"Hazel?" Grace's brother was the first to barge into the conference room and notice me. Megan was with me; she was comforting me and my nerves as we waited for the Daniels. "Where's Grace?!" He demanded.
"We'll explain everything once everyone is here." Riley, who was sitting at the conference table, stated with a solemn look.
"Bull; where is my sister and who are you people? Why did you kidnap my family?!"
I knew it was my fault he was angry. I knew it was my fault Grace was in danger. And I think Megan knew it too, because she pulled me in and amplified her soothing words, aware of my shaking and probably if the fact that I was again close to tears.
"Hazel? Megan?" Grace's mother was the next to greet us. She sounded more concerned, which was better and worse than anger.
"Ms. Daniels, hi." Megan replied.
"Hazel, honey, are you okay?" Grace's mother asked, and Megan gently turned me to her so I could answer.
"I-" I couldn't answer. She just looked so sad. And like Grace. I started crying again.
"Aw, honey-" ms. Daniels reached out to me, and before I knew it, she had her arms wrapped tightly around me, holding fast onto my back. I yelped and tried to twist away, making her arms rub against my wounds excruciatingly.
"Hazel!" Megan cried, stealing me out of Ms. Daniels' arms. I sobbed from pain, confusion, and misery onto my sister's shoulder.
"W-are you okay?! I'm so sorry!" Ms. Daniels gasped, bewildered.
"She's fine. Hazel, like a lot of the other people here, have had a large surgery on their back and her wounds have not yet closed up." Riley explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I remember you said you had a back surgery, I'm so sorry, sweetheart."
"You already told them?" Riley muttered more in awe than in annoyance.
"Not about the reason why." Megan told her for me.
"Alright then." Riley replied. "Ah, Mr. Daniels. Would you and your family please have a seat?" She addressed the whole party after I guessed Grace's father appeared. Megan gently coaxed me into my chair, letting me view the Daniels as they cautiously sat and watched Riley. "Thank you. My name is Riley, and I'm the Sinclairs' advisor here at the Night School. You were brought here because an issue has come up and we believe it is time to introduce you to the realities you are not yet aware of."
"Okay, but what does this have to do with Grace?" Sawyer folded his arms, skeptically watching us. Grace's father was also giving us a serious look. Only Grace's mother seemed legitimately ready to listen. I almost wanted to laugh (and also cry); Grace's family was just so normal. Her brother would protect her, her dad would be like every stereotypically conflicted or concerned father to exist, and her mother would be the normal maternal figure in the group.
"Hey, hush, this has to be important, otherwise we would not be hearing it." The brunette woman gave her son a look.
"Thank you, Miss." Riley sighed. She went on to explaining who worked at the Night School and how none of us were human. None of the Daniels bought it at all until Riley transformed into a doe (as was one of her abilities as a Shapeshifter). Then it took some convincing from there to make them believe Megan and I weren't human, since we were unable outwardly show our inhumanity without our wings (or showing them our inhuman stamina, but it's not like I was about to tell them that I'd had their daughter pass out in bed before I was even tired). And honestly, I was a lot more afraid of their reaction to my sister kidnapping their daughter/sister than revealing the true nature of myself and Megan.
"So aside from the fact that my baby sister has been dating an alien, why does this matter right now?" Sawyer scowled.
"Not aliens. Just differently evolved." Riley stated, rubbing her eyes. "Megan and Hazel's species are born in a pattern of threes. In triplet sets. The eldest, that's Megan, is very emotionally versed and sympathetic. The second, Hazel, can be like ether of their siblings, and the third..." Riley sighed. "The third is apathetic. They are the perfect assassins and murderers because they literally feel nothing but animal urges." She shook her head slightly. "Megan and Hazel's youngest sister is named Alexa... And she... Has taken an interest in Hazel's life." She took a long pause. None of us were ready to hear it, even though I'm sure we all knew what was coming.
"We are using every resource at our disposal and every agent we can spare is being sent to recover her, but Alexa has taken Grace." My heart clenched desperately, making me want to scream out in agony and somehow let myself try to bring her back (probably by attacking everything near me, which I know is useless but it's an outlet). I knew I'd kill, without question or doubt, to bring her back safe.
"So... Our daughter has been kidnapped by a murderous sociopath all because she is involved with Hazel?" Mr. Daniels glared at me. Blaming me. And god it hurt. What if he wouldn't let me see Grace again? What if, even if we got her back, they kept her away from me? What of me could survive that? I didn't even care I had no idea why I was so invested in this, all I knew was whatever Grace and I had was hanging on Riley's abilities of persuasion and Grace's family's algorithms.
"Zel..." Megan leaned over and pulled me into her arms, letting my hurt whines escape into her muffling clothes. "None of this is Hazel's fault. She has done all she could to keep Grace safe."
"Clearly not enough." Sawyer hissed.
"I'm going to the lockdown room." I stated into Megan's neck before getting up and leaving, unwilling to bear any more blame and confusion. Especially the heartache. I couldn't take it.
Really, I don't know if I was more mad at myself for making all these mistakes in the first place, or for letting them get under my skin now. I was supposed to be able to take this kind of unfavorable disarray.
Regardless, I was mad. I was sad and mentally exhausted, but my muscles were tense with adrenaline and I was stating to feel my hold on myself slipping away into the complete din of internalized fury.
I slammed the door to the conference room and quickly made my way back to the chamber Megan and I were staying in. When I walked in, I hastily there the door shut and, knowing the room was soundproof, screamed out the bubble of rage in my throat. From there, I don't really remember moving, but I remember my cot had been hurled to the other side of the room and my knuckles were stinging irritatingly. Hissing, I made my way to the bathroom and began washing off the irritant. The water quickly ran red and I realized I'd probably punched the bomb-proof walls of my chamber a good few times with my bare hands. I hadn't had a flare like this since... Never, really.
I sighed, opening the cabinet above the sink and grabbing the first aid kit, wrapping up my bleeding hands with the bandage inside the box.
"Hazel, why would you repeatedly punch a wall built to withstand just about everything? What part of that seemed like a good idea to you?" I groaned internally. "Riley wanted me to keep an eye on you while everyone else finishes that debriefing." Micha, the source of the voice, called from outside my bathroom, probably looking over all the recent damage I'd done.
"Well, I'm fine. You can go away now." I growled, clenching and opening my fists, watching how my fingers moved for no real reason, not really bothering to pay attention to the pain they were in. It hurt but it's just... Why even care?
"Funny." Micha snorted. "You're stuck with me until I'm dismissed by someone outranking even the omnipotent Hazel Sinclair." I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm.
"Whatever." I growled back, marking back into the main room and going over to the cot I'd thrown, dragging it back to where it belonged before tying to put the bedding back together so Megan wouldn't know I'd had a meltdown. I knew she would, but for some reason I felt like cleaning up after myself would make it less burdensome.
"You're really off your game, aren't you?" The older girl's tone underwent a drastic and abrupt change from her snickering, metamorphosing into an oddly caring sort of solemnity. I growled at her and lay on my cot. "You know, honestly, I didn't expect this from you. I mean, sure; I know you care about Grace- a hell of a lot, too... But... To break the impenetrable walls of famous Academy Second... You really love her don't you?" I stiffened at the word.
I sighed.
"Alexa will not just leave her be. Grace isn't going to come back healthy... It's a question of whether or not she comes back alive if at all." I felt my eyes stinging with tears again. "Why the hell am I talking to you, Micha?" She shrugged and sat cross legged on the floor in front of me.
"What makes you think you don't love her?"
"I don't know. I would know if I was in love with her, wouldn't I?" I felt a tear breach my eye.
"Hm..." She scowled, reaching forward and wiping the cooling liquid off my face and onto her index finger, showing it back to me. "You're crying. You don't cry. You don't love. Maybe there's a connection here." She leaned back against an empty cot. "I'm completely convinced that you are madly in love with her and just don't know how to wrap your head around it. My advice? Don't worry about defining it. Your love is your love. Just do whatever it is emotionally attached Hazels do." She mused.
"How would you define love?" I asked for no real intent.
"Ah, that's your problem: not everything you need to know comes in a pretty equation with a bow on top. It's messy. The sooner you accept the utter chaos of mentality, the easier it is to understand people- really understand them." She chided.
"I asked for your definition, Micha, not the definition."
"You and your words, Hazel. If I paid close enough attention to notice those thing in everything you said, I'd've poisoned the nervous system around both my ears." She rolled her eyes. "But, as for your answer... Hm, I don't really care enough about definitions to give you one. It is what it is." She shrugged.
"Wait... Hey, aren't you Marley's girlfriend?" I jumped at the suddenness of the new voice. Normally I'd've noticed it, but I was too deep in thought to've done so.
"Mhm. Didn't expect to see you here so soon." Micha flicked a stray hair out of her line of sight.
"So... You're also, uh," the voice I knew belonged to Grace's brother tried to find the words. Odd. They seem pretty simple to me.
"Not human? No, no I am not human. Does Marley know? Yes. Does her family know? No. Do I also have a psychotic younger triplet sister hell bent on bloodlust? Yes, but not with as personal a problem with me as Hazel's seems to've had with hers. Do I also have a wonderful angel of an older triplet sister who is all sunshiny rainbowy unicorn barf? Yes, her name is Kayla." The older girl chuckled.
"Oh." He muttered.
"Speaking of Kayla, I should probably go tell her Megan has a deck of Apples to Apples and not enough people to play it with." Micha got to her feet in one swift motion, patting my leg in an awkward friendly gesture. "See you later, Zel." She added before stuffing her hands into her pockets and leaving the room. Now Grace's brother and I were the only ones left.
"So..." He began, uncomfortably making his way in front of me. My eyes followed his every move once he was in sight. "I'm, uh, sorry about earlier. Your sister kinda went on a whole rampage after you walked out. After she calmed down she told us about your history with that other sister of yours and how there really was nothing else you could have done."
"Oh. What did she tell you?"
"That there was some girl your sister was cheating on, and you faced her about it. How she killed the girl and you started to go separate ways... You refused to kill so you... You had your wings ripped off your body... And your sister still wants to play with you... God... Riley... She had a few pictures of you before, with your wings... And Megan showed us the scars she still has from when your sister killed the girl..." He breathed, "I can't believe you went through all that."
"But what does that have to do with your thoughts on Grace and I?"
"I thought it was like you could have done something to protect Grace... But I mean... You did what you could, right?"
"Definitely."
"And God, she absolutely loves you. Riley explained how you two were soulmates and everything and how you had never encountered emotions until like last year, and all those times we blamed you for being an utter bitch, you just didn't know any better and I'm sorry for misunderstanding." He scowled, his voice growing more and more confident and raw. "If she caught me being mean to you, I swear, she'd disown me." His voice started trembling and he clamped his eyes shut, a few tears falling.
"Why are you crying?" I tried to make my voice more gentle because I didn't want to seem as confused about his feelings as I really was.
"I really hope she's okay." He mumbled.
"Me too..." I replied. If I were Megan, I would have hugged him. But I didn't know how to. Hugging Grace was generally something I did intimately, something meant to physically bring us closer as well as emotionally, but I didn't want my chest pressing into Sawyer's like it did when I hugged Grace; I didn't want to put my arms around his waist and burry my face in his scent like I did with Grace; I didn't want his arms around my neck, or lips on my skin like Grace always did when she hugged me. I had no idea how to hug him in a way that wasn't romantic.
"She really, really loves you, you know," he chuckled, wiping his eyes and breathing in deeply. "She always smiles or blushes or gets a weird lovey look on her face when anyone talks about you. She'd be heartbroken if you didn't..." He looked up at me, "do you love her?" I swallowed. Well, how the fuck could I tell him I didn't know?! I didn't not love her... But I wasn't sure I was in love with her.
"Good. That's what I needed to hear." He was suddenly smiling a little.
"What?"
"That you love her." He nodded. "Don't be lying to me. And don't break my sister's heart or I swear, superhuman secret agent or not, I break you." He chuckled. Internally I was scowling because I didn't remember saying I was in love with Grace.
But then I had this weird moment when it all just clicked.
The chaos, the confusion, the warm, the sickness, the feelings...
Grace was the catalyst.
Grace was the reason I felt things I only felt around her.
And gone before I knew what the hell I was thinking, I knew it.
I was absolutely, irreparably, inexplicably, indefinitely, blindly, wholeheartedly in love with her.
I was fucking in love with Grace Daniels.
And I loved it.
[savor it........]
So... How's the weather?
Jk I'm so fucking happy. My little baby Hazel is growing up awwwwwww I need to start coming up with baby names....