"Are you trying to get us killed!?"
"No!"
"Then, why the fuck did you do that?"
"I thought I could!"
"It's right on red, dumbass. Not left!"
Reyna jerked the car to the right to pull into an empty parking lot. She parked crookedly in a parking space and stared out the window. Her face burned from the embarrassment of her mistake, and her heart was racing. She opened the car door and got out.
"What are you doing?" Hylla demanded as she followed. Reyna made it a few feet from the car before turning toward her sister. "Get back here!"
"I don't need to be yelled at," Reyna muttered as she stuffed her hands into her jacket pocket. "This was your dumb idea anyway."
Hylla sighed and moved her gaze down, "I'm sorry for yelling."
"It's whatever," Reyna mumbled. She sighed and walked back to the car. "Can you just drive us home?"
"Yeah," Hylla said. She gingerly walked to the other side of the car. Her leg was healing, and she was supposed to only walk on it as exercise. Reyna crashed into the passenger's seat and sighed. The last three weeks had been... weird.
For one, she spent most of it healing up from her injuries. There was also the fact that her and her sister were together for most of the day, unless Hylla had to go off and work with the hunters. The two sisters kept finding stupid things to argue about, and Reyna figured it was because they didn't know anything else but conflict.
There were also nightmares. They had been getting worse for Reyna, waking her from sleep with phantom pains that weren't there. Or worse, she couldn't wake from a dream that trapped her in the past. Hylla seemed to have the same problem too. Some nights, Reyna would wake from a nightmare and go to the kitchen to see her sister there with the same haunted look. They didn't talk about their nightmares.
It was a week ago that Hylla offered to teach Reyna how to drive. It was so random and out of the blue that Reyna wasn't quite sure how to react. They had driven three times now, and Reyna felt like she was going to crash the car every damn second. It didn't help that Hylla kept losing her temper.
To make matters worse, Reyna had almost gotten Clarisse's boyfriend killed the day before. Guilt still gnawed at her gut and kept her awake for most of the night. She tried calling Clarisse, but she didn't get an answer. Reyna even had Hylla write a text for her.
But there was no answer.
No one was supposed to know what she had done. Ma Gasket and Lycaon were supposed to blame each other and be so mad that they took it out on each other. They weren't supposed to team up. No one else should have been caught in the crossfire, and it was all her fault.
As she had been lying in bed, she kept running through everything in her head. How she killed Ma Gasket's boys. How was Clarisse blamed for it? Why did they kidnap Chris and torture him? How badly was he hurt? Were they at a hospital?
Reyna wished Clarisse would just talk to her. That guilt kept gnawing at her, and every piece it ate away was replaced with anger. How could she be so stupid? Why did she not just go after Ma Gasket and Lycaon directly? Why did she even bother to do anything to them!?
"What's wrong?" Hylla asked.
"Nothing," Reyna lied.
"Which is why you keep changing from scowling to curling your lip?" Hylla challenged. Reyna tried to bring her face back to a neutral expression. "Was it because of what happened yesterday?"
"Yeah," Reyna said as quietly as she could. A shrug left her.
"Does your back still hurt?"
"Of course it does. It's not that, though. I almost got Clarisse's boyfriend killed," Reyna revealed.
"It wasn't really you," Hylla countered. "That cyclops and werewolf did it."
"Because I killed Ma Gasket's sons," Reyna retorted as she hung her head. Her back did hurt. "That was supposed to take care of everything. Not cause Ma Gasket and Lycaon to work together. This wasn't supposed to happen."
"You killed her kids. What did you expect?"
"For her to be so mad that she attacked Lycaon, and one of them would kill the other. The survivor would be arrested; problem solved," Reyna answered.
"Plans never work out how you want," Hylla said sagely with a shrug. "It's nothing to be upset about, though. Do you want food?"
"No."
Reyna was nearly thrown into the dashboard as Hylla slammed her foot on the brake. She turned her head to stare at Reyna. The werewolf frowned, "What?"
"You don't want food?"
"I don't."
"Why are you beating yourself up over this?" Hylla questioned impatiently. "The guy got hurt. He didn't die."
"But, he could have," Reyna argued, looking at Hylla. "And, it would have been my fault. Clarisse has helped me out a lot these past few months, and I repay her by almost getting her boyfriend killed. How fucked up is that?"
Hylla frowned but didn't add on. She started to drive again and stopped at a restaurant. Her gaze moved to Reyna, "Should we go inside?"
"Okay," Reyna relented. She got out of the car, and a frown came to her face as they walked inside. "When was the last time the two of us went out to eat like this?"
"Shit. I think it was your seventh birthday," Hylla answered after a minute of thought. The two stepped inside, and Hylla instantly tensed. She inhaled deeply as her eyes moved to all of the creatures that were in the restaurant.
"You good?" Reyna asked softly.
"Fuck no," Hylla muttered. They stopped at the hostess stand. "Table for two please."
The hostess smiled at them and led them to a table. When they sat down, Reyna focused on her sister, "You can't think that every creature is a monster that is going to attack you."
'I know," Hylla replied as she visibly tried to relax. "I've been working on it. You haven't tried to kill me yet, and there's this fire demon at the hunters. They've been nice so far, but I just can't help it. Thalia being human has helped me acclimate."
"She's not a human," Reyna interrupted. "Not fully. Jason said she was half something."
"Fuck me…" Hylla grumbled as she hung her head.
"Two Cokes," Reyna said to the waiter as they stopped by. "And more time on the food please."
"I'll be right back," the waiter promised before walking away. Reyna leaned forward and looked at Hylla.
"I know it's going to take time, but you have to give the other creatures a chance," Reyna advised. Hylla nodded her agreement before staring at the menu. Reyna looked at the menu as well. "How do you get rid of the guilt, Hylla?"
"About killing all those creatures?" Hylla asked as her entire body tensed.
"No. I mean someone getting hurt because of your decision. Chris was hurt because of a choice I made. Have you ever had someone in your old group hurt because of a mistake you made?" Reyna wondered.
"Definitely," Hylla confirmed. "There's a difference, though. You blame yourself; we would just blame whoever got hurt for their failure. The only time we took responsibility is when it was something positive. I don't really have any advice."
Reyna nodded and hung her head. She stared at the menu, "Let's just eat some food."
"Yeah," Hylla agreed. "And, uh, you can drive back home. I promise I won't get mad this time."
"Thank you," Reyna said softly. "Just remind me that I can only turn on a red light when I'm going... right?"
"I will," Hylla promised with a nod. She gently nudged Reyna's knee. Reyna smiled at her sister and tried to ignore the guilt in her gut. All she could do was hope that Chris was okay and try to figure out a way to make up for it. Reyna hoped Clarisse would forgive her because she didn't want to lose a close friend.
