𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀

{ፕሠዐ}

•••••••

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Eloras body stirred, her eyes slightly lifting before feeling to heavy to wake up.

"I didn't know where else to put her," his voice was recognizable, but nonetheless, she was too tired to fully open her eyes. "So.. I guess she's stays in here. Until—.. I don't know. It's a lot to process, okay?"

A scoff could be heard, "Your father won't kill you, Luke, but he will kill me. If he finds out I know about this—"

A door opened, and then shut, and it was enough to annoy Eloras body to wake up. "He won't. She won't be seen. The west wing is completely off limits to anybody except me, unless invited. So she won't be seen, at all."

Her hands gripped a silk sheet, that oddly felt like heaven, and let out a sigh. Both of the boys in the room got deadly quiet, and when Elora let out a noise indicating she hurt, a hand grasped her arm.

She stared up at a boy, a small bun on the top of his head. His features were sharp, and he was holding up her arm, eyebrows furrowed. "You burnt her?"

Erynx ran a hand over his face, "It's not like I meant to." They made eye contact, and suddenly, his eyebrows were furrowed too. "You.. you have horns growing, Elora."

Her lips parted, and yet, nothing came out. The other boys hand tilted her head, treating her like a doll, and pushed her hair away from her neck. His lips pressed together firmly, "Crossbreed."

Her throat felt dry, and the first she spoke was, "Crossbreed?"

He nodded, pushing her hair from her ears. "Means you can get away with being here. But nobody, absolutely nobody, can see that mark on your neck. You'll be executed."

"Dead?" She whispered.

"No, do you know anything?" He wasn't saying it in a rude way, but that's not the way she took it. "We're immortal. Executed means you'll be slug. Slug means you'll be this little worm who just squirms. You're alive, but not really. Don't go slug."

She turned away from him, and stood up, pushing down her shirt. "I— bathroom. Where's the bathroom?"

Erynx pointed left, and she left, opening the door and slamming it back. How dare he ask me that? I just got here. I don't know anything. She sighed in frustration, looking around the bathroom. For a guy, he had a lot of stuff in this bathroom, and she realized the room she was in was his bedroom.

Taking a look in the mirror, her lips parted in amusement. Tiny little curved horns stood out of her head, and she wanted to touch them, but it would gross her out too much for her liking. So instead, she opened all of his drawers and finally found a hair tie, and tied her hair up in a pony tail.

Her appearance was almost the same as when she was elf. Except she didn't have the pointed ears, she had normal ones, and instead of blue eyes, she had red ones.

When she opened the door again, after using the bathroom and rinsing her face, both of the boys stared at her.

"Can I help you?" She raised her eyebrow.

Erynx cleared his throat, "Here's how this is gonna go," he held up something, and she raised her eyebrow even higher. "You're going to put this on, and I'm going to tell every one that you came from the Netherlands, and you're new. Nobody's going to question me if I tell them to mind their business, but you have to shut your trap and stay quiet, understand?"

"Excuse me?" She crossed her arms, a frown on her face. "If I can fit in, I'm going to make friends. I'm not going to stay quiet, you can fuck right off. And what even is that?" She motioned towards the little dress he was holding up.

He glared at her, "It's what you're going to wear. If you wore whatever you wanted, everybody would look at you. You also should keep a hat on, they'll stare at your baby horns until they're fully grown."

She shook her head, "I'm not wearing that."

He glared even harder at her, his eyes darkening even more red. "You have to. Here, I'll even give you a hat." He smiled at her sarcastically, tossing her a bucket hat. "You do as I say."

"Technically," the boy with the man bun put in, "He's trying to help you. Most of the boys here are either vampires, or villagers, and they're all fuck boys. Just think about if you were in school, except all the 'mythology' creatures you thought never existed, do. It's basically the same thing."

"And the boys here," Erynx took off the white material off the wooden hanger, "Are ruthless. It's like a football team all over again. They'll pick at you, and think of you like fresh meat. Which, you kind of are."

"This is bullshit," Elora swore. "I didn't ask to be here. You're stupid goblin fuckers snatched me before I could even start talking. Take. Me. Back."

Erynx threw the clothing down, scared he was gonna burn it with how pissed off she was making him. "You don't demand shit around here. You ask. I don't want you here either, so stop acting like this is a choice. It's not. Deal with it."

Her cheeks flared red, anger rising in her. "Deal with what? All you guys have explained is what I am. What I'm doing. I don't even know his name, and all I know is you're an asshole."

"Me? You're acting like a kid. I'm trying to save your life—"

"Oh, and by the way," she spat at him, hand balling up in a fist. "The burn marks aren't gonna heal anytime soon. Got any medicine for that or are you gonna ask this fucker for advice?"

He stepped closer to her, almost deadly close, until her back hit a wall. With him being so close, she felt like she was burning up, and when red stared into red, their eyes meeting, he inhaled. "I've already told you I didn't mean to burn you. I can't control it sometimes. So you," his fist balled up again, "Can be the one to fuck off. I should just let you go out there on your own. See how well you do in just a T—shirt with people thinking you're a slut—"

Her hand connected to his cheek, and he took a step back. He held his cheek, shock emitted on his face. Where she slapped him, little ice crystals appeared on his cheek, and once his hand touched it, they melted.

"Fuck you," she pushed past his shoulder, walking out of his room and slamming the door shut.

Oddly, tears of frustration welled up in her eyes. She had no clue who she was or what she was, and now she was in some new place where people weren't so welcoming.

She decided to just keep walking, and take her hair out of her pony tail, her curls falling down and covering up her neck.

She guessed she would have to do this on her own.

—

Orion, Erynx's best friend, looked astounded as he watched his best friend practically lose his mind.

Erynx sat on his bed, thanking the gods that they didn't burn, and rubbed his temple. "She I've burned me. You don't think..—"

"It's got to be," Orion crossed his arms. "She's a cross breed. She's practically the enemy just waiting to take you down—"

Erynx cut him off, "She's a lot of things, Orion, but she's not an enemy. She doesn't know who she is. I would feel bad if she didn't have the stupid fucking mouth on her."

For a moment, Erynx just sat on his bed, running a hand through his hair, missing his horns. He thought about the way her face got red when she was mad, and then thought about how she looked like she was sculpted from the gods themselves. Her hair was thick, and full of curls that, if she wasn't who she was, he would want to fist into his hands.

But, he could never touch her.

If ice meets fire, he's not sure what's gonna happen.

—