Cairo

Chapter 27: Rough Waters

Cairo and Aerie's footsteps echoed down the hallway as they walked up to Aidan and Cane. Any conversation they had been having stopped dead. Cane's mouth hung open for half a second before he closed it, shifting on his feet like he was standing in a scorching spotlight that made his skin itch every other second. His brows a mouth were creased and Cairo could just make out red marks on his arms from where he was digging into his flesh. Cairo looked between them, raising an eyebrow as if to ask Cane what he was doing with Aidan of all people.

"What?" Cane snapped, sending a glare that could kill over to Cairo.

"We're leaving," Cairo said. Then he glanced to Aidan and sighed when looked back at Cane. "Might as well say it since Cane will tell you about it anyways: We're going to Azar."

"Azar?" Cane looked like he'd just walked in on someone dead. "That's on the complete opposite side of the country! It's at least a five day trip. Are you mad?"

"Not really." Cairo shrugged, rolling his eyes as if he was tired of repeating himself. "I figured you'd do something dumb like team up with Aidan, so there's no use in me getting upset over something like that. I'm not your mother; I won't tell you what to do."

Cane's eyes widened as he glanced quickly to Aidan. Cairo followed his gaze. He stood there impassive, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, sending a glare at Cairo who quickly responded back to him with equal distaste.

Something stirred inside Cairo's stomach as he matched Aidan's stare. All he wanted to do was punch something—Aidan's face, more specifically. Even though Aidan had always been this way to him, Cairo figured that he would have eventually hated him regardless of how he acted to him. Unlike Aidan's pitiful reason, Cairo hated him because of his character. He never agreed with how he chose to do things, the morals and ethics he chose to use, or his secretive and manipulative nature that drowned more people than Cairo could name.

But Cane's choice wasn't anything that Cairo could do. If he wanted to trust the devil, he could trust the devil. He took in a large breath to calm his shaking nerves, focusing on the staredown with Aidan.

It was when Cane finally muttered something did Cairo look away from Aidan.

"I didn't mean that kind of mad, I meant crazy."

Cairo snapped his eyes back to Cane so quickly, he flinched. A memory floated through his mind of a similar conversation after the incident in Crimson City. He could feel his mouth twitch, but he held in the laughter that wanted so badly to come up.

"There's things that I need to get done there. I'm not pressed for time and last time I checked, neither were you. It's not like you have anything important to do, so I don't see why it matters if it's a one day or five day trip."

"It's just." Cane paused, opening and closing his mouth a few times before he finally closed it all together. "I don't know. Never mind. If you want to travel to the opposite side of the country, go ahead. It's not like my opinion matters."

"It doesn't."

Cane's body stiffened. His hands curled at his sides and his chest rose pointedly up and down.

"I'll do what I want because it's what I have to do. No one's forcing you to come. You can leave any time you want, but let me remind you that you don't have a home to return to. It got burned down, remember? Considering the circumstances, I think I've been considerate enough, so yeah, I'm telling you where we're going and you're either going to come with me or go back to your relatives crying."

Lunging forward, Cane zipped through the distance between him and Cairo. He clenched his balled up fists and drove it straight into Cairo's left cheek. Cane stormed off past Cairo without even looking back as he focused on the floor in front of his feet and tinges of red that blurred his vision.