Divided Lands

Chapter 10

"Why did you come here?" Haley asked simply, her voice quavering. She sat down her steaming mug of tea and glanced up at Eric.

"Why do you think?" Eric half-laughed. "My Dad found out."

"Oh." Haley squeaked. A more awkward moment had not been dreamed up in the entire course of history.

"Well, I don't know about you guys..." Alice's voice cut through the silence. "...but I came here to draw. So, Haley, that was your name, wasn't it?"

"Um. Yes." Haley nodded.

"Alright. Haley. What's worth drawing around here ?" Alice beamed. She could tell that everyone was uncomfortable. Eric had only known her for a day, but he could already tell that such outspokenness was foreign to her. He hid his face behind his cup of tea.

"Oh, you draw?" Haley asked with a smile. "Show me some of the things you draw while we wait for my housemate Katie to wake up."

"Can't you just go up and get her?" Evie chirped, her eyes following Alice's hand as she passed her sketchbook across the table to Haley.

Haley began flipping through the pages, hiding behind the thick book just as Eric hid behind his teacup. "Well, I would, but we're exactly on good terms right now."

"Again?" Eric rolled his eyes.

"Yes, again." Haley snapped. She flipped over another page and blinked. "Um...these are...wonderful."

Alice nodded, a barely sly smile on her face.

"They're good, but they sure are weird." Evie said without the smallest bit of reserve.

Haley closed the sketchbook before she had reached the last page and handed it back to Alice across the table. “Well, I think they're nice. And you said your name was Alice?"

"Yep. That's what I said." Alice said, her voice droll and bored.

"Well, I'm Evie!" Evie nearly shouted.

Eric's teacup made a harsh clanging noise as he sat it down on the table. "You've already announced your name, Evie."

"Why did you come here?" Haley asked. She put her own hand on top of Evie's hand and spoke to her in an low soft voice, like how one would speak to a child.

Evie strained to move her hand, but Haley held fast to her little knuckles. "Um...I just did. Vacation. Wanted a change of scenery."

Her voice climbed an octave when she said "scenery", and her eyes darted from Alice to Eric and then back to Haley in three quick motions.

"Scenery?" Haley frowned. Her hand crept back to her, and she tucked it away under the table.

Evie nodded with a shaky, squeaky giggle. "Boring old Sanctum. Not much happening. No wars. No drama."

Haley shook her head, and Eric started sinking further and further down into his chair.

The four of them sat there in an awkward sort of circle, each one waiting for the other to speak, until salvation came in the form of footsteps banging their way down the stairs.

"Oh, good!" Haley said, her voice perhaps a bit too enthusiastic. "That's Katie. She's awake."

"Just now?" Alice raised an eyebrow. "Was she up late last night or something?” 

"Ha." Haley rolled her eyes, the edge to her voice making clear that she wasn't amused. "For your information...yes. Yes she was."

Eric straightened up in his chair as a tall woman rounded the corner that separated the stairs from the quaint dining room. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes plastered to Eric, Evie, and Alice, her brow wrinkled with an expression that fell somewhere between confused and hospitable.

"Hello?" she asked. Her curly and midnight black hair settled in on the tops of her shoulders. She grabbed a curl and began to twist it around her finger.

Eric jumped up and nearly knocked his teacup into the floor. "Hi! I'm..."

Alice pulled on his elbow and he sat down, his cheeks flushing red. "...I'm...a friend of Haley's, and I'm a complete wreck."

He folded his arms onto the table and lowered his head.

"You haven't changed a bit." Haley bit her lip.

"He's a friend of Haley's." Alice finished for him, her eyes bouncing in Eric's direction. "We're friends of his, and we're looking for a place to stay tonight."

The woman scanned their faces and then glanced at Haley out of the corner of her eye.

"What did you tell them?" she half-whispered.

"I told them I'd ask you when you came downstairs." Haley muttered. She kept her eyes on her teacup and her face twisted in a gentle scowl.

The woman nodded. "Oh. Well, thank you."

She wandered over to the tea kettle, grabbed one of the porcelain cups, and poured herself some. "My name's Katie."

She sat down in the remaining empty chair and looked over each of their faces again. "I guess you can stay if Haley says you're good."

Katie glanced at Haley again. She nodded and took a sip of tea.

"Where did you come from?" Katie asked. "I'd like to know a little bit about the strangers who will be sharing my house."

"We won't be strangers for long if you don't want us to be." Evie beamed, her blue eyes blinking with excitement.

"No. No, I suppose you won't." Katie laughed, her face twisted into a crooked smile. "I'll just have Haley fill me in later. In the meantime, why don't we finish our tea before I show you to your rooms?"

Alice lifted her sketchbook off of her lap. "You can look at my drawings while you drink."

Katie took the sketchbook and sat it on the table next to her cup.

"I like to draw." Alice smirked.

Eric elbowed her hard in the side, but Alice didn't budge or squeak in the slightest.

"You and those drawings." he grunted through clenched teeth.

"Shh!" Alice hissed, her frame shaking a bit as she tried not to laugh.

Eric slid back down in his chair and blocked his face by taking a big, long gulp of tea. He watched the expression on Katie's face go from confused to frightened to a bit disgusted as she flipped through page after page of drawings and sketches of ghouls, ghosts, demons, and all sorts of other odd things that Alice claimed she saw and drew.

Finally, she cleared her throat, closed the book, and handed it back to Alice. "They're...erm...wonderful drawings, sweety."

She stretched her mouth out into a polite but forced smile that ended up looking more like a grimace.

"Thanks." Alice winked. "We're gonna have fun."

She downed the last of her tea and sat her cup down with such gentleness that it didn't even make a whisper of a sound.