CHAPTER EIGHTY SIX
[86]
song: you get me so high by the neighbourhood
HER HANDS KEPT FINDING HER FACE. Grazing her soft, now flawless skin that she had grown so unfamiliar to. She didn't know if she was relieved to have the scars gone or not.
The scars that always earned her lingering stares and confused looks, scars that she never wanted to explain but always wanted to remember. They were a reminder of what she'd survived, and now that they were gone- apart of her was worried that in the depth of her psychosis she had made that all up. Were they ever really there? Or was the pain she endured just a manifestation of something else, something deeper?
"Can I get you something to drink?" The flight attendant asked.
Daisy quickly turned to face the woman who stood in the aisle, awaiting her response with raised eyebrows. She let her fingers fall from her face as she took a quick breath. "Can I just get a vodka tonic?" Daisy asks.
"May I see your ID?" The woman responds.
Daisy didn't expect the question, though maybe she should've- given the fact that she was presented as an eighteen year old girl. On top of that, she doesn't have an ID at all. Daisy took a breath, aggravated that she wouldn't get the relief of alcohol anytime soon. "I'll just have a water, then." She says.
The flight attendant smiles, knowingly. Then glances at Kai, who was asleep in the window seat besides Daisy. "Will he want anything?" She asks.
Daisy glances at him and back to the woman. "Water's fine." She nods slightly.
Sweat lined his skin, though if you looked close enough you could see a slight shiver in his body. And although he was fast asleep, he looked like he hadn't slept in years. He told her everything was fine, but the sinking feeling in her stomach said otherwise.
After the flight attendant handed them both their drinks, and rolled the cart further down the aisle, Daisy gently pushed against Kai's arm in an attempt to wake him up. She wanted to let him sleep, but he instructed her to wake him up if he goes to still. It was an alarming proposition- earning the question of what would she do if he really just died in the middle of this plane ride? However, she knew if that were the case- she would feel it herself. He was still here, she knew that.
"Hi, sorry." She whispered as his eyes slowly blinked open.
Kai, who looked as if every movement cause him an immense amount of pain, tried to stretch against the uncomfortable upright position of the airplane seat. Daisy handed him the water the flight attendant had just given her. "Here." She says.
Kai took a breath before taking a drink. He then sat it down, leaning his head back in his seat. Daisy was too focused on his face to notice he had grabbed onto her hand.
She glanced at it and then back to him, as he had already closed his eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep. She hated how unfamiliar the act felt. And she wondered if he even realized he'd done it. Maybe it was his way of saying thank you, or his way of apologizing for how he'd treated her the past few weeks. Either way she accepted it.
—
Kai leaned against her, and she could feel his slowed, ragged breathing against her side as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder for support. She rang the doorbell, hoping and praying that she was here. She didn't think she could get him back down the flight of stairs she'd just dragged him up without dropping him.
The sounds of footsteps brought her an immediate sigh of relief, one that didn't last long as as soon as the door was opened, it was already on its way to shutting again.
Daisy put her foot in the door, stopping it from closing all the way at Alaric's hand. "Wait, please." She says, breathlessly.
Alaric reopens the door, unhappily, he looks at the two of them. "I thought you ran away to California." He says.
"I thought you—" Daisy felt herself about to make yet another unnecessarily rude joke in response- but she stopped herself before she could piss this guy off any further. "He needs to see Josette." She says.
"I think she'll pass." Alaric says, beginning to shut the door once again.
Daisy's mouth gapped open in disbelief for a split second before she heard Josette's voice. She put her foot out again, blocking the door from being shut.
"What are you doing here?" Josette asked, standing a good distance away from the door, her arms crossed.
Kai leaned against Daisy for a second before he struggled to find his ground. Daisy pushed the door all the way open, moving Alaric out of the way along with it. "I called to tell you I was sick and-" Kai swallowed harshly. "And you hung up on me."
"Because I have food poisoning." Josette says, narrowing her angry eyes. "Did the sound of me vomiting on the other end of the line not clue you in?"
Kai clenched his jaw. "Look. There's an issue I've been worried about since the merge. Because we didn't really do it right?" He shrugs slightly as he continues. "You know the whole- you're not my twin, hey, that's okay, close enough, plan." He sighs. "But it worked, which is you know, cool. Hey I'm even a little bit nice now, in case you were wondering. But I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and well- I think it's dropped. Because I'm—" His sentence falls short, earning a concerned glance from Daisy as she held onto him. His eyes trail up from the ground and back to Josette. "Where's your bathroom?" He could barely get the words out before blood had begin to fall from his mouth once again.
Daisy's eyes widen as Kai topples over towards the umbrella bucket that sat by Alaric's door. "Here." He offers it to Kai, although he wasn't overly enthusiastic about it.
"Oh, God. Ric." Josette says, narrowing her eyebrows at the scene. Daisy watches Josette, as she looks at her brother with fear in concern in her blue eyes.
Kai coughs the last of the blood out before bringing his gaze back up. "I don't think you have food poisoning." He begins. "I was supposed to merge my magic with you. But I got Luke's instead. Now I'm defective- and I think that's why you're sick."
"He's dying." Daisy says, summing up the whole reason they were here in the first place in two words. Josette's expression didn't change, as she already knew that was the case.
"And if I die, so do you, Dad, Liv, and the rest of our dumb coven." Kai says. "So could you please fix me? Like, now?"
Josette looked at him with narrowed eyebrows, then to Alaric, who looked just as uneasy, and then to Daisy, who was awaiting Josette's response just like Kai. She took a breath. "You couldn't do it yourself?" Josette asked, knowingly.
It was obvious what she was insinuating, but Kai wasn't in the mood for her hopeless attempts at stirring something up between him and Daisy. He ignored her, but his shift in composure told Josette that he still hadn't told Daisy.
Josette took another breath, knowing she really didn't have a choice unless she wanted to die. "We'll go to the hospital." She says.
Daisy's shoulders slumped, as she thought her days of lugging Kai's weak body around were coming to an end. "Can't we do it here?" She whined.
"Do you see any medical equipment, here?" Alaric asks, rudely.
Daisy turns to him with annoyed eyes, then back to Josette. "Can you leave him here?" She asks.
Alaric scoffs. "Right, like I'm just gonna leave her alone with you two." He says sarcastically.
Josette reenters the entry way with her bag, heading towards the door. "Alaric's coming." She says sternly, then she looks at Daisy. "And you're staying quiet." She says, pursing her lips together and acting as if she was zipping them shut.
Daisy frowns. "Afraid I'm gonna hurt his feelings?" She asks, still holding onto Kai's arms as he struggles to get back to his feet.
Josette clenches her jaw before turning to Alaric. "Help me with him." She says, the both of them bending down to help Kai up.
Daisy felt her hesitate with whether or not she was going to allow them to literally take Kai from her arms, but she also knew she couldn't support his entire body weight on top of hers any further- so she accepted the help.
Alaric held onto Kai's back as Kai held onto his shoulder, they walked down the hallway towards the stairway Daisy just lugged her way up. Josette shut and locked her apartment door behind her, and Daisy waited behind for her.
Josette was about to ignore the girl, but she caught glance of her face as she turned to follow Alaric and Kai down the hall. "Your scars..." Josette examined Daisy's face. It wasnt proposed as a question, though the confusion that read through her tone made it feel like one. Daisy shrugged, brushing off the comment.
She left to follow Alaric and Kai before Josette could say anything further. It was not that she had any answers to the questions she may asks, let alone answers that she somehow didn't want to tell- it was that those questions may raise more questions that Daisy did not feel like contemplating right now.
Of course something strange was going on, something that Daisy wasn't fully clued in on yet. Maybe that's just something she'd have to get used to if she was going to spend the rest of her life surrounded by witches. But she hated feeling like everyone knew something she didn't. She'd pry. eventually. But right now was clearly not the time.
—
"Any joint pain?" Josette asks, looking at Kai's eyes through a ophthalmoscope. Kai shakes his head. "Headaches?" She asks, he nods. Josette leans away narrowing her eyes. "Are you pregnant?" She asks in a condescending tone.
"Stop making jokes." Kai says, after giving his sister a cold look. "I feel like I'm being scrunched from the inside out."
Daisy was sat in the corner of the doctor's office in one of the waiting chairs, watching silently. She was instructed by no other than Alaric to just wait outside, but if he was allowed to be in here with them than so was she.
Josette does a few final check ups, before standing in front of him and shrugging. "Okay, your vitals are fine. Your temperature is normal." She places her stethoscope over her shoulders and around her neck. "I'll wait on pathology but there's nothing medically wrong."
"Yeah, duh." Kai says. "Because I'm magically diseased."
"Then why isn't your magical cure working?" Josette asks, raising an eyebrow.
Kai's eyes fall stern, speaking a thousand words that he was too afraid to let out himself. But he knew Josette. She wouldn't tell Daisy no matter how much she claimed to care about her- her fear of Kai was greater than any desire she had for Daisy.
"You haven't puked in at least an—" Kai began, but was quickly interrupted by the sudden gagging feeling that crept up from his stomach. Before he could grab anything there was another gallon of blood forcing it's way out his mouth.
Daisy stood from her chair, not sure what to do. Josette acted quickly, grabbing a trashcan and giving it to Kai to collect the rest of the blood before it made its way to the tile floors. He grabbed it from her, but before she could pull away he had latched onto her wrist. It wasn't until Josette's eyes squeezed shut with groans of pain that Daisy realized he was siphoning.
"Hey," Alaric says, leaning up off the wall and walking towards them. "Hey!" He says, sterner this time as he yanked Kai's hand off of her.
Daisy stepped over to Kai as he breathed heavily, still hunched over. She looked at him concernedly, but he looked significantly better than he did only seconds before. He glanced up at her, giving her a knowing look, before turning to Josette. "I feel better." He says, like he was just as shocked himself.
"Yeah." Josette says unhappily. "Because you juice boxed my magic."
"That was an accident but—" he straightened his posture and let out a relieved sigh. "Wow— I legitimately feel better."
He gives Josette a wide eyed look of realization. "You need to give me your magic." He says.
"What?" Josette responds.
"This faux merge- is clearly failing." Kai begins, wiping the blood off his lips with his thumb. He got up from the examination table and stepped towards her. "I was supposed to get your magic, right? So- I don't know- put it in a teddy bear or a bed pan and gimme—"
Kai stuck his hand out towards Josette, only for Alaric to grab onto it with an angry look. "Listen. I can just as easily break seven little bones in your hand with with one squeeze. Okay?" Alaric threatens.
But what he failed to notice was the sharp metal scalpel that Daisy was currently holding centimeters away from his neck- just waiting for the right moment to strike. "Ric." Josette says cautiously, pulling his attention away from Kai and to Daisy. He eyed her, slowly releasing Kai's hand.
Kai smiled as he watched the exchange. "I can see your skeptical, Ric- can I call you Ric?" He begins. "But hey, buddy. Here's the thing you need to know. It's that Jo only survives if I do. Okay?" He raises his eyebrows, earning a subtle, yet all telling nod from Alaric. "And if that's not enough for you, the power that binds the prison worlds come from the leader of the Gemini Coven. If I die, the worlds collapse, alright?"
Alaric's head falls into his palm and he rubs his eyes. Kai let's out a sigh. "I see vacancy." Kai continues. "Would you like me to start over with single syllables?"
Alaric looks up, defeated and even more confused than before. "Did you say prison worlds? As in more than one?"
"Has no one ever mentioned that?" Kai smiles amusedly.
Alaric turns to face Josette, looking like he was completely over the continuous plot twists that kept happening in their lives. Josette shrugged, not in a way that meant she didn't know but in a way that meant she was just as over it as he was.
"So, not only will Josette giving me her magic save my life- her life- her whole family and Coven's lives- but it will also save hundreds of miserable lives that still float around in whatever prison world's have been created." Kai says, he focuses his gaze on his sister. "Like that entire cult you put in ours ten years ago!" He says, smiling, but then it turns back into a dramatic frown. "Oh wait- no- see you can't save those miserable lives in particular because they've all been killed." He shrugs innocently. Daisy shifts her weight onto her other foot, an uneasy feeling in her stomach arises as she thinks about all of that. Though she watches Josette to watch that familiar wave of guilt wash over her face, and when it did, it was all the more satisfying. Kai turns to Daisy and shakes his head ashamedly. "Some friend, right?" He says sarcastically.
Daisy clenched her jaw, not sure what to respond with, so she kept quiet.
"Kai, stop." Josette says, she then takes a breath, mulling over her limited options. "I—"
"Jo, wait." Alaric says. "Let's talk about this first." He then glances at Daisy and Kai. "Outside."
Josette's gaze lingers on her brother, then to Daisy, and then back to Alaric with a nod. "Hey if she like just- drops dead out of nowhere it's because your conversation took too long and I died- so. No pressure- but hurry it up." Kai adds, before they leave.
When the office door shuts, and Daisy hears their footsteps leave down the hall, she turns to face Kai as plops back up against on examination table. She examines his face, his paleness had vanished, replaced with his naturally tan complexion. Though his eyes still looked tired, she knew that Josette's magic would be what he needs to survive.
She glances to the side, grabbing a tissue from the table besides them. She brings it up to Kai's face, wiping what was left of the blood on his lips. He gently grabbed her arm and pushed it out of the way of her face so that he could kiss her.
The kiss took her by surprise, it was an act that had grown to be more of a cure to their disputes. She hated how it worked every time, she hated how his lips on hers could make her forget all the reasons she was avoiding them in the first place.
She pulled away before she could even be prompted to kiss back. She turned to throw the bloodied tissue away, letting out a frustrated sigh before she turned back around to face him. "You're feeling better." She says.
Kai eyes her, reading her expression through the words that so obviously hid whatever she was really feeling. "What's wrong?" He asked, trying to get in her eye-line though she avoided it.
Daisy looked back up at him with narrowed eyebrows. Had her taking care of him the past twelve hours make him completely forget the fact that up until then, they'd barely spoken more than ten words to each other in a day? She wondered if he was playing dumb, that he thought that if he did that she'd forget too. "We can talk about it after you're better." She says, brushing it off and beginning to return to the chair she'd resided in since she got here.
Kai shook his head. "No- we can talk about it now." She knew he didn't intend for it to sound like some sort of command, but that's how it came off.
Daisy turned back around to face him, with raised eyebrows. "Okay." She says, beginning to contemplate where she should start but instead she just started talking. "What are you hiding from me?"
"Hiding from you?" He narrowed his eyebrows.
Daisy nodded, feeling a bit stupid now due to the fact that her question caused no surprise or uneasiness on his face, or in his voice. "I just feel like-" she took a breath. "Lately I feel like you haven't been telling me everything."
"About the Coven?" He asks.
Was it about the Coven? Was this where all this wariness was coming from? She felt herself nodding before she could contemplate any further.
Kai shook his head, her unease was a complete opposite of his stature. He was confident, and collected, as he knew he had the control of the situation. "Daze..." He began, standing up. "There's just some stuff that you wouldn't really understand. Just— witch stuff that I— I can tell you but I just- honestly I figured you didn't care." He let out a small laugh.
Daisy straightened her posture, trying her best to match his contentment in a way so they were on the same level of agreement. "Yeah, yeah- I know." Daisy nodded, although her sudden change of heart felt forced. "There's just- you just feel so secretive all of the sudden." She frowns.
Kai examines her, the way she smiled through her words despite the hurt they had been causing. "You have nothing to worry about." He ensures her.
She nods slightly. "And you'd tell me if there was something else going on?" She asks.
He shakes his head. "Nothing else is going on." He says, raising his eyebrows and smiling softly in attempt to relieve the slight tension. "I promise."
Daisy smiled faintly, nodding, but stopped when the door reopened- Josette and Alaric returning. She turned around to face them. "So?" Daisy asks, expecting good news.
"I'll give you my magic." Josette says, though she wasn't very happy with her answer.
Kai let's out a deep sigh of relief, and he got up off the examination table. "Good answer." He says.
"But I have to talk to you first." Josette adds.
Kai's shoulder slump with an over dramatic sigh. "Here we go." He says.
Josette glances at Alaric, who then turns towards Daisy. "Let's wait out in the lobby." Alaric suggests.
Daisy gives him a dirty look. "No?" She says, surprised he would even attempt to get her to listen to him.
"Daisy." Kai says, earning her attention back to him. "We'll be out in five minutes." He says. It was as if there conversation from ten seconds ago never happened. She looks at him with concerned eyes, she opens her mouth to protest but he stops her. "I'll be fine. Dying or not I am still stronger than her." He says, focusing his gaze on his sister for the last part of the sentence.
Daisy clenched her jaw frustratedly before turning towards the door, where Alaric waited in the doorway for her. She grabbed the scalpel she had previously off the table, as she stormed out the door past him.
"I have a gun." Alaric says, like it was some warning against the scalpel in her hand.
Daisy, already half way down the hall, snorts. "Of course you do."
Josette turned to face her brother, wondering when the last time they were in a room alone together was. She tried desperately to present like she wasn't totally and completely terrified of him- but even in their teenage years he made it difficult. At least then she had sympathy for him, maybe that was from the fact that they were twins- or maybe that was just because she really couldn't blame him. But he was too far gone for any sympathy now.
"Is this all just a ploy for you to get more magic?" Josette asks angrily.
Kai scoffs, in disbelief that these questions were still happening. "It's a ploy for us all to stay alive- actually." He shakes his head. There was no trace of sarcasm or dramatics in his voice, this was just the truth. "Alright? I'm sorry if that seems selfish." He looks at her with frustrated eyes.
"I don't believe you." Josette says, shaking her head quickly. "Because you're a liar. And you are the worst kind of liar because your lies sound so much like the truth it is impossible for me to tell the difference." She says.
Kai sad underneath the madness that radiates off of him, these words hurt him in a way that would only hurt coming from a sibling, a twin. Someone who's DNA you share so similarly you think they would understand your every thought and feeling but they never could. "You're right." He says. "I am a liar. I'm lying to Daisy. I'm lying to myself. Alright? I'm the black sheep. The defective twin that nobody wanted." Kai says, he takes a breath but continues. "It must be real nice for you to stand here judging me surrounded by all the things that you got out of life- while I spent the last eighteen years stuck with the one person I care about in this world, knowing I had to lie to her so she wouldn't leave." His words were angry, and spiteful, yet there was a deep pain that resided within each vowel, and they were resonating deeply with Josette.
Kai steps towards Josette. "And let me tell you— every part of me wants to kill you for that." He points at her, his lips trembling with anger. "Every! Part!" He raises his voice and she jumps. He takes a breath, calming down. "But I can't. The only way that I can survive- is if you help me." He says, in a quieter tone. Josette swallows harshly, trying not to let the hurt show on her face. "And I'd like to live, frankly. Because I didn't get to do a whole lot of that before everyone decided that I wasn't worth it."
Josette kept her eye contact with Kai, whether that was because she was too scared to take her eyes off the most definitely dangerous person in front of her- or whether it was because she was trying to come off as unfazed and unafraid. But she wasn't afraid, not now, at least. She felt sad, she felt like she'd not only let him down- but she let herself down. She could've stopped this, all of this. Decades ago. If she wasn't such a coward, she could've stood up to her father and protected her brother like she should have. She wouldn't let herself take the fault, but it really, really felt like it was hers.
"I'll give you my magic on one condition." Josette responds, focusing way too much on trying not to choke on her words.
Kai didn't shift his gaze. "Shocker." He says, monotone.
"You tell that girl what she really is." Josette says.
Kai's eyes lift slightly, not really expecting this proposition. He wasn't sure if he should let his guard down so soon, begging wasn't really his style, yet he felt it might be needed here. He chose his familiar route. "You'd really do that?" He pries, raising an eyebrow.
She clenches her jaw. "You can't keep lying to her like this."
Kai let's out a small scoff. "And what exactly do you gain from me telling her?" He asks.
Josette shook her head slightly. "I know this might come as a shock but I have absolutely nothing to gain from this. I'm doing this because you're hurting someone I care about." Josette narrows her eyes, amused by the difference between her and her brother. "Her scars are gone." She narrows her eyebrows. "How long until you start hurting her yourself just so you have something to heal?" She asks.
Kai's gaze didn't shift, but they didn't need to to know that Josette's words had hit him. He shakes his head ever so slightly. "I would never hurt her."
Josette let's out a small laugh of disbelief. "This sounds so familiar, doesn't it?" She asks.
Kai ran his tongue over his bottom lip, trying to quickly think of a way out of this. He takes a breath before turning back to his sister with angry eyes. "You're bluffing." Kai whispers.
Josette matches Kai's angry expression. "Let's find out."
a/n
hope u enjoyed !! <3
[ not edited ]
- jane