The Month of Sleeping (January) at age 10

Week 1

Something's got Violet spooked. She overheard the draik man in his office making arrangements for something and she's convinced she knows what.

"He's coming." She's been saying, over and over. "He's coming for me."

"Who?" I've been asking. Sophia's been asking too, but whenever we ask we get the same response.

"It's better left unsaid."

We've tried asking Sam for advice, but he didn't help much.

"Brynn," He said. "You've got a loving mother, right? No dad, but a mum who loves you."

"Yes," I confirmed.

"And Sophia," He said to her. "You've got two loving parents, you lucky thing."

"Yes," She agreed.

"I've got just a mother, like Brynn. An annoying auntie who likes plotting ways on overthrowing the leader of the thieves guild, but a nice mum."

"Yes," Sophia and I both said together.

"Violet doesn't have that." He told us.

"So you know who's coming?" I asked. "She's convinced someone's coming for her."

"Oh, I know alright." Sam agreed. "And she can chill- he's not coming for a few weeks."

"How can you be sure?" Sophia asked.

"I was in the draik man's office when he was making arrangements." Sam told us. "Helping out with paperwork like a good boy." He smiled. Then the smile disappeared, a serious expression replacing it. "I can't help her." He told us. "I can't. This is one battle little miss Robin Hood will have to do on her own."

I'm still confused. Sophia's still confused.

The thing is, we know Sam knows why Violet's spooked. He just won't tell us. Which either means he wants Violet to say when she's ready or that it will get us spooked too. Or we'll just get overprotective; we do that sometimes.

Week 2

I tried to get Violet to talk while we were on patrol today. If anything she's more spooked than she was last week.

"Sam said that you'll have to deal with whatever this is alone." I told her. She looked at me, eyes wide with fear.

"Will you stay with me when he comes?" She asked, so quietly I could barely hear her.

She hasn't been so quiet since she was with Harry.

"Of course," I told her. What kind of friend would leave her to face whatever this is alone?

Week 3

Okay, I now understand why she's been so spooked.

We were eating lunch, Sophia and I either side of Violet, when the purple ixi who teaches the age group above us came in.

"Violet," She said. "The draik man wants you in his office."

She paled. Sophia stood up, Violet stood up and I stood up with them.

"Just Violet," The ixi lady insisted.

"Wherever she goes, we go too." Sophia said angrily. An angry Sophia isn't that nice to deal with, and the ixi lady allowed us to go too.

"Don't get overprotective." Sam mouthed at me on our way out from the table he was sitting at.

"I won't." I mouthed back.

We reached the door to the draik man's office and looked at Violet. Her eyes had gone wide again, filled with fear of whatever was in here.

Sophia knocked for her.

"Come in." The draik man's voice called.

Sophia opened the door and we stood there, either side of Violet.

"I asked for just Violet." The draik man told us.

"And Violet isn't going anywhere without us." Sophia insisted.

"Little girls," A deep voice said. "I want to see my daughter."

Violet tensed up. She grabbed my arm.

"Don't leave me!" She begged.

"I'm not going anywhere." I promised.

"Brynneth! Sophia!" The draik man shouted angrily.

"This guy has our friend more afraid than I've ever seen her," Sophia stated. "We stay."

The draik man grumbled as he pulled out two extra chairs either side of the one he'd set out for Violet.

"Right, my girl." The deep voice said, an usul stepping out from the shadows.

He was very tall, and brown. He wore a suit and a tie, and he looked incredibly smart and rich. His outfit only probably cost enough to feed me and my mother for at least a year, probably even more.

"Ah, my daughter!" He said, trying to look like a kind and loving father. He couldn't pull it off, and anyone who fell for it would have to be very stupid.

He tried to put an arm round her for a hug but she kicked him and punched him, causing him to step back.

"Stay away from me!" She glared. There was still fear in her eyes, but now there was also a lot of hatred.

"Violet!" The brown usul said sternly. "Your brother has been worried about you!"

Violet glared even harder at him.

"My brother," She spat out. "Saw me a few months ago. And my brother also didn't seem too pleased to see me."

"He probably didn't recognise you." The usul insisted.

"Oh, he knew me alright." Violet said.

"Violet, he misses you so much!"

"He can go die for all I care." Violet said angrily.

"Don't speak about him that way!" The brown usul roared. The draik man shot him a curious glance and he instantly went back to being the doting father. "What about your sister? She's so quiet these days since you left."

"Oh, so you've traumatised her too now?" Violet shouted. "I don't believe you! You ruin my life! You trust the servant over me, you favour my stupid bully of a brother and then, having sent me here where I'll be out of your hair, you decide to traumatise my sister? What did we ever do to you?"

"Violet!" The usul shouted back, no longer trying so hard to be a loving father. "You don't talk to your father that way!"

"Oh, I can!" She shouted back. "I don't care anymore!"

"You've lost all that sense of discipline your mother and I used on you throughout your life! You have no idea where the boundaries are! I'm going to have to take you out of the guard and sort it."

"No!" Violet said. She stopped shouting. She slid onto her knees on the floor, and begged. "Please don't take me back. Please don't."

"He is your legal guardian, Violet." The draik man spoke up. "So if he wants to take you home, there's nothing to stop him."

Violet let her head drop, hair falling over her face and hiding it. She hadn't brushed her hair for days. That's how worked up over this she's been.

"Daddy," A little voice called. It was quiet, like Violet's when she was scared, but sounded a lot more delicate and dainty. I guess it's owner hadn't had the guard to toughen her up.

Big brown eyes peeked round the rim of the door, but their owner didn't come in.

"Get back outside!" The brown usul yelled at her. "I told you to stay outside!"

"I just wanted to se Vio..."

"Out!" He yelled. "I'll deal with you later."

The big eyes went wider as their owner considered what that could mean; it couldn't have been good.

Violet got up and ran to the door, hugging an usul who looked about six. She was a very sweet little girl, even if she was terrified.

She hugged Violet back incredibly tightly, clutching the back of her shirt so hard her knuckled turned white.

"Put each other down immediately!" She girls instantly stopped their embrace, stepping back.

The little usul ran outside the door, closing it behind her.

"I must deal with your sister for now." The brown usul told Violet sternly. "But I will be back, my lady. And you will learn your place."

She glared at his back as he walked out, glared at the closed door for a while after he'd gone.

"Come on," Sophia said. "There's no use staring at something. It won't help the situation in any way."

Violet still looked scared. She had tears coming to her eyes, though I could tell she was desperately trying to fight them off.

Before I could say anything, she ran from the room.

Sophia and I went after her, saw he whoosh past a startled Sam as he made his way down the corridor, and then saw her rush down the path that lead to the steps to her dorm. We'd leave her be.

"I guess it didn't go to well." Sam commented.

"She's still with us." Sophia pointed out.

"But her dad's coming back for her at some point." I added.

"I thought that might happen." He said grimly. "Mum always said to avoid him. Growing up, Mum taught me who would be the sort of person who'd smile and give a little kid sweets and who would yell and smack them for something tiny. Violet's father was always one of the not-so-nice guys."

"He certainly scares her." Sophia agreed. "What happened to her?"

"Now that's a question," Sam told us. "That only she truly knows the answer to."

Then he walked off.

Week 4

Violet's dad hasn't turned up again, thank goodness. Sophia thinks he'll leave it a few months and turn up when she leas expects it.

"That's what they do in stories." She said. "That way they won't reach the victim while they're already low and scared. They wait until the victim is happy and feels nothing can go wrong and then they strike."

It would make sense, thinking about it. But I hope he's not planning on bringing Violet down like that.