Into the Depths

Chapter 23

Ava nodded. "Well Kitty, I know Lucy's your twin but you can't compare yourself to her. Every person's different after all."

"Easier said than done when The Gazelle does that whenever my name finds its way into their print," Kitty muttered.

Ava tilted her head in confusion. "The Gazelle? I don't..."

"It's a tabloid that runs every week," Kitty sighed. "You'll probably be getting a copy soon. They mainly target the kids of royals though for the longest time they went after Mal since she's dating Ben."

"And they're still around?" Ava asked in astonishment. Mal didn't seem like the type of person to put up with a week of that sort of thing.

Kitty shrugged. "That's what they're like. They write stuff where you try to brush off the comments at first but when they decide to be like a dog with a bone with your reputation, there's only so much you can brush off."

"Have you told Aunt Ella? That they're 'reporting' on you?"

One of the things Ava would probably never get used to would be referring to Queen Ella as Aunt Ella. But the older royal had given her and Anthony the choice—they didn't have to call her that if they didn't feel comfortable with it. After all, she hadn't been in their lives until now.

Ava had no hesitation at calling Queen Ella 'Aunt', especially after hearing Kitty, Lucy, Alex and sometimes even Chad refer to her mother as 'Aunt Ana'.

Anthony still refused to refer to their aunt by 'Aunt Ella' but at least he still referred to her by the title of 'Queen Ella' rather than the nickname their grandmother, aunt and mother had given her.

"She's...she's been dealing with Chad," Kitty said. "I haven't had as many articles written about me as Mal did so really—"

"Doesn't matter," Ava said firmly. "Besides Aunt Ella and Uncle Chip don't seem like the type of people who would let this continue if they knew. As well, I don't know what you mean by 'dealing with Chad'. My younger cousin has been nothing but pleasant whenever we interact."

"You realize you're only a couple of years older than Chad, right?" Kitty asked with a small chuckle.

"So? I'm still older," Ava chuckled as well. "Besides, if you want to talk about dealing with siblings, I've certainly got my hands full with Anthony. Mal's smoke bombs seemed to work for a couple of weeks at decreasing his ego but—"

A loud crash cut off Ava's statement and both girls quickly rushed out to see probably the strangest sight either girl had ever seen. Looking back, Kitty would give herself credit for not bursting out laughing at Chad running as fast as he could from Anthony. The younger Tremaine was certainly an odd sight, looking disheveled and purple.

Guess Mal did another smoke bomb assault. But why...why is Anthony going after Chad? Then again, Mal can turn into a dragon. Probably smarter to go after Chad.

"Anthony!" Ava exclaimed, breaking Kitty out of her thoughts. Meanwhile, Kitty watched in horror as Chad seemed to be chased toward one of the multiple broom closets scattered around the school. Kitty knew the choice her brother was about to be forced to make; seek sanctuary in the broom closet or just outrun Anthony.

The broom closet was closer but Chad had longer legs than Anthony and her brother was in shape from Tourney and R.O.A.R. Plus Kitty didn't know if Anthony would camp out in front of the door to the broom closet.

The last thing I want is for Chad to have to choose between his physical and mental health, Kitty thought. There may be days where she was embarrassed to call Chad her brother but family looked out for each other. Annoyances were temporary but blood was forever—besides now that he was trying to make a change, he was downright tolerable at times.