After Eira's parents had left to go for a walk at the lake — which Eira shuddered at the request and refused to go along — the picnic table only had Skyler, Jess, and Eira seated on it.
Skyler and Jess threw her sly looks, but Eira was genuinely confused, "What are you two doing?"
"When did you two start dating?" Jess played with her braids that fell gently on her shoulder.
Eira was instantly silenced as her brain flicked through everything that had the tag of 'love' in it. The search results came up with something she didn't quite expect. So she instantly deleted the results and spluttered, "W-What?"
Skyler raised a brow, "don't act dumb, honey. We know what you did."
Eira rolled her eyes and giggled, "I clearly don't, so please elaborate, will you?"
Jess shook her head and laughed.
Jess, a childhood friend, survived school drama together, and they were unstoppable, but there was more to expect from them. Ever since Jess discovered her floral powers, she was introduced to their team Phoenixia.
Skyler was a member of Phoenixia, and her mist control allowed her team to give attacks into the enemies base without being exposed into the wild for their enemies to spot.
Skyler narrowed her grey eyes and she smiled, "You and Jason."
Eira's smile faltered, her expression blank. She wiggled on the garden bench, uncomfortable about the conversation.
"We're not dating."
Jess raised her brows and tilted her head, clearly questioning her. But Skyler waved her off and continued her theory.
"Jason has never, ever put so much effort and care into a girl before!" Skyler exclaimed, her arm in the air to emphasise the importance. Eira was blushing, but she covered it with a laugh.
"Are you saying this because he took care of me?" Eira chuckled.
Jess sat up straighter after being pointed and acknowledged by Skyler, "Jess saw... the way he looked at you, talked to you when you were in a coma!"
Skyler nudged Jess, hard. Jess quickly nodded innocently.
Eira pursed her lips and downcast her eyes. She was hesitant to ask, but she had to know. What had happened? How had she survived? These question repeated back and forth in her mind like a broken tape.
In the day and in the night, there was not one moment where her thoughts wouldn't turn around to go back to the mystery. She thought she was dead, the moment she had closed her eyes.
That frightening moment when she saw Jason's shaken figure blur away from her vision. The moment when she thought she would never see him again.
She breathed in some courage and did her best to act casual, "actually... I was going to ask. What happened?"
Jess' body turned rigid, Skyler's expression was unnatural. They looked at each other, hoping one of them would come up with a solution to deal with Eira's questioning. But Jess' green eyes only showed blankness.
"Guys..." Eira pressured.
Jess' lips went into a line. "Eira, it's not that we don't want to tell you. We know little of the details as well-"
"But I know little to almost nothing!" Eira raised her voice. Skyler was taken aback but softened her expression.
"I have the right to know." Eira's last words came down to a whisper. She saw Skyler giving in. Eira almost wanted to smirk, she had placed down the last card - and it worked.
Jess nodded, "from what we know, he carried you to your parents' house. We made it to the house as soon as we can, only to find Jason outside in the cold, waiting."
"His hands were covered in blood..." Jess' muttered and glanced down, clearly recalling the moment.
Skyler continued, "Your mother was very emotional, your father was rather calm but he showed a repel against Jason, especially when your mother was breaking down after seeing..."
Eira bit her inner cheek, "me?"
Skyler nodded.
Jess' green eyes swirled into a darker colour, her eyebrows tensed together. There was something in her eyes. Fear.
"You looked..." She shook her head, "almost lifeless. It was the chest movements that only proved that you were alive.
Skyler spoke again, "The healers came. Jason persuaded your mother to let us all in. After that, the healers finally managed to heal your wound and they left, but Jason didn't..."
Skyler's voice quietened, "You slept for a long time. You got stabbed, hard. Your parents wanted an explanation but Jason didn't give one."
"Didn't give one?" Eira furrowed. Why did Jason conceal?
"Well, he did... sort of." Skyler winced, "he said he made it to the scene after you were stabbed by something. Mr. Evan's stabbed you, didn't he?"
Jason lied? Eira thought in shock.
Her expression must've revealed too much because Jess instantly sensed something.
"Is that not what happened?"
Eira even cursed at the fact that Jess knew her too well - that was bad.
"No." Eira quickly recovered, "it just... brings back too many memories."
The two girls all fell for it.
"Jason would come everyday to check on you. He would bring one of us along, just to assure your parents that he is to do you no harm," Skyler sighed, rubbing her hands together. Eira's frown deepened.
Before everything had happened, Jason had put down his pride, his self-esteem to apologise to her. They never predicted things would go so wrong. Eira breathed in deeply. How much stress and weight did he have to carry?
"He wasn't fine." Jess' next words stunned Eira completely. Was it the sun? Too much warmth and outdoors that suddenly made something jerk inside Eira? When was Jason not fine? Even when he isn't, usually he should've covered it up nicely.
"I've never seen him so broken before," Skyler glanced to the ground, recalling yet again, her memories.
"He was untidy. Since when was Jason untidy?"
Eira shook her head, unable to imagine Jason's dispirited, dishevelled look.
"He was 'normal' again when you were awake," Skyler said.
Eira clearly remembered how Jason looked when she first opened her eyes. The blurry image slowly coming clear, like the ripples of the water clearing to let the reflection settle. It was a fire burning logs, turning an amber trail between carvings to reveal it's true beauty behind the smokes.
When she looked carefully, everyone she loved was surrounding her. It was quite overwhelming to witness, but she looked at Jason first.
The big dark bags under his eyes showed how much nights he had stayed with the healers to help out. But his smile caused his eyes to narrow and Eira must've seen it wrong, but Jason looked like he had tears pricking his eyes.
Before Eira could say anything, her mother had rushed forwards, pushing Jason behind and everyone else out the door... out of Eira's vision.
"As for what actually happened..." Jess' voice cut Eira out of her thoughts, "no one knows..."
Eira looked at her, confused and worried. She must know what happened during those times when she was sleeping in peaceful slumber.
Skyler nudged her and that pulled Eira out of her thoughts.
"Now do you admit that you two have been dating each other?"
Eira inhaled deeply, "we are not dating each other."
Jess leaned forwards, her hands placed on the table, hugging each other, "well you have to admit that he cares about you... a lot."
Eira bit her lower lip and looked away, her cheeks red.
"Oh look! She's blushing!"
Eira moved away from Skyler, "I don't want to talk about this. It's... confusing."
Skyler shook her head and cheered, "someone is in loveeeee!!!"
Jess chuckled and Eira widened her eyes, astonished.
"Jess! You too?"
"It gives everyone a laugh!"
They erupted into laughter and birds departed from the trees and flew over their heads.
"I heard something is wrong with Gataria," Eira paused her laughter.
Skyler groaned, "we can't keep anything away from you, can we?"
Eira shrugged, "I guess not."
Skyler sighed and inhaled, "they say the humans are getting suspicious and they have passed an order saying that any Ryder, half or not, will get arrested if they are spotted."
Eira gasped, "What?"
Jess nodded, her seriousness returning. "We all have to be careful."
Jess stretched out her hand and all of them clutched onto each other for comfort. Eira frowned, "what are we going to do?"
Skyler smiled, "you? Stay at home and recover."
Eira pulled her hand away and stretched her arms apart, "But I'm fine!"
"No, you're not!" Jess exclaimed, "you were so injured I thought we would've lost you!"
Eira's smile weakened. "Fine. My parents wouldn't agree anyways..."
Jess sighed in relief and Skyler chuckled, "Jess' your second mother."
"Oh, we take of each other," Jess playfully grinned.
Eira couldn't keep her grin on her face, worry slowly seeped in. If Gataria wasn't safe, then her home would be at stake. What would they do to her if they knew she was a Ryder? Would she be taken away from her parents? Other than that, what is happening to Jason?