Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 14

Percy returned carrying a tray of mugs and placed it on the glass coffee table in front of us. Gregor got up and took a mug from the tray and passed it to me. It was black coffee which I disliked but I accepted the mug anyway. The warmth and the smell was comforting but I felt empty. There was a part of me missing.

The velvet black of Gregor's shadow was back. Everything was as it should be but I felt empty and missing.

Percy stomped to the leather chair opposite us and fell back on it cushioned seats with her arms crossed. She glared, not at me but in my general direction.

"Shouldn't he be going soon?" she muttered, her eyes narrowed and her lip curled.

"Percy," sighed her mother. "Don't be rude."

I wonder if this was a demon thing. Being hospitable to people you dislike or maybe it was 'no matter how much you dislike them, you should still be polite to them'. Gregor's mother seemed to be going out of her way to hide her hostility towards me while Percy despite being curt and rude was honest. I don't know which I preferred.

Percy rolled her eyes. "Gregor isn't even allowed to bring his boyfriends to the house anymore. Why is this guy the exception?"

I wanted to disappear, I was so uncomfortable. I turned to Gregor to gauge his reaction but he refused to make eye contact with either me or Percy. Maybe I should deny that I was his boyfriend? But I was more curious to find out what happened that resulted in the boyfriend ban. Silence was probably the best response so I sipped my coffee instead. The coffee was so bitter I choked. I covered my mouth with my free hand. The taste of acetic rot clung to the back of my tongue. All eyes turned to me, the room stopped silent.

"Do you want milk and sugar?" whispered Gregor.

I nodded, still covering my mouth. Gregor took my mug and escaped out of the room leaving me alone with his mother and sister. It might have been me but the room felt more tense when he left.

"Are you?" asked Percy from across the coffee table.

I lower my hand from my mouth and fiddled with the hem of my t-shirt. "Am I what?"

She rolled her eyes at my response. "Are you his boyfriend?"

"No, of course not," I mumbled looking down.

Percy re-adjusted her position so she sat up straight and tilted her head to the side. "Really? Because you seem to be his type."

"What's his type?" I asked. I tried to keep voice monotone to hide my enthusiastic curiosity.

Percy smirked. "Gregor's type is anyone who likes him and showers him with praise since he's an attention whore."

Gregor's mother face palming. "Percy, don't say that about brother."

"It's true though," she scoffed. "It's not like he has any other criteria likes looks, or personality, or sanity."

I waited for her to say 'no offence' or something like that to me but she didn't. She didn't even look at me. Percy jumped up from the chair and walked to her mother. "I'm going to take Cotton out for a walk."

"Right now? It's almost eleven," whispered Gregor's mother.

"I'll stay in the garden. It'll be fine," shrugged Percy.

Her mother narrowed her eyes, "Will you really? You won't portal away to town or to the other end of the continent like last time will you?"

Percy raised an eyebrow and pointed at herself. "You think I'll go out in public in sweatpants?"