Broken B2 - Together

Chapter 9

Calla POV

"Sophie, you're, um, looking really pretty tonight...!" Dad said unusually. 'Sophie'? Dad always called mom 'Soph'.

"Aww, thank you Fitz!" Mom gushed leaning in. Just before I looked away, dad jerked his head so that Mom kissed him on the cheek. Less gross for me, but Dad never declines a kiss from Mom. Mom looked kind of hurt, but she brushed it off and turned to me.

"Just curious, what made you think about using the crystal?" Mom asked.

"Oh, I just remembered the story you told me!" I replied.

"Maybe I should tell you more of my adventures, just in case." She looked weary, as if... no, she wouldn't hide anything from us... right?

"Can you tell us one now?" Kenric asked innocently.

"Of course! What do you want to hear? Oh, Fitz, give me some ideas," She said and turned to look at Dad.

"Oh, er, how about the one... Luma fell?" He asked. I scrunched up my eyebrows.

"Luma? Oh wait, don't you mean Lumenaria?"

"Um, yeah, that place."

"Fitz, are you okay? You forgot the name of our capital city!"

"Um yeah, just... tired." Dad was being strangely hesitant. I had never seen him like this.

Kenric? I think something is wrong with dad. I transmitted to my brother.

Are you kidding? Of course there is! H-he seems like an imposter!

Very funny Kenric. He's just being weird. We'll talk to him and figure it out. Okay?

Okay, he thought.

"Alright, where shall we start? How about when Gethen used a skill to knock down the building. The towers were crashing down, and your grandma and I were dashing through. She conjured rebel away, keeping us from getting smushed. Then we came to a safe area, and there was Mr. Forkle, dying in Councillor Oralie's arms-"

"But Mom, Mr. Forkle is still alive!"

"Yeah, yeah, let me finish. Okay, so Uncle Keefe was there and he helped us..." I zoned out and stared at dad. He probably should have been listening to mom, and partially staring at her 'beauty' or whatever, but instead, he was... getting up and leaving???

"Fitz, where are you going?" Mom asked.

"Oh, uh, I have some work to finish."

"But dad! You took some time off your emissary post!" I told him. He knew that.

"Darling, I'm worried that you're sick or something. Do you need me to check if your memories are blurred?"

"How would you do tha- I mean, no, no. I'm fine. No reason to worry."

"You sound like grandpa, you know that?" Kenric told him.

"Grandpa? O-oh yeah, Grady says that a lot!" he chuckled nervously.

"Huh? Grandpa Alden. He says that a lot."

"Um, yeah, obviously, I w-was just testing you! Well, I have to go now! Goodbye." I frowned. Just goodbye? How come he's leaving if he doesn't have work? Did something happen in the cave? Or maybe... dad was an imposter.

A/N Dun dun dun! The good part is coming! I can't wait to update! More coming soon.