Fragile Fury - (Glass Angels book one)

Fragile Fury - Eighteen

The room Jordan was in was much like the rest of the caves. Damp, cold, dark and . . . wet. He was lying on a bed - well, if could call it a bed - with bloody bandages tied around him. His eyes were still closed, he looked pale, his cheeks sunken back with blood loss. Anna's eyes stung with tears.

Maybe if I had helped him fight he wouldn't be laying here, now. She thought. Heels clicked on the floor.

"It is absolutely no use," a girl said, "Thinking about the 'maybe's' and the 'what if's'" Anna glanced quickly at the girl. Ellie was standing by what Anna supposed could have been the doorway. She had changed, and wasn't so covered in mud anymore. Anna sighed, listening, but not really hearing what she had to say as she carried on talking. She stood looking down on Jordan, her head tipped to the side.

"He looks so still, don't you think" Anna said cutting Ellie off mid sentence, and she didn't even mind. What was the use of talking designer shoes when a friend lay partially dead? "Do you think -"

"No," Ellie said as she walked further into the room, she was wearing leather boots - Anna noticed - without a heel. "I don't think he's dead,"

"But I didn't finish my sentence," Ellie smiled at her.

"You didn't have to. I heard it in your thoughts," slinking like a cat, Ellie weaved her way around chairs and tables until she was beside Jordan's bed. Anna felt herself move forward as Ellie brushed Jordan's hair back off of his face. "He always was one of my favourite Shade's," she said, and then laughed, "He was carefree and charming, but if someone he cared about was in trouble, he completely changes, doesn't he?" Ellie looked over at Anna, who felt herself squirm under the gaze.

"It's like he has an 'on - off' switch," Ellie said, "like he can turn off how he feels, shut off his emotions. I've seen him do that before, in battle - when we were fighting." Ellie looked back up at Anna, "please, sit down," She said, "If you just stand there, soon the wolves will think you're part of the furniture, and then they'll pee on you." She scrunched her face in disgust, "total animals. If you ask me," Anna resisted the urge to say, no one did, but she didn't have the energy to argue with the princess. Besides, it seemed like she knew about Jordan, and Anna wanted to know about him. Not that she quite knew the reason why.

"They should be sent off somewhere," Ellie continued, "far, far away from where we vampires are. Now, since we are everywhere, I say we stick all the wolves on a boat," Ellie was more animated now. She was standing up straight as she walked back and forth beside the bed, talking fast as if she was telling Anna about her master plan. The evil mastermind behind world domination, it seemed like a role that would suit Ellie.

She stopped still, and paused, putting a finger to her chin, "it would have to be a big boat," she said after a minute, "everyone knows the wolves take up so much space with their fat ego's and-" she shook her head, "I'm detouring. As I was saying," Anna did nothing but stand still as the princess went on, her eyes fixed on Jordan. Would he be mad when he woke up, that she hadn't helped him? The thought seemed to be on constant replay. "A boat, a really big boat, and we put all the Lukos on it. Then we set it off, sail it across the sea. From New York to England, but with only enough fuel and stuff to get half way, so," Ellie grinned, "they end up stranded in the middle of the ocean with no way back." Then she laughed, "And there isn't a monster in the sea that would help the Lukos."

Anna sighed, "Princess -"

"Please, just call me Ellie," she waved her hand dismissively.

"Fine, Ellie," Anna said, "I don't care what you want to do or what you think 'we' should do to the Lukos. I just want Jordan to be okay. I just want him to wake up," Anna only looked up - away from Jordan - for a second. But that was all they needed.