Fallen Petals

Thirteen O'Clock pt 2

Nora POV 

             "Blood tests came negative for everything except Southerners, Werewolves and Sky Harpies. I've never seen a combination of those genes. That explains the strange colour. Blood tests also confirm a pin eighteen year old male. Noah, what'd you find?" My brother's voice could be heard from the other side of the wall. "Name: Christopher Lupul Zburător Wynegurd....." Noah 's voice trailed to a stop. My breath hitched. Christopher Wyneguard, as in, brother of ...... No. Just no. It couldn't be, maybe just her cousin or...... Naomi's brother. No. No matter how much my mind thinks it is, no matter how much I think it is. No matter how much I want it to be true. It can't. The voice of my mind fills my ears and my head.

You don't want it to be true, that's the problem. Stop trying to convince yourself he's dead. He's alive. Christopher is alive.

No he's not! We all saw him! He died, Dragged the knife through his throat. In front of everybody. In front of me. In front of you. In front of everyone who was there at that damn place!

But he's not dead. Explain the findings. The name, the gender. The blood. 

Of course Christopher's a southerner! Of course he's a sky harpie! He's from the stjernesvane clan in Polarea! 

How do you explain the werewolf? Admit it, he didn't die. He ran away and developed new powers. Probably merged with a wondering soul.

Christopher didn't know magic. He was never a werewolf, or part werewolf! It just gives me, us, all the more reason to believe it's not him.

But Naomi's here...

SHUT UP YOU DAMN VOICE!

            Silence, both within and outside my mind. I try to be as happy and positive as I can, and I'm usually the positive person here, but inheriting the power and responsibility of guiding souls from my mothers seems to have an effect on me. The shadow of the souls have been rubbing off on me. I decided to walk in, the silence is scaring me, it's normal, almost expected from my brother, Gliph  but Noah's not like this. He doesn't have secret pasts, he doesn't react to things with that much silence and sadness.

YoU lIke HiMmMmMmM...

Shut up.

             I took three deep breaths, tried to fill my mind with fake confusion. Tying my apron tighter around my waist and fixed the little maids crown that matched my maids dress uniform. Stepping into the room cautiously, I see Noah's laptop's screen. That face.... "Are you guys okay in here?" Satisfied with my reaction and voice tone, I walked over and sat down next to Gliph. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. That face just reminds me someone that's all." I let go a breath I hadn't noticed I've been holding at the sound of his voice, though it sown with the threads of guilt and grief. We all miss him, greatly. Christopher was like a brother to all of us. I looked up from his face to Noah, his head hung above the computer keyboard. I walked up to him, kneeling beside him on the floor. He had his head resting on his gloved hands, completely obscuring his face. "You okay?" I asked gently, I put my hand on his arm. 

            His short, creamy blonde hair was half up in a tiny pony tail and half down. I love the swish of it every time he smiles and his cute dimple shows, but know.... In front of me I see a completely different Noah, it's almost like I can see the burden physically on his shoulders. His once lively, bouncy hair, now covered his joyless face. On instinct I hugged him. I don't know what he's thinking of, or what burden he's carrying but he deserves it. His body stiffened a little, but he soon got used to it. I felt him as he took his hands out of his face and lifted his head. I immediately let go, and got up. A slight blush tinted my face as I tried and failed to hide the slight awkwardness from my voice, "I don't know why or what made you sad but I hoped it helped. Well look at the time, I should cooking dinner." "I'll help, what are you cooking?" He asked, I was a little taken aback by this. Yeah Noah loves to cook but he mostly does it by himself, in his tattoo studio when he gets hungry. "Jambalaya, it's a human dish eaten in a place called New Orleans, in Louisiana. The people there speak creole french and their customs are quite interesting." I explained, leading him to the kitchen.