Chapter 6

What was she supposed to say to that?

“I- I can’t believe this... Look- I’m nothing special and I can’t help you win
this war.” She panicked inside, these people were depending on her, trusting
her and there was nothing she could do.

“Can’t or won’t?” asked Astrid, an impassive look on her face.

“You don’t know if you can, right now. You’re just too scared to try.” Blake
added, the truth of his words ringing through her.

“If you try and find you’re not Uriel, that’s fine by us.” Leigh said in her
comforting way, yet still a hard look in her eyes. “But if you are, you won’t
walk away from this.”

“You don’t have a choice,” came Evelyn, “Your fortune is bound to ours.
Even if you leave now, you’ll be back.”

Samhael finished up with two reverberating words: “It’s fate.”

Cecilia’s eyes began to tear as she looked each one of them in the eyes,
there would be not one trace of compassion for her if she walked away from
them. But with the enormity of it all, even that could not stop her. “I’ll think
about it... I’m sorry...” she murmured and stumbled her way out of the Cafe.

Once a few blocks down, she sat on the curb, put her hands to her face
and heard the words in her mind once again: “It’s fate.”

No, she thought to herself, I can’t take this, I can’t believe this, this is
ridiculous! Oh god... What have I gotten myself into? The more she thought
about it, the truer it seemed to become. After a good half hour, she had
almost convinced herself that she should give it a shot.

When the curb had gotten too hard to sit on for any longer, and people
started to stare, she got up and slowly made her way home. It was April, the
days were getting longer, and at five o’clock it wasn’t even starting to get
dark. She walked up to her house, a little pastel-painted residence exactly
like every other building within three blocks, and stared at it. What had
changed, she didn’t know, but somehow this place didn’t feel like home
anymore. It was a house for a person who didn’t know that vampires and
werecats existed, for somebody who wasn’t expected to fight the most
important war the world had ever known. A house for somebody who knew
what they were supposed to do.

Cecilia opened the door and trudged in, her backpack banging against the
doorjamb. Nobody was at home, but on the pad by the phone was a note
from her mother, “Chrissy called, go to her house when you get in.” Just
looking at the note made her feel better, yet even more out of place. Chrissy
had been her best friend since they got in a fist fight in first grade. They had
been stuck to each other since then, that was also the last fight they had
gotten in. Chrissy was a great friend and all, but Cecilia somehow got the
feeling that they were more friends out of habit than anything else.

She dropped her bag, rummaged around in the fridge for something to
eat, and went out once again, across the street to her friend’s house. They
had been friends for so long that Cecilia didn’t even bother to knock
anymore, she just barged in to find Chrissy exactly where she expected her:
on the living room couch.

Chrissy smiled, looking up and pushing a strand of her lank brown hair out
of her face, “What took you so long? You’re usually home way earlier.”

“Yeah, I just had to pick up some stuff for a project.” Years of Drama Club
helped her mask her newfound anxieties and pretend everything was okay.

“Mmm... Ohmigod, Amanda told me that those weird goth/matrix-
wannabes were talking to you today. They never talk to _anyone_! What did
they say?”

Cecilia just fixed her with a hard look she knew was reminiscent of the
preterhumans and said flatly, “They’re not gothic or wannabe anythings.
They’re just not in love with Britney Spears, sorry.”

Chrissy rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I know, but anyway, what did they say?”

“Nothing special, Leigh just invited me out with them sometime.”

“You’re not going, are you?”

“I think I will. They seem really great.” Cecilia answered, half to provoke
her.

“Ohmigod! You wouldn’t! They’re probably all like insane or druggies or
something. I do not want to find your body somewhere chopped up into tiny
little pieces!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. They’re not crazy or junkies,” and even if they were,
I’d rather they were like that than preppies, “And trust me, you will not find
my body anywhere,” They can’t kill me, and even if they did, you wouldn’t
find my body ever, she thought wryly.

“Still, nobody likes them. They’re like total loners, you don’t want to be
like them, do you?” the other girl went on, completely missing the point.

Cecilia turned away, muttering to herself, “Maybe I do want to be like
them...” then adding to Chrissy, “Did you have anything important to say?
I’ve got a ton of Economics homework.”

Chrissy didn’t like the way she was acting, but couldn’t place what had
change. “No, I guess... Talk to you later.”

“’Kay, bye.” Cecilia said and walked out.