Chapter Twenty-Four

Having left her with that ominous warning, the tears faded, sending her back to experience one bodiless dream after the other. After the crabs, there was a dream where Cierra bounced along muted rainbow roads surrounded by stars, another where she was at a ball watching people in animal masks dance with partner after partner, and the last one, where she sat on a beach with Cid watching the sky streak from violet to navy as the stars slowly came out.

When Cierra woke up, it felt as though every muscle in her body was well rested. Fingering the bracelet on her wrist, she thought a silent 'thank you.' She was no closer to any of the answers she needed, but she was grateful for the opportunity to take a break. The tears had done exactly what they said they would, they made her wish come true.

Cierra awoke with a purpose, there was no more time to dilly-dally trying to find answers. The tears were right, she needed to be stronger.

She made a new plan: exercise hardcore to build a body able to withstand battle, tell Baaqir thanks but no thanks, and find the people who wanted her to prove her loyalty via the divine artifact, forcing them to become her comrades. She got dressed, preparing to head out to the gym. One or the other, she was going to find out about herself, free Freya, fix her tear, and take revenge for the Skogkatts, Silva, and Leif.

She was halfway through her a new exercise routine, just starting to put the right hand grips on a machine to do overhead cable curls, when Dawn messaged her.

'What's the plan 2day?'

Cierra tried to remember if they had any plans but came up empty.

'?? You want to hang out?'

'Calculus is Wednesday, and I can't figure out problem 6, send help!!!'

'Eeeek. K, meet at eleven? I'll grab you after the gym.' Cierra asked, feeling as suddenly disheartened. She had completely forgotten that in the real world she still had to pass calculus if she wanted to graduate on time.

After Dawn confirmed their plans, Cierra tried to focus on finishing her sets. From what she saw online, she needed to work on two muscle groups a day, so for today she chose upper arms and shoulders. By the time she left, it felt like her arms were threatening to fall off; aching when she changed her clothes, picked up her bag, and opened the car door.

Still, she thought to herself, this is something I have to do.

From her years of track, she knew that the muscle pain wouldn't last forever, she just had to handle the pain until her body got used to it. Resolute in her resolve, she decided to work on her lower back and thighs tomorrow, giving her arms a chance to rest.

When she pulled in front of Dawn's half of the duplex, she was unpleasantly surprised to find Dawn and her father both waiting outside. He was a tall man, someone easy to pretend had once been handsome, with his blue eyes and thick brown hair. He had a beer belly that protruded past his pants and a pension for stained wife beaters.

"If it isn't lil miss Cierra," He said as she rolled down the window.

"Hello Mr. Bayer," Cierra tried to sound as pleasant as possible. She had learned long ago to keep things as short and cordial as possible with Dawn's parents, not that she ever saw them much.

Cierra could still remember the one night she had stayed over as a freshman. Their home was small, with cigarette ash ground into the carpet and beer bottles littered around on tables, between couch cushions, and on the floor. Dawn's father had gotten into a screaming matching with his wife, Dawn's mother, throwing a jar through a wall, screaming how he was going to buy a shotgun and kill her. Dawn's mom, a curvy blonde woman with wrinkles settling in next to her eyes, had spent the rest of the night in Dawn's room with them. Repeating the same excuse: "He's never really like this. It'll be better tomorrow," over and over again, alcohol heavy on her breath.

Back outside, on the lawn, Dawn gave Cierra a look that said, 'I'm sorry,'

"Come on out, it's been a while," Her father suggested. His voice was friendly, but Cierra shook her head.

"Sorry! We have a lot of homework to get through, so we need to get started as soon as possible." Cierra made up the first excuse that came to mind. Something about the way Mr. Bayer looked at her made Cierra uncomfortable.

"Right, right," He nodded along, "Can't believe you both failed calculus. I thought for sure you would pull Dawn through."

Cierra looked at him funny, raising an eyebrow. She could understand if he thought Dawn would have helped her; Dawn passed all of classes seemingly effortlessly, but how could Cierra have helped her?

"Well, you know—," He began.

"Dad!," Dawn interrupted, "We have to go, I'll be back later." She gave him a hug and climbed into the passenger seat.

"I am so sorry about that," Dawn started once they pulled away, "He just doesn't know what he's talking about. I've tried telling him you're not good at math, but you know…"

"Ah." It clicked, the 'positive' Asian stereotype.

"He doesn't mean anything bad by it, it's just what his generation learned," Dawn understood the annoyed look on her friend's face, and tried to overcompensate, "Plus, it's not that bad to be known as being good at math. There are worst things."

Cierra nodded along, not wanting to rock the boat. There were some things Dawn would just never understand, and that was okay.

"It's fine," Cierra said, and seeing the look of concern on Dawn's face, added, "Really."

"By the way, I ran into your one true love the other day," Cierra added, knowing it would catch her friend's attention.

Dawn practically bounced out of her seat, "What? Where? How?" A pause, "Did he mention me?"

Cierra had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"He was just walking through the city square with his aunt, Tia—" Cierra started to explain but Dawn cut her off.

"Are you telling me his aunt's name is Tia? The Spanish word for aunt?" Dawn asked, incredulously.

"Huh..." Cierra hadn't thought about that before. "I mean, that's what he said."

"That's weird." Dawn thought for a moment, "What did she look like? Did they look like relatives?"

"I swear, he's going to file a restraining order on you one day," Cierra laughed at the embarrassed blush that crossed Dawn's face, "Hmm, she looked… ," Cierra tried to find the right word, "Intimidating?"

"Her nails were painted gold and cut into sharp points," Cierra tried to remember more about the woman, "And her hair was deep red and black. She was definitely older than him." Cierra added the last part to make Dawn feel better.

"Oh!" Cierra suddenly remembered what Tia had been wearing, "Do you remember Trinity from The Matrix? She was all dressed in leather, and super boney."

"Like…" Dawn thought for a moment, "That woman from Underworld?"

Cierra nodded enthusiastically, "Exactly."

Dawn was thoughtful for a moment, "What if she's secretly a vampire and has turned him into her living servant?"

"But they were out during daylight," Cierra laughed, "Try again."

"What if they're secret lovers," Cierra blushed at the word 'lovers', "And his parents don't approve because she's older and they were taking a secretive stroll through the city square, and you caught them?" Dawn's eyes went large as an owl's, "What if he has a thing for older women?"

"You're going to be a great storyteller one day." Cierra laughed at the plot Dawn had come up with, "Why don't you just talk to him?"

Dawn scowled at her from the passenger seat, "Like I haven't?" She sighed, "But he remembered my name at the theater! So that's something."

By the time they pulled into Cierra's driveway, Cierra was Jeremiah'd out. Dawn had a dozen more conspiracy stories about how suspicious his meeting with an aunt named Tia was, and Cierra was contemplating how hard it would be to cut her own ears off.

"Okay," Cierra interrupted a long monologue about how Jeremiah's uncle must be named Tio, his mother Mama, and so on, "We need to focus on calculus. Boys later."

They settled at the kitchen table, books out.

When her aunt and uncle got home, they found the girls at the table, heads in their hands.

"How's the studying going?" Ernǚ asked, cautiously.

All she got was a groan in reply.

"Well, how about I order some pizza for dinner and you girls can keep at it?" She offered, wanting to stay out of their way.

"Mhmmm," and a grunt was all she got in reply as the girls talked among themselves.

"The back of the book says the answer is…"

"But how do we keep getting 32?!"