"Midnight Chapter 2" by Victoria Lia Yu

“My Lord, you must understand that we had a situation. It’s not like I wanted to come back so late. I knew Fraeya couldn’t survive so I tried to get us back as soon as possible. The problem is that we met a whole coven of Midnight. They blocked our path and I had to talk our way out.” I said through clenched teeth with the humblest tone I could muster. I’m terrible at being humble.

“How did you talk your way out? It’s not likely that they’ll let a Dawn pass by unharmed.” He said so while looking at Fraeya, knowing I’m nothing in his eyes.

I opened my mouth to answer when a screach filled the pantheon. “She made a deal with them most likely! She’s one of them, my Lord, of course they’ll let her pass!” I looked to the sidelines to see Agrabelle with her molten gold eyes glaring at me. Of course, anyone in the pantheon would know how much we loathe each other. Her perfectness just makes me want to smack her and ruin her loveliness. Her chestnut mane was tied back with a single slanted braid and her rosy cheeks showed the vital life in her. Her pout crimson lips were partially opened, seductive. Along with her long willowy figure, she was a star among the Dawn.

“Agrabelle, you weren’t there with me. You wouldn’t know their expressions of pure hatred. They couldn’t even tell I was half Midnight. All I could think of was to get Fraeya back. How could you think that I want to join them?” My teeth were grinded in case I decide to sprint up to her and rip her head off.

She gave the look of wide eyed innnocence. “I didn’t say that. I merely said that you might have showed them that you’re Midnight.”

“Ha!” I laughed in disgust at her.

Lord Gregor looked at us bemused. “Enough! This will be your last warning Jenna. If you ever EVER come back late and with a weakened Dawn, I will assume you have betrayed us and I will kill you.” His eyes were fierce with anger. I didn’t even flinch under his burning eyes.

I merely looked straight into his eyes to tell him I wasn’t afraid. “There is no betrayal if there never was a pledge.” I walked off and Agrabelle gawked with her mouth wide open. That only enhanced her beauty, making me even more irritated. I stormed off into the night sky and went to the Well of Eternity.

Before landing, I caught sight of a flickering oil lamp. I smiled, knowing what to expect. I opened the door to a little garden and I yelled with delight. “Eva!”

A girl with golden hair and green eyes turned around. Caught by surprise, her yellow wings sprung open to protect her. “Eva, it’s me, Jenna.”

“Jenna? It’s been awhile since you last came to see me.” Her lovely eyes stared blankly into mine and then I remembered that she was blind. With eyes as beautiful as that, it’s easy to forget how lifeless they are. Even without sight, her eyes twinkle lightly, then what about with sight? She’ll probably blind me.

“How has it been? I’ve missed this small garden of yours.” I looked around taking in the elegant lilies, the lovely orchids, the sweet roses, and the freshness of the leaves and grass. Her garden is not tame. Eva allows them to grow wild. She calls it “the savage garden”. Remembering I once asked her why, she replied “the garden grows wild and untamable, just like the heart of human when untainted; it’s the growth of the original path.”

She always refers the garden to me. She says that I’m just like this garden, untamable, fierce, a kindred spirit. I’ve never seen myself like that. All I see is a raven haired girl with grey eyes that hates the life she’s living. She stood up from the grass and started humming a song which I know to be about the love for nature. I sighed. I guess I shouldn¡¯t tell her how bad I feel. She is in a good mood, and if I ruin it with my bad feelings, I’ll feel even worse. I stood, ready to go.

“Something is on your mind isn’t it?” She said while walking gracefully to the edge of the pond where lillies are in full bloom. Eva remained silent afterwards. She knows me too well for her own sake.

“Lying really has no use on you does it? You’re too sensitive for your own good, Eva.” I glared at her teasingly.

“Don’t look at me like that. Now tell me what happened. You know I’m not allowed into the main quarters of our temple.” Sometimes, I really wonder if she is blind. She knows everything about everyone.

“I came back late again, and Frae and I were unlucky enough to meet a coven of Midnight. She was drained and it took lots of words to get them to let us leave.” I looked up at her to see an reaction.

“You lied just now. You did talk but they let you go not because of that.”

“Eva¡­” I was tense as she was coming to her conclusion.

“They let you go because they know what and who you are.” Her eyes were focusing on something I couldn’t see. Afterall, she interprets the world differently then the rest of us.

“Yes, Eva. You caught me.”

“Interesting.”

“What is?”

“Their reactions. I could sense the emotions they gave through you. The two woman were stunned and tense. The leader of the five was amused. The other two men were utterly confused.” She smiled a wicked grin of hers. “Jenna, you truly are an amazing girl. The Midnight didn’t know what they were facing because of the human scent on you and the Midnight looks while you were protecting a Dawn.”

“That’s interesting? I think that was just plain stupid. If they were smart, they should have killed me on the spot. At least now, I’ll know who they are and will avoid them from now on.” I pouted thinking that Eva would have something much more to say.

“Smart girl. Now go back to your quarters before Fraeya has a nervous breakdown.”

“Yes m’am!” I saluted her in the complicated twist of one hand to the forehead while the other touches the chest where the heart should be to show how heavy she is in my heart.

“Oh one more thing¡­” Eva stood up again and used her fingers to summon a purple ochid from the nearby tree. She glided toward me with not a single slip as she moved through the wild undergrowth. Eva delicately placed the orchid in my hands. “I’ve blessed it with the waters of the Well of Eternity. It’ll last forever as long as you follow your heart and use rational thinking with it. I can’t let my favorite sister be brainless, can I?” She smiled genuinely and I smiled, giving a her fragile frame a careful hug.

“Bye, my perfect golden angel.”

“Goodbye, my rebellious and touchy dark angel.”

We both gave a small chuckle at that.

Slowly and annoyed, I flew back to the main quarters of the temple. In the world of Dawn, we have three main temples and ten quarters in each. That’s why we are split into thirty divisions. The higher the division, the higher your rank. As for me, I belong in this lowest of them all, 30th division. Lord Gregor is the leader of the third temple and those above him are Madame Gabrielle of the Second temple and Lord Basil of the First temple. As for me, Lord Gregor says that I’m a drag to his temple and I should leave. Both of us know that it’s impossible because he treasures the fact that I am immune to the night. To them all, I’m but a very useful pawn. When I die, no one will care about me, no one will mourn for me. I will be forgotten as easy as the winds blows the dust away.

“Jenna!” I looked up from my thoughts and without realizing it, I bumped straight onto someone’s chest. I was surprised to see who it was.

I quickly bowed, though I hated it. No one could not bow for him, especially if you just rammed right into him. “I’m so sorry, Lord Kail, I should have watched where I was going.”

“Since when have you been so abiding to the rules and proper manners?” He was taunting me again. Guess the manners with him can stay out the way. I punched him on his shoulder and he winced slightly satisfying me with a bit of dignity.

“Never.” I retorted back and he burst out laughing. “By the way, why are you even in here at the Third temple when you should be high up in the First temple serving as second in command to Lord Basil?”

“What, you don’t like to see me?” He pouted like a kid. It’s hard to imagine the second in command of the Dawns as such a childish character.

I scowled at him. “No, your company is just what I need when I’m pissed off. Thanks. You always know when I need your arrogant and egoistic personality to punch at.”

“At your service.” He gave me one of his famous cocky smiles and a low bow in which his head almost touched his knees.

“Stop fooling around, Kail. You have business with Lord Gregor right? I’ll stop stalling you before you end up chatting with me the whole evening.” I pushed him in the direction I came back from, urging him forward.

“Bye Jenna!”

“See you later, Kail.” I waved goodbye with a little sigh.

Kail, the second in command of the Dawns and though he is not a lord, he has the title from The Children of the Sun, the mysterious council that leads the Dawns. Unlike most of the Dawn, he isn’t disgusted at my mixed blood, he even was quite happy to meet someone so different. Eva and Fraeya were others that were fine with my existance. However, those like Agrabelle are everywhere here. As Agrabelle is in the first division of the Third temple, I have to listen to her orders. It¡¯s not like I absolutely hate her, if I had a choice, I’d rather befriend her, but her attitude towards me is just plain foul. I couldn’t stand it no matter how I tried.

Kail is her distant cousin, and even though they aren’t closely related, you could see the perfectness in them both. Kail’s copper head compliments his amber eyes and his straight nose and smooth face makes him somewhat femimine, but equally handsome. It’s no wonder people think they should be together. They would be perfect together like the perfect creations they are. Why am I so bitter? Is it because I’m a hybrid beast with no one to accept me? Probably, I’m just a monster that no one wants, a shadow seen, but not cared for, almost as if I don’t exist. Ugh, stupid thoughts in my head again. I took the purple orchid out of my pocket and thought about Eva’s words. How will I know the true path if I don’t even know my own nature?

Entering the sleeping quarters of the tenth divison of the Third temple was a sad thing. Fraeya lay a lump on her cotton bed dazed. “Frae?”

She looked up blankly at me as if not knowing who I am. Then, figuring it out, she started to howl. “Sorry! I am so sorry!” She clung onto me and knocked me over in the process.

“Frae?! What’s wrong with you?” I said, bewildered.

“She was crying the whole entire time you disappeared. You should comfort the poor kid. She has the idea that it’s her fault that you were yelled at again.” Ophelia sat crosslegged giving herself a manicure, rose pink, as always.

“Frae! How could you even think of it that way? I never blamed you and it has nothing to do with you to begin with.”

“If I had just taken the Midnight girl, then we wouldn’t have had to waste time and get caught by the Midnight coven.” Frae was choking and sniffeling, and Ophelia was at the limits of her patience.

“Fraeya, shut up!” Ophelia bellowed over Fraeya’s wails and it made the whole room shake.

“Ophelia, stop it! Stop making Fraeya feel worse.” I glared at her, protecting Frae.

“It’s her fault for wailing like a siren. It’s your fault for making her wail like a siren.” Ophelia turned around and hid herself behind the curtains of her red satin bed.

Fraeya continued to sob, but slowly I soothed her, hoping that she’ll quite down. She still is a very young Dawn, though she seems incredibly mature. She has the body of a sixteen year old girl, but the mind of a ten year old. Her abilities aren’t fully mature, so as a handicap, she was obviously put in the last division. The last division is full of misfits. Fraeya, a not fully developed Dawn, Ophelia, a low born Dawn with no paticular strength or abilty, Sabir, our leader, a bipolar mess, Eva, the sightless Dawn, and me, Midnight halfling, possibly the worst of all.

Soon, Fraeya had fallen asleep in my lap as I sat on her bed. That night, I decided I might as well just sleep with her. As long as I can raise Fraeya properly, and if all goes well, maybe I won’t have to be the worst of all.