вlood & peтalѕ [ ĸoтlc - тιana ]

ch. vii

Tam tugged discreetly at Linh's sleeve, while muffling a cough in the handkerchief she had thoughtfully tucked into his pocket before they left. "C-can we leave now?"

A muscle jumped in her jaw. "I don't think Keefe will let us..."

He sighed, turning back to where the rest of the gang was grouped in a haphazard circle in one of Everglen's more spectacular gardens, with Keefe holding court as he gave them an account of the date he and Biana had gone on the day before. The girl herself was nuzzled into his side, with an arm wrapped protectively around her boyfriend. He, in turn, has slid his arm around her waist, holding her close. Tam was pretty sure he'd seen Della hide in the corner and quietly take several pictures, while dabbing at her eyes.

"-and then, we- oi, Bangs Boy!" Keefe threw a custard burst at Tam, copping him right in the bangs. "Aren't you listening to our fabulous story?"

His teeth clenched at the 'our'. "No, Keefe. And I don't want to." Tam hacked into the handkerchief. When he brought it away from his mouth, he saw that the were fresh bloodstains on the cloth. He thanked his lucky stars it was a deep blue piece of cloth. 

Biana looked mildly hurt, and then wrinkled her nose. "Does anyone else smell roses? And we don't even have rose plants...so weird."

Sophie sniffed the air delicately, before copying Biana and wrinkling her nose as well. "Ugh, yeah. I mean, I like roses and all, but there's something else as well...something kinda...metallic?"

A glance at Linh confirmed that they were both thinking the same thing- his blood.

 Evidently, Keefe's mind had been travelling along the same lines, because his lips pressed together after he said hollowly, "blood. The smell is blood."

Fitz looked alarmed. "But this is Everglen. There's no blood here...right?"

Keep thinking innocent, Fitz.

Biana nodded slowly, scanning their surroundings through narrowed eyes. "Yeah. Or maybe there's an injured animal nearby?"

"Maybe," Dex said doubtfully. "But you don't really have animals here, do you?"

"We don't," Fitz agreed. "Meaning... it's either one of the gnomes, or one of us? But I don't think it's one of us..."

Sophie tugged on an eyelash. "Somehow, I don't think it's one of the gnomes either."

Can we go now? Tam shadow-whispered to Linh. I feel like they'd find out if we stuck around any longer.

Linh didn't look at him, but the nearly imperceptible upward movement of her head showed that she agreed. "Uh, guys, we kinda need to go now...? Tiergan has us on curfew. Bye!" With a cheery wave, she hauled Tam carefully to his feet and dipped her hand into her pocket for a crystal.

Do I even need to say it anymore? Take it away, band.