Scarred

Chapter 6

Cassie's POV
"Is she okay?!" I ask, running into the pathetic excuse of an infirmary.
"Yeah, just some fever, she really scared me though. Can't believe she passed out," Cas sighs, sitting next to a sleeping Eva.
"I'm surprised she didn't make it clear sooner. She used to always complain when she was feeling ill. I've always liked to call this a f-Eva," Flynn laughs at the foot of her bed. "Though she always punches me when I do. Oh look, she's waking."

"Ngh... Cas? Where are we?" She groans quietly.
"Wow, not even a thank you for carrying you all the way back here," he replies.
"Wha-?"
"I'm joking. Why didn't you tell me you were feeling unwell?"
"It started off as a bit of a headache but... I think being in the nightmare made it worse, y'know, two days without food or water probably isn't a good thing, especially when you have a fever."
"No, a f-Eva!"

Weakly, she kicks Flynn's arm and unlike usual he doesn't even flinch. In this state, Eva's strength is almost completely gone. Though it's not like she has a huge amount anyway.

"A nightmare? What's a nightmare? I mean, I don't think your talking about a bad dream," I say, taking a seat.
"You haven't told them yet...?"
"Didn't have the chance. We rushed you here and I've been waiting for you to wake ever since."
"How long has it been?"
"Only about an hour. But that's excluding the journey here."

Suddenly, the door flies open and I watch as Eva flinches at the loud noise. Warren walks in first, Lucky and Hunter following.

"Are you two okay?" Lucky asks. "I mean, you had gone missing for almost three days and then I hear you're in the infirmary and-"
"They are both clearly alright Bishop. Kim's simply fallen ill. Nothing she can't handle."
"You overestimate me Warren," Eva chuckles slightly.
"So, what information did you find out about the house?"

"Nothing new for us. Though it's still peculiar that they sent Pure guards," she explains, going to sit up though Cas pushes her back down.
"Elaborate."
"Do you...?" Eva turns to Cas, and he clears his throat in response.

"That boy you talked about, the child, that was... it was me. And I assumed the guard came because she stole me from my original family, they're the reason I found out I'm Cas Carmen instead of Cas Harris or whatever. But I don't know why I was such a big concern."

"You're a familiar, correct Carmen?"

"Right."

"So, as you know, there are two ways a familiar can be born. Born from other familiars (ones that have the capability to turn human) or born from someone's soul. You're clearly the former, and those are incredibly rare," Warren says. "They likely wanted you for themselves, so you could become the queens pet or something. Maybe even a present for the little half blood princess."

If that were the case, I guess Eva and Cas were destined to meet no matter the circumstances.

"Are you serious?" Eva goes to sit up again and this time Cas doesn't react in time to stop her. "Ow, ow, ow..."
"You're kidding... so if Eva didn't run away then," Cas mutters, pushing Eva back down, "we still would've met?"

"It's just a guess, but a good one at that. Anyway, I should be going, if I'm in the room at the same time as the other Kim... I think she might kill me..." Warren says, turning around.
"You mean Alice? You can't seriously be scared of her," Hunter laughs.
"Not scared, she just seemed very certain when she said "I'll kill you if my daughter doesn't come back in one piece," so, can you blame me for wanting to avoid her?"
"Not really, I know her, she's scary when mad enough," Eva sighs.

"Well then, I'll be off. Recover quickly Kim."
"I'll try my best."

Warren leaves the room along with Lucky, and that still leaves the two of them to explain whatever a nightmare is.

"Well... to put it simply, a nightmare is a creature or sometimes even a scenario created due to the negative emotions in someone's soul. It's like the opposite of a familiar," Eva begins.
"And I created one... it kept Eva and I trapped for two days."
"So you had negative emotions towards your old home?" Hunter asks.
"I know the feeling..." I add. "But, what exactly did you create? What was the nightmare?"
"Edith Harris."

The room goes silent. The woman he lived with, what did she do to him to warrant such emotions?

"Anyway, Cas tried to hide me, but I did the usual and had to stop him from getting hurt. It wanted to keep him there, tried to put Silence on him."
"When it saw Eva, it restrained her and took her voice. It's why she's so quiet right now."
"The monster threatened to cut out my tongue," Eva spits.

"I knew you were quieter than usual," Hunter laughs. "I think I prefer you this way."
"Oh, and the amount of time it will take for her voice to come back fully depends on how much she talks."
"So Eva'a never going to speak at full volume again," Flynn chuckles, this time Eva's kick causes some (although minimal) damage. She doesn't say a word in response though, as if to spite him and Hunter, though Hunter just laughs, saying, "Wow, that's even better."

She flinches slightly and turns away, something about his remark has put her on edge.
"Hey Hunter, I think Lucky was looking for us. Let's go," I say, grabbing him by the arm before he can even react.

"What was that about?" He groans once I close the door behind us.
"She just looked uncomfortable, I thought I should stop it from getting any worse," I reply.
"Flynn was making fun of her too."
"Flynn's been her friend longer than even Cas though. Excluding Alice, she's known him longest out of everyone here."
"What are you, her big sister?"
"I... never mind. I wasn't lying though, Lucky did say she wanted to talk to us at some point. We should go find her, she seems stressed in general at the moment."
"Come on then, let's go."

After a while of searching, we find Lucky talking to a boy who must be a similar age to her: around his earlier twenties. His dark skin matches that of Cas', though his eyes are nothing compared to his or Eva's golden eyes, rather they're a brown darker than his skin.
"Oh, there you are, I was wondering if you two could help me with something," she says.
"Well tell us what it is and we'll see," Hunter replies.
"Right. This is Apollo, he's the one I sent to try and find Eva and Cas. I want to help him with something, but Warren has given me a bunch of work to do. Would you two mind helping?"
"Depends."
"I want to find my little brother," Apollo speaks. "I was separated from him when he was barely a year old. He was taken from us. My parents made a deal with the royal guard to secure his safety, but even then, we haven't heard from him. Lucky offered to help in return for me helping your friends since I was in the area."

"That's horrible... so you're trying to find your brother? Then I'll gladly help," I reply, "I'm sure Hunter would too."
"That's not your decision to make Cassie."
"Well are you going to help?"
"...Fine..."

"Well the both of you are going to have to be ready to travel a fair bit. There are lots of places I need to check, and whether we're successful in finding him of not, I need to visit the rest of my family," he explains.
"So when are we going to get going?"
"Tomorrow morning, if that's alright."
"Sure. Guess we better pack our stuff before tomorrow, c'mon Cassie, no point in dawdling."

And so Hunter and I walk off to our rooms, preparing to pack what little stuff we have.