Typhoon & Tempest

Chapter Nine

Her aunt put her mug down and demonstrated with a flutter of her hands. "She was so smug that she'd won but she didn't know the temper of Cordelia Haven! Your mother, without hesitating, punched the locker with such force that it concaved under her fist!"

"What?!" Lily blurted out.

"I'm not kidding!" Ollie laughed. "You should have seen everyone's faces!"

"She punched the locker open?!" 

"Cordie reached in and grabbed her bracelet while the girl was still in shock and read out her initials inscribed on the inside of the thing, glared at her and the teachers and everyone who'd gathered, and then the two of us walked into lunch!"

Lily leaned on the table and smiled at the memory. She could imagine her mother at her age, learning about her famous temper. Her childhood was spent running around with her sister Rio, pulling pranks on her dad and Delta, and quickly learning the repercussions if her mum ever caught her.

"You know what she did the next day?" Her aunt smirked like a school girl who just pulled the biggest prank of the year. For a moment, Lily could imagine her younger, imagine Cordelia Haven and Olivia Haphern taking over the world.

"What did mum do?"

"She wore that bracelet, strutted into school, and smiled." Her aunt shook her head. "She knew she was in the right, and knew no one was going to take her stuff again."

Lily smiled. "Rio and I went through mum's jewellery box once."

Ollie raised her eyebrows. "Oh that was a bad idea, she loved her jewels."

Lily laughed. "Delta warned us, but we wanted to see what was there - we snuck into her room and looked in her box, we were so awestruck by the sparkling jewels; diamonds, emeralds, and so many pearls, we didn't hear her approach until she was behind us with her hands crossed."

"What did your mum do? I think she told me, but I can't quite remember." Her aunt stood, taking her empty plate and mug away. 

Lily furrowed her brows before picking up her spoon. "I think Rio took a brunt of the blame, I was only eight or so at the time so my punishment was doing the dishes that night. Rio was sent to chop a weeks worth of wood for the fireplace and was grounded for a week."

Ollie beamed, a nostalgic expression. "Ah yes, there's the wrath of Cordelia Haven I'm so familiar with."

Lily shared her grin before digging into the porridge that was slightly on the cooler side. She ate most of it as her aunt began washing the dishes before she paused. 

Her aunt rarely spoke of her mother, or any member of Lily's family. While she was dealing with her grief, she was only eleven when they died, she wasn't focused on how Olivia Haphern dealt with the loss of her best friend. Over time, Lily came to think that she just bottled down her memories of Cordelia Haven and Douglas Morgan, and of Delta and Rio.

Lily's heart cramped and she paused, putting her spoon down. Just as she was about to ask her aunt about any other stories about her family, the doorbell went.

"Oh, that's early!" Her aunt exclaimed, before looking at Lily. "Could you get the door? I'll only be a tick!" 

Lily pushed out her seat, tightening the straps on her own dressing gown and untying her dark red hair. Quickly running her hands through it, wishing it didn't look too fuzzy, she opened the door.

When she beheld Ryan Croft standing there, his black eye stark against his icy expression, Lily wished the ground would swallow her up.

Oh no. "Croft?"