Chapter 2:
Miako looked at her watch and sighed. She thought to herself, “Where is Josh? I wonder if he forgot about me.”
“Hey, Mia-chan. Who are you waiting for?”
Miako looked up and replied, “Oh. Hi, Levenia.” Miako shifted her legs. She continued, ”I was waiting for Josh… but looks like he’s a no-show.”
Levenia grinned, “Josh Orrtev, eh? What about Breil?”
“Forget Breil,” Miako muttered. She pulled away from her locker and started walking towards the front doors.
Levenia paused and walked fast to catch up.
“Hey, Miako!”
Miako and Levenia stopped and turned around. Josh came towards them. “Where were you?”, Miako asked him.
“Sorry, my fifth period teacher made me stay after,” Josh quikly explained.
“Okay. Are you ready to go?”, Levenia asked.
Instead of answering, Josh looked over at Levenia. “Who is she?”, he asked Miako in a wisper.
Levenia smiled and held out her hand to Josh. “I’m Levenia Donner.”
“Hello, Ms. Donner,” Josh took Levenia’s hand.
Levenia felt a surge of cold shoot up her arm as soon as she touched Josh’s hand. She quickly tugged her hand back and looked up at Josh.
“Are you okay, Levenia?”, Miako asked.
“Yea, I’m… fine,” Levenia said slowly, locking her gaze on Josh’s.
Josh broke from Levenia’s stare. He touched Miako’s arm and said, “Let’s go.”
“Uh, bye,” Levenia smiled, glancing quickly at Miako, and walked off towards the music hall.
Miako and Josh continued towards the front doors. Once outside, the two cut through the parking lot, forward and to the right. Miako glanced at Josh and wondered why he was being so quite. He seemed to be thinking about something. “Where do you live?”, Miako finally asked.
Josh looked at Miako and smiled. He answered, “Home Avenue.”
She grinned, “Great, I know where that’s at.”
The two continued walking, talking about Josh’s first day in Martinsville.
Josh suddenly stopped walking. “This is it,” Josh said.
Miako looked surprised, for some reason she thought that Josh would live in a nice house, not a one or two-person apartment. She followed Josh in. She looked around. “What time do your parents get home?”, she asked, looking around the apartment’s main room. It was empty, except for a few boxes, with white walls and soft, black carpet.
“I don’t live with my parents,” Josh replied, opening a box.
“Are you eighteen?”, Miako asked, just standing there.
“Yea, this place is only temporary, until I graduate next year,” he answered.
“Why aren’t you a senior?”, Miako asked, sitting on a chair.
Josh paused and then answered without looking up, “Uh, My mom had me repeat a grade.”
Josh continued, “So… let’s get to unpacking, Mia,” Josh said, dragging a box into his bedroom.
Miako stood up and followed Josh into his room. She sat on the floor; Josh sat on the edge of his bed. They started going through the box and placing everything where it belonged. Miako was a little curious about some of the things that Josh owned, but she didn’t say anything to him. They weren’t really that weird, at least compared to some of the things that Mari owned.
“What’s your full name, Mia? Japanese girls always have cute names,” Josh said when it got a little to quiet.
“Hikami Miako,” Miako said dryly, without looking at Josh.
“Are you okay?”, Josh asked, his gaze resting on Miako.
“I just… don’t feel very good,” Miako said. She finally looked up at Josh. She couldn’t help smiling every time she looked at him. She added, “I’m okay, just a little light-headed and dizzy.”
“I bet I can make you feel better, …Mia,” Josh said slyly.
Miako looked up. “What?”, she asked, surprised.
Josh smiled. “I just wanted to get your reaction,” he said, going back to unpacking.
Miako paused and then decided to forget it. She continued to help Josh unpack.
“Well, I think that’s it,” Josh said, sitting on the couch. Miako sat on next to him on the couch. For a long moment they were both silent.
Miako looked at her hands. She looked up towards the kitchen, with her hands clasped loosly together. “Do you have any food?’, Miako asked.
“Uh, no,” Josh said, looking at Miako.
“Okay then,” Miako said, quickly standing up, “after I show you around Martinsville, which should not take a long time, we’ll go to the store and I will make you dinner. We can study while it is cooking and after we eat.” She grabbed her black jacket and stood by the couch.
“I’ll cook dinner,” Josh said as he stood up, “You’re a guest here, it wouldn’t be right.”
“No, you won’t. I’ve had a lot of American food this past year I’ve been here, but have you ever had Japanese food? And I love to cook, so don’t deny me,” Miako said. She shifted her legs.
“Okay, fine. But I get it next time, girl,” Josh said. He took his keys out of his jacket pocket, but left the jacket on the chair. Miako waited at the door for him. She held out her hand when he got near to her. “What?”, Josh asked.
“I’m driving,” Miako said without moving her hand.
The two girls followed Mari up the narrow stairs. Mari stopped at the door and took her keys out of her crimson red, black-flowered Chinese-style purse. She unlocked the door and turned the knob. The old door opened inward, creaking. The entire room was pitch black. Mari flipped on the light switch and the room was lit by the tiny blue lights that were wrapped around the wooden beams over head and the lamp near the computer.
The girls walked into the Mari’s bedroom. The walls of the attic-room was made of wood and most of the stuff in the room was blue. On the right side of the room was a desk, computer, couch, and a double window with a window seat. On the left was a single-bed, dresser, clothes racks, and a bookshelf. Everything else, including many computer disks, was scattered around the room.
Mari walked over to her bed and knelt down. She felt around and pulled out a big, black book with an odd crest on the cover. She laid it on the bed and walked over to the bookshelf. She looked at some books and finally tossed a second book onto the bed. “That’s it. Someone can use the computer,” she said. She pulled down the front of her shirt and asked, “Kessira, which one do you want?”
“The first book,” Kessira replied as she walked towards the bed.
Mari took the other book and sat on the blue couch. Kae sat on a rolling chair and pulled herself to the computer desk.
Kessira layed on her stomach on the bed. She fingered the crest on the front of the black book for awhile. It was creepy. She opened the book and flipped through it. The book seemed to be about witches and such, the symbols asociated with them, and ‘spells’. Kessira started back at the beginning and looked at the symbols, and there were quite a lot.
Awhile, and a lot of silence, later, Mari jumped up.
Kessira nearly dropped her book. She looked up at Mari and asked, “Did you find it?”
“No.”
Kessira asked, looking annoyed, “Then why the hell did you jump up like that?”
Mari pointed to the page she was on. “I found this wonderful medieval teriyaki recipe,” she said, ‘I have to have Miako make it for me next time she comes over!”
Kae sat turned around in the computer chair. She sweatdropped, “Ugh, Mari, be serious!”
Mari sweatdropped and looked a little downcast. “I am being serious, Kae. You know how much I love medieval, Asian food,” she replied defensively. Kessira and Kae both quietly went back to their symbol search.
Mari shut her book, after marking the page with the recipe on it and memorizing the ingredients. “There’s nothing in here about the symbol. I’m going to go to the store to get some stuff and attempt to make the teriyaki myself,” Mari said. The other two just nodded and said bye. Mari stood up and picked up her purse. She paused at the door to look at the other girls. She walked down the stairs and through the living room. She grabbed her cute, white-leather jacket as she went past the couch and then went into the garage.
“Oh god… You’re gonna break me, Mia,” Josh said tiredly. His head rested in his hands, held up by his elbows that were leaning on the cart’s handle. “I swear, I’ve never been so exhausted in my life. I don’t know how you do it… and now I’m going to be broke after this,” he said, looking up at Miako.
“Don’t worry about the money, I’ll pay for half, since I am buying a lot for dinner,” Miako said as she put something else in the cart. “You need certain foods for your soul… even if they are a little expensive. That is why Japanese food is so good. Trust me,” she said. She smiled at Josh.
“Whatever… as long as it doesn’t have a head or move,” Josh said, standing up straight. “Are you done?”, he asked. Miako nodded and they began to leave.
Mari thought about the teriyaki recipe. “I hope I remembered everything,” she thought outloud. She started towards a lane, holding a small shopping basket. “Mia-chan!”
Miako and Josh both turned around. “Hey, Mari,” Miako said, smiling.
“Mari, huh? That’s a very beautiful name, my lady,” Josh said. He took Mari’s hand and softly kissed the top of it. Mari faked a smile and tried to hide how uncomfortable she was.
“Hi, Josh,” Mari said as she slowly pulled her arm back. She held her arms behind her and asked, “So… What have you guys been doing all day?” She looked at Miako.
“Unpacking,” Josh replied. Mari nodded.
“Well, if we had the time, we would stay and talk, but we have to get back to Josh’s. Bye, Mari,” Miako said.
“Bye, see you at the Stone Table, Mia-chan.”
Miako helped Josh put the stuff into the trunk of his silver car. She slid into the passenger side.
“Kae, come here! I found it!!”
Kae looked over at Kessira. She stood up and walked over to the bed. She sat next to Kessira and looked at the black book that Kessira was holding. They both read it for a moment to themselves.
Kae pulled back and looked at Kessira. She said, “A secret vampire socialty… in London circa seventeen hundred? Why would vampires, or anyone else from London, come to Martinsville?? It would explain the disapearances lately. But, I still don’t believe that any more then the average kid-napper is going on in Martinsville.”
“I don’t know… anything is possible,” Kessira said, “Besides, how else will I have known of the symbol?”
Kae eyed Kessira with a worried look in her eyes. She said softly, “Kessira, you really shouldn’t take this so seriously. It was just a dream.” She glanced back at the computer and motioned towards the symbol with her right hand. “And this symbol,” she said, “you probably saw it somewhere before and incorporated it into your dream.”
Kessira sighed. “I don’t know,” she muttered. She lay down on the bed. “I don’t want to think about it right now,” she said as she stared at the ceiling.