Glass Planet

Part Two: Deception- E M M A & V I V A

Emma

Xander's probably home by now, but luckily, Father isn't. And even more lucky, I'm not. Because when I see Xander, I'll kill him. Slowly.

Mrs. Goode drones on and on, and my mind wanders farther and farther. I can afford to miss class; I already know most of the material in the math chapter we're currently on. What I can't afford, though, is to respond to Maggie when a text comes from her at that minute.

Maggieee

Aliyah's at 10 u coming

Mrs. Goode has gone back to her desk, and luckily I sit in a part of the classroom where I can use my phone without being seen. I don't like risking it, though.

Hell no gotta beat the hell outta brother

Sry

With that, I make to shove my phone deeper into the pocket of my sweatshirt, but another text comes in.

Xander

Can u ditch fifth period?

I'm really going to kill this kid. In a split second, though, I send him a text saying I'll meet him, but where? He replies, saying he'll be at school. This surprises me. He's not really supposed to leave the house. I agree, and finally put the phone on Do Not Disturb and shove it completely into my pocket. Goode's walking around the class, and I bend down over my notebook and flip back to a full page of notes so she can't see that I've done nothing. She shoots me a small smile, and I can't help but smile back. Being one of the youngest teachers on staff, just out of college, it's impossible not to like her.

And impossible not to feel bad whenever you lie to her. It's necessary, I remind myself.

It's the period before lunch, and I'm still not completely awake. Xander and I sit in a small cafe a few blocks from campus, and I can tell something's bothering him.

"Remember that girl-?" he starts. I raise a hand to stop him, and he sheepishly closes his mouth. Even though he's the older sibling, I manage to scare him. He waits until I'm halfway through a bite of a small muffin before he starts talking again. Seeing as I'm eating, I can't say anything.

"She's different, Em. Like, crazy. I don't know what Hayman's gonna do if they find out about her." I choke on my muffin. "Are you saying they don't know what the deal is with her?" Xander shakes his head, his black hair falling into his face. "As far as Hayman's concerned, Viva's the only body they could recover from an incident they were supposed to prevent, and her body, which was getting ready to have an autopsy performed on it, burned with the rest of the lab." I swallow and drop my head in my hands. The way he said her name...

No one knew what was happening, and Xander was about to land himself in some very bad trouble. "Where is she?" I ask. "Did you leave her alone at the house?" Xander drops his head onto his folded arm resting on the table. "She's at the house, and she's probably about to escape. Or try, anyway."

Viva

I shake the doorknob again, but nothing happens. I tried breaking the door down with the desk chair, but nothing. Everything in the house seems to have the same consistency as titanium, even the windows. Giving up on escape, I start scouring the room for weapons. Drawers opening and slamming shut, closet doors sliding open and closed. Nothing. I can't even remove the bar in the closet. I try to take the curtain rod, but it's also unmovable. The window of the room takes up almost the whole wall, so I pull the curtain closed. I spin and face the empty bulletin board, shaking with rage. Besides, who the hell puts a bulletin board in a guest bedroom? Who the hell has such a big guest bedroom?

The bulletin board.

I yank the pushpins out of the board, and some of the ones that are stuck in the walls. I bend some of them into hooks using a book and the edge of the table, and use them to pull out strings from the blanket lying on the large bed. There aren't any scissors in the room, so I pull the threads apart with the hooks and start braiding them together. Alura taught me elaborate braids years ago, and luckily, I still remember them. I soon have a rope a good half inch thick, and I start shoving the rest of the pushpins in them. Not a very graceful weapon, but an effective one al the same. I wish there was a clock in the room, but there isn't, so I carefully loop the rope around my wrist and wait.

~

The light's beginning to fade from the room, and I've made a terrible mistake.

I fell asleep.

My eyes snap open. The rope is still wrapped around my wrist, and the plastic heads of the pushpins dig uncomfortable into my skin. From one cursory glance. I know that no one has been in the room. But from the sounds downstairs, I know someone is home. "Viva?" It's Xander, and he's coming closer and closer to the door. I stretch out the pushpin rope and hold it out, ready to strike. I won't kill, I decide. I'll injure. Xander opens the door, looks at me for a nanosecond, and suddenly I'm lying on the bed, with Xander sitting next to me. It takes a second to notice the arm he's using to pin my neck to the bed. "Son of a-" I start, but Xander uses his other hand to cover my mouth. Bitch, I finish silently.

"Pushpins?" He asks with mild interest. "Primitive." My legs flail a little, but I don't try to get his arm off my throat yet. He's most likely stronger than me, given the height difference. He eyes my feet for a minute, then lets go of my throat with a roll of his eyes. I take that moment to wrap an arm around his neck and drag his head down to just under my chin. I don't hold him tight enough to suffocate him, but enough for him to be uncomfortable. He gasps like a dying fish. "Shut up," I snap, pulling his neck a little more. He tries to escape my grasp, but I know now for sure that my strength is equal to his. Fortunately for me, I'm the only one who can use that to my advantage right now. His body jerks, and we fall off the bed and to the floor, landing next to each other on our stomachs. "Good game," he says conversationally, rubbing his neck, and I've never felt more infuriated in my life. If only the makeshift weapon wasn't on the other side of the bed. I lie still on the ground, not daring to look him in his eyes. My hands shake with suppressed rage, and the longing to get them around his neck. I'm going to kill him. Oh, I'm going to kill him.

"No point resisting, Viv. You know I'll stop you every time."

"Don't you dare call me that," I snarl. He pats my shoulder condescendingly, and I grit my teeth with the effort of not screaming at him. When my anger subsides, I roll onto my back and face Xander, who is now standing up. He offers me a hand, but I grab the bed to pull myself up. His hair is messy, and his eyes have a slightly crazed look. I stand, staring boldly up into his eyes. There's at least an eight inch difference in our heights, but I'm not intimidated. I'm about to say something when I hear a girl's voice screaming for him.

"Alexander!"

He doesn't respond.

"Alexander, you get your sorry ass down here."

He's wincing slightly now.

The unknown voice screams his name a few more times, with a few colorful words between. Xander looks annoyed, then drags me out of the room by my wrists. I start to dig my nails into the soft skin of his inner forearm, until he lets go and just marches me down the stairs with a hand on my shoulder. A girl who seems to be female version of Xander waits in the kitchen. Logan would've said she had a dark sort of beauty to her, her long black hair flowing down to the middle of her back, her brown eyes looking gold in the light. Her lashes were artificially long, and her eyes surveyed the whole scene coldly. I leaned against the banister, shooting her a look of equal iciness. "Ladies," Xander says uncomfortably, but he has no words to diffuse the tension. 

"Alright, Xander," she says. "Time to explain a few things. Let's start with why she's here."