A Shattered Song ✔️

Chapter Thirteen: Hesitation

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Hesitation

"Welcome, Evelyn. Thank you for your cooperation."

The voice- Briar's voice- echoed back and forth between the metal-paneled walls of their destination, soft, deadly, menacing in a deceptively sweet sort of way. Concrete chilled the soles of her sneakers, and despite herself, Evelyn shivered.

She was not shivering out of fear. She was not.

This room was very different from the other "testing" area Evelyn had been introduced to. This time, there was no box. This time, there were no extravagant balconies, no chandeliers, no marble floor. Only metal and concrete.

And this time, she appeared to be alone.

As soon as they had arrived, Melody had melted into the shadows, vanishing from sight. And Briar was presumably somewhere nearby, even if Evelyn couldn't see her...or at least her voice was. Evelyn supposed she shouldn't assume anything, not anymore. Maybe she shouldn't have, ever. Before Evelyn had been stupid.

Before Evelyn no longer existed. How long had she been missing? Two weeks? A month? Multiple months?

Evelyn rubbed her goosebump-covered arms and swallowed. At the same time, she scoffed, "Cooperation."

Briar's voice picked up a dangerous edge. "Evelyn, don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't." Briar warned again, not elaborating. "Now, moving ahead, I assume you've recovered from our last experiment."

Evelyn gazed coldly at nothing.

"Wonderful." Briar's voice sounded smug. "I hope you do realize that this is for the greater good."

"Oh, yes." Evelyn laughed, then used the only weapon she had. "My life for Primrose, isn't that right? Or is it Prim? Primmy? Rose? Little Rosie-poo?"

Silence.

Then Briar came back, and now her tone was hard as granite- almost completely masking a slight waver in her next words. "Congratulations, Evelyn. You found out. Pity it's only one small thing in a much larger puzzle. Primrose-" Her voice hitched. "Did not influence this decision." She inhaled. "And as you seem to find the situation amusing, you shouldn't mind jumping ahead without time for preparation, hmm?"

Evelyn froze.

This time, it was Briar's turn to laugh. "Melody, dearest? Will you do the honors?"

A pause. Then Melody's uncertain voice flowed into the room. "But-but why me? I'm not strong enough, I can't- surely I'm not the best choice-"

But Briar was still icy from Evelyn's thoughtless blows, and she did not change her stance. "Melody." She said. "Now."

There was a small scuffling noise, and for a moment the only sound was Evelyn's breaths. Whatever had projected Melody and Briar before was no longer in place, blocking Evelyn's play-by-play of what was happening. And as much as she disliked Briar's sickly sweetness, she hated not knowing what was going on. That meant she was blind. And in this world, being blind was dangerous.

And then Melody was back, slipping into the room through some unseen door in the shadows, and Evelyn relaxed. Even though she shouldn't have. Even though now, she should have been even more afraid.

However, she never suspected that the second test would come in the form of a six-year-old girl. Who would? Children are often associated with toys, and innocence, and harmless chatter. But like before, she was forgetting Melody's true nature- she was in actuality much older, and Fae as well. She could be equipped with any number of magical items. She could be deadly.

But to Evelyn, she appeared tiny and sweet and unsure of herself. And so Evelyn relaxed.

"Hello, Evie." Melody, like before, did not meet her questioning gaze.

"Hello, Melody." Evelyn returned, resolving to be as civilized as possible.

Melody glanced up, chocolate eyes swimming in- was that regret? "I have something to give you." She murmured shyly.

"Oh?"

"It's for the test." Melody said. She took a step forward. "It'll help you- you know. You."

Evelyn nodded as Melody stalked closer, and then held out her hand for whatever item was being offered. Melody averted her eyes, per usual, then reached for something deep in her pocket. "Here." She said, extending her fingers.

There was nothing there.

Just as Evelyn was registering that, Melody grabbed her arm and twisted- so fast that Evelyn couldn't dodge. Pain shot light lightning up her wrist, and she cried out, jerking away. Melody's face remained blank, though her lower lip trembled. "I'm sorry, Evie." She said, scrunching her eyebrows together. "Lady Briar said I had to, and-"

She shot forward without warning and tackled Evelyn to the ground. Stunned, Evelyn lay there gasping while Melody yanked a handful of hair from her scalp and danced away.

Not even out of breath, the girl continued, "This is to test your reactions."

Evelyn scrambled out of reach, coming to her senses.

Melody was faster.

She got a quick blow in to Evelyn's cheek before she ducked out of eyesight once more, her voice still level. "Can you attack me?"

Snarling, Evelyn got to her feet. She could feel a bruise forming on the injured side of her face. "Yes!" She hissed, lunging.

Melody batted her eyelashes and clutched a teddy bear that had appeared out of nowhere, and Evelyn hesitated.

"Can you hurt me?" Melody whispered as Evelyn got over the image and forced herself to try and hit her cousin in the stomach. But before she could, there Melody was, holding an upside-down ice cream cone, her face scrunched up in false sadness.

Evelyn could not land the blow.

"Can you face yourself if you do?" Melody breathed as she ducked low, grabbing both of Evelyn's legs and tripping her so she went crashing to the ground. Getting to her knees much quicker than before, Evelyn attempted the same trick in return- only to find Melody sprawled on the floor, bawling her eyes out over a headless Barbie doll.

She stilled, and then Melody was on her feet again, smiling angelically, tears vanished.

"Meeeelody." Briar sang from that unknown location. "Remember?"

Melody seemed to choke on her own tongue- one swallow, two. Finally she nodded and closed her eyes. Still on the ground, Evelyn reached again for her cousin's ankle, but the girl stepped nimbly out of reach.

A blunt silver knife appeared in Melody's grasp. She opened her eyes.

"I'm sorry." She whispered again as she slashed at Evelyn's cheek.

Then she stopped. Her face twisted. Her eyes went vacant for several seconds, her lips moving. Evelyn wondered briefly if it was Briar communicating privately, only that wouldn't make sense- why would Briar interrupt an order she had just given? And also- was that Evelyn's name on Melody's lips?

Yes, it was, and it seemed to be a repeating factor. Evie, Evie, Evie- over and over again.

Then her cousin came back. And she dropped the knife.

Briar seemed to sense that something was very wrong- for within moments of the blade hitting the floor, Melody straightened and began to run- most likely, the other Faerie wanted her out of the vicinity before Evelyn could realize what was going on. But obviously she hadn't taken Melody's vocal cords into account, for as Melody hurried herself out of the room, she called out in a strained voice, "I remember."