Fable

Bia ran ahead of Calyx and me to catch up wth Ivy, who was storming through the parking lot, screaming Chases’s name at empty cars.

I looked up at Calyx to see her scanning the woodsy area around us for a sign of that boy. She didn’t seem to notice that I was staring at her, so I gave her shirt a small tug.

“What?” she said distractedly.
I frowned. “Ivy seems… strange. Don’t you think?”
“No, she’s fine. She’s just popular. Not like Bia. She’s smart and funny. And she doesn’t hide in her house all the time.” Calyx stopped herself. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course.”

I thought about that for a couple minutes while we rushed to catch up with Bia and Ivy.

“Calyx, she seems different. We get girls like her at the fair, but she’s different than them. She’s like us.” I felt my lungs starting to burn from moving so fast.

She didn’t reply to what I’d said. Instead, she fell in step with the other two girls. I didn’t want to be left behind, so I ran up to them and let my feet fall at the same time as theirs.

“And Mom won’t even care if it was his fault, she’ll just blame it all on me,” Ivy was ranting. “it’s like she doesn’t even care that I have a life and I have friends. She always makes me spend time with my dumb brother. I wouldn’t care so much if he was cooler. But he’s such a dork.”
“At least you have a brother,” Calyx muttered sadly.
Bia chuckled. “From what I’ve heard, it’s best we have no siblings.”
“I have three sisters,” I added. “I haven’t seen them in a long time though.”

Calyx turned and finally acknowledged me. I smiled to myself.

“Why haven’t you seen them? Are they at college?” she asked.
I scoffed. “They didn’t even go to school, dummy. The oldest, Mirabella, left when I was a baby. She wanted to live in the real world. Saddia, my second-oldest sister, ran off with a boy she met at one of the fairs. I was a little kid then. Jynx left last year. We never found out why.”
“Weird names,” Ivy mumbled. “But I thought all kids had to have parents. Or guardians, at least. It’s the law.”

Bia and Calyx exchanged a worried look. I wasn’t sure what that meant.

“I’m a gypsy,” I informed the blonde twig.
She choked on air. “What?”
“Gypsy. We tell fortunes, we dance…” I trailed off.
“No, I know what that is. But… how can you be? I thought you were related to Bia. You two look similar,” Ivy commented.

I glanced over at Bia who had an expression of pure shock. How did we look similar? She was so… faded. I had colour. I was happy. She wasn’t. why was so so shocked, anyway?

“She’s Bia’s cousin,” Calyx said frantically. “Bia’s related to the gypsies and they needed Fable to stay with her for awhile… and…”
Bia sighed. “Give it up, Calyx. We’ll just tell her the truth. I trust her. I probably shouldn’t, but I do.”
“But…” Calyx sputtered.
Bia stared at her.
“Alright.”

“Fable isn’t related to either of us,” Bia began to explain. “She ran away from her troupe. She found us, somehow. We’re looking after her until… well, I don’t know when. But she’s stuck with us, or we’re stuck with her. It’s just, she has… powers. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I do too. Maybe you think we’re crazy. Maybe we are.”

There was a deafening silence as Ivy stared into Bia’s eyes for what seemed like decades. I counted the pebbles in the puddle near my feet. There were thirteen.

“What kind of powers?” Ivy said finally.
Calyx let out a breath. Bia smiled.
“I can read minds,” I boasted.

Ivy instantly reeled back, as if I was a threat. This made me giggle.

“I don’t do it unless I have to,” I explained. “It’s not nice to invade people like that.”
“Oh. What about Bia? What are her powers?” Ivy eyed Bia.
“I can create creatures.” Bia’s voice was hard, as if she expected a challenge. “With blood. My own blood. I don’t know how, either. I just need a little blood to make a mouse, or a cat, or like, a lizard… god I’m such a freak.”
“Yeah,” Ivy smiled. “But it’s cool.”

It is cool. We are cool. At least, I think so.