chapter three

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by tillyidk

by tillyidk

"who needs me?" a boy with the natural swagger, gained from a lifetime of praise and admiration, glides into the open plan living room

i may not be able to get out my door of my bedroom, because of a benedict barricade, but i sure as hell can go back into my room. i take one giant step backwards as the family all gesture towards me.

"ah" xavier nods, with a hint of mock understanding. "little- miss-i -can-hurt-you-with-my-eyes"

"yup." i nod. " that's me. so, if i were you, i would keep away from me. you never know what i can do." i remind them all helpfully.

xavier joins the line of brothers. winning with the height difference competition. "aw, c'mon." he pouts.

i pout back and we try and outstare each other for at least four minutes. anyone who can hold my eye contact, i like. mostly people are so scared of my eyes they look at my nose or my feet instead.

"this is ridiculous. " yves mutters under his breath, four minutes heaves and pants to five, he shakes his head at the girl who reminds me of pixie beside him. "isn't this ridiculous?" he asks her.

"extremely so." she agrees. she turns to Princess Sky beside her. "sky, from a scale of one to ten, how ridiculous would you say this was?"

"eleven" sky taps her tiny foot. i wonder if she's found her glass slipper, nah, shes found her glass boot, she's discovered her soul finder. "zed,darling?"

zed doesn't skip a second, "i would say, that it's off the ridiculous meter. in fact, they are so far off the ridiculous meter they have broken it."

"what's going on?" a tall girl, with a mass of unruly curls joins the party. Xavier loses my eye contact and drops a kiss on the top of her head instead. he drapes an arm around her waist and smirks at me.

"i win." i tell him.

he nods. "fair."

i lick my lips, uneasy; the benedict are being extremely calm about holding a villain in their midst, telling jokes and all. The anticipation is slowly going to kill me, even if they don't.

i lean against the doorframe and look up. i am bombarded with the eyes of the tall girl with curly hair and without uttering a word, i know she's feeling something from me. . she tries to move away abruptly, but xavier is holding her hand.

i retch. the action takes me completely by surprise and sends shivers shooting up my spine, it happens again. i crouch, as my reflexes continue to be set on fire. i am finding it hard to breathe. my vision is blurring so much I can't even see the floor. splashes of blood ribbon my clothes and the carpet. i move my hand up to my face and realise my nose is bleeding rapidly.

voices hover above me but everything is distorted and out of shape, "what's wrong with her?" "what's going on?" "crystal, are you okay?"

dark blobs appear in front of my eyes and i taste salt and blood mixed together and it makes me retch. "help me. please, please help me."

i cant even make out words anymore.

something tries to grab my face and i squeeze my eyes shut. fingers are moving my hair away from my face and putting something soft to my nose. something grabs my hand and I try to pull away but they- or- it wont let me. a smooth tingling sensation hums into my bloodstream and i try (and fail) to wrench my hand free.

oh god. they're killing me. they're drowning my senses. i try to latch onto a mind but my head is such a mess, the threads keep slipping through my consciousness.

"open your eyes. " a voice weaves into my thoughts. "open your eyes, love. "

i obey out of fear and through the blurriness of my vision i see the curly haired boy kneeling in front of me looking scared. I want to wipe the fear from his expression or put my hand over his eyes so he won't see. xavier is holding my hand and i immediately pull it away.

i ask them what happened and confusion ripples through everyone's expression. "are you french?"

i tell everyone not to be so stupid. "now, that's italian. " crystal says quietly. i don't even look at her. like, i am not risking that happening again?

my brain is on overload. "have you always been idiots?" i ask.

"using my special spidey senses" xav looks at the boy with the curly hair. " i detect that's english, will" xavier confirms.

will hits the back of his head.