Naturally: Chapter 2: The Demon
By Layla Katz
Live Aurelius, a 17-year-old boy with the gift of creating live organisms such as plants, is searching for the one who has gifted him these powers. Through his search, he finds a mysterious little demon and a cool, bunny-loving girl. Who are these weird new friends of Live’s? And how can they help him find the person he’s looking for? Welp! Time will tell.
“And, yeah we kinda just…stood there awkwardly for like a straight two minutes. It was weird” Jene told the girl who sat in front of her.
The girl looked confused as she took a sip of cold Starbucks coffee.
“He’s not in any of your classes?” Nato asked, grimacing and putting the coffee cup down like it was a bomb.
“Weirdly enough, yeah. The only other time we were together besides homeroom is lunch,” Jene answered, picking at her sandwich.
“Ooh, you should go talk to him,” Nato egged on, jerking her shoulders up and down.
“Ha ha, no way. It was way too weird talking to him earlier,” Jene deadpanned, opening up a bag of Cheetos Puffs and crossing one leg in front of the other underneath the table.
“Oh, come on. He’s right there! Go talk to him!” Nato shot up, pointing over to where the young boy stood by the garbage cans.
“No, Nato.”
“Yes, Jene.”
“Nato, stop.”
“Come on.” Nato dragged out the last word.
Jene rolled her amber eyes before standing up and walking over to the blondie. As she strolled over, she saw Nato silently cheering and dancing out of the corner of her eye.
“Hey, Live,” Jene greeted, swiping her beige hair out of her eyes.
“Oh um, hello Jene,” Live greeted, turning on his heels to face the taller.
The two of them stood there awkwardly for a few moments, again.
“So, uh what are you doing here?” Jene asked, crossing her arms.
“I was going to throw my lunch out but, I think I saw something in the garbage can,” Live said. He narrowed his eyes in an uncomfortable way, retracting his hands away from the can.
“Huh, eh, it’s probably nothing. OH MY GOD-” A pair of glowing red eyes met Jene from inside the garbage can. Live jumped and took a step back as she shrieked.
“Live, I might be going insane, but do you see eyes in there?” Jene shakily asked, her amber eyes wide like a cat’s.
“Um …yes,” Live responded, dropping his lunch remnants as Jene screamed.
Suddenly, a flash of black and merlot red zipped by the two and leaped onto the floor. Live immediately grabbed the thing by its collar from where it sat on the floor eating Live’s remaining garbage.
“What in the world …?” Live murmured, staring at the creature that was thrashing around in his grip. It looked to be human, but a few things were off. Their skin was so pale, it looked a little green. Its pupils were inverted with the irises bright red. It also had little black horns peeking out of the same colored hair.
“Ugh! Can you put me down already!” the demon complained, still thrashing around.
“Ok. What the heck!” Jene demanded, staring at Live and the creature.
“Put me down!” the demon screeched again. It was kind of surprising how no one had noticed the three of them yet.
“Why would we put you down? We don’t know if you’re dangerous!” Live responded, looking back at them.
“Do I look dangerous to you?” the creature hissed. In truth, he wasn’t much. His voice was high and sharp. He wore merlot-red armor and had a belt with a sheathed sword.
“I dunno. You look like a little kid in some dystopian YA series,” Jene said, shrugging her shoulders.
“Gotta agree with you on that, Jene,” Live responded blandly, his hands in his pockets as he looked down at the demon.
“What’s your name anyway?” Jene asked at eye level.
The demon audibly scoffed. “Why should I tell you?! You literally just made fun of me! I’m not telling you anything!” He turned on his heels and crossed his arms.
“Okay, fine. We’re sorry. Will you tell us your name now?” Live let out a loud sigh, stepping over to the demon and making eye contact.
“Wa-Wait…Really? I- My name is Jovas,” the creature looked so touched by that one apology.
Live gave him a small smile. “Hey, Jovas. I’m Live. This is Jene.”
“Wait, Live. What are you doing? What’s going on?” Jene tugged on the smaller boy’s jacket sleeve.
“Later Jene. We need to introduce ourselves, no?” Live responded, giving her a thin smile.
“But … wait …” Live had already stepped forward to Jovas, leaving Jene’s grasp.
The Tides 