Auburn Sky

Chapter 20

                Fitz, who had just walked into the room, grinned good-naturally and said, "Only because I've been working so hard and haven't had any time to clean it."

                     Biana, still mad at her brother for coming along when he was clearly not welcome, and frankly, was a huge jerk to her friends, glared at him and shot back, "Doing what? Obsessing over Sophie? Planning your revenge on Keefe for being a good friend to you while you repaid him by glaring at him all the time?"

                      Fitz's mouth dropped open in shock and quickly looked around the room, making sure Sophie and Keefe weren't in the room. Only Biana, Dex, Tam, Linh, Wylie, Stina, Bex, Maruca, Marella, Glimmer, and all of the bodyguards. Including Ro, who for once had snacks, and was looking very excited. She must have raided the kitchen.

                    "For your information, I have been helping Dad find Alvar, and if you cared at all, you would help!" Fitz said angrily.

                   Sandor slowly started backing out of the room, looking around wildly for an excuse to leave, and eventually just ran away, no doubt muttering under his breath.

                  Biana took a step forward and growled, "Well, for your information, I know for a fact that Dad is not doing anything about Alvar at the moment, because he's helping his friend look for their missing WIVES. Yeah, news flash, Edaline and Juline are missing, and no one's seen them in weeks. Not that you decided to care. So how have you been helping Dad if he's not been doing anything himself, huh?" she finished up.

                  Everyone was watching them, their eyes pinging back and forth, except Ro, whose eyes were trained on Biana's brother, waiting for a reaction. With every word Biana spat out.

                  Fitz spluttered for a second before regaining his confidence. "Well maybe I've been looking for Alvar myself. Ever think about that? Yeah, I'm taking action. Unlike some people I know. And of course I care that Sophie's adoptive mom is missing! I came on this trip, didn't I?"

                Biana laughed, probably sounding crazy, but she didn't care. "Oh, is that what it is to you? A trip? Some fun shopping spree we're going on just for the fun of it? No, you idiot, we're finding people we care about who have most likely been kidnapped. And most importantly; Edaline is Sophie's mom. Not someone who adopted Sophie. A mother. And if you can't get that right, you don't deserve to be on this 'trip' as you like to call it. And we all know the real reason that you're coming along. It's to be with Sophie, the person who you broke up with because she was unmatchable." Fitz looked at her in shock.

                  "Yes, she told me why you broke up. Because that's what friends do. And you have treated her horribly, time and time again, and yet I have not heard you apologize once."

                   Tam, Ro and Marella were nodding, but Tam and Marella stopped when they saw Ro doing it too.

                 "I have apologized. And yeah, okay, Edaline is Sophie's mother. Whatever, that's not the point. The point is that I care, and you don't seem to care about finding Alvar. Maybe he's dead, did you think about that? And did Sophie tell you how she let Alvar go? Well, she did," Fitz said, smiling smugly.

               Biana forced herself to not explode. "Why, yes, Fitz, she did. And you know what? I was upset. I was mad he got away. But I was not mad at Sophie. I thought about it some more, and you know what? Sophie was right,"

                Fitz stared at her in disbelief.

                 "Yes, she was right, because no matter how many bad things Alvar has done, we are not going to do them ourselves. And then I tried to convince myself that I would have done the same. And I realized, I wouldn't. At the moment, I would have forced him to come with us, because of you. Because I know how angry you would get, so I would convince myself I was angry too.

                  "But to do what Sophie did, the right decision, I would have had to think about it for hours, days even. So the fact that Sophie did the right thing right then, knowing how mad you would be, proves how good a person she is.

                   "And she told me about the whole conversation she and Keefe had with him, even the part where Alvar said you would kill him. And guess what? Now I believe you might actually do it. If you had succeeded with pressing those buttons at the troll hive, or should I say, not pressing those buttons, you would have been a murderer. My own brother, murdering his own brother. And no matter what happens, I'll still love you, whether I like it or not, but I am so mad at you right now, and you have no right to be saying those things about me," she finally finished, slightly out of breath.

                 Fitz stared at her. "You-my little sist-I-but Alvar-she let him g-oh, forget it," he spluttered.

                "Oh, you better not forget this, Fitz," she called after his retreating figure storming away.

                Slowly Ro started clapping. Then everyone else did, one by one. Tam's smile was adorable. And slowly, Biana started smiling too, until she saw the faces of Keefe and Sophie who had walked in, an apologetic Sandor behind them.