I woke up in my room, staring at the ceiling. Kayla and Undine sat cross-legged on the floor. Guinevere had flipped the desk chair and sat in it straddle-style, tapping her fingers impatiently amidst the conversation. Agatha stood stalk still in the doorway, and Edda leaned on the wall beside her. There was someone else too; a dark-skinned girl with frizzy gold hair and green eyes sprawled on the floor.
“I think they were demons.” Kayla announced. Edda rolled her eyes. “That;s ridiculous, Kayla.” She snapped.
“Well they sure sounded like demons, didn’t they?”
“What did they look like again?” Asked the dark-skinned girl. Kayla slammed her fist on the floor. “Like demonic hellbeasts!” She said with a grinn. Undine smacked her arm. “They did not!” She squeaked.
“They had glowing. Red. Eyes.”
I coughed and sat up. “No, they didn’t”
Everyone froze, except for Gwen. “Welcome back from the dead, Flowers!” She giggled. “You’ve been out for a couple of hours.”
I grunted and propped myself up. “You’re awful perky for someone who almost died a couple of hours ago.” Gwen laughed. “I think you almost died more than me. Thanks for protecting me from the creepy guys, by the way.”
I looked around and pointed at the girl on the floor. “You’re new.”
She sat up. “Nice to meet you, too?”
Undine straightened her posture. “That’s Harriet. She’s from the city.” The girl let out a slight humph. “Don’t call me Harriet, though. It’s a stupid name and I hate it.”
“What should we call you, then?”
She thought for a moment, then said, “how about Chastity? It’s my middle name.” “Is it okay if I call you Cass?” I asked, and she nodded.
“Okay, circling back to the freakin lightning.” Kayla interrupted. “Will you pleeeeeease teach me how to do that? I wanna zap people!” I shook my head. “We’re not hurting anyone, Kayla. I don’t know how I did it and I doubt I’d tell anyone if I did.”
Kayla made puppy eyes. “Not even me?”
“Especially not you.” Edda snapped.
I huffed and turned back to Cass. “So, are you one of the five older or the five younger?” Cass grinned. “Smooth transition, Zappy. And actually, I’m the same age group.”
“So they brought in everyone else, huh?” Cass shook her head. “Actually, they’re going one at a time through the city, since it’s too big to call everyone forward at once, and too complicated to explain in a letter.” She bounced to her feet. “I’m surprised they found me first, though. I do pride myself in being difficult to find.”
“They didn’t have any trouble with explaining that I remember.” Edda noted. Agatha gave a small grunt. “That’s because they hardly explained anything.” She murmured.
Cass shrugged. “Well… sorry to hear it?”
“When are the other girls coming?”
“They should have a few more by tonight.”
I took a deep breath and slumped. “Tonight. Okay.”
Edda snorted. “Worried they’ll steal your boyfriend?” she asking in a taunting voice. I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have a boyfriend, Edda. you if anyone made sure of that.”
Edda stretched to her full height. “Oh, I dunno. You seemed pretty chummy with the prince.”
I blushed. “So? Marcus is my friend.”
“Your red face isn’t exactly helping that argument.” Kayla pointed out. I glared at her. “Who’s side are you on?” she shrugged. “I like to think I'm on my own.”
“You’re probably hoping to marry him, aren’t you?” Edda snapped. Getting closer, acting friendly… you’re trying to make him like you. You’re forcing his love.”
I glared at her. “Even if I was, why should you care? It’s not like you would know what love is.”
Gwen huffed. “Liliad, you don’t mean that.”
“Of course I do!” I cried. “I’m just so sick of this!” I turned on Edda. “You always do this. You’re always so awful and then blame everyone else. Well, newsflash- nobody likes you.”
“Oh, please. Are we sure you’re even sane? Your like a ticking time bomb. We all saw that, didn’t we-“
“SHUT UP!” I yelled. “You don’t know anything about me!”
“Oh and you know everything about me, right?”
“Stop it, the both of you!” Undine whimpered. Kayla pulled her a little closer. Cass looked around nervously, as if trying to find an escape route.
“Yeah, why don’t you just stop it?” Edda sneered. “Everyone knows you’re terribly sad about your mum and all, but you don’t need to milk it.”
“Don’t bring my mother into this.” I growled.
“Why not? What are you planning to do, electrocute me?” She laughed. “You wouldn’t dare. You’re mom never wanted you to hurt anyone, remember?”
I stood up. “You sick, twisted piece of work-“
Agatha moved then, faster than I thought she could have, to stand behind Edda. “Don’t do this.” The hissed. “Don’t, don’t, you know it’s terrible. You know how awful you’re being. You know.”
Edda yanked herself away from Agatha’s touch. “You can’t even control it, can you? That’s why you haven’t zapped me yet. You couldn’t hurt me if you tried.”
She was wrong.
She was so, so wrong.
Because I could feel it- I could already feel it.
All that boiling rage, exactaly the way it was before.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I said, standing up. My knees shook. Keep it in. You can bash her head into a wall, just… keep it in.
“Oh please, you can hardly even stand right.” She laughed again. “You’re weak, Stoneheart.”
Keep it in, keep it in, keep it in, keep it in, keep it in-
“Did you hear me?”
Keep it in keep it in keep it in keep it in keep it in
“I said you’re weak.”
In, in, in, in, in, in, in-
No.
No no no no-
This time was worse. So much worse. This time it hurt. This time it burned.
This time I screamed. I couldn’t see what happened. I heard screams and I knew they were mine, and then Undine’s and Kayla’s and Gwen’s and Cass’s.
I hear Edda shriek, and it felt like the most beautiful sound in the world. Let her suffer, let her hurt.
I saw, just for a moment, a flash of blinding white light and felt the wind knocked out of my chest. my vision went out. I could hear crackling, I could feel the heat-
And then it was over, and everyone was running down the hallway, and i was alone.
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