Nefarious

C148 - A time of changes

Vera suddenly nudging my arm caused me to gasp loudly, catching everyone's attention unintentionally. She stared at me in pure confusion, her head tilting as though she was utterly baffled by my reaction. "We should talk," she said softly, relaxing her shocked facial expression.

Although increasing one's own hearing might sound enthralling and exciting, I thought of it as nothing but a new vexatious ability. I wasn't enjoying the access I was suddenly given to intrude other's private conversations. It only worsened my bad habit of getting distracted easily, especially now that secrets are divulged at all times. "Yes, we should," I said after the excessively long silence.

Vera cleared her throat, her gaze moving swiftly from the entrance of the kitchen to me as though she was expecting someone to eavesdrop our conversation. "I haven't known you for long-" she paused, "but I'm noticing rapid changes in you already. Jace informed me of your current situation, and I must say the timing is highly unfortunate. Nonetheless, you have the beneficial sides of a transformation, naturally. You'll be able to hear people creeping up on you, and as well as that, you'll be able to react quicker eventually."

I decided I didn't want for my answers to be impulsive or too subjective, so I kept quiet while thinking first. I then checked for people myself before questioning her statement regarding my apparent 'drastic changes', waiting curiously for her to explain herself. "When you look at the people you know, your look is soft and caring in a way. It sounds weird, but there's this indescribable delicacy to you. Whenever you look at Alex, you're calm and controlled. However, when you look at strangers... like when we visited the castle, your look hardened intensely. You looked at people as though they were upcoming victims that were of no importance to you. I hope you realise that you can't think that way," she sighed. "What are you-" I started, stuttering in utter confusion. "You're not being handled the way you should, and for that, I apologise. Going through such a phase alone will be bewildering for anyone, and you will face situations where you are mystified by your sudden desires. I can't go into too much detail as our time is limited as of now, but I want you to remember that you're changing. Don't spend all your energy on Alex, it'll drive you mad, Valerie."

I'm sure Vera's impromptu speech was meant to guide me somehow, but instead, I ended up feeling even more confused. She seemed concerned when talking of me as though she genuinely feared that I would lose it entirely as a result of our stressful and unfortunate 'Alex situation'. I hadn't spent much time thinking deeply of this myself, and perhaps I should've, but my priorities have been controlled by reason automatically. Of course, I'll care for Alex when his situation is considerably worse than mine...

Everyone kept running around the house after Vera and I had talked. They kept going over everything to make sure we weren't making a mistake by returning to the castle. Everything felt precarious at this point, which only made me worry more for Alex's sake. It was a wondrous feeling having him back, but at the same time, I feared for him. I've looked into the cold eyes of his brother, and for each time I've done so, I've gotten an eerie feeling as though he's been planning something horrendous for a long time. Xylan is one of many people who has a dangerously strong passion for ruling, and so I believe he will stop at nothing to achieve such... even if that means taking down his own brother.

Alex kept staring at me non-stop. He barely moved his pupils, and it wasn't hard to tell that he was in want of saying something. At first, I managed to control my curiosity, but then he somehow noticed that I was losing my patience. "I have a nagging feeling that we're not on track. Having everything going this smoothly feels wrong, and I don't trust the calmness of it all. Something is wrong, I know it is," he said, his stare remaining directed my way. "There's much ahead of us, it just hasn't started yet. I mean, at some point it has to be calm, right? For chaos to arouse, we need a non-chaotic period first, and so calmness is just the first phase," I responded. "I'm not sure whether you tried to calm my thoughts of worry or intensify them, but regardless, you're correct. Let's just hope the upcoming chaos won't be of the fatal type," he answered.

"Valerie," Alex said, causing an end to the brief silence. I looked his way in an instant, watching him while waiting for him to say whatever. The hood over his head framed his face in similarity to how art is framed. Nevertheless, his looks were only worsening as the result of his current illness. His blinking was slow as though he was still tired despite his long hours of sleep. Truthfully, he looked exhausted without having done anything remotely challenging physically. The look on his face was stern and serious, which caused concern on my part. Additionally, it confused me how his gaze wandered across the room, observing everything carefully, including me. "Perhaps you should water your dead plants," he suddenly said. That wasn't what he wanted to say, I could tell by the tone of his voice and the purposeful avoidance of eye contact. "Doing so won't revive them," I frowned. "No, but you'd probably feel more at ease if you did. You know, you have a life of your own, Valerie. After all, watering your beloved plants was a part of your life for years as I remember it."

-Dane's point of view-

Eugene and I had asked several people whether they had seen Adeline or not, and though I knew some of them had, all said otherwise. She'd come to our castle with intentions of ruling it, and now she was succeeding by making people fear her and by seducing my brother. It was past infuriating at this point, especially when I've had no ways of stopping it. Now, however, with Jace in on my plan, I will change everything eventually.