Blood on Roses [COMPLETED]

Fifteen: Danger Magnet

"There is no remedy for memory. Time doesn't heal anything, it only desperately creates new memories to try to hide the old scars."
~ Hazel Dawson

FIFTEEN

I slowly woke up in soft bedsheets. I shuffled around and buried the side of my face into the pillow that smelled like fresh detergent. The gentle fragrance of roses filled my nostrils.

Ugh, what year is it?

I squinted and blinked open my eyes. Before I could even realize that I wasn't in my room, I saw a familiar figure by the desk, staring at me with sheer amusement on his face.

My eyelids dropped once more, then snapped open all at once.

"Zach! What am I doing? Where am I? What happened?"

His shoulders violently shook as he suppressed his laughter. He closed the book he had in his hands and stood up.

"Are you wearing glasses?" I asked when I got a good look at him.

"My ability messes with my eyes sometimes." Zach threw the glasses back on the desk and strolled over. "How are you feeling, princess? You've been out for a quite a while."

"How long?" I sat up slowly and brushed my hair out of my face. It was the first time that my hair had been so smooth even when I just got out of bed. I could get used to this.

"No idea. There's no sunlight in the mansion, and I don't bother with clocks."

I patted my jeans and was relieved to find my phone in my pocket. I checked the date; it was Sunday morning. "I can't believe I slept through the entire weekend."

"Yeah, this is the only bed in the whole house, and Harv refused to let you sleep on the couch."

I froze in the middle of my stretch at his name. Harvick was my biological uncle, but what did that matter? He was practically a stranger to me. I didn't know of mom's brother or her nephew. It'd take me a while to accept this. Right now, the only uncle I had was Arthur.

Everything I felt began to rush back to me. I didn't know what face I was making, but it affected Zach.

"It'll be alright," he said, hesitantly placing his large hand on top of my head. He removed it as soon as he patted me, and his hand was icy, but he relieved me.

That was all I needed to get by for a little bit longer.

"Thank you," I hummed genuinely. He hummed back in response.

I then recalled the number of times people stressed about the fact that I was a hybrid, and by any small off chance, I wouldn't have even been born. Hailee once mentioned that upon awakening, I'd have an extremely potent and never-seen-before ability. As soon as my thirty days were up, that power would partially unleash.

"Zach," I asked while drumming my fingers on my arm. "Why are hybrids especially powerful?"

I watched as he opened his mouth, then closed it again. His eyebrows knitted together for a second before he reached out his hand to me and said, "Give me your phone. I can't recite the literal definition."

I rose an eyebrow while handing him my phone. "I thought human technology was too weird for you. Want me to search it up?"

"No, I can do something as simple as this." Zach tapped away on my phone for about three seconds; then, he was dumbfounded. I doubt he knew where to even go on the web. I wordlessly reached over and tapped on the icon.

He muttered, "I would've been able to find that myself."

I snorted. "Yeah, in ten years."

Zach tossed me a glare. After what seemed like ten minutes, he straightened up and read aloud, "Heterosis, also called 'hybrid vigor,' involves the offspring of two different breeds or species thus inheriting superior traits from its parents, and is frequently used in agriculture and animal husbandry."