Queen of Beasts: The Fallen Book One

Broken

Nolan, Echo and the triplets are indulging me by sitting with me for breakfast. The triplets are retelling the story of the first time one of them died. It was quite a shock for all of them, but they soon got used to the idea. Richard gets so excited by the idea that he wants to show us what the object was that impaled him once upon a time, and he goes to dash towards the threshold, colliding into Oliver, who he didn't see. The room goes dead silent as everyone watches the both of them.

"Hey, man. What you thinking about?" Richard asks him. Oliver's eyes are closed, and he is reeling from the fact that Richard just bumped straight into him. Is this what everyone means by Oliver touching people? But then he takes a deep breath in responds,

"Did you know cotton candy was invented by a dentist?"

"Dude, that's pretty funny." Oliver shakes his head and goes into the kitchen. I'm starting to get really confused by this turn of phrase.

"Why do people keep asking Oliver what he's thinking about?" To my left, Nolan bumps my elbow, catching my attention.

"As you may or may not know, vampires have a lot of trouble with touching people." Funnily enough, I did actually know that, and I feel proud to. "Well, when someone touches Oliver, he gets into a state where he feels like he needs to draw blood." Despite how short the sentence was, it makes me feel sick inside. "But we have discovered that if we can draw his attention away from it when it happens, he seems to be okay afterwards. He knows a lot of interesting things, a lot of different facts, so we ask him what he's thinking about. And most of times he responds with something interesting or unique. By distracting him, we can get him to act normally." Even though they probably don't know what's happening right now in drama club, that information is actually quite useful to me. I wonder if Oliver does plan on telling anyone that we're both in the same drama club and putting on a play together. Probably not. He doesn't seem like the sharing type.

The doorbell rings, which is unusual given that everyone in this household has a key except for me. Hugh, who must have been in the living room, ends up going towards the door and opening it. Once he opens the door, I can't see who he's talking to, as it blocks my view.

"Hi, I'm Nikki from Alpha Kappa Alpha. The school Admissions Board said that Amelia Weavers new postal address should be to here?"

"That's right, she has a cousin here." Oh, I didn't know we were still sticking to that story.

"Cool well she got a package delivered so we just wanted to bring it over. Here you go." A package for me? As he says thank you, he closes the door. As he turns around, I can see the shape of the package that they were discussing. I know exactly what that package is. I jump up from the table and rush around to Hugh. He passes it to me without any hesitation. As I take it into the living room, I place it on the couch.

"Whoa." The triplets comment in unison.

"You play the guitar?" Niles asks me, seeing that the package in question is just a guitar case that is completely sealed.

"Yeah, I've been song writing for a while. I really like it."

"Can you play us something?" Echo adds.

"Of course." I say with a smile. I'm really excited that my parents sent me my guitar. I feel bad about lying to my parents where I am, but they are the coolest people ever. I'm sure they'd understand. As Nolan finishes helping me unpack the tape from around the guitar case, I open it with as much excitement as I did when I was thirteen, but the excitement drops out of me instantly. The guitar itself has had all its strings cut, and the neck has been broken and the body is scratched up. I know for a fact this wasn't my parents, and since it was the Alpha Kappa Alphas that had returned my guitar to me, I can only assume they have done it. I hold back tears, slamming down the case lid.