| Ephemeral |

ten

Alex

I laid in my bed, staring at my ceiling. Crimson mentioned Jordyn again today. I know that red was his favorite color, I also know that Crimson is plotting something. I'm slowly connecting the dots, trying to piece his plan together.

I'm just not seeing a motive here. I get it, Larce will always have a vendetta against me because I refused to fight with him and possibly lead the Mortel's. He wanted me to be a killer, a mob queen.

If he is behind this and Crimson is just doing his bidding, is this just revenge against me? Is he trying to take away the person I love most? He's repeating the past as he did with my real mother. Although she swears up and down she heard my father's voice, even though he's almost 17 years past dead. I just can't steady my brain.

I just can't put together this picture. I feel like I'm putting together a puzzle with half of the pieces missing. Whatever he's planning, we need to be ready. But how do you plan for an attack if you don't know your enemy's tactics? All of these events haven't fallen into place yet.

First, the note, me finding out about my mothers' selfishness. Following, Ethan getting a rose as I did. Next, Ethan getting attacked and the obvious looming offer that Crimson dropped on him. Finally, Crimson coming to find me while prom dress shopping? But what is his ultimate move?

"Hey, can I come in?" I heard a voice on the other side of the door, making me jump slightly. "Uh, yeah." I responded, sitting myself up and brushing my hair away from my face.

Grayson opened my door slowly with his school bag in his hand. He closed the door behind him, but not fully.

"Sorry, I know it's late. I have a history test tomorrow, and for some reason, I'm sucking at piecing together all of these civil war battles and tactics." He tried to smile at me, but I just nodded. I laughed to myself about how his lesson corresponded with my thoughts.

I grabbed my history notebook and sat down beside him. "Do you want to start with the north or the south?" I asked him, looking up to meet his already connected eyes to mine.

"I'm sorry about earlier," He started, his eyes genuine. "I would never intentionally hurt you, Alexandra, ever." He added in a serious voice.

"I know, It's okay," I responded, rubbing the top of his hand lightly. He smiled and grabbed his notebook from his bag.

-

We studied the different aspects of the north and south before we got into the battles. "To understand the war, you need to understand what each side was fighting for," I pointed to the diagram I had on my paper.

"Yeah, I got that part. Even though the south made no fucking sense. Fighting to keep humans enslaved? What in the blue hell kind of reason is that?" Grayson started getting louder making me nod in agreement. "Trust me, it enrages me too just learning about it." I agreed.

"Now, tactics." I turned the page to another one of my note diagrams. "Okay, the main tactic at the beginning of the war was the anaconda plan. The union came up with this as a way to squeeze down the south. They did things like block ports and take the capital of their side." I explained, and he nodded going along with me.

"So like a game of capture the flag?" Grayson asked, making me giggle a little. "A very, very bloody game of capture the flag." I raised my eyebrows thinking of his comparison.