Chapter Fifteen: Legal Guardian

Chapter Fifteen

“Legal guardian?” Jade scoffed. “Who the-” If I hadn’t known the answer to Jade’s questioned, I would’ve accepted the adaptation of ‘hello’ she used. “-do you think you are?!”

Before the reporter could act, I spoke in his defense. “He’s Harold-”

“Sir,” He cut in.

I shrugged, showing how little I cared. “Sir Harold McLeod, don’t you remember how he saved our lives, Jade?” I winked at her so she’d understand the promised explanation to come. Meanwhile, both the twitch of my eyelid and the motion of my tongue sparked fire behind the windows to the reporter’s soul, if he had one that was.

Sir Harold McLeod snapped his fingers again, causing the reporter to scamper away.

“You’re not our legal guardian.” Jade stood up with a violent stamp of her foot. “We belong to our grandparents!”

I walked towards her, and for once, ignored Gavin’s arm clinging to me. “Jade, please, try to calm down.”

“No!” She barked like a toddler. “There’s no-” the ‘F’ word was a little uncalled for. “-that I’m going to be under the care of this perverted freak! Did you hear what he just said about me!?!” My silence provoked her further. “He said my elbow could pay the rent if I started working street corners!” She clutched her arm with a hurt expression on her face.

“You’re not that bimbo,” He pointed at the oblivious news reporter. “So get your facts right. Firstly, it was the mortgage, not the rent. Thirdly, Erma said it, not me.” Jade was unaffected by the old man’s reply. She didn’t seem to notice the way in which he said it though. “Come, we should be going.” He turned and took a step but when neither Jade of I moved with him, he turned back around. “Well, what’re you waiting for?”

“We’re not going anywhere until you explain why you think we’re in your custody.” I was beginning to love Jade’s stubbornness.

He sighed. “Your grandparents were declared missing seventy-two hours ago. Your neighbor made the call.” I knew Jade and I hadn’t really been home much, but how had we not seen them for the past three days? “Besides, they technically can’t even afford to raise you. It’s a miracle CPS hasn’t abducted you.” The ancient knight gave me a queer look. “I imagine your father’s death in relation to the Catrions had something to do with it.”

“My father was a good man—the thing you credit with donating a gamete to my mother the night I was created is a disgrace to who my father was.” I snarled. Only Jade understood my meaning, but even she couldn’t grasp the extent of my meaning. “My father was Joseph Floyd Borealis. Mistaking Hubert fir Floyd Borealis is an affront to his honorable name.”

“I’m sorry I offended you, I was just inferring based on my limited knowledge of your situation.” He apologized. Both Hade and Gavin had stepped close to me, as if to stop me from becoming violent. I knew I wasn’t going to do anything drastic, but the mention of my father evoked such tremendous emotions my two closest friends were wary of my trauma. It frustrated me that I appeared without control over my emotions, to the extreme my friends thought I would do something I wouldn’t normally. I was angered by their actions because they couldn’t understand who my father had been to me; Jade was the only one of the two who had ever met the man, but the few weeks she’d compiled didn’t do justice to the person he’d been.

“Am I correct in my assumption about where the money you survive off of came from?”

“To an extent,” I muttered. I’d expected bewilderment from my friends, but Jade’s face told stories of disgust; that was far from what I’d imagined would happen. If anything sickened me more than the piles of bodies, it was Jade thinking I lied.

“Anyways, please come with me; we’ve got a train to catch.” The old man motioned with his arm where to go.

“Train to catch?” Gavin asked for the two who were nearly sisters, since Jade and I were preoccupied glaring daggers at each other. Truthfully, she was the one glaring, but I stared back in the feeble hope she’d see my side of the story.

“Yes,they have a train to catch.” The old man snapped.

“They aren’t going alone.” Gavin replied. His tone wasn’t as biting as the knight’s had been, but it left no room for an objection. I appreciated Gavin’s forceful concern, but I had to wonder what would happen.

“No, they’re not.” The other boy agreed, trying to sound firm as well.

At an impasse, the aged male standing in front of us thought for a moment, during which he stared deep into my eyes. With an exasperated exhalation of breath, he announced “I guess it’s impossible for me to care for you if I refuse to let you keep your pets.”

“So we can come?” The brown-haired young adult asked.

“Yes, though only if you don’t cause any trouble.” The oldest man in the conversation began walking towards the train station; he wasn’t turning around again. “Dress warmly, it’s still cold at McLeod Manor.” It had been difficult to understand his words without him speaking in our direction.

We had no choice but to follow; somehow, I felt our lives were about to change. Jade wouldn’t speak to me as we walked, and even getting her to look at me was a challenge. Instead, she focused her gaze straight ahead; it only wavered once. That one time was just for her to acknowledge the sarcasm of the boy in the red vest.

Before leaving, as we’d been advised, the four of us stopped in a winter clothing store. I picked up a black parka with blue trim and a set of matching hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants. Gavin found a nice-looking white zip-up jacket while the sporting goods store employee picked up a fake fur coat. Jade however, found a full outfit.

I’d pulled the grey sweatpants on underneath the vibrant knee-length floral dress Gaviin had given me; I’d wanted to dress quickly so our progress wouldn’t be slowed. Jade didn’t seem to care about keeping pace; she marched into a changing room with her arms full of clothing.

I took the opportunity Jade created to speak to her. Gavin and the tag-along wouldn’t follow Jade into the ladies changing room, or to the security guard who observed the room. Out of habit, Jade closed the door to the stall, but she really didn’t need to; she was alone in the room except for me. I could see her pull the dress similar to mine over her head, though that was only because her shoulders and ankles were visible.

“Jade?” I mumbled. Either Jade didn’t hear me or she was ignoring me. “Jade, I’m sorry, I, uh, I’m not sure what to say.” I admitted.

She didn’t respond but instead pulled a white camisole over her head.

“Please Jade, you have to understand what I went through.” I pleaded. “I watched Hubert die and I was afraid of what was going to happen to me, so I did the only thing I thought of. I had all that was left of my immediate family’s assets transferred to my name.”

“Some excuse,” Jade grumbled. “Like watching Hubert die would traumatize you enough to lie to me. That’s bull!”

I held back several seething insults that found their way to the tip of my tongue. “You’re right, I loathed the idiot.”

Jade flung open the door to the stall. She was wearing pale jeans, or almost; they weren’t zipped or buttoned yet. “Then why the-” She swore. “-did you-” She swore again. “-lie to me?!”

I frowned at the incessant swearing. “Did you see all those sorrowful representations of people who once walked with the living????” I was calm. It was strange that the angrier I grew, the calmer I became.

“What the-”Believe it or not, Jade swore again. “-does that have to do with us?!”

Jade’s continued swearing was quite perturbing. “Just answer the question.”

“Yes, I’ve-” The f-word escaped her lips yet again. “-seen them but what the-” In my opinion, she was overusing that word. “-does that have to do with anything?!”

I ignored the question to ask another. “Did you see the monsters that did this?”

“Yes, I freakin’ saw the-” This time, she chose another letter of the alphabet to start a swear word with. “-things! I also saw the strange colored shadows, and the glass skylight break, and I even got a-” She strayed back to the f-word. “-shard of shrapnel in my-” I was beginning to think she had a fondness for the word. “-chest!” She yanked her shirt off and pulled her undershirt down far enough to reveal a thin wafer of glass embedded on the left side of her chest with dried blood caked around it. Upon showing me, Jade put her shirt back on and ripped the tag off a red polo she’d found. She pulled it on, zipped up her pants, and wove a thin chain into her belt loops to serve as a belt.

“What do you suppose would be the reaction you’d have if those things orphaned you and threatened to destroy your life?”

“What’s your point?” For the first time in a while, she wasn’t swearing.

“The Catrions killed Hubert, and as a result, I lost my last hope for life and I didn’t want to…” I couldn’t find the words to say, but Jade found them, unfortunately.

“You didn’t want to end up like me.” She sneered.

“I don’t mean this badly, but yes.” Jade’s face said she didn’t believe what I was saying. “To protect myself, I used all of the financial stability both Hubert and my father had attained.” Jade looked disgusted at everything I said. “When I discovered you, I thought I could afford to care for you as well as myself.” Jade’s eyes narrowed to slits as she pushed past me; she collected the jackets she’d found and left the dress to rot.

I felt lower than the dirt on the gum stuck to the bottom of a tennis shoe. My head drooped as I walked out of the changing room. The film over the ground did nothing to lift my spirits; it reminded me of the encompassing death which I had tried to ignore. All of the bodies in this part of the mall had been removed but the shadow of death still lingered wherever the strange concrete was visible.

Gavin saw me coming but for once, he wasn’t a guaranteed smile. Only when he took my hand in his did my mood change, though the change was negligible.

Jade got the wish she’d had earlier in the day granted when the wire-haired knight paid for a full-size luxury train compartment. I knew vaguely that he was something of a celebrity, though I couldn’t help but wonder where he was getting the kind of money he was dishing out. Granted, a luxury car wasn’t terribly expensive but the man had also given out three currency cards. I didn’t know about Jade’s or Gavin’s but according to the card reader in my wallet, the account contained the maximum amount of money federal insurance would protect. To put that in perspective, the numbers were something like three-quarters of a billion.

The five of us clambered into the compartment with a few seats to spare. Gavin and I sat on one side of the compartment, though it was more like the two of us were seated as one. Neither of us were in the other’s lap, but we were so close to each other, our hips were connected. Opposite the two of us, Jade sat next to the wall, with the boy we’d picked up along the way next to her, and the antique on his other side. To try to break the concentration on death that haunted me, I tried focusing on the conversation starting between Jade and the one two seats down.

“So, uh, Sir McLeod-” Jade spoke without overlooking any chance to murder me with her mother’s eyes fixed into a cold stare.

“Call me Sir Harold, or whatever you please.” He interrupted.

“Okay, uh, Tony-”

“Who’s Tony? I gave you permission to call me ‘Sir Harold’ or ‘Whateveryouplease’ but not ‘Tony’.” Sir Harold interrupted again.

Jade cocked her head to the side. “Fine, Mr.-”

“Sir,” He said beneath a cough.

“Sir,” Jade corrected herself. “Whateveryouplease, since we’re now in your custody, you owe us a history lesson at the very least.”

“Which would you prefer the topic to be on? The Unification of Earth as one independent state, or the colonial wars?” He asked, moderately full of himself.

“I meant I wanted to hear about you.”

“I am not a bozo!” Sir Harold exclaimed.

Jade was flabbergasted. “I never said you were!”

Sir Harold jumped up and wagged his fingers in her direction. “But you were thinking it! I heard you!”

“Excuse me?”

“Hmm, I didn’t hear you burp.” He studied Jade’s face. “It must’ve been one of those silent but deadly ones out the other side.” Jade was bewildered to say the least. “Hold your noses or croak!” He cried clamping his hands over his eyes.

“Just sit down and tell us who you are.” Gavin commanded forcefully.

“But the Noxious fumes—I can’t breathe!” Sir Harold screamed. Annoyed, Gavin stood up inside the train moving at something like mach two and pushed the deranged senior citizen back into his seat. Satisfied, Gavin returned to being attached to me.

“Well, I’m Sir Harold McLeod, and I like eating cabbage. That pretty much sums it up, don’t you think?”

“No,” Jade said coolly.

“But,” He whined. “I do like eating cabbage! That should be enough for you!”

“Tell us where you got your money from.” I ordered, almost as icily as Jade.

“Part of it came from my years as a public clairvoyant, but most of it came from mining asteroids.”

“Mining asteroids?” Jade’s friend inquired.

“Yes, I pioneered robotic engineering on bodies of mass with a weak gravitational field, and even unlocked the potential for colonization of said bodies. There are actually three colonies of which I’m the sole proprietor of; the first was a penal colony and the third was a mining experiment.” His head swelled. “Erma told me how to do it.”

“What about the sec-” Gavin was cut off by the storyteller.

“Shh! Don’t say it!” Sir Harold shushed Gavin again. “It’s an evil number!”

“So what happened to the other colony?” I asked, careful not to use the number two.

“It doesn’t exist where good men sneeze.” He nodded.

“I’ve got a question now.” Jade declared. “Who is this ‘Erma’ you keep mentioning?”

“Yes, please explain.” The boy in the middle chimed in.

Sir Harold jerked the wader off his foot and held it close to his heart while stroking it lovingly. “It’s okay Erma, don’t listen to them! They don’t know any better!”

“That ratty old hunk of rubber is Erma?” Jade asked.

Sir Harold stood up faster than a lightning strike blinds restless sleepers. “How dare you?! Erma and I don’t have to deal with this! We can be harassed elsewhere!” He stormed out of the compartment and slammed the door behind him.