Lost

Chapter Three

"Biana! Lily! Come down for dinner!" Della called.

"Okayyyy, eyes, hair, last thing, outfit!" Biana squealed. "You can try one of my dresses. This turquoise one with seashells will look perfect on you."

Lily wore the dress and found it did look very nice. "Thanks, Biana," she smiled.

"Bi," Biana corrected. "That's what friends call me."

"Unfortunately I don't really have a nickname. I mean, Lily already is a nickname. I'm not going by Lilian," Lily blushed.

"Nah, it's fine. I'll just call you Greeny for now. Come on, let's go!" Biana laughed and dashed to the dining hall.

"GREENY? Get back here!" Lily laughed and ran after Biana.

** 

"Biana, this is Sophie. Sophie, this is my daughter, Biana," Alden introduced.

"Hi," Biana said with muted enthusiasm.

"Hi," Sophie responded, and then her eyes flickered back to Fitz.

Annoyance flickered off Biana, but it was a sort of familiar annoyance, Lily felt. Maybe Sophie wasn't the only one falling for Fitz in the Lost Cities?

"Wait, when are we going home?" Sophie asked suddenly. "I can't stay here -- Mom will be worried."

Biana's eyes instantly moved to Lily, as if wondering if Lily was leaving, too.

"You see...," Alden began, "your sister's appearance has left some very unfortunate difficulties. No reason to worry, but we just weren't expecting her, you see. So... As much as you wish you weren't, you're going to have to move to the Lost Cities. Now."

"Now?" Sophie asked, looking distraught. "But--"

Lowering her voice, she whispered to Lily, "What about Marty?"

Lily closed her eyes, thinking of the beautiful cat. "Amy will need him," she murmured.

Alden, Della, Fitz and Biana all looked relatively awkward at this intimate conversation, and Lily hastened to change the subject.

"How long do we need to stay here?" she asked.

Alden sighed. "That's the thing. You're an elf, and you can't hide forever. You're going to have to move to the Lost Cities permanently."

**

"PERMANENTLY! HE WANTS US TO MOVE HERE PERMANENTLY!" Sophie burst out.

"Keep your voice down!" Lily hissed. "It's not that bad!"

"Says the one who was so suspicious of Fitz's mallowmelt," snapped Sophie. A quick dreamy look had crossed her eyes when she mentioned Fitz, but then it was gone. "It's not as bad for you. You weren't as close to Mom and Dad and Amy."

"I thought you hated Amy?" Lily asked, curling her lip in the same way Marty did. She'd started imitating the cat a few years ago.

"She's my sister!" Sophie protested.

"So am I!" Lily flared up.

"It's not so bad for you because you're friends with Biana! You went up to her room and now you're besties! Haven't you seen the disdainful look she gives me?" Sophie shouted.

"Don't you know why she doesn't like you?" Lily asked, amused.

"No! You think I'd be like this if I did?!"

Honestly, yes. But then again, she might be too embarrassed to say a word. 

"It's because of your obvious crush on Fitz," Lily spat. "You're not exactly secretive about that, are you?"

"Wh-what?" Sophie flushed.

"I'm going to ask to be moved to a different room." Lily stood up.

"Where did the dress come from anyway? Your new bestie?" Sophie sneered.

"Maybe. I thought I knew you better, but clearly I didn't," Lily said, walking away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sophie demanded.

"If you've cooled down tomorrow, come talk to me," Lily said and left the room.

She knocked on Biana's door, hoping it wasn't too late at night, but she heard laughter from inside.

"Who's that?" an unfamiliar voice asked from the inside.

"It had better not be Sophie," Biana's disgusted voice answered.

She opened the door and beamed when she saw Lily. "Lily! Hi! Oh, you're still wearing this? Hang on, I can lend you a few nightgowns, maybe later -- ohhh. Lily, this is Maruca," she introduced, gesturing to her friend, probably the person who'd asked who Lily was.

"Hi Maruca. I'm Lily," Lily introduced herself, smiling warmly.

Maruca smiled back, a little shyly. "Yeah. Like Biana said, I'm Maruca."

"Why're you here?" Biana asked curiously.

"Sophie being insufferable," Lily muttered.

"Ohh. Hey, Maruca and I were going to have a sleepover. Maruca, do you mind if she joins?"

Maruca made a face, and Lily hastened to say, "It's okay, I can go back down," but then Maruca said, "Sure, but I'm not grabbing the three-player games from downstairs."

"Nah, we can introduce her to base quest!" Biana said.

"At this hour?" Maruca asked, looking at the sky.

Biana glanced at the completely pitch dark outside and grinned meekly. "Okay, maybe not. Lily, what do you want to do?"

"Anything," Lily responded immediately. She didn't want to be a pain, and it didn't really seem like Maruca wanted her there.

"You're a human, right?" Maruca asked.

"No, but I lived among them," Lily answered, taking no offense at all.

"Well, what about some human games, then?" Maruca asked.

"Uhhh--"

"That's where you are!" Biana's door was flung open and Sophie stomped inside. "Gosh, Lily, we're suppose to be sleeping!"

"Get out," Biana demanded angrily.

Sophie faced her down flatly. "Lily, come with me. You don't need Banana anyway."

Biana flushed at the insult. "Lily--"

"There's no need to argue. I'll go back with Sophie. By Sophie, keep in mind that I don't agree with what you're doing," Lily said dangerously.

"Not that I need your approval," Sophie sneered. "Come on, let's go back to our room."

"You mean the guest room," Lily corrected. Sophie was talking like she owned the house.

Sophie's eyes narrowed. "Right. The guest room. I hope I don't see you anytime soon, Banana."

"Biana," Lily corrected, "and let's go."

Biana was still glaring daggers at Sophie when they left.