Broken Wings [Completed!]

Chapter 22

A jolt ran through Evira's spine as she jerked upright on her bed. Pain, nostalgia and fear clumped itself in her throat, as hot and scorching as noxious fumes of smoke, suffocating her. She remembered.

And it hurt.

It bloody hurt.

Her vision cleared. She blinked and released her clench on her bedsheets. Outside on her garden porch, the streetlights shot out bursts of purple and pink, so that the faeries looked as if they each wore coronas of lights.

"Bad dream?"

The owner of the voice warped and squeezed itself into black circles and lines in Evira's eyes, so that she could only make out a somewhat small silhouette and the outline of a dress. Evira wiped at her eyes and stumbled back on the bed at who she saw.

"A-Alys?"

Evira had never imagined to meet her sister in such a manner. Through her dreams stretching as far as years ago, she thought their meetings would be momentiful, something they both looked forward to.

But something in Alys had changed. Her dark hair had grown longer, her blue eyes more cloudy, and her skin tanned. She was taller, too. But it wasn't just physically. There was no comfort in the way she composed herself; straight back, her movements rigid.

Maybe she doesn't want to see you.

"I'm pretty sure that didn't answer my question," Alys replied. "How are you?"

How are you?

The question was so normal, Evira almost forgot how to reply. "Good," Evira said awkwardly.

wherewereyouwherewereyouwherewereyouwherewereyou

"How did you find me?" Evira asked instead.

"Easy," Alys smiled. Her smile was always too big for her face - she lit up the whole room whenever she smiled. Evira had almost forgot that about her. "You were reported back to Queen Hermyne. I asked her where you were staying and she told me this address."

Queen Hermyne.

She shivered at the name. She remembered her red hair, just like Evira's; the same colour as the blood on the walls of the palace. Feeling suddenly sick, Evira gulped a whole glass of water that was on the side of the bed.

"You work close with her?"

Alys shrugged her small shoulders. "Kinda."

Evira nose creased as she realised Alys shared no traits with the Faeries. Alys' face was rounder than most, and her ears were too circular to be called Faerie ears. Sensing Evira's burning gaze, Alys unconsciously shielded her ears with her black hair.

"I'm not a Faerie, as you might've guessed," she laughed half-heartedly. "But I've lived here since..." Her eyes directed somewhere else. They both didn't need clarification at what she was talking about.

Since she was taken.

"Did you... did you figure out why you were taken?"

Alys carefully sat on the foot of Evira's bed. "I was mistaken for you," she said quietly. Evira noticed that her voice was a higher pitch than usual. "You're a faerie - they were supposed to take you back, not me."

The guilt in Evira's chest began to spin its wheels, making a thread so thick and long it overcame all of Evira's thoughts and made her dizzy. "Sorry," she said, feeling pathetic.

Alys replied quickly, "I'm not blaming you, Ev!"

Evira winced at the nickname. She wasn't a sister to Alys if she was the reason who got her sister taken away. She was the reason Alys' future had crumbled, just like that. Alys was meant to live happily as a mortal, supposed to get her university degree and have a family.