The Tribuo - 16. part II, chapter 9

KATIE

19:45

I slowly put my phone down and looked at Seth.

“What?” he asked.

“Seth,” I said very calmly. “Remember how you laughed when I said that I might try and get Andrew to pay more attention to DeeDee?”

He grinned.

“Oh, that… Yeah…”

“Was it because you knew that DeeDee was a boy?”

He blinked.

“Well, yeah… How do you know?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I felt strangely calm. Almost cold.

Seth shrugged.

“It was irrelevant. I wanted to see your reaction when you found out… How do you know?”

“Well,” I stared at my phone. “She came clean with Andrew tonight…”

“Oh,” he said.

“And he freaked out,” I continued. “And now he is drunk… And it’s almost eight in the evening. Do you see where I am going?”

He frowned.

“Look…”

“How much are you willing to bet,” I interrupted him. “That Ellie is not going to show up at his house tonight?”

Seth blinked.

“And how much are you willing to bet,” I continued. “That she won’t try fixing things up between them? And considering his current condition… How much are you willing to bet that he is not going to completely lose it when she pulls her usual stunt, which she will…?”

“Shit,” Seth muttered.

“And by eleven-thirty, he will be sober enough to understand what he’s done…” I said, and then I wasn’t calm anymore. “Goddammit, Seth! Why didn’t you tell me?! If I knew, I’d be prepared!!”

“I am sorry,” he winced. “Look, I didn’t think it was relevant! That was…”

“...an oversight on your behalf,” I finished furiously and grabbed my coat.

“Where are you going?” he asked, his eyes two sudden, yellow slits.

“Where do you think I am going?” I snapped.

“Wait!” he said sharply, and in spite of myself, I stopped. “Did he ask you to come?”

“No,” I said unwillingly. “In fact, he told me not to come…”

“Then you can’t go,” he said seriously. “You cannot interfere with his choice directly!”

“Screw that!” I screamed. “I like this kid! He is a good guy, okay?”

“You did everything you could,” he said quickly. “All you can do now is wait.”

“ 'Till he kills himself?! I don’t think so! I am going there and…”

“No, you are not!”

“You only worrying about it, because if I interfere, you’ll get stuck here for longer than you expected,” I hissed, trying to pull on my coat. “Well, guess what! I don’t care!”

“Yes, I will,” he nodded. “But that’s not why I am worrying about it! If you interfere right now, you’ll end up in even deeper shit than me…”

“Oh, and all of a sudden you care!”

“I do, believe it or not. You are not going!”

“What are you gonna do?” I smirked furiously and finally pulled on my coat. “Go ahead and stop me, I don’t give a damn! There is nothing you can do to stop me from going there!”

I was racing to the front door when he barked:

“Rayne, stop! This is your last warning!”

I stopped and looked at him.

“You know what you should do with that last warning?” I asked him softly, and he nodded.

“Yes, I have an idea.”

“Good! Go ahead and do just that!”

I turned around and walked away. Well, tried to walk away, because all of a sudden, I felt like I was being strangled by a huge snake. I felt my body being lifted in the air, and I tried setting myself free, but it seemed the more I struggled, the tighter that snake was hugging me. My body turned in the air against my will, and a second later, I was staring into Seth’s yellow eyes.

He sat on the chair, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette. He was as calm as ever.

“Let go!” I hissed.

“Nope,” he said indifferently.

“You, damn bastard! I thought you couldn't do magic!”

“Magic?” he snorted. “I can’t. This is not magic, believe me. It’s just one of my abilities.”

“You are interfering…”

“No, I am not. You are a Tribuo,” he grinned. “I can do whatever the hell I want with you. I am sorry, by the way,” he added after I tried to pull myself free yet again. “Oh, stop struggling,” he grimaced. “You will be hanging there until eleven-thirty.”

“Why?!”

“Because,” he said pointedly. “I don’t want to do anything else to you; and the minute I set you free, you’ll try something different.”

“Ugh!!”

“Telling you,” he shrugged. “Stop struggling. You’ll just get exhausted. Plus, I know for a fact that it doesn’t hurt.”

“You son of a bitch!”

“Uh huh.”

“Let go!!”

“Nope.”

“I hate you! I really hate you… Ugh!!”

…I have no idea how much time had passed since he incapacitated me, but finally, I stopped struggling. He was right -- struggling was useless. Now I was getting hot, since I never took off my coat. Plus, I was ready to kill for a cigarette.

“Seth…”

“Mmm?”

“Let me down… Please…”

He narrowed his eyes at me.

“I won’t do anything,” I said gloomily. “I promise.”

“The minute you try something funny…”

“I will not… Just let me down… Please.”

He closed his eyes for a second, and then the snake was gone, and I fell on the floor.

“Dammit…” I hissed. “Couldn’t do it nicely, could you?”

“I could,” he hemmed. “I decided not to.”

“Prick…” I muttered and got up.

God, it felt good to stretch! I pulled off my coat and grabbed a cigarette out of his hand.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Nine-fifteen,” he said.

“Seth…”

“You’ve done everything you could,” he said tiredly. “Look, there is a very good chance that something will go differently. You changed the chain of events…”

“Not enough,” I said dully and sat next to him. “Next time please tell me all you know, okay? Even if you think it’s irrelevant.”

“I will,” he sighed. “Believe me, I will…”