Cursed

Chapter 31

Eva's POV
After a few days of essentially sleeping nonstop, I finally gain enough energy to confront everyone again. Cas, on the other hand, is still fast asleep, and doesn't look like he'll wake up anytime soon. So, I carefully lift him up and take him downstairs with me. I'm lucky my pyjamas have long sleeves, as I don't think I'd be able to get away with wearing gloves without people getting suspicious. I just can't let them see the marks on my wrist.

"So the monster has emerged at last," Flynn laughs as I walk downstairs. "I thought you'd sleep forever."
"Cas might, but not me. I'm hungry," I reply, sitting down on the sofa, directly next to mum.
"Good thing Charlie and Hunter are making some pancakes then," mum grins. "Oh by the way, I think you'd be relieved to see this."

She hands me a newspaper and I don't notice anything but the huge headline.

"She's dead?"

No way. I mean, I am relieved, but I refuse to believe it.

"I know right, you're dad's going to become king soon," Cassie grins.
"And with that, change will come. I'm annoyed I won't be able to be with you all when it happens," Flynn groans.
"Why not?"
"Ma and Pa are probably worried sick, I ran off so quickly."
"Oh, and Hunter and I are going to visit home for a day. You should come with us, we'll be leaving later today, Hunter says we should let everyone know we're okay."
"Well I guess I'll come, and unless Cas wakes up, I'll just have to carry him there. I know a short enough way there too, it's how we got to the woods we encountered you in in the first place," I say, stroking Cas' head. "I'll go change after I eat."

Soon, Hunter and Charlie walk in with plates of pancakes, both of them laughing at the state of my hair and my appearance in general. As I dig in, Cas begins moving in my lap, and as soon his eyes open as I see him staring at the pancakes.

"You want some?" I ask. He simply nods, somehow too tired to respond properly. After finishing mine off, I leave the last two pancakes on the plate for him to eat, and he scoffs them down almost immediately. "If you're feeling up to it, do you wanna go with Cassie and Hunter to their home?"
"That requires walking..." he groans quietly.
"I can carry you if you want."
"Fine..."

After Cas finishes his meal, we head upstairs to change and I attempt to comb through my hair. But it's too knotted and I just end up yelping in pain when I reach a particularly difficult knot. Sighing, I grab the hair brush and wait for Cas outside his room. When he comes out, I walk down to mum, hand her the brush, and sit down in front of her.

She simply laughs before beginning to brush through. She's far more gentle than I was with it, though she has to be a bit more rough with the large knots. Eventually, my hair reaches a bearable state, and we decide to leave it as it is.

After a while of sitting around and chatting, Cassie asks to talk to me. And me alone. Not even Cas can be there with me. I lead her to my room and (after telling Cas that he can wait in his room) close the door.

"So what do you want to talk about?" I ask, sitting down.
"What did Ada say about her relationship with me? Because I want to talk to you about her, but I want to make sure you know all the details."

Her words hit hard. From the joy of being free from the Silence to accepting the strange feeling of having my mother back, I almost forgot about the Impure girl. The one who's blood splattered on my face after the bullet shot through her skull.

It reminds me of everything that happened in the palace. The burns and bruises of the Silence, my fear every time Sebastian entered the room, and the same person's suicide. His death.

"Only that you knew each other when you were younger, that you two and Hunter lived in the same village. Is that why you're willing to go home? To tell her family what happened."
"Maybe... if it weren't for that, I guess I would've refused to go with Hunter. But, there's something she clearly neglected to tell you, she was probably worried you'd think badly of us, she clearly knew nothing about Maven and Charlie."