Elysian House: Edge of the World (3)

Chapter 9: Snow's Story

Olivia

We wound up back at the hotel, and I was taking care of my sisters wounds the moment we were secure inside. Adelene locked the door, while Maya and Bradley quickly drew the blinds shut and Thalia simply sat in the corner of the room, not helping with much of anything.

Viola presses down on the wet cloth I'd given to her, against her busted lip, which was quickly swelling. "Adelene, you have to take us to the Unknown now."

"Um," Adelene looks down at her swollen lip pressed against the wet cloth. "I do not think that is a wise idea. You're bleeding, and if a Vampire smells that, they'll come at you. It would be like tossing a deer into a pit full of hungry lions. It'd be suicide."

"She's right," I say. "That's a bad idea. We should at least wait until morning."

"We need to go as soon as possible, Adelene," Viola says, with a desperate look in her eyes. "My mate is in danger, Adelene."

"I understand," she holds her hands up, to calm my sister, who I can already tell is going to have a hard time going to sleep tonight. She wants to find Riley, and I understood that, but not when she was about to commit suicide stupidly to do it. "But you need to understand that in order to save her is to stay alive long enough to do that."

"You're right," Viola whispers, but her leg is still bouncing. She is energized. She looks over at me, as if knowing what I was thinking. "I'm sorry. I'm just... nervous."

"There's nothing to be nervous about," I assured my sister. "Lay down. Sleep, you need the rest." She did as I said, seemingly unable to fight the fatigue she was feeling. I stood up from the bed, while my sister was resting her eyes and I walk over to Adelene, who was busy lost in her own mind. "We need a game plan, Adelene."

"You're right," she says, appearing to be a bit frazzled. "The Unknown will keep us protected from Snow, for a short time. But as soon as she realizes it's become hard to track us here, she'll know. So we need to make it quick and find Riley as fast as possible and then--" she stops, and realization suddenly fills her eyes.

"What?" I ask, frowning in confusion.

"That's it," she says. "I think I know where Riley is."

"You do?"

"That girl, that Witch. Jenna, I think was her name. Her allegiance lies with the Darkness, no matter who has it. It is quite possible she has sought her out, to find an ally. Or a place to stay while she searched for Snow. Perhaps Jenna even knows where Snow is already."

It was a solid idea and I wouldn't put it past Jenna to tell Riley, since I had a sneaking suspicion she didn't really care what would happen to Riley if she sold Snow out like that. The Darkness would take over Riley, completely, and Riley's soul would die. It would kill my sister if that happened to her.

"Then let's find Jenna," Maya suddenly cuts in and I'm annoyed.

These two idiots spent most of their time making out in janitors closets while Riley was busy suffering by herself and eventually resorted to the Darkness. I didn't care what these two had to say about the situation, they would not be joining us.

"Actually," I turn to Maya and her stupid boyfriend. "You two will be going back to Elysian House, while we figure this mess out."

"No way," Bradley cut in, with a frown. "Riley's our friend."

"Friend!" I exclaim, raising my eyebrows. "Oh, I couldn't tell. I mean, you certainly didn't make it clear that you two were her friends. All you two cared about was having fun while your 'friend' was suffering in silence."