Timeweaver

Fight! Fight! Fight!

"You know," the voice continued, "Doriann has been looking for you. Should I just tell her you've found another girlfriend?" Griffin clenched his jaw and stood rooted to the spot. Tabitha even heard him growling slightly. She expected fur to sprout on his skin and his fingernails to lengthen into claws at any moment. It would make perfect sense in this world anyway.

She let out an "Oof!" as Griffin shoved their purchase into her stomach. She clutched it tightly and turned around with Griffin to see a group of three men standing before them. The one in the middle was about as tall as Griffin with blonde hair grazing his shoulders. He glowered at Griffin arrogantly.

The two men standing to the side were almost a foot taller than him and almost twice as wide as him. They looked to be twins, with the same shaggy, brown hair and matching mud-colored eyes.

"Larian," Griffin snarled, scowling at the man who had spoken. "Why don't you tell your sister that her brother needs to start minding his own business?" They were stepping towards each other as they spoke. Griffin's face showed pure revulsion, while Larian managed to look cool and calm, as if he was in control of the entire situation.

"Whoa, chill, Griff. Wouldn't want you getting angry and killing someone, now would we? I'm too young to die," Larian pleaded, holding up his hands in mock surrender. He laughed and high-fived his mountainous bodyguards. "Well, I guess that doesn't matter, considering how you just offed Garid for no reason." His expression dared Griffin to do something, and Griffin accepted the challenge.

Before anyone could react, Griffin lunged forward and punched Larian right in the nose. His goons caught him and held him upright. Not wasting any time, Griffin grabbed Larian's shoulders and kicked him where it hurts, if you know what I mean. Tabitha winced as Larian fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Not yet satisfied with the results, Griffin delivered several kicks to Larian's curled up body.

Apparently Larian's posse was just for show because they backed away from the fight quickly, not even attempting to grab Larian. Tabitha searched around for a Magdilus Guard to come to their aid, but the square was completely deserted. Blinds weaved out of leaves and vines covered most windows, blocking all light. The sun was just beginning to set, and Tabitha didn't want to be left with whatever dangerous thing was supposed to come out at night.

She decided to take matters into her own hands. She wasn't going to play the part of the weak, helpless maiden. Without a thought, Tabitha set the fish on the gold-dusted ground. "Stop it!" Tabitha cried, tugging at his arm. As soon as she made contact with Griffin's sleeve, he swung his hand around in blind fury and hit her across the face. She tumbled to the ground, holding a hand to her eye.

Griffin looked sorry for an instant before the anger returned. He spun around, dragged Larian to his feet and pushed him away. Larian stumbled but managed to stay upright as he limped away into the shadows of the darkening city, cursing loudly.

Griffin stared after Larian, guilt written all over his face. He turned around almost reluctantly to look at Tabitha, who still sat on the ground, watching him with her good eye. The eye under her hand began to throb, reminding her of the throbbing headache she had only hardly recovered from.

"Tabitha," Griffin breathed, his voice almost inaudible over the howling wind that seemed to have started all of a sudden. He reached for her hand, but she pulled it back.

"So I guess we're even now," she said, keeping her gaze fixed on the ground. Tabitha got to her feet, still staring at the ground, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. Tabitha picked up the filthy yellow fish. The sun was dipping below the trees, and Tabitha saw faint lights glowing behind camouflaged shades. "I want to go home," she whispered.

"Um, okay. I'm sure Lyss is worried."

"Not that home. I want to go back to New York. I want to be in my house with my family. And Cat. I want my best friend back. I'm sick of this place." Tabitha couldn't help it when her voice broke on the last word, but she refused to let herself cry.

Griffin coughed, not sure what to say in such an awkward moment. "Listen, I'm really sorry..."

"Save it," she continued to whisper, which Griffin found more frightening than if she would have yelled. But Tabitha was tired of yelling. She had been through this type of conversation only a few hours ago, and she knew there was no point in getting angry because she would have to deal with Griffin again.

"Tabitha, I'm sorry you had to see that, but..."

"I've had enough of your apologies, Griffin," she looked him in the eye, her voice still dangerously low.

"You don't understand. That was..."

"You have no right to try and tell me what that was!" Tabitha raised her voice, giving up on her fierce whisper. She noticed multiple eyes watching the commotion through slits in their golden blinds, safe from the pain and irritation she was dealing with. "It's absolutely ridiculous," she said, mostly to herself.

"What is?" Griffin asked quietly, for once looking afraid.

"You!" Tabitha screamed so loud that Griffin took a step back. She hoped that it was still too early for the scary thing hiding in the woods to hear her. "How you can go from happy and calm to a monster in a matter of seconds! You have the temper of a redheaded woman on her period!" Tabitha threw her hands up, almost dropping the fish. She didn't care if he didn't understand what she meant; she just cared that he understood how she felt.

Tabitha tossed their "lunch," late and dirty as it was, at his feet and stormed off towards the dark and dull woods. She stopped for a moment then turned back around. "Are you coming or not, because I have no idea where I'm going." Griffin picked up the yellow, dusty fish as if he would never think of leaving them behind and led the way home, neither of them saying a word.