Every Ice Blue Cloud Has a Silver Lining

The Tale of the Song Twins - Part Three

Tam

The words came flooding down on Tam. Breaking him. Killing him.

"N-no!" Tam spit out. "She can't! The flooding was totally accidental. She's untrained, too. Please don't."

The council looked at each other thoughtfully. They seemed to be doing their telepathic conversations. Quan and Mai Song were glaring at Tam. The council nodded at each other.

"We have reconsidered, and our final decision is that we will be sending Linh Hai Song to Exilium. This is decision will remain unchanging, Tam Dai Song."

Tam wanted to argue. He really, really did. Yet, the way the councillors stared at him, willing to keep shut was stopping him.

"I would like to go Exilium with my twin."

Not completely stopping him.

He emphasised the word 'twin', to show them that whatever they said to him didn't matter. That he didn't care. That he wouldn't care.

The councillors looked at each other once again, this time with thoughtfulness in their eyes. Quan glared at him. Mai stared, and if she was sad, Tam wouldn't have known.

"Tam Dai Song, the council has made the decision to allow you to attend Exilium with your twin sister, Linh Hai Song." Councillor Emery said. Quan bowed down low. Mai dipped in a way-too-elegant-and-obviously-over-practiced curtsey. Tam also bowed, but not nearly as low. He wasn't for letting the council thinking they won. Linh curtseyed gracefully, which brought out the sparkles on her dress.

"What were you THINKING?" Quan yelled the moment the Song family stepped out of the towering building. "You could have gotten US sent to Exile!"

Tam stayed silent. No words were needed. He hated, no, despised his parents, and refused to treat them any good if this was the treatment Tam and Linh were receiving.

"Tam Song, answer me!" Quan shouted, turning a few heads their way.

"You know what? I would have been GLAD if you went to Exile, but instead, Linh is stuck going to Exilium, and you didn't think to put up a fight!" Tam snapped. It was his last name that made him speak up.

"You didn't have to go to Exilium, it was only meant to be Linh." Mai added, clearly wanting to be part of the drama.

"Oh, yeah because that's SO much better!" Tam spit. "She's your daughter, and yet, you still find a way to stand there, and watch her get punished for something that was a total accident."

"Okay, that's ENOUGH" Linh screamed. She was tearing at her hair, a very un-Linh thing to do. Tam had just noticed that she had been quiet till now. "Stop fighting like this. There's nothing that can be done now, so there's no point. Let's just get home, me and Tam can pack our things, and we'll never have to see you again, and you'll never have to see US again."

The family leaped home. Tam stared at the walls of Choralmere. There was a large chandelier hanging in the main living room. The majority of the pictures were of Quan and Mai Song, and the others were of random memories, like the time that Quan discovered the Panakes tree. That memory was from a long time ago. Long before Tam and Linh were born. There was a family picture in the corner. Quan and Mai were smiling and looking down at Tam and Linh, though, there was something off about the way they looked at them. There was a faint, but unmistakeable glint of anger in Quan's eyes, and in Mai's eyes a slight flicker of impatience. Tam walked over to his and Linh's room. Near his bed there was a book, one about a wizard, whose name was Harry Potter, and how he found out how he was magical. That's all Tam got up to. He found the book one day when he snuck into the forbidden cites and saw it on the ground. Inside the book, there was a post-it note in pencil saying:

Property of Amirah Ramírez

Well, too bad for Amirah, because Tam didn't plan on returning the book. He walked over to his table. It was the messiest table he'd ever seen. Papers everywhere, notes on things that interested him, other books, even one titled 'Percy Jackson'. He read that one, and particularly liked it. He rolled his eyes every time the character Grover made an appearance. He found Grover ridiculously funny as a character, and, unlike Percy, thought his worries were very understandable. It was a book series, apparently, because the first chapter of the next book in the series, Sea of Monsters, was written at the end of the first book, after the acknowledgements. He turned his head toward the top-left corner of the desk. There stood some figures that Tam had, once again, collected from the forbidden cities. There was a blonde, hero-like figurine that had 'Naruto' scribbled in human marker in very messy handwriting. There was also a figurine of Sailor Moon, with its name engraved neatly on the bottom of it in the human language called 'English' that he had forced himself to learn. There was a can that said 'Coca Cola' and was slightly scrunched up. He smelt the inside of the can. The scent was sharp and sweet, yet somehow gentle, and the remains of the drink were brown. He threw together all this in a satchel, and when he went outside, he found Linh waiting outside. She had her satchel as well, and her eyes were downcast. Quan and Mai were glaring at her, and when he walked into the room, they glared at him too. Tam didn't know how his parents could stare at the both of them at the same, when they were on opposites of the room.

"Don't you dare come back." Quan warned, with Mai nodding behind, worshipping every word he said.

"Don't expect us back." Tam spat back. "And if you ever have other children, do me one favour and tell them the tale of the Song twins, so that they know what terrible parents you are." With that, Tam grabbed Linh's hand and stormed out the door.