Celaena - The Lost Princess

23. Back to past self

3rd person POV

After the departure of Rhea, things got back to how it was in the beginning. Liarah was expressionless again. The moody, blank faced girl looked even more lonely than before, as it could even be possible. She seems to possess more dark aura around her. People stayed clear of her at college. Nobody dared to even look at her face anymore.

It was few weeks away from her birthdate. The day everyone would celebrate, but she dreaded it. The only one thing that distracted her was Rhea, who now is far away somewhere safe. Liarah was slipping back to the dark, dark world.

She called the one of the few contact saved in her small phone, other end spoke "was expecting your call" she fisted her hand "you know what I need" other end said "understood" and line cut off.

She closed her eyes and hoped she wouldn't fall back into that bottomless pit of despair again. Hope that comes with a price.

Meanwhile with the twins:
Both of them saw Rhea kiss liarah. It was a total shock. Nathan still stunned finally spoke to his twin "That isn't what you think it is" Ryan coming back reality looks at him questioningly. Nathan says "Girls kiss all the time, that does mean like they have feelings for each other, we are reading too much into it"

Ryan just nods and thinks about how the kiss could have been innocent but since Liarah doesn't allow anyone too close to her personal space, this looked bit more intimate.

"Ohhh sh*t we totally forgot to ask Rhea about Liarah's favourites, how are supposed surprise on her birthday now?" Nathan facepalms as he remembered they had to talk to Rhea.

Ryan sighs "we'll have to do it ourselves"

Both of them get into discussion making plans for the surprise birthday party.

A knock disturbs them from their plan for surprise. Door opens to their parents with worry written all over their face. "Boys we need to go to your grandparents place for few weeks, your grandpa is not feeling well and it has become difficult to take care of the farmhouse for Granny"

"We need to leave soon, probably by tomorrow morning. Please take care of yourselves and Liarah too, that is if she needs something"

Nathan and Ryan gave them a nod to convey their understanding and help their parents to pack-up. They knew they can't go leaving Liarah alone also they cannot take her to grandma's house. If at all she knew Liarah is staying with them she will rise hell and demand to throw Liarah out.

Morning came too soon, boys dropped their parents to airport and went for college. College was as usual, nothing interesting was happening. Only thing bothered the boys was that Liarah was nowhere to be seen. She wasn't at any of her classes nor at library or club room or at workshop. She wasn't someone who missed classes. As soon as the classes ended boys went to the garage they knew she worked at. Owner told them he hadn't seen her today.

This development was not unusual for Liarah but since boys had no knowledge about her being their cousin, they didn't care less about what she did. Now the cat is out of the box, boys started to track her movements. It was not a big deal for Liarah. She never let anyone know what she truly is. People only know what she wanted them to know about her. Even the big bad mafia boss, who thought he was successful at tracking her was all part of her plan.

Before she could carry out her plan, she needs to survive this dark month. Every year surviving this dark month was the only job she was struggling with. Nightmares didn't let her sleep, guilt of being alive didn't let her eat, helplessness of not being able to save one person who meant the world was killing her from inside. But she knew, she knew all these years she couldn't give up. Not yet. There is so many things to achieve, to bring justice for the lives lost, to get her revenge on people who made her life this miserable. All she was living for was revenge.

As night comes she heads to the ring. She fights everyday non stop, blinded with rage that is burning brighter than sun. Her opponents are leaving in ambulance as they are barely alive after she is done. She is a feral animal in need of blood.

Every fight she welcomes physical pain, in order to forget the most painful memories that is burning her alive. She needs this pain to remember she is alive for one reason. That reason has kept her going all these years and this physical pain will get her through this dark time of the year. No matter how many things she tried to distract herself from this darkness, only the pain was her companion in this journey. She fought every night, trained every day recklessly.

Meanwhile Matteo was present for every match she fought. This time she was different. More feral then previous years. Very reckless and he felt like she fought with intend to kill. These fights majority of the time are fought in this way but she did not fight to kill. He was concerned.

Matteo called his PI and asked him to follow his Calypso again. He badly wanted to know, why of all this month was her worst enemy. Why she looked so calm yet the deadliest the same time. Even he had the hardest time watching her fight to kill.

He followed her to the training room, where watched her silently trying to decipher what was happening and failed miserably. She had focus only on destroying the bag before her. One after another, she beat them until it tore off. She didn't stop there, she just kept beating the bags even after they were destroyed. She had bruces all over her body and most of them were from her training session. He grew more worried but was not ready to approach her yet. Time had not yet come to talk to his queen face to face. He had to take over his empire. The day he becomes the king would be day he will finally face his queen.

Professor on the other hand was in a different dilemma. He was already frustrated not knowing where Liarah was but another problem has arrived at his town. His past was hunting him and he doesn't know why. The one person he swore never to see again was here. His motive unknown and professor despised the unknown. The only unknown he had ever had interest in was Liarah but she was also making him restless. Her sudden disappearance made him more worried then the doom that was at his doorstep.

Professor poured all his resources into finding Liarah. He applied all the knowledge he had into finding her. Tried to track her down with anything and everything he could find. He was not successful. As a last resort he had to ask his men to plant cameras around twins house. It was all he could do at this moment. Because he knew if Liarah doesn't want to be found, he could never.....