Jaw

Chapter 3

Technically, Silena had snuck out of the house to go to the Warrior parade.

Only technically, because she'd gone out the front door with her mother's full knowledge and permission. She just never mentioned where she was going; when Pieck picked her up, Silena called, "I'm going!" and went. No further explanation.

Now, coming back, she tried to enter as quietly as a church mouse. The goodbyes of her friends were still ringing in her head as she shut the door behind her.

Not quietly enough, apparently.

Her mother, tall and so graceful, stood in the hallway to greet her. Arms crossed, scowling.

"Hi, mom," said Silena meekly. People said that she and her mother looked nearly identical– with the exception of Silena's golden olive skin and curly hair, inherited from her father– but Silena didn't see it in moments like these. When she was irritated, Bettina Lehmann seemed to get taller.

"Where did you get off to?" Mother asked. She was only in her mid-thirties, but her grimace was wrinkling her perfect skin. "You never mentioned when you left."

Silena smiled tightly, picking at the lacy hem of her dress. She wasn't a bad liar, but it was significantly harder to lie to her mother than anyone else. She settled for a half-truth. "Out with Pieck."

"Out with Pieck where?"

Silena gulped. Stupidly, she'd thought she could get back in without arousing suspicion, and had thus not come up with a cover story. What else was happening besides the Warrior parade?

"You were at the parade, weren't you?" Her mother asked. "And lied about it."

She didn't know what to say to that. Silena just stood in the cramped hallway, staring mutely at her mother.

Then her mother smiled crookedly. "Don't worry. I won't tell."

Silena breathed a sigh of relief. "Aunt Adele!" Of course it was her mother's twin– this wasn't the first time she'd fallen for this trick.

"The one and only," said Aunt Adele, ignoring the fact that she was an identical twin. She threw an arm around Silena's shoulders and led her into the kitchen, where Silena's real mother was preparing breakfast.

Now that they were next to each other it was easier to tell the difference: dissimilar mole patterns, different shades of auburn hair, her mother was taller and slightly wider.

"You won't believe who fell for it again!" Declared Aunt Adele. She let Silena sit down at the table, but stood behind her chair. Her arms stayed wrapped around Silena's shoulders. "And I found out where she went this afternoon. But I won't tell you."

Silena's mother scoffed. "Christ's sake, Adele, we're adults. I don't care that you know more than me." Still, she glanced away from breakfast to glare at her sister and daughter.

"So," she said, trying to sound airy and casual. She didn't; it sounded like a veiled threat. "Where did you get off to this afternoon?"

Her phrasing was so similar to Adele's that it made Silena a little uncomfortable. She still hadn't come up with an answer to that question.

Mother stared straight through her as she struggled to come up with a lie. Eventually, stating rather than asking, she said, "You went to the parade, didn't you?"

As Silena's panicked eyes met her aunt, Adele held up her hands in surrender. "I didn't tell her anything."

"Of course you didn't!" Mother cried. An erratic gesture had displaced the food she was preparing, which she easily got back on course. "You didn't have to. What else is going on today?"

Silena was chewing on her lip, staring at her feet, left without a word to say. Her mother continued, "I thought I told you not to go to the parade."

"Bettina—" Aunt Adele began in a warning tone, ready to jump to Silena's defense. She was always on Silena's side when it came to the Warrior program; Silena wouldn't have been able to enroll at all if it wasn't for Adele.

Usually, Mother was a bit more agreeable, but she wouldn't hear it today. "When you didn't make it, I thought we decided that that was the last of the Warrior program– you agreed, Silena. Why did you go to the parade today?"

"They're my friends, mom," Silena muttered emphatically. When her mother got like this– or anyone, really– she found it much more difficult to speak. But, by the Nine, if she wasn't going to miss her friends; the daily ritual of Warrior training.

Mother sniffed haughtily. "They won't be forever."

"Bettina!" Aunt Adele snapped in a very un-Aunt Adele way. Her harsh tone got the attention of both Silena and her mother, who turned their heads to gape at her.

Aunt Adele looked near-furious, mouth a tight little line that was nothing like her normally charming smile. "Silena's friends are her own choice to make, not yours. You can't protect her from this forever. And Silena–" She gave Silena a look to wilt plants. "Tell us where you're going next time. It's a goddamned madhouse out there– what if you'd been killed?"

"Sorry," Silena muttered. Mother nodded her head wordlessly, placing three plates of breakfast on the table in lieu of an apology.

They ate the late breakfast of egg and sausages in awful silence; the only one who didn't seem wracked with guilt was Aunt Adele, who was content.

Silena eyed her mother discreetly, head bowed over her breakfast. She was normally a calm and composed woman– kind, and just as charming as her sister and daughter. But lately, with the passing down of the Power and the Warriors leaving, she'd grown more irritable. Silena shouldn't have lied to her.

Aunt Adele must have known the direction of her niece's train of thought, because she said, "We figured out that part in our piece, finally. Do you want to hear it?"

Silena didn't, but she nodded gratefully. Tensions were always less when there was music in the house. They finished the late breakfast and Silena allowed herself to be led into the living room. She laid down on the dingy striped fainting sofa that was pressed up against the wall.

Her relatives emerged from the hallway a moment later. Aunt Adele held a viola in her hand while Mother was hauling a dark cello. They took their usual seats around the coffee table while they tuned; Silena could already feel her eyes starting to droop. When the women seemed done, they made eye contact for a few moments, smiling, before launching into a fast-paced piece of music.

The bouncy music was familiar to Silena, and while she listened, her fingers moved along with the piano accompaniment part she was often asked to play. All the nerves within Silena dissipated like fog in the wind as she sank further into the sofa, and she fell asleep long before the part Aunt Adele had been talking about.

...

Silena was shaken awake by her aunt. Bleary and startled, it took her a few moments to realize that she had dozed off on the couch in her living room.

"'t'sup?" She slurred, rubbing a heavy hand over her eyes.

Aunt Adele looked deeply amused. But she sobered as she said, "Messenger here for you. He says he's to escort you to a war room– your chief wants you."