Rising Shards

Mom said she was helping the new students. I heard her say that feet away from me. I knew that was the case, and I was able to put that aside when thinking about my devil friend plan. Maybe I fostered a little spark of hope that these devils weren’t really part of it, and that they didn’t even know my mom. But actually getting that confirmation rocked me.

Myles was explaining about her situation with her age being different here than it was in her old world, and I was nodding along, but my jaw was clenched so tight I could feel it in my ears.

“I bet that’s really weird,” I said, my mouth already dry.

”I’m still not used to it, but it’s also like, I don’t really feel any different age wise?” Myles said. ”When Octa first told me about it, I thought she was lying.”

Yeah, Mom’ll do that. According to Stella, both my parents struggled telling the truth about anything. Maybe she was lying to Myles. Maybe she was lying about not actually being there when I got hit with beast tendency.

”Ah...” I said.

”Hey,” Ash said. ”You good?”

I wasn’t expecting her to notice. Or anyone, really. She handed me one of the water bottles she brought over.

”Oh,” I said. ”Yeah...just...it’s kinda weird for me, too.”

”Ah damn, you get hit with the age...whatever it’s called?” Ash asked.

”No, but, that Octa that’s like your teacher?” I said. I debated if I could stop there, maybe run away until I could compose myself. ”She’s...my mom.”

”Oh,” Myles said. ”Really?”

Ash tilted her head. ”I guess I can see the familial resemblance.”

”Yeah,” I said. ”I didn’t grow up with her, though. Honestly, the first time I’ve seen her that I can remember is just...months ago.” Though I wasn’t sure if that was really her. ”Did she ever talk about me?”

I felt kind of ashamed of myself for even asking. I sounded so needy about it. If the woman I met on that station in the void that injected me with beast tendency was the same person that was mentoring and watching over the devils, why would I want to know her better?

Myles and Ash looked at each other, neutral expressions I couldn’t gleam much from. They both shook their heads.

”She doesn’t really talk about herself with us,” Ash said.

I wasn’t sure why that was a relief. ”OK,”

”I don’t know much about her at all,” Myles said. ”She had us in her lab, she does tests...gives us like hats and coats.”

”Myles,” Ash said.

”What?” Myles said.

”Sorry if I’m guessing too much based on like three minutes of talking,” Ash said to me before turning back. ”But I’m guessing this girl has some baggage with her mom, so don’t go all...”

”Oh,” Myles said. ”Right, sorry.”

”It’s...” I trailed off. Did they think I’d be jealous? Was I jealous? The thought did hit me, why would my mom help them but not bother interacting with me at all? But maybe after how she and Dad raised Stella, leading to Stella’s whole ”breaking the machine that’d fling us into the void forever” incident, that may not have been a bad thing. But still...she got them hats and coats but not me? That sounded so selfish even just thinking it.

Ugh, it’s all such a mess.

Amara wrote something down in a small notepad, her face stoic. She gave me a look that said I shouldn’t ask. She remained quiet after my mom’s name came up. She was the one who ran into my mother with Caeda, so she was probably noting everything she’d learned down. I made a mental note to try talking about that more if I could work up the nerve to.

”How about when we talk or hang out, we’ll try not to bring her up?” Ash said.

”That’s cool, yeah,” I said. ”Thank you. You’d...want to hang out with me again?” Did I somehow fumble my way into making two friends of the devil group already?

”Zeta, you all are the first people all day who didn’t immediately ask me on a date or to a dance,” Myles said. ”And you held your own alright when we fought.”

”You all seem nice to me,” Ash said. ”Sorry again if we made things uncomfortable about your mother.”

”Thanks for...yeah,” I said. ”Cool. You two seem nice, too.”

Ash smiled. I had new doubts if I could make a friendship work with anyone that was close to my mother, but I had to try. If they weren’t going to bring up Mom, then maybe it’d be more doable.

”One thing you’ll notice here is that everyone’s got some family drama,” Iris added helpfully, leaning back in her chair and nearly falling over if Maia didn’t catch her.

”Dude,” Maia said. ”Why is that your follow up?”

”What? Don’t you think?” Iris said.

”My parents aren’t involved in anything here,” Maia said.

”Now that you’ve said that, your mom’s gonna be our new math teacher. I bet you five, no, twenty dollars.”

”Fine, but you’re actually gonna pay me this time,” Maia said.

Iris and Maia were pros at turning a tense situation lighter in their own way. Even if they didn’t always intend to do it, listening to them go back and forth helped calm me down, as I realized my muscles were still tensed up as Iris speculated on how Maia’s mom would end up on the school faculty and embroiled in a tax fraud scheme. Myles and Ash seemed to be entertained by it, too.