Killed Killers (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Chapter Fifteen

    Ere glanced hesitantly at Gem's form on the floor before she hurried after Cayde. Something told her that she did not want to disobey him, especially this soon after meeting him. She scurried after him back down the hallway, trying to stay out of his way so that she could avoid to talking for as long as she possibly could. Cayde seemed to know that she wasn't in the mood to talk, and to Ere, it looked like he didn't mind the silence.

He led her back into the dining room, where he told Cara that she didn't have to take Ere to her room because that would be his responsibility now. She nodded readily, and flashed Ere a worried look over his shoulder. They continued onward, and after a little while, Ere began to recognize it as the route to the cavern where she had met Cayde and Monica. She furrowed her brow in distaste, not liking the idea of going back to that place. Plus, she hadn't done anything wrong, so why would they want to see her anyways?

Cayde opened the door that led down the stairs and stepped aside, allowing Ere to enter first. She hesitantly did so, unhappy that he was going to be behind her. She still didn't quite trust him, although he had just saved Gem and Rian from tearing each other to shreds. They headed down the stairs without any trouble, much to Ere's relief.

The cavern spread out in front of her, just like the first time she had seen it. The only thing that differed were the lack of table and that Monica seemed like she was nowhere to be found. Cayde's dress shoes made an authoritative click as he strode across the room to the platform that the fountain was on, and continued beyond that up to the balcony. He moved quickly along the doors to the right side of the stairs, stopping at the third one and knocking twice before stepping back. A few seconds later, Monica appeared in the doorway, looking like she was tired, but definitely not untidy. He said something to her that Ere couldn't make out from all the way across the room where she was standing, but she assumed he was telling her about the fight between Gem and Rian. Her eyebrows shot up, somehow managing to do so with grace, and she said something back. Cayde turned back around and headed back down the stairs towards Ere, Monica following him closely. As they approached, the door on the side of the cavern that the table and chairs had come out of opened, and a smaller table was carried out and set down before Monica and Cayde. A few seconds later, the servants reappeared, bringing three chairs with them, which they put around the little circular coffee table.

Monica and Cayde sat down, gesturing simultaneously for Ere to do the same. She threw caution to the wind and fell back into the chair, giving up on all pretenses of being graceful or ladylike.

"Ere, if I may, what happened that caused Gem and Rian to fight?" Monica leaned forward, resting her elbows on the very edge of the table and folding her hands so that they rested just below her chin.

"I honestly have no clue. Rian brought me to the room by himself, and he was talking to me and asking me what was up with me and Gem, and then all of a sudden he tried to kiss me and he backed me up against a wall, and then Gem appeared and said something about leaving me alone and that Rian wasn't supposed to be alone with me anyways because you had said something about it and then Rian got angry and said you can't either and then Gem told him that he had gotten approved to or whatever and Rian got really mad and called him a liar and then lunged at him but instead of attacking him he floated and glowed blue and then he was on the ground and there was an eagle in front of him made out of blue light, and the eagle went to attack Gem and I yelled out to warn him but he started to glow too and suddenly there was a wolf that was made out of the blue light and it had the eagle caught in its jaws and Rian looked like he was in pain and then the eagle tore away and came back to Rian but Gem didn't take the chance to attack and then Cayde came in and there was a green light and they both fell to the ground and started to tremble and then the green light faded and they looked like they were sleeping. I have no clue what's going on." It all poured out of her at once, and she found herself forgetting to separate her sentences. By the time she finished talking, she was out of breath and shaking, unable to contain the fear that she had any longer.

"Hm. That's interesting. Do you know of anything that they could have been fighting about?" Monica asked, not noticing the panic that Ere was in the midst of. Ere wracked her brain as best she could, trying to think of anything that could have stemmed a fight between them. She thought back to earlier that day, before dinner, when Cara had told her about Rian liking her, and she got a sinking feeling in her chest. She tried to convince herself that couldn't be it, and even if it was, Ere didn't want to tell Monica and Cayde about teenage boys crushing on her. It just seemed wrong to her.

"Uh- no, there's nothing." She attempted a lie, knowing that it wasn't going to work, but hoping it would none the less.

"Really, Ere, why must you lie? We need to get this resolved so that it doesn't happen again." Monica looked at Ere like Ere had just kicked a puppy.

"I seriously don't-" She cried out, hoping to defend both her honor and what had now become her secret.

"Don't lie. We can see right through you, Ere." Cayde interrupted, looking like his patience was wearing thin.

"Cara said that Rian liked me and was jealous of the way I was acting towards Gem, but I honestly don't think..." She trailed off at the look on Monica's face. She looked like she had just seen a ghost, and her hands were now gripping the table so hard that her knuckles were turning white. Ere glanced over at Cayde, wondering if she had done or said something wrong, and found him staring at Monica with a look of mixed frustration and worry.

"Thank you for your honesty." He said to her quickly, "You can go now. Go straight to your room, I trust you know the way back?" He asked her, standing up.

"Uh, yeah." Ere whispered, scared that she had done something wrong. She stood up and headed towards the tunnel, expecting to be called back and told that she wasn't allowed to leave on her own, but the shout never came. As soon as she was out of their sight, she picked up the front of her dress and ran up the stairs, allowing her panic to take full control of her. She ran through the rooms, heading blindly towards her own tower, longing for the safety that she knew the bed would bring. Tears streamed down her face, the feelings of the past day all hitting her at once, like a tidal wave of emotion. She reached the steps leading up to her own room and took them two at a time. She tripped and fell half way up, hitting her head hard against one of the stairs and both of her knees against the other. She cried out in pain, too exhausted to hold it in any longer, and stood up. She reached up with one hand and felt her head, finding that a portion of her hair was matted with blood. She dropped her hand and picked up her skirt again, not bothering to slow down as she ran up the other half of the stairs. She burst into her room and threw herself onto the mattress, too tired at this point to even cry. She rolled over so that her entire body was on the bed and curled up into a ball on her side.

What did I ever do to deserve this? She asked herself, before drifting off to sleep.

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