell Elijah that it was bad.
I sit in the back seat of Finn's car, which is parked outside my house. The question that keeps bothering me is, what now?
Are Elijah and I friends again? Are we not? Does Finn hate me a bit less now?
Do I repeat the vow every time I see one of the many werewolves around town from now on?Am I suppose to carry on like nothing?
"Hello!" Elijah and Finn jump at the sudden burst from my mom, while I stay still, my body instinctively going still with fright. My mom eagerly taps on the passenger window with a huge smile.
"You're Daisy's friends, right?" Finn hesitantly lowers the windows. Finn's lips curve into a nasty sneer, starting to form the word no, but never says it.
"Yes." Elijah beats Finn to it. My mom's smile somehow widens.
"Would you two like to come inside?"
"No." I find my voice.
"Yes." Elijah's voice is louder, and completely leaves me forgotten in the backseat. Finn goes to protest, but much to my dismay is silenced again with a look.
"I'll go get the cookies ready!" My mom practically runs back into the house.
"I. Don't. Want. To. Go." Finn insists with frustration bright in his eyes. I don't want him inside my house either.
"You want to go tell that lady no?" Elijah challenges. Hesitating for a long moment, Finn curses under his breath, then climbs out. He makes sure to slam the car door shut.
"You don't have a cemetery in the back yard, do you?" Finn grumbles to me under his breath with angry eyes.
"Why do you expect her to?" Elijah says in a tight voice.
"She's a necromancer. God knows what she has in there." For the first time Finn doesn't look angry, but scared. I've never seen him like this. I never knew he was capable of any other emotion.
"Daisy is a necromancer, not a mortician" Elijah pinches the bridge of his nose. "And we were in her backyard just the other day, Finn! You saw for yourself she doesn't have a cemetery!"
"Do you have any voodoo dolls or demon stars? No skulls and bones lying around? No dead animals?"
"Finn!" Elijah warns him. I just give Finn a lazy shake of my head.
"Is it haunted?" Finn risks one more. Pausing at the front door, I internally debate over the answer.
"No, but the Grim Reaper lives here." I quietly admit in a whisper. Both Elijah and Finn come to a dead halt, not daring to put a foot inside. They gape at me with wide, terror filled eyes, both going pale. Death would probably laugh at them, but I don't. The scared looks on their face just makes me more aware of my differences, making me more of an outcast.
"Is that suppose to be a joke?" Finn says through clenched teeth.
"You mentioned Death the other day, Daisy... so Death and the Grim Reaper are the same?" Elijah mumbles.
I don't even know where to begin.
"Daisy, tell your friends to come inside. I have brownies ready!" Appearing at my side, my mom practically drags the two of them inside by their shoulders. Finn desperately watches the door shut, true terror in his face. Elijah sticks close to me, his blonde head inspecting the house as if he's watching out for a black cloak draped over a skeleton.
I already want them out of here.
This is the first time I ever had people over. I never had classmates over, or hosted Girl Scout meetings, or had friends to hang out with. I never had any of that normal stuff. I never had friends. Though, through all these years I had this fantasy of the first time I had friends over, and it felt nothing like this. Having my childhood bully and the guy I have a crush on act like they're in a haunted house waiting for a jump scare feels invasive. They're not here because they're my friends- not to be with me or to simply spend time with me- they're here and they're making me feel more like a freak than I do at school.
"This is my grandmother's recipe." My mom chirps, handing all three of us brownies.
"They smell great." Trying to act natural, and not like he is horrified, Elijah offers my mom a forced smile. Not that my mom can tell. My mom just about hops over to the living room.
"Can we go yet?!" Finn hisses. Oh, please do leave.
"It's been a minute." Elijah says firmly, though his brown eyes nervously dart around. Longest minute of my life. Ignoring them, I head upstairs to my room. Remembering that the man who led me around the founder's house didn't make noise when walking, I check over my shoulder to see if the same thing applies to these two.
Yup. Much to my dismay, I find Elijah and Finn half way up the staircase. Neither make a sound. Halting by my bedroom door, I feel the rare need to speak. Fueled my discomfort, my tongue readies itself to speak up, my voice rising from the back of my throat with a volume I'm not familiar with.
"You let the dogs inside the house?"
I never get the chance to. My bedroom door creaks open, a sudden blast of cold air greets us. The two panic, jumping a foot in the air because to them, it's inanimate objects moving on their own. Death leans against the door, her grey eyes looking at me like I'm dumb.
I give her a dry look.
"Your mom?"
I nod.
"Should have guessed her first." Death sighs.
"Is that death?!" Standing back to back, Elijah and Finn growl inhumanly, with bared fangs. Their shoulders are defensively hunched to their ears, giving me the impression if they were dogs they'd be barking right now.
"Tell them to sit." Death rolls her grey eyes. Though she seems indifferent, I know deep down she's insulted. I catch the hurt in her lifeless grey eyes mid eye roll. I feel for the grim reaper. To be feared as a monster by humanity... what a terrible existence.
"You're completely safe." I try to put them at ease. The growling ceases, but their threatening looking fangs stay bared at their mouths. I stare at the sharp fangs, taking in the jagged ends with a blank face. A violent image of Elijah's handsome face smeared in blood, and buried in the soft spot of flesh of some victim, as those fangs tear them apart, threatens to make my face contort up in a grimace.
I really don't know who he is. That nice kid at school, who defended me from jeers and judgment? I knew really knew that person. Or Finn. I never did. Neither ever were my new friend or the snarky kid, but life threatening, ferocious, wildebeests like species, harboring jagged ended fangs and claws as they live among us.
"Why can't you just be friends with Casper The Friendly ghost? Why the Grim Reaper?" Finn's voice doesn't sound like his, it sounds inhumanly deep. Something similar to that of monster voices in movies.
"Can you believe his parents really let him out of the house? Into public?" Death glares at Finn, but he can't see her grey eyes burning a hole into him.
"She won't kill you," I start, wishing Death was life like so she could tell Finn off. I'd love to see who wins that fight. "but I still wouldn't insult her."
"I thought you said we were safe. That sounds the opposite of safe." Elijah cuts in, those dangerous looking canines looking more threatening as he talks. Death asks me to translate a message to them.
"You are." I nod. "For today. She is the one who knows when and how you die." I voice for her. Death's red painted lips twist up into a satisfied smirk at the look into her faces. I wasn't planning on talking today, and if I had to, that defiantly wasn't what I wanted to say. The words just felt wrong and uncomfortable in my mouth I forced them out on Death's behalf.
"Alright, I'm out of here." Finn angrily bites in my direction like a rapid dog. Growling to himself, he storms off, glancing around with paranoid eyes with each step.
"...I should..." Elijah hovers, giving me a look. "Okay." He mutters, slowly taking one stair at a time as he follows Finn out.
"My god that was uncomfortable." Death speaks up. Tell me about it...
"That little punk needs an attitude check. But the other one isn't so bad." Death peers over the banister as Elijah's goodbye to my mother floats up to my ears.
"He's cute." She adds. "But who cares if they're cute anymore." She adds, catching the look on my face.
