Sugar, Spice and a pinch of Fantasy

Chapter 21

------------ Chapter 21 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Haden was so agitated by my story that Alex had to buzz the nurse in to calm him down. And by calm him down, I mean medicate him. Eventually his eyes flutter shut and the three of us sigh in relief. The last thing we need is for Haden to exert himself and get hurt again! 

"You were really thinking of running away with Carter?" Alex asks, his voice soft and his tone hurt. 

I nod my head in response. Too ashamed of myself to actually meet his gaze. 

"Why?" he asks, still with the same tone. 

"I don't know!" I answer frustratedly. "Carter reeks of danger and I know it. He isn't exactly the perfect guy. But there's something about him. I just can't help but be extremely drawn to him. I think...I think I may love him," I confess softly. 

Alex's face pales and he throws an incredulous look in Matt's direction. 

"Jess, I know you're probably fed up of hearing us say this but, Carter is dangerous. There's a lot to him that doesn't meet the eye," Matt murmurs, leaning in towards me. 

"It seems like he does trust me though," I argue softly. 

"I'm sure it does seem that way. But you're young Jess! Your hormones are on overdrive. Maybe you're blinded to all his many flaws," Matt reasons gently, trying his hardest not to hurt my feelings. 

"Hey! I'm only two years younger than you guys! My hormones are in just as much of a rage as yours," I retort smugly. "Besides, he's told me some stuff.."

"What kind of stuff?!" Alex demands, his voice rising. 

"Shhh!" Matt hushes him, smacking him in the arm. 

"Nothing bad..." I mumble. "He did mention that he is Haden's cousin"

"He told you that?" Alex asks, his tone disbelieving.

"Yes. He told me that they used to be very close, almost brothers. And then, Haden got an assignment...my family...and he messed up. That's why he's my guardian, not because he wanted to be to take care of me. It just kinda happened, didn't it? I mean, he wasn't welcome back home after letting me live, right?" I murmur thickly, my voice threatening to break at any moment. 

"Jess, you know Haden loves you to bits! You think he takes care of you because he has no choice? If he really didn't give a damn about you he would have left you to be brought up by some foster family. And the mistake he made...it isn't because he was careless or anything. Haden knew what he was doing was against the rules, but he had to do it anyway. My point though is that Haden loves you. So please don't ever say something like that to him, okay? It'll hurt him too much," Matt explains, enveloping me in a warm embrace.

“Matt, I get that you and Alex would never ever say anything that could even possibly paint Haden in bad light, but...you have to tell me the truth here. Explain to me why a 14 year old would have any inclination to look after his friend’s 12 year old sister? It just doesn’t make sense!” I moan quietly. I want to believe what Matt said so bad, but it defies logic!

“Things don’t always make sense, Jess,” Matt mutters cryptically.

“I understand that not everything single thing in life operates on logic, but Matt...I’m not 12 anymore! I need to know what is going on! Tell me how a 14 year old could get custody over a 12 year old? Please!” I beg silently.

“Okay, fine, I’ll tell you. Can we talk somewhere else though? I don’t want to wake Haden up,” Matt murmurs.

I nod my head eagerly. Yay, more answers!

“Go ahead. I’ll keep an eye on Haden,” Alex encourages, his face drawn though. I have a feeling Alex wishes I would stop questioning things and just accept everything.

Either way, I’m going to get all the information I can. I owe it to myself to know anything and everything that concerns me after all.

Matt leads me down the long corridor and up six flights of stairs. By the time we reach the top, I’m out of breath and panting. Yes, I’m horribly unfit, okay?

“Jess, you really need to start working out, girl,” Matt teases, pushing a door open.

We step through the door, and a rush of wind blows my hair. We’re on the roof! The sun streams brightly down on us and it’s so beautiful!

“Beautiful, huh?” Matt murmurs, watching me.

“How did you find this place?” I whisper. I kid you not, it’s a roof and all, but it’s unbearably beautiful! The view around is amazing and they even have a little green garden and small fish pond in the middle.

“I went exploring while Haden was in the ER. It’s quite here. We can talk openly, I think,” he muses, taking me by the arm. He leads me to a lone bench nearby the little green garden and sits me down.

“Okay, so you know we’re enmortals, right? One of the perks is that we can kind of project things we want others to see. Like, you asked how a 14 year old could take legal guardianship over you, right? Well, Haden didn’t appear 14,” Matt murmurs, carefully watching my reaction.

“I don’t get it. You mean that you project something like say...like say Haden projected that he’s 81, people will see him as an 81 year old man?” I ask completely baffled.

“Yes. Only humans of course. Other enmortals won’t be fooled. Then again, Haden is pretty high up in ranking, he might be able to fool the lowest rank of enmortals,” Matt murmurs, stroking his chin, as if only just realising this piece of information.

“So...the way you guys look right now...it’s a projection?” I ask, ready to snap. More and more lies! God damn this!

“No, no!” Matt quickly answers, probably sensing that I’m close to breaking point. “A projection can last, at maximum for an hour. Even then, it would leave us drained and requires our utmost concentration. So the way we look to you, is the way we really do look. I promise!”

I nod my head a couple of times, trying to process this little piece of information. God...when did I fall down the hole and enter the world of the make belief?

Damn, when Bella Swan got into fantasy she had a vampire and werewolf fighting over her. I just have three ‘enmortal’ ‘brothers’. One of whom, ironically my guardian, happens to be the son of death. I wish I were Isabella Swan! She had no idea how lucky she was, did she?!

“Wanna grab a bite before going back to Haden? It’ll give you some time to process everything,” Matt offers.

Without waiting for my answer, he leads me down all eleven flights of stairs back down to the lobby and takes me to the little canteen.

You know, I would have expected not to be hungry after this piece of information. I mean, in the movies when a revelation is made, food is the last thing on anyone’s mind. Movies lie though! I’m so famished!