Fire Inside

Chapter 9: Fiery Rage

I found their house. 

I despised it in every way.

Something about it ticked me off.

I stood outside for a long time.

I wasn't sure what to do, now that I was here. 

But chewing them out for everything they put me through couldn't be bad.

I rang the doorbell. 

Scarlet opened the door. She didn't say anything except, "Oh."

"Yeah," I agreed harshly. "Oh."

"Do you want to come in?" Scarlet asked.

"Yeah," I said, my fists catching fire as I held them in front of her. "Yeah, do that."

Scarlet's eyes widened. "Suri -"

"This is for everything you did to me!" I screamed, coming into the house as she backed away, terror written on her face. I relished in her fear.

Ivory appeared in the room at that moment.

But it wasn't Ivory.

For a second, I hesitated. "Ivory, what happened . . ."

Being fraternal twins, we had ever looked the same. She had my mom's blond hair, whereas dragon genes had made my hair red. But the girl in front of me was not my sister.

Her hair was dyed blue, and her eyes rimmed with black eyeliner. Her eyelids were painted with blue and white eye shadow, and her ears, though I had never seen them pierced, were adorned with earrings made of ice.

"What happened to me?!" she repeated hysterically. "What happened to you, Suri?"

"I'll tell you what happened," I roared, anger coming back to me. "I was left alone in Agon by my two sisters for no reason!"

"Suri . . ." Scarlet said.

"Don't even say my name!" I snapped, turning back to her with my flaming fists. "You don't deserve it! Do you know what I've been through since you abandoned me and stole all of Mom's money? Huh?"

Ivory stammered incoherently, her own dragon half no doubt edging her on.

"Exactly!" I yelled. "You don't! I was thirteen years old, and you left to go after a dream you knew was impossible so long as I was there, burdening you. So you left me to make it easier!"

"Maybe we left you for a reason!" Ivory shouted back. "Did you ever think that we might have left you behind for any other reason than that we didn't like you? No! You didn't!"

"Enlighten me, then," I said angrily. "Tell me exactly what circumstances it's okay to leave behind your littlest sister in the poorest kingdom, take all your mom's money, and move to a big house without her?!"

But just then, the door opened.

And there stood Cassandra.

"Suri, what are you doing?!" she demanded.

"What does it look like I'm doing?!" I asked.

"It looks like you're getting way too worked up for nothing," Cassandra said.

Scarlet nodded at this.

"Nothing?" I repeated. "Nothing? Oh, yeah, I'm getting worked up over nothing. For your information, Cassandra, this has nothing to do with you."

"Yes it does!" Cassandra objected.

"No it doesn't!" I argued back. "You try living my life, and then you can say that I'm getting worked up over nothing! Because what I'm doing is -"

But Cassandra had held up my diary. "I did," she said. "I did live your life, through what you wrote. And I know what you went through was terrible, and I know that your sisters were mean as heck to you. But you don't have to react like this."

"I - I -" I stammered. 

"You're her sisters?" Cassandra asked Ivory and Scarlet. They nodded.

"You're terrible sisters," she told them, and immediately they erupted into objections, which Cassandra ignored. "Come on, Suri. Let's go back to Crystal before anyone notices we're both gone."

Cassandra took my hand, leading me out the door. 

Still holding my hand, she sprouted wings and carried us both away. 

It was the first time I had seen her transform. 

And it was beautiful.