Iridescent

14| The Blade of Iridescent and Ghosting

I came home late after studying at the library. The moment I closed the door, I sensed movement. A creak of a floorboard, a quiet breath... I clutched the handle of my sword, the blade sliding out from its sheath, but a cold palm covered my grip and pushed it back in place.

"Miss me already?" His breath was close to my ear.

I should've known it was him.

I shrugged him off forcefully and flicked on the lights.

"Did you forget? You requested for my appearance." He moved around the room, taking in the surrounding with curious glances. It wasn't like he hasn't been here before.

"My apologies but you're quite forgettable."

"Ouch!" He said, a grin on his face, but he noticed my expression, his smile faltered. "Okay, what's up? Am I in trouble?"

I steadied myself. "I... wanted to talk."

"You must be feeling pretty lonely to want to talk to me," he stifled a chuckle and leaned against the kitchen counter. He had been smiling a lot lately, at least in front of me, and I couldn't believe that I found it difficult to ruin it with serious talk.

For Vel.

"You're looking for Robin, aren't you?"

His shoulders tensed and his expression fell. "How-"

"That night in my bathroom... you probably have gone a bit too far or found out too much. Whoever was chasing after you wanted to get rid of you."

"What are you implying?" His voice deepened dangerously, and he was speaking slower, as though giving me a choice: I should stop before he did something I'll regret. "What do you want?"

I furrowed, "I want nothing. I've met Velvet."

He paled, "what? She's not supposed to be here, she- what did you do to her?"

"What!" It was my turn to be shocked. "Who do you think I am? Some criminal?"

"The thing is... I don't know," he took a step toward me, "I don't know who you are. All I know is that you own the blade of Iridescent."

My brows loosened and I let my jaw hang there in disbelief. "So... you're judging me based on this power I have?"

I saw him twitch. "I don't know what you can do, Cass."

"You think I'm bad because I have a sword called Iridescent?" I gasped in disbelief. "Did you really think I'll go and hurt your family?"

His eyes rounded, "no, that's not what I meant-"

"That's exactly what you mean," I snapped, my eyes straight. "Do you really think I'll use the information I have against you? I'm not you, Jaxton. Don't think I haven't heard those threats."

"What threats?" He furrowed, then silently cursed when he realised what I was talking about. "They were jokes!"

"For someone like me, I live everyday fearing that I'll be found out. So forgive me, I don't take those so-called 'jokes' lightly," I hissed, coming close to his face. "I never wanted you to know about this..."

"Then why-"

"Why did I save your life?" I threw up my arm. "Yes! Good question! I wonder that myself!"

We were both breathing hard, our gazes locked. I watched him glance to the side; jaw clenching tight, gaze softening.

I lowered my voice, "all I wanted to say was that Velvet is here, at this school. In my troop."

"She's not supposed to be here."

"Well, yeah," I spat, "it's because you selfishly decided to ghost her."

He shot me a look, "I never ghosted-"

"Oh, yeah?" I challenged. "She called you and messaged you-"

"My phone broke," he cleared his throat, "during my... expeditions."

"And you never bothered to tell her your new number?"

"I..." his gaze was uncertain.

"She told me she joined this school to find you, to know that you're alive! All she wanted was to look at you from afar, I mean, she's your sister!" I let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't get why you're never at your camp- ohhhh yeah, I forgot, your... expeditions."

He gave me a flat look.

I shook my head, "you're unbelievable."

"No, you," he retorted, "you're unbelievable."

"I didn't go ahead and accuse someone of second-degree murder on their entire family."

"I never said-"

"Well close enough!" I gestured and backed away. "I can't believe you're just like them, I thought..."

"You thought I trusted you."

I hugged my arms, unable to meet his eyes. I was naive to think he believed in me, believed that I was just like everyone else. I'm not bad because I had Iridescent, because of this ability. I'm only bad when I do evil things, except... this world believed I was the villain for being me.

Why can't they leave me alone?

I downcast my gaze. "Never mind, go. Just leave. I don't want to see you... I don't want to see you ever again."

I closed my eyes. Those words pained me more than it will ever hurt him. I felt rejected even when he was silent.

"Her dorm's in the West wing," I added, slightly turning my gaze. I saw him at the balcony door, "she told you to read her text, but... I guess she's been sending it to an invalid number."

"Thanks..." He replied quietly. The balcony door opened and then... silence.

Cold, empty silence.

My stomach twisted in ways I could not describe. I slumped on my bed, thinking over what went down a few seconds ago.

Shouting. Accusing.

I closed my eyes. Why did I do this? Why did I shout at him? What did we even argue for? I threw my arm over my forehead. I knew exactly why. Perhaps Jaxton was wrong to neglect Velvet for so long, but my anger was not aimed at him. 

Jaxton didn't ghost his family, I did. I went against their wishes and came to this Academy, and I wasn't able to face them ever since. Not a text, not a call...

I picked up my phone. Come on, Cassie, just a text.

Mum, dad, I'm sorry... I just wanted to start living.

That was probably the most useless thing to say after everything that has happened – I made this choice, I had to live through it.

Pathetic, Cassie.

I pressed delete and threw myself under the bed covers.

***

A/N

I had Grammarly on and it auto-checked Cass and Jaxton's argument sequence – it had an angry emoji. Apparently, the tone of my writing was 'angry' and 'disapproving'. 

Grammarly: "Did we get it right?"

Author: Oh, you sure did... 👏👍

L