(CHAPTER FOUR)
A KNOCK ECHOES AMONG LONGDALE MANOR AS BRITHA AND ZOX BOTH LOOK UP FROM THEIR CURRENT CARD GAME. Zox gives the witch across from her a look but Britha responds with a shrug just as confused. She didn't know who would knock around this hour as the family didn't get as many visitors in the first place. She sets her card down and opens the door, She tries not to show a look of surprise when she is met with a certain mortal girl.
Jude jumps slightly at the sound. She then gives the Longdale witch an awkward wave. "Hey."
"Um...hi?" Britha didn't know why it came out as a question but she was grateful Jude glossed over it.
"Cool house." Jude compliments as she gestures to the manor. Zox peeks from around the corner. Britha senses the imp and makes sure to cover the sight of Jude with the door. She didn't need the imp bombarding her with questions.
"Thanks. I would let you come in but its kind of a whole mess right now." She didn't want to lie but she really didn't want anyone snooping in her house at the moment.
Although she didn't have to worry about Jude being oblivous about it as she gave her a small smile. "Its okay you don't have to lie. I get it." She shrugs. "Its awkward when a girl you barely even know visits your house for no apparent reason."
"I mean, we did have lunch together twice." Britha points out as if trying to sound helpful. She sees the mortal girl crack a small smile at that but it leaves the second they meet eyes again.
Jude clears her throat. "Do you have any plans today?" She asks innocently. Britha really needed to think about, it was a Saturday and she didn't think she needed to go over anything with her family or members of the Court Of Shadows. Really half the morning she spent her time hauled and playing cards with Zox. Her father was out golfing with Caris and she was sure her siblings and grandmother were still sleeping. It was a somewhat of a chill day.
"I mean its a Saturday surely you shouldn't be too busy." Jude continues. Britha lets out hum at that. The Duarte girl wasn't wrong. But she wondered what she came over to her house for. Surely not to chat and sip over some warm tea?
"No, I don't so." She mumbles, she then blinks and realizes the girl probably didn't hear her too well. "I mean no I don't think I have anything planned for today." She clears up. Jude nods.
"Well..cool. I mean not cool but-" Its awkward again as the girls avoid eye contact. They both thought they were really bad at this.
"Look, do you want to join me, Taryn and my older sister Vivi today? Vivi basically dragged us out of bed to go to the mall....in the mortal realm." Britha raises her eyebrows at that.
"Brave." Jude lets out a sound of agreement. "Tell me about it."
"I also just wanted to use that as an excuse." Britha gives Jude a questioning look.
"An excuse for what?" Jude moves a little closer. The wave of their near body heat is noticeable.
"What you did, for us, for me. I'm really grateful." Jude admits. "For saving Taryn you didn't have to but you did. She means a lot to me my sister." Britha tries to wave it off but she would be lying if she said she didn't feel flattered at the moment. She doesn't meet the Duarte girls gaze.
"I knew that if i didn't save her first you probably would never forgive me." Jude didn't deny it.
"Yeah to be completely honest, probably."
"Look as an older sister, I would in a heartbeat jump in front of a bullet if it means that my siblings are safe. Its just in our nature to try to protect the ones you love. And I know you do that a lot of Taryn." Jude look at the ground bitterly.
"I don't. I run my mouth and I get her in trouble. And I feel like she resents me for it." There was that feeling of Brithas heart sinking again. Jude really did have such a kindness. It must have sucked cause she was completely valid in doing what she had to do but in the end she was always scolded for it because thats not how things ran in Elflame. When a higher class antagonizes those they don't see fit, their only supposed to take it.
"Would you like a tissue?" Britha didn't mean to sound as blunt as she was but she suddenly became awkward again and the mortal girl looked like she wanted cry. She grits her teeth and shuts her eyes. Probably not the best way to comfort.
"Did it look that obvious?" Jude chuckles slightly. Britha opens her mouth to respond until shes interrupted by Zox. The imp has an irritated look on her face. "Ms. Britha please don't let the door open for too long Madam Nyathera doesn't like it when all kinds of insects make their way in here." She freezes in interest when she notices Jude. The girl waves politely.
"Why hello. Are you one of Ms Brithas friends?" She asks kindly.
"Yes." Jude says quickly. This surprises the Longdale witch a bit. "I mean I'm a classmate of hers." She clears her throat.
"Oh thats very nice." Zox continues to smile brightly. "Well I couldn't help but overhear but Ms Britha don't worry about the manor, I'll be in here all day cleaning. So you can have time to hang out with your friend here!" She gives the witch girl a sly wink. With that she hands over Brithas handbag filled with the rest of her necessities as well as her jacket. Britha lets out a grunt as the imp stuffs everything onto her hand.
Giving the two teen girls a friendly wink. "Hope you guys have fun!" With that she closes the door. They are met with silence once again.
They both couldn't help but snort.
THE GIRLS ARE MET WITH A CHEERFUL VIVIENNE DUARTE AND A CALM TARYN AS THEY WAIT FOR THEM OUTSIDE THE LONGDALE MANOR. Vivi waves at them in excitement.
Vivi winks when they arrive closer. "Hey girl!" She greets Britha. It was Brithas first exchange with the eldest Duarte girl but the half fae already began to treat the witch as if they were old friends. Of course Britha knew her in passing but they never really got to have a conversation amongst themselves, this would be the first time.
"Hi." Britha greets back. She then gestures awkwardly to her clothes, "Sorry if i'm not really dressed well for these kind of things." Vivi laughs lightly at her apology. It definitely wasn't one of malicious intent.
"Don't worry thats exactly what this trips for! Of course there is nothing wrong with what you currently have on." Vivi lightly pats the witch on the back. It causes her to let out a slight cough from the impact.
"I'm so glad Jude decided to invite you. The more the merrier!" Britha meets eyes with Taryn. The shy mortal girl gives her a polite smile.
"Hello Britha. Thank you for the other day." Britha gives her a slight smile.
"It's nothing." There is a bit of silence as Britha could sense some tension between the two twins. Jude is looking to the side not acknowledging any of them. If this was gonna be a repeat with what happened when Allora and Jaser were fighting it was gonna be a long day.
Vivi turns mischievously towards the three girls. "So Longdale have you ever learned how to sneak from the faerie realm to the mortal realm? The grand human world!" She shouts dramatically. Britha simply shakes her head which causes the half fae to smile even brighter. It was definitely a smile full of trouble.
Jude turns her head towards the witch. "Well consider this your lucky day." She purses her lips before adding. "Hopefully."
Britha didn't know why her stomach churned at that.
Vivi picks up stalks of ragwort that grow near the water troughs. She lifts the first and blows on it saying. "Steed rise and bear with us where I command." Soon it becomes the shaped of a yellow pony with emereld eyes and a manr that resembles lacy foliagy. Brithas eyes widen in echatment as the pony makes an odd keening neigh. She throws down two more stalks. And later more ragwort ponies grow.
Vivi looks at the witch. "Impressive right?" Britha absentmindedly nods. Still stunned.
"Oh right since it was kind of last minute I planned this whole thing so I didn't have enough for one more horse! It looks like you'll have to join one of us on one." Vivi gives her a geniune look of apology.
"Its alright Vivi, she can ride with me." Jude answers. The eldest Duarte sounds content by that and quickly nods giving them both a thumbs up. "Awesome!"
They both climb on the nearest horse on their right. Jude goes in first followed by Britha. Britha lightly trips before she is caught by the mortal girl. nodding awkwardly in thanks she makes sure to secure herself well this time. She then hesitantly wraps her arm around Judes waist. She could feel her heart quicken a bit when the girl in front of her grabs her hands slightly as if to pull her closer. They were so close they could hear their own breaths collide. Jude tilts her head to the side.
"Make sure to hold on tight so you won't fall." Britha nods.
With that the four of them were off. They ride over the cliffs and then the sea, watching mermaids leap in the spangled waves and selkies rolling along the surf. Past the fog perpetually surrounding the islands and concealing them from mortals. And then onto the shoreline they pass Two Lights State Park as well as a golf course and jetport. There they see the key to their destination, Maine Mall.
Taryn grins. "Remember where we parked." Jude and Britha remain close together as Vivi takes the lead. Britha sees all kinds of people in the mall. Most of all she sees the bands of family that bond together as she hears the cheerful laughs of the children waiting to receive their parents attention or pairs of siblings fighting on who gets the last piece of pizza. She wants to smile, it gives her a heartwarming feeling.
But she doesn't when she observes Jude next to her not smiling at all. Its that feeling Britha herself felt whenever she would hear the whispers the fae folk had said about her family, the feeling every time somebody said she would never be able to go back to her home. Since it was no more. That feeling every time she realized she would never experience that home.
Anger.
Vivi decides to break the tension. Secretly the witch is grateful the eldest Duarte sibling decided to say something.
"So, we're here because you both could use some cheering up. So cheer up." Vivi gestures to her two sisters. Jude holds her breath before turning to look at her twin. "I'm sorry." She blurts out.
Taryn replies faster. "You're probably mad."
"Are you?" Jude replies even faster, she looks astonished.
It was painfully awkward, at least to Britha. She was starting to think that maybe her tagging along with them to the mall was a mistake. Even though Jude invited her. But it was obvious her and Taryn had some clearing up to do. She didn't want to intrude it by being here. So while the three sisters had their back turned towards her she decided to make her escape, at least until they were done, she made sure to still be in their line of vision so she wouldn't be lost.
To her relief she finds a a nearby bench. Setting down she decides to take a good look at the scenery. It was very much an eventful mall. The human realm was said to be an interesting place but she never really took interest into finding out more about it. Deep down she was scared to who knows what it possessed, especially more than the fae realm. But it was so fascinating all of the same. She turns around and notices a strange object in a humans hand. The human is in complete distraction of the device and is typing away or pressing buttons on the screen, she didn't even know if she could call them buttons. But Britha craned her neck anyway to get a better look. The human was still distracted.
Curiousity got the best of Britha, she didn't know why she even decided to breath a word. But she wanted to know. "Excuse me." She whispered politely, luckily the human was able to hear her as they lifted their head up to meet her gaze.
"Yes?" They asked hesitantly.
"I couldn't help but wonder. But what is that?" Her voice was small and innocent. Britha couldn't believe it, she was..shy? It was just a simple question but the more Britha asked the more kind of stupid she felt. The person next to her gave her a questionable look.
Yeah she definitely felt more stupid.
Gesturing to the device on their hand, they asked. "What this game?" Their eyes lit up in excitement. "Its called Pokemon Go. One of my favorite games to exist. If your not really familiar with Pokemon I recommend checking it out by the way." Bless them for being so kind. Britha wanted to be more specific about the device, but she decided to brush it off and continue asking about the game. In interested her already.
"How do you play?" She moves closer to them to get a better look and they excitedly being to explain the basics of the game. "You can track the creatures in your location using the Nearby function located at the bottom right of the screen. This allows you to click on the Pokémon you'd like to track, and the game will give you the directions to its location." She follows the persons finger as they explain through the screen.
"So basically you are trying to catch enough of these things called Pokemon?" the person nods. "And you try to capture as much as you can?"
"Yep and it honestly works better when you are in a team, it leaves a weight off your shoulders, in my personal opinion."
"I'll keep that in mind." Britha pauses before continuing. "Thank you for taking some time to explain. I'm rather new at these things." They shrug and give her a small smile.
"I had enough time on my hands so its fine." The stranger sets the device in their bag . "Once they do they meet eyes with the witch again and their eyes meet something wrapped around Brithas neck. "Thats a pretty necklace you got there." Britha meets their gaze looking at her red firebird sandstoned necklace she had since she was born.
"Thanks it was a gift from my mother." The stranger nods.
"Nice of her. I sort of have something like that. Not the same thing but its like a family heirloom we kept for decades, generations even." Britha would have asked more about it, but a shadow loomed over the both of them. There stood Jude, Britha thought the mortal girl in front of her looked displeased.
Jude ignores the stranger in front of her only acknowledging Britha. "Hey, we were looking all over for you. You shouldn't wander alone next time." The young witch felt a bit bad, she could tell Jude was worried.
"Your right. Sorry about that." Getting up from her seat she acknowledges the stranger one last time. "It was nice to meet you...and thank you for explaining to me about your.....game." She remembered what they said before. They nod.
"No problem." Suddenly an idea forms in their head, "If you want you can always give it a try and I can teach you the basics. Whats your number?" Britha looked confused at that.
"My number." The stranger gives her a look as if it was obvious.
"Yeah like on your phone? You have one don't you?" They asked innocently. Britha panicked a bit. A phone, she had no idea what it was. Was that the device the stranger was using just now?
Jude cuts in before Britha could speak. "Her phones kind of broken right now. Thats actaully why we're here. To get a new one." She quickly lies. The stranger looks at both of them as if suspicious for a bit but they soon shrug and pick up their bag again, rummaging though it.
"I gotcha." They tear a piece of paper from their notebook and write something down with a fancy pen. "Well here. My number. So once you get your phone fixed i'll be your first contact." They wink at Britha. Jude gives the stranger a glare but they pay no mind to her.
"Thank you." Britha looks at the paper. Lyric - 240-219-3765
So their name is Lyric. She ponders. Jude impatient, grabs the young witches hand as they leave. Lyric gives Britha one final wave before being lost in the sea of the crowd.
Britha gives Jude a thoughful look. "Are we really going to get a...phone?" She asks. Jude gives her a questioning look.
"Do you actually?" Britha shrugs. "I mean what would you need it for?"
"To play Pokemon Go." The young witch answers honestly.
Jude sighs. "We don't have that kind of money. Sorry." She explains. Britha looks at the piece of paper again and gently folds it, Jude watches as she places it in her bag.
"Right well, we got off topic. Its best if we just go and meet the others." Britha ends the conversation then and there, although from the look on her face she seems a bit disappointed. Jude couldn't help but feel some guilt creep up on her.
THEY MEET VIVI AND TARYN INSIDE A CUTE LITTLE INDIE SHOP LOCATED IN THE RIGHT WING OF THE MALL. Later they were going to meet Vivi's girlfriend, according to Jude. Vivi is busy chatting with Taryn animatedly showing her a t-shirt she found. Britha herself decides to wonder and look at the clothes in stock, Jude right behind her.
They stop by a section filled with all kinds of dresses, ranging from short to long, colors warm red to cold blue. As red has always caught her eye she jumbles through the red ones first.
"Seems to be your color." Jude comments.
"Hm."
"So can we talk?" Jude asks.
"About what?" Jude rolls her eyes and lets out a huff, she doesn't meet Brithas gaze. Britha sets a dress back on the rack.
"I didn't think you wanted to relive what happened? I mean isn't that what you and Taryn were talking about earlier?"
"We did but... its not easy to put it behind us. I mean you were involved too." Jude moves closer. Her eyes soften. "Are you okay?"
"You referring to how I cut my wrists crazy in front of everyone with blood pouring?" She asks sarcastically.
"I mean I have alot of questions about that. ALOT. but what he said, Cardan. It clearly affected you." Britha was starting to get a bit frustrated.
"I wasn't."
"You're a terrible liar you know." It was bad enough Cardan managed to get a read on her but now Jude was too. Had she deluded herself into thinking she was unpredictictable? Britha stays silent.
"It sucks I know. I feel like they won this round." Jude admits.
"We'll just have to prove them wrong. At the tournament. You've been preparing right?" Jude nods.
"Definitely haven't missed the chance."
"I noticed something." Jude perks up at Brithas comment. "What?" She asks.
"You seem to have a knack for adventure, no matter what." Jude looks down at her shoes.
"I enjoys the lessons I attends with the children of the Gentry. And I like answering teachers' questions cleverly because it is something no one can take away from me. I love the thrill of sword fighting and combat. And the only thing that I want to connect myself with Madoc is about strategy and war." Britha decides to stray from questioning about the strained relationship Jude shares with her foster father.
"Is it actually to your interest? Or do you feel as if you have something to prove?" There was no ill intent to what Britha was asking. She geniunely wanted to know. As a human stolen from the mortal realm, she shouldn't love faerie, but she does. But the realm was so rich, magical and enchanting all the same it was easy to fall in love with it.
"With that I don't know." Jude answers. "But what about you? Do you love faerie."
"I was raised here all my life. Was born here, raised my siblings here. My family is here."
She threads her fingers between the rake of dresses. "But I never wanted to get close. They treated us terribly called us names. Why would I go on to accept the world where folk wouldn't give me a second glance in?"
"But my home. Our home. The sorcerer realm is gone. nothing left." She stops by a particular red dress that caught her eye. Lifting it up she shows it to Jude.
"So with that, I don't really have a choice but to try to love it. But to be frank, I don't want to." The dress had covered both their sights of each other but Jude ends up lowering the dress with her hand so their eyes would meet.
"I feel the same way too." She whispers. The both of them are close again, Britha feels that tension in the air. She felt her breath hitched. Judes heart-shaped face. Her piercing eyes said to be the exact color of walnuts. From the way she carried herself her presence was so unique, Britha thought she was one of the most beautiful. Her mortal beauty was definitely unique it left the witch in a trance.
"BOO!" Vivi appears in front of them suddenly. Britha drops the dress she was holding onto the floor and Jude grabs the section of racks in front of her. Vivi cheerful and painfully oblivious continues to smile at the two girls. However Taryn seemed to no longer be in sight. The blonde fae brightens when she sees the red dress Britha dropped on the floor. Picking it back up, she gives it a look of approval.
"I love this shade of red. Were you about to try it on?" She asks Britha eagerly.
"Even so I don't have anything on me to get it. Whats the point?" Vivi lets out a whistle.
"I'll cover you don't worry." She gives the dress back to Britha. "You can teach me one of your magic tricks as a payback." Vivi looks at Jude.
"Keep her company while she tries it on." She tells her younger sister. Having no problem with that Jude abides and they both leave for the changing rooms. With Vivi's forceful attitude it was hard to refuse sometimes. But they knew the blonde meant well.
It seemed in the meantime Vivi would search for Taryn. Jude hangs back while Britha tries on the dress. Britha unclasps the barette holding her hair and lets it loose. She takes a good look at the dress in front of her. It was long and had a pattern of burgundy gemstones in the middle. The front was a little shorter than the back but it made sure to cover everything. The only thing that would be exposed were her arms and ankles. Jude waits patiently although Britha takes awhile. The mortal girl uncomfortable by the awkward silence begins to speak but her mouth is half open when the witch decides to finally step out to show off her outfit. Jude is speechless. Not to mention it was the first time shes witnessed the Longdale girl with her hair down. She seemed more open more, at peace. Jude didn't know how to describe, but she wasn't disappointed.
"You should let your hair down more often." Jude says rather bluntly. Getting a snort in response Britha moves towards the mirror. Some of the strands pushed to the front of her face. She moves them gently.
"It gets in the way sometimes, when its like this." Britha explains.
"Here your necklace." Jude offers, she had been holding Brithas stuff while she was trying the dress on. Britha looks at her mothers gift as if pondering for just a moment.
"Can you put it on me?" She asks, her voice was small, she didn't even know if Jude could hear her. Yet she did. Nodding Jude gestured for Britha to turn around, facing the mirror again.
It was soft.
The way Judes fingers were as gentle as possible when they met slightly with the skin of her neck. She moved even closer, pressing her stomach slightly against Brithas back. Britha went rigid. She didn't know how to react, Jude was as intimately as close more than before. But she kept her composure when her onyx eyes met walnut.
Jude finished the final touch clasping the end of firebird necklace. Before moving she leaned in to whisper slightly to Britha, the tip of her lips meeting her ear.
"Red definitely is your color."
Was giggling and kicking my feet writing this chapter ackkkk!
Jude and Britha are such girlfriends but they both stubborn to admit ✋🏾
Wonder if Britha will ever get that phone and play Pokémon go 👀 tbh I couldn't think of any other game like that was the first one that popped up in my brain so 😭
Again please like, comment, any form of feedback I would REALLY appreciate it and thank you guys so much for reading!
C, OUT!!