Ryanna Belvedere walked home quickly, sneering at everyone she saw, and thinking.
She wasn't sure she believed in the Sickness at all. This... virus... thing, why did it only affect adults? Ryanna was naturally suspicious, and she could sense some sort of conspiracy. The Sickness affected daemons. Why was that? What was the difference between settled daemons and unsettled? Maybe another kingdom had sent the Sickness. Had anyone really died from it? She had no answers, but her head was filled with questions.
After an hour of walking, she had seen less than a dozen people on the streets, but she had seen people moving behind curtains and looking out windows. Eventually, she reached her house, where an unfamiliar car was parked in the driveway. She ran up the drive, glad to finally be home, with her daemon behind her. She wasn't even really worried about what her parents would say to her being home.
Ryanna used one of the keys she wore around her neck to unlock the front door and enter the house. The other two keys didn't unlock any door she knew of, but they were really odd looking. One of them was made of solid silver, with diamonds on the end, and the other was gold with little animals carved into it. In sunshine, the animals seemed to move. She loved them, even if she could never open anything with them. One morning, when Ryanna had been younger, she had woken up with one key clenched in each hand. When she stood up, she realized her feet were covered in mud, and the sleeve of her night gown was ripped off.
Once she was inside the front hall of the house, Ryanna stood around for a minute. Her parents had never seen the skirt she was wearing, and she hoped they wouldn't think it was too short. It came down to the middle of her thighs, and was low riding, and her shirt didn't hide her midriff, but that was how she always dressed at school. Her parents disapproved of anything that showed off anything. They would call her a whore, as they had whenever she wore anything resembling normal.
"I do not look like a whore," she whispered to herself as she walked into the large living room, wondering where everyone was.
"Yes you do," Brian laughed.
Ryanna jumped, and glared at her older brother. "Shut up, jackass."
He flipped his middle finger up from where he sat on the couch watching television.
"Where are Luma and Father?" Ryanna asked, looking around the room, pushing her blond hair out of her face. "Did you hear about--"
"The Sickness? Yeah. It's all that's been on the news lately," the boy said. "They aren't hear, but Aunt Verone is here. She has it, but it's not contagious."
Ryanna gasped and sat down, clutching her chest. "Oh no!" Then she thought, how do people catch it if it's not contagious? It must be! "Is she all right? Can I see her?"
"She's okay now, but she will get worse. That's why-- well, they told me not to tell you."
"What? How did they know I was coming?"
Brian laughed, and rubbed his eyes. "They took attendance at school, and you weren't there. Neither were two of your friends. You know, the hot ones."
She rolled her eyes. "You are so not smooth, Brian."
He rolled his eyes. "You are SOOOOOOOOO not SMOOOOOOTH, Briaaaaaaan!" he said in a high voice. "Like, oh my Godddddddd!"
"Whatever, fatass."
"At least I don't look like a cheap whore!"
"HEY! I am not cheap!"
They both started laughing as their daemons wrestled.
"Anyway," he brother said. "Where are your things?"
"What?"
"From school?" Ryanna looked confused. "Well, I didn't take them with me."
"Well, since we're-- um-- I mean, Luma said to take you to get them, because you're um-- yeah."
"Tell me!"
"No."
"Tell me!"
"Nope."
"TELL ME!"
"I CAN'T!"
Brian's daemon, Sofia, who was a lioness, said, "Perhaps we should tell her. It is important."
He sighed. "Okay. But if I get in trouble, it's not--"
He was saved by a little girl's voice yelling from the stairs.
"Be quiet! You're waking up Luma!" the girl yelled. "Stupid Brian!" She looked like a little version of Ryanna, with the same blond hair and the same eyes and face, and, thought Brian, the same bad attitude. "Jackass!"
"Tamia!" Ryanna said. "Language!"
"Ack! RYANNA! YOU"RE HERE!" Tamia, Ryanna and Brian's cousin flew down the stairs and into the girl's arms.
"Who's being loud now?" Brian asked.
"Shut up!" both girls yelled at him.
"You!" he said back, knowing they would ignore him.
"Oh Tamia. I'm sorry about your mother!" Ryanna said quietly. "Is your father here."
"He went with your parents," the little girl told her, in a voice that said she was happy she knew more than Ryanna.
"Hmmm. And where might they have gone?"
Tamia laughed and wiggled her nose. "Ha ha," she said. "You don't know!"
"Well then, tell me!"
"They went to find you so we can leave." The little girl whispered, looking around as if it were a big secret.