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 commenting. I'm sorry these parts took so long. I had exams for the past few weeks but I'm finished now and I'm on holidays so I hope to get this story finished and I have already started the sequel to Bound By Flame which I will start posting as soon as I finish this story.
Part 15.
Emma spent the entire class thinking about what Psyche had said to her. Was she using Midir as a scapegoat to blame everything? Was she being unfair to him? He was the one who had got angry with her over nothing; he was the one with the problem not her. She didn't even know what she'd said to make him angry; that was what was so annoying about it, she hadn't meant to make him angry; she didn't think anything she said would make him angry, it just went to show that she really didn't know him as well as she should, as well as she wanted to.
She leaned her head on her hand and sighed gently. Things just kept getting worse and worse. She missed the others so much; she missed joking with Hayden and talking with Stella and Hazel. She missed Nathan's biting sarcasm and sharp wit, Tristram's quiet intelligence and Clea's reflective nature and calming influence, Fiachra's steadiness and Hern's warmth and friendship. She just missed them all.
Fiachra, who had obviously decided to nail his colours to the mast, was sitting with Truth. He stared at her until she caught his eye and then he smiled at her. It was strangely reassuring to Emma. Not just because now they had Fiachra on their side, which was reassuring in itself, but also because if Fiachra the most responsible, steadfast and strait-laced of them could accept Midir then surely they all could. Plus now they had the pack's help in tracking down who had cast the spell on Truth.
She tried again to think of who could have done such a thing. Before she had been so angry and upset she hadn't really thought it through but now she was calmer she could think about it more logically. There seemed to be only one reason for anyone to want to hurt Truth, everyone liked her and she had never done anything that would make someone want to hurt her so that left only one conclusion; that she had been hurt because she was friends with her and Midir.
There were plenty of people who were angry over that but Emma really didn't believe that any of her friends would have done it. They just weren't capable of doing something like that. So who else could it have been? There were so many people in Glenalta who felt they had something to fear from Midir that it made it too difficult to narrow it down to any small group of people, they just had to hope that Mrs. Ahern's spell worked.
Truth sat with Midir and Emma watching Fiachra and Psyche talking to their other friends.
"So on a scale of one to ten how do we think they're doing?" she asked.
Emma glanced up at the others trying to gauge their reactions by the looks on their faces. Clea and Tristram looked torn, they were the two who had least to worry about from Midir and they were obviously finding it hard having to choose between their two groups of friends. Hern looked disbelieving and seemed to be looking towards Fiachra for some kind of explanation of what was going on. Hayden much to Emma's surprise looked sad; she didn't understand why he would be sad but Stella's expression was easily recognised and easily understood; she was angry, incredibly, extremely angry.
"I'm thinking 4 out of 10," she told Truth.
"Really I was thinking more like 6 out of 10," Truth replied, "anyway I've realised something in the past few hours."
"Yeah what's that?" Midir asked.
"Well I figure we don't have to worry so much," Truth told him, "they're our friends. They know us; they would never hurt either of us so they didn't cast the spell on me so right now I'm thinking they're not our biggest problem. I know that it's hard having them angry at us and feeling like we'll never be friends again but I think, no I know that's not true. All they need is a little time then they'll see Midir isn't here to hurt anyone and they'll adjust to the idea. They may never get to like him as such but they'll get used to the idea of the two of you being together and they'll start to miss you Em and they'll just come to their senses.
It was a lot for them to take in and I think we just expected too much from them, we didn't give them any time to think or anything, we just kind of said this is how things are you accept it or not."
"You think time will heal all ills," Midir said.
"Well it usually does. Basically you either get better or you die and I don't think any of us want our friendships to die; we've been friends too long and we've meant too much to each other to let that happen," Truth told him.
Truth looked up and caught Emma smiling at her.
"What?" she asked, "Did I say something funny?"
"No," Emma replied, "it's just you're being so optimistic. It's new for you that's all."
"I am always optimistic," Truth told her.
"If you say so," Emma said softly.
Both girls smiled but stopped talking as the raised voices of the other group caught their attention. They watched apprehensively as the argument continued and Emma sighed sorrowfully as the argument ended with Stella storming off angrily.
"Well that didn't go as well as we hoped," Psyche said when she and Fiachra came over to sit with the others.
"It went better than I expected," Fiachra told her.
"Really?" she said with surprise evident in her voice, "How so?"
"Well Tristram and Clea definitely are still friends with Emma and want this thing sorted out as much as we do; Hern's agreed to come with us tonight and he seems willing to give Midir a chance. Hayden seems pretty upset with the way things are going and I get the feeling he wants to help us so Stella's really the only problem and maybe Hazel too; we'll have to talk to her this evening."
"You certainly seem to have changed your tune," Midir said with a tone of cynicism, "this morning you wouldn't even talk to us and this afternoon you're converting people to our side."
"I wouldn't say converting," Fiachra said with a smile, "but I understand what you're saying, I seem to have changed sides pretty fast. But I don't think there are any sides in this; we're all friends we just have to adjust to the idea of you and Emma together and once everyone does they'll realise how silly this has all been."
"I wouldn't say silly," Psyche said softly, "people do have genuine concerns about Midir and it's understandable that they should be afraid of you. You have got a fairly lengthy list of assassinations to your name and whether you like it or not people here are going to judge you by your past actions and until you prove to them that you have changed you can't just expect them to accept you."
"I know that," Midir told her, "but I don't know how I'm supposed to prove I've changed. If there's something I can do tell me and I'll do it but I just don't see anything I can do to make them see that I'm not the same as I use to be."
"Don't worry," Truth said with a smile, "we'll think of something."
"Yeah we will," Emma said smiling at Midir.
"Great I'm glad we've that sorted out. Now I don't know about the rest of you but I am starving," Fiachra said.
"So you're always starving or famished or hungry, you eat more than anyone I know," Truth said with a laugh.
"I'm a growing boy we need our nutrients and minerals and all that stuff, back me up here Midir."
For the first time that day, and for what seemed like years to Emma, Midir smiled.
"Yes us males need to eat our body weight in food everyday or else we're just totally useless."
"You mean you're no totally useless already?" Psyche asked with an innocent look.
"You are so dead," Fiachra told her and chased her down the corridor.
"It's great to see those kids happy again," Truth said to the others.
They all laughed as they heard Psyche shriek from somewhere down the hall.
"Things are starting to get back to normal," Emma said happily.
"And that's what you want isn't," Midir said softly, "things to be normal."
"Yeah," Emma replied, "that's what I want."
"It's good to see you kids talking again," Truth said grinning at the two of them, "now come on, Fiachra isn't the only one who wants food."
Emma smiled at Midir and followed Truth towards the school shop.
Midir sighed as he watched them walk down the hall, "I'll try and give it to you Emma, I just hope normalcy will make you happy and that it's what you really want."
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 commenting. I'm sorry these parts took so long. I had exams for the past few weeks but I'm finished now and I'm on holidays so I hope to get this story finished and I have already started the sequel to Bound By Flame which I will start posting as soon as I finish this story.
Part 15.
Emma spent the entire class thinking about what Psyche had said to her. Was she using Midir as a scapegoat to blame everything? Was she being unfair to him? He was the one who had got angry with her over nothing; he was the one with the problem not her. She didn't even know what she'd said to make him angry; that was what was so annoying about it, she hadn't meant to make him angry; she didn't think anything she said would make him angry, it just went to show that she really didn't know him as well as she should, as well as she wanted to.
She leaned her head on her hand and sighed gently. Things just kept getting worse and worse. She missed the others so much; she missed joking with Hayden and talking with Stella and Hazel. She missed Nathan's biting sarcasm and sharp wit, Tristram's quiet intelligence and Clea's reflective nature and calming influence, Fiachra's steadiness and Hern's warmth and friendship. She just missed them all.
Fiachra, who had obviously decided to nail his colours to the mast, was sitting with Truth. He stared at her until she caught his eye and then he smiled at her. It was strangely reassuring to Emma. Not just because now they had Fiachra on their side, which was reassuring in itself, but also because if Fiachra the most responsible, steadfast and strait-laced of them could accept Midir then surely they all could. Plus now they had the pack's help in tracking down who had cast the spell on Truth.
She tried again to think of who could have done such a thing. Before she had been so angry and upset she hadn't really thought it through but now she was calmer she could think about it more logically. There seemed to be only one reason for anyone to want to hurt Truth, everyone liked her and she had never done anything that would make someone want to hurt her so that left only one conclusion; that she had been hurt because she was friends with her and Midir.
There were plenty of people who were angry over that but Emma really didn't believe that any of her friends would have done it. They just weren't capable of doing something like that. So who else could it have been? There were so many people in Glenalta who felt they had something to fear from Midir that it made it too difficult to narrow it down to any small group of people, they just had to hope that Mrs. Ahern's spell worked.
Truth sat with Midir and Emma watching Fiachra and Psyche talking to their other friends.
"So on a scale of one to ten how do we think they're doing?" she asked.
Emma glanced up at the others trying to gauge their reactions by the looks on their faces. Clea and Tristram looked torn, they were the two who had least to worry about from Midir and they were obviously finding it hard having to choose between their two groups of friends. Hern looked disbelieving and seemed to be looking towards Fiachra for some kind of explanation of what was going on. Hayden much to Emma's surprise looked sad; she didn't understand why he would be sad but Stella's expression was easily recognised and easily understood; she was angry, incredibly, extremely angry.
"I'm thinking 4 out of 10," she told Truth.
"Really I was thinking more like 6 out of 10," Truth replied, "anyway I've realised something in the past few hours."
"Yeah what's that?" Midir asked.
"Well I figure we don't have to worry so much," Truth told him, "they're our friends. They know us; they would never hurt either of us so they didn't cast the spell on me so right now I'm thinking they're not our biggest problem. I know that it's hard having them angry at us and feeling like we'll never be friends again but I think, no I know that's not true. All they need is a little time then they'll see Midir isn't here to hurt anyone and they'll adjust to the idea. They may never get to like him as such but they'll get used to the idea of the two of you being together and they'll start to miss you Em and they'll just come to their senses.
It was a lot for them to take in and I think we just expected too much from them, we didn't give them any time to think or anything, we just kind of said this is how things are you accept it or not."
"You think time will heal all ills," Midir said.
"Well it usually does. Basically you either get better or you die and I don't think any of us want our friendships to die; we've been friends too long and we've meant too much to each other to let that happen," Truth told him.
Truth looked up and caught Emma smiling at her.
"What?" she asked, "Did I say something funny?"
"No," Emma replied, "it's just you're being so optimistic. It's new for you that's all."
"I am always optimistic," Truth told her.
"If you say so," Emma said softly.
Both girls smiled but stopped talking as the raised voices of the other group caught their attention. They watched apprehensively as the argument continued and Emma sighed sorrowfully as the argument ended with Stella storming off angrily.
"Well that didn't go as well as we hoped," Psyche said when she and Fiachra came over to sit with the others.
"It went better than I expected," Fiachra told her.
"Really?" she said with surprise evident in her voice, "How so?"
"Well Tristram and Clea definitely are still friends with Emma and want this thing sorted out as much as we do; Hern's agreed to come with us tonight and he seems willing to give Midir a chance. Hayden seems pretty upset with the way things are going and I get the feeling he wants to help us so Stella's really the only problem and maybe Hazel too; we'll have to talk to her this evening."
"You certainly seem to have changed your tune," Midir said with a tone of cynicism, "this morning you wouldn't even talk to us and this afternoon you're converting people to our side."
"I wouldn't say converting," Fiachra said with a smile, "but I understand what you're saying, I seem to have changed sides pretty fast. But I don't think there are any sides in this; we're all friends we just have to adjust to the idea of you and Emma together and once everyone does they'll realise how silly this has all been."
"I wouldn't say silly," Psyche said softly, "people do have genuine concerns about Midir and it's understandable that they should be afraid of you. You have got a fairly lengthy list of assassinations to your name and whether you like it or not people here are going to judge you by your past actions and until you prove to them that you have changed you can't just expect them to accept you."
"I know that," Midir told her, "but I don't know how I'm supposed to prove I've changed. If there's something I can do tell me and I'll do it but I just don't see anything I can do to make them see that I'm not the same as I use to be."
"Don't worry," Truth said with a smile, "we'll think of something."
"Yeah we will," Emma said smiling at Midir.
"Great I'm glad we've that sorted out. Now I don't know about the rest of you but I am starving," Fiachra said.
"So you're always starving or famished or hungry, you eat more than anyone I know," Truth said with a laugh.
"I'm a growing boy we need our nutrients and minerals and all that stuff, back me up here Midir."
For the first time that day, and for what seemed like years to Emma, Midir smiled.
"Yes us males need to eat our body weight in food everyday or else we're just totally useless."
"You mean you're no totally useless already?" Psyche asked with an innocent look.
"You are so dead," Fiachra told her and chased her down the corridor.
"It's great to see those kids happy again," Truth said to the others.
They all laughed as they heard Psyche shriek from somewhere down the hall.
"Things are starting to get back to normal," Emma said happily.
"And that's what you want isn't," Midir said softly, "things to be normal."
"Yeah," Emma replied, "that's what I want."
"It's good to see you kids talking again," Truth said grinning at the two of them, "now come on, Fiachra isn't the only one who wants food."
Emma smiled at Midir and followed Truth towards the school shop.
Midir sighed as he watched them walk down the hall, "I'll try and give it to you Emma, I just hope normalcy will make you happy and that it's what you really want."