Phantasia

“I can walk you home!” she said. It was worth a try, at least.

Dante grimaced. “It’s okay, I can find the way myself,” he said, brushing down his coat.

Phantasia crossed her arms and pouted – something she’d learned from watching Kaori when she wanted something from Joel. “It’s not fair,” she said in her whiniest voice, “You got to see where I live!”

Dante raised an eyebrow and glanced around the church. “You really life here, huh? You really are a bigger freak than me…”

“No way,” said Phantasia, “You can’t prove that unless I get to see where you live too! Otherwise I’ve only got your word to go on and…” – she took a quick breath to prepare her ultimate attack – “I don’t trust you yet!”

For a moment she was certain he was on the verge of smiling, but then he shook his head and turned away with a sweep of his coat.

“You’ll just follow me anyway, won’t you?” he said, glancing back from the corner of his eyes.

“You bet I will!”

***

Dante lived in one of the renovated apartments of the Orphanage, a cul-de-sac managed by Katrina’s family to home children and teenagers who had no family of their own. He stood at his front door. Phantasia waited behind him, eager to take a closer look inside even though his aura was stretching out like a wall to keep her outside. He played with his keys, trying each one in turn.

“Can never get the right one first time,” he said. Phantasia didn’t need extrasensory perception to see through that lie.

After going through his three keys numerous times, Dante unlocked the door and stepped inside – then turned and clutched the door as is ready to slam it in her face, much like he would his own aura whenever she was trying to look into it. Looking past him she could see a short corridor leading to a small, uncluttered lounge with dark curtains.

“There, you’ve seen enough,” he said, making the close the door.

Phantasia darted forward before his lacklustre reactions had a chance to kick in. He grunted his displeasure but moved away to let her through.

“You said I could have a look, so I’m going to have a look!” she said.

“Well there’s not much to see,” he said with a shrug.

On the contrary, however, there was plenty to see – at least for a faerie! Dante shuffled around the lounge, hands in pockets and eyes downcast as Phantasia took in the details: his limited furnishings – a sofa, a chair and a desk – were arranged at perfect right angles to the walls, as was the dark rug he was standing on; the shelves by his desk were filled with studious books on the Academy’s various subjects, as well as on dream analysis and the theory of collective consciousness, while a batch of hard-backed diaries going back five years had a strong resonance with his aura; a similar attachment could be seen with a solitary photo sitting in a frame on the desk itself – the torn half of a photo, featuring a young woman. When Dante noticed Phantasia studying it from afar, he knocked if face down and glared at her. He had a similar reaction when her eyes wandered to the door leading to his bedroom. Before he pulled the door shut she could see a variety of sketches and paintings adorning the walls, many of which held powerful feelings and emotions she couldn’t read – and the majority featuring shadowy images. With the closing of the door came the raising of barriers, not just around Dante’s personal aura but also around the bedroom itself. Just as the world only told you what the world wanted you to know, so too did humans only show you what they wanted you to see. She could penetrate those subconscious barriers if she wanted to, but it would be disrespectful and against a faerie’s nature – that was the sort of behaviour associated with fallen faeries and demons!

Chapter 34
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