Pay the Price

Chapter 35- Connor and Myrah's Discovery

Per the morning routine, Connor and Myrah went to wake Christopher. When they opened the door, they found the room was unusually cold. The source of the cold couldn't be found. In the bed was Christopher, lying without his blanket, asleep.

Him being asleep wasn't unusual, but him sleeping without a blanket was. They noticed under his eyes were red, his face was wet with tears, and he was dressed in fully black clothes. Connor knew that Christopher hadn't slept a wink and sighed with both frustration and sadness. He walked to his brother's bed, about to check on him closely, when he noticed his brother's wrist.

Gently, Connor rolled back Christopher's sleeve, noticing a long scar that wasn't there before. It was red and fresh, but it wasn't scabbed. There wasn't any blood, but the surrounding area was still red. He beckoned Myrah over and showed her.

"What happened here?" She lightly touched Christopher's wrist, and he subconsciously flinched. "It's from a blade. It's a very straight cut." She pointed out and backed away when her brother whined to get them away. "He snuck out again last night." She huffed.

Just as she went to walk away, she spotted a piece of paper on the bedside table. Connor watched as she picked it up, then turned his attention back to Christopher. Carefully, he manoeuvred Christopher onto his back, examining his face closer.

He seemed to be having a nightmare; almost crying, moving rapidly, and throwing his arms out to attack. Connor touched his brother's hand softly, kissed his forehead, and stroked his hair, which calmed him down instantly. Christopher stilled and went straight into deep sleep. He then held onto Connor's wrists, not letting him leave.

Connor picked up on the fact that Christopher still looked exhausted, even in sleep. His eyes had very visible, very purple bags underneath, and Christopher kept moving his hand to scratch his eyes. Connor had to keep stopping him from doing so.

Eventually, he dislodged himself from Christopher, grabbed a clean pair of socks, and pulled them over Christopher's hands so he didn't do damage to his face. To make sure he didn't take them off, Connor used hair ties to secure them in place. Then he pushed Christopher's childhood bear into his arms and pulled the blanket over him, tucking him in.

Slowly, Connor stepped back, letting out a breath that he didn't realise he was holding to ensure Christopher wouldn't wake up. He was by the open door, so he turned around, yelping as Raelene stood there. She had impressively silent footsteps, giving Connor the impression that she could be the killer in a horror movie.

"Don't do that!" He whisper-shouted, pressing two fingers to the side of his neck to feel his heartbeat, which was threatening to rip through his skin.

"Is Chris awake yet?" She asked, gesturing to further into the room. She didn't know if Connor and Myrah had fulfilled their chore of waking their brother up. Connor looked back to Christopher, then to Raelene. The pair were attached at the hip from the moment they were both awake to the time one of them was asleep.

"No, he's still sleeping. Myrah and I think he snuck out last night to do something. He has a scar on his wrist that he didn't have before, but it's healed over, which means it has something to do with his magic. He's also exhausted." He answered, carefully ushering her away from the room. "It's best if he's left alone for a while."

Delilah walked up the stairs, and Connor groaned quietly. All of them wanted to see Christopher, but he was asleep. Raelene walked away, noticing Delilah, and she assumed that Delilah wanted to talk to her younger siblings. She didn't wish to interrupt any conversations among the Aetos siblings.

As she got closer, Connor realised that Delilah was anxious. He gestured for her to come into the room, sitting down with her. Myrah approached, also sitting down, waiting for Delilah to say what she needed to.