Convulsion

❀ ʙᴏɴᴜꜱ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ: ʙɪᴛᴛᴇʀꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ❀

"Hey, I know you're trying to look good for a certain someone, but you might want to speed things up a bit." I glare at the door between Amaryllis and I, peering at the mirror one last time and splashing myself with water when I see that my cheeks are red. I've been thinking about Lily a lot lately and, wait, no, I just... I just hope she's doing okay.

"I'm not trying to look good for someone specifically," I explain, pulling open the door and squinting at her when I spot her smirk. "Relationships are forbidden-"

"Yeah, no. That's what you said last time, and look how that turned out." I pause, clenching my teeth. Amaryllis freezes too, looking away from me. She's talking about Celeste. Of course she is, they were best friends, but...

"Do you still blame me?" I whisper. Amaryllis and I haven't been able to talk very much, and usually we don't. But Celeste's death is something we can never forget.

"Not entirely. But I keep replaying everything in my head over, and over, and over, and I feel like things could have been different," she sighs, motioning for me to follow her and opening the sliding door in my room with a card in her hand. "If Brittany wasn't so controlling, if Celeste communicated better, if you were honest, what would have happened? What could have happened if you had chosen to work things out? And look, I really don't want to hold a grudge against you, so I need to be sure you won't make the same mistake twice."

We walk down the hallways of the Health Center together and I silently ponder her words until she stares directly at me, her brown eyes boring into mine. "Talk to Lily. I don't care if you don't want to admit your feelings yet, just make sure you talk things out. Please, Steve." I nod at her as we stride into the empty stone room of the entrance hall, glancing out of the blue tinted windows.

"I promise." She seems satisfied with my answer because she strides away, venturing down a hallway to find a Caregiver. We're finally checking out of the Health Center. I knew that today would be a big day, but my dream disoriented me. I have to admit, I'm not prepared to face Lily yet. How is she doing? Is she mad at me? No, I already know she is. Will she forgive me, if I asked her to? I can only hope she will.

"We're good to go." Amaryllis pats my shoulder, walking past me and pushing the doors to the Health Center open. I stare after her, raising my eyebrows when I remember what we're doing. Right. I can't get sidetracked. Glancing at my hands I follow her, manipulating the wind around me as soon as we're outside. Clouds End is one of my favorite places, considering it's in Zephyr territory. There's plenty of open sky, and plenty of wind.

Amaryllis starts down the path leading back to town, to the Transfer Point we need, but I launch myself into the air. I can't help but smile when the wind surrounds me, blowing through my hair and clothes. The early morning sky is beautiful, and so are the clouds beneath me that surround the Health Center.

"Steve! You can't just leave me!" I laugh when I hear Amaryllis, and I glance down at her. One of the things I love about being up so high is the view. Most of the areas owned by the Zephyr are floating in the sky, and beneath the bridge Amaryllis is on there's a thin layer of clouds and flower fields far, far below.

"Sorry!" I drop back down, my feet colliding with the stone bridge when I land. Smoothing down my clothes and hair again I fall in step beside her, the two of us silently slipping through the vine covered alleyway to make it back to town. Having to squeeze between the stone and wood is a bit tiresome, but I understand why they made it like this. There are enchantments protecting every Health Center, and if you have hostile intentions towards one, you won't find it very easily unless you already know the right path.

"Come on." As soon as we emerge from the thin path Amaryllis dashes over to the Transfer Point, yelling at the sky and making the people around us stare, right as I reach her. "Avalon!" Once she yells we're both surrounded by a bright light, and I manage to grab on to her elbow right before I feel myself drifting away. I'm gone. I'm floating, traveling in a way that takes all my thoughts from me. We're on our way to Avalon. To the Head Guardian Ceremony. To see Lily. Soon I can register warmth wrapping around me, piecing me back together as a bright light presses against my eyelids once again.