DIRTY BLOOD | TR ✔︎

SEVENTEEN ➢ RIDDLE

Kaeda's hand stays pieced with mine, her fingers squeezing around mine.

"You can calm down, little mouse." I tell her softly, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. "It's going to feel like you're on a roller coaster."

Her face scrunches with confusion as she looks up at me. "Have you ever been on a roller coaster?"

"No." I answer, right before initiating the apparation.

The world twists around us, folding in on itself. Atoms stretch apart before collapsing inwards. Infinite threads of matter peel away from each other, spiraling into nothingness.

And that nothingness paints a colorful landscape that is Athens, Greece.

The place my mother was born.

Buildings surround us, coated in thick white paint with brick roofing. Windows are filled with growing plants, each blooming with a different color. Lights hang between the houses, twinkling to illuminate the pathway.

And I grin at my surroundings.

Before my father murdered our mother, she would take Matty and I down to Greece every summer. We'd visit my grandparents and explore the countryside.

It was always a beautiful place.

I look down to the girl at my left.

Kaeda, who looks a little green in the face, releases my arm and grabs onto the railing beside us. She hunches over the rocks and my first instinct is to grab her hair and pull it out of her face while rubbing her back with my other hand.

"See?" I say, huffing a laugh. "Just like a roller coaster."

She lifts her hand, her middle finger raised in my direction. And, for the first time in a long time, I genuinely laugh.

Even nauseated, Kaeda smiles, her eyes squeezed shut as she shakes her head.

Once she's done spilling the contents of her stomach, she picks her head up and looks to me. Her eyes twinkle with an emotion I can't decipher and warmth settles in my chest.

She's fucking beautiful.

"Where are we?" She asks, looking around.

"Greece." I answer, taking a hold of her hand as I lead her through the familiar roads. "The day doesn't do it justice. Greece comes alive at night."

She trails after me, practically dragged as I guide us towards the next road.

"We'll spend the rest of the day in bed, and tonight," I pause, looking back at her, "tonight we have fun."

It's not long before Kaeda and I are huddled up beneath the thin material of the silk sheets. Neither of us are wearing clothes, though nothing sexual has happened between the two of us.

Not here, at least.

We're facing one another, the setting sun casting an ethereal glow over her features, softening the harsh edges and blurring the intricate lines of her face. Her hair is pulled away from her face in a messy braid which falls to her shoulders, loose curls splaying over the pillow and framing her face.

Her tanned skin is glowing against the cream colored sheets, her eyes soft and dark in contrast.

"You know, most muggles don't get to do this." She whispers softly, a gentle smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Do what?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Well, most teenagers don't get to go on spontaneous adventures to Greece with their wizard boy—" She cuts herself off, cheeks tinting red.