Solstice sisters

Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Summer's POV

Something was wrong. I felt it as soon as I woke up. It felt like part of me was missing. Not dead, just no longer there. Ivy.

I threw my covers off and hastily pulled on the first clothes I could find. My door slammed shut behind me, the sound echoing through the silent corridors. It was the early hours of the morning, most of the palace was still asleep. I hadn't seen Ivy since last night when she went to see Zack. After that I couldn't find her, I gave up looking for her pretty quickly, I figured that she'd taken off to be alone. I didn't blame her for taking off, I could tell she really cared for Zack and vice versa, seeing him like that must've taken a toll on her. When we found them she was lying almost on top of him, unconscious. Her arm was draped over his stomach, just covering the knife wound. The second Jace saw the knife in his big brothers abdomen he was on the ground trying in vain to heal him. But Jace's Magic was almost depleted, there was nothing he could do. We couldn't portal back to the palace, so we had to carry Zack and Ivy's unconscious forms on the horses. Jace carried his brother while Cultrum carried Ivy. Jace didn't say a word the whole ride home, he rode at the front with Cultrum, I rode towards the back with Adra. Arriving at the palace was a rush of medics and before I knew it Zack and Ivy had been whisked away to their own rooms. Ivy was healed and left to sleep, her injuries had only been minor. Zack, however, was another story. He was half dead when they got him to the palace, it took ten different medical elves and continual hearings before he was stabilised. Even then they didn't know if he would ever wake up, all we could do was wait and hope for the best. Upon hearing the news of his brother, Jace nearly broke down. I took him out of Zack's room and led him into an empty one. He slid to the floor and lay slumped against the wall, staring forward into space. I sat down next to him. He didn't say anything to me at first. He didn't look at me when I told him that Zack would be fine, that he would wake up. I don't think he believed me. I pulled him into a hug and held him while he cried. He didn't cry much, just a few tears. He confided in me while we sat together in that room. He said:
'I buried both my parents, I don't want to bury my brother as well'
We sat talking for maybe an hour until I decided it was time I checked on my own sibling. Ivy woke up a few hours later and that was the last time I saw her.

Ivy's bedroom was next door to mine; I was knocking on her door in under a minute.
'Ivy?' I called 'you in there?'
She wasn't replying. I knocked on the door harder.
'Ivy you better be in there!' I tried again 'I will kick this door down if I have to!'
Still nothing.
'Alright you asked for it' I called and too a few steps back. I raised my leg and kicked the hard wood of the door. It didn't budge. I kicked again. She hadn't opened the door to make me stop or tell me to go away. There was no way she was still asleep after this.
'Ivy please' I whispered as I kicked the door again. The feeling of loss felt stronger than ever. I was starting to panic.
'Come on!' I yelled at the door as I threw my hands out in front of me. Then a loud bang and a rush of air knocked me off my feet. I looked up from where I was sprawled on the floor. Ivy's had been reduced to ash and splinters.
'Crap!' In my panic I'd summoned a fire ball and blasted Ivy's bedroom door to smithereens. If that didn't wake half the palace I don't know what would. I picked myself up off the floor and picked my way through the smoking doorframe. I looked around the room, ash dusted the floor. Her bed looked undisturbed, no one had slept in it last night. Everything lay untouched. My stomach plummeted. I checked her drawers, everything was here, she hadn't taken off because then she would've taken essential things with her. All that was missing were the clothes she had been wearing yesterday and her locket. That left me with a few explanations, either she'd taken off in a hurry, or she was still somewhere in the palace. I was hoping it was the latter. Quickly I made a mental note of all the places she could be: her room, Zack's room, infirmary, mum's hidden room, library and possibly the gardens. To be honest she could be anywhere in the palace, these were just obvious places. I decided to try Zack's bedroom next.