The Legend of the Blue Eyes (26 page)

Arianna felt her hesitation melt away as a
smile crept over her face. So much had changed, but everything in
the kitchen was the same. Captain Lou reached down and gave Arianna
a bear hug.

“I was contemplating moving, but I figured,
what would Dean and Lilly do without me? Are they at least feeding
you right at Lord Randolph’s?” he asked.

Arianna nodded.
In more ways than one
,
she wanted to say, but remained silent. It was still too awkward to
discuss her new life with everyone that was so familiar with her
old life. The kitchen staff must have all known who she was all
along, but she just didn’t want the old familiar feelings to
change.

“Chili cheese fries then?” Lou asked. “Mary
Ellen and Tish are with you, right?”

“Yep,” Arianna replied, remembering her
friends. She hadn’t even found a way to tell them what was going
on, and they were waiting upstairs to bombard her with
questions.

“We’ll have those ready in a minute.” Lou
smiled and patted Arianna’s head as he had done since she was a
small child. Only Lou could get away with still treating her like a
kid. Arianna looked one more time around the kitchen. Her better
senses could pick up the subtle differences in the people shifting
from one work station to another. As much as she wanted everything
to stay the same, it was now different.

“You better get up to the girls,” Lou
commented as Arianna paused.

“But,” Arianna didn’t know how to explain
her dilemma to Lou.

“Everything is back to normal now, right?”
Lou asked. He always read Arianna’s expressions perfectly.

“If you don’t count the people that now
constantly follow me around. How do I explain them to my
friends?”

“It’s probably easier than you think. You
like to overanalyze everything. Do you honestly think Mary Ellen
and Tish will ever see you as anything other than their best
friend?” Lou began to push Arianna towards the staircase.

“But,” Arianna wanted to complain more.

“They know more than you think,” Lou added,
as they reached the door.

Arianna turned quickly, and only caught the
back of Lou weaving between cooks and orchestrating the mess in the
kitchen. Turning back to the staircase, Arianna stood face to face
with Molina. Molina didn’t speak, she just waited for Arianna to
climb the stairs in front of her. Arianna didn’t move but just
stared back.

“What did he mean by that?” she asked.
Molina had no choice but to answer.

“Your friends already know about all this,”
Molina replied, she tried to usher Arianna up the stairs.

“What?” Arianna tried not to shriek, but it
came out quite close.

“They should explain, not me.” Molina waited
for Arianna to move and refused to add more.

Arianna began to slowly climb the stairs.
Everyone made it sound so easy, but it wasn’t. Arianna barely
understood it herself, let alone explain it. Pausing near the top,
Arianna turned back to Molina. “What about Turner and Devin? Why
did they leave school early?”

“Turner was low on blood and refused to take
it from a human. Devin took him to the nearest safe house.”

Arianna tried not to let her smile show as
she continued to climb the last two stairs. Turner didn’t take the
blood after all. She didn’t have a right to be jealous. It wasn’t
like Turner was her boyfriend, but she was happy nonetheless.

Arianna opened the door to their apartment
and found Aunt Lilly cleaning as usual. Aunt Lilly smiled and waved
with her free hand, ushering Arianna inside. Arianna hesitated at
the door. Everything would change again. No matter what Captain Lou
said, things would change. Mary Ellen and Tish stood from the couch
and dragged Arianna to her room.

“No way, I think she already has too many
cute guys. She should let one of us have Chris,” Mary Ellen
complained to Tish.

“But he was asking her to come to the game,
not us,” Tish replied, flopping down onto Arianna’s floor.

“Are we going to the game tonight?” Mary
Ellen asked Arianna, standing in the doorway to her room.

“I have to ask,” Arianna remembered. Turning
around, Arianna waved to her aunt to turn off the vacuum. “Can I go
to a basketball game tonight?”

“That’s up to Gabriel. Your plans are with
him tonight.” Aunt Lilly returned to her vacuuming. Arianna could
feel in the air the distaste her aunt had for Gabriel.

“I’ll be right back, guys. I have to go ask
my uncle,” Arianna explained to her friends. “Food should be done.
If you eat everything before I return, you guys have to go place a
new order.”

“But,” Tish complained. “Lou doesn’t like
us.” Mary Ellen nodded. Arianna smiled and shrugged. Lou was always
strict with both Tish and Mary Ellen because it was funny to watch
when they were scared. Lou actually was very fond of Arianna’s two
best friends.

Arianna hurried, with Molina close behind,
to the old yellow house two doors down from the diner. Molina
paused in the yard as Arianna rang the doorbell. Everything about
the house made it seem like a family home. In fact, there was even
the sound of children playing outside in the backyard. Molina
couldn’t pick up a bit of the scent of baku in the house. Arianna
opened the door without waiting for someone to answer. Molina
stayed in the yard as Arianna entered.

Arianna walked down the hallway to the
kitchen, following the scent of Gabriel. Arianna hesitated as she
walked into the brightly-lit room. The largest baku she had ever
seen was sitting at the table, while a small, bald man was studying
his large muscular arm. Her head filled with fearful thoughts of
the first night she met a baku. Arianna and Devin were surrounded
by men who were all the same as the man in the chair.

“Sure, but you have to leave at nine whether
the game is done or not,” the baku said. Arianna didn’t move from
the doorway. He was physically completely different, but Gabriel’s
voice was exactly the same. The large pale man smiled. His razor
sharp teeth glimmered. “I heard you talking with Lilly. My hearing
is almost as good as yours when I’m in this form.”

“Oh.” Arianna stayed in the doorway. It
wasn’t fear that held her there as she knew it was her uncle, not
only by his voice, but his scent. Rather, it was some built-in
sense that told her that he was dangerous to get near.

“And that’s why baku and dearg-duls don’t
get along,” Gabriel explained, responding to her feelings. “There’s
no reason to fear me. Don’t worry, that feeling will be gone after
tonight.” Arianna nodded before turning to leave.

Before she made it out the door she paused.
“Will I look like you when I turn?” she asked, not turning around
to watch his expression. She was trying not to insult him, but she
didn’t want to turn into a large muscular man either.

The needle broke with Gabriel’s movement,
and Gabriel laughed as the bald man swore under his breath
again.

“You broke another one,” the man
complained.

“If that’s your only fear about tonight, we
should be fine. You won’t turn into a gigantic albino man,” Gabriel
reassured her. “Going through the change won’t make you any less
you than you already are. Nothing can change who you are.”

Arianna ran back out the door past Molina,
who had been listening to the conversation while she waited.
Arianna made it up halfway the stairs before pausing and returning
to the kitchen of the diner. With her increased senses, she easily
avoided the organized mass of workers to grab food for her friends
who were waiting upstairs.

As per normal, Mary Ellen and Tish were
already seated on her bed, gossiping as she returned. Arianna sat
down on the floor, and they all used her bed as a makeshift table.
Arianna looked at her friends again. Neither one was a night
human.

“So, spill it,” Mary Ellen started to grill
Arianna.

“How do you get two gorgeous boys to follow
you around, begging for your attention?” Tish asked. “I need to
know your secret.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Arianna replied as
Tish and Mary Ellen both shook their heads, mocking her.

“Come on,” Tish complained, nudging
Arianna.

“Really,” Arianna replied. “They just
started to follow me around on their own.”

“So which one is your boyfriend?” Mary Ellen
asked, wanting to know more juicy details.

“Neither,” Arianna replied. Again her
friends didn’t believe her. “Really. Devin works for my grandfather
and Turner is my keeper.”

“Then they’re not your boyfriends?” Tish
asked, disappointed they weren’t going to get details.

“Your keeper?” Mary Ellen repeated and Tish
stopped and stared also. “But don’t you guys normally wait years
for that?” Arianna stared dumbstruck at her two best friends.

“But? How?” Arianna sputtered.

“We’re your best friends,” Tish added. “Of
course we know what you are.”

“Sometimes I wish I could be one also,”
added Mary Ellen, turning the bowls of fries so they could grab
more.

“But?” Arianna repeated.

“My dad is a dearg-dul,” Mary Ellen added,
noticing her friend’s confusion. “Remember all those trips? He was
going to the Randolph estate for annual meetings.” Mary Ellen
picked up a fry and popped it in her mouth like she was having any
normal conversation with Arianna.

“And my family has several baku and tengu in
it,” Tish added. “Though the gene was lost somewhere in my parent’s
generation.” Tish grabbed a fry also.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Arianna
complained, taking the fries from her friends and holding them
hostage. “This past week has been so confusing. No one told me any
of this before, and then it was just plopped on me.”

“Your aunt asked us not to,” Mary Ellen
explained like it was a logical answer.

“She told me I couldn’t be your friend if I
told you,” Tish replied with a better answer.

“Then everyone was in on the secret but me?”
Arianna asked. Mary Ellen looked to Tish and nodded.

“But we didn’t know you were a purebred,”
Mary Ellen quickly explained. “We just thought you were another
dearg-dul who needed to be protected since your parents were
gone.”

“I’m not just a dearg-dul,” Arianna added
glumly, grabbing another fry. Her friends hadn’t lied to her on
purpose, but on orders from Aunt Lilly.

“Of course not. You are the blue-eyed
dearg-dul,” Tish added to what she had heard through the
gossip.

“Yeah, but after tonight I’ll also be a
baku,” Arianna explained. “That’s why my aunt probably had to let
you be my friend, Tish, even though she hates baku and tengu.”

“I always wondered why they would let me be
a friend with you once everyone knew you were a dearg-dul,” Tish
replied. Tish actually didn’t take sides like most people and
didn’t care what Arianna was going to be once she changed.

“That makes no sense. How can you be both?”
Mary Ellen asked. “It is so unfair. I just want to be one and you
get to be both.” Arianna laughed, not being able to reply to her
friend and her absurd suggestion.

“It isn’t as fun as it seems,” Arianna
replied. Tish nodded in empathy.

“My cousin complains all the time. He said
that it’s the blood that drives him nuts,” Tish reached over and
grabbed another fry. Arianna’s mind drifted at the mention of
blood. Turner and Devin were coming back now.

“Do you know about everyone in school then?”
Arianna asked. How much did her friends know since they were just
day humans?

“I don’t know who is, specifically,” Mary
Ellen explained. “But in general, the jocks are mostly lycan and
the musically inclined students are baku.”

“Dearg-duls are mostly the smart students in
student council and tengu are the artist students,” Tish added.
“You won’t leave us for the student council, will you?” Tish
complained. “Now that you can fit in with the other ones?”

“I’m not musically inclined or smart, so I
guess I don’t fit in with either,” Arianna assessed.

“What’s it like having a keeper?” Mary Ellen
asked, changing the subject after hearing the two boys return.

“Do you get alone time whenever you want?”
Tish added. Arianna’s cheeks flushed.

“He’s not my keeper yet,” Arianna explained.
“I just agreed last weekend to take him as a keeper someday.”
Arianna tried to emphasize the word ‘someday.’

“What about the blond one?” Tish asked.
“Blonds are more my type.”

“He’s just part of my PPU,” Arianna replied,
remembering the conversation with Devin over the weekend. Outside
the bedroom, he would only be her protector.

“You’ve kissed them, haven’t you?” Mary
Ellen was too perceptive. Arianna couldn’t reply.

“Which one?” Tish asked, wanting the details
now that they were getting somewhere.

Arianna closed her eyes to answer,
“Both.”

“Both?” Mary Ellen and Tish asked in unison
before they all burst into laughter.

Maybe some things won’t
change
, Arianna thought, watching her
friends.

“Which one do you like?” Mary Ellen asked
when she finally caught her breath.

Arianna shook her
head
no
, she
wasn’t going to talk. Arianna began to blush as her friends jumped
on her to tickle the truth out of her. Arianna squirmed and laughed
more as they continued to tickle her and asked questions which she
refused to answer. After all three girls were exhausted, they just
lay on the floor and continued to giggle.

“Girls,” Aunt Lilly said as she knocked on
the door. “The game starts in fifteen minutes, if you’re
going.”