Halo by Alexandra Adornetto Page B

to experience being a teenager?” He gave me an encouraging smile, and as always, my unease dissolved.
    I peered into the bowl with the black strips floating in gritty liquid.
    “Is this bark part of the recipe?”
    “Those are porcini mushrooms—they need soaking before you can use them.”
    “Mmm . . . they look delicious,” I lied.
    “They’re considered a delicacy. Don’t worry, you’ll love them.”
    I passed Gabriel his mug of tea and continued to entertain myself by watching him. I gasped when the sharp paring knife he was using slipped from his grasp, slicing open the top of his index finger. The sight of blood shocked me—a frightening reminder of how vulnerable our bodies were. Warm, crimson blood was so human and seeing it spill from my brother’s hand seemed so unnatural. But Gabriel hadn’t even flinched. He just brought his bleeding finger to his mouth and when he withdrew it any trace of injury had disappeared. He washed his hands with the soap from the dispenser on the sink and went back to his methodical slicing.
    I picked up a piece of celery that was destined for the salad and chewed absently on it. Celery, I decided, must be more about texture than taste as it didn’t really have much flavor, but it was certainly crunchy. Why anyone would eat it voluntarily was beyond me, apart from its nutritional value. Good nutrition meant a healthier body and a longer life. Humans were inordinately afraid of death, but I supposed we couldn’t expect anything else from them given their lack of knowledge about what lay beyond. They would find out in due course that there was nothing to fear.
    Gabriel’s dinner turned out to be the usual success. Even Ivy, who took no real pleasure in food, was impressed.
    “Another culinary triumph,” she said after the first forkfull.
    “Amazing flavors,” I added. Food was just another wonder the earth had to offer. I couldn’t help marveling at how every food could have such a different texture and flavor—bitter, sour, salty, creamy, tangy, sweet, spicy—sometimes more than one at the same time. Some of them I liked and some made me want to wash my mouth out—but everything was a unique experience.
    Gabriel modestly dismissed our praise, and talk turned once again to the events of the day.
    “Well, that’s one day down. I think it went well, although I hadn’t expected to find so many musical students.”
    “I think you’ll find a lot of them developed an interest in music once they saw you.” Ivy said with a smile.
    “Well, at least it gives me something to work on,” Gabe replied. “If they can find beauty in music, they can find beauty in one another and the world too.”
    “But aren’t you bored in class?” I asked Gabe. “I mean, you already have access to all human knowledge.”
    “I expect he wasn’t really concentrating on the content,” Ivy said. “He would have been trying to pick up on other things.” Sometimes my sister had an infuriating way of speaking in riddles she just expected everyone else to understand.
    “Well, I was bored,” I persisted. “Especially in chemistry. I’ve decided it really isn’t my thing .” Gabriel gave a low chuckle at my choice of words.
    “Well, you’ll just have to find out what is your thing . Try things out and see what you like best.”
    “I like literature,” I said. “We started watching the film version of Romeo and Juliet today.”
    I didn’t tell them this, but the love story fascinated me. The way the lovers fell so deeply and irrevocably in love after their first meeting sparked a burning curiosity in me about what human love might feel like.
    “How are you finding that?” Ivy asked.
    “It’s very powerful, but the teacher got really mad when one of the boys said something about Lady Capulet.”
    “What did he say?”
    “He called her a MILF, which must be offensive because Miss Castle called him a thug and sent him out of the room. Gabe, what is a MILF?”
    Ivy smothered