Only If you swear...

Chapter Thirteen

A boy, who had quite clearly broken his left arm, nevertheless he waltzed into the room completely ignoring me and patrolled over to the baby that was hitting the other on the floor, it wasn't clear if he was ignorant, or just quite literally couldn't see me. "Sorry I took, so long," I was about to reply but it seemed as if was not yet finished. "Akantha! You need to watch it, missy! Come Draconia," He picked up the baby and cradled it within his arms, at first I believed it to be Jordon, but it didn't seem very manly for a war soldier. Maybe he was a visitor, but then again, it seemed he was very comfortable here, and perhaps a visitor wouldn't be like that around 'their god' or whatever, perhaps it was one of our many brothers, or perhaps a cousin or nephew. Seeing as I was only standing next to the door, an apology could be used for almost hitting me with the bloody thing and it would have been appreciated. He turned around and grimaced, just as I thought he was about to apologise, he opened his mouth and said "You should really take better care of your sisters," he sighed at me. Sighed. SIGHED. HE WAS DISAPPOINTED IN ME. ME. THE BEAUTIFUL ME. HOW BLOODY DARE HE! "Excuse me! But it's that little monster there that did this not me!" He rolled his eyes, "You just expect me to believe you didn't hex them, Jezebel? I mean, you KNOW I have the stone for looking after them, Jeez. I mean I know you hate me, but that's too far," That earned him a scowl, "That is most certainly not my name! And what do you mean stone for looking after them? AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" He physically flinched at my outburst. "Jezebel, don't play games with me! You're meant to be feeding the Charybdis. Why are you tormenting the children?" I gaped at him, "TORMENTING! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" As if on cue, the children started to wail and he gasped in very fake shock, "You're upsetting them, Jezebel! Perhaps you should go, god it burns," I shook my head, "No way! My father told me to do this, so that's what I'm going to do!" I sat in the seat in the nursery. He sighed deeply in annoyance, "Well," He spoke, "If you are so adamant, that father told you to come here, why did he tell you to feed the Charybdis?" He continued in a mocking tone, "Cass fed it, and if you must know, I'm meant to put the children to sleep and then help Cass with the food," I told him. "Oh, so you must be Laura then," He sighed, but didn't look even a bit apologetic. "Yes," I remarked barely withstanding my annoyance "Well, you're not doing a good job of looking after the twins are you? I have a stone, much like you do, but I have one extra for looking after the children, the older children look after the youngest if they are in pain or danger it burns where the stone is." He explained. I rolled my eyes but was fascinated by his explanation of the burning stones. "Can I get your name?" I asked pushing the fact that I was still unaware of what to call him, He smirked, "The name's Jordon," He spoke pushing his hand out for me to shake, and me, not wanting to be awkward, shook it. He nodded and switched arms, so that baby Draconia was now in his left arm, "Oh! Careful doesn't it hurt?" I remarked, as his arm was clearly broken. "Nah, plus, It looks like you need a hand."  I did need a hand it was true, but I don't need his help. " I don-" I began, "You do, Becca's waiting," He called, Oh right. Well, he wasn't wrong. But really, Becca could wait could she not? "Must not be comfortable to sit in that position in a cold graveyard," he continued, clearly trying to push me into a decision, so as the only thing my pride would allow me to do, I accepted. It was true I did need his help and he WAS my brother. If this wasn't the wrong Jordon or whatever. I better ask, just in case, but if they gave him the stone, he must have been of some importance,  WAIT. The bandage covering his arm fell a bit, and there wasn't even a mark on his skin.  "Is your arm really broken?" I couldn't stop myself from asking, the interest I had with his arm was clearly because something was off about it. VERY OFF. Even for this place. He nodded, "O-of Course! What makes you think it isn't?" I walked over to him, broken arms usually look broken right? Don't they have scars on where surgery happens? Perhaps it's different on Earth. but I was confident it wasn't. "Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that it's not broken at all!" He jumped and almost dropped the baby he was holding.  "Woah! CAREFUL! She is just a child, Jordon! It would really hurt her," I guilted him about Draconia, just as he had done about Becca, and I took her into my arms seeing, as Cass had said, Jordon was indeed unreliable, she was crying, but she wasn't hurt, perhaps she just wanted to play. I put her down on the carpet and the look of Draconia's face when I did was hilarious. She grabbed onto my legs, so I picked her up again, as I continued to yell at Jordon, my new favourite hobby - criticise and ridicule Jordon. He did look slightly guilty, which even I didn't think was possible for him to do, but he lowered his head and gazed out of the window in the nursery. "I never wanted to be in the army," He sighed, "I never wanted to control life and death because each time I have a number, that I have to obtain. 1,000 a day. And they can't all have peaceful deaths either. They have to be different," I widened my eyes, "All of them?" He nodded, "Yes, but they can be slightly different, sometimes I do the curses wrong on purpose, which is how the humans end up surviving, I did the work and then they thank god, Kind of a slap in the face if you ask me." He displayed genuine emotion. "So is that why your arm is-" He winced, "Yeah, it's fake. Please don't call me out, I mean not that he'll believe you but it might give him suspicion an-" I Interrupted his anxiety ramble " You can rely on me, much more than the Charybdis can rely on you," He laughed, genuinely and smiled, "Um, about earlier, I suppose I'm well, you know, I mean um," I waved my hand dismissively, clearly he wasn't too used to apologising. "Yeah, it's good, brother," He punched my arm playfully, and carefully, as to not hurt the baby I was still holding out of Akantha's death grasp. "Don't suppose you need a hand, sis?" I looked at him, "I think it would do no harm to have an extra set," he glanced at me, and his eyes filled with mischief, "Okay stand still and I'll just -" "NO!" I screamed as he burst into laughter. "Gotcha," I rolled my eyes. "Let's get these kids to bed, then." I smiled and he picked up Akantha. "Indeed." he smirked and Draconia opened her mouth to speak, I wasn't sure if he twins had spoken before, I mean they are three but acted like they were one or two. According to the books, The infants up until the age of six act similarly to very young toddlers, after the age of six, they act according to their age. Again, they were three, but judging by Jordon's face, they hadn't spoken a word. "JOWARDAN!" Draconia spoke in the same exact tone of voice I had used, and it earned both a giggle from her twin and a burst of laughter from both me and Jordon. Maybe Hell had its drawbacks, but overall it was a lovely place.