Raea nodded her head and followed Selena’s orders. She wiped away the blood on the ground using the robes inside of the wardrobe while Selena went to assess the damage outside of the room. Palan was feeding Sally parts of the dead angel while Cleo was crinkling her nose. “At least cook him first,” Cleo said as her face turned green.

Selena stared blankly at the grotesque scene. Sally seemed to be enjoying it. Selena cleared her throat. “Did anyone see you three out here?” she asked. Palan ignored her while feeding Sally a stringy piece of flesh. The harpy had been living off of mushrooms that tasted like dirt all her life. To her, this was a delicacy.

“Nope,” Cleo said and turned towards Selena, eager for a distraction. “There’d probably be a lot of screaming if there was.”

“For good reason,” Selena said and nodded. Her stomach churned and a lump formed in her throat as she stared at the pair devouring the corpse. “Move the body into the room. We have to clean up the blood on the ground and remove all signs of murder.” Palan didn’t seem to hear her. Selena sighed and walked back into the room. “Your demon doesn’t listen very well, does he?” Selena asked Raea. “Can you make him bring the body inside? The least we can do is give the poor fellow a proper burial later.”

Screams drew the two sisters’ attentions towards the hall. Cleo was yelling and spewing profanities while Palan was stuffing the corpse into her invisible space. It was odd to see a pair of floating legs sticking out of Cleo’s belt. “Stop! It’s so gross, ewwww,” Cleo shouted and shuddered. “You’re sticking his head into my fire! Stop forcing it! Let me do it.” The orange lizardman grumbled and wiggled the pair of legs in the air. An instant later, they slid downwards and vanished.

Selena turned her head to look at Raea. “She’s a kleptomaniac?” Selena asked and checked her pockets. There was nothing in them. She wasn’t sure if there had been something in them in the first place. She frowned. “That certainly makes things a lot easier. We can transport … it … without suspicion. Finding a burial place should be easy.”

“Burial?” Palan asked. “I’m saving him for later. There’s no reason to bury perfectly good food.” Selena sighed and shot a glance at Raea. The younger sister fidgeted underneath the gaze and broke eye contact.

“Can you please listen to her?” Raea asked Palan. “Sely would never do anything to hurt me. We can trust her.”

“I don’t believe in your judgment of people,” Palan said as he licked his lips. “You say she’s trustworthy, so she’s trustworthy? If I say she’s not trustworthy, can she no longer be trusted? You couldn’t even tell Ishim wanted to kill you, so why should I believe your judgment now?”

Raea pursed her lips and lowered her head.

“He has a point,” Selena said and looked at Palan. “Quite frankly, I don’t trust you very much either.”

“I don’t need your trust,” Palan said and shrugged. “Besides, there’s no such thing. Everyone has a price. Trust can be sold to the highest bidder. I’ve seen too many betrayals to believe in something so intangible.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Selena turned towards Raea. “This is the demon you like so much?” she asked with a wry smile. “He’s quite a handful.”

Raea furrowed her brows and looked at Palan. “I trust you,” she said and stared into his eyes. “You know I can’t lie.”

“If you trust me, then why did you have to make me unable to lie to you?” Palan asked and snorted.

“I trust you to take care of me, but I don’t want to be lied to either. I know you lie to me to protect me,” Raea said. “But I’ll never grow up if I’m always shielded from the truth. If you killed someone who was trying to kill me, and if I asked you if you did it, you would say no because you don’t want me to feel bad. I didn’t give you that order because I didn’t trust you. I gave you that order so you could learn to trust me. I know I’m weak and insecure and admittedly not very bright at times, but I can still bear some of your burden. I said it before, but I’ll say it again. We are equals.”

Palan snorted. “You’re stupid to even think you can trust anyone,” he said.

“Do you trust Andrea?” Raea asked. Palan didn’t respond. “I trust my sister,” Raea said and grabbed Selena’s hand. “She was willing to give up her career for me. She was the one who convinced Mom to lower my sentence. She’s the kind of person that I aspire to be.”

“I don’t think you can convince him with words,” Selena said.

“I think I already have,” Raea said. “He just can’t admit it because of his pride.” She looked at Palan. “Selena sincerely wants to help us. She’s covering up a crime that can get me executed. Can’t you yield a little and make her happy by burying the body?”

Palan wordlessly reached into Cleo’s invisible space and rummaged around, causing the orange lizardman to squeal in protest. He grabbed the corpse by the leg and dragged it out, dropping it onto the floor. Danger Noodle released Sally and swallowed the corpse in a single motion. “What body?” Palan asked and crossed his arms over his chest. Sally teetered and fell over as if she forgot how to use her own legs.

“Palan…,” Raea said and bit her lip.

“Just what are you trying to prove?” Selena asked and stepped forward.

“There’s no logic in burying a perfectly good source of food,” Palan said. “I won’t blindly follow illogical orders.”

“Yeah,” Cleo said and nodded, happy to have the corpse out of her system. “He won’t even follow logical orders. What makes you think he’ll listen to you whack jobs.” Cleo snorted. “Burying bodies.”

“You don’t have a right to speak either,” Palan said to Cleo. “Your people burn your dead as an offering to El-something.”

“Elbegon,” Cleo said.

“We bury them out of respect,” Selena said, “so their mana can properly return to the Creator.”

“It’s always the Creator with you angels,” Palan said and snorted. “That asshole’s done nothing for me except give me extreme bullshit to deal with. If me eating this angel robs the Creator of his mana, then good. If I ever see him in person, I’m going to fight him.”

“Palan,” Raea said, sounding like she wanted to cry. “Didn’t I tell you that you could be executed for saying words like that? Blasphemy is a serious crime.”

Palan shrugged while Selena sighed. Sally finally got her legs to work and stood up with Cleo’s help. Footsteps echoed through the hall, and the captain of the checkpoint appeared in front of the group. He frowned at the bloodstain on the floor while Raea’s heart began to pound. They spent too much time bickering. He was going to find out, and she was going to be executed. Raea began to open her mouth.

“Damn ghosts, eh?” the captain said and shook his head. “I’ll send someone to clean this up. Sorry about this.” He smiled at Raea.

Raea stared blankly until Selena nudged her arm. She closed her mouth and nodded. “Okay,” she said. It was the only word she could manage to squeeze out.