Disgraced: Twins of the Zodiac

I Do Care...I Guess

    It was later on in the day when Jeriko finally decided to leave school and go home. He had very little else to do anyway, his classes had ended after the sixth phase. 

    After what happened with Aurora using against Jennifer, he really wasn’t in too much of a mood to continue out the school day anymore; having had enough of being mundane for the day. Though no sooner, he stepped into the house, he’d have to further his facade, though not as strictly as when he was at school.

    Jeriko hopped out of his Dodge Charger and made his way for the door. He hesitated, however, at the thought of running into Aurora, still livid with the way that she handled herself earlier that day.

    Waiting another prolonged moment, Jeriko finally unlocked and opened the front door, placing his bag on the foyer table before going into the kitchen to retrieve his after-school snack; something that he knew would be awaiting him when he came home.

    While eating his favorite ham and cheese, with lettuce, tomato, and mayo, Jeriko eventually calmed himself down, brushing off the negatives of the day. For the most part anyway. There was still one big negative left; and he had yet to tackle it, though he knew he had to sooner or later.

    With a sigh, Jeriko threw what was left of his food away and grabbed his bag from the foyer table before making his way upstairs to talk to his sister.

    “Jeriko!” A lighthearted voice greeted as she passed Jeriko on the stair.

    “Hey, Mags.” Jeriko smiled at the woman that was descending the stairs. “How are you?” He asked.

    With a cheerful smile, Mags replied. “I’m doing great, today! I’ve gotten most of the things on my to-do list finished.”

    “Makes for a great day then, I guess,” Jeriko replied in a teasing manner.

    “You joke, but it’s the first time in a while that I actually finished it. Well, nearly finished.” They both chuckled before Mags spoke again. “So, how was your day today?”

    Jeriko shrugged before he feigned a light-hearted smile. “Normal.” He answered, knowing that she would probably miss the negative in such an answer. Or so he thought. “Can’t ask for better than that, right?” He added.

    Mags didn’t answer right away, only giving him a sympathetic and amused smile before she spoke again. “I’m not sure that that’s a good thing. Not when it comes to you and your sister, anyway.” She suggested, touching his shoulder. “I do hope that it is not the worst thing that can go wrong with your day, however.” She smiled. 

    Ironically enough, Mags was not fully aware of Jeriko and Aurora’s true nature; only under the assumption that they were a great-niece and nephew; he made sure of this upon meeting when he and Aurora first arrived-casting an enchantment of sorts. In actuality, though, her relation to them was far more complicated than that. Though, it was something that neither Aurora nor Jeriko necessarily liked dwelling on. Especially, Jeriko.

    “I hope your sister’s day was not so disappointing,” Mags said, pulling Jeriko from his reverie. “It’s a bit harder keeping up with her, after all.”

    “Wai-you-you spoke to her?” Jeriko asked, caught off guard and suddenly nervous at the idea of Mags approaching Aurora while she was in such a volatile mood.

    “Yes, of course,” Mags answered. “As usual, she is withdrawn; and tried to get away from me as quickly as possible.” Mags paused for a moment, as if in thought before she added again. “She never does stick around too long but today she was particularly antsy.” She looked at Jeriko, a small chuckle following behind. “There is so much brewing underneath that beautiful and distant smile of hers.” There was an obvious hint of disappointment as she said those words. “I do hope that she can open up to you at least.” She smiled. “After all, what are siblings for?”

    Jeriko didn’t answer her, just leaving the rhetorical question in the air as he smiled at her, agreeing with her whole-heartedly.

    “Well, I should get started on supper.” She said, heading down the stairs. “I hope you enjoyed your sandwich.” She added as she continued her descent down the stairs.

    “I always do,” Jeriko replied. “Thanks, Mags.”

    Jeriko then made his way up the stairs and to Aurora’s room where he knew another sandwich would be waiting for him. 

    Unfortunately, Aurora rarely ate the snacks that were made for her by Mags-not because she didn’t like the little turkey and cheese BLT. Unfortunately, her appetite just didn’t call for such “human” nourishment. So, after her little run-ins with Mags, she’d take the sandwiches up to her room and either wait for Jeriko to get home so that he could eat it or she’d just toss it away. 

    There were moments where Aurora would develop the craving since some part of her gene pool held some sort of humanity, but that was a rare moment in and of itself. That day was definitely not one of those rare moments.

    When Jeriko finally reached Aurora’s room, he found that her door was slightly ajar. Needless to say, it was surprising to see, considering, Aurora never did keep her door or her life open for anyone to see.

     Jeriko did not say anything to her, however, only watching as his twin sister lay there, belly down, legs up, reading a novel per her norm.

     In watching her, he silently wondered if her reading those books were just a ploy to redirect his curious thoughts on what may have really been going on in that mind of hers.

    “Are you going to speak, brother?” Or are you going to stand there and continue to analyze your assumptions of me?”

    Jeriko, instead of countering her question, spoke on another subject. “You left early today.”

    Aurora did not answer right away. It was not a question after all. “Is that so?” she said sardonically. Before he could reply, she spoke again on another subject matter. “Must say that I am sort of hurt, that you’d think I’d feed on our aunt, Jeriko,” Aurora pointed out with no feeling whatsoever. Though, admittedly the thought did sting a little.  If Aurora was being honest with herself Mags was the only person that she ever came into contact with that could actually get a genuine smile from her.

    Jeriko sighed. “How did you know what I was thinking? I thought mentality accessing was a one-way street between you and me.”

    Aurora simply scoffed at her brother’s indignant assumption. If only he knew the truth of what she was capable of-even in her having the short end of the stick concerning their biological make-up. 

    Nevertheless, instead of pointing this out to her dear brother, Aurora, instead, answered with a simple. “Twintuition.” Her, answer dripping with sarcasm. “That is a thing, is it not?”

    Jeriko did not answer Aurora’s question, knowing full well that it was chock full of sarcasm. His mind did linger, however, on the fact that his sister seemed to have been hiding an ability pertaining to her mentality from him. He knew that she would more than likely never tell him if she were, unfortunately, so he decided it best to leave the subject alone. At least for the time being.

    “So, you leaving early-”

    “Yes, you noticed.” Aurora cut her brother off. “Though, I am sure we just covered this subject earlier.” Never once looking up as she spoke.

    Tired of her satirical attitude, Jeriko’s response was sort of petty. “To tell you the truth, I barely noticed. Jen, however, alluded to the fact that you were not in the last class of the day.”

    “Ouch, brother.” Aurora eyed her twin a moment before returning her gaze back to her novel. “Good one.” She said with amusement. “By the way, give your little toy a cookie the next time you see her and a few accolades while you’re at it-you know, for being so good at her job of keeping an eye on me.”

    “Enough, Ro.” Jeriko hissed, tired of her endless condescension and sarcasm. 

    “I was just thinking the same thing, Rik.” She said. “So how about we cut through the crap and get to the gist of why you are in my room.”

    “We need to finish talking about what happened today.”

    “We never started talking about what happened today, brother,” Aurora returned. “So, obviously, I have no clue as to what you are talking about.”

    “You know, damn well, what I’m talking about, Ro.”

    “Keep your voice down. You do not want to stir Maggie’s, concern do you?” Aurora countered. She sensed Jeriko’s calm before she continued. “I do wish you’d be more direct, brother.” she sighed.

    “And I wish you’d stop being such a nuisance!” he hissed, careful not to raise his voice this time. He thought or at least hoped that the insult would provoke her enough to look at him. Nevertheless, Aurora did nothing of the sort.

    A small chuckle escaped Aurora, amused by her older brother’s impatience with her. “A nuisance? How so?”

    “Do not play games with me, Aurora!” Jeriko cursed, his anger gaining the best of him as his power caused the room to tremble a little.

    “Careful, brother.” Aurora calmly stated. “You are not the only one with power. And while I may not match you in your sorcery, I do have a power of my own.” Aurora cautioned. “But I certainly do not wish that test to come to past,” she said. And in this she was sincere. “It is the reason that mother assured our departure from the Zodiac, is it not? So that one twin would not outsource the other till death.” 

    It was at this moment that Aurora finally looked her brother in the eyes. Neither of them ever mentioned their true home; the Zodiac Cult. A coven of sorcery-some of the most powerful in the world, in fact.

    Though Aurora never felt at home being a child of the Zodiac. Especially, a child born with the biological makeup that she was born with.

    While Aurora and Jeriko were twins, and the son and daughter of arguably the most powerful sorceress of not only the Gemini Coven, but the Zodiac as a whole, life was never easy for them. Or, not Aurora, at least.

    While Jeriko seemed to be the golden child of the Zodiac, Aurora was everything but; and while Aurora, ironically, held no resentment for her mother, it was because of her that she was the way that she was.

    “We don’t talk about that, Ro. You know that-”

    “I know.” She said, her amethyst-colored gaze still on her brother. Sometimes, she wondered if he was so sore about the mentioning of the Zodiac because he missed his life there; and had to leave because of her. Jeriko had a good life there after all.

    Jeriko resigned, took in a big sigh. “You know...sometimes I wonder...if you care-care about anything at all.”

    Aurora, whose gaze returned to her book countered haphazardly. “I do.”

    “Oh, is that right? And what may that be?”

    Aurora looked at her brother, and tilted her head, eyeing him in a way alerting him to the fact that he should know already. When he still seemed lost on why she was eyeing him, she sighed. “I care about you, brother. I even care about our little n-”

    “Ro.” Jeriko cut her off.

    Aurora sighed. “As I said, I do care.”

    “Then, why? Why are you making my life so hard?” Jeriko asked in frustration.

    Curious and still nonchalant, Aurora asked. “And how is it that I make your life so hard, brother?”

    “I needed one favor today, Ro. I asked one thing of you and-”

    “Correction-your new toy asked.” Aurora interceded.

    “Regardless of who asked, Ro. you know that it would be better suited for you to join something related to my athletics-”

    “So you can keep a closer eye on me,” Aurora said, flipping the page of her novel.

    Jeriko took in a sigh. “It’s for the best, Aurora. You know that.”

    “Is it really?” Aurora replied, thinking of past events that proved otherwise. Of course, she would not divulge on that matter in particular.

    He silently wondered what she meant by the sentiment. At this point, she had no idea that she’d quarantined him from her thoughts again. And he would not allow her to know that she had that power. He realized that she was under the impression that he’d known what she was referring to anyway.

    Aurora’s sigh took him from his thoughts. “Admit it, Rik, you do not trust me.”

    “Well after your stunt today, can you blame me? ”

    “Are you referring to when I did not rip your girlfriend’s throat out for touching me?” Aurora sarcastically noted. When Jeriko did not answer, she scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Oh please.” Aurora laughed. “Your distrust was alive well before today.” Aurora pointed out. “And besides, you are the one that made the whole exchange of words obvious and awkward by attempting to correct me in the first place”

    Resignation took over Jeriko, as he admitted to himself that his sister had the mind of a neurotic sociopath.

    “You know, despite what you say, I don’t believe that you care about anyone or anything other than yourself.”

    Aurora finally flipped herself over and sat down at the side of her bed, and put on her combat boots. At this point, she too was resigned. She stood up and headed for the door of her bedroom.

  “I am sorry that you feel your perfect teen life is so unfair brother.” Aurora tossed the book on her bed, “Maybe if you work on not thinking my life is solely revolved around making yours easier then you’d have fewer concerns.” she said in her condescending tone. She walked past him. “I’m going for a walk.” Of course, this was code for something else. But of course, she did not feel the need to clarify.

    “Aurora! Aurora, wait-” Jeriko tried to speak what he thought to be sense into her head, but his twin just wasn’t trying to hear anything else from him at this point.

    “I suggest you find another form of security. I am not joining a dumb spirit squad.”