Heartbeat [Alec Volturi]

Daily

"This is ridiculous."

I flicked my pencil at the back of Felix's head. A grin plastered itself on my face when the writing tool hit its mark, but my smile dropped immediately after. He hadn't even noticed.

In fact, my declaration went entirely unacknowledged.

"Why am I being punished?"

"It's education, Saffiya."

"Then why does it feel like a punishment?"

Demetri cackled, way too invested in their little teaching lesson despite ignoring me for their video games. Apparently, they were waiting for literature to 'get good again'. Direct quote. "Because you won't stop complaining."

Everything had been a little tense since Razin's latest threat. Or, at least, anything that had to do with me. As if they thought I might burst into tears or tear apart another room. But, after the initial shock wore off, I really didn't feel anything. I hadn't decided if that was good or bad yet.

I tossed my notebook and the copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales I'd been 'assigned' to translate into Italian to the other side of the couch. I had the English-to-Italian lexicon on my other side. Realistically, I should have finished the assignment hours ago, but in my defense, Demetri and Felix were more like babysitters than teachers. And they sucked at it.

The Kings had been the ones to assign the material in the first place, and this time I actually believed they were the ones to assign it. I think the entire castle was trying to get my mind off my father. "I'm pretty sure this is what teenagers are forced to do in movies after getting caught misbehaving in school."

"You mean detention?"

"Yes." I turned upside down on the couch, letting my head hang off the edge as I watched their game console upside down. "Writing lines."

Felix nudged Demetri, "maybe that's where we got the idea."

"Should we tell her?" They turned over their shoulders to look at my dumbfounded expression. They weren't even trying to whisper.

"She has been improving."

"Agreed. She's just being dramatic–"

"I'll show you dramatic–" I awkwardly tossed a couch pillow in their general direction, gravity working against me. Felix gasped, offended.

The couch cushion came right back at me, but before it could make contact with my face, a new arrival caught it.

"Jane!"

The elegant teenager raised her eyebrows at my position before shaking her head, not even bothering to verbalize her questions. She shifted her gaze to the others with a glint in her eyes. "Heidi is looking for you two. She sounds...embittered." The hint of her angelic smirk poked at the corners of her lips. Felix and Demetri threw each other nervous glances. Jane was far too gleeful for the information to be positive.

As if on cue, the rushing click of heels echoed through the doorway.

"Hide," one of them determined before they both disappeared in a gust of air. Jane set the pillow onto my stomach with a smirk.

"Saffiya!"

I dropped the pillow in alarm, holding up my hands to feign innocence as Heidi stormed in behind Jane. Her eyes scanned the room before zeroing in on me. "Where are they?"

I shrugged as best I could upside down. "You know, from this angle, it looks like you're smiling." She sent me a dangerous glare, and I mimed zipping my lips.

"What is it this time, Heidi?" Jane drawled, feigning impatience.

"My furniture is missing."

"Missing?"