Tale of the Prophet Bearer: The Dark Queen's Reign

Chapter 29: Everybody is Angry

Cameron's grumpy voice brought the silence to a long dreaded stop. "You guys need to explain why there were Lakarnians at our house."

Giving a silent sigh, Cody runs a hand through his hair and hesitates a moment before turning to face Cameron. "Reil's back. I listened through on the earpiece we left at the castle and Adeline brought her back from the dead with some... spell. But Adeline had to die for her to live."

"Reil is a zombie," Tucker says is a soft voice, as he just realized reality.

I squeeze my eyes shut and pull my knees up to my chest, knowing that Cameron's reaction will be bad—especially if he is as angry as he was before.

"She's back?" His voice trembles with the past fear of the Dark Queen. "Why... Why didn't you tell me?"

"We weren't sure how you would take it."

I clench my fists at Cody's words and the same excuse he used on me about hiding my powers, knowing how infuriating they are. Every excuse he used were useless. Nothing helped me see his side of the argument and hearing Cody use the same excuse on Cameron makes me angry. I want to protest, but hold my tongue, knowing that I was the first to hide the news from Cameron. I'm just as much to blame as Cody is.

"You were scared about how I would take it?" Cameron scoffs, his fist clenching and unclenching. Clenching, unclenching. "That's ridiculous! I need to know if the communist of an alien planet has come back to life and is coming for us!"

"Sentences you thought you would never say," Tucker sighs and props his chin on his palm.

"When did you plan to me?" The betrayal in his voice cuts guilt in me. "Or did you?"

The silence eats me alive. The longer it lasts, the thicker, the hotter the anger becomes, the more I want to scream an answer I don't know. I clench my fists around my jeans, feeling guilt weigh down on my chest.

"I'm sorry, Cameron. It was wrong of us to hide it from you and we have no excuse... I'm sorry." Cody looks down at the floor. "We just found out and we had no clue they would be attacking us so quickly."

Cameron huffs and unhooks his seat-belt. "Whatever. It's just another excuse." Cameron turns on his heels and storms from the room. "I'm going to figure out where Reil is." He spat her name out like it tasted bad.

I wince when he slams the door shut and comb my hair from my face. "That didn't go too well..."

"Ya' don't say?" Tucker rolls his eyes.

Cody sinks into his chair, blowing his hair from his eyes. "How are you holding up?"

I look at him when I realize he is talking to me. "Oh..." I shrug, hugging my knees. "Barely... You?"

"Same," a shadow falls over his face and he goes silent, looking out at the bright sky.

I study the fluffy clouds and how the sunlight dances across each puff of water and dust, making them glow with a brilliance that only nature can do. I feel a little betrayed that the happy scene doesn't make me feel any better. You're supposed to feeling happier when you gaze at something beautiful, right? Isn't it supposed to help you?

"I'm kinda a mess too if you guys are wondering," Tucker says with distaste in his voice. "It's not like I lost one of my best friends or anything."

I clench my fist around the arm rest, resisting the urge to glare. "You're acting like this now, Tucker?"

"Act like what?" He doesn't bother to hide his glare. "I thought you guys would like to know how I'm doing."

Cody interrupts us before we continue arguing. "Fighting won't solve anything. Cut it out."

Tucker mumbles something under his breath and turns the back of his chair to us. Why can't he straighten up? You would think he would sober up for a few minutes, especially given our circumstances.

Silence swallows the room again, leaving us all to our thoughts. I would us rather argue than let the quietness dig up my guilty thoughts of everything I did wrong—snapping at Tucker, hiding things from Cameron, moving out of the way of the dagger that would inevitably trigger all these things.

I press my palms against my eyelids and turn the chair so nobody can see my tears. Move on, I try to tell myself. There's nothing else you can do about the choices you made. It isn't your fault. After all, you didn't know moving would cause such a catastrophic events. You didn't know Abby was standing right behind you or how easy a blade was able to snuff out her life.

"But," I hear the quiet voice of Mr. Whisper. His voice so much gruffer and angrier than it was before, it almost sounds like a different person. "If you had listened to me, it would have turned out differently. So much pain that is taking place and will take place... it all would be vanquished. But no, you didn't listen and now everything is doomed to go downhill from here."

I jump, my heart skipping a beat. Before I can question the sanity of hearing a voice that nobody else heard, the door opens.

"I found something," With a laptop in hand that Abby kept in the McAlister, in case an emergency, she had told me, Cameron comes in, facing the screen towards us. A castle appeared in Washington DC—it's exactly like the one on Lakarn. It's all over the news. "

I barely have time to look at the familiar castle before he shuts the laptop, tucking it under his arm with a resolved expression. "Reil has to be there. We need to go there and stop her now."

"We don't need to be so hasty." Cody shakes his head. "I do agree somebody has to stop her, but our abilities might not be enough to do the job."

"Christina killed her a few days ago!" Cameron points at me angrily. "Did you forget that?"

I flinch, looking down at my feet. "I didn't want to kill her," I mumble.

"I never said we wouldn't go." Cody holds his hands up in a calming gesture. "We all want to stop Reil, but the best we can do now is to wait and plan our attack. If we run in head first with no idea of what we're going to do, we're certain to fail."

"Is this your nice way of saying we're not going?" Cameron grumbles, looking angry enough to throw the laptop at Cody's head.

"I never said that. We'll go to Washington and hopefully have a plan by the time we get there. If we don't, we can hide until we have something to work with."

Cameron's nostrils flare and his grip on the laptop tightens. For a moment it looks like he might actually throw it, but he releases his death grip and it bounces onto the squishy seat. "Fine." He turns and storms from the room again.

Tucker stands a few seconds after Cameron's dramatic exit. "I guess that didn't go well either, huh?" He shakes his head with a bitterness that is as obvious as a flashing neon-light sign. "I think that we should—oh wait... That's right. You don't care what I think." He spits the words at me, sulking out of the room.

Hundreds of comebacks and remarks lurk at the tip of my tongue, but I swallow them back to the anger swelling my chest, leaving me with nothing but hot tears stinging in my eyes. I melt into my chair and press my palms to my eyes. Why does everything I say make everybody angry with me?

Cody rests a hand on my shoulder. "We'll be alright," he says quietly, although I'm not sure if he's talking to me or himself. "We're all a little messed up and stressed out right now but... we'll be okay."

"You can't be okay after losing somebody you love," I manage to squeak out, my thoughts drifting to Reil. Now that Adeline is dead, how much more angry will she be towards us?

~

Welp, that's all I got for you peeps today. Hope you enjoyed it!

*Grudgingly gets back to Algebra*