Anarchy

VI

CHAPTER 6,
"PARENTS DAY."

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❝The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.❞

— Richard Bach

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Anna walked into the girls' shared dorm room to find Evie doing Mal's makeup in front of the vanity she'd been using as a desk the day before. Her dark eyes widened, and for a moment, she considered pinching herself.

"What on Earth are you doing?"

"Mal's got a date," Evie chortled, the corners of her glossed lips pulling up into a giddy smile, as if she had been waiting all her life for the idea to be conceivable.

Anna groaned in disgust.

"Hey," Mal looked over at Anna, Evie whining as she tried to brush mascara on her friend's lashes, "if it gets this all over with, it's worth it, right?"

Had Mal calculated how high the stakes were for Anna? Had she realized the bounty over Rianne's head? The look on her face when she said it added to the side of the scale where it was, in fact, on her conscience.

Anna smiled faintly at her and received a nod in return.

After a moment of silence, Evie spoke up, "I could do yours while I'm at it."

The werewolf scoffed, "No, thanks."

"My mom was never big on makeup tips," Mal declared as Evie began to dab on lipstick. She glanced over at the brunette before adding, "And I never had a sister."

"Well, now you have two," Evie insisted, continuing to fervently work. "We're going to need all the family we can get if we don't pull this off. My mom's not a barrel of laughs when she doesn't get her way — just ask Snow White."

"Are you afraid of her?" Mal inquired.

"Sometimes," Evie responded. "Are you afraid of your mom?"

She shrugged, "I just want her to be proud of me. She gets really mad at me when I disappoint her. And, yeah... She's my mom, so she loves me... in her own way," she trailed off at the end, light eyes darkening before drifting off toward the window.

You didn't answer the question, Anna silently acknowledged.

"What about you?" Evie looked over at the werewolf.

The wolf stared at the princess with a stoic expression, devoid of emotion at all. Not a bored look, not fearful or nervous. Just blank. Like the obituary of someone who had never done anything with their life. Her lips parted after a moment, gaze unfocused.

"I plead the fifth," she stated after a few seconds' span.

Evie gave her a look she couldn't read. The stench was odd. It was like when you start a story and notice no one is listening. They're not annoyed exactly, just all in their own trains of thought.

"Moving on," she grabbed Mal's hand. "Come and see."

The teal-haired girl pulled the purple-haired girl up, four fingers draped lazily over forefingers and arms swaying slightly between them as they walked, hands sliding together to a solid clasp when they reached the floor-length mirror. A cobweb hung off of the upper right corner, and Evie moved to brush it away.