Crossfire

6

"Sorry! You just looked so offended... It’s weird, isn’t it? I was expecting a riot, and maybe a few hundred more deaths!”

I blinked a few times and shut my mouth, nodding at his words. I grabbed two slices of toast with butter as the rest of the family started to show up. Salazar passed the newspaper around all of the people at the table, excluding the youngest two.

As everyone started to leave afterwards, Salazar told me that I’m free to wander in his forest whenever I want. He said it was his ‘pride and joy', and that I should be allowed in it like everyone else in the family. I giggled at his enthusiasm and decided to go for a walk.

I tried to take the same route as the night I got woke up, but my memory failed me. I ended up quite lost. I strolled around for a while, listening to the wind singing. I could actually hear some words today. None of it really made any sense, though... ‘Ravine', ‘Eye', ‘Paint', ‘Head'... Nope. I couldn’t get my head around what it was trying to say. One time when I was younger the wind warned me about a girl in my class who would end up in hospital. It was right. She fell and needed stitches on her head. She did survive, though.

There were animals everywhere. Occasionally a fox would run up to me and ask to be scratched. Or a wolf. The wolves make me jump – they’re so silent! After another while I finally came across the clearing from two days before. I sat down and leaned against a rock, not caring if I got covered in grass.

I jumped when a person spoke to me.

“Hi! Do you know how to get out of here? I’m kinda lost...”

I looked up to see a woman with silver hair and gold eyes. She was extremely pale, almost the colour of the clouds in the sky. I stammered out,

“No.. No. I’m a bit lost myself, if I’m being honest. But I think there might be a way out in that direction.” I pointed off to the direction with a foot-eroded path leading away.

“I’m Crya,” she said. “I'm new here. Trying to find a way to that big house on the hill. Afraid I got distracted...”

She just completely ignored what I said! I sighed and stood up.

“I’m Maple. I’ll try and get you out, follow me.”

I started following the path. I heard Crya say behind me,

“You’re Salazar's little sister, right?”

I flinched at that. I looked at her over my shoulder and furrowed my eyebrows.

“No. I’m not.”

She had a confused expression on her face. How did an Unnatural not understand gender?

“You’re not his sister?”

I winced. Again.

"No. I’m not his sibling. Or a girl.”

I sped up as she still struggled to understand. Did she live under a rock? I noticed all of the animals were either hiding or running off. Strange. The animals here are usually quite bold.
When we finally reached the manor, I stormed off before she could say anything. I just kept walking though the manor, my mind clouded over. I was always so good at keeping this down, what happened?

When I came back to reality, I realized I was very much lost. Again. I spun in slow circles, trying to find a familiar painting or door. I found none. I groaned and decided to just explore.
I entered through the door closest to me. In it, there was a huge flat-screen television with what looked like consoles sitting under it. There were sofas and armchairs in a semicircle around it, and a few beanbags sitting in front of them. There was a window on the right wall, covered over with a curtain. I walked over and opened the curtain, dropping my hands with a gasp as I seen outside.

For starters, the sky was black. How long had I been lost for? There were also huge army vans lining up by that gates to the manor. I paused to think about what to do, and decided it was probably best to find my way to my room. So I did.

When I got there and shut my door, I noticed a new pile of clothes on my bed, plus a note.

"Mother requests you wear this for the party.’

I frowned when I looked at them. Black and green... not my preferred colours. I put them on and looked at myself in a mirror hanging on my wardrobe.
I was wearing a simple black shirt with a dark green ribbon that was supposed to be tied underneath the collar. I would have to ask someone to do it for me. My trousers were matching with my shirt, with black suspenders with green stitching. I just wore my normal boots. I frowned at the person in the mirror. I looked weird.

When I got to the dining hall, Regal Harrison and his squad were already there, sitting at one of the 20-person tables. Kirex rushed over to me and started to tie the ribbon around my neck. He said,

"There’s no specific way to tie this at your age. When you get old and creaky like me and Salazar you need to wear these stuffy neck ties with an emerald holding it together.”

He tied it in a sort of loose bow. It didn't actually look too bad.

“Father said we need to try and socialize with the Naturals. That means answering their questions respectfully and not rushing off.”

I screwed my face up. He noticed.

"I know. I don’t like it much either, and I understand that it’s probably harder for you. Just try and stick to someone in the family,” he sympathized. “Maybe start by offering drinks to some?”

He ruffled my hair and walked off to greet some people coming in. I shifted my weight from foot to foot and went to do what he told me. I lifted a jug of red wine and started to walk around the quickly filling tables. I started with Regal Harrison's table,

“Hello, would anyone like some wine?”

I tried to give my best and most believable smile. Why was most of the table men?

"That would be great,” Regal said. “Thank you.”

I listened to the conversations at the table as I poured glass after glass. I didn’t recognize much of what they were saying. A few were complimenting the architecture of the room and others were doing the same for the food. I went from table to table, only hearing the same things over and over.

After a while, Aime brought me up our usual table and told me to eat something. He then went and grabbed Kirex, Sandigo, Nevera and Keyser. I assumed Verdia was in bed already.

The hall was full to the brim, and quite literally buzzing. I didn’t like how loud it was. It was making my head throb. Mrs Crossfire stood up to praise the world's success, but I blocked it out, putting my head in my hands.

I barely registered Aime telling me to go to bed, but I obeyed and passed out as soon as my head hit my pillow.