Forgotten Magic

Chapter 56

So we were watching from a distance, but I didn't really mind. 

Lance was in charge of keeping Shorty from messing anything up and Cass was trying to talk more details about Nickolas's dating life out of him. She was actually supposed to make sure nothing was going to disturb Hookfoot's date, but she'd reasoned that "Chance is the most likely thing to disturb their date".

Having nothing to do but listen to the cousins banter back and forth, that's what I did, lying in the sand and staring up at the stars. I'd attempted to recall all the constellations I could, but found that nothing in the sky looked even remotely familiar to me, so instead I was getting a headache.

"Doux never spoke in the castle, how in the world did you get him to say yes to a date?" Cass inquires, still cackling over the whole situation.

"Well I never asked him out," Nickolas counters, looking irritated.

This only makes Cassandra laugh harder. "Oh, that's amazing."

Now embarrassed, the guard shoots back "Well it's not like you've asked out anyone."

"Well that's because she's in a relationship!" Cass retorts before realizing what she'd uncovered.

"I knew it!" Nickolas exclaimed triumphantly. 

"Well I'm sure with your current situation, your dating life is in flames like everything else," the lady in waiting snarks, trying to regain her composure.

"I-It's complicated!" 

"Tch, at least you're not the only one who says that in response to her dating life," the handmaiden mumbles.

I sit up, realizing she's talking about me, and Cassandra's face fills with regret.

"That's...not what I meant," she tries to say, approaching me. 

"Look what you've done now, Cassandra," Nickolas grumbles, glaring at her as he approaches me.

Unbeknownst to me, tears were beginning to leak out of my eyes. 

"Hey, Savannah, it's okay," he assures me, setting a hand on my shoulder. "She didn't mean it. Your business is yours."

"I'm not in love with him," I whisper, trying to blink away the tears.

"Of course you are," Cass says, sitting down next to me. "You lived with him for three years. He was your first real home."

"I'm not," I insist, even though I'm not even sure what I'm saying anymore. I didn't care about him, right? He'd hurt me and my friends. But I still wanted to know if he was safe. It didn't make sense.

"You don't have to say that," Nickolas points out. "You spent a lot of time with him."

"It's hard to get over someone like that," Cass adds.

Why did this have to be so important? Why did respecting my relationship with Varian, heck why did these relationships in general have to be so important? Why did that matter than anything else? Everyone pressured me to talk about my relationship with Quirin back in Corona. What was so different about my relationship with Varian? He was dear to me just like Quirin was, or at least he had been. 

"Why is this so important?" I mumbled, hugging my knees to my chest.

"Because you loved him," Cass reasoned, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "And believe me, that's not something I usually spit out as reasoning."

"What does that even mean? I loved Quirin, he was the first person to take care of me. I love Taylor, they were one of my first friends! Why does my love for Varian have to be anything different?"

"Because it's...Well..." The lady in waiting paused. "I don't know, it's-"

"Uh, guys?" Lance called. "I think we've got a problem."

Hookfoot and his date were barreling towards us, panicked expressions on their faces. Raps was right, by the way, she was a mermaid. Behind the two were what I can only describe as fish people, even though that isn't a proper word for them. Even so, they had sharp tridents and looked like they were out for blood. Behind the fish people were Eugene and Raps, trying their best to keep up with the odd chase.

"Cass!" Raps called, waving to us. Lance had already charged at one of the fish people. Cassandra unsheathed her sword and ran at the oncoming attackers. 

"And that is our cue to get the heck outta here," Nickolas decides, pulling me to my feet. 

"Shouldn't you help them?" I wondered, glancing back at the battle.

"Did you forget already?" the soldier joked. "I'm not getting paid to keep them safe."

"But you...are though?"

"From you, not random fish people." We walked in silence all the way back to the condo, listening to distant cries of battle in the distance. I wanted to go help them, but what was I gonna do? I wasn't even allowed to hold a weapon, never mind use it.

"Why don't you get ready for bed?" Nickolas suggested when we'd arrived. "I'm sure they'll be out of trouble soon." 

I shook my head and dropped onto a chair in the dining room. "No thanks."

"I would've been asleep by now when I was your age," he reasoned, sitting down across from me. After a long pause, he added "What you said on the beach makes sense, by the way."

"Huh?"

"Why do we value romantic relationships so much?" He chuckled. "It really doesn't make much sense."

"Are you mocking me?"

"What? No." He raised his hands defensively. "I'm being serious here. Did you see how everyone latched onto the fact I'm dating Noah? They wouldn't have done that if I'd told them I was friends with, I dunno, Pete, or someone."

"Are you?" 

"Oh heck no. I do happen to know he and Stan are uh...you know."

"Really?"

"See, you've proved my point."

"Oh...sorry."

He shrugged. "Why're you apologizing? I've fallen into that trap too. I'll admit your situation with Varian interests me, but it's none of my business. For some reason, when people find out someone has any sort of romantic connection to someone else, it immediately becomes an open topic to discuss. Complicated family issues? Oh, not their business. Their best friend is dating a coworker? Everyone's business."

"It's ridiculous," I agree, leaning back in my chair. 

"Oh, here they come," Nickolas pointed out, waving a hand at the door. Gentle chatter could be heard from the other side, all the voices being recognizable as the princess and her friends. 

The group entered the condo, slowly drifted to bed, and that was the end of the story. I wanted to get off this stupid island. I didn't want to think about Corona any more.

A/N: Long time no see! Sorry for the long wait! 

Now, I promised to catch y'all up on my life in my last update, so here we go. If you're not interested in that, I'm gonna be updating every other week starting this week. I want to take a bit of pressure off myself as we near the end of my first semester here. Give myself more time for life, if you will. Also my hands are screaming at me to stop so I better get on with this.

So, long story short, I've been hanging out with someone who is a drama magnet, and I hate it. As any good ol introvert, I prefer peace and quiet, but apparently that's too insane to be happen. It was a whole thing, I wasn't getting any support and nothing was being done about it, but it's hopefully over now. 

Let's all collectively pray that my depression doesn't surprise me from behind and trap me in its basement for the next few months. Seems to be a pattern of mine. 

See y'all in two weeks!

-Zera