He slammed me against the wall, his face angry.
"Don't think for a second that you can try to get inside my head." He growled, breathing heavily. A moment of silence passed between us where I could feel the tension in the air. I looked down, afraid...
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"You okay Lea?" A hand sat on my shoulder, silently encouraging me.
I glanced at Alex. He worriedly scanned my face for the 30th time today. I acknowledged him, a silent message telling him that I was okay. He relaxed.
I shook off my worries and concentrated on the responsibility ahead. Fera. I was doing it for Fera.
"Why is it that I out of all people have to kill Lena?" I couldn't keep the anxiety from trickling into my voice.
"Well, you're the only one that has had the strength to harbour white magic. It's the only thing that can drop Lena's black magic," Michael replied.
I gazed down at my hands. Magic? If I had magic, I would've known by now. Liv tittered beside me, smirking.
"Don't look so startled. It only serves in Fera. That's why you didn't know previously," she said.
I sighed. Of course it did.
"Okay, so what's the plan. I'm sorry about...earlier," I stared down, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Humiliation flooded through my veins.
"It's fine. What matters now is that we can get a plan of action started." That voice belonged to Jackson. He was staring straight at me, his jaw clenched.
Huh. Look who decided to talk to me after all. Seriously though, how was this guy always irritated?
"Basically we need to infiltrate the palace...like I said earlier. I thought we could get inside and hack the PR system to transmit a message to assemble people residing in southern regions."
"Liv-" Michael stepped in as a warning to Liv.
"That's where most of the people of Fera are miserable. But someone said they didn't like my idea." Liv rolled her eyes, putting stress on 'someone'. She looked ahead, refusing to make eye contact with that 'someone'.
It was Alex who spoke up.
"It's too dangerous, Liv. We're letting someone go into that place who, let's be honest here, probably isn't coming out anytime soon." He looked straight at her, eyes begging. Liv turned her head at him, stalking forward.
"What if I want to go, huh? I make my own goddamn DECISIONS."
Intuitively, I positioned myself between them, my body acting as a shield. Liv looked ready to claw his eyes out. Alex, on the other hand, stared at her, not at all afraid but worried. What was going on between those two? A small part of me felt like this wasn't the first time they were having this discussion.
"I agree with Alex. Even if we could give you an exit route, something already challenging as it is, we would need someone who knows that castle better than Lena herself," Jackson tilted back in his chair, reflecting with Liv calmly. Okay, they'd definitely had this discussion before.
"Who knows it better than me? I LIVED there. That place was my home and I'm obviously the one-"
"I'll do it."
Everyone's eyes shifted to me. Silence. Shock.
"W-what?!" Jackson was the one who spoke up.
"I'll do it," I said. I shrugged as if the words held no seal or strain on my life.
Alex looked between me and Liv. His posture slackened and he sighed.
"Sounds good to me."
Liv looked at all of us incredulously, scoffing.
"No. Absolutely not."
"Why?" Michael's eyes widened.
"Why?! How about because you just got here. How the hell do you expect to infiltrate your home if you can't even recognize us?"
I sighed. I didn't want to tell them about this so soon, but I knew I had to.
"I remember the design of the palace. One look at the diagram and everything about the palace came flooding back."
Liv closed her gaping mouth, crossing her arms.
"I don't believe you. You're just trying to spare yourself to save me."
I walked over to the diagram, using my forefingers to pinch the forward entrance and zoom in.
"That over there," I said, pointing at a long hallway near the entrance, "that was Queen Amberly's room. Further along, if you turn left, you go to the paint room. In that room, there is a passage behind the painting of the woman with the pearl earrings. That is a direct exit to the royal gardens, in the very middle of the garden maze," I said, taking a deep breath, "no one knows that but me because I was the one who dug that secret passage up."
"Wha-but that's-."
"Brilliant. This could be our ticket in," Alex and Michael tried to hide their enthusiasm.
"Can we all just consider this like normal people for one second? Lea just came back. YESTERDAY," Liv objected.
I swallowed, placing a hand on her arm.
"And yet it's the right thing to do." I bowed my head, gazing at her.
Liv closed her eyes, taking a long sigh.
"I know, I just... don't want you to get hurt somehow. You know that's all this is about."
Looking into her eyes, I knew she was lying. There was another motive for why she didn't want me to go, I just didn't know it yet. I stared at her, trying to study her face. I sighed.
"Then what do you recommend, Liv? Because I sure as hell aren't letting you endanger your life after you scolded me about my protection." I crossed my arms. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Hey! Don't accuse her," Jackson stood up, towering over me. I scowled up at him.
"I'm just asking. Can you chill? What, I can't have a conversation with my friend?"
"You're making it seem like she did something wrong when all she was doing was defending you. So if I were you, I'd be thankful. Or when you were down on earth, did you forget about what gratitude is?"
Man, if looks could kill.
"This is not about gra-."
The sirens wailing on the white screen stopped us all mid-sentence. We all froze.
