It was a normal routine for Lyra and Zero. Get up in the mornings, get dressed, head over to breakfast, and eat with each other.
Lyra didn't mind it so much now. She had to be patient, she had to act like she's Zero's doll. She had to play by his rules.
Lyra would happily chat with him. She would tell him some memories in the past, happy ones. Zero happily listened to her, pouring some wine for himself.
In the past few days, Lyra had successfully made Zero talk. Just a few words, simple ones until he spoke to her freely.
"So how was your day?" Lyra asked eagerly.
Zero shrugged,"Good, I suppose." His voice was always deep, a bit rough as well.
Lyra gave him a smile. "What'd you do?"
"Stuff that you don't need to know." Zero said with a strained voice.
Lyra grumbled,"You're always so secretive. You're no fun at all."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" He asked her.
"I wanna go outside again!" Lyra immediately responded.
Zero narrowed his eyes at her through his mask. "No."
"What?"
"I cannot allow you to go outside."
"Why not?"
"It's raining. You'll catch a cold," he said.
"Can't I just take an umbrella?"
"No."
"A hoodie?"
"No."
"Can't I just stand outside the window and watch?"
"No."
"Then what else am I suppose to do?" Lyra whined at him. "I'm bored and I don't like being cooped up in my room."
"Don't ask me, I don't know what to play." Zero continued texting in his phone.
Lyra sighed and looked away. A game popped into her mind and she looked back at Zero. "What about hide and seek?"
"Too childish." He scoffed.
"Please? You're always away, the girls are always busy with chores, your men don't really speak to me. I'm bored and lonely." Lyra sighed.
If Cress and Sirena were with her, they would have played lots of games. Mostly Sirena since Cress would either read a book or do homework.
Zero turned off his phone and gave all of his attention to her. "You want me to play a game with you?"
"It's fine if you don't." Lyra shrugged at him.
"No, it's fine. Did you want to play hide and seek?"
"You're actually willingly to play that with me?"
"Whatever you want, I'll give it to you."
Whatever she wants? Lyra didn't really think he meant it, but she went along and believed him.
"Okay!" Lyra jumped up from the chair. "You're seeking! Count to thirty and try to find me, bye!"
Zero chuckled in amusement when she dashed off, trying to find some good hiding places in his spot. He rolled his eyes and counted to thirty then walked off to find her.
It didn't take very long for him to find Lyra, hiding in a dark corner with her in a crouched position. He slowly walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her tiny frame.
Lyra screamed, but it quickly died down when she realized he found her.
She groaned,"You found me already?"
"It wasn't even a minute yet." Zero released her and helped her to her feet. "Isn't it my turn to hide?"
"That wouldn't be fair."
"Hmm?"
"You know every place in this mansion, it'll be impossible for em to find you." Lyra said. "You can hide somewhere that's not too faraway, alright?"
Zero nodded and Lyra turned around, counting to thirty. When she looked back, Zero was gone of course.
Lyra started looking around for him in the nearest rooms, dark corners, even the hallways, but she couldn't find him. Lyra huffed in agitation, but still kept on checking the rooms.
"Okay! I give up!" She yelled.
Zero jumped out of nowhere and ticked her sides, making Lyra scream and laugh at the same time.
"S-Stop!" She continued laughing. "I h-hate it when p-people tickle m-me!"
Zero continued to tickle her until she fell on the ground, clutching her stomach. Zero was satisfied seeing her laugh and smile. He done his job in making her happy.
Zero helped Lyra up and held her closely to him. Lyra noticed how close they were and separated, clearing her throat.
Zero frowned, but ignored it. "What other game do you have in mind?"
"Uh," Lyra trailed off, thinking of some other type of game that they could play. "Checkers?"
"Sure."
—————
Crescent slapped Alaska's hand away. "Don't touch me!"
"I'm just trying to heal your cuts!" Alaska muttered incoherently. "Now stop being such a baby and hold still, Crescent Moon."
While Crescent was suffering from the alcohol to help her cuts, Sirena was gritting her teeth in pain as she tried to stretch her leg.
"It's always my damn bloody leg!" Sirena screeched. "Why? Tell me why Lord Jesus!"
"If it helps, use some bottled water as holy water and use that for your leg. Who knows, it could actually work some Godly magic and heal your leg," Alaska shrugged at Sirena.
"Ouch!" Cress exclaimed when Alaska accidentally touched her eyes, not watching what she was doing. "I was already temporarily blind! Do you want me to be blind forever?"
"Sorry." Alaska finished up and put away the first aid kit.
Cress leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, tiredness taking over her whole body.
The three of them were inside Alaska's apartment. It wasn't too small, but not too big either. It was very homely inside, minus the blood and the Troye Sivan music blasting throughout the room.
Alaska patted Cress on the head and grinned at her. "How do you feel?"
"Like crap." She answered. "Feed me something."
Alaska rolled her eyes before walking over to the fridge and grabbing a chocolate candy bar and throwing it at Cress, who had luckily caught it with one hand. If she hadn't, the chocolate bar would've hit her eyes, which Alaska would've laughed nonstop.
"Watch where you're throwing!" Cress glared.
"Oops?" Alaska shrugged at her and sat down besides Sirena.
Sirena looked over at Alaska,"So tell us, how'd you escape the fire?"
Alaska leaned back and sighed. "I guess I was just lucky. I didn't exactly know where I was going, but I just ended outside. I wanted to go back in and save everyone, but they were already dead. Burnt to crisp or either blown away from the bomb explosions."
"Zero sure loves bombs." Cress muttered, ripping the chocolate sheet off and taking a huge bite.
"He also loves Lyra." Sirena grumbled, obviously annoyed that Lyra was stuck with him.
"Why?" Alaska suddenly asked. "I mean, Lyra is bubbly and pretty and nice, but why is he so obsessed with her? It's like she's his most prized possession."
"Which she is," Cress took another bite.
"Don't ask us, we don't know a clue." Sirena waved it off dismissively. "I honestly don't even know when everything had started. It was just a normal day, having normal lives, then the next minute, we keep trying to run away from a psychopath."
Alaska sighed. "This is so confusing."
"You don't think Lyra will soon have Stockholm syndrome?" Sirena looked towards Alaska.
Cress choked on her chocolate, trying hard to swallow it and gasp for air. Alaska dashed towards the fridge and tossed the bottled water to Cress, who didn't catch it and it whacked her face.
Cress gave Alaska a death glare and chugged the water. She panted once she was done. "I will beat you!"
"I'm sorry, okay?" Alaska crossed her arms.
"Anyways, this is Lyra we're talking about." Crescent resumed as if nothing happened. "She forgives, but never forgets. Which practically means she's out for revenge for us. Probably thinks we're dead."
"Cress!" Sirena hissed.
"What? She probably thinks we're dead so she's probably plotting something to take down Zero. First, she'll have that innocent look that she always gives to everyone, then she strikes. No mercy indeed." Cress said before finishing the whole water bottle.
"Eh, that's true." Sirena said.
Alaska placed her chin on the palm of her hand. "How long was it when we last saw each other?"
"Probably five years," Cress replied. "Why?"
"Because you guys look so different now. Cress, you used to wear pink!" Alaska exclaimed. "And Sirena, you always used to stay home and do homework without Lyra and Cress."
That was true. Five years ago the girls had never really been friends. Sure, they might have talk to each other, but they only exchanged a few simple words for that matter. It wasn't until then Lyra had accidentally spilled some juice on Crescent's shirt, making her the laughing stock. But that wasn't where the juice only spilled though, it spilled on the floor where Sirena was walking by and that made her slip and fall.
Yup, good old memories.
"Wow, you surely remembered what we told you five years ago." Sirena said flatly. "I was such a geek."
"I was a lone wolf, which was really sad. I also wore lots of hoodies that made me look like a freak as well." Cress scowled. "If Lyra hadn't spilled her juice, who knows what would've happened?"
The girls probably wouldn't have become best friends.
Alaska leaned back. "Good old memories, huh? Painful ones as well?"
"You said it." Cress said. "Now, Alaska, do you have any clues on how to find Lyra?"
"You two don't?"
Sirena sighed,"Nope! We were both drugged to sleep and were thrown out of the car, I don't know where we even ended up at."
"New Cresthill." Cress said.
"Right, that place. Anyways, we have nothing to lead us to Lyra." Sirena finished.
"Well I might have an idea, but I still don't have it figured out yet." Alaska grumbled.
Cress leaned towards them. "What about our parents? You know anything that happened back home?"
"Your parents are freaking out. The three of your girls' parents." Alaska started. "They were expecting you three to come back home yesterday, but obviously you three are still here. Not to mention the pictures Zero had sent to them."
"Wait, what pictures? Of us?" Sirena pointed towards herself.
"Yeah, Zero took pictures of you three, all passed out and bloody. Well, Lyra wasn't the one that got stabbed, so her picture was decent enough." Alaska shrugged at them. "Back home, your parents are probably with the police as we speak. Soon, they might send some police over here or contact with the California police to come and search the whole state for you three. But considering that Zero is a manipulative genius, they won't track you three so easily. He'll keep Lyra beside him the whole time while he'll try to eliminate you two. And that means you two will have to run all over the state, the police won't even be near you, if they can try, Zero might kill them."
Cress raised an eyebrow,"You sure have changed as well. I don't remember you being this talkative and smart."
"Shut up." Sirena glared at her and turned to look at Alaska,"you have any information about Zero?"
"All I know is that he's probably with Lyra now. He's maybe playing games with her." Alaska replied. "You know how Lyra is, she gets too bored easily and wants to play something, even if that means hanging around with Zero."
"I wonder what she's doing right now," Crescent murmured.
—————
"I don't understand!" Lyra said with frustration. "How can you win checkers so easily?"
Zero and Lyra had been playing checkers for hours. Lyra had been trying to win, but he was always steps ahead of her.
"I've been playing checkers since I was young," Zero said as he cleared the checkers board. "It was the only entertainment I had."
"Really? What'd you always do when you were a kid?" Lyra asked him.
"Nothing much. I had to study for tests and all that crap."
"Language." Lyra scowled at him.
"Sorry." He neatly placed the game on a nearby shelf. "Are you hungry? Do you want anything?"
"Can we go to the kitchen?" Lyra asked hopefully. She had a sudden idea that popped in her head.
"Follow me."
Lyra made sure she didn't look that overjoyed to have a snack, but she practically grabbed Zero's arm and linked his with hers. She was in a rush to get to the kitchen.
Zero was a bit stiff when she was walked very close to him on the way, a bit flushed. It was a good thing that he had his mask on, otherwise she's see how his cheeks were tinted pink.
Once they got inside the kitchen, Lyra let go of his arm and checked inside for anything that she could cook.
"Is there anything you want me to prepare?" She called over her shoulder.
"No, I'm fine." He answered quietly.
"Okay then, what about-" Lyra was cut off short when the all the lights went off.
Lyra couldn't see a thing, so she stayed still in her spot. "Zero?"
"Damn it! We had a blackout." Zero cursed. He carefully walked over to Lyra and reached inside his pocket, handing her a small flashlight.
The flashlight shone brightly as she frowned. "Did you say blackout?"
"Stay here, don't move." He said then ran out of the room, checking to see what happened.
Perfect. This was the perfect opportunity for Lyra. Lyra quickly checked all of the drawers and cabinets, passing all the food and utensils. Then she finally found a little pocket knife inside a drawer. She mentally danced in her head as she tucked it into her pocket safely.
She could attack Zero with this and hopefully escape. Was it worth the risk? Well, he had been treating her nicely, plus she would forever be guilty for actually hurting someone.
Lyra was about to exit the room when Penelope and Katerina dashed inside, grabbing her.
"Hey! What's going on?" Lyra demanded.
"We have to leave Mistress," Katerina said urgently. "The police are here, we have to go!"
The police! They can rescue her! All she needed to do was escape from the two girls and hopefully find the police.
Although, their grips were too strong.
"Wait! Where's Zero?" She frantically asked. She didn't know why she was scared for him, she didn't even really like him! Or maybe she did, but it wasn't the time to think about it.
"The master is dealing with them. Hurry! We have to go!"
The girls ran through the halls, desperately trying to avoid the police. When Lyra looked back, she saw about seven of Zero's men, following them. Did Zero have to make sure she was safe?
"Stop right there!" A man shouted at them with some of his friends. "This is the police! Release the girl!"
In a flash, Zero's men raised their guns and started shooting the police. They had dodged the billets luckily, but they started shooting as well.
"Go! Escort her out!" One of them urged to Katerina.
"Not on my watch!" The policeman said as he raised his gun at Katerina.
For a moment, everything stopped then went forward slowly. Lyra had pushed Katerina out of the way, taking the bullet for herself instead of Katerina.
Lyra then was suddenly on the ground, the side of her stomach bleeding profusely. Her clothes that were once clean were now soaked in red.
"No!" Penelope dropped down to her knees and grabbed Lyra. "No, no, no!"
"Hurry and escort her out!" He told the girls once again.
Katerina and Penelope grabbed Lyra and carried her out carefully, avoiding the bullets.
Lyra's eyes felt heavy and she just wanted to sleep. Besides the numbness at the side of her stomach, everything was painful for her.
She didn't know how or when, but they ended up inside the car. Lyra was being handed over to another. She thought it was one of the other girls, but it turns out it was Zero.
Zero didn't hesitate to take off his jacket, revealing the grey colored, long sleeved shirt he had on. He wrapped it around Lyra's wound and held her tightly as the car drive off, leaving his old mansion.
"Where are we going?" Lyra asked hazily.
"Somewhere far, far away where no one will find you again." Zero whispered to her. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there to protect you."
"Take me back," she struggled to get up. "T-They're going to take me back."
Her mind was going in a state of shock. The bleeding had slowed down, but the pain was still there. All Lyra could ever think was her friends. She needed them with her, she missed them.
Zero's voice hardened as he spoke. "You don't need to think about anyone else right now, especially your friends. They're dead. You should've let Katerina take the bullet instead of you!"
Lyra shook her head slowly in disagreement. Although she had hoped that her friends were still out there looking for her, a large amount of her believed that they were dead because of Zero.
Lyra still had some strength in her to take out the knife and stab Zero, but she realized something truly sad.
Zero was all she had left, whether or not she accepted it.
Lyra closed her eyes and and dropped her head against Zero.
He shook her slightly, "Don't you dare close your eyes. Once we get over to my other place, you can sleep all you want after we check out your wound. But not now, just hold on for a little longer, please?"
She hated him. But considering the fact that he had done so much for her, she couldn't.
Lyra responded with a small grumble before throwing her head back and falling asleep in his arms.
—————
As I had promised to my good friends, here's the next chapter. Don't forget to read my other books as well!