White Rabbit

Chapter 54: The Ties That Bind

JACE

The next morning, Clattonia and I board the train to Tokyo in order to visit Aeryn and pick up everyone's things from Rai's apartment. Whenever she initially mentioned me coming with her last night, I was slightly surprised by the fact that she would want me out and about in my current state, but strangely I don't feel as bad as I used to last night. If anything, I feel more energized than I normally was. And before we left, Clattonia allowed Labyrinth to take Cassidy somewhere he apparently needed to go that was vital. Clattonia seemed to understand whenever Labyrinth requested this and said that she'd explain the reason to her later. After all, if Labyrinth genuinely asks for a favor, you know that she must have a good reason.

And, I must admit that it's odd to see myself with black hair after having it naturally brown for all of my life. As we're traveling on the train, I hold out one of my hands and examine it, flipping it over as if it'll give me some sort of clue as to what I've become and what I can do. Clattonia glances over at me from beside me and a small smile splays on her lips before the train comes to a halt and we step outside, setting foot back into Tokyo. Clattonia grabs my hand and leads me into a back alleyway before she glances around and pulls the hood on her jacket up, grabbing ahold of my hand once more.

"Hang on," she says and I'm about to reply whenever she takes off in a speed run.

My eyes widen in surprise as everything around us flies by at seemingly light speeds, pedestrians blurring by and the colors of scenery blurring together like the Northern Lights. If this is what it always looks like every single time that she speed runs, it's actually pretty breathtaking. My eyes flicker over to a few droplets of water that splash in the air and slowly fall by my face as we race passed a water fountain in a public resting place where a bunch of park benches are. A few seconds later, we arrive at the hospital and Clattonia slows to a halt, almost making me fly forwards and crash into the glass entry doors from the force. Clattonia sends me a sheepish smile before lowering her hood and glancing around again before leading me inside the hospital where she walks up to the front receptionist's desk.

"Excuse me," she starts, "could you please direct us to Aeryn Diadem's room?"

"One moment please," the redheaded receptionist with brownish-hazel eyes smiles and holds up her index finger as she grabs a giant binder the color of pink toffee and sets it on the counter as she sifts through it, her finger skimming across the pages before she finds Aeryn's name, "room 104. Can you please sign in first before visiting her? Thank you."

"Sure," Clattonia nods and the receptionist smiles once again, handing her a white pen with a red cap before going and sitting back down in her red padded computer chair and typing away at her keyboard.

Clattonia signs her name on the clipboard with a sheet of paper asking for her name, relation, and phone number before she hands it to me and I do the same. After placing the pen back down on the clipboard, the two of us make our way to room 104, where Aeryn and Lucian are. Clattonia knocks on the tan door with the black plate that has the numbers "104" engraved on it in white with gold trim and has a holder for a binder below the number plate. The door creaks open to reveal Aeryn sitting up in bed and sticking her tongue out at Lucian, who is sitting in one of the chairs by her bed with his face in his hands in frustration as Valentina sits next to him and chuckles slightly. To my surprise, I see Simon sitting with her as well.

"Simon?" Clattonia raises a brow.

"Oh, hey Clattonia," Simon sends her a lopsided smile before his eyes flicker over to me, "Jace."

I nod in his direction as Aeryn, Lucian, and Valentina all turn to look at us.

"I thought that you were the only one coming to visit her, aside from us, Valentina," Clattonia says.