Wow. People freak out when I use the l-word. But I guess it's understandable, seeing that you guys don't know who Alex actually is yet (though I will not spoil that, even to make this clear. Bwa ha ha ha). Guys, Kayley, like Hanso, is eleven, and she's not the type of girl who crushes on someone—she has other things to worry about, as you'll see later. Here's a passage which I had put in the last chapter on purpose:
"You're getting annoying about that now, you know." She smirked. "One day, you'll find a guy you really like, and I'll be the one teasing you."
"Unlikely."
Reynie would've started to tease her right there and then if he suspected that she liked Hanso that way. Which I highly doubt that she does.
Whateva—It's kinda the opposite. I'm perfectly content in my school right now; it's actually when I am having a horrible time do I have the savage need to write (it's like a therapy for me, to be honest; I either write or go to the library and pick up books at random, that soothes me too). I don't know how Echo is dealing with it, though. :P Still…I don't know what price I'd pay if I could go back to the time when I first began writing HJ. Be careful what you wish for (which is something some of the characters will learn very, very soon).
Kamryn—Do you mean Xandra? I refuse to confirm or deny that. ;)
Correction from Ch. 45, which I had just reread and face-palmed when I saw my mistake: Emerald is around Ebony's age, not Charlie's (I can't believe I mixed that up). I fixed it now, though. Her canon age so far is fifteen, turning sixteen either March or April.
The Month of Sleeping (January) Age 11
Week 1
I wasn't even sure it was Juliet when I saw her.
She was carrying a huge pile of boxes stacked so high I couldn't even see her face, but there was no mistaking the tell-tale ponytail and her voice saying, "Excuse me, pardon me," whenever she bumped into something, very often a wall. I would've thought that some guys would have liked to help her - she really was pretty, with her warm chocolate-coloured eyes and bright smile, and I was aware that some people even had crushes on her – but I guess maybe it was too early in the morning for them to feel helpful even someone that they liked.
"Hey, Juliet," I called over to her. "Did Razor finally snap and rob the library?"
Behind the boxes, I heard a giggle. "I bet Sophia wouldn't like that." She trudged forward a few more steps. "Nah. I'm just helping someone out."
"It looks like you're the one who needs help," I commented. I bowed gallantly. "Do you care for some assistance, fair maiden?"
"Yes, if you please," she said sweetly, carefully setting down two or three of them. She was still carrying a lot, though. Before I could convince her to give me anymore, she gave me a huge, dazzling grin that instantly made me tongue-tied. "You've done enough," she told me, as if reading my mind. "I visited Kayley. She's not coming this week."
"What?" I shrieked. "Did she get a relapse or something?" I'd never forgive myself if she died anyway.
"Oh, nothing like that. She said that she thought she could use a week off so she could fully recover."
I frowned. "Are we talking about the same Kayley here? The one I know would never skip class unless she was fatally sick. Scratch that, she attended class even when she was fatally sick."
Juliet coughed, looking slightly uncomfortable. "She also said not to worry, she'd beat you in every single subject once she came back."
"Right. She's definitely feeling better." I was still a little worried, though. It didn't seem that much like Kayley to miss classes against her will, but thinking about it wouldn't help that much. I decided that if she didn't come next week, I'd seek her out for myself. That settled, I relaxed. "What's in these boxes, anyway? Bricks?"
"I'm not sure. It could be books, like you said."
"Or golden coins, taken from a treasure trove."
She laughed. "Or dozens and dozens of sea shells stolen from Mystery Island."
"Or a faerie artefact, liberated to be used for evil!"
"Where did that come from?"
"I have absolutely no idea." I thought about it. "It'd help if I actually knew who these boxes are for."
"The new teacher," Juliet explained. "I decided to help him out a little and get this stuff to the classroom."
"Shouldn't your brother be helping you, then?"
She snorted. "You can never get Julius up early for the first day of school, especially if there's a new teacher. I opted to go ahead myself, although I've told Flynn – he's at my house now – to peck him if it looks like he's going to be late."
"But that's good, right? He's trusting you more."
"I don't think so. He knows I'm going to make him help the new teacher if he came with me." She paused. "There's some new students in the classroom."
"So? You'll get along and they'll love you, like everyone else does."
She smiled. "I hope so. I haven't met them yet, but I know Tyler's there."
"Really?" I was glad. Besides Julius, a lot of our class is kinda short-tempered, and it'd be nice to have someone level it out. "His year off as an Assassin's kid is over?"
"Pretty much." She bit her lip. "Um, would you mind if you go ahead?"
"You're going to have to meet them eventually," I told her.
"It'd be awfully sweet of a friend of mine would introduce me." She looked at me pointedly, and I had to chuckle at her attempt on subtleness. "Pretty please?"
"Oh, fine." I doubted I could ever say no to anything she asked me to.
"Thanks."
"But only if you let me carry the rest of the boxes."
"You don't have to-"
"Give 'em here, Juliet." She rolled her eyes, but handed them over. Giving me one last smile, she turned back the way she came, probably to go back to the new teacher to ask if he needed any more help. The only problem that left with is that now I was the one wobbling back and forth with the boxes. I got a little faster than Juliet, since I didn't stop to apologize to any of the walls, but my progress was almost as slow as hers. Thinking that it'd be really humiliating if she'd come back down the hall and saw me still walking at a slorg's pace, I tried to pick up the speed.
And promptly bumped in to someone, toppling the boxes all over the floor.
"Oh, man, I'm so sorry," I began to the unknown person. I inwardly cursed myself, knocking over a complete stranger, who now was kind enough on helping me rapidly take back the boxes. "I-" The person turned around, and I was confronted by a pair of beautiful, green eyes.
They were nothing like Emerald's, which were piercing and intimidating. This was a leaf-green, a friendly one, more like the fresh grasses of Brightvale in the spring. I guess the girl being a yellow Aisha brought the colour out. An interesting contrast was her hair; it was silky and wavy, curled a little at the end, and its shade was a fiery red. In short, she was one of the prettiest girls I'd ever seen, and could probably only compete with Juliet's different but just as nice kind of beauty.
Or Kayley, when she smiled.
I'd like to say I came up with some witty greeting.
Instead, all I could stammer out was, "H-hi."
"Hello," she said hesitantly, in a slightly accented, melodious voice. "Do you need mosayeda?"
"What?" I asked, frowning.
The girl grabbed a dictionary from her pocket – I noticed that unlike most thieves, she wore a long cloak that covered her almost entirely from shoulder-down, though she chose to leave her head un-hooded – and flipped to a page. "Oh, sorry. Assistance. Do you need assistance?" She gestured to the boxes spread haphazardly around us. I nodded, and we quickly divided the boxes and began carrying them in a must faster pace. "Where do we put these?" she asked tentatively.
"To Master Jacques's-" Then I realized he wasn't there anymore, and I couldn't remember what Juliet said the new guy's name was.
"To Master Sahira's class?" the girl asked. "Formerly in the ownership of Master Jacques?"
"Yeah." I smiled at her. "So, you're going to be in my class?"
"It would seem so," she said, smiling back.
"You're new around here, aren't you?"
"No. I have simply lived my life deeply sheltered in the catacombs of the kingdom, unaware of the language, and a thief found me and decided to let me come here," she explained. I stared at her. She laughed. "I am kidding."
"Oh!" I grinned even wider. This new girl definitely had a sense of humour, which would definitely be a plus. Some people could always be so serious. "Seriously, where are you from?"
"I really am from here," she admitted. "But I had moved away when I was six…" For a moment, her face darkened, but she soon smiled again. "I lived in the Lost Desert. But now we have moved back, and I am very, very glad of it."
"You don't know English very well, huh?"
"Why do you say so?"
"Ever heard of contractions?"
"La." She bit her lip. "I mean, no. Still, I have just gotten here; you cannot expect me to know a language in such a short time, even if it was once my own. Give me a month or so." She smirked. "I can be very fast in learning new languages. Although," she added playfully. "It would not hurt if someone would teach me a little."
"Sure," I said. It'd be nice to spend some time with this new girl. "Hey, we're here."
The room wasn't very different from when we left it. Flynn's cage was gone, probably taken by Juliet sometime around the holidays, and the code book that Master Jacques used, but everything else was still there. That also meant that the shelves were still filled, so if what the boxes contained were books, the new teacher would have to throw some of Jacques's old ones away. I wouldn't put it pass Razor to hunt through the garbage afterwards, though.
I glanced at the girl to see how she liked it; to my surprise, her face showed complete and utter shock and happiness. I blinked. Our classroom wasn't that good. Then I followed her gaze, and found that she was looking at two boys; both with the same red hair, green eyes, and yellow colouring that she had. The taller one was wearing a grey woollen jacket, while the smaller was wearing a purple one, but other than that they were identical in almost every way. I raised my eyebrows.
We had triplets in the classroom.
Before I could ask her about them, she ran to the one slightly taller. "Whoa, sis!" he said, his voice not having a trace of an accent. "You're crushing me!"
"Does that even matter?"
"My lungs were nearly destroyed when Mercutio was the one doing the hugging. I have no doubt you will kill me if this keeps up."
Mercutio? I thought. Why does that ring a bell?
"I am sorry, brother dear," she said sweetly. "I forgot you had sensitive lungs. I shall now handle you with the utmost and delicate care forever after."
He rolled his eyes. "I knew that you not being very good at English yet wouldn't taint your sarcasm."
Mercutio, the other brother, snickered. "He has got beat you there, sister."
"He has gotten me there, or beaten me there," the girl corrected. "Or, he has got me beat." Mercutio stuck out his tongue.
Then the older brother glanced upwards at me. "Who's this?"
The girl smiled sheepishly. "Forgive me, habibi. What is your name?"
"Hanso," I replied, giving her a smile.
Her jaw dropped. "The Hanso?"
"The one that faced Masila?" her brother said, staring.
"The one who Mother said was the reason that we-" Before Mercutio could finish his sentence, both his siblings sprang on top of him and clamped a hand on his mouth.
"Sorry," the girl apologized. She glared at her sibling. "Mercutio does not know how to keep his mouth shut." Mercutio grumbled something, but it was stifled by his siblings.
"Okay…"
The girl brushed herself off as if nothing was wrong and held out her hand to shake. "My name is Rosaline Montague," she announced.
"That sounds familiar," I murmured as I shook it.
She smiled. "My father was once a powerful member of the Council. Perhaps you have heard of him. Or perhaps…" She smirked. "You might have heard of a certain play in which we are all named after."
"You guys were named after characters in a play?"
"Oh, yes. Our mother was quite endeared with it when we were born. Especially as her courtship was like that of the protagonists."
"But what's the play?"
"Will you guess?"
"I don't know many plays," I confessed.
"Neither do I," the brother admitted. "Might as well tell him, sis."
"Our names are from the play-"
"You!" a familiar voice shrieked with unconcealed rage. "What are you doing here?"
Rosaline turned around. Her eyes turned to slits. "Well, well. Juliet Capulet. What an unpleasant surprise."
"What are you doing in my classroom?" Juliet was actually shaking in anger. I stared at the scene. I had never seen her truly mad before, not even when she said she hated Julius a few years back.
The brother did a double-take. "Say what? This is your classroom?"
"Yes, it is, and you know it. Did you bewitch someone or whatever so you can come in this classroom to bug me?" The Aisha boy shook his head dazedly. "Don't play dumb. This was done on purpose. I know you, Romeo Montague!"
It clicked.
Romeo and Juliet.
Figures.
"Slow down, Jules," he said, his hands up in surrender. "I honestly didn't know we were going to be in the same classroom, either. This was probably some mistake-"
"It was no mistake," Rosaline said through gritted teeth. Both of her siblings stared at her in astonishment. "Look, brothers," she whispered so softly that I could only hear by straining my ears. "That idiot Guild Leader said that we had to pay a price if I wanted him to-"
"I don't know what you're doing back there," Juliet called. "But I'm not happy of any of this. I'm going to tell my parents right now what's happened. Hanso, please tell the teacher that I'm going to be late." With that, she began turning to the door.
With lightning reflexes, Rosaline stood up, ran to the other side of the classroom, slammed Juliet near a wall and held a knife to her throat. Her siblings gasped. "Oh, running of to your mother and father," Rosaline seethed. "Is the little Jules so scared to face me? Does she think we cannot survive in the same room?"
"Rosaline," I said, suddenly finding my voice. She turned to me, frowning. "Put my friend down."
"She does not deserve your friendship," she told me. "If you knew what she had done…"
"What I have done?" Juliet shrieked. "It was Romeo who-"
"Silence!" Rosaline snapped.
"Look," I told her. "I don't care what she or you or your siblings has done in the past. All I know is, in the past few years she's been one of the best friends I could ever ask for, and I am not just going to stay here and watch you hurt her," I stated. I meant what I said, and they knew it.
Rosaline regarded me coldly, and then shook her head. "You do not know what she has done," she repeated. "And if you knew, you would agree that she definitely deserves this." With that, she raised her dagger.
Time seemed to slow down.
I was frozen in shock, unable to do anything.
I didn't know she would actually do it.
Besides someone really, really evil, who would actually harm another person if it wasn't necessary?
Even Harry, mean as he is, never hurt anyone to the point of death (at least not that I know of).
Luckily, Rosaline didn't have a chance. Before she could send the dagger plunging down, she, in turn, was slammed against the wall by a very, very angry Julius Capulet. His own dagger (the lucky one, I noticed) blocked hers and disarmed her quickly, and then backed her into a dark corner. "I don't know who you are," Julius said so calmly it was scary, "But one thing you do is never, ever harm my little sister, especially when I'm watching. Understand?" Rosaline's fists clenched, but she nodded. "Good. Now, who the heck are you?"
Rosaline huffed. "You do not recognize me, then?"
"Why would I recognize someone like…" He trailed off, and he squinted, looking straight into her eyes. She squirmed. "Wait a second. Rosy? That you?" He stared at her in shock. "What are you doing back in Brightvale?"
"That is none of your business!" she spat. "And if you do not want me to harm your precious baby sister, you will not, under any circumstances, use that ridiculous nickname!"
"Okay, okay. Sheesh." He put his weapon back in his sheath, and then leaned down and picked up Rosaline's dagger. "You dropped this."
"I am aware of that," she snapped, snatching it out of his hands.
"Hi guys!" someone called. Turning around, I saw Razor and Tyler striding through the door. "Sorry we're later than usual. I was just talking to Tyler about medicine, and did you know that meditating could actually…" He trailed off when he saw our stances; Julius standing protectively in front of Juliet, Rosaline glaring at the two with her dagger still out, the Montague siblings looking confused, and me just in the middle of it all.
"Tempers in this room are really high," Tyler commented.
Razor frowned. "Looks like it, too. What did we miss?"
"Exactly what I'd like to know," said a Krawk. He was frowning at us, and then glanced at Rosaline's dagger. "Were you fighting?"
"No, sir," Rosaline said quickly, looking abashed that she had made that sort of impression on a teacher. "I was only, uh…."
"Good!" the Krawk barked. "We're going to do a lot of fighting here. I'm Master Sahira. Now, I've been looking over at what your old teacher gave you, and I see that he made you waste time on useless subjects like the History of the Thieves' Guild and Ancient Languages. Pah! When are you going to need something like that?"
"Well," Razor began, who was quite fond of Ancient Languages, "We can learn from the mistakes of our past, and then there was that one time where there were these scrolls that said something about the Bringer of the Night but no one could understand them…"
"Exactly!" Master Sahira continued, completely ignoring Razor. "Those subjects are stupid. Useless." He strode to the box and opened one. My jaw dropped. Those were definitely not books inside.
They were weapons.
He took out a huge, pointy battle-axe. "You, boy!" he said, gesturing to Julius. "You look like a strong one. Have you ever handled one of these?"
"My father taught me how to fight with one, sir, but I'm kind of inexperienced-"
"Good! I bet that'll be your natural weapon. Useful for gory deaths," he said with a grin. I felt my stomach churn. I knew he was definitely a Master Thief, as he wouldn't have been qualified if he wasn't, but that didn't mean Kanrik could have possibly assigned us with a madman. "As for the girls," he said, his voice showing disapproval. "I suppose I can't really expect you to handle the better weapons. You're to fight with these."
"A needle?" Juliet said indecorously. "Are you serious? Why can't we use other weapons?"
"Because your girls," he said coolly. "You're too weak to do that."
"Excuse me?" Rosaline seethed. "Did he just call me weak?"
"Rosaline, please-" Romeo pleaded.
"I am as strong as any warrior you set me up against!" she exploded. "And braver than most of them." She glared pointedly at Juliet.
The Wocky girl scowled back. "For your information, I'll-"
"Master Sahira, shouldn't we getting on with the lesson?" Julius asked when he saw the teacher wasn't doing anything to stop the fight that seemed that was about to begin.
The teacher smirked. "Fighting is going to be the lesson from now on. I say, let the girls start and let's see who lives."
Julius scowled. Before anyone could stop him, he strode right through the two girls. "Okay, guys, you've had your fun," he snapped. "Rosaline, get your hands off my sister and do not harm her. Ever. Again. Second, Juliet, don't respond to her insults. If you recall, she always had a sharp tongue-"
"Excuse me?"
"And one day, I promise to find a way to shut her up-"
"What?" Rosaline shrieked. Julius just winked at her, which made her even angrier.
"But as of right now, you can't let her bait you. Agreed, girls?" The two seemed to want to argue, but when they saw the determined look on his face they thought better of it and nodded. Satisfied, Julius turned away from them and back to the rest of the class, pausing in front of Romeo. "And you," he said, his voice more spiteful than I've ever heard it, "Stay away from my sister."
"I didn't think you'd show up."
"I promised, didn't I?" I snapped at Ebony. The sixteen –year-old was dressed in a fancy suit and tie, leaning against the wall comfortably.
"And so did I," Charlie piped up, also wearing a suit. I started to feel kind of uncomfortable just in my trench coat, but I let it slide. "In fact, I'm rather surprised you showed up. You weren't even there when Sapphire asked us to go to her Ribbon Ceremony."
He snorted. "And you think you're the only one who can be friends with Saph? Need I remind you, Charles, that it's usually with her cousin's family that Emerald stays in?"
"Oh, Emerald," Charlie said, smirking. "I should've known it would have had something to do with her."
"What are you getting at, Mr Useless?" he said in a bored voice. Then he frowned, as if a thought struck him, and he glared at Charlie. "Are you bad-mouthing her? That would be a very big mistake. Especially in front of me."
"I would never dream of it," Charlie replied. "I am simply observing that are usually very protective of her."
"Someone has to be," he said, shrugging. "She's a smart girl. Unfortunately, she's a little too generous at times, and I often question about the company she keeps."
"Do you?" Emerald said, walking in herself. Ebony stared at her, absolutely dumbstruck. She laughed. "Oh, come on, Eb. It's just a dress!" It was a gorgeous dress nevertheless. It was made of rich, sea-grean velvet, trimmed with pearls. But that wasn't all. She was also wearing a simple but elegant necklace and earrings, and tied up her long, curly dark hair in a pretty style. As always, her eyes looked at everything piercingly, reflectively.
"Not exactly," he maintained. "She walks on beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies…"
"And all that's best of dark and bright," she recited along with him. "Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies."
"That's the first stanza of 'She Walks in Beauty' by Lord Byron," she explained to us, who were utterly clueless of the poem world.
"Fits her, don't you think?" he said admiringly. "The other stanzas do, too, if she'd actually allow me to say them. Particularly the 'nameless grace' part and the 'waves in every raven tress.'"
She rolled her eyes at him. "But we don't have time," she told us. "The ceremony's about to begin."
"I'm actually surprised your father would let you go so soon."
"I had to beg a lot. But I'm not about to miss my cousin's betrothal and wedding."
"Wait," I said, frowning. "Isn't betrothal and marriage the same thing?"
Ebony snorted. Emerald answered kindly, "No, Hanso, though it might as well be. Once you make a betrothal, it's eternal, and you're bound by it. It's actually just a way of being connected to prominent families, even when the two people are very young. The official marriage takes place when you're older. Then you consummate it." I made a face, understanding. "It could be on the same day, though. Sapphire is eighteen, and therefore is of age."
"When Hazel turns fifteen, she'll be betrothed then," Ebony continued. "But she won't get married to their grooms yet because she'll still be underage. That happens when she's eighteen. What?" he said defensively. "I can be good at explaining things if I have to."
"Nothing," said Charlie slowly. "It's just, you said Hazel. You didn't mention Violet."
Ebony shrugged. "Sis can be real stubborn, and I wouldn't put it past her to actually break the Tradition for the second time ever—or first, if what I've heard about your mom recently is true," he said, nodding at me. "We come from a family of stubborn people, you have to admit, and hey, she's made it this far. Who knows, maybe she'll come through after all. She has a way out." He sounded slightly bitter. "While I have to be married in about two years."
"You don't sound very happy about it," Emerald noticed.
"Who is? At least people with royal blood don't have to marry until their parents say so, you don't have to worry about that. I don't want to be married to a complete stranger."
"No, about Violet having a way out. You did, too." She frowned. "I always wondered why you didn't join the Guard when you were seven. You were strong enough, and your father wouldn't have objected."
For a moment, he seemed almost nervous, glancing downwards at his shoes. "I had my reasons," he murmured. Then a clock struck, and he looked up. "Well, we can't keep Saph waiting," he said. He offered Emerald his arm. "May I escort you inside, Your Grace?" She smirked, and they both went inside, with me and Charlie trailing after them.
The betrothal was short and weird, and I probably wouldn't have understood most of it without Ebony narrating everything bit by bit. I doubt he would've bothered if Emerald wasn't there; but she was, and so he was therefore a lot nicer than he usually is. He told me that the first part was the uniting of the families: That's when an important person – usually a person of high peerage – ties the two families' ribbons together.
Sapphire, who looked beautiful in a sky-blue dress, was nearly in tears in this part, as well as a nearby girl who Emerald said was Ruby. Then we all went to this other room, where there was this tall archway where the groom, the bride, and the important person went to. The important person pronounced them husband and wife, and that's when they were actually married.
It made me feel sick.
"Are you okay, Hanso?" Emerald asked as she took me aside. Ebony glared at me suspiciously, but he didn't dare go closer.
"Yeah. Just imagining what it would be like if I had to go through that."
She smiled at me sympathetically, and then whispered, "Have you thought about my offer from December?"
"About you being a good ally? Yeah," I admitted. "But I'm still a little confused. You're a fifteen-year-old Duchess. I'm an eleven-year-old thief-"
"Who's also the son of the famous Lizzie Windsor," she reminded me. "Do you truly want to know the main reason? My teachers told me to."
"Your teachers?"
"I'm sorry. I can't tell you more than that. But they both insisted that you'd make a very, very good ally, and they've never let me down before."
"I'm still thinking about it."
She sighed. "Fine." She glanced upwards and saw her cousin waving to her. "I have to go talk to Saph for a bit. Excuse me."
"Right," said Ebony presently. "Now all that's left is the feast and ball, so they won't notice if you slip away," he told me and Charlie. I frowned, thinking that he might just want to get rid of us. "Unless you'd rather stay and dance with some rich girls?" he asked, nodding at two gaudy-looking ladies that were batting their eyelashes at me. "Do you even know how to dance?" He snickered when he saw my expression. "I thought not. Exit's that way," he said, pointing.
"Mark my words, he'll spend the whole night dancing with Em," Charlie remarked dryly to me.
Ebony simply smirked, his palms up in surrender.
Week 2
"I'm fine, Hanso," Kayley snapped, her hands in her pockets as she went to our classroom. "Stop fussing over me!"
"Okay, okay. But I am a little worried. It's just so unlike you to miss classes, especially the first week of school. I thought you'd be really sick or something."
She sighed. "To be honest, it wasn't really sickness that was keeping me."
I frowned. "You cut classes?"
"I was grounded."
"Grounded?" I said, staring her at disbelief. "Grounded for saving the Guild and life as we know it? I thought your parents wouldn't mind."
"I miscalculated."
"I can talk to them, if you want."
"What would you say?" she said, smirking. "Anyway, it's over now. I just had to promise not to get involved with any more of Guild intrigues…at least directly. And no more magic."
"Still doesn't seem fair," I complained to her. "You never told me you could cast magic before."
"My family are…specialists in this kind. We're pretty unique," she admitted. She glared at me pointedly. "And we don't want anyone spilling our secrets."
"I won't. So is that what you were hiding, all this time? You could do magic?"
She laughed bitterly. "Not even close." We walked in silence after a while. "How's the new teacher?"
"Completely insane," I replied automatically. "H-he's a fighting machine! He favours Julius because he's best in combat, but I don't think he likes the spotlight much."
"Prefers sneaking around," Kayley agreed.
"And seriously, Master Sahira doesn't care what we do as long as we're beating each other up."
"Juliet must have had a hard time of it. She's a total pacifist, isn't she?"
"Surprisingly not," I answered. "Not when she's paired up with one of the Montagues."
"Lemme guess. One of them is named Romeo."
"Yep."
"They have a family rivalry."
"Uh-huh."
"Romeo and Juliet have a crush on each other."
I snorted. "Last time I suggested that to her, she looked like she was going to kill me. Definitely not. Although for some reason, even if Romeo's pretty much the nice guy, it seems that Julius and Juliet hate him the most. I don't know why. If there's anyone they have to look out for, it's Rosaline."
"Rosaline?"
"The second-oldest Montague triplet. She has a right temper, although she usually holds it for me. She's a little talkative, but she has a cool accent and she's getting better at English by the day. She's really smart, too, and as good in combat as Julius, although Master won't favour her because she's a girl. She's really pretty, with fiery red hair and leafy green eyes and heart-shaped face and-"
Kayley whistled. "Looks like somebody has a crush."
"What?" I shrieked. " I do not!"
"You are a terrible liar," Kayley told me sweetly. "Besides, I know the signs. I know this guy who's besotted with this girl for years. He keeps going on and on about her. Pity that she's not really his girlfriend, even though I call her that-" She stopped. "Sorry. Continue with this girl-you-have-a-crush-on?"
"I do not," I said, although I knew I was turning red. "Anyway….she's pretty cool, and I really would be friends with her if, you know, she didn't try to kill Juliet on the first day. Did I say she's awesome at fighting with like, all the weapons in there? And yet she's always upholding these customs from her old home, reminding a lot of us (especially Julius) that guys are supposed to treat girls with respect-"
"Well, they should, right?" the red-headed girl herself said, leaning against the wall.
"Rosaline!" I exclaimed, turning even redder. "I-uh-how much of that did you hear?"
"Oh, enough," she replied nonchalantly. She frowned. "We are friends, right, habibi? We have no problems with each other."
"Uh…."
"But not for that Juliet incident, yes?"
"Na'am," I told her cheekily, the Arabic word that I knew meant 'yes.'
"All right, Hanso. You have my word that I will not harm Juliet unless she has forced my hand."
I stared at her in surprise. "You'd really do that?"
"Of course. If a friend is uncomfortable about it, I shall stop." She beamed at me, and then turned to the right. "And you must be Kayley. Hanso talks much about you." Neither of the girls seemed particularly pleased by this; especially Kayley, who was glaring at me. "You are close friends?"
"He is not my friend," she staunchly denied.
"So much for what you said in New Years'," I grumbled. But for some reason, Rosaline looked strangely happier.
"But you get along, yes?"
"I tolerate him," Kayley agreed.
I coughed. "Uh, right. Let's go in," I said hurriedly, opening the door so they could go ahead.
Everyone was already there when we came in. Razor and the twins waved to Kayley, and she nodded in acknowledgement. Romeo and Mercutio gave her curious glances, but she absolutely ignored them. Then she looked at Tyler. For a moment, it was as if she couldn't process what she was seeing. Then her eyes turned to slits, and she gripped my arm. "May we talk privately?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Of course," Rosaline said uncomfortably, scooting away.
Kayley dragged me into a corner, out of earshot from everyone. "Why didn't you tell me he was in our class?"
I frowned. "It didn't seem very important."
"Need I remind you, he used to be an Assassin's-"
"He never wanted his parents to join," I told her. "Besides, weren't you the one who told me to ask him for help last year?"
"That was only temporary!"
"Aw, come on, Kayley. He's harmless."
"He's slyer than I thought, if he made you think that. Be careful, Hanso," she warned. "I, for one, intend to keep my distance from him. And the rest of the so-called new kids."
"You're paranoid."
"Thank you." With that, she left me, slipped into her seat, and began reading while resolutely ignoring Tyler.
He gave me a questioning glance, and I shrugged. "Sorry. She's made up her mind not to talk to you."
He frowned. "What for? Did I do something to offend her?"
"Nope. She's just like that."
"Who is that girl, anyway?"
"Her name's Kayley Halvard," I told him. "Don't worry. She'll warm up to you in a little while. " I hope. "What do you think of her?"
He smiled slightly. "I prefer not to judge on first impressions. Ask me a year later, and I'll tell you."
"Too bad," Kayley called, still looking at her book. "You might as well judge from my first impression. What you see is what you get."
"I highly doubt it," Tyler replied serenely. She frowned, and didn't look up until the new master came in and strode right next to her.
"You're the student who wasn't here last week."
"Yep. I did give an excuse letter to Master Lyn." Master Lyn was the lady in charge of our education affairs, and if you ask me, she's not doing a very good job.
"Right." He frowned. "You're a girl."
"So?"
"I was hoping for another warrior in class."
"I can fight well, thank you very much," she said icily. "Besides, there are other things more important than fighting. Learning to actually steal for example, this is a school for thieves, and ancient languages-"
"Uh, Kayley?" Juliet said tentatively. "He kind of cancelled those classes last week."
"What!"
"Yep. That's what I said," Razor seconded.
"This is crazy!" she exclaimed. "Master Kanrik ordered that we have these lessons."
He snorted. "I've got news for you, girly. The Guild leader has better things to worry about than a little Acara girl's education. Besides, everyone knows how to steal." She rolled her eyes, probably thinking like I was about those grown-ups who were brutal at fighting but couldn't even manage to forge a neopoint. "The most important thing for you to know is how to fight."
"I already know how to fight," she snapped. "Any guard that crosses me will rue the day they were born. And I agree, it's important to know how to defend ourselves. But that's not what the Thieves' Guild stands for."
"And it stands for what, missy?"
"That, sir," she said, looking straight in the eye, "Is on page four-hundred and thirty-two of our history book."
He grabbed her wrist. We gasped, never seeing a teacher manhandle a student before. To my surprise, it was Rosaline who reacted first, unsheathing her curved dagger – Julius once called it a scimitar – and pointing it at him. "Unhand her," she commanded, her green eyes flashing. "This is disgraceful. A teacher should never do that to a student. In the Lost Desert there are a few sexist attitudes, and some feminist ones, but one thing they all agreed on is that they treat women with respect."
The teacher laughed. "And if they don't?"
Rosaline smiled. "I am glad you asked." She leaped up in the air – like a ninja! – and delivered a swift kick on his arm, flipping over and landing gracefully on a desk. He let go of Kayley, howling in pain. Kayley stared at Rosaline, and the rest of the class were visibly impressed. "We make them respect us."
"Why you little-"
"Apologize to her," Rosaline ordered stiffly.
"What did you say?"
"I said apologize to her," Rosaline repeated. "What you did was utterly shameful."
"Persist on that, and I'll tell your parents," he warned. Rosaline paled. "Not so determined now, huh, punk?"
She pursed her lips, but her eyes were troubled. "I-I stand firm with m-my decision-"
"No, she doesn't," Kayley answered for her. Rosaline looked ready to protest, but Kayley shot her down with a look. "Save it, flower-girl. It isn't worth you getting into trouble." The Aisha blinked, as if put out by being called 'flower-girl.'
"Excellent," said the teacher, evidently pleased. "Now we can continue the lesson-"
"But I refuse to wield a weapon during classes," Kayley added.
"What?" Master Sahira shrieked.
"You heard me." Kayley folded her arms. "I refuse to do any fighting. I'm perfectly within my rights to do this—it's in the Guild handbook. You can't force me to hurt anyone I don't want to. So, if all we're going to do is fight around here, then I guess class-time for me is over." She stood up. "I suppose my first week off wasn't a waste of time, after all."
"You can't do that!" he cried. "I'll tell your parents."
A ghost of a smile played around Kayley's lips. "Go ahead," she said, utterly fearless. "I dare you." She was not bluffing, and he knew it.
He glowered at her. "Then I'll tell Master Kanrik."
"I've got news for you, Master Sahira. The Guild leader has better things to worry about than a little Acara girl's education. If you say anything to him, I will easily be able to refute everything you tell. Go ahead and fail me. My parents won't care." For a moment, the whole class – including me – looked enviously at her. While my parents are the best I could ever ask for, I think even they would be irritated if I came home with failing grades.
With that, she swept out of the classroom.
"Whoa," a voice next to me said. Tyler stared at the doorway, an awestruck expression on his face. "Who is that girl?"
"You placed us in class with a lunatic." I told Master Kanrik that with no hesitation the moment I got into his office.
"I know," was his cool reply. I stared at him, completely dumbfounded. "I apologize, Hanso, but there were simply no other teachers that would handle your class. I doubt they wanted to deal with the infamous Hanso Laron when they knew they'd be the ones blamed if he causes trouble in class."
"Is that the only reason?" I said in disbelief.
"Not exactly…." He looked slightly uncomfortable.
"Then what is?"
"I take it that you know about the Montague and Capulet feud by now?"
"Do I?" I shrieked. "Yes! The twins and the triplets absolutely loathe each other! Well, sort of. Julius is extremely cautious with Romeo for some reason, even though Rosaline's the best warrior. Master Kanrik, have you seen her? Are you aware that she has crazy awesome ninja moves?" I asked.
He snickered. "That tends to be the style in the Lost Desert."
"I have got to go there one day," I said, in an awed voice. "Anyway, Julius is okay with the triplets except Romeo. He even calls Rosaline 'Rosy' sometimes, and she's really irritated with it. Rosaline, in her part, loathes both him and Juliet, but especially him. I swear, those two are even bigger rivals than me and Kayley, although Julius thinks it all fun. He laughs whenever Juliet tells him to 'crush' her. Mercutio also hates the twins, but you can't really tell 'cause he's not as good with languages as his sister and Rosaline has to translate most of the time. Did I mention that she's really smart? She learns languages so fast, though she's having trouble with contractions-"
"You seem to be going on and on about this Rosaline."
"She's really cool," I insisted. "Romeo tries to stay out of the conflict, but the Capulet siblings hate him the most. I don't know why, though."
"It's probably better that you don't. Those siblings have some…history."
"You know I'm going to find out sooner or later."
"The later the better, then."
I frowned. "Well, that's gratefulness for saving the Thieves' Guild for….the second time? The third time? It has to at least be three times."
"Which reminds me," he said, avoiding the topic. "You haven't seen Miss Brynneth for a while."
"I never have enough time. You know, dealing with the rich kid thing."
"Well, I have a job for you." He took out a book. "I borrowed from this girl, Miss Sophia Clair, in Terror Mountain last year and I promised to get it back for her. You may return it." I was half-way to the door before he finished his sentenced.
Then I paused. A little voice in my mind told me that I should tell Kanrik about Kayley skipping classes these past few days. But she had cornered me after school that day and told me that if I dared say anything to the Guild leader I would somehow find myself sailing on a raft to Mystery Island with no hope of return. "You're still here?" Master Kanrik asked, when I saw I wasn't moving. "Is something wrong?"
I just shrugged, and ran out of the office.
It wasn't hard to spot Brynn, though it did take a long time. I had to wait an hour or so (and I amused myself by robbing an annoying Zafara lady). She was just coming out of the Guard Base (unfortunately, with Violet) when I caught her.
"Brynn!" I called, running over to her. She looked up in surprise. "I was looking for you."
"Oh, that's soooo normal," Violet said sarcastically, flipping her hair. "Thieves are totally supposed to look for guards." Brynn elbowed her. Violet rolled her eyes, but said nothing.
"Anyway," I continued as if nothing had happened. "Kanrik gave me this book for you to give to Sophia." She nodded. Violet outstretched her hand, as if saying, hand it over. But hey, the guard girl's annoying, and I wasn't just going to give it to her like that. Instead, I threw it, accidentally-on-purpose hitting her on the head.
"You did that on purpose!" she shrieked.
"No I didn't," I said, grinning.
Brynn sighed, as if we two were hopeless. "Hanso. That wasn't very clever, was it?"
"Maybe we should arrest him," Violet suggested hopefully. Judging from the look on her face, she wanted to do more damage than simply arrest me.
"I haven't broken any laws," I protested.
"Yet," Violet corrected. "You haven't broken the law yet." She of little faith.
"So I'm not allowed to walk?"
"You'd have a reason," Violet retorted. So being ordered by the Guild Leader to bring a book back wasn't enough?
"Maybe I just wanted some fresh air," I told her. She snorted.
"Violet, maybe we should go," Brynn suggested when she saw Violet was starting to get angry.
"Where? He's the only thief I can see."
"Thieves don't necessarily look like thieves," I pointed out. I thought everyone knew that. Juliet and Rosaline and, actually, most of my class were living proof. "Otherwise guards would know what to look for."
"Uh-huh," said Violet disbelievingly. "You have a trench coat, gloves, and horrible hair. If that doesn't scream thief, I don't know what does."
I winked at her. "You have earrings, a necklace, and stylishly kept hair. If that doesn't scream rich kid, I don't know what does. And yet, here am I, also a rich kid and nothing like you. Thank goodness!" Violet scowled and glanced at Brynn. To her relief, she was bored and was just looking over at the stalls.
Then Brynn stiffened, as if she saw something. "Excuse me a minute."
"Brynn!" I complained. "You can't leave me alone with her. She'll kill me."
"And that's if you're lucky," Violet added.
Brynn groaned, and then did a quick scan of the stalls. "Violet," she ordered. "Go investigate that guy." She pointed to a green Uni, a newbie apparently, sneaking around the shops. Violet glared at me and reluctantly did what she said.
"Brynn," I whined as she held me in a stone-like grip. "Is this really necessary?"
"Yes. I haven't got 'round to questioning you."
"You don't have to do that."
"You're right…I could get Violet do it for me," she threatened.
"Where are we even going? The prison is that way," I said, pointing with my free arm.
"I know. We aren't going to prison." I stared at her. "Of course," she added teasingly, "If you want to go to prison, I could easily make something up and lock you in there."
"No, I'm good," I assured her.
She smirked, and then tugged my arm, making us both ducking around a stall and standing right in front of a very familiar Acara lady. "Marie," Brynn said. "I need to ask you something."
Marie blinked, and then smiled in amusement. I tried to cover up my face – I mean, she's one of the best thieves in the Guild, and here I was practically attached to a guard girl – but I was sure she saw me anyway. "I've got a question, too. Why have you brought Hanso to the shoe stall?" What? We were at a shoe stall? Will the humiliation never end?
"I needed to see you and I couldn't leave him alone with Violet," she answered. "My turn."
"Yes," Marie agreed.
"What did Sam to do Masila?" Brynn asked.
Marie raised her eyebrows, as if surprised at this question. In reality, I think she was just trying to figure out a way to respnd. "If he hasn't told you, then he doesn't think you're ready to know." She said finally.
"I am!" she insisted. "In what way would I not be?"
"Remember how Sam looked when he came to get you?" Marie asked. I did, at least; a few scratches and bumps, but it wasn't that bad and I knew he'd live.
"Yes," said Brynn slowly.
"She was about ten times worse than that by the end of it." Marie said flatly, turning back to the shopkeeper. Brynn's mouth dropped open. I blinked, impressed. It wasn't a lie, per se, but it was more of emotionally than physically.
"In what way?" Brynn pressed. Smart girl, picking that up.
Marie was about to answer, when a tall, gangly Kyrii appeared. "Mum, I got the milk and bread and I also found a..." Then Sam saw Brynn, and he instantly dropped the food he was holding. "Brynn?"
"No, I found the Brynn." Marie told him, grinning.
"Actually," I said, going along with the joke. "I think I found her first."
"Hanso?" Sam said, frowning.
"Sam, pick the milk and bread up." Marie ordered.
Sam did as we was told, still having a confused expression the entire time. "Mum," he said, after an awkward pause. "Why's Brynn shopping with us now?"
"She was asking a question." Marie informed him. "You could actually answer it."
"Really?" Sam asked. He knelt down so he was face-to-face with Brynn.
"What did you do to Masila?" Brynn questioned again.
"Brynn," Sam said sternly, looking a little taken aback. We exchanged looks, and we both silently agreed; they simply could not find about this, not yet. I don't think they'd like it very much if they knew he made a secret deal with his aunt. "You're not old enough to know just yet and..."
"That was helpful." Brynn said sarcastically. She glanced upwards and saw Violet, probably finishing off with the green Uni, and walked to her with me dragging alongside.
"Oh, so you take him with you." Violet complained. "Favouritism!"
"It was either that or leave him with you."She pointed out. Violet nodded, showing that she understood, but her scowl told me she wasn't happy about it.
"Right," Brynn said, looking back at me.
"I didn't steal anything!" I told her, crossing my fingers of my free hand from behind my back. "I swear!"
"THIEF!"
Darn. Annoying Zafara lady strikes again.
"What did he steal, miss?" Brynn asked her.
"My necklace!" she said in a high-pitched voice. She grabbed a necklace from my pocket before striding away in a huff.
"Looks like someone's been stealing," Violet said, in a sing-song voice. "You're going to jail!"
"What was your reason for stealing this time?" Brynn asked exasperatedly as we went to prison.
"I was doing this assignment for Kanrik," I explained. "Bringing the book back, and the lady annoyed me. It only seemed fair to annoy her back. Anyway, I'm good at being annoying, aren't I? You can just admit it."
"Yes, you are," she agreed readily. "Though you do have your moments." She turned scarlet, as if she said something she shouldn't have.
I grinned as she pushed me into a prison cell. "And what would they be?" She ignored me as she began walking down the corridor. Five….for…three…two…She turned back around, scowling. I snickered. "Missing me already?"
"Just hand over the lock picking tools," she said tonelessly.
"I was hoping you'd forgotten," I commented, giving most of them up. She asked if I had anything else. Sighing, I gave her the rest, and overturned my pockets to prove it.
Of course, I escaped anyway.
Week 3
I made it three steps in Uptown before I was ambushed.
A trap had been constructed in a grass, and I was too busy thinking about stuff to notice it. I frowned and began lock-picking it, when suddenly a boomerang appeared out of nowhere. I ducked, but it hit me the second time. Suddenly, the sprinklers began showering me with paint. Pink paint. It was the paintbrush incident all over again, and trust me, I did not want a repeat of that. Mom and Dad would never let me forget it. Using the steel trap, I bashed it hard against the sprinkler, which in turn made the trap released me. A rope net came out of nowhere, but I ducked and swerved it.
I was under attack.
A water balloon – or should I say, a pink-paint balloon – burst near me. I only jumped in the air just in time before I got sprayed. I ran blindly, slamming right into my opponent. I blinked as I focused on a kindly old face of a blue Ruki with greying hair and mischievous eyes. "Granny?" I said, staring.
"How did you like the set-up?" she said, grinning. Before I could reply, she brandished a dagger at me. "En guarde, dear grandson!" I shirked back, laughing, and took out my own dagger as well. It was awesome, just like old times, except ten times more fun because I actually knew how to use a dagger now and she didn't have to hold anything back. We swooped in random gardens, hopped through two different bedrooms, and finally walked into a couple playing chess in a living room.
"Should I even ask why you're in my house?" Ebony said dryly, his arms folded as he held a piece. Emerald snickered.
"Give me one moment," I promised, narrowly missing my dear grandmother's blade.
"You're so lucky my father isn't here."
"You're sixteen, aren't you, sonny?" Granny Leslie called as she jabbed at me again. "Why don't you take care of us yourself instead of running to daddy?"
"You seem to be in a middle of something I'd rather not interrupt," he observed.
"Yeah, yeah," she said, leaping up. Finally, she cornered me by backing me to a wall and pointing a dagger at my throat. "Well, well. Looks like I still got it," she said triumphantly, flipping her hair and looking ridiculously like Violet for a second. I grinned. "How's my favourite grandson?" she asked, giving my hair a ruffle.
"I'm your only grandson," I protested. "You should say grandchild."
"That wouldn't be very fair to April, wouldn't it?" April is a cousin around my age, and whenever she's in town she and I start arguing on who Granny Leslie loves best. Luckily, I knew for a fact they left her somewhere in Kiko Lake for a while.
"But it's true."
"If you say so," she said, giving me a wink.
"Ahem," Ebony said loudly. "I still don't have an explanation on why you're currently in the living room."
"Spoil-sport," Granny told him. "We were having a bit of fun and ended around here."
"How did you get in?"
"The window," Granny said matter-of-factly.
Ebony sighed; Emerald, however, chuckled along with us. "Oh, come on, Eb. It's not like we didn't break our fair share of windows."
"Really?" Granny Leslie seemed pleased. "You gave the impression of a proper young lady to me."
"It was a long time ago," she admitted. "I was a bit of a tom-boy." I grinned, picturing Em with her long-dark hair in a braid and 'peasant' clothes. "Nearly scared Ebony to death when I dressed up as a page to play with him. You should have seen the look on his face when I took off my wig. It got even better when I tried to put it on him-"
"I swear, it had spyders on it!" he insisted. She laughed. "Though most of the time, even those days, we played this game." He gestured to the chess board.
"I didn't like it very much, back then," she remembered.
"Then why did you play it?" I asked curiously.
"Hanso, court life is a chessboard," she explained. "You're either a player-"
"—Or a pawn," Ebony finished, placing a piece forward. "Your move." She frowned and placed her queen a few spaces. Ebony shook his head. "Bad choice, Em." He moved his pieces again. "Check-mate."
"It's not fair," she complained. "You've been playing much longer than I have. And you had an amazing teacher."
"I thought I was an amazing teacher," he protested.
"If you say so," she said, winking. Granny and I laughed.
"Anyway," he said, trying to hide a smile, "My mother hardly counts as 'amazing' anymore."
"Says you." She leaned close to him; instantly, he turned into an interesting shade of red. "I still remember the days when you worshipped the ground she walked on."
"Do you?" he said weakly as she got closer.
"Uh-huh." She grinned at him again, probably knowing how uncomfortable he was right now, and then slid back to her chair. She smirked. "Of course, I don't know how well she thought you how to play the game practically, which, dearest, you will definitely need if you are to ever advance in court."
"Are you planning to say something to your father about me?"
"I might. We'll see how you do playing the game in real life."
"Says the girl who can't even beat me on the board."
She huffed indignantly. "I happen to be very good at it in real life situations."
"There aren't many chances, here in Uptown."
"Aren't there? Looks like your mother's playing a game against your father and you haven't even noticed it."
"What?"
"Violet joined the Guard, am I right?"
"To my father's annoyance, yes."
"And Hazel's in the Academy?"
"For the time-being, although I wouldn't put it pass Mother to cook up some excuse to get her back."
"I don't think so," she informed him.
"What? Why?" In response, she began setting up the board again, though this time in a very different style. "That's wrong, Em," he commented. "You forgot the king piece in the other set."
"Not exactly. The king isn't not there. He's simply put away in safety."
"That's not possible."
"Say it is, for a moment. What would be the effects?"
"The King is the most valuable piece on the board. If you catch him, it's check-mate. But if he's simply not there, there's no way for the other side to win."
"Now, say Violet and Hazel are the King piece, since they're what matters most to your mother. Your mother isn't just Honey, Ebony. She was once Grace Trate, and the only thing that was holding her back-"
"Was that my father kept threatening to hurt Hazel and Violet," he continued.
"Right. Now that they're both out of the way-"
"There's nothing holding her back," he completed, visibly impressed. "And it's only a matter of time before she makes her move. You really are good at this."
"You could be, too. You just have to take in account that the board aren't always equal all the time."
"I'll keep that in mind," he said, absently taking the missing King piece off the nearby table. "I suppose you're right that I'm not so important to Mother to qualify as part of the King piece."
Emerald's eyes widened. "Eb, I didn't mean it like that-"
"Oh, we both know it's true anyway," he cut her off, smiling ruefully. "I suppose treating her like a servant doesn't help."
She bit her lip. It was clear that he wasn't going to say anything further. "So," she said hesitantly, aftera short pause. "There's the game. That's the chessboard. Who do you think you are inside it?"
"The pawn, I suppose, since I don't really want to get involved."
Emerald made a look of horror. "Ebony Adonai, pass up a game of chess? I've never heard of such a thing!"
He snickered. "All right, all right. What do you prefer me to be? The bishop?"
"How about the dark knight?"
"Oh, sure," he said, a little sarcastically. "Go ahead, Em. Choose the roles I should take."
"I think I shall," she said sweetly. "What I'll let you choose is, which side are you on?"
For a moment, there was absolute silence.
"You don't have to answer me right away," Emerald said. "But I'm telling you , Ebony, that you better decide really soon before you end up on the losing side. Same goes for you," she told me, finally noticing we were there again. Granny Leslie and I had been watching the scene with interest, me partly because I've never seen Ebony treat a girl with that much respect before, and partly because I wanted to see if they had any info about breaking the Tradition.
The latter they didn't have, but it was fascinating nevertheless.
It'd be interesting to see what he'd choose.
Week 4
"Are we still friends?" Juliet asked.
It was the first time I've ever visited her house. Granny Leslie has made it a point of honour of going to every Guild member's place, invited or not, to chat with the person and make them extremely uncomfortable. Since the twins' house was next, I decided to tag along, wanting to talk to Juliet. This past month, I had a feeling that she was upset with me, and I wanted to know why. "Yes!" I said, shocked. "Of course we are."
Julius and she had bunk-beds, she at the top. Right then, Juliet was sitting cross-legged on her part, so I had to look up to see her. Julius stayed sprawled on his, casually bouncing a ball on the ceiling of his bed. "Then why are you hanging out with Rosaline a lot?" she asked. Her tone wasn't angry—it was more sad and hurt. She frowned. "Do you know what she and her siblings did to me?"
"No-"
"And I forbid you to tell him, sis," Julius said tonelessly, still bouncing the ball.
"What! You can't tell me what to do-"
"Rosy should have a chance to make her own friends here outside her siblings," he informed her. "You can't just take that away because of an old grudge."
"Easy for you to say. You weren't the one-"
"They've kept up their end of the bargain so far," he reminded her. "They haven't hurt you. And so, I'm content for now. Besides, you're being unfair to Hanso. Need I remind you, sis, you didn't have a problem when he was befriending a guard. You can't say differently when he's befriending a thief."
Juliet sighed. "I'm sorry. They can just be…so…irritating at times." She gave me a weak smile. "Just don't forget about me, okay?"
"Of course not," I told her quickly. "Oh, and I brought you guys something."
"What?" Juliet asked, her eyebrows flying up. Even Julius looked curious.
"How about a bag of candy?"
"Oh my gosh," Juliet said, marvelling. "You have an ethnic piece from every part of the globe."
"It's from my grandmother, to honour a deal we made a long, long time ago," I said, grinning. I refused to let her read it – to her delight, since she said that meant it had become personal – but I showed her how much I wrote and told her most of the 'exciting adventures' she told me I would have. Turns out she was right.
Although I was irritated that she omitted the 'terrifying and life-threatening' part.
"Good luck, Han-so. SQUAWK!" said a familiar voice. Flynn was there, with a spark in his eye that made me kind of nervous. Kayley keeps trying to convince me he's not evil, but I'm not so sure about that yet. I don't even know where he really comes from, and he absolutely refuses to tell. "Yer gonna have lotsa new adventures headin' yer way! SQUAWK! And they'll even be MORE life ther-rea-ten-ing than before! SQUAWK!"
"Perfect," I sighed. "What's next?"
He made a kind of laughing noise, flew over to my arm, and pecked me. "Be-ware the Dagger and the Mirror. Squawk!"
Note: The guides in my profile have been updated in regards to stuff I put in this chapter. I also have a new poll. :)
What the Montagues are speaking really is Arabic, by the way. I wish I had Rosaline's gift of languages when I moved back to the Philippines. She'll probably be speaking normally by the time New Year comes around, and I'm still confused with the verbs and stuff. :P
