Payback's A Nightmare | ✔

CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH

The tension was so thick that she could cut it into two with a knife, she thought as she took the first step onto the Leapmaster. Brennus and Ailill basically avoided her gaze, and she didn't feel like looking them in the eye anyway. But she knew she had to face them sooner or later anyway.

Behind them, a Level Six prodigy shouted at them to hurry up, which spurred the three of them to life. It happened all at once.

"Everglen," Brennus yelled, causing the crystals to start to spin, but Evelina interjected halfway, shouting, "Crescent Path!"

She didn't want to go to Everglen again-it meant facing Fitz and Aurelia, and somehow, she felt that the two parents didn't have a really good impression of her now, judging by what happened at the Celestial Festival-compared to going back to her house, where there was no one there except the gnomes and Vertina, it was much safer. Of course, there was another reason why Evelina chose her house . . . but that was going to need full cooperation with Brennus and Ailill-especially Ailill.

The light of the Leapmaster crystals whisked them away to the familiar grass green pastures of Crescent Path. Evelina sighed, the resigned note swirling together with the gentle, gloomy breeze that blew quietly around the weeping willow trees dotting the sides of the fields. Her mind instantly flashed back to that time she'd returned here from that fateful visit to Everglen, after the intense hurt had flashed across Brennus's face, making her feel queasy . . . then she had laid down on the same grasses she was standing on right now, and Sophie had come, lying down with her . . . that was one of the only times she really felt like one of her family.

But that was the time when she was also deeply ignorant.

Evelina had once thought that only Fitz was to blame. That was the false truth that her mother had spun up for her, pushing the blame to Fitz when the real truth was, both of them were to blame.

Now that she knew the real truth, her mind had been in a mess, spinning and whirling around so much that she still felt dizzy. Maybe yes, both of them made unforgivable mistakes that shouldn't have been made in the first place, but maybe they were blinded by love. Love that was forced, making them believe each other was their soulmate.

But how could they not be soulmates? According to Vertina, they were Cognates. Two Cognates that held the most potential to be super compatible. And surprisingly, they had gotten quite low rankings on each other's matchmaking lists.

Evelina didn't know how matchmaking lists worked, and she most definitely did not understand love. Love was something so complicated, so tangled together that she didn't want to delve inside to explore this new realm.

A tiny voice inside her head kept chanting Brennus, Brennus, Brennus, but Evelina smothered that little voice ruthlessly, shaking her head vigorously-as if that would get rid of the weird thoughts that had entered her head. She filled her head with logic instead, thinking firmly to herself, you just have a teeny-little crush on Brennus-that hardly counts as love. Besides, he hates me now-which I think he totally deserves to. Anyway, I did hate him with a burning passion before everything happened-you could say it's his turn now.

"Evelina, can you snap out of it?" Someone's voice filtered through Evelina's ears, making her blink. She snapped out of her reverie, and smiled awkwardly at Brennus and Ailill.

They didn't smile back.

"Why did you bring us here?" Ailill asked, his dark teal eyes filled with nervousness that somehow made Evelina feel better, but then, not really too.

He didn't look like he hated her, but at the same time, he didn't look like he was totally okay with her too.

"I can go back any second," Brennus warned, his voice as dark as his hair. He cast a challenging look at her, holding up his home crystal to the light, creating a light path that shone on Evelina's worries.