Phoenix's Lies

Talk to me. Please

River

The second I recognise Ivar's family name in partnership with my mother it all comes crashing down on top of me. More than the paper saying I wasn't my dad's. More than all the other shitty secrets that have been hidden in my house for god knows how long. That one is the worst. The one that hurts the most right now.

"I-we need to go. I'll tell you later but right now we need to go. Did you put everything back where it was?" I ask, turning to see him nod. "Come on then. Out the back door and down the eastern side of the walls. Hopefully, the cameras won't catch us if we run fast enough. Are you ready to run?"

He nods and we slip through the silent house then, locking all the doors. Replacing all the keys but the silver one that burns a hole in my pocket the whole way out. But I can't leave it. I can't leave it if it could be to do with something we're figuring out. Instead, I pocketed it with my keys in the hoodie I have on and moved toward the door. Careful to disturb as little as possible. Finding the way I stop and pull up my hood as we reach it, seeing how he does the same.

Unlocking it I slip through and watch him follow me before locking it up again. Hoping that because I used my keys both times the alarm system won't have been tripped to make my mother suspicious that anyone was at the house whilst she's been gone since she knows neither me nor El had been back after she chased us out. Taking Nix's hand I pull us forward as we run. Run down the east side wall faster than hopefully, the cameras can catch since if she figured out we were here - Nix especially - I don't know what she'll do. To him or me.

Keeping up the pace we run as fast as we can until about two feet from the wall. Dropping his hand then I speed up and push off from the ground. Grabbing the top of the wall as I reach it I haul myself over and drop to the other side. Stopping then I wait until he catches up with me, looking a little tired from doing it. But we're still not safe. The bag I'm carrying, the key I'm hiding, meaning that until we get back to his we're not safe either of us. Yet the whole way back through the gate and back passage I can't get the word, the name out of my head. Can't forget it.

Getting there we stop outside the door and catch our breath, neither of us moving for a second until we notice that we must look odd to be outside on a school day since both of us are well-known around this part of Ayrith. "Inside, come on, we can talk there." I nod, trying to regain control over my breathing as he pulls us both inside and locks the door. As he does so I collapse to the ground and blink away the tears. The pain cut deeper than before. The name haunts me. "Hey, what happened there? You were fine until you saw that last thing. Was it bad? What did it say?"

"I figured out who the helper was. The person or company who helped my mother when she rebuilt the family business after she ran it into the ground." I mumble, still not able to talk properly from all the running. Especially since I hadn't eaten beforehand. "It's one we both know. Morozov-Castillo." The name is hard to say but I can tell he doesn't get it. "Ivar's family name."

Nix frowns, offering me a hand. I let him help me up as we moved into another room. "That makes no sense. What business would his family have with your mom? I mean granted she did run the company into the ground but why him and does that link up to what happened with you?"

His words stop me cold. "What do you mean does that link up to what happened with me? Nix what are you talking about?"

He sighs. "I was remembering what you said about how you got the scar there," He taps my left wrist and I shiver. "Sorry, Look what I'm meaning is you said Ivar sent people after you. People who said you snitched. Do you remember what they said about it? Like a description?"

I frown, trying to remember. "No, they didn't. They just said someone did. Someone who they assumed was me since I was the one with a grudge. An axe to grind with Ivar since he told me he'd give me a way out but then went against it. Why?"