ALLIUM
Sunlight trickled into the room and burned my eyes. I muttered sleepily to myself and pulled the grey curtains close. The room was immersed in darkness as I gulped down the glass of water on my bedside table. Despite the fact that I was panties and a tank top, I was drenched in sweat.
Grey walls, grey bed, black sheets, grey furniture. I had to agree that my room at the Thatcher's vacation house suited my tastes perfectly. I looked thoughtfully at my bedroom door. I hadn't read any of the journals. I didn't want to do it. It felt like an invasion of privacy especially reading the journals with the names of my closest friends on it.
I sat on the bed and thought for a minute, they all needed to be here with me. They needed to see it. I shot a quick text to the group chat and tried to mend my broken sleep.
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I pulled the door to the ice cream shop open. It was so cold in the shop. The a/c was in full blast. I had an army of ice cream loving animals coming over. I had to stock up on the ice cream. I picked up six bowls of ice cream and waited in line to pay.
Why were there so many people at an ice cream shop anyways?
There was only one attendant too.
I blew out an annoyed breath. I hated waiting in queues. When I got to the front of the line, I felt the air rush out of my lungs and my heart stopped for a minute. I knew that feeling and I hadn't felt it in nine years.
I spun around. My eyes landed on an older woman at the entrance of the shop.
I hadn't used magic in a while but the black smoke swirling around her were hard to miss. Just like nine years ago but the smoke was black not ice blue.
"Here." I quickly placed my items on the counter and handed my credit card to the sales girl. "I'll be right back" I rushed without taking my eyes off the woman.
The strong urge to speak to her pumped my legs faster as I run after her.
She was fast for an old woman.
Too fast. She definitely wasn't human.
Her dark eyes and cruel smile should have scared me but it hadn't. I dashed after her, following her cloaked figure until she stopped at the parking lot and faced me.
I gasped at the black pools of eyes that stared back at me. "Are you the new recruit?" the old lady sneered, her cruel smile still in place.
"Excuse me" I frowned.
"The others did not survive. What makes you think you will?" her voice sounded like two people speaking.
"I don't know the kind of theatrics you're putting on but I'm not in the mood. So quit the bullshit and answer my questions" I hissed. She had to know something about Hansel.
The first time I run into shadow shifter in nine years is shortly after Hansel's death. It could not be a coincidence.
"You really do not know what I speak of" she scowled.
"You must have walked out of a mental institution of some kind" I muttered under my breath. "No. Lady. I do not know what you speak of" I rolled my eyes. Of course this shadow shifter was mad too.
"I was worried but I'm certain now. You will not thrive and Absalon will fall with you" she cackled.
My eyes flashed a bright golden color before I grabbed the woman by her neck and spoke in a voice that was not mine." Absalon will thrive. On your blood. We will build it on your bones if we have to". The old lady choked and struggled against my hold.
"You do not know the terror I am bringing to your people. When I am done with you, you will wish you died during the grey wars" I hissed and dropped her on the ground.
Hands held me tight and the fog cleared from my head as I struggled against the hold of my friends.
"Allium" Grayson hissed.
"I told you not to self-destruct and you try to strangle an old lady" Lyra whacked my head.
"Strangle her?" I snapped. "We were only talking" I couldn't remember anything from after I followed her to the parking lot and called her mad.
The old woman stood to her feet and waddled away but I did not miss that unnerving smile on her face.
She was a shadow shifter alright. She was a different breed--one I knew nothing about.
I huffed, shrugging off my friends as they walked too close to me for comfort.
"You had the old lady hanging in the air with only one hand. When did you get that strong anyways? Have you been practicing?" Grayson asked.
Lyra elbowed him, glaring. She thought he was encouraging whatever I did back there. Whatever I couldn't remember.
"It's not a question of strength. Don't be stupid. Why were you strangling that old lady in the first place? And we swore not to practice"
"I don't know" I whispered. "And I have not been practicing"
I hurried into the shop to grab my items while my friends waited for me outside.
The shop attendant grabbed my hand before I could leave. I frowned at her hand. "How long are you staying?" she asked nervously.
"I don't know and I don't think it concerns you either" I gritted, snatching my hand out of her grip.
People were just so fucking irritating today.
"You should really stay. She did" the attendant muttered.
"Who did?"
"Thank you for buying from us. Have a nice day" she smiled, ignoring my question like she hadn't brought it up.
What was wrong with the town people?
I muttered complaints under my breath as I left the shop. Lyra and Grayson smiled widely at the sight of the ice cream.
Typical.
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I placed three bowls on the carpet and Lyra eagerly dished out the ice cream, serving Grayson a smaller portion. He scowled at her but ate it when she ignored him.
"I found something" I announced.
"What?" Lyra and Grayson asked simultaneously.
"Notebooks" I went ahead to explain everything that had happened the previous night as I led them to Hansel's bedroom. I grabbed the journals from their hiding place in the bathroom cabinet and placed them on the bed.
I gave Grayson the journal with his name on it. He frowned as he opened it and read through. I handed him the suicide letter Hansel had written to him and did the same with Lyra.
Lyra's lips trembled as she read the suicide letter addressed to her. She tucked it into her pocket when she was done and picked up the purple journal to read. I decided against reading my journal.
Grayson dropped his journal, face palming. Lyra and I stared at him for an explanation.
"Memories" he chuckled. "Everything she and I have ever said or done together. There's pictures too"
"She did the same here too," Lyra said waved her journal. "What about yours?" she asked me.
"She thinks I'm the descendant of some woman named Aelith" I answered her from the little I had seen when I skimmed through the previous night.
"Was Hansel….um… suffering from any mental ailment we didn't know of?" Lyra asked.
"I'm not sure" Grayson replied
My phone rung and I hurried to pick it up.
"We found the boy. I'll send you his file" Malcom spoke and hang up. A few seconds later, my phone pinged with a notification.
I rushed to read it. Arlen Castle. He didn't lie about his name.
He was a fourteen year old British boy enrolled in a school I knew too well. He lived in a mansion with his older brother—Adonis Castle. I paused at the name.
Was it the same Adonis Castle we knew? Why would a little boy with a brother worth millions want to steal from the house?
"Who was it?" Lyra asked
"Malcom"
"You found the boy" Grayson smirked.
"He lives with his brother. His brother runs a tech company. They're wealthy" I explained.
"He came to steal something else" Lyra mused, staring at the array of colored journals on the bed. I stared at them too. I had a terrible feeling about everything.
"Can I share a room with Lyra?" Grayson squeaked. Lyra pinched him hard and I watched their exchange with a smile. They were friends through and through.
"I think we should all sleep together" Grayson snickered at Lyra's choice of words. She paused and knocked him on the head before rephrasing her words.
"I meant, let's all sleep in the same room. I'm scared. Grayson get your head out of the gutter. How are you going to find a girlfriend when you think like shit?" Lyra scowled.
"My talents lie elsewhere" he glanced downwards at his jeans.
"You are fucking disgusting Gray. Is that why your brother kicked you out?" Lyra frowned at him.
"No. I fucked his fake fiancé" he looked at Lyra with a teasing smirk.
"The poor girl" she cooed.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Grayson looked at Lyra incredulously.
"And you've burnt more brain cells too" she went on, ignoring him.
"Let's go see Arlen" I suggested.
"Do you think he'll tell us the truth?" Grayson furrowed his brows.
"We'll get it out of him. One way or another" I smiled but there was nothing sweet about it.
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Students in black and white uniforms pooled out of the school and I waited in the car with my friends, watching for Arlen. Arlen stood out amongst them with his red hoodie and black green sneakers.
Talk about poor sense of fashion.
Grayson rushed out of the car and grabbed him by the collar.
"What's good Castle?" he smiled.
"What are you doing?" Arlen struggled in vain against his hold.
"Just going for a long drive with an old friend?"
I parked the car in front of Grayson and he pushed Arlen in. I stepped on the gas and sped away to the mansion.
"This is kidnapping. You could go to jail for it" Arlen scowled.
"I've gone to jail for worst things" Lyra pointed out. She had and none of us would ever forget the feeling of seeing her cuffed hands.
At the mansion, Grayson pushed Arlen into a couch and we all sat in front of him.
"Now. Tell me why you were really here" I tilted my head.
"I told you. I came to steal" he replied cockily.
"Someone's cocky. Want me to cut it off?" Lyra sat beside him and placed her hand around his shoulder. He gulped.
"What did you come to steal?" I asked
He looked away from me and stared at the stairs.
"The journals" Grayson whispered. Arlen turned sharply to stare at Grayson.
"He's right" Lyra smirked.
"Of course I'm right Ly" Grayson said, placing his hand in her knee.
"The question is what for?" I grabbed Arlen's chin so he would stare at me. Whatever he saw in my eyes scared him because he trembled in my hold.
"Your…..your…your eyes?" he stuttered. "You're ascending already?" he broke free from my grasp and stood up, pacing in front of us.
I stared at him, confused.
Ascending?
"It's too soon. You shouldn't be ascending so soon. I told them. They were supposed to prepare you a long time ago but they wouldn't listen. They wouldn't listen. Now….now you're ascending and you don't have a Windsor yet" he ranted, tugging at his hair.
Did we break him?
"No we did not break him" Lyra threw her hands up, answering my thought. She walked up to him, grabbing him by the shoulders and cooing to him as she steered him toward the kitchen. We kept our distance as the sweet scent of Lyra's magic filled the room.
"Calm down sweetheart. Let's forget all that. Tell me about you" she run her hands gently through his hair as he looked into her eyes, transfixed. He was calm as he told her about school and how much he hated the captain of the basketball team because he was too tough. He was captain of the basketball team.
Lyra listened intently and laughed when he said something funny. When I glanced at Grayson, he was staring fondly at her.
This was Lyra Quinn.
Our empath.