[COMPLETED] Poppies and Roses: A Flower Husbands Fanfiction

Chapter 10 - Traitor

Even though we're not allowed to talk about traitors at the meetings, there's plenty of whispering and suspicious glares in between. Everyone's nervous, and it's showing. Cleo and Pearl keep the boys where they can see them. Grian, Scar, and Bdubs are constantly playing games, trying to distract themselves. Lizzie and Joel spend practically all their free time together, and Ren is reluctant to have Lizzie out of his sight.

BigB has it the worst. He's constantly watching over his shoulder, and the smallest thing scares him. Even though I haven't spoken much to BigB, he's seems really nice, so I try to comfort him whenever I can.

The day before we're hoping to put our plan into action, I see BigB standing by the gate, in the same spot where Scar and I talked a few nights before. I come to stand beside him and he jumps when he sees me.

"Oh, it's just you," he says, chuckling. "I'm sorry I'm so jumpy. It's just all this talk of traitors..." He trails off.

"Don't worry," I reassure him. "If there really is a traitor, we'll find out who it is." Funnily enough, this seems to make him more nervous. I wonder if he's also afraid to find out who the traitor is.

I open my mouth to say something, but then I pause. BigB's expression has changed, and I'm not sure what it means. It's almost like he's...guilty?

Suddenly, BigB turns invisible and holds my hands behind my back. I'm about to call for help when he puts his other hand over my mouth to stifle the sound. "I'm really sorry Jimmy," he says, and he really does sound guilty.

Holy moly. BigB was the traitor this entire time. He's the reason why Scott is gone. Hurt and anger mix into a churning mess in my mind. The only good thing about this is that I might get to see Scott. Maybe I'll finally have the chance to talk to him again and tell him everything.

"Jimmy? What's wrong?" BigB whips around, pulling me with him. Cleo looks confused for a moment before realization dawns on her face. "Traitor!" she yells, catching everyone else's attention. It takes the others a moment to realize what's happening.

"Jimmy's the traitor?" Scar asks, confused. "No you idiot, it's BigB," Grian says, elbowing him.

Pearl, Cleo, and Ren all pull out weapons, but I see the worry in their faces. With BigB invisible, there's a good chance they could hit me instead of him. Everyone is frozen, unsure what to do.

And then Joel charges at BigB, taking him by surprise. He manages to shove BigB into the sunlight, making him appear. BigB lets go of me, and I quickly step away. Lizzie's putting lanterns wherever she can to get rid of the shadows.

"BigB, why?" I ask, and he winces when he hears the hurt in my voice. "You wouldn't understand," he whispers.

"Why wouldn't we understand?" Lizzie asks. She's doing a good job of hiding how upset she is.

"Why are we wasting our time talking?" Cleo snaps. "We should be trying to stop him." "I'm trying to understand," Lizzie responds.

"To hell with this," Cleo growls before letting an arrow fly from her enchanted bow. The arrow catches fire at the tip. BigB manages to dodge out of the way just in time and the arrow hits a tree instead. Within seconds, the tree is starting to catch fire.

Cleo, Pearl, Ren, and Joel all start to fight BigB while Grian, Scar, Bdubs, Lizzie, and I try to put out the fire. It's too late though. The fire has spread to the neighboring trees and I know that pretty soon, the entire Fairy Fort will be nothing but ashes.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see BigB extinguish one of the lanterns and turn invisible. When the others start to look for him, they notice how much the fire is spreading. Pearl, Ren, and Joel all rush over to try to help.

After a few minutes, we give up. Clearly, there's no use. "Don't worry everyone," Lizzie says, but her voice is shaking. "Everything will be fine."

"Where's Mom?" Bdubs asks. Everyone turns around. Cleo, and presumably BigB, have disappeared.

Scar puts an arm around Bdubs. "Don't worry about Mom. She's strong, she'll be fine," he says, but there's uncertainty in his voice and I can tell he's just trying to be strong for Bdubs' sake.

Lizzie falls to her knees and holds her head in her hands. Her breathing has turned shallow and rapid and tears are streaming down her face. "This is all my fault," she whispers. "I noticed that BigB was acting odd, I should've known, I should've-"

Joel grabs Lizzie wrists. "Hey! It's not your fault," he says sharply. "There was no way you could've known. BigB had us all fooled. But you need to calm down if we're going to save Scott and Cleo."

"How are we going to save them?" Pearl asks. "The plan required all of us, including Cleo and BigB."

No one has an answer. Bdubs starts crying and buries his face in Scar's shoulder. Scar holds his brother close, but it's clear he's on the verge of tears too.

"We could help you."

I turn around immediately, recognizing the voice. It's the red-haired girl with two other people. They're all dressed the same, chainmail armor over simple red tunics and leather pants. Joel was the one who told me that that was how the royal guards of the nearest kingdom dressed.

Pearl, Joel, and Ren raise their weapons. The three strangers put their hands up. "We're not here to hurt you," the girls says. "We just want to help you get your friends back."

"Why would you help us?" Ren asks warily. "Doesn't your king hate unnaturals?"

"You bet he does," says a man with blond hair and a headband. "But we like unnaturals. The reason we joined the royal guard was so we could help unnaturals by 'accidentally' letting them escape, or slipping them extra food and water if they're being held in the prison."

"How did you find us?" Joel asks. The last man answers, "We were with the group that was working with your friend."

"BigB is not our friend," Pearl snaps. The man puts his hands up in a placating gesture, and though the bottom half of his face is covered with a mask, his eyes are friendly. "Regardless of whether he's your friend, we were working with him, meaning we know where your blue-haired friend is."

I can hardly believe my ears. "You know where Scott is?" I ask. Just a minute ago, everything seemed so hopeless. But now, now we just might have a chance to save Cleo and Scott.

"Do you know where they took our mom?" Scar asks. The masked man looks at him and Bdubs before he answers kindly, "Yes, we know where your mother was taken, and we'll help you save her."

Bdubs and Scar just look at him for a moment. Then Bdubs rushes forward and hugs him. The man looks startled for a moment before he puts an arm around Bdubs and beckons Scar over with the other. Scar quickly joins the hug.

"I'm Gem, by the way," the girl says. "And that's Martyn," she says, gesturing to the blond man, who waves. "And that's Etho." The masked man nods at us.

Lizzie stands up and brushes off her dress, before casting a glance around our mismatched little group. "Well then, we'd better start planning," she says determinedly. "After all, we have a rescue mission to put into action tomorrow."