Achromatic Adventure

Undergrove

"Everyone calls me Lil." I smiled and held out my hand. 

Turstin looked at me with a perplexed look on his face. "You said you are Achromatic, correct?"

"Yes, I am. I have a different type of Achromasis where I can only see colors in people who are close to me with pure intentions. People that are meant to stick around I guess you could say. The good apples." I giggled.

"I've heard of curses like that before, but only when doing research about powerful families that used to live in this area." 

My throat began to feel as if it were closing up on me and the only breath I had left in my lungs was being sucked right back out each time Turstin opened his mouth. 

A lightbulb seemed to go off for him, I could tell he had finally realized why I suffer from a type of colorblindness. Especially one so specific and uncommon. God, I wish he hadn't. Why did i even mention it? Noone else knew why I had it other than Seren. 

"You are an Undergrove, aren't you?" Turstin smiled. He seemed so proud of himself, like he had cracked some sort of unbreakable code. 

Before I knew it, Xaun had me in his arms again and we were in the air jumping from tree to tree towards my house. I looked up at him, and he refused to return my gaze. I knew he didn't like outsiders, but I never thought he'd be this angry if i spoke to one in front of him. I watched as his blades glistened in the moonlight with each jump. Sara and Suffo, his coping mechanisms. His favorite past time. His hair slithered in the wind as we began to slow down. We finally reached my bedroom window, and i watched as Xaun quietly opened it for me. Stoic and mysterious. That was Xaun. A hard book to read. Half of the pages were in English and the others were redacted or ripped out. A pain in my ass. A masochistic read.  I slowly climbed into my room and held the window open for Xaun as he followed my movements. I softly shut the window and locked it behind us, hoping I could put Turstin's words behind us as well. As i turned around, I found Xaun throwing invisible daggers into my chest with his eyes. His arms were crossed as he leaned against my bedroom wall, and crossed his feet as well, heel to toe. I could feel the room getting colder with every breath he took. 

"Are we in the business of flirting with random strangers now, bro?"  

"I was just trying to help him find his dog. Which I couldn't do because you brought me back here." I rolled my eyes and plopped down on the bed. I couldn't look at him, I knew why he was angry. Although he and Seren didn't get along, they were cut from the same cloth when it came to being protective about the men I was around or the men I chose to get involved with. Xaun was a prime example of the prey i liked to chase, but luckily he seemed to have become a permanent fixture rather than a passing regret. 

"You were being helpful at first, but I saw that little spark between the two of you mate. I'm not blind." 

"Using your smog to conceal yourself instead of actually leaving was a bit low though, don't you think? You could have just asked me to leave with you." 

"So I can be the asshole? I can't be asked bro. I'd rather hide in plain sight so I'm in control of what he sees or what he doesn't, you never know what could have happened alone with some strange man." Xaun removed his blade, Sara, from the holster he had on his left hip. He began to run the blade along each finger, leading the tip back to the palm of his hand each time as if he were drawing a road map to somewhere no-one could ever find. 

"Besides." He chuckled. "What is the point of having a magical ability if you never use it bro? Hmm?"

"If you wanted me all to yourself, you can always say that. It's not like there was/is a dog's well being at stake or anything." I sarcastically sighed as i laid back on the bed and reach out my arms above my head to stretch out my back. I closed my eyes and smirked as the lack of a rebuttal filled the air. Not a peep. No defense for the dark arts today I suppose. I began to feel a presence over top of me, hovering. I opened my eyes and Xaun was standing in front of my legs leaning over me. I felt as if everything in my body had locked up like an old school house in the middle of summer. No visitors in my mind for extra credit classes. No teachers in my heart with lessons to teach. My eyes widened as he began to lean in closer and place one knee on the bed beside me.