“Ciara!” Chase
bellowed, his voice turning distant as Ciara rounded past the corridors,
slipping and bumping into the Vixens on her way.
“Sorry, sorry…”
Ciara repeated. “I’m sorry. I’m sor—“
A hand snatched her wrist, stopping Ciara. She glanced up and caught a glimpse of cloudy outline standing in front of her. It’s not Liam. Ciara surveyed. The hand belongs to a girl, because the
fingers are petite and the grip isn’t too tight.
“Um…thank you,”
Ciara wiped her tears, “But I need to go,”
Ciara heard the
whisking of hair being thrown sideways. The girl is shaking her head,
Ciara guessed, which means… An idea
popped in her head. Soundless footsteps,
hand gestures, and swift reflexes. Shell.
Shell let go of her
hand, while Ciara could hear her scribbling something on the paper. Shell is
writing something, Ciara calculated. She has a tiny notebook in her hand. After 3 seconds, Shell passed the crumbled
paper to Ciara. Flustered, Ciara scanned the flimsy paper and traced the
handwritten strokes with her fingertips.
The deep stroke of a
U curves up, followed by another U…
Why are
you crying? Shell wrote.
Ciara rubbed her
eyes. Chase’s voice was gone, which Ciara presumed that Chase was lost in the
labyrinth tunnels of Sputter Palace. There were chattering noises creeping
inside the passageway. I’m must be on the Northern side of Sputter Palace,
because it’s near to the faculty and dormitory rooms. Ciara speculated.
Shell lightly poked
Ciara’s forehead. Ciara stuttered, “Uh—it’s nothing, I just tripped, that’s
all.”
It was obvious Shell
didn’t believe her poor excuse. Ciara attempted to lie again, but this was
Shell, her friend. “Liam said that I was a nuisance to him…”
Ciara heard Shell’s
hair generating swish sounds. Shell
is nodding, Ciara guessed. Shell clasped her wrist, and tugged her
forward.
“Where are we going?
Ciara whispered.
No response.
Ciara had clearly forgotten that Shell was mute, so she closed her eyes
and let the sounds crept into her ear canal. The smell of moist grass is
getting stronger, Ciara surmised.
We’re heading left, then right, then straight. Ciara continued. This pathway leads to the West side, which means…
Tap.
Tap.
The essence of flowers
filled Ciara’s nostrils. Birds chirped jubilantly, leaves rustled from the
gentle breeze crossing the garden.
The two girls perched
on top of the wooden bench, while Ciara listened to the creaking of water and
the cries of the cicadas nearby. Then she heard the flipping of paper and the
scratching of pen beside her. A scrawny paper was clipped between her fingers.
Ciara opened the letter and brushed her forefinger across the letter.
Shell’s
handwriting is too forced as if the pressure on the pen is close to ripping the
paper, creating jagged letters, Ciara analyzed. Depending on the person’s behavior, Ciara
could easily guess that Shell was angry at someone. Is she angry at Liam?
Liam is
different. Try to understand him, someday, Shell wrote.
Ciara nodded, and
Shell put a finger on her lips. At first, Shell traced an O on her lips,
and then Shell’s fingers were gone, replaced by a light tap on Ciara's hand.
What is
she doing? Ciara thought.
Shell repeated the
same process until Ciara finally understood what she was trying to do. Shell
was communicating with her using hand gestures.
The O on
my lips means that I have to remember. The double tap of Shell’s fingers on my
hand means that I have to keep it a secret. Ciara thought.
Ciara’s heart
throbbed, and then Shell folded another paper on her hands.
You
should understand the Crude brothers. They are different from the rest of us, Shell wrote.
After Ciara was
finished reading the paper, she said, “I know. In spite of being friends for
nearly 2 months, they still won’t tell me anything. Especially Liam’s anger
issues. Chase seems to be afraid of seeing Liam getting really mad.”
Another shake. Yes.
Ciara sighed. She
observed Liam’s unusual behavior during her stay at Sputter Palace. At Sore
Tower, Liam’s attitude was annoying and mischievous. During the mission of
searching for the turkey, Liam was terrified as if he murdered someone from the
forest. Then after that, he had been mean to her ever since she joined the
Vixens.
Suddenly, there was
a deafening roar coming from outside the garden. The two girls immediately
stood up.
Ciara was the first
one to ask, “What is that?”
Shell grabbed her
hand and turned her palm over. Ciara felt Shell’s forefinger skimming on top of
her palm.
A fight.
Outside. Go, Shell
wrote.
Wordlessly, the two
girls ran over to the thunderous sounds of cheering and yelling, as if there
was a competition outside. Ciara paused when she felt the air heating up. Too
many bodies. Ciara was having a hard time breathing. There are too many
people in here.
She tried to grasp
the sounds and interchange them to words in her mind. Liam! Liam! Liam!
Kyra! Kyra! Kyra!
Her stomach twisted
in a knot. Liam and Kyra are fighting, Ciara repeated. The image of Liam
injured flashed inside her head. Or worse, dead.
Why is
Kyra fighting him?
Ciara wanted to
squeeze through the crowd, but remembering that she was blind, she stayed in
her position at the back. Focusing her senses wouldn’t help her, not with too
many people making noises in one room. The horrible feeling that she had a
while ago disappeared, replaced by the thought of fear.
“Nice job, Liam.
It’s been a long time since we trained together,” Kyra said. Judging by the
distance of her voice, they must be fighting outside somewhere in a vacant
room, blocked by the crowd, Ciara thought. Recalling back her memories, Ciara
knew that the room beside the garden was the Weapon Room, the same room that
Kyra challenged her to a duel. Why are they fighting there?
Ciara’s heart sank
when she heard blades singing in the air, fast tapping of footsteps and the
unbelievable speed of wind swishing. Kyra and Liam must be fighting with
real weapons. So it’s really a fight to the death match, Ciara thought. Butterflies
swarmed her stomach.
“Kyra! Kyra! Kyra!”
Everyone roared.
It was
useless to hear Liam and Kyra’s voice through the noise. Ciara had no choice but
to pray that Liam will stay alive after the fight.
“Ciara, Shell!”
The two girls turned
around. A spark of hope lifted up from Ciara’s chest. She had never been glad
to see the person she wanted to see right now. The loud tapping of Chase’s
wooden leg became visible through the noise.
“What happened?”
Ciara asked when Chase paused in front of her.
It took a few
seconds before Chase could regain his strength. He has been searching for me
this whole time, Ciara thought.
“We’ve been looking
everywhere for you, Ciara,” Chase panted, “I know that this is so sudden, but
Liam did not mean to hurt your feelings.”
“I know,” Ciara
said.
“Really?” there was
relief spreading in Chase’s voice, “Y-You’re not mad at Liam?”
“I forgive him,”
Ciara said, “But we’ll talk about it later.”
“Okay,” Chase
breathed, “Here’s what happened. Since Liam was so concerned about you, he
didn't realized that he just bumped into Kyra. When Kyra proposed a battle with
him, he agreed to her proposal. He's so stupid, really. So now they’ve been
fighting for more than 30 minutes until everyone came here to watch them. Well,
you know how it is in here.”
Liam is
really stupid, Ciara
thought. Why did he accept Kyra’s duel request?
Then something
snapped inside her. Liam doesn’t care about you, so why should you be
worried about him? Her conscience was right. Ciara no longer cared about
Liam because he hurt her feelings, as if she was some kind of burden in his
life. Anger sparked inside her.
She took back her
words about forgiving Liam and turned around, starting to leave when a hand
grabbed her wrist. The hand was rough and sweaty. Chase.
“Where are you going?” Chase
asked.
“To my room,” Ciara
said blankly.
“Ciara—look, I’m
sorry about Liam, but you can’t blame him…he’s just hard to understand,” Chase
mumbled, “I know you hate him, but please don’t go.”
And then another
hand grabbed her wrist. Ciara looked over her shoulder, knowing that it
belonged to Shell’s hand because of the signature light weight of her palm.
Shell gently tugged her wrist as if she was trying to communicate with her in
some way. Then Ciara felt Shell’s thumb creating strokes on her wrist.
Don’t
go, Shell
wrote.
“Ciara, please,”
Chase pleaded, “Without you, I don’t know how I will be able to Liam off.
You’re the only one who can change my brother’s future, especially with his
pow—” Chase flinched and released his hand on her wrist, “I-I’m sorry…I wasn’t
supposed to say that.”
“I know, because you
two are keeping secrets from me,” Ciara said and rip Shell’s hand from her
wrist, “I’m sorry, but I need to clear my head first.”
Ciara walked faster.
Tears slipped down from her eyes. She skimmed her hands on the walls to support
herself, while the horrible feeling rose up in her chest. The blades continued
to chime, mixing with the Vixen’s roars and Liam and Kyra’s yelling. She
tightened her fists on her side as she blindly stumbled her way forward.
Then suddenly, Ciara
was being shoved backward, crashing on what she felt was a person from behind
her.
Voices
exploded from her ears. “Blind Candidate! Blind Candidate!”
Ciara’s mind went
dizzy. When Ciara got up, she felt someone behind her stiffened and heard the ching
of blade dropping on the ground. “Ciara? What the hell are you doing here!?”
“Liam,” Ciara
croaked. Why am I here?
The clamorous sounds
soared around her head. Blind Candidate! Blind Candidate! Blind Candidate!
I’m in
the middle of a fight, Ciara
thought. Liam had disappeared behind her. Ciara tried to get up, but everything
happened so fast. Ciara regained her balance when a cold blade pressed against
her throat.
“Move and I’ll slit
your throat right here in front of Liam’s eyes.” Kyra’s voice vibrated through
Ciara’s right ear. Sweat stung her eyes.
“Kyra, leave Ciara
out of this battle.” Liam said in a serious tone, “This is our fight, not
hers.”
“Hmph! Tell you
what. If you really care for this girl, surrender, or else this girl will die
by my hand," Kyra dared.
Ciara heard Liam’s
Adam’s apple bobbled up.
“What’s it going to
be?” Kyra said.
After a few seconds
of heavy silence, Liam finally had the answer.
“Never!”
Something collided
with Kyra’s blade, followed by the sudden whoosh sounds and swift body
movements. It happened too fast for Ciara’s senses to follow, because the next
thing that Ciara knew, she was already free of Kyra’s grasp, tumbling on the
ground until she heard the ching of blade above her.
“Ciara, move!”
As Ciara looked up,
something sliced past her and after that, she heard a thud from behind. Blood
dripped down the sides of her right ear.
Ciara’s heart
drummed louder. That was close, she thought. Just a scratch.
The chimes of the
blades still continued in front of her. Trying to think of a plan, Ciara slowly
moved backward and patted her hands from behind until she touched a long handle
sticking on the wall.
The
handle is rough…no more than 5 inches and heavy. Ciara skimmed her fingers on the hilt,
trying to guess what kind of weapon it was. A curve blade that nearly forms
the shape of a crescent moon…A sickle, Ciara thought.
“Ciara, get away
from here!” Liam's voice was getting farther. He must be fighting Kyra, Ciara
thought.
Ciara scrambled to
her feet, trying to pull the sickle out and squatted down, when luckily she
felt the whoosh of the blade above her, missing her head. Thud! Panicked,
Ciara began to put the pressure on her knuckles and used her strength to pull
the sickle out.
Gritting her teeth,
the sickle finally came out free. Ciara carried the sickle and rushed forward.
Listening to Liam wouldn’t help her, not after what he said to hurt her
feelings.
It was easy to sense
Kyra’s presence because of the signature sounds of her fur. Kyra is
retreating in a 45 angle, distracted, Ciara thought. The blades continued
to make tching and ting sounds on her right side. This was her
chance. As the sounds were becoming louder, Ciara blindly swung the sickle
when…
Another body bumped
into her, knocking the breath out from her lungs. Ciara felt arms circled
around her body as she, and the figure hit the ground.
Ciara's body ached
from the fall. What happened? Ciara thought. She felt someone’s weight
on top of her. Liam.
“I told you to stay
away,” Liam’s voice vibrated on her face, “I don’t want you to get hurt, you
hear me?”
“I’m just a burden
to you. Why should I listen to—” Ciara began, but suddenly Liam’s lips were on
her mouth. Her eyes widened. He’s kissing me? Gasps exploded behind her.
After that, Liam’s weight was gone. He’s standing beside me, Ciara
guessed because of the slight panting and the shallow air blowing beside her
cheek. Scrambling up to her feet, Ciara touched her lips with her two fingers,
still thinking about it.
Liam kissed her…
“Charming,” Kyra
teased and suddenly, strong wind blew across Ciara’s face, followed by the loud
tapping of footsteps and the sound of blades clashing. Liam and Kyra are
fighting again, Ciara thought, “Though that's just a fake kiss, right Liam?
You said it yourself, love means nothing to you.”
“Unfortunately, you
guessed wrong, Kyra,” Ciara heard Liam’s voice over the whishing and the
tching of blades, “That was my first confession to Ciara.”
Ciara’s heart
stopped a beat in her chest. Confession? So Liam really likes me after all…
Ciara blushed.
Try to understand
him…
Just now, Ciara didn’t realized
that she was still holding the sickle. Twisting the handle, Ciara positioned
the blade on the blurry outlines moving swiftly in front of her. Liam didn’t
have a weapon, and to return the kiss, Ciara tossed the sickle upward, waiting
something good to happen.
“Nice!” Liam shouted
gleefully and Ciara smiled, knowing that he caught the sickle. “Prepare to
lose, Kyra because I’m going to take your position and become the leader of the
Vixe—“
Slash.
“Liam!” Chase
shouted, and Ciara’s heart sank. She heard the gashing of blood, the metallic
sound of the blades and the thumping of bodies. What happened? Ciara
thought.
Harsh
breathings coming from two bodies…blood everywhere, Ciara observed.
“Liam!” Ciara
shouted. “Liam!?”
No answer. Ciara began to scream
again when Liam’s voice disrupted her. “Don’t shout, Ciara. You’re distracting
me."
Ciara paused. Where
is Liam? Since the scent of blood was filling her nostrils, Ciara’s senses
were getting clogged. Ciara couldn’t concentrate but she knew that Liam somehow
made it. But where is Kyra? Ciara thought. Ciara whisked her head,
searching for the rustling sounds and found it, when Kyra’s blurry figure was a
short distance in front of her.
“Damn it!” Kyra
growled,
Ciara heard the
whispering voices behind her.
“Can’t
believe Liam injured Kyra.”
“That’s
the first time I’ve seen someone hurt Kyra.”
“Liam is
amazing!”
“He
countered Kyra’s attack and made a slight cut on her stomach.”
Ciara dropped her
knees on the ground and smiled. Kyra lost to Liam. That was new to Ciara.
“Y…you can’t move…”
Ciara heard Liam panting heavily, “S…same…with me…”
“Well, Liam. There’s
no point fighting you, if it’s a tie,” Kyra chuckled, “This is the first time I
had been injured like this. Smart thinking, Liam. You slashed my stomach so I
can’t continue, but unfortunately I also paralyzed your back so you can’t
move,” Kyra continued, “I guess there’s no point in continuing the fight, “Kyra
shouted, “It’s a tie!”
The crowd burst into
a deafening roar. After that Ciara heard the low clicking of metal. Kyra and
Liam are retreating, Ciara thought. She could sense Liam coming toward her
direction, missing one beat of his footsteps. He is limping.
Before Kyra left,
Ciara heard her speak to Liam, “One day, I’ll fight you again. Remember that,
Liam.”
“Sure thing, Kyra,”
Liam said confidently.
The voices began to
disintegrated, so Ciara knew that everyone was starting to leave the room.
Ciara didn’t realized that she had been frozen in place, until she felt arms
grabbing her shoulders, gently pulling her up.
“Ciara…are you
alright?” Ciara sighed. That voice belonged to Chase. Ciara
mumbled, “Yeah…is Liam
alright?”
“Don’t worry about
my brother too much,” Chase said, “He just needs a serious medication and a
good night sleep, that’s all,” Ciara lowered her head and Chase continued, “My
brother is strong. Tell you what. I’ll explain everything once Liam gets
admitted to the clinic, alright?”
Ciara nodded, “Is
Shell still here?”
“No, I’m sorry, but
she suddenly disappeared when the fight was over,” Chase said, “Oh, look.
Liam’s coming here right now,”
Ciara looked up and
heard the shuffling of clothes, and a loud tching dropping on the
ground. Chase first said, “I thought you were supposed to be paralyzed?” Ciara
noticed that Chase wasn’t talking to her, but to Liam, whose aura was radiating
in front of her. Chase must be supporting Liam with his hand on Chase’s
shoulder, Ciara thought.
“Just my right leg
and I got a pretty deep cut over my stomach too,” Liam groaned, but still
laughing,
“If so, then why did
you accept her duel request in the first place?” Chase scolded, “This is Kyra
you’re fighting, not some kind of Rank 1, and first you need to apologize to
Ciara.”
Ciara turned around,
“No need. Now that you’re okay, I don’t need to worry about you anymore,” she
took a deep breath, “Excuse me, but I need to go back to my room.”
A hand grabbed her
wrist, stopping her. Ciara paused and heard Liam clearing his throat, “Forget
what I said a while ago, it was just an accident, okay?” he gulped, “Ciara, I
kissed you because I like you…and it’s the truth…” Ciara bit her lip to stop
the tears forming from her eyes. Liam continued, “Ciara, please forgive me.”
But Ciara didn’t
accept Liam’s forgiveness and moved forward, hearing two rushed footsteps from
behind. I thought Liam was injured? Ciara thought as she brushed the
tears from her eyes.
“Ciara!” Liam
shouted. Chase must have let go of him, Ciara said in her mind.
Trying to mute
Liam’s voice inside her head, Ciara began to walk faster, balling her fists on
her side. Ciara gritted her teeth, “Alright, I forgive you. But just leave me
alone, ok—“
Suddenly, she had
bumped into a hard cemented wall that nearly cracked her skull open. Pain
exploded across her face. Since Ciara was distracted, she didn’t noticed that
there was a wall standing in front of her. Then Ciara felt two arms catching
her in an embrace, stopping her from hitting the ground.
“Careful,” She could
feel Liam’s breath tickling her neck, “Please don’t run away from me. I-I don’t
want people leaving me because of what I am.”
He was crazy. Ciara
tried to slap his hands but he wouldn’t let go of her. Liam said, “Ciara,
listen to me! I’m telling the truth…I…I have a power…and…ugh!” Liam groaned as
if he was in pain, “J-Just don’t make me mad, okay? That’s one thing I’m going
to tell you about my condition.”
“Liam,” Ciara said
sharply. She had enough of the Crude Brother’s excuses, “If you keep hiding
secrets from me, I will never forgive you for the rest of my life. Goodbye.”
With one last pull,
Ciara jerked away from Liam’s arms and she dashed forward.
"Ciara!” Liam
shouted, “I have a strange power, okay? That’s the reason why Chase and I won’t
tell you about our past. It’s because we don’t want you to be….a victim…”
When Ciara heard the
word victim, she paused. Is Liam really that scary? She could
recall what the Vixens had said about him. Don’t mess with him…because he
will break your neck in one swipe. It took a few seconds before Ciara could
regain back her voice, “I’m not afraid of you guys, and I already know what
your power is, Liam.”
Liam stuttered. “Y-You…do!?”
“To me it’s not a
power. You just can’t control your anger, that’s all,” Ciara said, “And you’re
afraid that you might kill someone because of your super strength, or
something,”
“Uh-yeah...” Liam
whispered, “Did Chase tell you about it?”
“No,” Ciara said
firmly, “I figured it all by myself. You don’t want me to get close to you,
because you’re afraid that you might hurt me someday. More importantly, you're
trying to destroy my feelings so I can stay away from you two. Now I know why
you became my cell mate at Sore Tower.”
It looked like
Ciara's words triggered Liam’s anger. Liam growled, “No, dammit!—ugh, j-just
forget that we have this conversation, okay!?” Ciara sensed he was retreating,
because of the limping sounds and shuffling of clothes. I’m sorry, Liam. Ciara
said in her mind.
“Liam!” Chase
shouted. He’s catching up to us, Ciara thought, “Why did you run off
like that? You’re still heavily injured…”
“Yeah I know. Come
one, Chase. Let’s go, “Liam said in a hush whisper,
“B-But…”
“I can
handle this myself, little brother,” Liam chuckled, “Ciara,” her heart stopped
a beat. What is he going to say now? Ciara thought. “By tomorrow, we’ll
need to get things serious. After I get my leg and my stomach fixed, we’ll come
to your room to start the mission.”
Mission?
Liam’s heavy
presence disappeared, and Ciara suspected that he had already left her with
Chase.
“Sorry about that,”
Chase said, “Liam’s just…you know…he’s been dealing with a lot of things
lately.” he continued, “I need to go and help Liam. I’m sorry.”
Ciara waited until
Chase’s footsteps were getting farther. And then something popped inside her
head, “Chase, what is the mission?”
“Well, I don't know
if I should tell you this," Chase took a deep breath, "The mission is
to investigate the burned grounds of Metric.”
z
When Ciara woke up
this morning, there was someone already knocking on the door. Still in her
night clothes, Ciara impatiently opened the door and heard four footsteps
coming in. Liam grunted in response of her unusual attire, and Ciara heard
Chase shaking his head. Liam complimented Ciara’s messy brown hair, and Ciara
felt Liam's finger brushing the fallen strands of her hair to her side.
Blushing, Ciara lowered her head and frowned.
Liam explained the
strategy of the path they will be taking and the tools for the mission. As a
gift, Chase had made Ciara’s fishing rod a strap so she could wear it on her
back. Ciara had already memorized the Crude brother’s weapons. Liam’s weapon
was the sickle, and Chase’s weapon was the bow and arrow.
“Now get change and
we’ll wait for you outside,” Liam said. The injury that he had yesterday was
healed to the fullest. Maybe Realia gave him some strong healing Swirls.
Ciara didn’t understand Liam’s attitude. Yesterday, Liam had been rude to her,
and now he was more of a leader than a mischievous boy.
Try to understand him, Ciara thought.
When the Crude
brothers left the door, Ciara grabbed the fishing rod and skimmed her thumb
over the smooth handle of the weapon. In her mind, Ciara could still hear the
screams shouting over her ears, the splashing of blood and the smell of heavy
smoke filling her nose with toxic.
Ciara strapped her
fishing rod on her back, and brushed the fallen hair strands off her forehead.
For the final touch, Ciara lightly cut her finger using a knife, and wiped the
blood on her cheek in two strokes.
One circle and a dot
in the middle.
The symbol of
Metric.
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