13Again, I don't own anything. The song is called 'When You Say Nothing at All'. I advise listening to the song while reading it. Be sure that you are listening to the Alison Krauss version, though. Please review. I feel lonely, and I need to know that at least some people read my story. I don't care if you hate it. Yay!
Chapter 4: Silences
Tyler looked surprised, but not disappointed.
"I thought girls always had to share dorms with…um you know…girls."
Thorn grimaced, "I thought so too, but the girls' dorms were full, and I didn't have enough to pay for a single."
There was a building silence, until Tyler offered to help her with her stuff.
'What a gentleman,' thought Thorn, 'Luna has chosen a good one.'
Tyler thought that Thorn was a relief compared to other girls. She only had one big duffel bag full of clothes, and a guitar.
"Do you play?" Tyler asked.
"No," she returned sarcastically, "I just carry around a guitar for no reason. Do you?"
"Not in a way that anyone wants to hear," he admitted, "Play something."
She sat down on the edge of her bed, and began to coax soft notes out of the old guitar while singing in a hushed, gentle, yet clear voice.
It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word, you can light up the dark
Try as I may, I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing
The smile on your face let's me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes, sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand, says you'll catch me whenever I fall
You say it best, when you say nothing at all
All day long I can hear people talking out loud
But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd
Old Mr. Webster could never define
What's being said between your heart and mine
The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all
The door suddenly swung open to reveal Reid with his mouth hanging slightly ajar.
"You better close your mouth," teased Thorn, "You might catch a fly."
-Reid's POV (kind of…sort of… not really) -
Reid had been walking to Tyler's dorm, when he heard a soft, clear, angelic voice coming from Tyler's room. He reasoned that either Tyler had a girl over, or the two of them needed to sit down and have a nice long talk about the way Tyler sings. He quickly opened the door to see Tyler sitting on his bed listening to Thorn sing, and play the guitar.
-the end of the flashback type thingy-
"Why are you here anyway," Thorn asked in an annoyed tone.
"I came to see who was howling," Reid smirked, "I guess it was you."
Thorn smiled a creepy little smile, "I don't howl, I siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!"
The note she hit was so loud and high, that it cracked the window a little bit.
"What the hell?" Enter a very sleepy Pogue.
"Reid was just singing," grinned Thorn, "Go back to sleep."
Pogue gave the speechless Reid an odd look before exiting.
"You are evil." said Tyler proudly.
"I know."
"What are you doing here? Got a thing for Baby Boy?" Reid teased
He was half teasing, half curious, and half jealous. (I know that adds up to be 1 ½. Deal with it.) Tyler and Thorn shared an obnoxious knowing smile, and Reid's heart sank. 'Why do I care?' he wondered.
"No," she answered calmly, "I happen to live here. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to catch some Z's."
Reid was relieved, but he could figure out why he cared.
"I don't want to know how that happened, so I won't ask. Baby Boy, I'm going to borrow you. Now."
"What happened to asking me first?"
Reid ignored his remark, and dragged him up 3 flights of stairs. Tyler recognized the path.
"Reid. Our secret hideout?" he asked, "After all of these years?"
"It's only been 6 months,"
They walked up to the dead end in the hallway on the top floor, opened up the loose board in the ceiling, and jumped up onto the roof. Reid started to pull off his shirt.
"Reid?" Tyler asked nervously, "W-what are you doing?"
Reid looked at him through the armhole of his shirt.
"Tyler, shut the fuck up."
He turned around, and Tyler noticed a tattoo on Reid's back, below his shoulder bone.
"Dude, what is that?"
Reid sighed, "I don't know dumbass, that's why I got you."
Tyler looked at it a bit more closely. It was a design of a human eye with a snake encircling it. It was about the size of a fist, yet he could see every individual scale. His fingers reached out, and lightly brushed the image. Ocean blue sparks flew up his arm. It didn't hurt, it just gave him a funny feeling…a familiar funny feeling…a feeling that he hadn't felt for exactly one month.
Tyler frowned, "That's fucked up man. I think that you had better see Caleb about this."
They found Caleb in his dorm, and they showed him the mark.
"What the hell is that?" Caleb asked.
"I don't know!" Reid retorted, "If I did I wouldn't be here! God, you two are supposed to be the smart ones!"
Caleb scowled at him, and turned his attention to the tattoo. He reached out and prodded it with his fingers. Again, it made sparks, but this time, they were chocolate brown. Caleb was concerned, wanted to study it more when Sarah came in. She gave them all a strange look, and Tyler rolled his eyes. Caleb looking at Reid's shirtless back had to be an odd thing to walk in on.
"…I think I'll just…go…yeah."
"Wait, Sarah!"
She turned around, patiently awaiting an explanation, and bumped right into Caleb's chest.
"Oww." She rubbed her hand on her head, as Caleb pulled her back into the room and closed the door. Caleb guided her hand to the marking on Reid's back, and guess what happened. Nothing. They sat in silence for a little while, with Caleb holding Sarah's hand to Reid's back while Tyler leaned forward to see better. (Try and picture that for a minute.)
"Aaaaakwaard," Tyler sang as he rocked back and forth on the bed.
Sarah looked up and pulled her hand away, "If you guys are done with me, then I think I'll be on my way."
As she left, Tyler looked at Caleb, "Why didn't it work?"
Caleb ran his fingers through his hair and looked serious.
"Because she doesn't have any powers."
"So what is it?" Reid asked, masking his anxiousness with a smirk.
Caleb scratched his head and shrugged, "My guess is that it's a tattoo."
Reid's smirk grew.
"Caleb," he said in a patronizing voice, "tattoos don't just show up in the middle of the night."
For that statement, Caleb had no answers, so Reid mumbled, "Forget it," and stormed off with Tyler following close behind. What he didn't tell them about was the dream.
-flashback-
He was running down a road into the woods. He stopped when he saw her. There, lying near the roots of a big oak tree was Thorn. (The odd thing was that, when he had this dream, he hadn't met her yet.) There was a trail of blood running down her cheek, and she had bruises on her arms, legs, and neck. Blood was sheeting down her left leg. Her face was unusually pale, her eyes were closed, and for a moment, he was afraid that she was dead, until he saw her chest rising and falling with small shallow breaths. A large symbol was carved into the tree. It glowed red like a hot poker then burst into flames. Out of the flames stepped a man. Reid woke to find his back burning with pain. He took off his shirt to find that the same symbol that had been on the tree was etched into his back.
-end flashback/dream sequence-
"Earth to Reid. Come in Reid."
Tyler waved a hand in front of his distracted friend's face. Reid's eyes came back into focus as he realized that they were already back at Tyler's dorm. He opened the door and froze. Thorn was lying on her bed sleeping across the room. She looked like an angel. Her face was calm and serene with a hint of a smile. She appeared to be so innocent, defenseless, and…breakable.
'Oh great,' he thought, 'Now I sound like Edward Cullen.'
Tyler chattered in the background. "So Caleb's gonna look through the Book of Damnation, and we are gonna have this figured out in no time, and…why are you staring at her like that?"
"She looks so different in her sleep." He mumbled, "Less…harsh."
Tyler sat down on his bed, and gave Reid a knowing smile.
"That's natural," he said, "You are seeing her in her most defenseless state. She looks different because during the day she puts up walls. My guess is that she has probably been hurt emotionally before."
Reid stared. "You've been reading your mom's parenting books again."
"Yuppers."
Reid smirked, and rolled his eyes before taking one last sideways glance at the sleeping figure of Thorn, and leaving.
It was 5 in the morning when Thorn woke up. She got dressed in her uniform, looked in the mirror and frowned. The uniform consisted of a skirt, a white shirt, a blazer, and a tie. On her it looked so stupid. The strict clothing seemed out of place. She sighed and put on her makeup and necklace. The necklace was a choker with a charm on it that looked like a star entwined with a moon. She quietly tiptoed past Tyler who was mumbling something about pancakes and parsnips, down the stairs, out of the doors, and into the woods across from the dorms. Thorn explored a bit, and found her mind drifting to Reid.
'He has gorgeous eyes. Nice hair. His smile is soWHAT AM I THINKING?!'
She shook her head to clear her mind of such thoughts. Thorn Hum did NOT under any circumstances, like boys. No. She wouldn't and couldn't let that happen. Soon she found herself in front of a giant oak tree. She settled herself in between two of the large roots, and closed her eyes.
"Well, hello there."
Her eyes snapped open and her head spun to see a boy sitting on a branch high above her head. He jumped down and landed on the ground. Legs straight. Unflinching.
"I have a proposition for you, Thorn Hum."
"Does it involve money?"
"Err…no"
She turned away, "Then go away."
He smirked and offered his hand, "I'm Chase."
She eyed his hand for a moment, then took it and gave it a firm shake.
"What is your proposition?"
The smirk remained plastered to his face, but not in an unnatural way. It was sort of charming.
"What do you think of Reid Garwin?"
She shrugged, "Boorish. Provincial. I don't know him too well, and I have no desire to grow any closer."
"I know that you have powers. Don't be alarmed," he said when she jumped up "I have them too. And so," he continued, his eyes black as pitch, "do the Sons of Ipswich."
He sat back with a self-satisfied smirk, but to his surprise she let out a peal of musical laughter.
"I knew there was something special about them! Why are you telling me this?"
"Reid ascends in a little more than a month. I think you know what that means. He is going to get more power. I want it, and I want you to help me."
Her smile vanished bit by bit throughout his whole speech, so that at the end she was scowling.
"Look," she informed him, "Reid may be obnoxious, and stupid, and full of himself, and a jerk, and pompous, and a playboy, and narcissistic…what was I saying?"
"Why you won't help me."
"Oh yeah. Reid may be bad, but he hasn't done anything to me, our best friends have crushes on each other, and he seems altogether harmless."
To her surprise, Chase smiled and put his hands up in surrender. To her, he didn't seem like the type of guy to back down without a fight.
"You make very good points. But just in case you change your mind, here is my card."
A small white business card appeared in her hand. On the top it said 'Chase Collins', but other than that it was blank. She could feel a slight magical aura around it, so she put it in her pocket, and walked back toward the dorms without a word. Before she went inside, she turned around to see that Chase had vanished. On the way into her dorm, she was confronted by Tyler, who demanded to know where she had been so early in the morning.
"Just taking a walk."
She subtly slid Chase's business card into the side pocket of her duffel bag, and followed Tyler to her 1st class in her new school.
Thanks to EternityIsALongTimeXX, mand, kimana, Bella Patricks, Chandra Cullen, and faydiablo for reviewing. Reviews are like apple juice. They NEED to happen. Not an option. Sorry for taking such a long time to update, but my mom hid the binder that I wrote the story in, so I couldn't finish it! I am doing my best.