Midnight Playground

Chapter 7

"I think that it's starting to look better already!" Emmery chirped loudly whilst she clapped her hands together, dry mud sprinkling down from her palms. Cassie spied her an half-agitated look but it was fleeting and she carried on placing the white lilies upon the mound in front of them. Even she had to admit that putting flowers on the grave felt a bit necessary and with so many flowers already blooming in the garden, it just seemed cruel to leave it be. They took care in arranging the petals properly whilst they still had the light of day at their advantage. 

"Just a couple more and I think we'll be done!" Emmery said, smiling. "Don't you think so, Luther?" Full of reluctance, Cassie looked pointedly over her shoulder at Luther whose head had just about veered up from the book on his lap. 

"It...looks...good, I guess." He mentioned briefly before returning back to his book. Cassie rolled her eyes pitifully. With the amount of books that he read, you would think that he would have a wider vocabulary. In fact, she had never seen him without a book in his hand! Everybody was a little weird in their own way but Luther's unsociable attitude took it to the next level. She had never been able to tell what he was thinking but then...Her eyes crossed over to Emmery as she wiped away the trail of sweat on her brow with the back of her hand. She couldn't exactly be sure what was going through her head either. After all, one minute she was squirming on the spot just speaking to her and the next she was inviting her out and putting flowers on a grave. True, she had a lot of guts to give her friend a proper send-off, without even shedding a tear. Even Cassie had to respect her for it and yet there was a nagging thought stinging at the front of her mind - Had she misunderstood Emmery's gestures? She was out of practice but she had been pretty confident that her intuition hadn't been wrong about her sudden invite. She spied her a confused look, hoping that she would be able to help her understand the situation better but all Emmery did was smile at her, her cheeks filling with colour. Without having any real alternative Cassie soon settled on the decision that she had misread things on her own and cast her eyes down onto the brightly decorated arrangement before her. She at least felt somewhat content about her choice to follow her, even if it hadn't been for what she had been expecting. It felt right - doing something human again.

Threatened by a small smile, Cassie's thoughts returned to Alec and her escape plan. As declared, the demons were adamantly determined not to let them out of the manor without at least one of them on watch. And she still didn't understand why this was. Did they not trust each other to be alone with a client? Or was this the opportunity to do just that? It was strange how much they opposed what happened today, almost as though they were in denial. Cassie brushed back the fringe of her hair in deep contemplation. How could that be? Only the demons could do something so heartless and Luther even carried the evidence of the attack on his face! There was no way of denying it! Well, regardless of what they thought, she had to find a way of seeing Alec again, before her time ran out. She would probably have to launch herself out of her window again, as usual and hope that she would land softer than she had been lately. After all, she had a feeling that she was on thin-ice as it was.  

Cassie raised herself upright onto her bent knees just as Emmery brought herself back up onto her feet, dusting off the mud on her hands into her trousers.  

"That looks good, we should-"It happened in mere moments and without warning, Emmery fell to the ground in a fit of coughs and splutters. She clawed at the soil, her hands frantically running from her chest and up to her throat. Numbed by the suddenness, Cassie struggled to scramble to her side but before she could place a hand on her back to ease her, she was practically shoved aside by Luther who had skidded into action and was now in the middle of cradling Emmery in his arms. 

"Emmery!" He bellowed, his expression twisting from shock into worry in a blink of an eye. He gritted his teeth together and hurriedly pulled the stranded hair from her paling face. Cassie watched in awe whilst he brought her into his chest and supported her on a bent knee. She could hardly believe her eyes. Luther was clasping Emmery so tightly yet with all the tenderness he could manage and his bold eyes looked upon her with such ferocity of concern that even Cassie was too fascinated to look away.