Lethal Lineage: New Lines

Chapter 2

"Hey!" I laugh as I accidentally body slam Percival. Only being half gargoyle didn't change the fact that he was hard as stone. "Ow."

"Where'd you come from?" He smirks, steadying me as I rub my bruised shoulder.

"Whoever made that cup game was brilliant!" I grin, arm swinging out to point, but my hand hit someone in the face.

"Watch it, snake!" She snarls, wobbling.

"Ohh, careful. You look a little shaky. Lemme help with that." In a second she stops moving where she stands, dancing bodies bumping into her solid form.

"Nathara!" Percival quickly turns me away, leading me to the drink table. "You're going to piss off the wrong person if you keep doing that."

I scoff unattractively. "Been there, done that. Dead girlfriend, remember?" My bitter smile makes Percival look uncomfortable at the topic. Good.

"Where'd you go during lunch? Larken give you a booty call?" He changes the subject, handing me a drink.

My eyes roll. "Not even close." Whatever witch made these made them fizzy which made them even better. "Another." I demand, crushing the cup.

"Yeah, okay." Percival cautiously hands me another cup.

"I need to celebrate something," I grumble, shuffling away to lean on the cool bricks of the dungeon walls. It felt like I only drank when there was a big problem to face.

"Well your birthday was over the summer," Percival follows. "Late celebration?" He raises his cup.

"Eh," I pout.

"Come on, Nat. What's wrong?" He sighs, leaning on the wall next to me.

My eyes clench along with my jaw for a moment. "I'm a witness for the trial." I bite out, stomach turning.

"What?" He leans his head closer to hear.

"I'm a fucking witness for the fucking trial!" I snap, causing him to flinch away.

After a moment Percival puts an arm over my shoulders. "Hey, it'll be fine. We got your back." I sigh and lean my head on him, suddenly tired.

He was right. I had supportive friends, Larken, and Elide promised to be there through the whole thing.

"I think that might cheer you up," Percival says, pointing with the hand over my shoulder.

Amongst the dancing bodies I spot a familiar head of pink hair, Meira, sucking face with no other than Amedeo. My eyes widen before I start laughing.

"Nathara."

My eyes turn to the large, grumpy form approaching us. "Larken!" I grin, stumbling on my feet and my drink falling to the floor. Larken catches me before I follow after it. "Aw, man." I pout at the mess.

"Here." Percival hands me his cup which I eagerly grab at, but Larken pushes my hands down.

"She's had enough." My boyfriend decides.

I glare up at him. "Hey," I poke his hard chest. "I—"

My stomach rolls.

"I...think you might be right." I swallow hard.

I lean on Larken heavily as he leads me away from the party. We pause outside in the night air, not to admire the stars or anything romantic, it was so I could scoop handfuls of fountain water into my mouth.

"Percy was 'spose to be my slap-sh-chaperone." I tell Larken from sitting on the fountain, blinking hard as I tried to stop my vision from swimming around.