A Shadowed Legacy

Chapter Four

"Well, what do you think?" Holli stepped out from the doorway with a flourish, wearing the armor she'd made to blend in, multi-colored eyes shining.

Kathrin tilted her head to examine her, "it looks good on you. Much better than the regular armor patterns." She then made a face, "Good job." Aaron let out a sigh, his face both disgusted and awed at how accurate it was.

The younger dragon shifter grinned, "thanks. I had fun spying on them to get a better idea of how to paint it. Come now, sister. Time to see if I can thoroughly surprise Iris with my presence." She nudged Arya's shoulder, still grinning.

"Won't she recognize your face?" Arya pointed out as she regarded her half-sister, raising an eyebrow. Lilla rested her head on her paws from her perch on Arya's shoulders, watching Holli pointedly as if waiting for an explanation.

"Not an issue, my abilities will fill in for that," Holli tossed her hair dramatically, and suddenly her facial features changed entirely. Her hair changed to black, her eyes shifted to a warm green, and the scars faded out of view. "I have gotten extremely good at illusions over the years." Her grin remained the same as she brushed the illusion away, chuckling at Aaron's shocked expression, "come on, we have to get going. Mom, are you coming or are you going to avoid them for the time being?"

Kathrin snorted at her derisively, "are you kidding me? I am not leaving my mate far from me until this whole fiasco is over. I'm sticking with Aaron."

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True to her statement, Kathrin was not met with friendly faces. Arya sighed, shaking her head, as she watched the hostile stares follow her mother and father into the building. She and Holli were waiting for a moment by the door to see if Bri or Zoei were around.

"Arya. There you are," Bri commented as she materialized out of a shadow, and her voice wasn't warm, but it wasn't cold either, "you vanished pretty quickly after all the drama yesterday, so I wasn't sure if you were going to show up." Her gaze was drawn to the necklace Arya now wore, "that's new." She looked over Lilla and Holli, receiving a cold stare from both, "who're your new friends?"

"This is my new watcher and her messenger," Arya made sure to have enough annoyance in her voice, and it wasn't all false, "per Iris's request to keep an eye on me because of my mother."

"Bri, honestly, just leave her alone. She hasn't done anything to you, and neither has her mother, so shoo," Zoei growled at her in an irritated manner as she stalked up. The wolf turned a hostile stare towards Holli, "if you hurt her even a bit, there is nowhere you can hide."

Holli coughed, trying not to laugh at the notion she'd ever hurt Arya, "yeah, I doubt you'd be able to beat me. We can talk about this later." She snorted at Zoei, "we have to speak to Iris before the day starts, and I'd rather my new charge not be late."

Arya glanced at Zoei pointedly as Bri walked away, making sure she was out of earshot, "if I had an issue with her, Mom would have dealt with it. Besides, Lilla isn't so bad. When she's not annoying me to death." Zoei cast an incredulous look at her, and Arya returned it with a serious stare, willing her to wait before questioning her.

The wolf shifter grumbled after a long moment, "if you're going to see Iris, I'm coming with you. I'm not leaving you alone with either of them." She shot a dark look at Holli, who nearly jumped back at the amount ferocity in it.

"You never told me about how scary your girlfriend was," Holli muttered quietly to Arya in Mythical, eyeing Zoei warily as they moved through the hallway.