Of Monsters and Music

Cloud 9 - Beach Bunny

CHASE

There's something hard against my back and I shiver as a slight breeze brushes against my drenched skin. Everything is uncomfortably soggy and unbearably cold.

A hand burns against my cheek. Rory sounds impatient. "Come on, Chase."

My eyes flash open and I double over, coughing my lungs up. Rory's hand moves to my back as she coaxes the water out with hard slaps. I spit out mouthful after mouthful onto the grass next to me, then make a face at the dampness in disgust.

I turn to face Rory and ask what happened, but she's staring at my injured arm as it hangs limp by my side. She's sopping wet too - so much so that the only reason I realise she's been crying is the redness around her eyes and under her nose.

"I'm fine," I tell her, but it's like she doesn't hear me. She grabs my elbow gently with one hand and lifts my sleeve with the other. A breath hisses through my mouth at the uncomfortable feeling of my shirt unsticking from my skin over the cut, but miraculously, the wound hasn't reopened.

"Good," she tells me, letting go of both my sleeve and my elbow. Her voice is oddly steady and she doesn't look at me as she nods as if making her mind up about something. The way she adjusts her feet makes me think that she's getting ready to run away. "That means I won't feel as guilty about doing this."

And then she slaps me.

A few minutes prior...

LENA

The Canon are, understandably, outraged and confused.

"I knew it," Gretel repeats for about the hundredth time.

"But what do the Fey have against Chase?" Snow White asks.

"The King said that they were protecting someone," Kyle responds. "Maybe Chase accidentally did something? Maybe he made a joke that was vaguely threatening and it got taken seriously?"

"Seriously enough to start a rebellion?" Peter says with a scoff.

"I knew it!" Gretel says again, slamming her hands down on the table.

"ENOUGH," Sarah Thumb says finally, and I can't help but thank her silently. "Yes, this is... unprecedented, but it doesn't mean that we become savages." She glares pointedly at Gretel at that. "This table is for calm discussions, no matter the circumstance. So yes, we are blindsided by this, but where will we get if we're all shouting over the top of each other?"

It takes all of us a moment to realise that her question wasn't rhetorical.

"Nowhere," we all murmur, looking defeatedly at the table instead of meeting her eyes.

For a woman smaller than a hummingbird, Sarah Thumb sure does have a large amount of gravitas.

"Exactly. Thank you," she says, and I see Gretel sigh and roll her eyes in a way that reminds me of a thirteen-year-old being told to socialise. "Now, does anyone have any questions they would like to voice to the entire Canon in a calm, reasonable manner?"

Everyone around the table aside from Sarah, Kyle and I put their hands up, some (Gretel, Snow and Aladdin) more aggressively than others.

Sarah drops her head into her hands and sighs.

"This is going to be a long meeting," Kyle murmurs, and I can't help but agree.

The meeting is interrupted about an hour later, in the middle of Kyle explaining that yes, the King definitely said 'protecting' someone and not 'decking' someone.