When we arrived in the dining room it was filled with people. Why.
I recognized ALL of the other rulers. Honestly, it's not like they were crowding around my sickbed, why did they all feel the need to be here? Pix was there for god's sake. Pix. The weird dude who lives in the desert and tracks sand around the castle. I don't think I've talked to him much actually. He may be the one person here I don't completely hate- never mind, he tried to stab me with that trident, I do hate him.
There were several people, however, that I didn't recognize. One, who was the spitting image of Katherine, who I assumed must be her mother. Didn't know her name nor did I care. There were also three girls. The oldest looked my age, with long blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. She stared at me curiously as I entered, but immediately looked away when I met her eyes. There was another girl, even younger who hardly looked to be a teenager. She was practically a clone of the other girl. Then the last one, seated beside Katherine's mother. She couldn't be older than ten, and again she looked like Katherine and the old queen.
I quickly glanced away, watching as Scott went to sit beside Jimmy. I was annoyed. Scott threw the man off a cliff, yet they act like...they're together again? Ew. Out of spite I sat at the opposite end of the table, throwing both of them a glare. I half expected (or half wanted) Scott to move over here, but instead he rolled his eyes at me and stayed seated beside his 'boyfriend'. I didn't want to admit it, but it stung a little.
Instead, the wizard sat beside me. Not directly, she left a chair between us, but still. I narrowed my eyes at her. "What're you doing?" I growled.
"Nothing, what do you mean by that?" she asked, raising her eyebrow rather innocently, but I saw right through her.
"I mean why are you sitting next to me?" I snapped.
"Because it's an empty seat." She replied simply.
"There's like- a dozen more empty seats." I said, annoyed now.
"Yes, therefore if you don't want to sit next to me, you can move." She challenged.
"But you see I don't want to."
"And neither do I."
I gritted my teeth, giving her the most hateful glare I could before looking down at the table. Sure, I could move. But that would make me seem weak, and there was no way in hell I was doing anything to satisfy the wizard. I clenched my hands until my knuckles hurt around my pant legs, trying to ignore the conversations between the others.
But I felt a pair of eyes on me, as if burning through my skull with their gaze, and I forced myself to look up. I met the brown eyes of the old queen, and for a moment again I thought it was Katherine. She was staring at me, as if she were trying to fit me together like a puzzle to see the big picture. She didn't seem to approve.
So just to spite her, I smirked, leaning my elbows onto the table. She raised an eyebrow, before turning away. Mission accomplished.
I was taken aback as Gem took the plate from in front of me and began to load it with food. "The hell are you doing?" I asked.
"Getting you your food." Gem answered as if it were obvious, before sliding my plate back in front of me filled with a lot of different overwhelming things that looked way too nice to be at a casual dinner.
"You poisoned this, didn't you." I said, narrowing my eyes at Gem.
"No, I didn't. Someone would have saw me." She replied, returning my look before going to eat her food. I was slightly shocked, that she didn't even deny the fact that she would if no one was here...or maybe I just tend to look for the worst in people, who knows?
She also kind of forget the fact no one would care if I dropped dead to the ground. I stabbed moodily at my potatoes with the fork at the side of the plate. I wasn't hungry.
I heard a thud and looked up to see Scott smacking his head off of the table.
"I have a feeling that was because of me—" I started, pursing my lips as he lifted his head to glare at me.
"Oh, I wonder why?" He shot back sarcastically. "Just eat the damn food, please."
I mumbled a few unheard protests underneath my breath, before reluctantly stabbing one of the cubed potatoes a bit more violently than necessary and shoving it into my mouth. It was delicious, but there was no way in hell I was going to admit that.
As the dinner went on I caught snippets of the other's conversation, specifically one between Scott and Katherine.
"...well yeah I kind of wanted to get her to talk to somebody..." came my brother's voice, slightly hushed but just loud enough for me to hear him and distinguish what he was saying through that annoyingly thick accent.
"Like...a therapist?" The fairy queen's voice replied. Why did I have the sneaking suspicion they were talking about me?
"Well, that may not go so well- you know how she is." Scott sighed.
"Hm. You know, my sister Lavender is actually training to be a physical as well as a mental therapist." Katherine suggested. "She's about as old as Erin, maybe they could talk?"
What now? Hell nah—
"I mean...what can go wrong?" Scott said in answer, and I could hear the small hint of sarcasm. Everything. Everything was going to go wrong.
I watched as Katherine got up, whispering something in the blonde teen's ear which I connected the dots to assume that this was Lavender. I watched as the girl's blue eyes flicked toward me for a moment, and for the few seconds we made eye contact, I made sure to give her a furious glare.
She then looked back at her sister with an expression that said, 'you sure?'
But just at that moment I felt my own brother's cold hand on my shoulder. "C'mon we're going to go to the living room for a bit," he began, before glancing down at my barely touched plate of food. "And you're taking that with you."
"Ugh," I grumbled, getting to my feet, and grabbing the plate off the table. "Why?"
"Because." Was his only answer as he led me out the door and towards the living room I had run into the others in earlier before my shower. Scott sat me down on the seat, and I put my plate down on the coffee table between the two white couches facing each other.
"I don't like this." I said, giving my brother a look.
"You don't like anything."
Fair enough.
I scoffed, leaning back against the couch as I crossed my arms over my chest, bouncing my leg impatiently.
A few minutes later, Katherine and the girl called Lavender entered the room. Lavender cautiously sat down on the couch opposite me, folding her hands in her lap in an obnoxious, formal way. Katherine, on the other hand, went to stand beside Scott, just out of my sight.
I rolled my eyes, kicking my feet up onto the coffee table as I glared at her.
"So..." she started, glancing up at her sister as if for confirmation that she had to do this. "What's your name?"
Was this person serious? "Erin." I replied bluntly, keeping my eyes narrowed.
Her face twisted in confusion at my answer, and she pursed her lips. "Is that a nickname...? I thought—"
"Its Erin. Moving. On." I growled, emphasizing every word as I tightened my arms crossed in front of my chest. Clearly, she had been looking for the answer 'That dumb fire bird I was named after'.
"Oh um...okay? I'm Lavender—"
"I know." I cut off, already annoyed that I was being forced to do this. Do what exactly? I wasn't sure yet, but I already hated it.
She looked vaguely startled, but she kept her composure as she continued with whatever she, her sister and my brother were planning. "Well...how old are you?" she asked, almost with a genuine curiosity.
"Uhh- what year is it?" I asked Scott, glancing up. "Kind of hard to keep track, especially in the middle of nowhere—"
"Oh- 10,020." Scott answered, sticking his hands into his pockets as he watched us with an interested expression.
"Ah, I'm sixteen then...I think? Yeah, February passed already—" I said, looking up at the ceiling as I calculated my age in my head.
"Oh! I'm only two months younger than you, I turned sixteen in Apri—" she started.
"Yeah, yeah, y'know I don't really care so just go on with whatever this is so I can leave." I grumbled, resuming my glare.
"Erin, cut it out." Scott snapped, flicking the side of my head. "She's being nice so you can be nice."
"No." I replied defiantly.
"It's okay." Lavender reassured him. "Continuing on...any things you do that you enjoy?" she asked, apparently trying to get somewhere with me. Talk about my problems or something like that. Ew.
"Aggressively poking people with knives." I answered.
"Eh...you mean stabbing...?" she suggested a bit apprehensively.
"No, aggressively poking people with knives." I corrected with another small scoff.
"That's the same thing as stabbing people..." Scott pointed out, a bit faintly.
"Yeah, but aggressively poking people with knives sounds less illegal." I said, flicking my wrist towards him as a strand of red magic peeled from my skin to smack him in the face, hopefully it would drive some sense into him as well.
"OW—" He yelped, clutching at the spot before glaring furiously at me. "That hurts a lot more than you think it does!"
I rolled my eyes, returning my gaze to Lavender, irritated. As she opened her mouth to speak again, I grabbed the fork, stabbing another potato to shove into my mouth. "You know...this fork would look great pierced through your eyeball," I said after I had swallowed, closing one eye as I pointed the fork at her face, the prongs in line with her eye. "The silver would really compliment the blue."
"Okay I think that's enough." Katherine said sharply, ripping the fork from my hand, before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Thank you, for trying to help, Lav."
Lavender pressed her lips into a line, gulping before nodding her head and getting to her feet. She left the room with one last nervous glance at me, then she shut the door behind her.
Katherine then narrowed her eyes at me. "Could you calm down with the threatening? We're just trying to help you and you're either physically or verbally attacking us at every word."
"Well, I'm sorry if I'm not comfortable or used to the people who tried to kill me attempting to take care of me. You're doing an awful job by the way." I snapped back, picking at my canine with my thumb.
I heard Scott groan, and watched as he rubbed his face with his hands for the millionth time today. When he removed them, I saw the red welt-like strip near his chin where I had flicked him. I only felt a little bad about it, like the smallest twinge of regret. But he had really annoyed me in that moment.
"Let's just...let's just go back to your room so you can get more sleep. Maybe you'll be in a better mood..." Scott sighed. I don't think I was supposed to hear the last part.
"Buuuut I don't want to." I replied, flipping upside down to hang off the coach, my head nearly brushing the floor.
"Why must you be so difficult?" Scott groaned, nudging my shoulder a bit sharply with the toe of his shoe. "You're like an overgrown toddler—"
"Well excuse me for living out the childhood I never got now." I answered sarcastically with another roll of my eyes. I swear these people are gonna make me lose it. What 'it' was, I'm not sure, according to everyone I had lost 'it' a long time ago. But considering how annoying they were I'd probably roll my eyes so many times they'd fall out of my head.
Scott nudged me again with his shoe. "C'mon, get up. Do you really want me to drag you again?"
"Hah, I'd like to see you try—"
He did try. And he annoyingly succeeded.
He had shut the door behind us, and I faced him with my arms crossed, glaring daggers at him.
"Why are you giving me that look?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "You're acting like I did something to personally offend you—"
"Hmph." I exclaimed in response, looking away with an upturned nose, agitated.
"Oh, what is it now?" He asked with a small groan as he walked toward me. As he reached out, I dodged his hand, ducking under his arm to be behind him. He turned around, looking mildly irritated. "What?" he asked again.
"You're trapping me—" I said, going for the door.
"I'm not trapping you-?" he started, swerving in front of me to block the door. It definitely seemed like he was trapping me.
I took a step back, my wings flaring unconsciously behind me, stretching the scars that ran along my back, making them sting. I gritted my teeth as the red power writhed down my forearms like snakes, curling around my wrists like white-hot metal coils. A small, threatening hiss escaped my neck, rasping against the roof of my mouth like sandpaper being dragged across it.
Scott gave me a look of confusion, his head tilting the slightest as his eyes glanced over me as if trying to figure me out like a puzzle he had a piece missing of. But a moment later his expression softened, and he stepped out of the way of the door, opening it, showing me the hallway, before closing it again. "I'm not keeping you in here, Erin. I just want you to get some rest." He explained.
"I don't need rest." I spat, still not letting my guard down despite knowing in the back of my mind Scott would never do something to intentionally hurt me...that is if I wasn't trying to murder one of his friends which tended to happen frequently- whoops.
"Yes, you do. It's a normal and necessary bodily function that'll keep you from collapsing to the floor like a blobfish." Scott deadpanned. "So, lie down, you've been through a rough couple of days, and you need it. And Aeor help me I'll pin you to that bed till you sleep if I must because you have been having trouble cooperating."
I gave him an extra defiant glare. "Jerk..."
"I'm not a jerk, I just seem to care more for your physical well-being than you do." He stated, giving me a small nudge onto the bed.
I groaned, faceplanting onto the mattress. "But I'm not tiiiiiired," I complained. "I don't want to sleep."
"Oh, I have my ways to get you to take a nap." He said, grabbing me rather gently from under the arms to prop me against the pillows resting on the headboard of the bed, much to my protest.
"Like what?" I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "Gonna sing me a lullaby? Have me count sheep? Cause I killed all my sheep a long time ago—"
"Actually, yes, I do have a lullaby for you." Scott said with a slightly mischievous look to his face, ignoring the last part of my statement.
I glared at him. "No. Effing. Way. Am I letting you sing me to sleep—" I began, scrambling to get off the bed.
"Oh no you don't! I want to serenade you with my amazing singing skills." He laughed, grabbing my upper arm, and dragging me back onto the pillows.
"Kill me now." I said, narrowing my eyes at him.
"Uh, no," Scott replied, still smirking slightly. "I have too much brotherly love for you to do that. Anyways, it's not really a lullaby I guess- more of a legend told through song."
"Uh huh." I said, pretending to yawn. "Just get on with it so I can mope in peace."
Scott let out another small, breathy laugh at my statement. "Alright, alright, but you need to actually relax."
"I'm sooo relaxed." I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
"Are you ever serious?"
"Of course, I am. Like when I was soooo serious about wanting to kill you when Xornoth was taking over the world, and I was sooo serious about trying to murder Pearl during the war— The list goes on." I grinned.
"Okay, I get the point, now lie down." He said, rolling his eyes yet again.
"I just said I'm not tired—"
"And I just said I don't care, now lie down before I make you." He threatened with a vague playful look.
I grumbled a string of insults under my breath as I flattened myself on the mattress, glaring up at him as I did so to show how much I hated this.
"Okay, like I said this is based off of a legend...an elvish one to be exact so it is in fact in elvish—" he started.
"Oh great, so I won't even be able to understand the dang words. Just lovely." I said in reply.
"I'll get to teaching you it someday, alright? Now be quiet." He answered, swatting at my head before he began.
The words of the song seemed to melt into one as he spoke. I had heard elvish a few times, but never like...this. It flowed in a way that made sense, and though I had absolutely no idea or clue as to what he was saying, I understood the...not the beauty of it but the concept. That this was meant to be of something amazing, something to guide and to answer questions. It wasn't meaningless.
In a strange way it seemed to drown out my thoughts, and before I knew it my eyelids were getting heavy as I slumped against the pillows, listening to the lyrics as if they were physical things my mind was grasping for, my fingertips brushing but not quite managing to hold.
"No..." I mumbled as I felt myself drifting off. I struggled to keep my eyes open, not wanting to fall to the strange spell the song seemed to have on me.
Scott gave me a smile as he continued, one not malicious as I was used to, as he gently placed a hand on my shoulder to silently tell me to relax.
I gave a sigh of defeat, before succumbing to the effects of the music, sliding into darkness.
***
TWO chapters in less than a week?? Impossible! Not me being productive for once in my life-
But yeah, this is a bit of a shorter chapter, I couldn't find a way to blend it into the next one so there you have it.
Just a heads up, I know my posting schedule is all over the place currently but eh, I've been falling a bit behind in my schoolwork so I may not be able to get as much done as I would like to- so chapters may take a little while longer. Just warning y'all so you know I haven't died if I don't post for three to four weeks or something like that-