BlueK Dynasty: The 1st Seven Days (19 page)

“
No!”
mouthed Kurma.
  

“
Yes,
and you know what? It wasn’t half as bad as I’d thought it would
be.”
  

“
Isn’t
that what birds do? Eat bugs?” asked
Kurma.
  

Rimselda shrugged her
shoulders. She thought Kurma would know more than she did. “So, if
I were to dig in the ground and pull out a worm, I could eat it
without barfing?”
  

“
I
believe so.”
  

Kurma stopped walking and
let Rimselda’s words sink in. She bent down and felt the earth
beneath her hands. She clawed at the ground, looking for a worm.
She felt the cold dirt, but no worms. She stood up and looked at
Rimselda.
  

“
There
might be some insects in the stone museum,” said Kurma. “I hope you
aren’t right about this.”
  

Rimselda hoped
too.
  

*
  

The girls came upon the
stone museum’s entrance and stripped off their clothes. This place
had become their lair where they could transform whenever they
wanted to. It was cold inside until they Raptored and fully
transformed. It wasn’t the open sky, but at least the girls could
spread their wings and fly up and down the corridors out of
sight.
  

Kurma and Rimselda took
turns changing one piece at a time, training their brains to change
their bodies on command. Rimselda had caught up to Kurma and could
keep one arm human and the other arm winged if she wanted to, but
Kurma was still ahead when it came to her metal daggers. They were
twice as long as Rimselda’s and thicker.
  

With her night vision,
Kurma spotted a big, reflective bug crawling along the wall and it
freaked her out at first, until her stomach growled. She picked it
up, then looked at Rimselda, who was fully transformed, her red
hair lighting the room. Rimselda nodded and watched as Kurma closed
her eyes and popped the bug in her mouth. Kurma grimaced and
chewed. Surprisingly the bug tasted salty and crunchy, like she was
eating a whole sunflower seed, shell and all.
  

Kurma smacked her lips
together and laughed at her fear. “I thought it would taste worse
than that. But seriously, that little bug isn’t going to sustain me
for long.”
  

“
I can’t
imagine looking for insects all day to survive,” Rimselda said.
When she had learned she was a Raptor, she had naïvely assumed her
life would be better. In reality nothing had changed. She was still
out begging every day, still sharing beds with her flat mates. Now
she would have to eat bugs to survive. She was beginning to regret
ever bumping into Kurma.
  

“
There’s
got to be another kind of nourishment that will sustain our
bodies,” Kurma thought out loud.  
  

“
I think
we need to tell the roommates,” Rimselda
said.
  

Kurma didn’t like that
idea because they would all probably want to be like her, and she
didn’t like them enough to make them into Raptors. There was one or
two she might consider, but that was it.
  

Regardless, Rimselda had
made her mind up about spilling the beans. She was tired of
avoiding everyone and sitting far away so she wouldn’t touch any of
them. She was tired of keeping the secret, and her starvation was
distorting her mind. Even if Kurma said no, she would still tell
the girls.
  

Kurma could tell Rimselda
had made her mind up without her. There was no point trying to
argue about it. At the moment she had nowhere to go, and it would
be to her advantage to keep Rimselda happy. If she wanted to tell
the girls then so be it. As long as she didn’t change them into
Raptors, Kurma couldn’t be too upset. She would determine when and
if that would happen—not Rimselda.
  

19.

The Simplest
Touch
  

Rimselda and Kurma made
their way back to the train station as quickly as possible.
Rimselda wanted to catch the girls before everyone went off on
their nighttime escapades. The two ascended the stairs and did the
customary knock.
  

The room was lit dimly by
candles, and all the girls moved about, preparing themselves to go
out into the world. Rimselda tried to decide who she wanted to
confide in first. O’bellaDonna would want to be a Raptor herself,
and Rimselda didn’t feel like competing with her and Kurma at the
same time. Jackie would immediately tell Nina, who would demand
that Rimselda prove it, so that plan was out. Chelsea was too far
up Nina’s butt even to care what was going on with Rimselda, so she
wasn’t trustworthy either.
  

The only person she could
remotely trust was April. However, April was extremely loyal to her
brother, the leader of the Jeers, and Rimselda didn’t know if April
would go and tell him. She couldn’t see why April would tell
anyone, but she just didn’t want to risk too much information
leaking out, besides; there wasn’t anyone else that Rimselda felt
would understand the situation.
  

She signaled to April, who
was seconds from heading out to her nighttime guard post. “April
babes, can I talk to you real quick?”
  

April slung her rifle off
of her shoulder and smiled at Rimselda. “Sure, hon,” she said as
she approached. “Where have you two been?”
  

Kurma looked at the two as
she sat down on the sofa. “Just out catching some
breeze.”
  

Rimselda caught the joke
and smiled. She was kind of nervous, but glad that Kurma didn’t
seem too mad at her.
  

Rimselda and April walked
into the small kitchen, and Rimselda pulled the thin blinds that
hung in the doorway closed. The two girls stood facing one another…
one calm, the other not so much.
  

“
I know
it’s probably awkward that I want to talk to you,” Rimselda
started.
  

“
No,
Rimy, it’s all cool,” said April. “You know you can always come to
me about anything.”
  

Rimselda let out a gush of
air. “Thanks, April. That means so much to me.” She smiled and
relaxed a bit. “You’ve probably been wondering how I met Kurma and
why me and her have been on some best-friends stuff
lately.”
  

“
If
you’re gay, I totally understand!” April
said.
  

“
Nooooo,
I’m not into girls,” Rimselda whined. “You’ll never believe this,
but…” She caught her breath and almost choked on her words. “Kurma
is not a human, as you guys are. She’s a Raptor, and so am
I.”
  

April’s head tilted,
thinking she hadn’t heard Rimselda right.
  

“
Raptors
can change into these birdlike creatures, you know, and we can fly
and all sorts of stuff,” Rimselda went on, rushing her words. “I
can literally morph into it right now and fly away. It’s so
awesome.”
  

April
 
had
 
heard her right—something
about a Raptor and having wings and flying. But at the moment,
Rimselda looked just like Rimselda, so it was hard for April to
believe. “What I’m hearing is that you and Kurma, a stranger you
dragged in here, are both mysterious creatures called Raptors, who
apparently can fly.” April’s facial expression was priceless. Her
eyebrows were extremely high, her mouth was open, and the bridge of
her nose was wrinkled up. “Prove it, then. Let me see your little
wings.”
  

Rimselda was surprised by
April’s hostility. She had always seemed so nonchalant and cool
about everything. Rimselda wondered if April was jealous of her and
Kurma’s relationship. She hated being called a liar, or people
insinuating that she wasn’t being honest. Her mother had a bad
habit of that, and Rimselda always had to prove
herself.
  

She put on her poker face
and thrust out her arm. She concentrated on changing it into her
wing. Slowly the skin formed and the wing emerged, brown and big,
hanging limply as Rimselda bent her arm into her body. The kitchen
wasn’t big enough for the wing to expand fully.
  

April’s mouth hung open
again, and she had a look of sheer stupidity on her tanned face.
“Are you for real?”
  

Before Rimselda had the
chance to change her arm back, April lunged out and grabbed her
hand to get a better view of the wing.
  

“
No,
don’t!” screamed Rimselda. She snatched her hand back with sudden
force. She had touched April; now she too would turn into a Raptor.
Rimselda was scared, and worried about what Kurma would do. Kurma
had told her not to touch anyone, and here she had. She never
listened—that was why her mom didn’t like her. She was always
messing things up.
  

Rimselda screamed for
Kurma and fell to the floor. April looked frightened and backed
away, and ran from the kitchen.
  

Kurma showed up seconds
later. “What happened?”
  

Rimselda cried out, “I
touched her, Kurma! Even though you told me not to, I did it anyway
by accident. What are we going to do?”
  

Kurma had never been so
disappointed in her entire life. All her plans were about to be
ruined. She was so angry at Rimselda she almost reached out to slap
her in the face. But she saw
 
how devastated Rimselda was;
she looked so tiny crouched there on the floor, and childlike with
her red, fiery hair and pasty skin.
  

Kurma reached down and
roughly picked Rimselda up. She had no words for her. She simply
propped her up like a rag doll and tried to think of a plan. Kurma
heard noises out in the living room area. They got louder and
louder until there was a full shout.
  

“
Rimselda!”
  

Kurma would have to stand
her ground and defend the two of them. She looked around for some
oven mitts to protect Rimselda’s hands.
  

“
Quickly, put these on,” she
instructed.
  

“
Rimselda, April told us what you two freaks are!” Nina
screamed.
  

“
April
can suck it, I swear,” Rimselda said to
Kurma.
  

Kurma chuckled. At least
Rimselda knew April wasn’t the friend she pretended to be. Friends
don’t run and tell. Kurma would deal with April
later.
  

O’bellaDonna pulled the
blinds back from the kitchen entrance way. She stood there looking
massive, and almost head to head with Kurma, who blocked Rimselda
from Donna’s sight. “Your beef is with me, not
her.”
  

O’bellaDonna inspected
Kurma up and down. The girl was taller than she was. She could
either jump Kurma with her friends and throw her out, or hear her
out and get to the bottom of this. It was four against two, but
seeing that April had told her Rimselda wasn’t human, O’bellaDonna
had to think smart.
  

“
What
are you exactly?” she asked.
  

Kurma felt her body
tingling. She tried to remain calm just in case she didn’t have to
hurt any of the girls. “I am a Raptor.” She played her cards and
put them out for show. “You can be like me if you want. How is
April holding up out there? Is she changing yet?
  

O’bellaDonna paused and
looked back into the living area, where April was crouching behind
Nina. She looked fine. “She’s good. What does it have to do with
you?”
  

Kurma was confused. As
soon as she’d touched Rimselda, the girl had immediately felt the
effects of changing. So why, even though Rimselda had touched
April, was nothing happening? Maybe…
  

“
Of
course,” Kurma yelled out. Only she had the ability to change
another person into a Raptor. She giggled to herself at the odds of
that. She really would be in control.
  

“
What’s
so funny? I asked you a question!” screamed O’bellaDonna. She’d had
enough of the new girl. She reached out to pull Kurma by her hair,
but was caught by a right hook. She stumbled back and tried to
defend herself with nails and teeth. Rimselda tried to intervene,
but Kurma pushed her away. She knew there was no better time than
now to change O’bellaDonna, before all the other girls tried to
jump in.
  

“
Help,”
O’bellaDonna pleaded. But it was too late. She felt Kurma’s hands
all over her face, smashing her head backward against the wall. She
had her hands in Kurma’s hair, tugging as hard as she could, but
then her oxygen was cut off. She couldn’t breathe. She tried to
call for help, but her voice was stuck in her throat. The last
thing she thought was that she had never lost a fight in her life.
Who was this Kurma girl?