Soul Dust by J. A., N. S. (latest novels to read .TXT) 📕

“That I’m a lady magnet, sir”, he answered confidently as ever.

Some people laughed, even the older members.

“Same here”, dad said, “but we don’t like to brag, do we… What rank would a comedian like you consider himself?”

“I’d quite like your rank, sir…”, he answered.

Dad face palmed. “Rank 15, and now get lost, before I change my mind”, he sighed without looking at Alex at again.

Alex came back and dropped into his seat. “How was I?”, he asked.

“Pushing your luck a bit”, I answered amusedly, “What is your mum going to say about your answers?”

“She’ll be so proud”, he answered and lounged back.

I looked around. The people seemed quite entertained, apart from one blonde woman who was staring at Alex.

“Hey, Alex… Isn’t that woman with the angry face your mum?”, I grinned.

He followed my glance. “Oh… shit”, he said, ducking.

I shook my head and paid attention to what was going on on the stage again. It was Jason Slater’s turn. No one really liked him, he was a thug with thug friends and above-average stupid. Dad had just asked him about his behaviour.

“I’d say my behaviour was very good, sir.”

I could tell it wasn’t. And so did my dad. He took out the paperwork again.

“Well, here it says something different. Do you know our rules about lying, Jason?”

“’Lying to higher ranked kindred must be punished. The punishment will be decided by the deceived kindred.’”, he quoted and went pale.

“I think you owe us an apology”, said dad.

We all laughed. This made up for all the insults he had thrown at us over the last few years. On the other hand I really felt sympathy though. Very, very little sympathy.

“Repeat what I say: ‘I’m incredibly sorry and promise to never do it again. Apart from that the rank 20 is the best.”

Jason stutteringly repeated the apology and went red. At least he got an applause when was done.

“Which rank would you consider yourself?”, asked dad, smiling again.

“I don’t know…”, he stammered, still dumbfounded.

“You may go… Rank six. This was the last new member. We’re going to have a ten minute break now and then we’ll continue.

Jason hurried off the stage; and as soon as the speech was over, we got up and I noticed Alex’s mum quickly coming over to us.

“Alexander!”, she hissed.

Alex turned around and I could see his big grin disappear.

“How dare you talk like that to the rank 20…”, she said but then seemed to notice that I was standing next to Alex.

“Oh hello, Joshua…”, she said a bit quieter.

Then she grabbed Alex’s arm and dragged him away. I could see them argue on the other side of the room where no one could hear them. After something he said, I could see her slap him, softly but angrily. As a reaction, Alex just laughed and went away.

“Hey, naughty boy”, I grinned, “Did mummy beat you up?”

He rolled his eyes. “That was actually the hardest slap she’s ever given me.”

Behind him, I could also see Riley’s and Matt’s mums, hugging and kissing their kids, which they obviously found awkward, especially Riley, who was way taller than his mum. With a height of 1.9 he simply was a giant.

“Oh, my two favourite mums in the world”, said Alex and grinned.

I understood what he meant. Riley’s and Matt’s mums were rather… attractive.

“Look at that black dress Ms Adams is wearing…”, whispered Alex, “I think we should go over to them.”

We both went over to Matt and Riley who didn’t seem very pleased about our company.

“Hi Ms Adams”, said Alex with his good boy voice, “You’re looking stunning tonight.”

She looked at us and smiled happily. “Hello, Joshua, Alexander…”

“Please”, Alex interrupted her, “You know you can call me Alex.”

“Okay, Alex. You can call me Emma as well”, she replied and winked at him.

Alex and I both grinned at Riley. Even though he normally was laidback, he looked like he was about to pull either his mum or us back now.

“I really like the dress you’re wearing”, I said innocently.

“Guys…”, Riley muttered.

“Thank you, Joshua”, she said, and after a short break “I should probably go back to my boyfriend now.”

Alex and I both were speechless for a few seconds.

“Have fun”, Alex said more or less sarcastically.

She just smiled and then turned on her heels and left.

“Please stop molesting my mum”, Riley begged, seeming really desperate.

“I’m not molesting her”, stated Alex, “Your mum is either really naïve or she really wants me.”

Riley seemed to be getting really angry now. “Funny. How would you like it if I did this to your mum?”, he asked.

Alex laughed out loud. “Have fun. Maybe she gets a bit more relaxed then.”

I was about to laugh, but then I realised who the blonde woman standing behind Alex was. His mum was back.

“What is that supposed to mean?”, she asked indignantly.

Alex closed his eyes. “Is it…?”, he asked.

“Yep”, I grinned back at him.

“One more word”, she threatened, “And we’ll send you to that boarding school in Latvia!”

“Fine”, Alex laughed, “The further away from you, the better.”

“Oh hi, Mrs Kingsley”, Riley interrupted the conversation, “You look good.”

Alex’s mum focused on Riley now, so she calmed down a little and a smile actually played around her lips. A few words from Riley, and the day was rescued.

“Thank you, Riley”, she said and then turned to Alex, “At least your friends have manners.”

The lights were dimmed again, so we said goodbye to Alex’s mum and went back to our seats.

“I told you she’d relax if you started hitting on her”, Alex said to Riley with a grin.

This time not only my dad but the whole council came onto the stage. Apart from my dad they all looked serious. They were all rank 19, so maybe they thought they weren’t allowed to be as happy as my dad.

“Welcome back”, dad said, “I’d like all new members to come onto the stage together now.”

Everyone got up, and I was obviously the first one to go up as the others seemed a little bit scared of me.

When we were all on the stage, we were told to stand in a line.

“You will be receiving your marks now”, said dad, “and as you know, you get to decide where. But be warned: wherever it is, I will have to touch you there. So no fooling around, Alex.

I could hear Alex laugh and just imagine how angry his mum was right now.

"Anyway, I would like you to come forward now please starting alphabetically with Riley Adams" dad stated. Thank goodness he wasn't using our ridiculous long names again. Most people decided to have their marks on their forearms and necks, including Riley, Matt had his on his shoulder and Alex wanted his on his upper chest.

The marks looked like tribal tattoos, and for each rank another ornament was rewarded. Therefore my dad’s tattoo was the coolest, and Jason’s was the lamest.

"So son" he began, "where do you want yours?"

"Can I have mine here?" I asked, pointing at the left side of my neck, a little below my ear.

"Haha" he chuckled, "good choice" and pulled his collar down a little to reveal that his was in the same place.

He touched my neck and I suddenly felt a warm feeling around the area I had just pointed to until it began to burn and then quickly cool down again. Now it felt like before, there was no pain at all.

After that, we were allowed to leave the stage again. Alex and Matt seemed to feel even cooler that before, now that they had real ‘tats’.

“I want to see what it actually looks like”, Alex said, “Can I see yours, Josh?”

Without waiting for an answer, he pushed my head to the side to reveal my tattoo.

“Nice! It’s probably a bit bigger than mine, but if it looks similar to this…”

Riley and Matt wanted to see it as well, so I was pushed forth and back.

“If you want to see it so badly, why didn’t you get it somewhere you can actually see it?”, I muttered but let them push me around.

“Can I have your attention please?”

A woman from the council stood at the podium. She was so small that I could barely see her behind it.

“The council would like to make two announcements before you leave. Firstly, as the first bestowal requires a lot of focusing and is rather private, we’re asking all parents to do this for the first time with their children when they are back home. Secondly, they will also be receiving their gift. We’d like you to introduce them to it and remind them of the rules again. Thank you.”

The woman went back to the other council members again and my dad rose to speak again.

“Thank you all for coming. I hope we will meet again soon for conferences or other celebratory occasions. Have a good journey home.”

Everyone clapped for a long time, then we got up and slowly made our was to the double-winged door again.

“I can’t wait to get my ability”, said Alex, “I think I’m getting this calming thing…”

He was right. The ranks six to ten would receive the ability to tell whether someone was lying, Rank eleven to 15 – including Riley, Matt and Alex – would receive the ability to calm people and everyone above rank 15 – apart from the rank 20 – would receive the ability to change people’s actions by telling them what they actually wanted. Only the rank 20 had all of the mentioned abilities and some additional ones no one but the rank 20 himself was too sure about.

Matt, Alex and Riley were all taken home by their parents soon after and they were all excited so I didn’t blame them wanting to get home… apart from Alex anyway.

I found my dad talking to a few of the well-dressed council members near the stage, when he saw me he beckoned me over and introduced me to the older woman and man.

“My son” he began, as any proud father would, “what a son… just like his dad” I smiled a little, but wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like I appreciated the attention.

“He did, very well up there, it must make you proud to have such a high achieving son” the woman commented.

“Sorry” the man apologised, “We haven’t introduced ourselves – I am Max and this is Julia; we are both part of the council”. Well, no kidding.

Dad could tell that I wasn’t happy in the situation, so a final comment of “we’d best head off now for the bestowal” had them nodding and scampering off to the rest of the council.

When we got outside, the valet was already waiting with the car and sort of shaking. My dad strolled up to him, “You haven’t been breathing near my car, have you?” he warned the valet.

The valet just stood there, frozen, and slowly closed his mouth as he handed dad the keys and shook his head.

“Good” my dad smiled, “Here.

Then he threw the keys across the car to me. “Try not to scrape it”, he winked.

I was gobsmacked, I had never known him to be like this, but I guess he was just in a really good mood and tired at the same time, either way, I was very quick to get inside and start it up. I’ll be honest; the ride home wasn’t the fastest, nor the shortest, but I managed not to bump into anything and a lovely surprise was awaiting me when I arrived home, in a very large box which had been gift wrapped.

“There you go”, dad smiled, “As I promised… Maybe you can get a lady with it, he chortled, amused with his own joke.

I am not too sure whether I had been quicker to get into or out of the car, but I was surely so excited with the recent events that I thought my heart would pop out of my chest and run off while I was still opening the ‘parcel’.

I sprinted over to the parcel and