Payback's A Nightmare | ✔

CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH

Sophie was a little quieter than usual this morning.

Evelina woke up from her bed earlier than she was used to. Her head felt slightly woozy, and her whole body ached as she stretched her arms, wincing as her joints cracked.

She must be sick. But she couldn't afford not to go to school on such a crucial day. Sighing softly, she slipped out of her mattresses, wiping the sweat on her brow with a silk handkerchief as she dressed up in her Foxfire uniform. Then, she brushed her hair, pulled it up into a casual ponytail, grabbed her Foxfire satchel, and turned to head downstairs.

That was when her foot hit against the loose floorboard, making a soft thud. Evelina frowned, crouching down to edge away the floorboard, revealing the book on Cognates, and the tiny box which held the breakup ring. She recalled what she had seen and heard last night from Sophie, and since she was keeping an eye for her stolen possessions, Evelina had better bring it to school with her. Not that she wanted to keep them forever—but she was only halfway through the book, and Evelina liked to think that the breakup ring caused Sophie nothing but unhappiness.

Stuffing them carefully into her satchel, she slung it over her shoulder and went out of her room. Downstairs she could hear Sophie and Keefe's voices, letting her know that they were awake. The smell of a delicious and sumptuous breakfast wafted up into Evelina's nose, and she sniffed the air delightfully—it smelled like her favourite beurre bursts—which were something like custard bursts, but more creamy and buttery.

The thought of food spurring up her footsteps, Evelina reached the first floor in record time, and Sophie and Keefe instantly halted their conversation. At first, there was an awkward silence as she took her seat at the dining table, watching quietly as Sophie laid out the cutlery for the miso soup. Keefe caught her gaze and shot her a secret smile when Sophie wasn't looking.

Sophie didn't have a smile on her face, though. Her face was a little more ashen grey than usual, and her hands trembled ever so slightly as they gripped the edge of the table hard for support. She sat down, and without a second glance at Evelina, started to eat her breakfast.

A little hurt, Evelina shrugged to herself and took a beurre burst for herself and popped it into her mouth, the buttery vanilla cream melting on her tongue. The only sound was the click of cutlery against the soup bowl, and the munching of food. The tension was so thick that she could have cut it into half with a knife.

Finally, Evelina couldn't take the awkwardness any more, and decided to break the silence. "Mum, Dad, what's going on?"

Sophie hesitated for a long second. Then she said, "Nothing's going on."

Unsatisfied, Evelina probed her further, "Then why are you all so quiet? Is it because you're angry at me, Mother?"

Sophie and Keefe exchanged a secret glance before Keefe shook his head and said, "We're not angry at you, Evelina. It's just that things are quite tensed these days—remember last night when Councillor Emery announced that Orion Vacker had contracted affluenza?"

She didn't miss the fact that he'd called her Evelina, not by her nickname, Lina.

Evelina nodded, dully remembering the immense disappointment she had felt when she'd heard the sobering announcement. "Yeah, what about it?"

"It turned out that it was really serious, more severe than anyone of us would have expected." A long silence followed before Sophie continued, "Elves don't die of sicknesses. Not even the Ancients."

"If the gnomes could have a plague, why not elves?" Keefe countered. "Anyway, Foster, you know it was only a matter of time before it was the elves' turn."