Hidden Heirs and Fallen Crowns (Complete)

Chapter 22

Extra long chapter, just like I said - though it's not the longest I've written. Enjoy, comment and vote!

Chapter 22

We practiced for the whole day. By five o’clock I could spin a coin in the air so fast it was a blur, and by nine I could do the same with five coins.

At around ten o’clock, Jasmine announced that we had done enough, and proudly informed me that I had learned what I should have in a week.

We were sitting in one of the many living rooms. It was quite small, and she had a traditional fire burning in the chimney.

“I’m exhausted,” she yawned. “Need to sleep – see you lot tomorrow.”

“Bye,” I said.

“Well,” Zed added when she was gone. “I’d better be going too.”

“You’re not going anywhere until you’ve answered some questions,” I said coldly.

“What?”

“You heard.”

“Um … OK. What questions do you need to ask me?” he asked uncertainly.

My voice softened a little bit. “Look, Zed, I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t see it ‘cause I did .”

“See what?” he asked.

“When we came back from the woods and you went upstairs.”

He stiffened.

“What were you doing?”

He didn’t answer.

“Zed, don’t you trust me? Don’t you trust Jasmine?”

“What makes you think I was doing anything?” he asked quietly, not looking at me in the eyes but rather staring at the dancing flames.

I folded my arms, and simply said, “Your eyes.”

His hands clenched.

“They were red, Zed. Red. And I know for a fact that you’re not a vampire or something ridiculous like that, so you tell me exactly what’s up with you and your eyes before I tell Jasmine.”

“Nothing’s up with me and my eyes,” he said.

“You told me something about a medical condition –” I saw him half smile and shake his head, “– but seeing as that was before all of this happened I guess there’s another explanation, isn’t there?”

He straightened his back and looked at me. “My eyes go red when I’m sending messages over large distances. I was reporting back to the organisation that sent me and Jasmine here – they need to be informed about our progress every so often. The larger the distance the redder my eyes become. The first time you went to Jasmine's house I was communicating with them to tell them about our progress. I didn’t realise back then that it made my eyes red. That’s all there is to it.”

I stayed there, dumbstruck.

He stood up. “I have to go, now.”

“Wait a second,” I said, shaking my head. “Something doesn’t fit.”

“Goodnight, Suzanne.”

“Wait!”

“Goodnight, Suzanne.”

He walked out of the room, leaving me staring at him stupidly.

 After a few minutes, I got up and stumbled to my room. I slammed the door behind me, switching the lights on.