They Called Me FIVE

LANCE

My neck tingled. I think she just said something important and out of place. But she smiled sweetly. And blushed when Magnus stared right at her. 

For twenty minutes we dived in. Stomach full of goodies I never got to enjoy for days. I miss the rich flavor of pizza kissing my lips, tangling my tongue. As if hugging my mouth, telling me 'I miss this big eater'.

I murmured I miss you too. That garnered strange stare from Seven. For a while now, she'd been keeping an eye on glasses lady. The mistrustful observant gaze I sometimes see when my middle school teachers caught me cheating in exams last semester and is bent to catch me now.

I lowered my head, my lips just three inches from her ear. "What's up?" She drummed her fingers in the table. Her chocolate treats is now a pile of wrappers in tray. She sip through the vanilla shake given to three of us, Sam, Seven and I. 

She cast one last lingering stare and looked at her hands. 

"We're sleeping here?" she asked in my head. I turned to Magnus. Whose busy sniffing and glorifying the smell of rootbeer in a glass.

"What?" he noticed me scowling. 

"Ask her if we could stay." I nudge my chin to the glasses lady pretending to be busy in the reception counter. 

Magnus nods and stood up abruptly. He picked up Sam's arm and Alpha Beast tail while skidding off to get out of the dinner table. 

"Woah, wait what are you doing?" Sam protested. Magnus forced him to stand up.

"Hey, umm…" he half dragged half carried the two into the glasses lady counter. "Thank you so much for the meal. Because of you we're full, honestly you're a lifesaver." He flashed her a smile. She blushed right in her seat.

"I promise we will come back to repay you. Here, my contact number." My ears sprang up when he handed her a piece of paper with his name and probably – cellphone number written on it.

This is not part of the agreement. I told him we'll stay the night, not ditch the place after a free meal. 

"You're leaving?" she sound disappointed. Magnus is facing sideways in our direction. And I could see how his eyebrow drooped. As if he's disappointed too.

"Yes.. I couldn't – I mean we couldn't possibly stretch your kindness and have you let us all stay the night. We have no money to repay you. The mere fact you let us come in to your humble home is a great favor for us." 

"Well then, why don't you stay? You can't ride a cab on the way home. Not in the road at this time of night. I can accompany you to the nearest bus stop, probably two kilometers away from here first thing in the morning. But not tonight. Those racers will flood the area, making it too dangerous to go out."

"But –"

"Please… I insist." She reached out and touch his hand. My eyebrows shot up. The lady is getting bolder. 

Magnus actually looked confused. One I didn't expect to see right now. After all those tips and big talks he's actually a wussy when it comes to girls taking the first step.

"Okay…" Magnus give in. Glasses lady flash a triumphant smile.

"Would you like to come up to your rooms now? Take a shower?" 

Behind Magnus, it was Sam who answered, "Yes, please." His face scrunched up after smelling his underarms. 

"Then come with me. I'll take you there." She unlocked – probably a latch at the right side of her counter and the plank were flip over. She got out and removed her apron. Nudging us to follow her.

I stood up on my seat too. Stopped midway when Seven tugged on my jacket.

"Seven?" She wasn't looking at me. Her eyes were trained at glasses lady who just went up the stairs at the corner towards the second floor. 

"Seven?" I asked again. She blinked back her occupied eyes and gazed at me.

"What?" 

"Umm.. you grab me. Is there something you'd like to say? Should we follow them?" 

"Ah yes," She pushed away the empty vanilla shake and fall behind me. We trotted right beside Sam and Magnus. 

The second floor is quite narrow and a bit darker than I expected. There's only one bulb in the corridor, not enough to shed light on the corners of the room. Some doors were open as we passed.

No one occupies but I could have sworn I saw red glaring eyes behind that other room. And a shadow that moves on the second.

"Is there any tenants here?" I asked. 

Glasses lady shook her head. "No. The previous couples who used that room two nights ago left this morning. So was the salesman in the second."

"I see." 

We walked ahead. She directed us to the farthest room. Probably the most spacious. When she flip the lights on it has four beds in two rows, a tv, a single sofa and two cabinets between each beds. A white lamp stands atop. 

"Is this room okay?" she asked. 

"It's perfect." Magnus took hold of her right hand to kiss it. Seven intervenes. More like she slap his hand away from her and bowed stiffly.

I said my thanks. 

"You're welcome. I hope you can sleep well." She headed to the door and gave one last sweet smile to Magnus and closed the door.

We listened to her footsteps heading downstairs. When it's gone, Magnus confronted Seven. 

"It hurts you know. What was that all about?" 

But Seven was suddenly out of earshot. Into the window, looking below. She plunged her hands in the ground. Closing her eyes, furrowing her brows. 

"Seven, what are you doing?" I asked. She didn't pay me any attention. 

"Hey…" Magnus beside me look down at his hand. The one where Seven slap. "You think she's weird?" He asked absentmindedly.

"Who? Seven?"

"No, the glasses girl. When I touch her earlier, I have this tiny bit of eerie sensations." He rubbed his finger at his upper chin. As if thinking. "I can't exactly describe it. Her hand was too cold, you know. Too cold for a human, I think. Or maybe she just touched meat from the freezer that's why her hands were chilly."

"If you're talking about meat, it could be the chicken and steak she fried. But her hands won't be cold in the long run. She's frying them. The oil's heat will climb in her fingers. I could attest to that." I said. Remembering back to the good old days when I tried to fry eggs but got my hands tossed in the pan instead. 

"Of course I know that." Magnus said, clenching and unclenching his fist. "But there's something more to it you know? The brush of her skin flip something in me." 

"What? Butterflies in the stomach?" Sam joked. Magnus shakes his head. 

"Not butterflies. My Koha technique. It pump loudly in my chest. Believe me when I tell you that hasn't happened before except when that ugly Faery lady appeared right in our magical borders." 

"What do you mean?" 

Magnus didn't get a chance to answer. Seven stormed right between us and attack the bed. When I said attack I didn't mean the slamming your body right on the top, I meant she raised her knee and kicked the bed down. The force used was so great the four legs collapsed, the bed snap and it crashed on the floor.

"Master what did you… eek." Alpha Beast parrot wings got snatch in the air by Seven. She's strangling his pudgy body. 

"Can you transform?" Seven asked through gritted teeth. Yeah, it was strange hearing it. Especially when she's talking in our head and she still manage to make it sound like she's chewing her own tongue with her canine teeth.

"Ma – master?" I feel sorry for the scared parrot. Seven is scaring him away and he's barely talking from the pain of pressure in Seven's fingers. 

"Can you?" She hissed.

"I – I'll try Master…so can you please… let me go?" 

She let him go. Too forcefully he's having a hard time staying adrift for a few seconds. His small chest puffed out. His feather expanding and falling. Then he shook. His eyelids closed. 

We waited. 

Nothing happened. 

He tried again. 

Nothing happened. Alpha Beast began to panic. He tried again and again until watery bird sh*t poop out. 

Still, nothing happened. 

Seven stormed to me and asked me to flung out my shadows. Intimidated by her glare I did it without asking why. 

I dug deeper and deeper. Down to the pit of my stomach, to my veins, to every part of me… And yet no trace of shadows I detected. 

Magnus and Sam tried too. But with the same result. 

"What's going on?" I asked. I tried again. Until my chest aches for holding my breath for too long. 

"She mixed Rhus powder into our food." Alpha Beast and Magnus let out an audible gasp. 

"Now none of us can channel blessings nor any power within ourselves."