~Jaya~
"Hey," I said, looking at Aeryn as we walked back into the hotel, "you okay?"
She looked up at me and smiled slightly. Tucking a piece of hair that fell out of her ponytail, she muttered, "Yeah. I don't think I'll be able to go to sleep, though."
"Still on an adrenaline high?" I asked, slightly worried.
"More like, 'I was almost kissed' high," Jet said holding her hand up for a high five. Knox smirked and pulled her hand down.
Laughing, I led the group to a circle picnic table outside.
"Uh," Nikolas furrowed his brow, "why exactly did you bring us outside, mia partita?"
"Well," I clapped my hands, "I figured since Aeryn isn't feeing okay.." I paused, and looked at her expecting she would deny it. She didn't. "We could all talk and bond. Since, you know, it would be rude to just go to sleep after these two just saved a bunch of people." I finished, motioning between Leif and Aeryn.
"Sounds relaxing," Leif commented, while taking a seat beside the already seated Aeryn.
"I guess we could bond.. if we have to," Jet mumbled, in an attempt to annoy me, while sitting across from Aeryn. Chuckling, Knox sat next to her and Lief. I rolled my eyes, and sat next to her.
Nikolas, sitting in the last available spot between me and Aeryn, said, "I was hoping you'd suggest we play spin the bottle."
I rolled my eyes and ignored him. "Is that okay with everyone?"
"Why not?" Leif and Aer said at the same time, then looked away smiling.
"I'm down," Knox said, as Jet just shrugged.
"Sure. Why not. It's already past my bed time," she answered.
"You already know I'm in, mia partita," Nikolas said, smiling.
"Okay! Does anyone have anything in mind?"
"I do," Aeryn raised her hand nervously, then focused on Knox. His eyes widened, and he pointed to himself, a question in his eyes. Aeryn nodded, and asked, "I've always wanted to know... what is the ward of patience like?"
"You want know that?" He said, then sighed. "Well, my Ward, for me, was kind of dull. I had no siblings, no parents. I lived with my grandparents my whole life. For some reason, my time there felt like I was waiting for something. Ironically, patience is the ward's virtue. I just never knew I'd be waiting to be kidnapped."
Jet frowned, and patted his hand. He looked at her and smiled. He then asked, "I can ask someone something, right? And it can be about their ward life?"
I shrugged, "why not?"
"Nikolas?" Knox looked at the boy next to me.
"Fine. I'll tell you about my ward," Nikolas said, while attempting a glare. "The Ward of humility wasn't my favorite place. Since I was young, my parents thought my older brother was everything. So I, in an attempt to show my abilities, took up everything. I aced every class, learned how to play all string instruments, I even practiced poetry," he subtly winked at me, "but since our virtue was humility, I never really could show my abilities off, because that's not very humble. My parents continued to worship my brother, and I continued to stay a shadow. Well, until I was kidnapped. You could call it my moment of fame," he smiled, "Your turn, Leif."
"What if I didn't want to answer?" Leif questioned.
"Too bad," Aeryn said, and I smiled.
"Fine," He gave up, "There isn't much to the ward of wisdom. My life, like everyones in the fifth ward, was spent in school. My mom thought it best to put me in a full year school system when I was young because she was sick. She passed away on the last day of my first year, and since I didn't know my father, I moved in with my sister. We were outcast because she thought that too much knowledge was dangerous, while the ward thought more knowledge meant betterment. Fast forward, and here I am. A kidnapped guy with fellow kidnappees. My mother would be proud." Leif sighed, then looks up, "now it's time to hear about the ward of tolerance."
I opened up my mouth to tell our live stories like the boys had, but Jet beat me to it.
"Ward of tolerance. We were taught to endure hardships. We aced school. We stuck together. We were kidnapped. Bam. Now, let's do something. Like an actual game," she breathed then saw everyone staring. "What? I'm not from the ward of patience like this one," she bumped Knox, "and a girl can only take so many sad stories before she gets to witness a good dare. So, let's play some truth or dare."
Apparently, Jet decided we are all now playing truth or dare. "You want a dare, Jet?" I asked, menacingly, ready to make my friend do something stupid and embarrassing. Knox smirked.
"Why not?" She shrugged.
"I dare you to knock on that window, let the person see your outline, then when they come to open the curtain, do your shadow thing," I suggested, thinking she wouldn't do it.
"Okay," she shrugged again.
"What?" I looked at Aeryn, "I didn't think she'd do it!"
Aer giggled, "I think it's because she is tired."
We all watched as Jet pulled her hood up and walked up to the window I pointed at. She hit her hand against the door three times, then waited. Right as the person pulled the curtains back, Jet vanished. You could hear a faint scream as the curtains were thrown closed again.
I turned to Nikolas to see his eyes were wide. "Please," he started, "never let her do that to me."
"Do what?" Jet said, becoming visible again.
Nikolas jumped and grabbed my arm. "How do you do that?"
Knox, laughing, explained, "we can't turn invisible, but since it's so dark, you can't see the difference between her being a shadow and her being invisible."
"Yeah, well, it's terrifying," Nikolas admitted, While removing his hand from my arm.
"Jet, it's your turn," I said, shaking my head.
"Okay, Aeryn. Truth or dare?" She smirked at Aer.
"Truth?" She asked more than told. She didn't trust Jet's dares.
I shook my head. I knew what Jet was going to ask, and I knew Aeryn wasn't going to like it. "Are you sure your okay with truth, Aeryn?"
"No take backs," Jet interrupted.
"Then don't ask what I know your going to ask," I scolded.
"Fine. Aeryn, if you took out the whole 'being kidnapped' part, are you happy we are in the ward of hope?"
"Well," Aer thought, and looked at Leif, "Yeah. I wish it was different circumstances, but I've kind of enjoyed it here." She then turned to Leif, "truth or dare?"
"Dare," he answered, earning an ohhh from everyone.
"I dare you to... make Nikolas levitate."
"Why me?" Niki exclaimed.
"Oh come on," I laughed, "Niki, you know you'd enjoy levitating."
"Fine," he mumbled, giving up.
Leif, shrugging, lifted his hand towards Nikolas. Almost immediately, his body began to rise until he was five feet above the table.
Squirming, Nikolas half asked, "can you let me down now?" Leif complied.
"I may do that more often," Leif said before asking Jaya, "truth or dare?"
"Truth," I answered, not wanting to know what
Leif would dare me to do.
"What's the worst thing you three have ever done?"
"Well," I drew out while Jet spit water out of her mouth while laughing. "What?" I asked her.
"That's a good question," she said, not answering me.
I thought it over a bit before remembering our time in the Ward's jail. "There was this one time we were kind of in holding for a night."
"I like a girl with a criminal record," Nikolas said while winking.
"It wasn't my fault," I defended myself.
"Yeah," Aeryn agreed, pointing at the girl next to me, "it was Jet's."
Knox looked up, curious, as Leif asked, "but why? What did you do?"
"It all started with the toupee," Jet mumbled. With an eye roll, I dove into the story.
