Chameleon (12 page)

“I don’t care
, Wiz.”

“You said you hated me,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’d rather you not hate me.
Come back. I’ll ask her to leave.”

“Because you’re quite the gentleman.”

He snarled and then blew out a long breath. “No. Because you’re upset and I don’t like to see it.”

“Which is why I’m going home.”

“Cameo.” He blurred to my way and hugged me. “I’m so sorry. You have to believe me. I wasn’t trying to hurt you or anything. It was just sex.”

Trembling under him, I kept my arms glued to my body and refused to hug him back. “We’re not together, so don’t stress it.”

“I like you, Cameo, but—”

“Please, don’t say it
, Wiz. Don’t tell me why. I already know.” Tears stung my eyes and blurred my view of his chest. I climbed out of his embrace. “Just don’t say anything. Please don’t. I’m fine.”

Every day
I saw my reflection in the mirror. There was no mystery why Wiz was with Destiny tonight. Somehow I thought I could sneak pass whatever idea Wiz had of beauty, just slip through his mental guards like a thief late at night while everyone was asleep, capturing their most valued treasure. But it would never happen. He had told me two years ago that things between us would never be more than friendly, yet still I hoped and dreamed. And so I pretended that it was okay, the whole time relishing in any attention he honored me with. My craving for him grew. My delusions shifted into color and smell. Many moments I believed that we might be together—times when we laid on the beach, just him and me, the sun setting before us, our toes touching, our eyes gazing at each other, instead of the barred ceiling sky or the nature around us. We never said anything, just looked into each other’s eyes.

Is that really how friends act? I guess so.
Because he’s touched me, but never like he did with Destiny.
Jealousy dropped to the bottom of my gut.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow.
” I climbed out of his grip.

“
I do like you.”

I bobbed my head
in mock agreement. “Okay. You like me, but you just want to be friends.”

“Yes.” He looked away.
The muscle in his jaw twitched.

“So why don’t you just leave me alone and let me go home
?” I sucked in my scales and twisted around. More tears rushed out. Thank all the gods that the pitter-patter increased into a light shower. The rain mixed in with my tears.

He grabbed my arm before I could run off. “You’re upset.
Tell me why you’re mad and then you can go.”

“You know why I’m mad!”

“Then let’s talk about it,” he said from behind me. “Why are you sad?”

“You know what. Fine.”
I turned around and hit his chest. “Of course I’m upset!”

I rubbed my face with both hands. “Because it hurts me to pretend like it’s okay that we’re just
friends. I want more from you. So much more.”

He
sighed. “I want more from you too, but we just can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Cameo, let’s just leave this alone.”

“If it is the way I look.”
Desperation hit me and I clung to it. “I could. . .shift into Destiny or any other woman if you wanted it—”

“Don’t say that.” He closed his eyes.
“You’re breathtaking, Cameo. If you think she’s prettier than you, then you’re wrong.”

“Stop lying to me!” I shoved at him.

“Come back to my room or let’s go to yours. I don’t want you to be upset anymore.”

“You can’t make me feel better. Just leave me alone.”

“I can help.”

“No you can’t. I’m upset because I can’t have the things that I want. Others were born with it. Others get everything they desire just by being them. Not me. I’m upset because I didn’t ask to be born this way, but I try my best to show you other parts of me. But you still lay down with someone else!”

“
Dang it, Cameo. You’re beautiful to me, inside and outside.” He opened his eyes and grabbed my waist. “Please don’t cry, Cameo. I’m so sorry. I didn’t sleep with Destiny because I think she’s more beautiful than you. I had sex with her because sleeping with Destiny would be less complicated.”

“Sex with me would be complicated?”
I targeted him with my eyes and knew doubt was swimming through them.

“Yes.
” He hugged me. “Sex with you would be really complicated, more than you have any idea.”

“Why?”

“I can’t tell you.”

I rammed my knee in his groin as hard as I could right where I believed he deserved it the most.
It wasn’t my best moment. My mom’s laughter filled my head. I didn’t know if she was cackling at him or me. He collapsed to the damp ground, holding himself. Rain dropped on his skin and moistened his hair.

“Why did you do that?” he roared.

“Because you’re either lying to me or keeping some stupid secret, and I’m sick of both.”

A gun shot
from the center of Haven. Everyone screamed and raced off their roofs. Even though it was now raining, kids scattered everywhere, leaping to other buildings with no problem, climbing down the sides with their brick climbers, and stomping out their campfires before abandoning the area. The gun shot out again. I shielded my eyes from the rain to see if I could get a view of Fin. I didn’t see her, only Rich racing into the entrance door as if heading to Wiz’s apartment.

Oh goddess. I hope
Fin didn’t shoot her. Or maybe I do.

“I think
Fin might’ve shot Destiny.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “She has a gun now. You should probably check that out and make sure Destiny is okay.”

“What?”
Wiz whimpered, still holding his groin. “Why does Fin have a gun?”

“It’s dangerous. She feels safer with it.”

Rich peeked his head out of the doorway and yelled, “False alarm, kind of! It’s not the habbies! Just Fin being. . .Fin! She just shot somebody.”

Yep. Fin shot Destiny.

Kids laughed. A few girls cheered and yelled out Fin’s name. Lightening struck a building a few miles ahead. Thunder rumbled off in the distance.

I gazed down at Wiz and wiped some of the rain off of my face as he sat up.
“The shadow stones are somewhere in the Great Hall. If you want to talk to me about the stones then send the message through Rich.”

Wiz rose.
His silver fangs gleamed in the moonlight. “So I can’t talk to you now or touch you?”

I
sniffled and wiped at my nose. “Just leave me alone for tonight. Tomorrow I’m going to the Great Hall.”

He held his hand out to me.
“Can we just get away from the rain and talk for a few minutes?”

“No.” I stared at the ground ready to leave. I’
d cried like a bumbling child, then offered to shift into other female’s images just so he could have sex with me, then I cried again, and finally to add even more embarrassment, I kneed him because I wasn’t getting my way. “I’ve done enough damage tonight. Maybe we can talk in a couple of days.”

“Couple of days?
No, Cameo. I want to see you now.”

“Go see Destiny.”
I stepped on the ledge, jumped to the other roof, and sprinted away, slipping a few times as the rain shifted into a full-blown storm.

Chapter 12

“Go! Go! Go! Go!” Everyone chanted around me.

Exhilaration surged through my veins. I pressed the game’s buttons with skill and precision. The old machines were always the best to play. The new video games I had to slide my hands across a screen or move it near the program’s laser rays to activate the game and control character’s movements. Those games sucked. I spent more time, focusing on my hand being in the right place verses enjoying the opportunity to beat someone’s behind.

“Go Cameo!” a girl I knew from Haven cheered. “Go Cameo!

“Come on!” My opponent kicked the video game machine. His mohawk wavered with the spoiled brat movement. He had rings pierced all over the right side of his face. A crescent moon brand sat in the middle of his forehead, signaling to me that he was a shapeshifter. He’d told me he was a were-wolf earlier, probably to scare me. “This stupid game is cheating!”

“
The game is not cheating. You just suck.” Usually I tried to be a good sport when I played, especially when I gamed against a shapeshifter that could change into an animal and rip me a part with his claws. But tonight I didn’t care. After leaving Wiz on the roof, I’d ran into the arcade due to the storm, copped two beers from some old, wrinkled earth witch that was hanging around and begging me to walk near the alley with him. I took the beers, left him, and told the manager Susie about the weirdo. Susie was a vampire with one of the top cartels. All she did was signal her guards to take care of the old guy.

“This is were-bull crap!” The
were-wolf punched the screen. Luckily it didn’t break.   People clapped and cheered like I’d won the lottery.

“Maybe Four Elements just isn’t your game.” I took a swig of my beer as the last round loaded.

Me and the idiot had been playing Four Elements for the past hour. No matter what sorcerer he used to fight my wind wielder, they all died one by one—suffocation from a tornado my wind wielder captured them in or sometimes I used a breeze as a lasso, caught the enemy sorcerer with it, and squeezed his insides until they spilled out of the poor loser’s mouth and sprayed the screen. He wouldn’t accept defeat. Plus, I was in a bad mood tonight. As far as I was concerned all electronic enemy characters would pay for Wiz’s cheating. . .well he didn’t cheat. He was never mine, but it felt that way.

Music beeped on. Green grass exploded in the middle of the screen. Water sprayed the grass and then drowned it. Rocks battered down and upset the water. Wind blew everything off the screen. The words Four Elements appeared
and glowed in white against a black background.

“
Sorcerers, Ready?” The machine sounded.

My wind wielder materialized on the screen in a blur of motion, spinning around and around like a tornado and then finally stopping to stand on the right side. A sky blue
turban covered her head. A dark blue robe swirled around her and never really stayed in one place. She had white skin and pupil-less eyes.

“You sticking with your wind wielder, huh?” the
were-wolf said.

“Yep.”

“That’s so cheap.” In other words he was calling me a cheater but in arcade slang.

“Whatever.” I smirked. “Beat my wind wielder and I’ll pick a new person.”

“I will. Trust me.” He chose a water sorcerer. This type of character wielded water balls that drowned its opponent when they hit their face. He skittered across the screen in a turquoise robe that glimmered like water.

“
Fight!” the machine yelled.

Our guys faced each other
in a massive stadium. The timer materialized at the center of the screen. I had three minutes to kill him. I figured it would take barely one minute. I knew the were-wolf’s moves by now. He loved to attack first with the highest offense power his character possessed, which was cool if he had good aim, but he didn’t. Therefore his sorcerer missed my guy and then had to power up for five seconds which gave me the opportunity to attack him as much as possible.

“Let’s do this.” He high-
fived one of his friends.

Just like I’d figu
red, his water sorcerer slung ten high-speed water balls at my opponent to drown him. I shifted my guy into a tornado and twisted him around all of the balls, dodging all of them. His sorcerer now had to power up.

“My turn, wolfy.” I grinned.

The water sorcerer fled through the stadium. My wind wielder, already in tornado form, smashed him into empty seats.

The werewolf
growled. “My button keeps sticking.”

Sure it
does.

I
took another swig of my beer, swayed a little, and shook my head. Dots clouded my vision for a few seconds as I launched breezed attacks at the water sorcerer. I blinked and my view cleared. I wasn’t sure why my eyes were acting up. It could’ve been the fact that I’d been playing the game for hours or it was the beers I’d been devouring. I burped.

Yeah. Probably the beers.

The game lit up. Beeps sounded. Bells rang. My wind wielder leaped up and down, landing on my opponent’s head every other bounce. I altered to my loyal combo, the one that always resulted in victory. Buttons A, B, up joystick, B, B, slant joystick, and then all buttons at once. The wind wielder gripped the bad guy’s neck, yanked it off, and filled the poor loser’s body with wind, which caused his skin to ripple, and then whole body to explode into tiny pieces.

“Next.” I yawned and
finished my first beer. I checked the top of the game’s surface. There were no stacks of coins, which signaled that no one else wanted to play. My second beer sat in a brown bag. I lifted it up, opened it, and drank more. The bitter liquid slid down my throat. I never had a taste for the stuff. Every now and then I would sip some of my mother’s beer when she passed out, just to help me fall asleep or forget about what horrible thing had happened that night. Once I ran away, I never had a reason to steal a sip of beer. Things had been going along fine.

Until tonight.
When Wiz broke my heart.

“What will be my next weapon?” I
left Four Elements and scanned the various video games all around me. In the center of the building sat a massive ring where two kids stood with laser swords and electronic gear wrapped around their chests, arms, crotch, and legs. The gear scored the laser hits. I considered playing the game.

“Naw.” I gulped the
beer.

The
laser ring game was too real. Although the person didn’t feel the lasers when the opponent stabbed, slashed, and hit the other’s body, there seemed to be a necessity of knowledge in real life fighting. I couldn’t just push buttons like on Four Elements. I actually had to dodge and dart, block and attack.

No way I’m getting in that ring and embarrassing myself.

My stomach grumbled as it expanded with more beer. The stuff owned a nasty taste, but I had to admit a great numb sensation hit me right on time. I peered at the label through the bag.
Castos.
Mom drank this. I laughed. Mom actually drank everything.

Music played from hundreds of machines
as I stumbled through the arcade. Each one boasted its own tune and all rang in an unorganized symphony of loud musical chaos. My ears hurt. Cigarette smoke floated all over the place. People knocked into me as they passed.

“Don’t mind me. I’m just walking through
,” I slurred and swallowed more nasty liquid.

Several minutes later,
I spotted Eight surrounded by three guys. They all wore Captain Habitat purple shirts, huge green glasses, and brown matching corduroy pants. They bopped on the Four Elements: Dance Battle game.

Since witches controlled a particular element and they usually designed video games, most game concepts dealt with the four elements: air, water, fire, wind.

A rock song blasted from the machine’s speakers. It was an electronic guitar that kept doing fast riffs to the slamming of a bass drum. A large screen stood in front of them and showed the dance moves that each team was required to perform in order to go to the next level.
I leaned back on the wall and watched as Eight’s team danced against four girl witches who were also dressed alike in red overalls and pink hiking boots.

“What’s up with the team
outfit coordination?” I asked a young blonde next to me. She didn’t answer as she studied both teams’ movements and bobbed her head to the song. A horn blared. Rain fell from the game’s ceiling, wetting both teams.

“Whoa.” I laughed as the teams continued to rock their hips to the
music. Next came snow. Still both teams knocked out the dance moves that scrolled on the flat screen even though a few of them were shivering. I’d never played the game. It just looked so stupid to me.

Who would have a dance battle during a blizzard? Wouldn’t you just run to safety?

Eight twisted in my direction and wound his hips. Our eyes met. I raised my brown-bagged beer and nodded. Red tinted his face as he froze. A horn blared.

“Team A
miss-stepped!” the machine roared.

“Eight you ruined the song.” One of his friends stomped
his way. The team of girl witches clapped and snapped their fingers at Eight’s team. He rushed off the game’s wet platform and slicked back his damp hair.

Both
teams left the platform. The machine’s tiles slid to the side. Vents appeared. Water and snowed leaked and fell through the vents. Fans surrounded the platform and blew hot air.

“Cameo.” Eight spread out his arms. “I haven’t seen you in Fangdom in months.”

The place was really called Bells and Whistles, but everyone referred to it as Fangdom since it was a twenty-four hour arcade that vampires owned.

“I’ve been busy.”
Working for Wiz.
“But now I’m taking some time off.”

“O-kay?” He furrowed his eyebrows
and glanced at the brown-bagged beer in my hand. “Are you drinking?”

I handed it to him. “You want some?”

“No.” Yet, he grabbed it from me anyway and set it down on a game behind him. “Is everything okay?”

“Yep.” I spotted his friends staring at me and whispering among themselves. One of them cringed and I could’ve
sworn I heard the word, scales, but then it could have been the beer fogging my head.

“
Are you having problems with your mom?”

“No. She died a few days ago.
I forgot to tell you that in the library.” I gazed off in a distance far away from where I was. “But it’s no big deal.”

“Your mom died?”

“She hung herself.”

“She was the body they found in Oya District?”

“Yeah. I didn’t think it would make the news.”

“Well. . .”

“Well, what?”

Worry creased his eyebrows. “They think she was killed. Apparently, the apartment was destroyed like she’d been fighting. I only know this because
my mom and dad made me go to a Witch Council meeting and people were demanding that we vote on making the habbies investigate her murder.”

“Murder? She. . .she hung herself.”
I reached for my beer.

Who would kill her? Who would want to hurt her? There’s no way it was a murder.

“When was the last time you seen her?” Eight asked.

“Days before. She’d came by.”

Or more like figured out where I’d run off to and threatened me.

“Let’s not talk about this now.”
Eight moved my hand away and embraced me, which forced me to slump into him like a bumbling baby. Water soaked his shirt and jeans, but I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested them on his small shoulders.

“Eight! You joining us in the next battle,” one of his friends yelled behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder. “No. Go ahead and let Perry dance in my place.”

“
No way. Play your game, Eight.” I tried to let him go, but he wouldn’t let me. “You’re so nice to me, but you’re missing your game.” I laid my head on his shoulder.

“Let’s get you something to eat and some water.” He rubbed my back. “You need some sleep, too. My room is in the attic
of my parent’s house. I could sneak you in. Once my parents sleep they’re out of it. They can’t hear anything. If you need a place to relax, come to mine.”

“No. I’m cool.” I
lifted my head and rested my cheek against his moist one. He smelled like candy. I loved it.

“No you’re not.
” He leaned away from me. Concern etched in his eyes. “You’re drinking. You only drink beer when you’ve been hurt.”

“
Are you my friend?”

“Of course.”

I climbed out of his arms. “Would you tell me the truth no matter what?”

“Always.”

“Do you really think I’m pretty?”

“Definitely.” His eyes widened. “You’re more than pretty. You’re sexy and
smart. You’re perfect.”

I blinked
in shock. He really looked like he was telling the truth. I sighed and knew what I needed to do. I had to get over Wiz. If I was going to move on with somebody, then it should be with a guy who saw me as sexy, pretty, and perfect. Eight was the guy for me.