The Poet and the Prophecy by Cecilia Tan

Author:Cecilia Tan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Riverdale Avenue Books
Published: 2015-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Kyle knew now to try the knob on the door to Master Brandish's apartment and he was startled to come face to face with Professor Pendragon in the narrow entry hall.

"Kyle, was it you she was calling?" the professor asked.

"Um, yeah. Is she all right?"

Pendragon let out a long breath. "Don't be too hard on her. She's had a difficult time of it."

"Hard on her? What...?"

"Go on in. She's in the bedroom. All the way through." Pendragon put her hands on Kyle's hips as she waltzed him toward the interior of the apartment, putting herself closer to the door. "I'm off to breakfast and then a nap. Call me later if you need to talk."

Kyle pressed on through the parlor toward the back but before he reached the bedroom came to the small workout room. Master Brandish stood there in a gray bathrobe and fuzzy slippers, gripping the Sword by the hilt with both hands, the point aimed toward him. Her eyes were red and Kyle could smell alcohol in the air.

"Is this a bad time?" Kyle asked.

She growled and swung the Sword at the wooden practice target clumsily, sinking it deep into the "shoulder" and sending chips flying. She left it there, quivering like an arrow, and shooed him back into the parlor.

She stumbled a bit, then sat down hard on the couch and put her head in her hands.

"Should I make some tea?" Kyle asked.

"You should sit down and shut up," she said, looking up at him with a glare that reminded him so much of Frost, though it appeared she was too drunk to focus on him all that well.

He did as told, shocked into silence as much as admonished.

On the coffee table sat a mostly empty bottle of whiskey and two glasses, one with a finger or so in the bottom, the other knocked on its side. Brandish reached for the bottle, ended up knocking down the partially full glass and then withdrew her hand, shaking her head. "As I was saying," she said, her voice remarkably clear for how much it seemed she must have drunk, "I've had enough of you."

"I'm doing what you asked," Kyle said. "I've been spending a lot of time with Frost. He... he and I are even... we're...."

While Kyle fumbled for the words, though, she cut him off. "This isn't about what I asked." She shook her head. "How could you be so selfish? I mean, really, Wadsworth, what the hell were you thinking? Writing a new prophecy that sets you up as the savior of the universe? Well, except if you can't get your 'true love' to come around, that is."

Her bitterness struck him like a shot of poison. "I... That wasn't—"

"Yes it was. You took your wish-fulfillment and your fantasies and you turned them into art." Her voice was accusatory. "Art for art's sake is one thing, but you—"

"I'm just a poet!" he exclaimed. "I'm not prophetic!"

She put her hands on her hips and simpered, "'I'm just the messenger! Don't shoot me!' Yeah, right.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.