Talk was not what Braelynn usually assumed was a scary word.
She was talkative herself- chatting animatedly to anybody about everything. And girl talk was a living definition of the conversations she had with her mom at dinner (to which Tam turned away pointedly.)
But the way Jocelyn said it, sent chills down her spine- especially when she saw the sparks crackling on her fingertips.
"Um... okay," Braelynn gulped, scooting away from the Charger as inconspicuously as possible.
"You're probably wondering why I saved your butt."
"Genius."
"Long story."
"I have time."
"That I'm not telling you," Jocelyn added forcefully.
"You said we were going to talk."
"I meant you were going to talk to me," Jocelyn corrected, pulling her hood over her raven-black hair and raising an eyebrow. "You want to tell me why you're decades too young for this time?"
Braelynn sighed; at this point, she should just write down an official script and recite it whenever somebody asked the question. She managed to try and condense it into a hasty two minute rant- and Jocelyn was a miraculously amazing listener.
"You know what's going on, right?" Braelynn asked hopefully, studying her expression closely.
"I have an-"
Braelynn froze, tuning her out. Jocelyn stopped talking at the exact same time.
"What?"
Braelynn held up a hand, closing her eyes. The noise faded to a steady hum. Something was wrong. This didn't feel... normal...
"We need to go," Braelynn whispered, standing up and wrapping her cloak tighter around her.
"How do you know?"
"I do," Braelynn told her shortly, pulling her hair behind the hood and offering the Charger a hand. "Somebody's coming."
"I really doubt-"
"Stop being stubborn," Braelynn hissed, pulling her up. "Follow me."
How did she know? Something just felt... wrong. Really, really wrong. Not a person... but...
Jocelyn stared at her and reluctantly followed her through the trees. Whenever she felt the feeling fade, Braelynn closed her eyes and felt the hum buzz through her all over again.
"Hurry," Braelynn ordered, beginning to run. 'They're coming!"
"Who's 'they?'" Jocelyn demanded, hurrying to catch up.
Pfffft!
"What was that?" they asked together, freezing on cue.
Braelynn spun around, very, very slowly. Painfully slow.
Pffffft! Burp!
"Where- GAH!"
Braelynn whipped around to see a tiny, colorful ball of fur leaping onto a shrieking Jocelyn, climbing over her face and making the same, painstakingly loud pfffft! noise. The furball writhed on top of her body right as Jocelyn screamed again and toppled onto the grass, rolling around frantically and shouting, "Get it off!"
Braelynn was too busy laughing.
"Iggy! Get off of her! She's a good guy!" Braelynn yelled, hurrying over to extract Sophie's pet imp from Jocelyn's face.
Iggy let out another loud burp; Braelynn coughed, setting him down on the grass.
"What is that thing?!" Jocelyn demanded tremulously, waving a shaking finger at the rainbow-colored ball of fur. "It's a... a...alive?"
"Of course!" Braelynn said brightly, picking up the imp gently and shoving it into Jocelyn's arms. "His name's Iggy. Say hi!"
Iggy responded with yet another fart that sent Jocelyn doubling over, coughing until she choked.
"Aw, you're a cute little guy," Braelynn cooed, rubbing her finger through his fur lovingly. "Who else- aw, you brought a friend!"
Bullhorn, Elwin's pet banshee, was scurrying closer behind him.
Jocelyn looked traumatized, scrambling away from them on her butt.
"Don't be such a scaredy-" Braelynn broke off as the Charger sent her a murderous glare.
"Come on. Leave the pets. We need to get out of here," Jocelyn grumbled, scrambling to her feet.
"No way!" She picked up the two adorable creatures and put them on either shoulder. "See? They're cute!"
Iggy farted again.
"I...."
Braelynn raised an eyebrow.
"Fine," Jocelyn relented. "Just keep the imp-"
She glared at Iggy, who responded with another burp.
"Come on," Jocelyn growled, looking so disgruntled that Braelynn barely bothered to argue.
For a few moments, they walked in silence.
Tell my father I said hello...
"Jocelyn?" Braelynn asked quietly, barely able to bring herself to ask the unspeakable question. "What happened... what happened to Arella's dad?"
Jocelyn's face fell and she suddenly became unconvincingly interested in her fingernails. "He's..."
She glanced at her, biting her lip too hard to finish.
But Braelynn could tell what it meant.