Origins of the Malachite Queen

Chapter Seven Home Sweet Home

Through the windows Amethyst sees the massive skyscrapers rising out of smaller buildings into the heavens themselves. Below is a park where she sees children playing on a statue of a grizzled man with an eye patch beneath the blue green trees that line the out side of the park, the green grass reflects the morning dew in the sunlight. Amethyst gazes upon the wonders of the world before her, every little thing perks her interest from the pearly white clouds in the sky to the crowded mob of commuters on the ground far below.
The tram zooms through station after station until it reaches the station with a brightly colored sign that reads “C Block” Mina steps off followed by Boreos, his horns scrape on the metallic doors leaving gouges in the entrance. The ramp leaving the station to ground level is only nine feet tall so Boreos has to duck down in order to get through the ramp over hanging.
Mina continues to lead the way through the packed and over congested city streets. The strange people and skitters, their passing only serves to interest Amethyst as she looks about at all the different creatures walking about from big to small they all intrigue her. Her antenna squirm about smelling their scents each is different making it easy to distinguish between the species.
They come to a crossing where the lights flickers on and off caught on red; the people just cross without a care in the world. Before long they arrive at a relatively new looking apartment complex with a yard of blue grass while a single tree stands quivering in the wind its leaves glistening a pale blue color. There are two large plated glass windows on the front of the building while a staircase leads up to the second floor.
Mina enters saying “I will be right back just checking on what places are open.”
Inside she finds a man who is inspecting the building, when she starts to speak he cuts her off by saying, “Mina im assuming.”
Mina looks puzzled as she asks, “How did you know it was me?”
He turns looking out the open door down below at Amethyst and Boreos and says, “Vladimir sent me to inspect the house that he as of this morning purchased for you. He is overjoyed to know you are safe after he heard about the lab. Although he did mention you had a skitter with you he did not say it was a guardian, we will have to make some alterations to your living establishment. Please come back in a couple of hours.”
Mina turns to Amethyst and asks, “Do you want to go by the school and see if we can get you enrolled starting Monday?”
Amethyst merely nods too engrossed in her surroundings to care what anyone has to say. Her eyes flick from the building to the sky, to the street and at last falling upon the tree that shimmers in the sunshine.
“Alright then come on Boreos lets go to the school and see what it is like.” Says Mina as she turns toward the street and begins walking.
Boreos follows closely behind with Amethyst riding on his back pulling on his horns which direct him where and how to walk.
Amethyst laughs, “Go Daddy don’t let these inferior creatures get in my way.”
As Boreos shoves aside a smaller skitter that was walking in his path clear across the side walk to the other side of the street. The skitter does not attempt to cause an incident when it sees what had pushed him was a guardian and continues to walk down the street.
Mina says, “Now, now Amethyst don’t make daddy do those things it isn’t nice.”
Amethyst puffs her face up before looking away and muttering “If I wanted to I could kill all these filthy creatures that do not deserve to live.”
Mina answers, “Now don’t be like that dear you must be kind to receive kindness in turn. It is as they say what goes around comes around and don’t you forget it.”
Amethyst looks away not in the mood to have her fun deprived from her, she does not argue any farther and just lets Boreos walk on his own. They approach the school grounds where children play on the jungle gym and in the sand box below, the side walk leading to the main building is covered in the leaves of a dying tree near the sand box.
They enter the main building followed by a drove of children poking at Boreos who ignores them quietly; the door to administration is open. Mina walks in after taking Amethyst from Boreos and motioning for him to stand just outside; inside the principle’s desk has a name bar sitting on her desk saying, “Principle Victoria”
Victoria is a woman in her late thirties by the looks of her manicured face while her rolled up black hair is tied back behind her head, she has light brown eyes and wears a green latex skintight suit.
She is rummaging through a hologram filing cabinet completely preoccupied before she notices Mina and asks, “What can I help you with?”
Mina smiles before responding, “I wish to enroll my daughter Amethyst here at this school. Can she take the tests to be placed in a grade?”
Victoria looks Mina then Amethyst over before saying, “Why not we might as well see what she can do. After all it isn’t everyday we get an army officer’s child; let alone what looks to be a rare cross breed to come to this school.”
Victoria pulls out an electronic tablet that has writing on it and sets it on the table. She then says, “Finish this in an hour.”
Amethyst pokes the screen making it light up she finds questions like “Translate Arentaughen to English from skitter talk. Or translate ‘how do you do’ to skitter talk from English.”
Within a few minutes Amethyst has the tablet questions done, she taps Mina on the shoulder saying, “Mommy im finished what do I do now?”
Mina takes the slab before handing it to Victoria who runs it through a scanner that grades it revealing her score of one hundred percent. She hands Amethyst a high school version for grades nine to twelve, Amethyst looks it over then begins to scribble incoherent things written in Insectis. After ten minutes of scribbling on the tablet she writes it all in English making it clear as day how intelligent she really is as ninety percent is correct in English and one hundred percent is correct in the Insectis sections.
She smiles blissfully before asking, “Can we go now this place is boring. This is just like back at the lab three years ago this is all they did was make me write stuff on things I do not care about. I wanna make daddy do funny things like dance, that would be much more entertaining than this squibish work.”
They hear Boreos laugh from outside, he calls in “You want to see me dance Amethyst? Come on out and ill dance for you.”
Victoria says, “It is decided she will be a senior in high school, I expect good things from you, is Monday ok for her first day here?”
Mina says, “Yes im sure tomorrow will be fine for her. Can we see her class schedule and where these classes are located, will she need data slates or is there a set at school?”
Victoria responds, “Just a moment for it to be transferred to this school ID card, here we are. About that you could buy those but seeing her testing like that she will not likely need them.”
Victoria walks out from her office to find Boreos towering over her holding Amethyst as she snuggles up against his horns and plays with his antenna like a cat would with a piece of a fox tail dangled in front of it. Victoria gets a cold chill down her back as she leads them down the hall into one of the rooms.
Victoria hands Mina the chart with Amethyst’s classes on it before saying, “This is your first period class Biochemical Reactions.”
She walks through the rest of the rooms saying, “This is your second period Art. This is your third period Physical Education. This is your fourth Advanced Placement English. This is your fifth period class Advanced Placement Insectis and last but not least sixth period Numerical Functions of Space Travel.”
Amethyst yawns loudly before falling asleep on Boreos’s back, Victoria says, “Ahh she is so cute. Anyway class starts at eight A.M. sharp have her here at around seven fifty, it ends at three P.M.”
Mina asks, “Can Boreos here accompany her so long as he doesn’t cause trouble. Amethyst gets very scared when she is alone.”
Victoria looks up and says, “I do not foresee any problems with that other than it making the other students nervous.”
Mina looks at Boreos who’s menacing teeth make a smile that twitches while trying to keep it up.
Mina’s response is “Well if my little angel can cope with daddy then the other students should be able to as well. On another note please do not anger Amethyst it is for your own good, this is the other reason why Boreos needs to be here in case she becomes angry he can restrain her if she wants to kill someone. I need to work otherwise I would do it myself, also never ever touch her antenna.”
Victoria looks stunned before answering “Well I guess I need to have a faculty meeting tonight with her teachers.”
Mina waves farewell as they leave the school. It has become mid afternoon and Mina’s stomach growls loudly she laughs, “I guess it is ok to eat since I am hungry again. Come on Boreos lets grab a snack then head back to our home.”
Boreos nods shaking Amethyst awake, she twists one of his horns and he lifts her off of his back into his grasp. She smiles wearily yawning with her mouth gaped while her eyes water up. Boreos moves his antenna in front of her twitching them in a weird pattern; Amethyst begins making clicking and purring sounds while drowsily saying “Daddy…”
Mina smiles happily when he does this and places her hand on Amethyst’s head rubbing it as she falls asleep again. Mina enters a fast food joint with large glowing neon letters spelling “The Flaming Skillet” inside there is a wooden bar with metal stools lining the booth and along the walls there are cushy tables for groups, a screen is on over the bar it is playing classical music from a time long forgotten.
A relatively young looking man with slicked back blonde hair stand wearing a long sleeve shirt and a stained apron over it. He has blue eyes and chapped hands.
The bar tender asks, “Choose your poison little missy, we got fire water to acid water here.”
Mina answers, “Death to the sinful, Vodka is distilled from the tears of capitalists.”
The bartender laughs, “Well if it isn’t a Marine Corps officer been a while hasn’t it Mina. What can I help you with?”
Mina answers his question with “O just some food for tonight Larry, I was hoping hamburgers.”
Larry chuckles “You never change it is always the burgers that brings you back here. So how did your last assignment go?”
He begins to fry up some burgers on the stove just on the other side of the bar; they sizzle with flavor as he spices them.
Mina stares blankly thinking about what happened, she then smiles saying, “The place went to hell but I finally found my little angel.”
Larry looks up surprised to hear this response and asks, “What do you mean by that Mina. Did you get one of the scientists pregnant down there or something.”
They both start laughing over the joke; Larry removes the burgers from the stove and places them on buns with some strange dark sauce covering them.
“I need a bottle of vodka to go with that meal. Im feeling like a drink or two once I get home.” Says Mina pointing to a bottle over the counter.
Larry snags the bottle and places it on the table filling a shot glass, with the glistening clear liquid as it pours into the glass tumbling over the bottom, Mina places her hand on the table then snatches it up downing it one gulp before slamming it on the table and letting out a sigh of relief before asking for another.
She drinks half the bottle before her face becomes flushed slightly as she rubs her fingers on the glass with her head down on the table, she calls out to Larry in a somewhat slurred manor, “Do you think I have what it takes to be a mother…”
“Yah you will be fine, just be sure to spoil her rotten. After all you are only a child once.” Laughs Larry before taking the cup and cleaning it.
Mina swipes her card across the scanner and picks up the bag of food, the bottle stashed deep within; she blows a kiss to Larry in her dazed state as she leaves. Boreos is waiting outside with Amethyst in his arms when Mina emerges from the bar stumbling slightly as they begin to walk toward their house. The streets are packed full of people and skitters as they do their late after noon commute through the city.
Across the intersection is their house Mina and Boreos see it over the brick designed metal wall. They cross when the light turns red along with countless people and skitters who happen to be going in the same direction. The pink and orange dusk sunlight hits the house from behind the tree that stands next to it. Mina opens the front door to find the inspector waiting for her.
He says cheerfully “Well we finished the alterations with minimal effort. Here is your key and Vladimir’s number if you need help with anything; I must be off many more things Vladimir wants me to do today.”
He hands her the key and a slip of paper with a number on it before making his way across the street and out of sight. Mina lets Boreos in before entering herself, the wide hallway they go into stretches through the house’s far corners with several rooms on the right and left sides of the hall.
When Mina opens the one to her left she finds a room painted baby blue with a small metal desk and a steel wrought book shelf that is empty, on the large metal framed bed with a soft cushy mattress on top along with pillows. Near the foot of the bed sits a couple of stuffed animals one of which includes the freshly washed grey and black striped cat. The light on the ceiling is dim so as to not hurt anyone’s eyes.
Mina reenters the hallway and goes into the room just across from the one she was in previously inside she sees the white washed walls and a large sturdy looking bed with a silvery desk sitting in the corner. There is a bathroom just across from her next to the metallic desk.
She leaves this room and proceeds down the hall farther until she enters the living room where a huge screen is flickering on entertaining Amethyst as she plays with Boreos, across from the screen is a couch along with a table with a lamp upon it, in the center of the room is a coffee table with a flower inside of a vase.
Mina keeps walking through their house into the next room, which is the kitchen. Freshly painted white cupboards cover the walls; there is a shiny black stone sink just below them and a fully stocked steel fridge just across from them. There is a smooth black and white marble counter in the middle dividing the sink from the fridge. Farther down from the kitchen is another bathroom the solid metal sink is next to the chrome toilet and the marble coated shower just slightly deeper in; there is a glossy crystal clear mirror on the wall just above the sink.
Mina returns to the living room to find it deserted with no signs of Amethyst or Boreos anywhere; she looks about until she sees the light on down the hall in the blue room. She quietly opens the door to see Amethyst lying in bed while she strangles the toy cat with love and affection.
When she opens it all the way Amethyst smiles and says, “Mommy I don’t wanna sleep alone, could you sleep with me?”
Mina smiles sweetly as she responds, “It’s ok my little angel I will not leave you of my own will.”
Amethyst moves over slightly on her bed as Mina joins her, Mina ask, “Does that little kitty have a name?”
Amethyst looks at it then says, “I can name it?”
Mina answers, “Yes dear you can name it what ever you wish. Mommy will try real hard and find a real kitty for you.”
Amethyst looks wide eyed at Mina before her face lights up with a smile and she pets the toy murmuring, “Mommy is going to get me a kitty~.”
Mina sighs thinking to herself, “Why did I say that now I will have to find an exotic pet dealer in the swap meets?”
The light flickers off and Amethyst cuddles against Mina purring and clicking loudly “Mommy~”
Mina merely pats her on the head and whispers, “Good night my little angel.”
Mina kisses Amethyst on the forehead and hugs her tight; they fall asleep shortly there after.
Eve seizes her opportunity and takes control over the body uncharacteristically she snuggles close to Mina feeling her warmth and love just by touching her. A smile creases her face as she lies with Mina wrapped around her, slowly she drifts to sleep experiencing the love in which she was deprived.
Secretly she had been bidding her time to be alone with Mina because of a strange longing to feel her embrace. Before she had known it Eve had fallen in love with Mina granted due to her nature she would never actually admit it.