Edan & Hima: The Awakening

Chapter Fourteen

Taryl continued to thrash in her brother's arms. "Put me down!" she roared. She bore her teeth, and her canines were growing sharper. She listened to the exhausted sigh that came from her brother's lips. He soon allowed her feet to touch the ground. Taryl's first action was to push herself away from her brother. Spencer stared at his sister's face to see the tears rolling down her cheeks. "You're an asshole!" she screamed at him.

"Did you really expect to fight that thing and win, Taryl?" he asked in disbelief.

Taryl snarled and drew back. "At least I would have been trying," said Taryl. "Better than not trying at all and just running away." She flung her arms forward and pushed Spencer back. The shifter stumbled back, and Luke jumped to catch him. "Bennett's gone, and it's all your fault!"

"My fault?" Spencer snapped back.

Taryl quickly stopped, and she gasped while tears continued to pour out of her eyes. She looked at her brother as he loomed over her.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you run out of the medical ward?" Taryl remained silent. "How many times are we going to go through this?!"

"I—"

"If you had just stayed where it was safe, then none of this would have happened!" Spencer snapped. Taryl cowered back, and she even flinched at his harsh tone. "Your friend would still be here, but you just had to drag her into this mess!"

Sarah stood at the side with Kathy and her friend, who were both distraught over the event. Spencer glanced up to see his sister. She held an expression of disbelief. Spencer returned the emotion and gestured to the young shifter angrily.

'Fix it,' Sarah mouthed to him.

"Wha—?" Spencer groaned. He dragged a hand over his face until he heard a soft sob. Spencer looked back to Taryl to see her face twisted in despair. He heaved a sigh and brought a hand forward. "Taryl—"

Taryl swiftly slapped his hand away. "D-don't touch me," she yelped. She backed away from him until she turned and disappeared amongst the crowd.

"Taryl!" Spencer shouted. He attempted to chase her, but a hand grabbed onto his arm. Spencer looked over his shoulder to see that it was Luke. "But—!"

"Let her go," he told him. "Your sister just lost one of her best friends. She needs some space."

* * *

The wall was cold against Taryl's back while she sat on the floor. Her arms wrapped around her knees after she drew them closer to her chest—all the while, she cried. She couldn't shake the sound of Bennett's desperate screams.

Taryl could hear shuffling from her left. She didn't bother to look, even when it got closer. She heard a sigh as a person slid to the ground next to her.

"Hell of a welcome party," scoffed Victor.

"Shut up," Taryl said with a now-dead tone.

It caused a silence between the two. Victor cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry," he hummed, "just trying to lighten the mood."

Taryl heaved an emotional sigh and lifted her eyes to the concrete ceiling. She saw the ancient words scattered across its surface—this was serving as their protection. "Spencer's right," she whimpered. "This was all my fault."

"Whoa," hissed Victor. He adjusted his position, laying one hand on the ground and bringing the other forward to apply it to Taryl's shoulder. "None of this was your fault."

"I left the medical ward and dragged you into this. I got Yazier and Gale into this mess, and," Taryl croaked, "I probably just got Bennett killed."

Victor stared at his sister with sympathy. He sighed and dipped his head. "Yeah, you got us out of that ward, but you did a hell of a job making sure we got somewhere safe. Besides, you tried telling us to back off that barrier."