Fearless Beings

Chapter 3

Mia's POV:
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"Tom," I whisper. "Wake up."

He stirs in his sleep but doesn't bother to open his eyes. I huff and shake him quietly.

He blinks. "Mia?"

I want to throw a smart comeback so bad but we don't have time for sarcasm. "Yes, now quick." I stand up and pull him by his hands. "Tom, you don't really expect me to pull you off this bed do you—offf!"

When Tom lets go of my hands, I fall backwards. My face contorts in pain.

"Are you okay?" he asks rather loudly.

"Shhhh," I hiss. "Come on, gimme a hand." I extend an arm.

He intertwines our fingers before pulling me upwards. I almost fly into his chest. Taking a step back to rebalance myself, the soles of my feet dig into something. I stifle a cry.

I hop on one foot and roll my lips inside my mouth. Tom frowns and kneels down to see what I stepped on.

When he stands up again, he holds something small and yellow in his hands and the wince on his face couldn't have been more anguished. "It's a LEGO."

I curse under my breath. "What the fuck is a LEGO?"

He waves his hands about. "The last thing you wanna step on." And then he mutters to himself, "I'm gonna kill you, James."

I force myself to plant my injured foot on the ground firmly to grab Tom's attention. He's eyes snap to mine.

"Look," I begin. "Cassandra—she's talking to someone."

"Yeah? So?"

My eyes harden. "Follow me."

He rolls his eyes. "Mia, you're being paranoid. And I really wanna sleep."

I ignore him and tiptoe out of his room. The faint footsteps behind me tell me that he's right on my tail. The stairs are the hardest, because they creak. In any other situation, you wouldn't notice. But since the house is funeral-silent, you can practically hear your heartbeat.

Tom taps my shoulder. And then leans and whispers in my ear, "The only way it won't creak is that if we sprint down really fast."

I cut him a look.

He shuts up.

If the creaking stairs don't draw Cassandra's attention. then our thudding footsteps definitely will.

"We need to slide on the railings," I  tell him.

Tom gives me a horrified look. "Haven't done that since I was three."

I shrug. We don't have time. I use my arms to pull myself up on the railings. I loosen my legs and try to relax before moving myself a little bit to the right and let gravity do it's wonders. My heart thuds all the way down, but before I know it, I'm landing on my feet and regaining balance quickly.

I signal Tom to follow suit but he shakes his head vigorously. No way, he mouths.

I glare at him and apparently my glare must have scared him shitless because a second later he's on the railings.

I step out of his way when he nears but I might as well shouldn't have. Because a meter or so from the ground, his body tilts backwards unsteadily. My eyes widen.