Wings of Fire as Humans: Jade Preparatory Academy

Chapter Twenty-Five: Lynx Frost

Lynx Frost's eyes welled up as she stared at the blonde boy sitting on the staircase.

"Winter?" she asked, her voice quieter than she'd intended, but loud enough to break the excruciating silence that filled the hall.

He let out a long sigh. "I know Qibli sent you, Lynx, and I don't want to hear it. Go away."

She didn't. She sat down next to him and put her chin in her hands. "Tell me your version of the story."

Winter deigned to glance at her. "You sound like my therapist."

Lynx frowned slightly. "I didn't realize you had a therapist."

Lynx could see how Winter's eyebrows scrunched together with his next words. "I . . . don't."

From his tone and expression, Lynx could tell that was a lie. And it didn't really bother - or even worry - her that he had a therapist. Honestly, it was good. He needed it. But it hurt a little that he hadn't told his friends about it. She waved it off and brought the conversation back to the matter at hand. "You never told me your side of the story."

Winter kicked the riser of the stair he was sitting on with the heel of his foot. "Why would you want to hear my side of the story? Qibli will win the argument no matter what. He's much too good at arguing."

"This isn't about him," Lynx insisted. "It's about you."

"But it is about him!" Winter practically growled. "He got mad at me."

Lynx cocked her head to the side. "This is guilt I'm hearing."

Winter looked at her, his face a mixture of what Lynx told herself was mostly amusement and a little bit of anger, but knowing Winter, she probably had that backward. "Yeah, you really sound like my therapist."

Lynx sighed. "Can we get back to the point of this conversation? Because you're kind of acting like Qibli right now, distracting me with pointless comments."

The distraction worked a little too well. Winter worried the cuff of his jacket between his fingers and barely looked at her as he asked, "Do you think they'll forgive me?"

The emotion in his voice caught Lynx by surprise. She'd never seen him this upset. "I do think they'll forgive you," she said honestly, doing her best to seem like she hadn't noticed. He'd just get embarrassed if she pointed it out. "But they won't if you just act like you don't care. If you apologize, they'll forgive you. But you'd better do it soon."

"Do what soon?" a snide voice, straight out of Lynx's nightmares said from behind them.

Winter growled and turned, giving his twin sister an annoyed look. "None of your business."

Icicle put her hands on her hips and smiled in a smug, infuriating way. "Actually, it's very much my business. You see, Mother and Father told me to report on your doings here at the Academy. They're not exactly pleased with how you've been behaving." Icicle crinkled her nose. "Especially with other tribes."

Lynx saw how Winter tensed with the words. She bit her lip, unsure if she should intervene, and even if she did, what she would say.

"That's great," Winter told his sister. "You can go tell them that I'm breaking all the rules, then. Mother and Father don't like to have their time wasted, and everything else you tell them will be a repeat of what you said when you told them I was breaking all the rules, sooooo there's not really even a point for you to keep spying." Winter gave her a smile that made her frown before he turned to Lynx. "Come on. Let's go back to the dorms. I need to apologize, don't I?"

Lynx smiled to herself as she followed Winter passed Icicle and back to their dorms. She wondered how long it would've taken him to agree to apologize if his sister hadn't interrupted. Probably a while. Winter was very stubborn.

But . . . She would have thought that his sister would make him less agreeable. And she never would have expected to simply not care when Icicle told him she was reporting on him. It was honestly kind of awesome. Maybe they really were melting him.

They stopped at the door to the Jade Winglet's common room. Winter took a deep breath, his hand hovering over the doorknob.

"You'll be fine," Lynx assured him. "Just come from the heart."

"I'm bad at that."

"Oh, I know. But they'll be impressed that you cared enough to try."

Winter sighed. "Fine. I can try." He took another deep breath, put his hand on the knob, and twisted it, opening the door.