Aren't You Sorry You Woke Me Up So Early?
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So this is a story I wrote for my advanced fiction class. I decided to share it with the 4 or 5 people still hanging out here. All critiques, comments, questions are welcome. (And the name Shilah has nothing to do with my Reserve/SSR character.) The world this takes place in is not exactly concrete in my mind yet. And the direction this story could go is also still very undecided. So I'm open to suggestions.
Lyrek’s Exterminators Inc.
“Alright, good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” Ronald, Head of Human Resources, said. Even he sounded like he was bored with making this speech every day. “Welcome to Lyrek’s Extermination Headquarters. We are the second largest extermination company on this continent.” He crossed his arms. “Now contrary to what the company name may make you think, your job will not be to kill anything. We relocate to open up space for our clients.”
Shilah leaned back and propped her feet up on the table. She was the only one in the room with Ronald, yet he still talked as if he were speaking to a room of thirty new employees. As she scraped some of the mud off the bottom of her boots, Ronald narrowed his eyes. She smiled at him and he gave an exaggerated sigh before continuing with his speech.
“We have some paperwork for you to fill out, then we’ll take you on a tour of the building, and before you leave we’ll introduce you to your new team.” Shilah raised her hand, and Ronald raised an eyebrow at her. “You have a question?”
“Who’s we?” she asked. Ronald frowned at her. “You keep saying we. We have paperwork. We will take you on a tour. And we will introduce you to your new team.” She shrugged and Ronald rolled his eyes. “There’s just you here. Who’s we?”
“Well, uh, normally I have my assistant,” he said.
“And where is this invisible assistant?”
“He got promoted.” He straightened the lapels on his jacket, then added, with more than a hint of bitterness, “He’s my boss now.”
Shilah gave a sympathetic wince as she stifled a chuckle. She changed the subject quickly. “Can we do the paperwork fast and skip the tour?”
“You have quite the attitude. That’s not going to get you anywhere here,” Ronald said, trying to look composed. “All it’s going to get you is a swift kick out.”
“Well, I know for a fact that I got this job at Lyrek’s request, so I’m pretty sure he’s the only one that can give me the kick.”
Ronald let his mouth hang open slightly. “Well, you’d still better shape up.” He turned around and pulled a small stack of papers off the table and set them down in front of her. He handed her a pen and she began scribbling her responses on the pages. “You’re going to be joining Team Delta. Ember and Melanie have been working here for years. They’re a powerful team.”
“Great. I get to be the newbie,” Shilah mumbled as she turned to a new page. “You know, I thought when the war ended we wouldn’t have to deal with tax forms.” She made a disgusted face and sighed. “Why can’t I fill all this out later?”
“It’s, uh, r-r-required before you begin work.” The man’s deep red skin was darkening as he became more aggravated.
“Of course it is,” she grumbled.
She finished her paperwork in silence. Ronald tried to continue his speech, but a few sharp looks from Shilah made him give up. He ended up leaning against a table with a look of resignation on his face. He pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket and used it to scrub at his curved horns.
When she set down her pen with a triumphant grin, Ronald nodded and, without saying a word, led her out of the orientation room and turned left into the company break room. The walls were a burnt orange color and a row of large lockers lined one wall. There were three large couches circled around a low coffee table. Two round tables were surrounded by cheap plastic chairs.
A few people were scattered around the room, a man sitting on a couch reading a book, another eating a hotdog that seemed to drip with grease. Ronald stepped over a green skinned woman sleeping on the floor, seeming unfazed by her snores. Shilah stepped over her carefully, frowning down at her. A trio of elves stopped their game of cards long enough to greet Ronald with forced smiles. He returned their greeting with too much enthusiasm and gave a sideways glance to Shilah, as if to make sure she’d seen.
He led her toward the far corner where two women sat engrossed in a quiet conversation. Shilah noticed that as they neared the pair the others around the room exchanged looks, stood and made their way discreetly from the room. One of the elves stopped, woke up the girl still asleep on the floor and all but dragged her out with them.
Ronald cleared his throat and both girls’ heads shot up, their conversation ending immediately. They both smiled at Ronald, much more genuinely than the elves had.
“Ronnie,” the brunette nearly shouted, jumping to her feet. She ran a fingertip over one of his horns. “Look, Emmy. He shined his horns.”
The black haired girl remained seated and winked at Ronald, whose cheeks darkening. “Just for us, Ronnie?”
“Ember, Melanie,” he said, stepping away from Melanie. He gestured toward Shilah and introduced her.
The smiles fell from their faces. “New partner, Ron? Already?” Melanie said with a groan. She sat back down next to Ember and sighed. “We just finished breaking in the last one.” She said, tying her brown hair up into a ponytail. When she pulled her hair tight against her head, Shilah noticed her tall, pointed ears. A large hoop earring hung from the tip of one.
“Breaking is a very good way to describe it, Melanie,” Ronald said, crossing his arms. “She’s moved to a convent, one of those that worships Artemis, and taken a vow of silence.”
“You mean she talked in the first place?” Ember asked, frowning.
“Remember? She called you a bitch when you turned her into a rabbit.” Melanie said laughing out loud, clapping her hands twice as she leaned against the wall behind her.
Ember cringed. “Oh. Right.” She looked up at Shilah and smiled with just a hint of mischief. “In my defense I was working on an Egyptian speed spell. But I’ve got it now.”
“That’s good. I’d rather not turn into a rabbit. Did it once. Not nearly as much fun as the brochure made it sound,” Shilah said, keeping her face flat. Ember gave her a smile, and Shilah felt like she had passed a test.
“I was going to give her a tour of the facilities,” Ronald said, sounding tired as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Don’t bother, Ronnie,” Melanie said. “We’ll take her down to the training room.”
Ronald frowned. “But Team Beta has the training room until four,” he said. When Melanie’s smile turned wicked, he threw his hands up. “I don’t want to know. Don’t want to know.” He walked away faster than necessary and Melanie leaned against the wall laughing.
“I love screwing with his head,” she muttered. “So, Shiloh, you wanna come with us and get something to eat?”
“Shilah,” she corrected absently. “We’re not going to go train or whatever?”
“Nah, Beta really does have the training room,” Ember explained standing and gathering a few books from the table in front of her. “Unless you want to do a full on spar with the number two team on your first day?” she prompted, raising an eyebrow at the new recruit.
“No, food sounds good.”
“Good,” Melanie said. “Do you like pizza?”
-----
Melanie drove an old car. It shook when it reached sixty miles an hour, and Shilah was more than a little afraid it might rattle off the tires. Ember had enchanted the car years earlier apparently, so Melanie only had to say her destination and the car drove itself. This left both of Melanie’s hands free. She seemed to need them when she spoke.
“So mostly we get calls from Tierra. You probably haven’t met her, yet,” Melanie said.
The car shook violently and Shilah gripped the seat tighter. Ember had yet to figure out how to enchant the car for a smoother ride. She was working on it.
“The only team that gets more work than we do is team Alpha,” Ember said. She had her feet propped up on the dashboard, a large book sprawled across her lap.
“And that’s only because they’re all stupid demigods,” Melanie said, pouting. “But I think if it weren’t for Lars being Loki’s kid we’d be Alpha.”
“No we wouldn’t,” Ember said, not glancing up.
“Why wouldn’t you?” Shilah asked.
“We, honey. You’re part of Team Delta now, too,” Melanie said. “Ember doesn’t know what she’s talking about. They’re not even that powerful. We should be Alpha.” Shilah noted that it seemed to be a sore subject.
“And we wouldn’t be Alpha because Melly has gotten extremely good at pissing people off,” Ember said, checking her teeth in the rearview mirror. A pair elongated canines appeared from behind her lips. “She keeps ruining our chances,” she added, sending a bitter glance at Melanie, who returned the look in spades.
“You’re the one who keeps turning people into animals, Miss Witch,” she said. “Not to mention that one girl you turned made disappear. You find her yet?”
“I’m working on it,” Ember snapped, slamming her book closed. She dropped her feet to the floor of the car and tucked the book back into her duffel bag.
The car careened around the corner, and Shilah couldn’t help the small squeal that escaped her. “How fast are we going exactly?” she said quietly.
“My fault,” Ember said, giving her an apologetic smile. “When I enchanted the car I spelled it to drive not only where Melanie would drive, but how she would drive.” She shrugged. “Haven’t figured out how to fix it yet.”
“I like it,” Melanie said, grinning. The car slammed on the brakes in front of a small pizza parlor and Shilah slammed painfully into the back of the seat in front of her and shrieked. “I told you to wear your seat belt,” Melanie said as she climbed out the car.
“There aren’t any!” Shilah exclaimed. She scrambled out of the demonic car and glared at it as she slammed the door shut.
“Oh yeah.” Melanie shrugged and turned to the pizza place. She held her arms out in front of her. “Here we are! One of the few pizza places still in operation today.” A neon sign in the shape of a pizza slice hung in the window. There was a slightly tattered red awning hanging over the double glass doors. Painted on the door was the name of the restaurant, Tiny Tony’s Place. “Tony’s the pixie that took over the restaurant a few years ago. He’s just an absolute doll.”
As Ember pulled open the door a sharp ring from Melanie’s back pocket made them stop. She pulled out the cell phone, and held it up to her ear. “This better be good. I want pizza, Ti.” She was silent for a moment. Her eyes lit up and she hung up the phone without saying a word. She turned to Ember and gripped her forearms. “Dragon!”
“You just hung up on Tierra again, didn’t you,” Ember said, prying Melanie’s fingers from her arms.
“Dragon!” Melanie repeated. Ember was trying to reason with her, but Melanie had already turned and was climbing back into the car.
“Dragon!” she shouted from inside as she started up the engine.
Ember grabbed Shilah’s wrist and pulled her toward the car. “Time to go.” |
