"But there's nothing to be afraid of; even when the night changes, it will never change me and you"
Aspyn glanced over at her sister who was slumped on the leather seat beside her. Duchess was on her left, staring blankly out of the window while Prince and Royal argued like three year olds in the backmost seats.
Her Uncle and Aunt were mostly silent, save for relaying a few instructions between each other. She wasn't as curious or excited as Briar had seemed to be. Aspyn had always been babied and sheltered but that didn't make her stupid. She knew there was something strange about them being brought to the care of her distant relatives. She knew it had to be something dangerous if Briar didn't know much either. And she knew that her parents were in the centre of it.
Worse still, no one else seemed to know or care about it at all so there was no way of helping, or understanding. She could only wait and watch and hope, all the while feeling helpless and small.
.......
The car shook gently along the uneven road. Prince had finally gotten Royal to shut up and was looking out of his window instead. He wanted to see his cousin' reactions to their surprise, but perhaps more importantly, he wanted to make sure they were ok; that they weren't getting anywhere near the truth.
If they investigated they would learn his secret, it wasn't easy to hide and he had not found much of a reason to before-given his friends and area. But now, his reputation was at stake almost as much as their lives.
He should've felt guilty, but at the thought of the poverty stricken streets he walked everyday, the bodies he had watched be carted into and from the town he grew up in; he couldn't bring himself to.
........
Harry walked leisurely through the paths lined with brightly coloured stalls and string lights. Another boy he hardly knew walked beside him; three knives in his right boot, one up his left sleeve and another on his hip under his shirt.
He didn't doubt that what the kid lacked in muscle and height he made up for in agility and fearlessness. So far the boy had proved stoic and unfeeling, probably exposed to some of the harder more abusive streets in his youth. Harry didn't want to know.
He felt uneasy as his green eyes scanned the fair to see his fellow kidnappers. Locals, teenagers.
This wasn't what he had planned coming into the guard. He assumed it would be a little more along the lines of; brutal training, killing and fighting and then death. A simple existence, but one that brought his mother and sister a few more dollars they could spend on food or heating.
Instead here he was, in the thick of things waiting for an unsuspecting child to be whisked away and held for ransom; almost surely to be killed soon after. He had never killed a child before. The mere thought made him sick.
He tried not to overthink it as his fingers brushed over his handgun.
.......
Briar looked at the spinning ferris wheel in front of her. Prince and Royal had sped off immediately after being let out of the car so with their pockets filled with petty change and Duchess as their unwilling guide, the girls were sent off.
Duchess hadn't asked them where they wanted to go or what they wanted to do, she hadn't even told them to follow as she began walking away. And it was for that reason among a few that Briar had thought it best to go off with Aspyn on her own and leave their cousins to their own devices.
Aspyn giggled with uncontainable delight as they made their way to the front of the line. They were escorted into the awaiting carriage and locked in as it started to move again. The ride was slow and scenic, while Aspyn squealed excitedly the entire time, Briar absorbed the sights in silence.
When they reached the top she gasped. She could see all the way to the city; the lights flickering and faded in the distance. THe view was spectacular, everything littered with bright lights and tall buildings. Up there nothing mattered, time and place were nonexistent it was beyond both.
When they finally reached the bottom Briar let Aspyn drag her off to every stall that caught her eye. She knocked over milk bottles for a purple teddy bear-that she gifted to her sister straight away-and played balloon darts for a pretty signet ring. Aspyn couldn't stop smiling and it made Briar relieved that she was finally getting a little more comfortable in her surroundings, her new guardians.
When they were finally off the ride Aspyn, without words, grabbed Briar's hand and dragged her to whatever stall had just caught her eye. In the mix of the crowd, Asypns grip on her sisters hand had loosened completely. She assumed her sister was still following so she continued on as Birar was lost in the sea of people, shouting her name.
......
Briar had been travelling and circling the entire fatê. She was furious with her sister but terribly anxious also. What if she had gotten lost or hurt? Why could Briar never seem to find her. Just when she thought t go back to her aunt and uncle and let them know she caught sight of Prince and Royal with their group of, she assumed, friends.
She watched Prince and Royal yell at the leader of the group as he angrily shouted, incoherently, and pointed accusingly. She ran towards her cousins and as this boy caught sight of her his jaw slackened and his finger dropped.
Prince and a Royal turned around slowly, noticing Briar they began gesturing frantically. Briar, confused, approached more slowly before coming to a halt and recognising their concerned and...frightened? faces.
"I can't find Aspyn," she began hurriedly her words began running together, "Iwaswithher ontheguantwheel thingy, thensheranoff andicouldnt findher,"
"This is so painfully ironic," the boy laughed, his slightly yellow teeth glinting in the colour lights that eerily illuminate his mocha skin and almond eyes, "this is actually perfect, we know exactly where your sister is"
Suspicious but desperate, Briar agreed to follow the boy who motioned for Prince and Royal to follow. The boys tagged behind, protective and angered but unwilling to do anything. She noticed as they walked, that they were leaving the fatê and getting deeper into the town's outskirts, the more rugged part.
She saw a circle of people, a man yelling in the middle of it. Terrified, she clung to Prince's arm and shook her head desperately, "I've changed my mind, I-I don't think-"
The boy with mocha skin grabbed her forearm, her cousins doing nothing to stop him as he dragged her to the circle's edge. "I've got the other Martin," he yelled.
The yelling ceased and the crowd parted like the Red Sea. The first thing Briar noticed was the body of her sister slumped on the ground in a delicate heap. Her beautiful blonde hair had been stained red and her clothes were dirtied and torn.
She dropped to her knees, barely managing to crawl to her sisters body. She had no tears in her eyes, nor a scream in her throat. Instead all she felt was a hard tug and excruciating ache on her heart. She felt a gaping hole open in her chest and her stomach was twisting and turning. Her world spun for a moment before she turned around and threw up bile and blood.
Shakily she wiped her mouth and stared at the body of her dead sister. The man in the centre of the circle grabbed her bicep firmly, dragging her to her feet. Briar made no move to stop him from pulling her away from her sister, but she did not turn away from her. Not once.
