Night Classes

“Alright, its time for your first lesson!”  Ari called to Toby in the dark.  He awoke with a groan.  He looked up and squinted at the goddess as she smiled down at him.

“I thought this wasn’t going to interfere with my life!”  Toby moaned at her as he rolled over and put the pillow over his own head.  She pulled the pillow off.

“Well, normally, it won’t.  But seeing as its four in the morning here, and a trouble maker just woke up in England, we have a mess to go and clean up.  It won’t take long.”

“How are we getting to England?”  Toby asked her as he rolled out of bed and pulled pants on.

“Its called jumping.”  She explained as she threw a shirt that looked relatively clean to him.  “We jump, and we can take mortals with us.  It’s the newest way to travel.”

“Can I do it, on my own?”  He asked her, and she shook her head in denial of his request.  He looked disappointed, pulling the shirt on and searching for shoes.

“Not yet.  Only full immortals can. If you change, then probably.  But most likely not for a while.  That’s why you have me.  Throw on your sandals.  Everything will be relatively warm in England, don’t worry.”

“Why are we... ?”  He asked as she grabbed his hand and they leapt to England.  Well, she leapt.  He held on for dear life.

“A young demimortal got raped last night, and she just woke up with the man in her bed.  He drugged her and then drugged her parents, and raped her while she was passed out.  She just woke up to him there, and he went to rape her again.  She got scared and well,”  Ari pointed to a mangled mess that looked remotely human next to the house they had just arrived at.  “She used her innate power to fling him through her antique glass window on the third floor into the massive oak ten feet away.  His neck is broken, and he is most definitely dead.”

“Shit.”  Toby looked down at his first dead body. “He was.   Wow.  That must have hurt.”

“He was a serial rapist, so we’ve discovered.  We usually try to take them out before they mess with the wrong people.”

“So why... why are we here?”  Toby asked.

“I have to clean up the mess.  And you have to break the news to this young girl, and convince her to either go to a monastery, America with you, to be trained, or to Olympus, to become immortal and subject to immortal laws.”

“Gee, I only have to do that?”  Toby asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“You have problems?”  Ari rolled her eyes at him.  “I have to fix the window, keep the parents asleep and get rid of this body before anyone sees.”

“Can you get us a morning after pill, too?”  Toby asked her.

“Oh, don’t worry.  The man had a vasectomy as a teenager.  Part of the reason he was the way he was.  He had early testicular cancer.  He was completely impotent.”

“Well, that’s comforting.  Look, how do I get in, and where is she?”

“Front door is open.  And I believe she is in the bathroom, throwing up last night’s alcohol consumption.”  Ari said as she dragged the bloody mess that was a body from underneath the tree and back a few feet.

“I need to examine him, to find out the strength of her powers and also about any loose ends I may need to close and erase with his family members and friends.”

“Oh.  Right.”  Toby said, and walked slowly towards the front door.  “I thought this was supposed to be a lesson!”  He yelled back to her.

“I believe in learning through experience!”  Ari shouted to him.  “Now get your ass in there and help me!”

“Going.”  Toby muttered as he slowly twisted the door handle.  He wasn’t sure the parents were still asleep, as goddess-ly as Ari might be.  He heard the sounds of vomiting up the stairs, and he slowly climbed the two flights, a knot forming in his stomach.  He had never even spoken to a rape victim, much less comforted one.

“How old is she, anyway?”  Toby whispered as he finished the flight.

“Fourteen.”  Ari’s voice echoed in his head, and he sighed.  He was sure the last thing that a fourteen year old girl wanted was comfort from an eighteen year old male thing with a penis.

“Name?”

“Lisa.”  Her voice came through in his head once more.  He took a deep breath, and opened the bathroom door slowly.

“Lisa?  I’m not here to hurt you, don’t worry.”  Toby’s opening statement came from the door way, with hands held up in surrender.

Vomiting was the only response he got.  Seconds later, she looked up through tear stained eyes.

“Who are you?”  She stammered as he bent over her sink to fill a cup of water for her.

“A friend.  I’m not here to hurt you. Here, drink something.  I’ve had a hangover before.  Best thing to do is drink some.”

“I...  okay.”  Lisa gave up on any of the day making sense.  She had just sent her attacker flying through a window without touching him.  Something had to be up with her.  She swallowed the water gratefully.

“Here.”  Toby handed her a wet wash cloth to wash her face off with.  “When you can talk comfortably again, I’ll be right here with you, alright?”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Toby.”  Toby asserted to her.

“Why... you’re not even British.  Why are you here?”

“I’ll explain all of that once you calm down a little bit.  You won’t retain anything I tell you right now.”

“Okay.”  Lisa agreed, swallowing more of the water and finishing it off.  She looked up at him and held the cup out helplessly.  She wasn’t even fully dressed, and he realized how uncomfortable that must have made her.

“Here you go.”  Toby said reassuringly, handing her a second glass of water.  He could tell that her head was still spinning.

“Are you... the cops?”  Lisa asked through gulps of water, and Toby shook his head no.

“Definitely not.  I’m just a normal kid like you.”

“Why are you here?”

“Are you ready to listen?”  He countered her question, and offered her a hand to get up off of her bathroom’s floor.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“I am like you.  I have certain gifts that are not considered normal.”  Toby started off, talking fast.  “Hey look, I’m all new to this too.  I’m really sorry for what happened to you, last night and this morning.  You and I, and a few others... we’re different because we are more powerful than other human beings.”

“What’s going to happen to me?”  She asked as she rose to her feet and fell into him, gripping his back like he was the last thing on earth that could keep her in one piece.

“Nothing bad, I swear.  You were way too young, and he was scum.  Now, look.  He’s been taken care of.  Hey, let go for a minute and look at me, alright?”

Lisa looked up at him, tears staining her freshly cleaned face.  He reached up and wiped them away from her, cupping her cheeks gently.

“You are okay.  You’re not pregnant.  That ass hole has been taken care of.  And you, my dear, are about to make a choice.”  He let go of her cheeks.

“You have way too much power to stay here.”  He said, and her eyes welled up with tears again.  “Hey, stop crying.  I can’t stand to see girls cry.  You’ll be able to see your friends and your parents, don’t worry.  Okay?  You have to listen though.”

“Okay.”  Lisa sniffled.  “Can we... sit... somewhere?”

“Your house.  You lead.”  He allowed her to lead the way and she chose the stairs as her seat, curling up into the fetal position as best as she could.

“Now, you can go to a monastery somewhere between here and China that will teach you control... ”  Toby said, smiling as she wrinkled her nose at him.  “You can come to America and learn control... ”  Toby watched her blank face, and with no reaction, continued, “Or you have one more choice.”

“Which is?”

“The reason you are so powerful is because your father is not your real father, or your mother is not your real mother.”

“I was adopted.”  Lisa pointed out to him.”

“Right.  In that case, then it doesn’t really matter.  All you need to know is that one of your parents was a god.”

“Oh... kay... ”  Lisa said, mostly half believing him.  After all, after this morning, she could believe pretty much anything.

“You can go to Olympus to train if you’d like, but you wouldn’t be able to return here right away.  You would become a full immortal.  Subject to those rules and regulations.”

“Who is my parent, then?”  Lisa asked him, reserving her choice for later.

“We don’t know.  We will find out, though.”  Toby said.  “Illegal god and human copulations have been happening excessively over the past fifty years.  Its not that the world is ending with so many natural disasters, its that people like you and I go unreported and bad things happen when we get angry, or in your case, scared.”

“Will I be punished?”

“No.  None of this is your fault.”  He assured her.  “Your parents don’t know a thing.  And neither will the cops, or anyone else.  This stays between us and the gods – literally.”

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