Convulsion

✿ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɴɪɴᴇ ✿

Lily

"Stop!" Delaney's voice somehow overpowers the bird's shrill calls, but the screeching doesn't stop, it only lessens. I slide from my seat slowly and fall onto the cold, glass floor. I can't hear anything, I can't see anything. I'm doing my best to shield my eyes with my arms, but the wings still beat at me and the talons still scratch and shred. My body shakes as I push myself under the table, trying to get away from everything. This can't be happening to me. Tears start to fall from my eyes as I cry out with each cut, yelling and swatting at the birds pelting my side.

"Stop!" I hear Delaney yell again and hear a fist slamming down on the table, shaking it above me. When her fists hit the metal table a loud crack echoes around the room, causing the birds to stop their screeching and flapping around me. "Stop!" Delaney yells again, louder this time. I open my eyes with caution, watching as the nearby birds hop away from me and out from under the table.

Everything is silent once again, but it doesn't last. I crawl back out from under the table, slowly pulling myself back onto my chair with trembling arms before I plop back down onto the plush seat. I wipe the tears from my cheeks angrily as I slowly meet the gazes of the Representatives. They look calm. Too calm. I feel a tiny bit better when I notice how shocked Gwen, Richard, and Steve look. They couldn't have known about this. Could they? My eyes narrow as I meet Cybil's gaze. He's patting his hair down with one hand, as if the birds touched him at all.

"Was that really necessary?" I snarl. I end up wincing when I speak, and when I look down at cuts on and my arms I can feel some of them starting to sting. There are some on my back and face too, but I can't see them right now. I look back up when Gwen turns rapidly in her seat, her shiny black hair flying as she focuses her glare on Cybil.

"Why didn't any of us have this knowledge before, Representative?" Gwen's voice is shrill. She sounds outraged, and boy, is it scary. I find myself shrinking away from her, bracing for the worst. She's practically growling, shooting daggers at Cybil with her eyes. Richard is glancing at them with his fists clenched, and Steve is glaring up at the ceiling and the birds above us. He catches me staring at him, and he only scans me for a second before glowering at the Representatives.

"So, it is the Terra Firma Gem then." Cybil goes on, ignoring the Head Guardian with no trace of remorse in his voice. "Now you know the truth. You know that I have told no lie. You have the Terra Firma Gem, and as Representatives of the Council, we need to know why." I snap at him, sitting up straighter in my seat.

"No," I whisper. "How could you?" I question. My throat is raspy from my shrieking, but it doesn't stop me as I stand up, pushing my chair out and leaning forward, over the table, so that Cybil has no choice but to meet my gaze as I pound my fists like Delaney did earlier. "Listen here." Sharp intakes of breath can be heard, but I ignore them, focusing only on Cybil. "I don't care about your title as a 'Representative of the Council,' and I don't care about your interests in the Terra Firma Gem. And most of all, I don't care about you." I stop when I see the color draining from Perla's pretty face, but Delaney looks like she's trying to hide a smile. Might as well get it out now.

"I have been through more than you can ever imagine today. I went through a rough day of school. I got taken from my own home. I've been told I'm not human. I've been told that crazy murderers are after me. And then I was told that I was supposed to come here to see you." I practically spit the word 'you' out of my mouth. I am so fed up with this. Tears start to form and are on the brink of spilling over, but I hold them back.

"I was supposed to come here to see you, of all people, to get answers. But instead I get told that my parents aren't my parents, that my real parents are dead, and that I have some sort of Gem that could mean the end of the world? And then I get attacked by birds just because I didn't want to believe this crazy reality?" I shriek. I stop to catch my breath and I sit back down in my chair, despair washing over me. This reality is crazy, sure. But it's reality. My reality.