Royal's Way

Chapter 8

I was thankful to see that my prediction was right; I got home before my mom.

I entered the house.
All the lights were on. The TV was also on, playing some sitcom my mom liked to watch.

I frowned, expecting everything to be a mess. I approached the kitchen.
It was clean. The only thing different was three open chocolate bar wrappers on the counter. I rose a brow; did Ruth's world not have chocolate, or something?

I turned, quickly heading for the stairs and approaching my door. I knocked, before calling, "It's me, Ruth," and entering.

Ruth was sitting cross-legged on the bed, with my copy of "Everything, Everything" in her hand. The fourth chocolate bar was in her other hand.
Her gaze lifted to meet mine. She smiled. "You alright?" I swallowed, and nodded. "Yeah. You... seem to like chocolate." She scoffed. "I'll let you in on something; my people and I are obsessed with chocolate, and I haven't had it in half a millennia." I smirked. I didn't want to think about if she was serious about the half-a-millennia thing.

She must have noticed something off about me, because she suddenly frowned. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
I frowned in response, ignoring her gaze. "They... Percy and Lily. They did come to school. I was wrong."

Ruth's brow raised. She gently put down the book and chocolate, before standing and approaching me, looking me over like a worried puppy. "Did they hurt you? Are you alright?" I scowled. "No? I'm fine." She reached to my hand, gently lifting it and scanning my palm. It wasn't glowing anymore; it was normal.

She scowled, lifting her gaze to meet mine. "What did you do?"

I swallowed. She almost sounded angry. "I... Look, I don't know if I even did anything at all--" "You somehow got them to retreat, correct?" I scowled. "Uh... I guess." "You didn't escape?" I shrugged. "Not... exactly. But--" "You didn't use any sort of weapon?"
That's where I paused. "Well, I-I tried, but Lily literally did not care about a knife literally sticking out of her chest." "So, you never touched them?" I felt like I was shrinking. "Look, I don't know what happened. I don't know what I--"
She held up a hand. "I understand what happened."

I narrowed my eyes at her. She knew more than I. "You said you had a long story to tell me."

Her expression never changed as she backed up and sat on the edge of the bed. I reluctantly joined her, watching as she took in a breath. "Alright..."

==

She reached to the head wrap she made from my t-shirt, pulling it off and setting it beside her, shaking out her curly hair. She reached up, pulling away some stray curls that covered her forehead.

She had... horns? But they were broken, only a stub.

I cringed a bit, but didn't comment.
She took in another breath.

"When I was younger, I was part of a tribe of my species, the Eira. The tribe, Andromeda, was lead by a man named Cliff. For a while. When I was... let me think... 202 years, I think, I--" "Wait," I exclaimed, "How-How old are you?" She paused. Then, she smirked. "612."

I blinked. "O-Okay."

Ruth's smile faltered for a moment, and her gaze turned away from mine. "Around that time, I met a boy. His name was Noah." The way she said his name sounded as if she never wanted to say that name again. Not out of hate, but out of grief. "He was the son of Cliff. Also a half human, and part of a race from the South called the Jaxith. A race my people despised. It's safe to say if he weren't the son of our chief, he would've gotten more than a few hurtful words thrown at him." She shrugged. "I was one of them. I hated him, as well. I was wrong. Eventually, I had to work with him. As time passed, we slowly began to come closer. After a while, we..." Her hands tensed in her lap. "We fell in love. Of course, our love was forbidden. He was the chief's son, and also a Jaxith. But we loved each other anyway; we couldn't help it." Her smooth voice became dark.