Disclaimer: Don't own anything except original characters. All material (c) to respective owners. I write these for fun and make no profit. They're just random plot bunnies that live within my strange mind.
A/N: An update like I promised and a surprise, I found a way to wrangle two chapters. I hope you enjoy. I'll try and get the next update within the next week or less.
Chapter 6: State of Shock
Avalon moved finding herself stuck, she opened her eyes stifling amusement when she realized that Nakeesha had cocooned herself in a blanket and was on her legs. They were tingling indicating they were asleep and she realized getting up would be a bit hard. She didn't want to wake the younger girl up and managed to somehow make it to the floor with minimal noise.
"Ouch!" but she didn't avoid the pain that followed; rubbing her sore backside she shifted her legs until they stung. Once she stood the odd stinging tingle remained while she walked toward the stairs gathering her morning items, she would wake Nakeesha after her shower.
It was about twenty minutes before a shriek echoed throughout the house, Nakeesha shot up so fast she rolled off the couch and groaned in pain. Groggily she untangled herself and listened for signs of her sisters' distress, and then through her sleep soaked mind she registered one possibility. "EWARD!" panicked she bolted for the stairs nearly falling on her face twice.
Her sister was still yelling when she got to the bathroom, she almost collapsed in relief before Avalon wrapped herself in a towel and made a weird dance. "Get it please!" she nearly squealed watching Nakeesha pull herself into the bathroom and send the spider swirling down the toilet.
"All that racket for an arachnid." She shook her head seeing Avalon was not pleased with her humor. "Right, going away now." She indicated her retreat before her older half sister threw a fresh towel and clothing at her.
"Do that first, then get your bum down to the kitchen for breakfast. Welcome to hell, we're going back to work." Nakeesha went to protest, she was still tired after her late night dance with Edward.
"But I wanna sleep." She whined glancing at her sister with puppy eyes, almost begging for more sleep time.
"I did too, unfortunately after spidey, I'm wide awake. We'll call it an early night and I'll make sundaes?" Avalon knew her sister could not resist ice cream, especially sundaes.
"Evil and manipulative, you win." Avalon laughed watching Nakeesha hurriedly getting herself ready to shower.
Later both were eating her sisters special chocolate chip pancakes and planning where they were going to work. Nakeesha was determined to go back upstairs, so Avalon gave her the things she would need and told her to work on the library. She didn't want to deal with the spiders that might be living in there and the room still made her dizzy despite her love of books.
Upstairs inside the library Nakeesha had managed to convince Edward to join her, she could use the company and it helped that he knew the library. After ten minutes in the room she was sure she would get lost forever among the stairs. It had three floors and millions of books, thousands of shelves and ladders that looked like they were trimmed with copper designs of stars. She glanced down at the black and white checkered floor and grinned getting the idea of playing a game of chess with books, she resisted the urge to do that and went off to work.
"It's going to take years to do this." Nakeesha was still on the third floor and had planned to work her way down.
"Not really, with heavy rags I kept up with most of the dusting." Edward was at her side sharing his favorite stories and books with her as they worked. "Why do you remove the spiders, I never minded their presence really." She smiled softly at his kindness, the animals and insects of the world be aware that she had found the gentlest man in the world.
"Avalon despises them, they terrify her." Understanding instantly read in his expression and he began to help her clear them out. "Edward?" he made a face when he was greeted with dust from his work.
"Yes?" her tone had a hint of familiarity to it; it meant something that would involve her sister.
"Do you have any family?" he hadn't expected that and had to find words to use at her inquiry.
"I had my father, he was the inventor here." He hadn't shared much with her; he had been very interested in Avalon. "He made me…was giving me hands but he…" She saw tears gather; she recognized the sadness and sighed.
"I'm sorry Edward." He nearly jumped when she took a tissue from her pocket and dabbed his eyes.
She was surprised when one of his blades nicked her finger; she had startled him and should have know to take it slow. He started to apologize furiously before she lifted her hands, wrapping her finger with the tissue.
"Do not blame yourself; it was my fault and not yours. I shouldn't have alarmed you." He was aware of her watching him closely before he blushed feeling ashamed and lowered his gaze to the floor. "Edward please don't be angry with yourself, you're truly a wonderful person and…" she reflected seeing her words were getting his attention. "…and beautiful." He lifted his dark gaze unsure of what to think; he wasn't familiar with her kind words and felt odd.
"Um…thank you?"
"You're adorable." She smiled he was humble, sweet and it pained her to know someone had once hurt him. "Back to work?" he nodded trying to get out of the awkward conversation, he was unsure of her yet again.
Avalon had been doing her share of rooms downstairs and had successfully made most of the bottom floor livable. It was strange how well they worked together and got the house back into order. "I wonder what she's doing?" curious to her sisters well being and wanting to make good on her sundaes promise she started toward the library, it must have taken her sister all day to clean that place.
Unlike her sister Avalon was quiet and favored it. She didn't wear the large heels her sister was fond of and didn't tromp around the house announcing she was a rebel. She heard her sister's voice and wondered who she could be talking to except herself.