dedicated to authorninja for the cute trailer she made a while back!
* * *
"You should tell Agent Harlin to stop walking by our house so much," I called out to Elijah while peeking out the window. "People are going to start asking why he only walks up and down this street."
Elijah appeared behind me and looked out the window as well, watching Harlin pause in front of our house and pretend to speak into his phone. He caught our glances before turning away and stalking off. I wouldn't even give him five minutes before his next stop at our house.
"Tch," Elijah scoffed. "Amateurs." With that, he returned into the kitchen, where Alec was currently doing dishes. As punishment for letting me get in trouble, Alec had been doing dishes for the past two weeks. I was in charge of dinner every night, since Elijah figured that being thrown into a car and being cooped up in the house was enough retribution.
Right before I was about to head down the hall, a knock on the door was heard. Despite the fact that I was literally five feet away from the door, Elijah and Alec collided with each other as they raced down the corridor, knocking each other into the wall as they stopped at the entrance.
Boys.
The knock belonged to Logan, much to our surprise. Alec let go of the recently-bought cane he grabbed after Elijah swung open the door to reveal my bodyguard.
"Morning," I greeted. "I didn't realize you'd been released."
The sky thundered, and a flash of white appeared amongst the coal-colored clouds. Elijah moved me aside and ushered Logan into the house. His complexion was much less pale and the shadows under his eyes had faded considerably.
"I thought I'd surprise you. Also, I didn't trust Darkwood to deliver you to school on a stormy day. He'd probably lose you in the rain or something." Logan grinned as he dodged Alec's blow.
"Just because you're injured doesn't mean I won't hit you, Cross," Alec threatened. "Besides, we've been followed by agents for the past two weeks. Even if I did lose your precious princess, she'd have to through those guys."
"I don't know," Elijah muttered. "She managed to escape a Dragon member once."
The sky gave another grumble, the noise trembling through the walls of the house. All of us made our way into the kitchen. Alec slid me a cup of coffee before he returned to his dishes. Elijah placed his empty plate by the sink and was then doused with a good amount of soap water.
"How are you feeling?" Logan asked as he took the seat besides me. Then, just as the volume of Elijah and Alec's bickering crescendoed, Logan leaned in lowered his voice. "You didn't visit me after the first week, what's going on?"
It was hard to visit Logan. One, because the fresh surplus of agents my father had hired to be stationed around Cimeria made it practically impossible for me to go anywhere. I wasn't allowed at the coffee shop anymore. I couldn't even walk out to the mailbox without seeing seven different agents stare me down.
Two, the fact that I had to fight Sophia to make it into the hospital began to exhaust me. Nothing says fun and enjoyable more than arguing with Sophia Missers while having agents breathe down your neck, ticking down the time you had left before you were forced to go back to the house.
"I wanted to visit," I said, offering him an apologetic. "It's just been hard for me to get out of the house. And I mean impossibly difficult."
Logan nodded. "James told me how on guard everyone's been. I'm sor--"
Before Logan could finish his sentence, the doorbell rang again, prompting Elijah and Alec's routine of grabbing the closest weapon. They inched towards the door, with Alec clutching a soapy butcher knife while Elijah held up a broom. Logan took a protective stance in front of me, but I just sighed in exasperation.
Boys.
Judging from the lilting accent in the voice greeting Elijah, the overwhelming politeness in the tone, I knew it was Vincent. After a few minutes passed, the Blackewell boy strode through the front door, carrying a dark blue canteen in his hand. His blond curls were dampened by the drizzle outside and his red thermal was spotted with rain drops, creating dark splotches all over his arms and chest.
"I didn't know you'd be here, Logan," Vincent grinned, extending a hand when he came into the kitchen. It took Logan a long minute, but he finally accepted Vincent's greeting before seating himself back down, facing away from Vincent. His expression was a thousand times more moody than it had been earlier.
"I could say the same to you," I said. "I told you I was feeling better. There's no need to try and poison me with your tea anymore."
Vincent put on a pout as he set the canteen down in front of me. "My tea is not that bad, Park," he countered. That was a blatant lie. That kid couldn't brew a bag of ordinary green tea if his life depended on it. "But I'm here because I'm spending time with Elijah today."
I raised a brow at my cousin, who simply shrugged in response. "The poor kid hasn't had anyone give him a tour of Paradise," Elijah said. "So, even though I'm not his betrothed, I figured now would be the safest time since the amount of agents here should be enough to prevent his mother from chewing my ear off."
I ignored Elijah's jab. Logan turned to face me. "You're sick?" he asked.
Alec walked by and grabbed my cup of coffee, taking a swig of its content before his face puckered. "That's way too much cream," he complained, wrinkling his nose. "She wasn't sick. It's just been Migraine Town here for the past two weeks. Trust me, you're lucky you weren't here. She was annoying."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Logan frowned, and his hand almost brushed against my cheek but my fingers caught his wrist before he came too close.
"Yes, let me tell the injured patient lying in a hospital about an hour away about my headaches, that makes so much sense," I snorted. My eyes darted towards the clock on the microwave. "By the way, we're going to be late if we don't leave now."
Alec let out a bewildered laugh. 'You sound like you actually want to go to the academy."
"Well, being at the academy means I won't have to look at you for a good forty-five minutes."
"Oh, for the love of the gods', just leave," Elijah groaned, jabbing his finger in the direction of the door. "And tell Harlin to get the hell off of my lawn."
Elijah shooed us out of his hose, locking up the front door after we were all on his lawn. Logan's car was parked by Elijah's. Down at the end of the street, I could see the figure of one of the many agents stationed around the neighborhood casually jogging their dog. In the rain. Because that was sensible.
Elijah and Vincent got into Elijah's car first. My cousin rolled down the window and gave a lazy salute before sliding on his glasses--even though there was no sun. Vincent waved at us all, smiling like a child and blushing when I waved back.
Once they drove off, Alec made a noise at the back of his throat as Logan unlocked his car. "He's always blushing," Alec noted. "Not at all husband-material."
I rolled my eyes as I took the passenger seat. The engine rolled to life and Alec leaned forward from the back to crank up the radio.
"Tall, dark, and handsome with witty remarks to everything in order to mask his tragic past. Black hair, mesmerizing jade--"
"I'm not marrying you."
"But I'm perfect husband material!"
"Park, if you're marrying him, I'll have to pray for the future of the kingdom," Logan chimed in. Alec flashed him a scowl, but that quickly turned into a malicious smile as the station began playing Katy Perry. Alec then leaned into his seat and began to sing along. Horrendously. Needless to say, it was an unpleasant ride. Not only did Alec sing off-key, the boys entered a competition of "Who Sang It Worst?"
When Logan finally parked his car in the school parking lot, I practically fell out of the car as soon as the engine cut off.
"Hey, Alex!" someone shouted from across the lot. I turned and saw a group of students heading through the field entrance. They waved at me. "Tell Logan we said hi!"
The rainfall began to thicken as Logan and Alec grabbed their bags from within the car, so I threw the hood of my jacket up and headed towards the courtyard entrance. Once the wind picked up, the three of us made a mad dash for the interior of the academy. By the time we stopped in the Main Hall, water dripped off our clothes and formed large stains on the crimson rug we stood on.
Alec pulled off his jacket and while he was in the middle of tugging off the academy sweater, his untucked dress shirt was dragged off, revealing a rain-soaked chest. Someone wolf-whistled from down the hall and the girls walking past giggled.
"Hot damn," James snickered as he approached our group. Minnie and Josh were right by them, laughing as they watched Alec hurriedly pull his shirt back on.
"Don't you know that staring is rude?" Alec said in a joking manner towards Minnie. She only rolled her eyes and gave him a quick once-over before her lips twisted into a smirk.
"If only there was something to stare at," she quipped. Outrage bloomed on Alec's features, but before he or Minnie could launch into a battle of wits, Logan tapped my shoulder and pulled me away from the group.
"You're not trying to lure me to my death, are you? I asked as the two of us headed down the hall.
"I'm heading to the gym to change," he told me. "And I cant go anywhere without you. Bodyguard, remember?"
"I'm not particularly interested in watching you change."
"You don't have to watch me change, I just need to know you'll be outside the locker doors and not being held captive."
I held Logan's bag as he pulled off his coat and sweater. The entire duration of the walk was filled with conspicuous gawking from girls and catcalls from Logan's fellow classmates. He only grinned cheekily when someone commented on his see-through dress shirt.
"I'm starting to think you're enjoying this," I said as we arrived in front of the gym doors.
"Contrary to your belief, I don't enjoy attention," he replied, his voice growing faint as he headed into the boys locker room, I leaned against the wall, listening as a locker door opened.
"I have many years of visual evidence to fight that statement," I argued. Suddenly, I realized a small little detail I had overlooked. "Where's Sophia? Does she know you were released?"
That's why I felt so calm. There was no one here to threaten to rip my throat out for walking with Logan.
Oh, peace, how I've missed you.
"She doesn't know I'm here." Logan strode out of the locker room. He had changed into black sweats and a dark blue long-sleeve shirt with the emblem of the academy printed in white right on his heart. His hair now stuck up in several directions, probably due to a quick towel dry.
He had a look of slight guilt as he took his material back from me. "I wanted to pick you up. She would've come with if she had known and I know you guys aren't on the best of terms right now."
"When are we ever on good terms?" I murmured. Logan offered me an apologetic smile.
"I know she's difficult to get along with. She has temperamental issues and it's hard for her to socialize."
Tell me about it.
"I'm just holding onto the hope that you guys will find a way past your differences. I know you, Pa--Alex," he corrected hastily. "I know you're good at extending a hand to people."
I didn't respond to Logan for the rest of the walk. The journey to our first period of today was made in an awkward silence. The class was normally on the third floor. Professor Thorne, our lovely astrophysics professor, had an issue with rainy days. Over the month and a half of having him as my professor, I, and many others students, realized that whenever the sky turned dark and cried, our professor preferred the seventh floor and operated little elementary labs.
Rumor has it that Thorne only held classes in the seventh floor lab because Crying Christopher, one of the academy's ghosts, had died on a rainy day in that lab. If no one taught there on rainy days, Christopher would begin to haunt other floors.
Of course the lab wasn't actually haunted, and the more logical rumor was that something tragic happened on a rainy day once upon a time, causing Thorne to lose his enthusiasm for the storms every time the rain fell.
If you do hear any stories about a Crying Christopher, though, just know that I did not spread those stories. Just like I did not spread the legend of the Locker Ghost.
Logan cleared his throat once we stopped in front of the lab room. "I have to go down to my mother's office," he said. "Don't do anything rash while I'm gone.
"You act like I'm going to blow the lab up," I scoffed, pushing the door open.
"Fourth year, Alex. You most definitely did.
"That wasn't even an explosion, it was just a small little malfunctioning."
"The lab was closed for the rest of the year because of the damage."
"What lies!"
Logan left with a grin on his face, even though three years ago, he had been the one yelling at me for the destruction of academy property before we launched into a beaker fight. The both of us had walked away from that battle with physical scars and a month-long detention.
In the class, Zen was seated by the windows, his attention invested on his phone. He didn't look up as I slid into the seat next to him. The rain pelted the windows and left long streaks on the glass. We were the only two in the room, but judging from the hands on the clock by the window, it wouldn't be long before the room would be filled.
"Did you know there's a rumor this lab is haunted?" Zen said, not taking his eyes off his phone.
"I see you don't believe them since you're here all by yourself."
Zen looked up and stuck his tongue out at me. See, Zen put on a brave show. Kidnappings, high-speed chases, potential criminal records--none of that terrified him. Shove the boy in a dark room or tell him a ghost story (I've done both) and you'll have him shaking like a leaf in a hurricane.
"I know you spread those rumors. You told me on the phone once," he frowned. "And you promised me you wouldn't bring that up in public."
"What's up with all these blatant lies? I am a mature young adult, I would never spread those kinds of rumors."
Just then, the bell rang, its chime filling the emptiness of the lab and within a few seconds, the doors flew open and a myriad of students streamed in. Several of them waved at me with way too much enthusiasm for eight 'o'clock in the morning.
At the end of the crowd was our rain-soaked professor, looking more miserable than ever. He had a coffee cup in his hand, which he tossed into the trash before taking off his coat and collapsing into his seat.
"Morning," he greeted dully. "No notes today. It's a lab day."
The process was so familiar to us that no one had their binders ready. An atmosphere of casualty had settled in the room. My peers, normally sitting straight with pencils and pens prepared in their hands, eyes focused to the front, were lounging in their chairs, giggling and whispering while Thorne took role.
"I figured with all this rain, we'll have a relaxed class--" Thorne began.
"Does Alex get to blow up the class?" some kid in the front joked, causing the whole class to laugh behind their hands as they recalled the many times an experiment didn't go too well with me.
Thorne's expression darkened (if that was even possible) as he glanced over at Zen and me. "We're setting ice on fire. I figured that'd be pretty easy. But thank you, Thomas, for reminding me about assigning partners."
This prompted a unanimous groan from the class, and someone cursed at Thomas. Thorne sent us all a glare before picking up his neon blue clipboard (decorated with constellations all over the surface) and began pairing off students.
Please don't let it be Sophia, please don't let it be Sophia, please don't let it be Soph--
"Misser and Finch."
Where's an assassin when you really need one?
"I will not work with her!" Sophia protested right off the bat, sounding absolutely repulsed. Well, she wasn't the only one.
"I'm going to second that," I piped up, and she shot me a dirty look, as though it was a crime for me to speak around her.
"Why, what's wrong with the two of you together?" Thorne asked, raising a brow, his eyes darting between the two of us.
"She'll just screw everything up!"
She'll murder me, I thought at the same time.
"I refuse to work with someone who's going to bring down my grade," Sophia continued.
"That's a little uncalled for," I snapped, sitting up in my seat. Zen placed a hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off.
"Oh, please." Sophia curled her lips. "It's not like you have a reputation for intelligence."
"Neither do you, Einstein. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."
"Unless the both of you would like detention, as well as a meeting with the headmistress, I would recommend that you both quiet down immediately," Thorne intervened. "It's a fifteen minute lab, you can tolerate each other for that long, can't you?"
"But--" Sophia pushed.
"Would you like to take this up in the office?" Thorne narrowed his eyes. "Talking back to professors without a firm cause is frowned upon here in the academy."
Sophia shut her mouth and leaned back in her seat. Taking that as a sign of defeat, Thorne cleared his throat and continued pairing off students. When the last pair was announced, everyone got up from their seats and scrambled around the room. Zen stood up and patted my shoulder, giving me an extremely apologetic smile before joining Thomas over on the other side of the room.
Sophia appeared after a few minutes, a scowl on her face as she dropped her notebook on the table. "I'm going to get the supplies," she declared. "I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible."
That makes two of us, I thought as she stalked off to collect the materials. While she did so, I cleared the table and pulled my wig back into a ponytail. As much as I enjoyed setting labs on fire, I didn't like having to purchase new wigs after every experiment.
Sophia returned with a plate containing safety glasses, a beaker of ice cubes, tongs, a pink-handled lighter, and rubbing alcohol. I hated this lab. The room always smelled disgusting after everyone finished pouring their alcohol over the ice to set it on fire.
Sophia picked up the lighter as I placed the glasses on my face. Lab safety, my friends, is very important. Especially if you're accident prone like me.
"Can I see the lighter?" I asked, holding my hand out as I read the instructions Thorne was scribbling quickly on the board.
"No," Sophia refused. "I got it, so I'll use it in the lab."
I stared at her. "Sophia, have you ever done this lab before?"
She made a noise in the back of her throat, but she then shook her head, unwilling to look at me.
"Well, I have," I told her, "so I'm more experienced in handling dangerous equipment. Trust me, if you let me do the hard part, we won't be spending more than seven minutes with each other."
"No," she repeated with a sneer.
"Sophia, you haven't read the instructions, your hair isn't tied back, you even haven't touched the glasses." I sighed. "Can you please just give me the lighter before you violate any more safety rules?"
"Why don't you try and take it from me like you've been trying to take everything that's mine?" she snapped, holding the lighter away from me. "Just like you've been trying to take Logan, who was mine."
The final word swam around in my mind, and a sudden static-like screaming burst in my head. My vision blurred and I clutched at my temple, the word resounding in my ears. With every passing second, the voice grew shriller and shriller until it no longer resembled Sophia's voice.
"That's a pretty teddy bear," she giggled, playing with the white and pink ribbon tied around the neck of the stuffed animal. "I love it!"
"Archer got it for me," I said, shooting my brother a toothy grin. He looked up from the device he was using to watch a movie with Nathaniel and smiled back at me.
"How are you liking at the cabin, Soph?" Logan asked.
"It's so cool! I've never been camping in a cabin before!" she said, but her eyes darted away from Logan.
"We should take her on these things more, shouldn't we?" Logan laughed, grinning at me, not noticing the pink on Sophia's cheeks. I wondered why she always got so red around Logan.
I nodded to Logan's words. It would be fantastic if Logan and Sophia could go everywhere with me. They were my closest friends. I wished Sophia didn't have to visit only during the summer and winter holidays. I wished she could spend all year with me, like Logan did.
"Park, we're best friends, right?" Sophia asked, scooting closer to me. Her big blue eyes shone like the sapphires my grandmother wore on Sundays.
"Of course we are!" I agreed enthusiastically.
"Then you should let me have your teddy bear," she suggested. My smile fell and I held the teddy bear closer to my chest.
"No. It's mine. Archer got it for me."
"But I really like it! It even has a pink bow, and pink's my favorite color! You like blue!" she protested, pouting her lips and batting her eyelashes.
"Sophia, it's not yours," Logan spoke up, coming to my defense. But, instead of calming her down like his voice always did, she grew even more upset. Almost as though Logan taking my side had hurt her.
"I really like it!"
"No, Sophia," I refused. "You can't have it."
She let out a scream and stood up. "You always get everything! It's not fair!"
"Soph, calm down," Nathaniel cut in warningly, getting off the couch. By now, the men in black Father had hired were starting to approach us as well, sharing alarmed looks with one another.
Sophia stomped her foot and let out another shout. "I want it! I want something, too!"
Why did Sophia always pick fights over things like this? I wasn't scared. She acted like this a lot. It only took a scolding from Nathaniel to calm her down.
Except this time, Sophia grabbed onto the arm of the teddy bear and tugged.
I tugged back. All those fighting lessons with Archer had paid off, and I won. However, Sophia pushed me immediately, causing me to fall down and scrape my arm against the floor.
In an instant, Archer was by my side, examining the small cut on my arm. "You hurt her," Archer frowned. "Apologize. Now."
Sophia didn't listen; she went on a rampage around the room, throwing things, screaming, whining, crying. Nathaniel began to apologize continuously for Sophia's anger issues before trying to advance towards his sister.
When Sophia knocked over a chair, everyone's attention snapped towards her. The pink bag on the chair tumbled over, and several items clattered to the floor, including a neon pink can, which began rolling towards the fireplace.
One of the men in black shouted at us, and all of them surged forward. An explosion of scarlet and gold filled the room. Someone heavy knocked me over and--
A searing pain burned through my head as visions of flames danced through my memories. There was heat prickling on my arms, the feeling of ashes and fire brushing against the back of my neck. I fell to the floor, darkness completely masking my vision, a little girl crying for help in the back of my mind.
* * *
i apologize profusely for the lack of updates. i've had a lot of things on hand, and i kinda fell out of the writing game. i'd like to thank the cinderella soundtrack for making this chapter possible.
ciao for now -- knee (i'll be back with another chapter as soon as i possibly can :: thank you all for sticking with me!!)