Lost and Found - Book 1

Chapter 9

Rex was deeply zoned out from the world. In this state, human voice registered as white noise and the only thing to focus on was breathing. While the two brothers playfully argued nearby, the only thing that broke Rex's trance was a phone ringing. She looked at the men who ignored it.

"Don't you want to answer that?" She asked Alfred.

"It's Arthur." Alfred guessed. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and nodded in confirmation after a glance at the lit-up screen.

"He'll figure out eventually that we're here. We need to get going before then," Mattie clenched his fists.

"Why? This is meaningless," Rex sighed. She looked at Alfred. "Tell him we're here."

Mattie gasped. "But-"

"But what?" Rex snapped, her eyebrows raised, emphasizing the bags under her eyes. "It's not fun anymore. I'm tired and still confused about how I even got here; this all just seems really counter-productive. And I bet you have better things to do."

Mattie did not respond. The call was on its last ring.

"Answer it." Rex demanded.

"Are you sure?" Alfred asked, finger hovering over the screen. He briefly glanced at Mattie. His brother kept his head down, face shrouded in a gloomy shadow. Alfred raised the phone to his ear. "Arthur? They're at my house."

-

When the doorbell rang, Rex remained in the living room and Alfred went to answer the door. Mattie sat with her in a heavy silence.

"Fairy girl!" Ivan yelled. He barreled straight for her, and though she attempted to avoid it, he caught her in a tight embrace and swiveled her back and forth in what was essentially a bear hug.

"Ivan, you're going to hurt her!" Arthur shrieked, color draining from his face. Ivan set her down and backed away. Rex looked around the room and over Arthur's shoulder as Alfred re-entered the room. He was alone.

"Where's Francis?" Rex asked.

Arthur and Ivan glanced at each other discreetly. "He went home." Arthur said.

Rex glanced down at the knitted blanket on the couch and sighed, her lips turned downward only slightly, as discreet of a frown as possible.

Arthur cleared his throat and took a seat. "Anyway, I think we... we both have an explanation to give each other." Rex sat in the middle of the couch, and Ivan sat on the other side of her, closely. Mattie took note of this from the armchair across the room where he had moved to, intentionally trying to avoid the center of the room now that more people were in it. Alfred perched on the arm of the chair, glancing down at his brother briefly. "I'll start," Arthur went on.

"Wait," Rex interrupted, "I just want to say that, over the past couple days my memory has really been on and off. But I have my memories back now, and I remember that you were just trying to help, so... Yeah."

Arthur nodded. "I deduced as much. I don't think I'd be sitting here if you still thought we were threats."

Rex shrugged. "Actually, my memory came back last night. It took me a while to think about things, I guess."

"Reasonable," Arthur said. "That's behind us though, and you seem well, which is great." Rex nodded, and Arthur hesitated just a little bit longer before he continued. "You weren't 'well' before though. Who knows what effect the corrupted magic could have done to your body before it wore off? I mean, I'm sure you're fine now. But there was the risk... And I don't even know why the spell didn't work in the first place. Everything was done correctly on my side. But you rejected it – no, you didn't just reject the magic, you fought it." Arthur's gaze steadied on her blank face. "Can you tell me why that was?"