A CRYING GEM

TWENTY FOUR

"Ag..." Will's voice trailed off like his energy. The hand in mine went jelly and almost cold.
My eyes bulged patting his left cheek. "Wake up! Open your eyes Will," I whispered unaware.

There was the opening of a door to the left. But I didn't divert my eyes from Will's unconscious face one bit... He had to wake up. To talk to me just for the sake of, of... I had no idea why I needed him to talk. Maybe to tell me if Harry had hurt him in any way.

"Wake up!"

A hand slipped on my right shoulder. "He's tired. Look at his eyes, like he hasn't slept for days."
"It's because of Harry Grandpa. He killed his best friend. Why hasn't he been punished?" I demanded scowling up at him.
With a feeble sigh, the old man sat next to me.

"That's because I sent him to do it."

My heartbeats shrunk for that second. Had he just said that? No! He was supposed to be my hero, not a villain.
"But, but why? Andy was-"
"Investigating you. And you represent us as a whole."

My throat had dried up.

Vocal cords feeling empty and rough.
"Was it necessary to kill him?"

He nodded pushing back strands of my hair.
"The penalty for spying, is death. Betrayal is far worse than death."
It felt every bit cold and erecting the hairs on my neck. As if he could smell betrayal from afar. Not that I had any plans of doing that, besides, he was the only one that cared about me now.

"You should go to bed now."
"No." Protested resting eyes on Will again. "I'll stay for a little while."
"As you wish Princess."
He placed a kiss on my forehead getting up. With a good night, the frame walked out at ease.

Will was getting cold by the minute. Like a freezer was sending icy waves from inside his body... I wasn't sure why, but I could feel his hopelessness. It must have been difficult for him dealing with these creatures as a simple human.
Quietly, I slipped inside the duvet and tried to cover much of him from the side, just to offer some warmth... With my head above his heart, it was easy to follow his low heartbeats. They were just a rhythm, slow, calm, at peace.

But as his skin started gaining some heat, the beats rose softly. And from the counts I was making, they were heading for seventy two, normal. In the middle of the counting, the heartbeats disappeared. I wanted to scream, but then it must have been me dozing off.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

I startled to the hand brushing my temple. I grumbled trying to pull my head away. But another hand circling my waist from behind silently dug inside the small of my back.
That was enough to have me wake like an electric eel had zapped me.

A pair of black eyes smiled at me.
"I hope nothing transpired between us last night?"
It took me thirty seconds to pick up, before hitting him hard with a pillow. Will chuckled throwing the pillow to the other side of the bed. I was already out of the cover by then, but the duvet had to trap my leg to have me thudding on the floor painfully.

I groaned crawling away from the cursed bed. Then came the laughs from the damn idiot.

"Need help?"

"No thank you!"

As I collected my body off the floor, someone walked in... Grandpa.
I panicked. Did he know that I had spent the night in the same bed as Will?
"Good morning kids."
There was as much panic on Will's face as was in my chest.

"Oh don't put on that shocked face. I'm as real as you... Now, how do you feel?"

Will's lips parted, but no sound.

"I'll take that for improvement."

My eyes collided with Grandpa's. "And you, shouldn't you be preparing for school?"
"But we... It's been shut due to..."

"Oh! The incidence! Right..."