“Please leave,” she said calmly. So very calmly. “And don’t b’other us ag’ain.”
When I turned back, the posse was gone. Except Ben. He just stood there, utterly petrified.
“Thanks,” I told my new giant alien double-jointed dog/cat/bear friend. My hands wouldn’t quit trembling, but I didn’t care. I’d never felt this light. “Sorry you had to deal with those jerks.”
Vasa rehinged her spine and settled back into normal centaur position. Her eyes were clouded as she stared in the direction of the fleeing thugs. “It’s al’right. B’etter this little blow-up than a b’igger sh’ne later.” She gave me a significant look. “People often f’ear sh’at they d’o not underst’and. But it is n’ice to have people st’and beside you.”
Truer words were never spoken. I grinned sheepishly at her subtlety. “I’m Elliot, by the way.” Then I remembered that we still had eyes on us and turned to my own slack-jawed posse. “Close your mouths before flies buzz in, guys. Vasa, this is Luke, that’s Carla, February but we call her Feb, and the soon-to-be-reformed moron over there is Ben.” Ben kept staring back and forth between me and Vasa like an oscillating fan. “Guys, this is Vasa.” I grinned stupidly, while she bent in a very ladylike bow.
A sound reached my ears, and I noticed a few people I didn’t recognize standing up by the tables. They were clapping. I looked back to see Carla smiling nervously at Vasa, and Feb giving me two big thumbs-up. Apparently, Vasa had been right; not everyone was so against her presence here. Luke, of course, just stood there staring at me with this wide-eyed expression that screamed, “Who are you and what have you done with my roommate?” A perfect example of why I was going to continue keeping certain blue secrets to myself.
I’m not dumb. Everything my family, my people, had worked to hide was in danger, danger that would only grow the longer I held the attention of our astroxenophobic classmates. I’d have plenty of problems coming because of this little stunt. But at least none of those problems would involve me ignoring someone else’s just to avoid mine.
It’s amazing how much peace you can get out of a revelation like that.
As I went to poke Ben out of his stupor, another dumb idea occurred to me. And since I was already on a roll . . . “Uh, by the way, do you guys mind if I invite someone extra to our Friday movie night?” I gave my five baffled friends a lopsided grin. “I hear she’s been wanting to see The Chronicles of Narnia.”
The centaur smiled.
Jennifer L. Hilty
Jennifer (Jenn) is 31 and loves telling stories with a touch of faith and the fantastical, especially where aliens and superheroes are involved. When not working on a particular writing project, she writes and draws a nerdy webcomic and makes nerdy cosplays. She lives in Ohio with a chinchilla (Pikachewbacca), two cats (Stormy and Clyde), regular invasions by nieces and nephews, and a yard full of alpacas that don’t belong to her. One day she WILL finish her book series about interdimensional energy werewolves, and then maybe that will stop sounding so crazy when she tries to explain it to people.
Website: jenniferhilty.wordpress.com
Facebook: riverwritings
The Best of Deep Magic!
ORDER NOW
ORDER NOW
ORDER NOW
Four More Great Issues!
ORDER NOW ON AMAZON
The stories in Deep Magic are works of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2020 Jeff Wheeler
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Cover art by Steve R. Yeager
Deep Magic logo & cover design by Deron Bennett
Copyediting by Wanda Zimba
E-zine design by Steve R. Yeager
www.deepmagic.co