Disclaimer: The Night World is the property of L.J. Smith.
Spoilers: None so far it is based on the Night World Series but I don't spoil any of the books, just the Night World concept really.
Author's Notes: Thanks Mandy for reviewing, I'm glad you're liking the story more I kind of lost my way with it for a while there but it's back on track now. And I am working on the sequel to Bound by Flame, I will definitely be posting some of it soon, well as soon as I'm happy with it. Anyway thanks again for reviewing.
Part 13.
Emma groaned loudly as her mother yelled at her to get up for school. It seemed so strange to be doing things so normal as putting on her uniform and going to school but then the world didn't stop just because her life was in complete disarray. How quickly things had changed; just two weeks ago things had been great, she'd had her friends and a relatively normal life, well as normal a life as you could have when you lived somewhere like Glenalta and now. Well, now she had Midir, but was that enough. She sighed, she knew things could never go back to the way they'd been and though she loved Midir, sometimes, just sometimes she wished things had been different.
She hurried to the kitchen where she wolfed down her breakfast and smiled as her mother gave her usual tirade of admonishments about how she'd choke herself. She liked the normalcy of it; the way things were going her home life would be the only part of her life that was normal for a long time. She heard the bus pull in outside and grabbed her jacket giving her mother a rushed goodbye.
She was really not looking forward to school today; it was going to be bad enough being on the bus with Stella and Hayden but spending the whole day surrounded by her former friends was not going to be pleasant by any stretch of the imagination. To make matters worse she was going to be questioning all of them, looking at them thinking were you the one who put the spell on Truth, were you the one who hurt our friend so much. That suspicion more than anything else would probably be the end of their friendship, how could she be friends with people she didn't trust.
Truth rolled out of bed with great difficulty; she felt totally exhausted and really didn't want to go to school but what was she supposed to say, "Hey Mom, I can't go to school today because I'm still recovering from having a spell put on me." She somehow didn't think that would work. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sighed; she was really showing the effects of yesterday. She looked terrible, her eyes were bloodshot and had dark circles under them, plus her hair looked like it needed to be washed.
"I guess I could try Mom I can't go to school today because I look a right state," she said to herself, "that's got a better chance of working than the truth."
"Truth are you talking to yourself again?" her younger sister Charity asked from the doorway.
"Yes, I am," Truth replied.
"That's okay then," Charity said with a smile, "I was worried the voices had come back."
Truth grinned; Charity always knew how to make her smile. It was great that at least one of her sisters shared her sense of humour, strange as it may be.
"You feeling better?" Charity asked.
"Yep," Truth replied, "Right as rain."
"That's good. Fiachra was really worried about you. He had me worried too; he said you looked terrible. I thought I'd find you half dead when I got home but you didn't look too bad. You look worse this morning."
"Gee, thanks," Truth replied.
"You're welcome," Charity said with a grin and sauntered off to the bathroom leaving Truth to digest what she had just said.
Fiachra had been worried about her that was unexpected in a nice way, if he was worried about her then there was definitely a friendship to salvage there. She already had a plan to get him to listen to her, one she felt certain would work.
Emma smiled at Midir as he sat down beside her on the bus. He smiled sweetly back and out his arm around her shoulder.
"I figure if people are going to be angry about us being together we should give them something to be angry about," he whispered.
"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Emma replied softly, "I mean there's someone out there who's willing to hurt innocent people because of us; I don't think antagonising them is the way to go."
"I'm not antagonising them; I'm just bringing us out in the open but if you don't want that," he stopped and looked at her.
Emma studied his face sharply; there was something she didn't recognise in his expression. She didn't know what to say; she didn't know what he wanted to hear. He sighed angrily beside her.
"For God sake Emma, I'm not so fragile that you have to tell me what I want to hear all the time. I'm your soulmate for God's sake; I want to hear what you think. I want to know how you feel but if you think I need to hear you spout some little, reassuring phrase that will make me feel better then you sure as hell don't know me."
"What do you think I've been saying for the past few days Midir? I don't know you."
"Is that what you think?" Midir snapped loudly.
Emma tried to calm him down, as they were quickly becoming the centre of attention. He looked at her with betrayal and disappointment in his eyes then stood up and moved to a different seat as far away from her as possible.
Emma followed him with her gaze wishing she could fix what had just happened but there was nothing she could say that would rectify what was wrong between them. She really believed what she had said; she didn't know Midir not at all, that was one thing this whole situation had taught her, you could never really know anyone but did she trust him? Yes. Did she love him? Yes. Would that be enough? She wasn't sure.
Midir felt like banging his head against the window beside him. Why was she acting like this? Couldn't she see she was doing exactly what whoever had cast the spell wanted? That they had set out to drive a wedge between them and it was working. Couldn't she see that she did know him? She knew him better that anyone else did. That's what the soulmate principle was all about, showing them to each other, letting them know each other. You couldn't love someone you didn't know; so that was what she was really saying she to him, she didn't love him.
Truth smiled as she saw Fiachra walked down the hall towards her, now was her chance. She grabbed his arm and dragged him into a nearby room.
"Shit Truth, tear my arm off why don't you," he exclaimed.
"Sorry," she said not meaning it at all. "We've got to talk."
Fiachra glared at her rubbing his arm, "There are easier ways of getting my attention."
"Please," Truth exclaimed, "you're a werewolf, I'm a human, suck it up and stop acting like a baby."
Fiachra glared at her again and then a look of astonishment crept over his handsome features.
"Hey you're better," he said with a smile.
"I'm better," she replied.
"That's good because you looked like shit yesterday."
"Gee thanks," she replied, "actually I'm glad you brought that up because that's what I wanted to talk to you about."
Fiachra's eyebrows disappeared into his hair, "you want to talk to me about being sick?"
"Not exactly," Truth told him, "You see I wasn't actually sick."
"But everyone said you were sick. You looked sick."
"It was a spell."
"Who?" Fiachra asked angrily, "Why?"
"We don't know who but we're pretty sure because I'm friends with Midir and Emma."
Truth saw Fiachra's expression darken when she mentioned Midir but when he didn't say anything she continued.
"I know that you're angry at me and Emma right now and the last thing you probably want to do is help us but we are under pack protection and I thought you should know."
"Truth," Fiachra said softly, "I'm not angry with you or Emma, not really. I'm hurt and disappointed but not angry. I am angry at whoever cast that spell on you, angry that they didn't respect the pack but more than that I'm furious that anyone would try to hurt you. I'll help however you want and the whole pack will too."
Truth flung her arms around Fiachra and gave him a hug, "Thanks Fiachra, I knew I could count on you."
When she pulled away she saw he was blushing which was very strange; Fiachra never blushed, he loved compliments, almost too much in Truth's opinion, so why would he go scarlet just because she said she could count on him, very strange but there were more important mysteries they had to work on.
Psyche sat at the window waiting for Emma and Midir to turn up. She had already spoken to Truth who was off trying to get Fiachra to help them. If anything would convince Fiachra to help them it was someone trying to hurt Truth, though Truth herself didn't realise it.
She smiled as the bus that brought Midir and Emma to school pulled in. She was going to apologise for being such a bitch the last few days and try to be friends with Midir for Emma's sake if nothing else. She couldn't imagine how it must feel to have to listen to everyone tell you how terrible your soulmate was but she did know how it had affected her mother and how it had led to her mother's separation from her family and friends. She wasn't going to let that happen to Emma, not if she could help it.
She watched as Emma scurried into the school looking miserable and went straight to the girls' toilets. Midir followed a few minutes later. Storming into the school with a dark scowl on his face completely ignoring everything and everyone around him.
"Did you see that?" Stella said to Psyche as she and Hayden came through the door. "Isn't it great? Maybe Emma's finally coming to her senses."
Psyche looked at her two friends.
"Great? Great that one of our friends is really upset? That she's probably crying in the toilets right now?" Psyche asked with disdain, ignoring the little voice that told her she'd probably have felt the same way if this had happened yesterday.
"No," Stella said sternly, "Great that she might finally realise what she's been doing and realise who her friends are."
"Who her friends are?" Psyche replied softly, "I think she already knows that."
"What does that mean?" Hayden asked, "Is something going on Psyche?"
Psyche met his questing violet eyes and cursed the Harman heritage that gave him his intuition.
"No Hayden," she lied through her teeth, "There's nothing going on."
"Liar," he replied, "I can tell something's up so why don't you just tell us what it is. You know I'm going to find out anyway; it just might take a little more time."
"You're not going to be interested," she said eventually.
"How're you going to know that until you tell us?" Stella asked.
"I just know," Psyche replied airily hoping they'd drop the subject.
"What is Psyche?" Hayden demanded, "What are you so afraid to tell us?"
"I'm not afraid to tell you anything," Psyche snapped, "I just don't want to tell you."
"You don't trust us," Hayden said angrily.
"Yes, no. Oh I don't know," Psyche sighed.
"Well that certainly clears everything up," Hayden said with a fleeting smile. "We're you're friends Psyche if you can't trust us then who can you trust?"
"Emma's one of our friends too and so is Truth and look how we've been treating them."
"That's different," Stella said.
"How?" Psyche asked, "How is that different? They're our friends and we believed that they would be friends with someone who would hurt us. We didn't trust them and they, they trusted us and we ostracized them and treated them like dirt. Goddess, what kind of people are we?"
Hayden looked at his friend on the verge of tears and said softly, "We're scared people Psyche, scared and careful. We've all got something we're running from, we've all got something to fear. How else are we supposed to act when the embodiment of that fear turns up in our home? Welcome it with open arms?"
"That's no excuse Hayden, we can't let our fears rule us like that; we can't let them turn us into people like that. Midir's just like us, he's running too. And besides all that, Emma and Truth are two of the best people I know and because of our fear they're getting hurt. I don't know about you guys but that doesn't exactly make me feel too good about myself."
Psyche finished and then grabbed her bag and headed off to find Emma leaving her friends to think about what she had just said.
Spoilers: None so far it is based on the Night World Series but I don't spoil any of the books, just the Night World concept really.
Author's Notes: Thanks Mandy for reviewing, I'm glad you're liking the story more I kind of lost my way with it for a while there but it's back on track now. And I am working on the sequel to Bound by Flame, I will definitely be posting some of it soon, well as soon as I'm happy with it. Anyway thanks again for reviewing.
Part 13.
Emma groaned loudly as her mother yelled at her to get up for school. It seemed so strange to be doing things so normal as putting on her uniform and going to school but then the world didn't stop just because her life was in complete disarray. How quickly things had changed; just two weeks ago things had been great, she'd had her friends and a relatively normal life, well as normal a life as you could have when you lived somewhere like Glenalta and now. Well, now she had Midir, but was that enough. She sighed, she knew things could never go back to the way they'd been and though she loved Midir, sometimes, just sometimes she wished things had been different.
She hurried to the kitchen where she wolfed down her breakfast and smiled as her mother gave her usual tirade of admonishments about how she'd choke herself. She liked the normalcy of it; the way things were going her home life would be the only part of her life that was normal for a long time. She heard the bus pull in outside and grabbed her jacket giving her mother a rushed goodbye.
She was really not looking forward to school today; it was going to be bad enough being on the bus with Stella and Hayden but spending the whole day surrounded by her former friends was not going to be pleasant by any stretch of the imagination. To make matters worse she was going to be questioning all of them, looking at them thinking were you the one who put the spell on Truth, were you the one who hurt our friend so much. That suspicion more than anything else would probably be the end of their friendship, how could she be friends with people she didn't trust.
Truth rolled out of bed with great difficulty; she felt totally exhausted and really didn't want to go to school but what was she supposed to say, "Hey Mom, I can't go to school today because I'm still recovering from having a spell put on me." She somehow didn't think that would work. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sighed; she was really showing the effects of yesterday. She looked terrible, her eyes were bloodshot and had dark circles under them, plus her hair looked like it needed to be washed.
"I guess I could try Mom I can't go to school today because I look a right state," she said to herself, "that's got a better chance of working than the truth."
"Truth are you talking to yourself again?" her younger sister Charity asked from the doorway.
"Yes, I am," Truth replied.
"That's okay then," Charity said with a smile, "I was worried the voices had come back."
Truth grinned; Charity always knew how to make her smile. It was great that at least one of her sisters shared her sense of humour, strange as it may be.
"You feeling better?" Charity asked.
"Yep," Truth replied, "Right as rain."
"That's good. Fiachra was really worried about you. He had me worried too; he said you looked terrible. I thought I'd find you half dead when I got home but you didn't look too bad. You look worse this morning."
"Gee, thanks," Truth replied.
"You're welcome," Charity said with a grin and sauntered off to the bathroom leaving Truth to digest what she had just said.
Fiachra had been worried about her that was unexpected in a nice way, if he was worried about her then there was definitely a friendship to salvage there. She already had a plan to get him to listen to her, one she felt certain would work.
Emma smiled at Midir as he sat down beside her on the bus. He smiled sweetly back and out his arm around her shoulder.
"I figure if people are going to be angry about us being together we should give them something to be angry about," he whispered.
"I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Emma replied softly, "I mean there's someone out there who's willing to hurt innocent people because of us; I don't think antagonising them is the way to go."
"I'm not antagonising them; I'm just bringing us out in the open but if you don't want that," he stopped and looked at her.
Emma studied his face sharply; there was something she didn't recognise in his expression. She didn't know what to say; she didn't know what he wanted to hear. He sighed angrily beside her.
"For God sake Emma, I'm not so fragile that you have to tell me what I want to hear all the time. I'm your soulmate for God's sake; I want to hear what you think. I want to know how you feel but if you think I need to hear you spout some little, reassuring phrase that will make me feel better then you sure as hell don't know me."
"What do you think I've been saying for the past few days Midir? I don't know you."
"Is that what you think?" Midir snapped loudly.
Emma tried to calm him down, as they were quickly becoming the centre of attention. He looked at her with betrayal and disappointment in his eyes then stood up and moved to a different seat as far away from her as possible.
Emma followed him with her gaze wishing she could fix what had just happened but there was nothing she could say that would rectify what was wrong between them. She really believed what she had said; she didn't know Midir not at all, that was one thing this whole situation had taught her, you could never really know anyone but did she trust him? Yes. Did she love him? Yes. Would that be enough? She wasn't sure.
Midir felt like banging his head against the window beside him. Why was she acting like this? Couldn't she see she was doing exactly what whoever had cast the spell wanted? That they had set out to drive a wedge between them and it was working. Couldn't she see that she did know him? She knew him better that anyone else did. That's what the soulmate principle was all about, showing them to each other, letting them know each other. You couldn't love someone you didn't know; so that was what she was really saying she to him, she didn't love him.
Truth smiled as she saw Fiachra walked down the hall towards her, now was her chance. She grabbed his arm and dragged him into a nearby room.
"Shit Truth, tear my arm off why don't you," he exclaimed.
"Sorry," she said not meaning it at all. "We've got to talk."
Fiachra glared at her rubbing his arm, "There are easier ways of getting my attention."
"Please," Truth exclaimed, "you're a werewolf, I'm a human, suck it up and stop acting like a baby."
Fiachra glared at her again and then a look of astonishment crept over his handsome features.
"Hey you're better," he said with a smile.
"I'm better," she replied.
"That's good because you looked like shit yesterday."
"Gee thanks," she replied, "actually I'm glad you brought that up because that's what I wanted to talk to you about."
Fiachra's eyebrows disappeared into his hair, "you want to talk to me about being sick?"
"Not exactly," Truth told him, "You see I wasn't actually sick."
"But everyone said you were sick. You looked sick."
"It was a spell."
"Who?" Fiachra asked angrily, "Why?"
"We don't know who but we're pretty sure because I'm friends with Midir and Emma."
Truth saw Fiachra's expression darken when she mentioned Midir but when he didn't say anything she continued.
"I know that you're angry at me and Emma right now and the last thing you probably want to do is help us but we are under pack protection and I thought you should know."
"Truth," Fiachra said softly, "I'm not angry with you or Emma, not really. I'm hurt and disappointed but not angry. I am angry at whoever cast that spell on you, angry that they didn't respect the pack but more than that I'm furious that anyone would try to hurt you. I'll help however you want and the whole pack will too."
Truth flung her arms around Fiachra and gave him a hug, "Thanks Fiachra, I knew I could count on you."
When she pulled away she saw he was blushing which was very strange; Fiachra never blushed, he loved compliments, almost too much in Truth's opinion, so why would he go scarlet just because she said she could count on him, very strange but there were more important mysteries they had to work on.
Psyche sat at the window waiting for Emma and Midir to turn up. She had already spoken to Truth who was off trying to get Fiachra to help them. If anything would convince Fiachra to help them it was someone trying to hurt Truth, though Truth herself didn't realise it.
She smiled as the bus that brought Midir and Emma to school pulled in. She was going to apologise for being such a bitch the last few days and try to be friends with Midir for Emma's sake if nothing else. She couldn't imagine how it must feel to have to listen to everyone tell you how terrible your soulmate was but she did know how it had affected her mother and how it had led to her mother's separation from her family and friends. She wasn't going to let that happen to Emma, not if she could help it.
She watched as Emma scurried into the school looking miserable and went straight to the girls' toilets. Midir followed a few minutes later. Storming into the school with a dark scowl on his face completely ignoring everything and everyone around him.
"Did you see that?" Stella said to Psyche as she and Hayden came through the door. "Isn't it great? Maybe Emma's finally coming to her senses."
Psyche looked at her two friends.
"Great? Great that one of our friends is really upset? That she's probably crying in the toilets right now?" Psyche asked with disdain, ignoring the little voice that told her she'd probably have felt the same way if this had happened yesterday.
"No," Stella said sternly, "Great that she might finally realise what she's been doing and realise who her friends are."
"Who her friends are?" Psyche replied softly, "I think she already knows that."
"What does that mean?" Hayden asked, "Is something going on Psyche?"
Psyche met his questing violet eyes and cursed the Harman heritage that gave him his intuition.
"No Hayden," she lied through her teeth, "There's nothing going on."
"Liar," he replied, "I can tell something's up so why don't you just tell us what it is. You know I'm going to find out anyway; it just might take a little more time."
"You're not going to be interested," she said eventually.
"How're you going to know that until you tell us?" Stella asked.
"I just know," Psyche replied airily hoping they'd drop the subject.
"What is Psyche?" Hayden demanded, "What are you so afraid to tell us?"
"I'm not afraid to tell you anything," Psyche snapped, "I just don't want to tell you."
"You don't trust us," Hayden said angrily.
"Yes, no. Oh I don't know," Psyche sighed.
"Well that certainly clears everything up," Hayden said with a fleeting smile. "We're you're friends Psyche if you can't trust us then who can you trust?"
"Emma's one of our friends too and so is Truth and look how we've been treating them."
"That's different," Stella said.
"How?" Psyche asked, "How is that different? They're our friends and we believed that they would be friends with someone who would hurt us. We didn't trust them and they, they trusted us and we ostracized them and treated them like dirt. Goddess, what kind of people are we?"
Hayden looked at his friend on the verge of tears and said softly, "We're scared people Psyche, scared and careful. We've all got something we're running from, we've all got something to fear. How else are we supposed to act when the embodiment of that fear turns up in our home? Welcome it with open arms?"
"That's no excuse Hayden, we can't let our fears rule us like that; we can't let them turn us into people like that. Midir's just like us, he's running too. And besides all that, Emma and Truth are two of the best people I know and because of our fear they're getting hurt. I don't know about you guys but that doesn't exactly make me feel too good about myself."
Psyche finished and then grabbed her bag and headed off to find Emma leaving her friends to think about what she had just said.