White Rabbit

Chapter 37: Here Comes Hellbringer

CLATTONIA

I kick my foot back and forth as I sit on the counter in the kitchen, sipping a cup of hot chocolate with caramel and marshmallows as Essence walks in and my eyes flicker over to her as she reaches up to the cabinet, opening the door to reach up and grab a box of cereal.

"Morning," I say and she glances over in my direction, nodding quietly as she makes her way over to the table and sitting the box down.

A few moments later as Essence is grabbing a bowl and a spool for her cereal, Indigo walks through the door and waves to both of us.

"Hi," She says as she walks in and goes to the fridge.

"Where's Ink?" I ask and Indigo shrugs.

"I don't know," She says, "the last time I saw him I was watching him paint in his room."

"So, you two aren't a couple yet?" I ask and Essence laughs but tries to cover it up with a cough.

"Eeh?!" Indigo exclaims and her face turns a shade of red as Ink walks in carrying several trays of paint.

"What's going on?" Ink quirks a brow as he stops in the doorway upon seeing the scene before him.

"N--Nothing," Indigo waves her hands around vehemently.

Ink narrows his eyes slightly before walking in further and directly up to Indigo, leaning over her slightly and she emits a small eep as he almost bumps their foreheads together, scanning her expression.

"Alright," He says with a smile and backs away, going to the sink to wash his paint trays and leaving Indigo standing there blinking.

I glance over at Ink to find that his smile is full of knowing and I almost snort at his slyness as he continues washing out his paint trays, washing colors of teal, turquoise, bright red, and neon green down the sink as they blend together in the water. Meanwhile, Essence leaves the kitchen with her bowl of cereal to go sit on the couch and watch TV just as Reece passes her and enters the kitchen. I raise a brow whenever I notice that he brushes against her shoulder slightly as he walks passed and my phone vibrates on the counter beside me.

"Nice of you to finally join us," I muse and Reece's eyes flicker over to me before going to my phone.

"Who's that?" He asks with a nod towards my phone.

"It's Jace," I say, "he texted me fifteen minutes ago saying that he's coming over. He texted me just now telling me that he's almost here."

"Oh," Reece yawns and walks around the kitchen, debating what he wants to eat.

"You're still tired? You slept for like, ten hours," I raise both of my eyebrows in surprise.

"Well, actually, six," Reece admits, "I was kicked out of bed..."

"Kicked out of bed?" I ask as Reece's eyes widen whenever he realizes what he just said and the entire kitchen pauses to look at him.

"Um," He clears his throat, "yeah."

"Come on," Ink says with a smile and claps him on the shoulder as he walks passed him, "No need to pry into his bedroom life."

"That's not what I meant," Reece snaps and throws Ink's hand off of his shoulder.

"I'm just kidding," Ink smiles genuinely and Reece sighs, "seriously though, what happened?"

"Essence came to me with nightmares, that's all," Reece shrugs, "no big deal."

"Oh?" Ink tilts his head to the side slightly, "well, it's good that you were there for her."

"Yeah..." Reece says as his eyes meet mine and a small smile tugs at my lips as I raise my mug to my lips.