Part 3, Chapter 2

Part 3, Chapter 2

Sophia

Amber and I were supposed to be discussing the plan to keep Lily and Katie safe – really I should’ve been going home, given that I didn’t have an excuse to stay at Lily’s dorm anymore – but instead we sat facing each other on Amber’s rubbish couch, talking about Lily’s letter.

“C’mon why can’t we open it, anything she wanted us to know later we can know now,” Amber whined.

Maybe saying we were arguing about the letter would be more accurate...

“No, she clearly intended for the letter to be opened later, and I trust her judgement,” I refuted.

“What if later is now? What if this contains her opinion on what to do about my mother?” She slapped the envelope in question onto the seat between us, the pale white paper contrasting against the deep red of the fabric.

“If she had something important to say on that subject, she had plenty of time to just tell us,” I leaned forwards and slapped my hand down across from where hers still was.

Truthfully, a part of me believed Amber was right, believed the letter contained Lily’s opinion on what to do about Amber’s mother. That part of me thought Amber was looking for permission to kill her mother and she would find it in Lily’s enclosed words – and that scared me.

Lily had drastically changed over the past few months, to the point of being literally unrecognizable, and I worried about whether she would keep changing, eventually leaving me behind. She had already stopped going to church with me – which was entirely reasonable given the circumstances, but my worries didn’t care about reason or circumstance.

Amber and I glared at each other, hands an envelope’s width apart on the sofa, and eyes fixed intently on each other’s.

She broke eye contact first, blinking and glancing down, slowly retracting her hand and leaning back. “Fine, you’re probably right. Knowing her, it isn’t about anything dire – it’s probably about our relationship, like clarifying where we stand or something,” she sighed, “And as curious as I am, maybe we should let it rest until it’s clearly important or she returns.”

Without thought, I leaned in, taking the space Amber had just freed up between us. Surprise and anticipation rolled through me.

Of course I’d already thought about the letter being about our relationship, but clarifying where we stand...

If there was one issue I had with the current status quo, it was that I felt like Lily liked Amber more than me, despite all of Amber’s faults and mistakes. It wasn’t that I was jealous – well maybe I was jealous of the fact that they lived together – but more that I felt like a third to their already established relationship.

I never dated Lily previously. I had been relegated to a text-only friendship until Amber did something stupid and I had to swoop in and pick up the pieces. That kind of thing.

So yes, having our relationship clarified, having a written affirmation of the fact that Amber and I were equals, that was something that I needed. “Maybe we should open the letter, just to find out...”

Amber’s head jerked up to face me again, “What?”

“Well, we’ll just argue about it endlessly, so we should just open it and get it all over with – it’s the only way to settle this,” I slowly backed away, sitting up more neutrally.

“What are you talking about? You were right, we should trust that Lily had a reason for delaying the information in here,” her finger stabbed down between us.

I crossed my arms, “No, we should get it out of the way. If this changes things at all, it would be better to get it over with and start mulling it over.”

Amber glanced down at my crossed arms before her eyes shot back up. “No, if there’s something that shakes things up between us, it’s probably better buried, at least for now. The last thing any of us needs is to be crying over getting broken up with instead of protecting ourselves from assassin-witches.”

I flinched back, “You think one of us is getting broken up with?” The letter seemed larger in the corner of my vision than it had been just a moment ago.

“No, no, no,” she scooted forwards, waving her hands in front of her in a crisscross motion, “I was just using an exaggerated example of why shaking up the status quo might be dangerous.”

“Maybe you’re right...” I slumped into the stiff upholstery, finding no comfort in its lack of soft curves.

Amber slapped her palm into her forehead and leaned her shoulder against the couch to mirror me, letting out a sigh. “I look forward to having this argument with you every day they’re gone...”

“Me too...” I mumbled.

—

I got ready for bed in parallel with Amber, brushing my teeth in her bathroom before shedding my clothes in Lily’s room and settling into her bed alone.

How many libraries does one city need? I’m pretty sure the one in our hometown was about to close after being starved of funding...

Katie finally spoke, “Um, we were just going to do some research, it doesn’t particularly matter where.”

Kelith narrowed her eyes, “You came to Seriza to go to any library?” she seemed more bemused than suspicious, “Where are you from that doesn’t have libraries?”

Shoot. I knew this would be an issue...

“Yea... You know how it is. We’re from down South,” I hedged.

Her eyebrows raised, “You’re from the capital?!”

“Uh... no, the other place down south,” sweat rolled down the side of my face.

She barked a laugh, “I’d hope so, because the capital is to the North...”

“Oh, of course...” I chuckled nervously.

“So where are you really from?” She grinned, showing her sharp teeth.

I grabbed Katie’s wrist, pulling her closer as I inched away from the demon.

“You’ve gotta be from some remote place, I can’t imagine not having libraries.”

“We have libraries on Earth,” I protested.

“Earth?”

Shoot, the jig is up...

I inched further away while Kelith was searching her mind for the name, pulling Katie along with me. “Yea... the place with all of the humans?”

“Oh, yea!” She pulled a face, “Isn’t it kinda...” She didn’t say it, but I could hear the ‘you poor things’ in her expression.

“It’s not that bad!” I glanced at Katie, “Right?”

Katie shrugged, “I don’t know... Your dad did try to have you killed...”

I shrunk, sandwiched between their pitying expressions. In the face of someone that wasn’t relying on me like Katie was, someone who appeared to be kind and reliable, my mature facade cracked. “Fine, it sucks and I hate it there and we only came to Hell to escape,” I let go of Katie’s wrist to punctuate my frustrations with waving arms, “And we can’t even find a place to sleep or eat and we don’t have any money, and I have no idea what’s going on,” my rant went from angry to pleading.

Kelith maintained her expression. “Do you need somewhere to stay...?”

“I wouldn’t want to be an inconvenience...” I grumbled.

“Honey, you’re no problem. I was the one that approached a couple of lost looking girls and wanted to help out. I’d be happy to have you stay the night, and my daughter is coming over tomorrow.”

“We’ll get out of your hair before she shows up.”

Katie chimed in, “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Sweeties, that’s not what I meant, you can stay as long as you’d like. I was just letting you know because you seem a bit shy. And you’re very welcome,” she started walking, waving at us over her shoulder, “Now c’mon, let’s get you rested.”

I glanced at Katie and we both shrugged before following Kelith.

I guess we’re doing this...?