Keira was glad to be settling into enough of a routine to be able to go to school again without panicking, though she refused to sit next to the window of the bus. It earned her a couple of weird looks from Morgan and Iris, but they knew that she had been through a lot recently. They didn’t say anything, even after the first few days had passed, even as the week drew to a close. Her general paranoia had also mutated. Not only was she having to deal with eyes watching her through every single reflective surface, but now she felt like the police were watching her as well. At first there were only a few officers outside of the school when she originally went in, with the rumour amongst the student body that they were parking guards to keep the road clear. Then they started appearing in school, with the teachers telling them that they were there to stop any fights that might break out. Asking around told Keira all she needed to know about that excuse though. No one had been in any serious fights for years. Then they were across the street or sitting a couple of tables over in a café or walking just too close behind her. Granted those last examples had been done when they were in civilian clothes, with the only reason Keira recognising them being that they lived in the same small town and she knew them.
She had tried to persuade herself that they were just going about their normal lives, much like she was pretending to, but as the week started coming to a close and those familiar faces persisted, Keira had to come to the conclusion that she was being watched. Well, being watched more than usual. It was freaking her out on some levels, having her privacy so procedurally stripped away from her, on others, it was nice to have a stalker that was physical and other people could see. It was that train of thought though that reminded her of her uniquely fucked up situation. The passing week had brought one positive with it. Naima had been generally friendlier since their talk over the weekend, at first Keira thought that she would only be friendly in the morning, when she waved to her whilst getting on and off the bus. This was proven a little wrong though when during break after four days had passed, Naima approached them instead of going to sit with Paige and Imogen. This clearly surprised Morgan and Iris, who both took on slightly defensive stances as she got closer to them.
“Hi!”
“What do you want?” Iris’s tone was hostile, and while Morgan didn’t move to add anything, she could tell that he agreed with the sentiment. Keira blushed with embarrassment when Naima gave her a confused look. She had completely forgotten to tell them about her befriending over the weekend.
“Ah, I haven’t caught you guys up yet. Me and Naima did this thing together over the weekend and she apologised for how she acted, so we’re on decent terms now.” Keira offered an apologetic smile to Naima, who nodded slightly in return.
“In that case then, we should introduce ourselves to her! Hi, my name is Morgan. I like history and conspiracy theories. My favourite colour is blue and while my favourite word is defenestration, I never get the right window of opportunity to use it.” There was a beat of silence where Kiera mused on how quickly Morgan seemed to have accepted Naima, but it was broken by Iris who still had a suspicious tone of voice.
“I’m Iris and I don’t accept this as genuine.” She turned to Keira. “Do you seriously believe that she had a change of heart so quickly? I bet that she was put up to this by Paige to make you look like an idiot. And at the moment, it’s working.”
“I do believe her, Iris. It seemed real when she did it, and she’s making an effort afterwards.” Iris still didn’t look like she believed Keira, but she didn’t say anything else. Morgan took this as an opportunity to interject.
“So, what are you doing here anyway? Kind of a small place to move to so suddenly.” Naima’s grimace, which had been on her face since Iris started talking, didn’t dissipate. It merely morphed into something a little sadder.
“My parents are divorcing… Dad kind of relied on Mum’s income, so when they split he didn’t have enough to keep the house. He decided to move back in with Grandad until he got his finances in order and the house has been sold.”
“The hermit is your grandfather?” Keira said, trying to keep the shock out of her voice.
“He adopted Dad ages ago.” None of the group lost their surprised expressions, but it did explain a few things. Naima laughed a little. “I think he’s a little happy about the divorce. He’s now hoping Dad will accept to inherit the church and look after it after he’s died.”
“You think he won’t?” Naima shrugged at Keira’s question.
“Even if he does, it’s only kind of delaying the inevitable. The only person Dad could pass it onto to keep it in the family is me, and it’ll probably stop at that.”
“A shame. Maybe you could turned into a Furdan temple instead of keeping it for the Order of Alzumah?”
“I mean that doesn’t’-“ The bell rang and cut her off. “Oh, I have history now. I’ll see you around!”
“I’ll come with!” Morgan called and rushed off to catch up with her. Iris and Keira looked at each other and Keira shrugged. Though Iris wasn’t done with her yet.
“You’re too trusting. She could have other motives you know.”
“People usually do a lot of the time. I don’t think any that Naima could have are particularly dangerous. I just don’t think she wants to go on a trip with me for three weeks abroad and be saddled with awkward silences and side glances the entire time.”
“Are you forgetting about you kidnapping?” As they walked into the classroom Keira gave Iris a side eye.
“Oh no. You are so right. I completely forgot. How stupid of me.”
“No need to get sarcastic on me. I’m just saying that she hasn’t been-“
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“She has actually.” Iris snapped her head towards Keira as she sat down next to her.
“How could you know that? Did the investigators tell you?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t that against some… investigation rules?”
“I-“
“Can the girls at the back stop talking?” Keira shut her mouth and the teacher continued with the lesson introduction. She shot Iris a ‘what can you do’ look along with a shrug of her shoulders, who rolled her eyes in response. They both then tuned into the lesson which was now covering data collection techniques that they would have to use on the geography trip that was apparently happening the next week. After that lesson there would be another one and then it would be lunch, which Keira always looked forward to.
On her way to the library after eating, Keira noticed Iris scowling at her phone as she was tapping away on it. She found herself growing a little curious.
“What are you looking at?” Iris turned her scowl to Keira, before she sighed and her expression softened.
“I was just getting a message from mum… apparently Archer has just been arrested.”
“What?!”
“I don’t know why you’re so surprised. Weren’t you intensely suspicious of him?”
“I mean yeah… It just feels so sudden though.”
“Not really, I heard that they searched his house a couple of days ago, so if they found anything incriminating…”
“If they found something incriminating then why didn’t they arrest him during the house search?”
“How am I supposed to know? Police don’t usually yell out the entire process of their investigation when they arrest someone. I wasn’t even there; this is a second-hand account.”
“Okay, okay. I understand. Why are you frowning at your phone though? Surely this is good news.”
“Apparently Amelie has been asking about me at my house. She’s upset about Archer being arrested and wanted a ‘friend’ to talk to. Mum told her to get lost, though I should still be on guard for if anything happens.”
“Yikes.” The two headed to the library to once again rendezvous with Morgan, and then experienced a modicum of surprise when she noticed that Morgan was already playing with someone. She approached the table and sat down next to Naima to be able to properly judge her moves. At the moment she was judging them to be pretty terrible in order to lead up to that point. Iris was still scowling at her phone, so Keira didn’t know whether she was upset at Naima being in the general vicinity of Naima, or whether she was still having to deal with her mother. Or maybe it was both. Morgan moved another piece and smiled at Naima.
“Checkmate. Good game.”
“No, it wasn’t. You absolutely destroyed me.”
“How about another game with someone worse than me?” At that he gave both Keira and Iris a pointed look. “Could Iris take my place and give Naima more of a chance?”
“Why can’t Keira take your place? She’s worse at it than you, and actually likes to play.” Keira gave Iris a little side eye which switched over to Morgan as he responded.
“I actually wanted to talk to Keira. In private.” Iris looked over to Naima, who nodded in agreement, before sighing and standing up to take Morgan’s place. He pulled her to a library alcove that was where most of the classics were kept. So naturally, it was dead quiet.
“Okay, so I did some looking after your run into Maxwell and got some details on the fae. Most of the important things he covered, but there are other things such as never give out your full name and, if you do ever talk to one, they can’t lie.”
“I’ve heard. These are just myths that you found online though. I feel like that last one especially can come back to bite me if it’s just rumour.”
“The rumour has to come from somewhere, right? Anyway, it’s just something to keep in mind.”
“Of course, of course. Did you find anything else?”
“You and I are most likely on the same thought track on what she is. There’s nothing that you’ve described that points to any particular type, but I feel the more specific we get, the higher the chance we have of something being wrong.”
“You don’t even want to take a guess?”
“I never said that… Are you ready?” Keira nodded. “Changeling. She is appearing as a human, in human crowds, so… changeling.”
“…You go on about how being more specific could make us more wrong, and that we should be careful, and then you make a guess based on logic like that.”
“Hey! You said it was a guess. I’d assumed that this was a safe space.” Keira was about to respond but then a group of boys burst out laughing a couple of rows away. For a moment she thought that they were laughing at them, but her and Morgan had been talking quietly. There was no way to hear them. Morgan must’ve noticed her small jump though. “How… how have you been holding up?”
“I… don’t know.” Keira sighed and leaned against the bookcase. “It’s like I… Well, I can think clearly, but my thoughts feel a little… disconnected from my emotions. I can still feel them, and my body still reacts to them, but at the same time it just feels like I’m watching them. The conscious part of my mind isn’t really affected.” Morgan frowned for a moment and patted her on the shoulder.
“You will get through this. I will help you through this, and even though Iris doesn’t believe you we are both here for you. You will be fine.” Keira smiled back at him and returned the pat.
“Thanks. Shall we head back?” Morgan nodded and the two of them returned to the table, only to see the chess board in an abysmal state of bad moves. Though neither of them looked that focused on the game, so they might have only been playing to humour her and Morgan. They looked up at the two’s approach. Keira nodded at Iris.
“You want me to take over?”
“Oh gods, yes.” Keira smirked and switched places with Iris, all the while eyeing the board and thinking how best to salvage the game. Naima still didn’t look too focused though, and after a couple of moves she spoke.
“Hey, Keira?” She hummed in response. “There was also a third reason why I was a little hesitant to approach you earlier.”
“What was it?”
“Well…” Naima’s eyes drifted across the table to Iris who was still locked in a furious typing war with Amelie. “I thought about what you said earlier, about you and Paige falling out and I still think it’s a shame. I was trying to get her to agree to talk to you.” Keira faltered.
“You what?”
“I mean I did say that maybe she would be more willing to talk to me than you since we’re friends and all. And she agreed! So could you come with me after school to talk to her?”
“Why would I? She has done nothing but be mean to me for years. I owe her nothing.”
“It’ll be embarrassing for me though…”
“I also owe you nothing.” Naima shut up at that and watched the board as Keira put her in checkmate.
“When I talked about your relationship to other people in the school they kind of gave me the impression that whatever you have going on between you is still happening. It’s sounds exhausting. Wouldn’t it be best to finally put an end to it?”
“Again, I have done nothing. Paige is the one going around and talking about me behind my back, I have merely been minding my own business.” Naima deflated at that and stood up, which allowed Morgan to take her place.
“I mean, I was just thinking that since I’ll be on that trip with you it’ll be good if we were friends. But it’ll be really awkward to be friends if y- Paige despises you.”
“There is nothing I could say that would make her hate me any less.” At Naima’s look though, she caved. “Fine. To make you happy. After this though, no more. I’m done.” Naima cheered slightly and sat down with a smile on her face. Iris gave Keira a side eye and mouthed an ‘I told you so.’ Keira rolled her eyes and switched her focus back to Naima.
“When are you thinking of doing this?”
“After school.”
“I have a bus to catch.”
“You’ll have ten minutes. You’ll be fine.”