Pure Requiem - Aja James Page 0,50

and friendship…before it all fell apart. Little does she know that she was my slice of heaven in an endless existence of loneliness and pain.

But it didn’t last. It never does.

I paint the beginnings of a tranquil pool dotted with lily pads and white and pink lilies. There’s a bridge arching over the water, and weeping willows swaying in the breeze.

And on the bridge there’s a gigantic dragonfly with bulging green eyes that stare directly into mine—

The fuck?!

“Ack!” I screech like a frightened little girl, before taking off my slipper and slamming it down on the still wet sheet of paper.

“No! What are you doing, Ere!” Benjamin cries, rushing to hold my arm aloft with both of his hands around my wrist.

“Don’t kill it! It’s just a harmless dragonfly!”

“It’s an ugly insect!” I retort, trying to see around Benjamin’s small form if I managed to squash it dead on the first try.

“Dragonflies are good luck! They’re not ugly! And look, this one is especially pretty. I’ve never seen one with a white pearlescent body before. And those wings look like they’re made of opals, see how they shimmer!”

“You’re an expert on dragonflies now?” I mutter.

It figures. Not only did I not have good aim, but also that Benjamin would protect the overgrown bug from another attempt to flatten it.

The precocious boy ignores me.

“I wonder where it came from,” he says thoughtfully. “Maybe it followed Tal and Ishtar into the building from the terrace garden. But you never see dragonflies in New York City. And look, Ere! It really likes your painting.”

The disgusting insect flutters its spider-web wings as it perches on top of one of the lilies I painted. Then, it has the audacity to take flight and come right at me.

“Ack!” I screech again as it rams its tiny body right between my eyes, as if it was taking revenge for my slipper hit.

I swat at it like a maniac, slapping my own face in panic.

“Don’t!” Benjamin shouts, coming to the damn thing’s rescue again. “It’s just being friendly!”

My ass!

The fucking insect has a vendetta against me or something, because it’s buzzing around my ears now, and then it lands in my long hair.

That’s when I scream bloody murder and run around the crafts table like a lunatic.

“Get it out, get it out!”

“Don’t hurt it!” Benjamin yells, chasing after me.

“Get it out, get it out!”

“Stay still!”

Involuntarily, I obey. Mainly because I run smack into a stone wall of a chest.

Cloud Drako stares frighteningly into my eyes when I’ve gained my bearings enough to look back. Those pale blue wolf-like eyes are extremely disconcerting. Especially since staring into them is making me feel disoriented and dizzy. But strangely calm at the same time.

What was I going on about again?

Something stirs in the hair at my crown.

Cloud’s eyes shift to the top of my head.

I roll my eyes upward as well, but of course I can’t see a damned thing.

There’s that strange buzzing noise again, and more fluttering in my hair.

“Stop playing games, little cousin,” the warrior says beneath his breath.

What now? Little cousin?

Bewildered, I look around.

There’s Rain, staring at me like I’ve lost my mind, while also trying not to laugh. There’s Isolde, who has paint all over her face and clothes, bouncing on her stool excitedly. There’s Benjamin, who looks at me with breath held, as if he expects me to do something bad.

No one looking like a potential little cousin to Cloud Drako to be found.

“Come down from there. He can’t be the one,” the Valiant keeps speaking to the top of my head.

Eh? Who can’t be what?

Something wiggles and shifts in my hair. I am both disgusted and sleepy at the same time. The first feeling is natural; the second is induced. Together, I feel extremely nauseous. I want to puke.

The thing flitters away, only to land on Benjamin’s extended hand, balancing on his finger like a translucent bow.

Cloud sucks in an audible breath.

What now?

“Make up your mind, little cousin. There can only be one.”

One what? What the fuck is going on here!

The confounded insect flutters off of Benjamin’s hand to perch on his shoulder instead, twitching its wings and making strange insect noises as if talking up a storm back at the frowning warrior.

And then, just like that, it simply disappears.

I kid you not. One moment the bug was there, and the next it was gone. All I did was blink.

“Well, that was interesting,” Rain muses, her voice considering.

“You have no idea,” Cloud murmurs ominously.

“Everyone saw