After thirty minutes of silence and staring out the window of the carriage, we get home. Without saying a word we all walk into the house and start taking off our jackets.
"Who's blazer is that?" Tori asks, spotting the extra piece of clothing in my hand. "And why's your hair wet? Where were you?" She continues to pile me with questions.
"It's a long story. I just slipped and fell in a puddle, and then I found the blazer in a boat, so I thought I'd take it with me to keep warm" I respond. I love that I'm already lying, but I wasn't about to get into how Aiden and I were in a boat stranded in the middle of the lake.
My uncle walks into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, then he leaves the house to go back to the scene and try and figure things out. The queen has been notified of the murder, so I'm guessing this isn't something we'll all just forget in a month.
I walk into my room and look in the mirror. I feel like an imposter here, pretending to be something I'm not. All night I was sitting at a table where it felt like the people were speaking a different language than I was, they talk about parties and the newest gossip and they make it seem like their hair not looking perfect is the biggest problem the world had ever seen. They make me want to scream.
I take my jewelry off, brush my hair, and change into my pajamas. I climb into bed and stare at the ceiling for what feels like hours before I manage to fall asleep.
✧ ˚ · ☾
I'm walking through the woods in a long, silky white dress. My whole body is damp as if I had just jumped into a pool. I look around and spot a bunch of white doves being released into the sky. I walk towards the place where they're taking off from. I see a bassinet with a newborn inside and four adults surrounding it. I can't make out their faces.
"I told you this would happen, I forbid you from having this child, yet you still disobeyed me." a woman says "This child will never be welcome here, and neither will you. I'll make sure personally that you get what you deserve for this" She says, then disappears along with another person.
The two other people take the newborn into their hands. The forest transforms and now we're in a place that looks like a white room, just with no walls. I spot Amanda lying on the ground.
"Amanda!" I scream, but she doesn't look at me. She's wearing the dress she was last night before it all happened. She suddenly looks into my eyes, then out of nowhere something comes running and takes her away. I try to see what it is but I can't make out anything but shapes.
I hear my name being called from every direction, I look around to see the origin of the sound but it's everywhere. I feel so overwhelmed I just start screaming.
✧ ˚ · ☾
"Letty!" Tori shakes me awake "What's up? Are you okay?" She asks, sitting down on my bed
"Yeah, I'm fine. Nightmare" I respond sitting up and facing her.
"I think we all had one after last night" Tori says "Hey, I don't know how you're feeling but we're all gonna go and see Alison later today, so if you'd like to join you can"
"Sure, when do we leave?" I ask
"Forty minutes" She responds
"Works for me"
Tori leaves my room shortly after and I start getting dressed. School was canceled today due to the 'overwhelming, horrible events of last night' so at least that's out of the way. After I take a shower and wash my face I go up to my closet and pick out an outfit. This is my first time picking out an outfit all on my own since I moved here so I'm a little nervous. I end up wearing a pair of riding boots with a black mini skirt and black tights. On top I'm wearing a grey turtleneck knit sweater and a long trenchcoat. I debate wearing a hat, but end up putting on a black wool beret.
Stolen novel; please report.
I walk down the stairs to find Tori, Wes, and Finn sitting in the foyer, waiting for me.
"Ready?" Finn asks me
"Yeah, let's go" I respond
They get up and we all walk out the door, through the gates, onto the brick road.
"So where we going exactly?" I ask
"Polis" They say in union
Polis is the main city of Elsher. We live close by so it shouldn't be a long way there. I used to live in Polis when I was little and still a resident here, if I remember correctly it resembles old New York City a lot.
Our carriage arrives and we get inside.
"What will we even say to her?" Finn speaks
"I don't think there are any words we could say that would make this easier for her" I say "I guess we just let her know we're here for her"
"I think she'll really appreciate you coming along Letty" Wes says looking at me "You're someone who actually gets what's it like"
"What?" I say confused
"You know, losing a sister" Wes says
"But my sister is-" I try to explain that Harlow's just living in the mortal world, but I'm interrupted by the doors of the carriage opening. We're here.
I get out and look around. Polis really is something. It's now raining so we get umbrellas from the carriage and open them. We start walking towards our destination.
"Where are we meeting her again?" I ask
"There's this café we like to hang out and study at." Finn says "It's called the buried hatchet"
"Huh, is that prime Elsher humor?" I ask sarcastically
As we're walking through Polis I spot different creatures. People in Solace look mostly normal you could say. How ironic that the lowest of the otherworld gets the most everyday-looking creatures. Even back at the house, we're pretty isolated from seeing people who look different from us, at school I'm pretty sure Mr Windward is the weirdest looking one. But oh boy, here in Polis I immediately spot a person with green skin and scallops, he looks like a dragon in full business attire. On the other side of the street, there's a cat woman walking into what appears to be a strip club.
We keep walking on the cobble stoned path, our shoes clicking on the road. After a few minutes I spot a sign that reads 'The buried hatchet'
"You really weren't joking about the name" I say
We walk inside and take our coats off. I look around and spot Alison sitting at a table. She's not alone, Lyle is already sitting beside her. We walk up to the table.
"What's he doing here?" Wes asks Alison
"Don't worry Weston, I can assure you that i'm not here out of pleasure" Lyle says
"Oh really?" Finn says
"Calm yourselves, I'm simply here to offer my condolences since it was my party that caused this" he pauses and puts his hand on Alison's back "Horrible tragedy, as we know"
"Are you done?" Tori asks crossing her arms. We're still all standing in front of the table.
"Guys, it's okay" Alison looks up and speaks with a low voice. Her eyes are red from crying and she looks like she's been up all night "I asked him to come"
"Ali, what's going on?" Tori asks while we all take a seat.
"I'm just trying to figure out what happened, okay?" Alison says "Don't think that I'm siding with the enemy here or something"
"That's a bit harsh" Lyle says
Tori gives him a look and he rolls his eyes at her.
"I'm just trying to put the whole thing together" Alison says
"What even happened?" I ask "I mean all I heard was you screaming out of the blue"
"She left the estate before us with her friends and went to the party. When we got there I thought about looking for her because she had my notebook in her jacket and I was afraid she'd forget to give it back to me before she left and went back to the mortal world. It was full of research I was doing for a project so I really needed it. I didn't end up looking for her and me and Finn went into the boathouse" Alison says
"Okay we can skip that" Tori says with disgust on her face.
"After we left the boathouse I told Finn I had to go look for her and that's when he went to find Tori and Wes. I was looking for her for at least twenty minutes but I couldn't find her anywhere so I gave up and sat down on a bench that was looking over the lake. I heard some leaves move behind me and looked around but there wasn't anyone there, but I managed to creep myself out so I started walking back to the bonfire. Amanda came speedwalking into the woods towards me. She grabbed me and told me that the notebook was gone and she's sorry and has no idea where it went. We decided to split up and look for it separately. She went to the lakehouse to see if it was there and I kept walking towards the bonfire to ask if anyone had seen it. I asked a few people and maybe five minutes had passed when her body just fell from one of the trees onto the bonfire. It wasn't the fall that killed her, she was already dead."
"What was in the notebook?" Finn asks