SEVEN: BETTER DAYS
FEBRUARY 11
KATE DIAMOND
"HE'S SUCH A SELF-RIGHTEOUS, egotistical, arrogant, pretentious son of a—"
Right as Kate took her seat in her Botany class, her sister leaned forward in her seat and began rattling off a long list of unpleasantries. Wil was almost through a full breath's worth when Kate held up a hand and asked,
"Who are we talking about?"
"Our brother," Wil said as if it should have been obvious. "Not one week on the throne and he's already trying to undo everything Dad did. Some of his best policies, too! Like the NVAA! What the hell kind of good is abolishing the Non-Violent Amnesty Act going to do? He'll Banish half the Realm for crimes equivalent to copying homework."
Kate was still confused. "What are you talking about?"
Wil reached around Kate's shoulder and dropped an open copy of WoMWeekly on the desk. The article she was reading covered Leo's first week as King—a scathing review, to say the least.
"None of this is even confirmed, Wil," Kate said and closed the magazine before returning it to her sister. "It's all rumors. Why don't you call him? There's this thing called a phone and if I recall correctly, you got a new one on Christmas. So talk to him. Find out for yourself."
"Oh I tried," said Wil with a touch of resentment in her voice. "But the new King is apparently too good to take his own sister's calls. So until he tells me otherwise, he is a self-righteous, egotistical, arrogant, pretentious son of a bitch."
Kate took out her notebook so she was ready when class would begin (they were a few minutes early) and then began playing with the texture of her new, shorter 'do. "You do realize half of those are synonyms for each other, don't you?"
"You do realize your new haircut makes you look like a contestant on The Bachelor, don't you? And not one of the front-runners. You're the girl with the squeaky voice that says annoying shit but probably gives good head so she sticks around."
Kate snickered. "You're mean."
Wil stuck her tongue out and then giggled. "I'm embracing my inner Chamberlain."
That was the first time Kate had ever heard her say that name. Chamberlain. As in Bernadette Chamberlain. As in Wil's biological mother who was not Kate's biological mother despite the seventeen years they (and the rest of the Three Realms) believed they were twins. Saying that name during the holidays was what caused a massive argument between Wil and the Queen. Wil had demanded to meet her birth mother and Clarion vehemently objected. Kate understood her mother's hesitation but she also felt for her sister. All she wanted was to know her mother.
"It was a joke," Wil said after a minute and her brows pinched together. She leaned back in her seat and folded her arms across her chest. "You don't have to get all quiet and weird."
Kate tried to smile but it was forced and crooked.
Wil giggled again. "Well now you look like one of those robot dolls that smiles and laughs, only with crappy batteries so it's all slow and warped and broken."
Kate tried not to glare. "Where's your boyfriend?" she asked because when Sir Oliver was around, Wil tended to be a bit more pleasant.
"On a trip to some children's hospital. He'll be back soon."
"Good. Then you can verbally abuse him."
Wil rolled those emerald eyes of hers. "I thought you'd be happy. I'm back to the Old Wil again. I'm adjusted and handling my shit."
Kate snorted through a laugh, checking around the room to make sure the few other students who were early to class weren't eavesdropping.
"You're not handling your shit," she said, almost laughing again. "You're not adjusted. This isn't you adjusting. You're deflecting. You're using sarcasm and cynicism as defense mechanisms because you're afraid to face it all. You're not handling anything. But no. Go on. Pretend you're adjusted and handling your shit. We both know you're full of it."
Wil's face scrunched. "Now who's the mean one?"
Kate shrugged. "Still you."
As Wil continued to pout, Kate saw Chloe Lawson enter the room, wearing a different variation of the same outfit she'd been wearing since the holidays—leggings and an oversized sweater. It was the only combination that successfully disguised her growing baby bump. Speculation about her pregnancy had been swirling around the school but Chloe hadn't addressed any of it. She wasn't confirming anything or denying anything—a trick she must have picked up from her roommate.
"Hey," Wil said and Chloe sat beside them—a seat that belonged to Xavier Fallon, the baby's father who had no idea he was someone's baby's father. "I read about you," Wil threw the tabloid over to her and it landed on the desk. "New pictures are out of you and the Beast Tamer at the reception."
Chloe's chocolate eyes widened for a second like they did whenever she was worried but they quickly returned to their normal, slightly larger than average, size.
"That would explain why everyone's been staring today," she said, sinking further into the chair. She poked at the magazine like she was considering opening it but didn't want to be caught staring at pictures of herself.
"People have been staring for weeks," Wil said, chuckling. "You're with child."
Chloe ignored her and reached into her pocket for her phone. As she checked the messages, the look in her eyes changed to one much more serious. Something unsettled and worried.
"You okay?" Kate asked and Chloe's frown deepened.
"I, um—I'm not sure," she answered, holding her phone with one hand and her belly with the other.
"What's wrong?" Wil asked, alert and concerned. "Is it the baby? Are you in pain?"
"N—No," Chloe answered, shaking her head. "It's fine. I'm fine. It's... It's my brother." She looked up suddenly. "I think he's about to do something really stupid."
"What do you mean?" Wil asked and Kate recognized that urgency in her sister's voice. It was the kind that only came around whenever Damon was in trouble—which, for the record, was often.
Chloe looked back at her phone.
"H—He was trying to figure out a way to help your dad and he told me about a box under a loose floorboard in his loft and the spell I'd need to open it."
"I don't understand," said Kate because Wil was too busy dialing Damon's phone number to speak. "Something in the box is going to help our dad?"
"N—No," Chloe replied, frantically swiping on her phone in search of answers. "The box is where he keeps all the important papers. Financial stuff. Legal stuff. He told me about it because he wanted me to know in case—" Her voice caught in her throat.
"In case something happens to him," Kate finished for her and as she did, Wil jabbed the end key on her phone and redialed his number.
"I—I have to go," Chloe said. "I think my brother's about to do something really stupid and I have to stop him."
CHLOE RACED OFF TO FIND her brother before class began and because she wouldn't be able to focus on anything else while she waited for news, Wil went with her. Once they were gone, class began and Kate stayed behind, learning about Balm of Gilead and bayberry. (Mrs. Truly was on an ABC's kick and was going through their glossary of herbs alphabetically. It was taking much longer than anyone had anticipated.) By the time Botany was over, Kate couldn't find either Chloe or Wil and neither girl was answering their phones. If she didn't know they were with Damon, she would have been worried.
After Botany was Premonitions with Madam Selena where Kate completed a vocabulary test (she aced it). On the walk to the Dining Hall for dinner afterwards, Kate met up with Nicole, Liam and Drew who hovered just outside the double doors. When she joined them, she heard them talking about the same thing everyone in the Realm was talking about. The Doctor.
"We can't do that, Nicole," Liam was saying when Kate arrived. "We have no idea what kind of magical tech he has access to. The second we try to trace him, it could lead him right to us."
"Liam's right," said Drew. "This guy is hunting Alties. The last thing we want is to put ourselves on his radar so we can disappear like Bess or Dave or Monty. He doesn't know what we are and as long as we keep it that way, we'll be safe."
"I hardly think anyone in this Realm is safe," Kate offered, lowering her voice so only they could hear. "Sure, Beast sightings are down but people are disappearing left and right. We have no idea what this guy is capable of."
"Exactly. Because we have no idea who this guy is," argued Nicole. "I say we use the arrows. See if we can catch some kind of trace on them and track him down."
"We already tried that," Liam reminded her, since months ago Phoebe Domingo suggested the very same thing. "Levi said the only thing they could trace off the arrows were the victims and what good is that when they're just bodies? This guy is good. He's not going to leave even a hint of his own magic for us to track him down."
"Well we have to try something," urged Nicole. "It's been months and things are only getting worse."
"Let me talk to Fi," said Drew, his olive eyes flickering around in search of her. It was no use. She slipped out of class the second she finished her vocabulary test and hadn't been seen since. "She's been working with her Shadow Magic. Maybe she can figure out a way to track him down."
"She's using Shadow Magic?" Nicole asked him and the two continued their conversation, walking into the Dining Hall.
Kate and Liam hovered by the doors outside and she pushed a lock of her short new hair out of her face. Her light blue eyes flickered to his. They were smiling.
"Hey pretty girl," he said and took her hand in his, holding it gingerly. "How are you?"
Kate shrugged and leaned her back against the wall. "I'd be better if I knew something good was about to happen. Like all of these missing people would turn up alive and normal. Or my dad would wake up. Or my sister would answer my calls. I just—"
She stole her hand away from Liam and pushed her hair back again, that time with a deep breath.
"I just really need something good to happen."
And just like that, Liam wrapped his hand around the back of her head and tilted her chin up. He lowered his mouth down to hers and kissed her. It was the kiss that made her weak in the knees and made her chest flutter until she swore she couldn't breathe. But it was a good breathless. A welcomed breathless. The kind of breathless that only came after a really, really good kiss.
"What about that?" he asked afterwards, his breath against her face. "Was that something good?"