Lethal Lineage

This Isn't The End

"Hey," Nora smiles.

"You're dead." I look her over. She still wore her Lineage Day dress, red fabric now pale. All of her was pale, more so than she used to be. "You're dead," I say again.

"Yeah," she agrees. That didn't help me process this. "So do I look hot as a ghost?" Nora's grin was forced, trying to lighten the mood.

I bring my knees up and dig my palms into my eyes. I was hallucinating. Stress and trauma made my brain hallucinate. When I look up Nora is still there, nervously picking at her nails.

"This isn't real," I deny.

"Maybe," she whispers, moving closer. No, she didn't glide like a ghost, but her footsteps were silent.

I look up at her with burning eyes. "I'm so sorry, Nora."

"Why? You stopped a maniac from enslaving more than half the school, and probably most of the supernatural community." Nora paces the tower platform.

"I got you killed. I should've just never moved." I sniffle, wrapping my arms around my legs.

"Stop feeling guilty, it's not doing anything but making you feel worse."

"I-I can't," my voice cracks. All I can do is stare at her. There was darkness around her eyes, her lips pale blue.

"Well, you should. I don't hate you or anything, so stop." Nora shrugs as if it's that easy.

Footsteps are coming up the stairs and my eyes widen. Nora freezes and then presses herself to a wall, covering her face with her hands.

I nearly roll my eyes.

Larken reaches the platform and stops when he sees me, taking in my wet face, huddled body, and most like puffy eyes. I look between him and Nora, waiting for him to freak out just like I did.

He moves to sit beside me, our shoulders touching. I'm still staring at Nora. Did he not see her? If he couldn't, that just confirmed my fears that my mind had really snapped.

"Therapy that bad?" He asks casually.

I swallow and try to dry my face. "Kinda," I mumble. After some silence I look at Nora and ask Larken, "Do you believe in ghosts?"

He thinks about it. "I don't know. If people like us can exist, why not ghosts?"

"Have you ever seen one?"

"No."

So he clearly couldn't see Nora. His head was lifted and he was looking right at her. My silence felt pressured now.

"Have you?" He asks, glancing at me.

"Saying yes might make me sound crazy," I chuckle.

"You're crazy snake lady, remember?"

I frown, wanting to tell him Nora was standing in front of us. "That's a different kind of crazy," I sigh.

"So, you talking to yourself before I came up here is a different kind of crazy? Unless there's a snake up here I don't know about?" Larken looks around us.

My stomach drops. He was listening to me talking to Nora. Larken probably already thought I was nuts. Any minute now he would drag me to the infirmary and say I'd lost my mind.

"I—" my voice cracks.

"I'm used to your crazy, Nathara. I wouldn't keep talking to you if I couldn't handle it." He nudges me.

"Wow, he seems pretty open minded," Nora says lightly. I look up at her, giving Larken a nervous look.

"I'm pretty sure I'm hallucinating, like my mind has completely snapped in half, because I'm looking at Nora right now." I clench my jaw, waiting for Larken to start laughing at me.

His eyebrows scrunch and he slowly nods. "You're right. You've completely lost your mind."

My teeth bite into my lip, ready to run.

"So, are you going to tell her?" My eyes snap to his, widening. Was he teasing me right now?

"I-I said I'm sorry," I gasp, glancing at Nora who frowns at the both of us.

"Tell me what?" She asks.

"Telling her might help, even if she's already dead." Larken raises an eyebrow. "You're the one who wanted to wait until after Lineage Day."

"What is he talking about?" Nora asks, arms crossed.

I shake my head. "You're screwing with me right now," I say. "Maybe we've both gone nuts."

"I doubt it." Larken shrugs beside me. "I'm pretty strong headed if I do say so myself."

My eyes roll.

"You were cheating on me with him, weren't you!?" Nora gasps, hand coming to her mouth.

"No! I wasn't!" I quickly tell her, holding my hands up.

"Then why have you to gotten so close? I don't think I've ever heard him talk so much with anyone!" She glares at Larken.

"He—" I swallow and look at Larken, face burning. He stares back at me, then looks at where I was seeing Nora. "Happy now? I'm fucking insane," I groan, letting my head fall back against the bricks.

"I'm not judging," he shakes his head.

"Liar." Nora and I both say. I sigh and look between them.

"Say it." Larken nods his head toward Nora to encourage me.

Face red hot, I take a deep breath and face Nora. "I was going to break up with you. Then you asked me to be your date to Lineage Day and for some reason my dumb ass decided to drag it out until after. I hoped I'd feel differently by then." I say it all quickly just to get it out. "That's why I can't stop feeling guilty."

"Oh," Nora takes a step back, frowning at her feet.

"I'm sorry. I realized I may have jumped into the relationship too fast and it didn't feel right. I knew I didn't feel as strongly about you as you did me. We barely knew anything about one another." Larken stays silent beside me.

Nora nods, still avoiding eye contact. "I kind of saw it coming," she admits. "It was obvious, I just didn't want to believe it. You didn't kiss me like you meant it."

I hang my head against my hands. Well, it did feel better to finally tell her, but the guilt was still there.

"I'm sorry," I tell her again.

"I-I'm dead now, so it doesn't matter." She sniffs, lifting her chin to seem unbothered.

"I guess," I whisper. "How are you here right now?"

Nora begins pacing the platform again. "I don't know. Maybe it because of what I saw."

"What did you see?" I ask.

"At Lineage Day, when everyone was being beaten down and stuff, Madam Celeste wasn't one of them. She talked to that guy that tied you up like they were buddies."

My lips part in surprise. Larken looks at me curiously.

"Mind filling me in here? My crazy hasn't progressed enough for me to hear her," he jokes.

I shake my head as I look away from Nora to explain, "She says she saw Madam Celeste working with Kyree on Lineage Day."

Larken sits back, just as surprised as me. "Oh, shit," he mutters.

Panic starts to run through my veins. "This isn't over yet."