A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 146: Wandering de Libellules

And Chord, having reached as high as she could go, let her hands fall back down in arcs at her sides.

"Timber!" She exclaimed, falling straight back on the pillows scattered about. Adri's body slightly bounced on the mattress where he'd already fallen asleep at the foot of the bed, but he didn't stir in the slightest. "I'm tired. Let's go to sleep."

But Hera had been quiet for a reason. She'd been thinking, while Chord and Adri exchanged the same monotonous questions and stirred the same lacking pot of answers, until one fell asleep and the other spread out all of her limbs to shrink Hera's space even more. Hera smacked a limb aside, making room for her to place her water back on the stand. Chord's closed eyes twitched.

Another night was passing in which they'd come home, and it felt like usual, but it also...didn't. Chord was there, beside her, and Adri was peacefully drifting off not far away either. Both of them didn't seem to have the energy to mull over anything anymore, and would rather just wait to see what happened as they had for months than go out and find their own change in the situation.

But Hera didn't feel satisfied with that anymore. Something just didn't feel right, and hadn't since they came home. In the capital, it was easy to ignore what was going on at home because school was fun and Grandpa and Grandma were there and everyone in the residence was very nice and they could see Lars and the others every day...but River brought them back to Koraco. She said that they had to be there, and wouldn't take "no" for an answer. The entire carriage ride back was nervous and anticipating, waiting to see what they'd left behind back in Juin and if anything had changed.

Daddy and Mommy would bring Sissy back home, wouldn't they? They promised.

Sissy would greet them when they come back, and they could tell her their stories about school, right? She said she missed them in her birthday cards for them, so she'd be there, right?

Everyone in the manor would be there when they got back, right? Tierre was, Magaris was, Brownie and Blondie were...but Thérèse was missing. Daddy was there, but they couldn't see him? He didn't even...come looking for them. And his office was always locked...

Hera's glass tapped down lightly while kneeling on the side of the bed. Her own brown hair had started to become wavy in the summer, likely because of the heat, and stray loose ringlets would brush her face when her head was ducked. It had been funny, seeing how Adri's hair did the same thing. It'd been straight, until it wasn't, and he was scared of the maids that tried to reason with him about changing his bathing routine whenever they came home on the weekends from the dormitories.

Then, it wasn't funny, because it looked just like Daddy's hair. Then it reminded Hera of Koraco, and how they were mean to Mommy and Daddy last Juin, and how they still hadn't been allowed to see Daddy yet.

     Is Daddy mad at us? Did Mommy leave because we were mean?

"The madame will be back soon," the maids promised when asked. It was always the same answer, just like how Chord and Adri grew bored over the same questions. "She left a few months ago, but she'll probably be back soon."

"Lay down, Hera."

Hera looked back at Chord, who spoke with her eyes closed. The room was mostly dark since the curtains had been pulled to keep out the cold, and the fireplace was dimmed after hours of not putting in wood. It was probably almost midnight.

"But I'm not sleepy."

Her legs slid off the bed, and her feet touched the cold floor. She shuffled around for slippers, finding her own of the three pairs.