𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧

Fourteen

The pain in her head was still flaming when she woke on a dark bundle of furs in her blue tent. She rubbed her temples and splashed her face, trying to wake herself up. As if she was in a trance, Liana stepped into her clothing and tied her hair up. She felt cold. Empty. Like yesterday's occurrences had sucked the emotion out of her.

I am not a monster. I am not a monster.

"Good, you're up," Charlie said, peeking inside the tent. She ducked through the flaps and sat on a cot. "People are scared, Liana."

"I was just doing what everyone else was trying to do."

Charlie shook her head. "You're a threat to the new leader. I suggest you lay low for a while..."

"Lay low? I'm supposed to protect the whole island from acid fog in less then two weeks! These people are trying to kill us, and I'm supposed to-"

"Just hear me out, okay? The new King is ascending today, and... everyone's wondering if you're going to pledge allegiance or not," Charlie twiddled her thumbs.

"Why would I not pledge allegiance?"

"King Jerik's methods are different from Xina's. He's more hardcore. I should know, he's scary in council meetings," she wouldn't meet Liana's eyes. "And he's been saying that you're a pretty big threat to his safety right now. I wouldn't be surprised if he assigns you guards."

"What do I do?"

"Pledge allegiance. Obey his command. He's going to test you, Liana. You have to do everything to make him trust you."

She folded her arms against her chest. "Will that really change anything? I'm still the weirdo that murdered six men in one go."

"Jerik's scared, Liana. And when people are scared, they do strange things," Charlie got up from the cot and crossed over to the entrance. "Good luck. The ascension's tonight. Right now you're supposed to be in training."

Liana followed her out towards the training grounds, and she felt a hundred eyes bore into her. Whispers of gossip arose from the crowd, which she tried to ignore.

Iris, Travis, Kian, Allie, and Taylor were already there, sharing a similar look of worry.

"I'm fine," she said as she reached their group. Everyone had bows and a quiver, and were shooting at swinging targets.

Taylor handed her a bow, giving her a side eye. "Be careful, Liana."

"What happened with Blackthorne?"

"They're going to send a Truthful to interrogate him," Travis spoke up.

"Truthful?"

"They can detect lies, or force people to only tell the truth. Really creepy. Well, less creepy than those Forsee-" Iris shut her mouth as she caught Taylor's eye.

"Let's just get to training, okay?" Allie piped up, nocking an arrow. "Ever shot a bow before?"

Liana shook her head, trying to copy Allie's movements. She fitted the notch in the tail of the arrow into the string, and drew back until the feathers touched her cheek.

Allie let the arrow fly, striking the target a little outside the bull's eye as it swung. Liana let go of the arrow, and the string bounced forward, hitting the rim of the target just barely as it flew past and embedded itself in the ground.

She wished someone would crack a joke about how bad she was at this. That's what Taylor would do, under any normal circumstances. But everyone stayed silent as Liana floated the arrow back towards her bow which she caught to try again.

After about an hour of practice, Liana finally hit the middle of the target. She smiled triumphantly, but her bubble was burst when she missed the target the next time.

"Hey."

She recognized the voice as Taylor's. "You've been quiet today."

"Well, seeing my friend take out six guys with a flick of her wrist gave me the creeps."

"They killed seventeen of our people."

"No one blames you, they're just scared."

Liana looked up at him, dropping her bow. "Are you scared?"

He sucked in a breath. "I'm supposed to be."

A/N: I'm not one to really do author's notes, but I guess I'll just put this in here? I dunno.

Okay. Um. Hi. I don't know why any of you are reading this right now, but I want to thank you for supporting my writing. This has really boosted my confidence and implored me to write better books for you guys. A special thanks to Outcast_Island and Rack1998 . 

Question: Who is your favorite character so far?