Tiger Wings

Chapter 16

It wasn't until that night until Tevra finally crept back up the stairs and into her room. She went quietly because she didn't want Quinn's questioning just yet. She only felt safe when she shut her door behind her, turning the lock just in case.

"What were you thinking?" a voice exploded. "You just, you just, you know what you did."

Tevra jumped. "Quinn!" she exclaimed back. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you because obviously you're trying to hide from me," she accused.

"I wasn't hiding from you."

"Oh, of course. I forgot. You just went off to find your love and couldn't admit I'm right."

"You were right," Tevra said simply, sitting down heavily on her bed.

"So tell me everything." Quinn leaned forward into the light that spilled in from the window.

"There's... nothing to tell," she replied, grabbing the brush off of the stand nearby and starting to brush her hair.

Quinn stared flatly. "I can't even tell you how pathetic that is."

Tevra studied the locks she was brushing. "Well... I can't... it was... What am I supposed to say?"

"What did he say? What did you say? What did he do? What did you do? You were gone forever!"

She smiled. "Well, let me just say he understood."

Quinn threw herself backward, slouching. "I get nothing from you. Just nothing."

"I'm sorry, Quinn, there are just some things you can't tell others."

An interested look came over her face before she nodded slowly, as if she was being told a secret. "Ah."

"Ah? What does 'ah' mean?"

"Nothing." Quinn stood up, floating toward the door.

"Quinn, get back here!" Tevra called. "What was that supposed to mean?"

"Some things, you just can't tell other people," Quinn replied as she unlocked the door.

Tevra glared at her sister. "You probably have the totally wrong idea."

"Probably. But it's amusing." Quinn threw a smile at her before closing the door behind her very quietly.

Tevra muttered unintelligible things as she set her brush back down and prepared for bed.

Again, Quinn refused to get out of bed in the morning. Nothing anyone said changed her mind. And every day it got worse. Eventually she admitted that it might not have been that bad if she'd gone down the first day, but now it was mortifying. She still said she'd marry him, some day, but there was no action behind her words.

No matter what Tevra said, it didn't work. She told her about Jravic constantly looking at the empty seat where Quinn usually sat for dinner, little bits about herself and Klyde, but nothing could convince her sister to move. Finally, a week later when Tevra was at her highest point of frustration, she exclaimed, "If you don't get out of bed today, I'm going to go down there and invite him up here!"

Quinn narrowed her eyes at her sister, wondering if she was serious. "You wouldn't."

"Yes, I would. I don't care what you say, you're being unfair to him, Quinn," Tevra said. "He's waiting for you. He wants to talk to you, everybody can tell. You don't have any reason to stay up here anymore. You're being worse than me!"

"Well maybe that's because you knew you had someone who loved you and I just have, well, someone who has to marry me," Quinn answered.

"He doesn't have to marry you," Tevra replied. "He could have chosen anyone, but he chose you. Besides, you already said you were going to marry him. That's not going to happen, though, if you never let him see you."