Cypress - Gen 9 Ch 1

"Hurry up, Cypress! We're going to be late!"

"Coming mom!" I called back, giving my hands one last good scrub.

I paused to run my hand over the stove one last time before heading out to the car. The stove had never caught fire before, to my knowledge, but one can never be too careful, in my opinion.

"Hurry, hurry! We're the last ones here. Come on, Juniper, you're lagging!"

Talk about stress. If there's one thing my mom is good at, it is stressing me out. Suddenly the last place I wanted to be was in that stuffy auditorium walking across the stage in front of all those people. In fact, I almost turned around as I was about to walk in the door. The only thing stopping me was that I knew it would just cause a worse reaction on the part of my mom.

I paused and took a deep breath, blocking out all the extraneous noise around me.

You can do this, Cy. Just remember to breathe and you'll be fine. Now open the door...My little internal pep talk worked this time, and my feet started moving again.

Finally the ordeal was over, and we gathered back outside to celebrate. Peony's valedictorian's speech was amazing; everyone claimed it was the best one they'd heard in years. I liked it because it was short, and let me escape the claustrophobic auditorium that much sooner.

Of course, now that the approaching doom of being late for graduation had somehow been averted, mom was all smiles again.

"I'm so proud of you two! Let me get a picture now!"

I put on my best fake smile, and threw my arm across Peony's shoulder. I've always found it best to just comply with mom's demands as quickly as possible, so as to escape that much more quickly.

Today was no exception. I managed to sneak off to my research in record time. It's not that I'm a loner, not really. I like being around most people just fine. It's just the loud ones, and the excessively touchy-feely ones, that send me into hibernation mode. And my family has plenty of both.

My research is a good excuse to avoid any explanations though. I've gotten that ancient Chinese dialect down pat, and even discovered some mistakes in the translation my mom got from the relic merchant. I still haven't managed to discover any clue as to where the Luoli came from, though. The first few chapters of the journal, as well as the complete third journal, remain as much as mystery as before.

My reverie was broken by shouting I could hear all the way downstairs in my room.

"Cypress! Shante's here! Get up here and be civil, and stop acting like such a hermit!"

I took one look at Shante's face, and realized I must have screwed something up big time. What, I had no idea, but I was sure I was about to find out.

"You forgot, didn't you?" She pointed her finger accusingly at me as she said it.

"Uh.. I guess I did.." I fumbled, trying desperately to remember what it was I was supposed to have done.

She heaved an exasperated sigh. "You were supposed to pick me up after graduation. We were supposed to go to Kelly's graduation party. I even tried to call and remind you, but it kept going straight to voicemail. Did you have your phone turned off or something?"

My phone. I reached into my pocket and quickly checked it. Yup, it was dead. I must have forgotten to recharge it last night.

I threw up my hands in surrender.

"I'm sorry, Shan. I totally forgot." I then attempted to explain, but I'm pretty sure it came out in incoherent phrases regarding the stove, and mom yelling, and how hard it was to breathe in the auditorium, and my phone somehow mysteriously going dead and... well, you get the picture.

She let me mumble away for a few minutes before she stopped me with a slight smile.

"You are so cute when you're apologizing, you know that?"

She wound her arms around me, and I let her pull me close. I'm not sure why I let her get to me this way. We're always either arguing or.. well, this. She just does that thing she does with her eyelashes, and I fall for it every time.

"Since we didn't get to the party, I know an even better way to celebrate our graduation," she whispered softly.

She took my hand and we wandered slowly around the yard, until we came to a stop under the trees near the back fence. She kissed me once more, a long passionate kiss that almost knocked me off my feet.

"C'mere, I wanna show you something up in your treehouse," she murmured gently in my ear. I followed her up the ladder like a little puppy dog.

It was only later that I remembered all my dad's warnings about using 'protection'. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck for weeks afterward, worrying about the consequences of our grad night celebration.

I'm pretty sure Peony and Kelly had done some graduation celebrating of their own, as I heard her racing to the bathroom way too frequently over the next few weeks. I think I was the only one not surprised when they announced they wanted to get married as soon as possible.

They were married in a small family ceremony, in the traditional spot at the edge of Sunflower's Pond.

Shante was beside herself, gushing to anyone who would listen about how romantic it all was, and how it was just the sort of ceremony she would like to have some day. Scary stuff - I finally had to stand up and watch from the sidelines. I didn't want to ruin Pea's wedding by hyperventilating in the middle of everything, after all.

After the cake cutting, Peony and Kelly announced to everyone what I had already figured out - they are expecting a baby, and have found a place of their own to accommodate their newly formed family. I sighed in relief when I realized that it had been long enough, that Shan would know if she.. if we.. anyway, I think I just wasted a really good worry.

"Great wedding, wasn't it, son."

I sighed and shrugged. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately.

"I guess," I replied morosely.

"Hey, hey there. What's the matter?"

I paused for a long time, thinking. If I couldn't talk to my dad about this, who else could I confide in?

"Dad.." I finally began. "When did you know that mom was.. you know.. the one?"

"Hehe, that's an easy one. It was prom night, and I wanted to ask her to dance so bad. But I was afraid she'd turn me down flat, me being a poor kid from the wrong side of town and all. I worked up the courage anyway, and and as soon as she said yes, she'd love to dance with me, I knew. We've had our ups and downs over the years, but I'd go through it all again, for her."

"Great, just great," I groaned. "I mean.. that's a great story, dad, but it doesn't really help me much."

I could feel a massive headache coming on. I guess my mood was catching, because my dad's expression suddenly turned serious.

"This is about Shante, isn't it son. You're not sure if she's the one for you, is that it?"

I nodded  listlessly. "Yeah. I don't know what to do."

"Don't forget that pendant your mom gave you. Didn't she say something about how it somehow knows about stuff like this? I know she told me it glowed for her  the night of our wedding."

"Yeah, I remember. But it's been no help at all. I've never felt a thing from it, after the night mom gave it to me."

Well, maybe that's telling you something right there."

"Maybe you're right. Thanks dad."

I knew I should break it off with Shante. I didn't love her, I realized that now, but working up the courage to actually confront the situation was beyond hard. It was so much easier just to immerse myself in my work. 

Today I was searching for matches for the strange markings etched into the bases of the three little figures. Sometimes if I stared at them just right, I could almost see some of the old Chinese characters hidden in the random patterns. In fact...I was sure of it. but why would anyone hide the correct strokes amongst other random lines?

So engrossed was I in my new discovery, that I never heard the footsteps approaching behind me, but I definitely felt the soft breath on my neck, followed quickly by a whispered 'Boo!' 

I must have jumped three feet in the air, while letting out a strangled shriek. I turned to see Shante giggling delightedly at the result of her little surprise.

"Geez Shan, I groaned, my heart still pounding, "I wish you wouldn't do that. I was in the middle of something important, and now I've lost my train of thought."

"More important than this?"

She took a hold of both my hands and started slowly walking backwards toward the bed. I started to follow, mesmerized by those gorgeous eyes of hers as usual, but after two steps I stopped myself. The last thing I needed was another month of being a nervous wreck wondering if our protection had failed. I mean, I know, no matter how careful you are, there's always the chance of a slip up, and knowing me, I'd fall into that 2%.

"Wait, Shan, stop."

"What's the matter?" she pouted, taking my face in her hands. "I thought you wanted to."

"I..uh..do..it's just that.." I mentally cast about for some, for any, excuse to avoid the inevitable. "Uh.. there's this show I really want to watch, it's on right now. I forgot to record it. Watch it with me? Please?"

"Oh, alright. Come on then."

I knew she couldn't resist the lure of the TV. It was her favorite pastime besides, well, you know.

I threw on a shirt, and we settled in on the couch. Shante grabbed the remote. 

"Which channel?"

"History," I replied. 

She rolled her eyes a little, but complied with my request. I just hoped there was something on I was remotely interested in, otherwise my gig would be up. For once I lucked out. It was a show on ancient etchings. My ears pricked up when I heard the narrator's explanation for the group of odd looking carvings he was showing. Suddenly everything fell into place.

I jumped up from the couch, pulled Shante to her feet and planted a quick kiss on her lips.

"Thanks, Shan! It's all clear now. I never would have figured it out if it wasn't for you!"

"Um... you're welcome, I guess. What did I do?"

"You watched TV with me!" I was grinning like a mad man.

"Err.. are you okay Cy?"

"Never been better! I have a lot of work to do though, I think you should go home."

"What? Are you kidding me? You'd really rather spend your time with those dusty old books than with me? Just be that way, then, Cypress Greenbow. See if I care!"

Somehow I got the impression she wasn't real happy with me right now, but I was too excited to care. I watched as she turned and stormed out of the house, but as soon as the door slammed behind her, I was taking two steps at a time down to my room.

My hands trembled a little as I carefully picked up the little tiger and turned in over, my eyes sweeping again over the now familiar markings. Was it possible I had deciphered the code?