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Silence.
It is the absence of noise, a simple concept that leaves certain people with natural comfort. These people find companionable silence to be a relaxing atmosphere, a chance to merely bask in the presence of another. It was, in essence, a silent agreement brokered over several years of closeness.
For others it brings awkward uneasiness.
These people feel the need to break the void that the silence inevitably brings. They make useless small talk like asking someone's opinion on the weather, or about some local sporting event that the asker really didn't have any interest in. They might even find their own thoughts frightening. Or they have anxious fear that the company they are keeping might find them boring while, to their friend, they are none the wiser to their inner panic.
Silence, depending on the context, could be a blessing and a curse.
I was currently partaking in the latter…
Jenna and I were currently walking the dirt path back to Jubilife, the rain having finally cleared up. We had been on the road for a couple of days now, both of us refusing to break the silence.
I sweated a bit as I looked out of the corner of my eye to see Jenna attempting to subtly look at me with her own eyes, albeit she was doing a poor job of hiding it. It appeared she was someone who didn't enjoy silence. Yet she didn't have the courage to speak up and shatter it…
I didn't have any problems with the quietness. But her constant jittering and nervousness in the corner of my vision was making it hard to think.
I looked over towards the ground on the opposite side to see that we were the only pair having any issues.
Dusk and Jenna's Lopunny, Lyra I had come to learn, were very friendly with each other right from the get go.
From what I could tell of Lyra, she was very friendly and exuberant. Just like my adorable little Dusk. So it was no surprise to me that they were getting along. Lyra was even riding on Dusk's back like a human might ride a horse.
"Pun-Pun!" Lyra whispered excitedly next to Dusk's ear.
"Ruff!" Dusk gave a quiet woof back, cackling lowly under her breath.
They were even chatting away about something that I couldn't understand.
I really couldn't endure another day of awkward silence.
Well, there was one question I had wanted to ask her.
She was a coordinator so…
"What exactly were you doing in Oreburgh?" I asked aloud without looking her way. I knew she would no doubt jump at my question, and I could even hear her footsteps stop in surprise.
I kept walking, pretending I didn't notice.
I heard her attempts to quietly catch up to me and knew that, had I made eye contact with he, we would have had to stop our travels for her to calm down.
My interactions with her the past couple of days have been… troubling to say the least…
"W-what do you m-mean?" Jenna quietly asked back with a stutter.
I could already picture her rubbing her wrists together nervously.
"You're a coordinator, right?" She gave me a nervous noise of confirmation. "Considering that there isn't a contest hall in Oreburgh, that you don't seem like the hiking type, and that you wanted to hire me to escort you to Floaroma, I've concluded that you must have visited Oreburgh for a different reason." I resisted the urge to glance at her to analyze her reaction, knowing that it would do nothing but stress her out.
I was met back with silence at my query.
"You don't have to answer if it's personal. I was just curious is all." I half-lied with a casual wave of my hand.
In truth, I was hoping to stop her from glancing at me every few seconds. But if I could kill two birds with one stone, so be it.
"I was… uh… I…" Jenna didn't seem to know how to answer it.
I looked out of the corner of my eye to see her blushing in embarrassment.
I sweated a bit at this.
What in the world could it have been for her to be like this?
I heard her take a deep breath.
"I was hoping to catch a Ponyta…" Jenna answered so quietly I had to strain my ears to even notice it.
"For contests I presume?"
They, and their evolution, were certainly majestic creatures. They were unicorns whose manes were enwreathed in flames. A stunning sight to behold in any world to be sure.
It would make for a fantastic contest appeal.
"Oh… um… sure…" Jenna awkwardly responded.
I felt a pull on my jacket's sleeves and looked down to a smirking Lopunny.
"Lo-pun!" Lyra exclaimed and pointed down at a cackling Dusk.
I tilted my head in confusion before I recognized what she was saying.
I let out a chuckle.
"You just wanted to ride one." I stated with a playful smirk, turning my head towards Jenna.
With the overabundance of Pokémon, it made sense that people could have frivolous reasons to want to catch them.
She panicked and averted her eyes away, her face turning an even brighter shade of scarlet. She was furiously rubbing her wrists together now.
"I-I-I-I've a-always d-dreamt of r-riding one…" Jenna defended herself. "...T-Though they look quite different here…" I managed to hear her say under her breath.
Different?
How would they…
I widened my eyes in realization.
"Are you from Galar?" I questioned curiously. Then it would make sense if they looked different.
Jenna's embarrassment was quickly forgotten as she titled her head in confusion at my words, her jade eyes filled with confusion.
"Gah...lur?" Jenna attempted to repeat what I said, her face scrunched up in concentration.
It was actually kind of cute…
I shook my head of that useless thought.
From her reaction, I determined that she was definitely not from there.
I took out my Pokédex and quickly searched up 'Galarian Rapidash'. I was met with instant results.
"Did they look like this?" I questioned, handing her the phone. On its display was a picture of a pale white unicorn with a colorful mane of pink and light blue that reminded me of cotton candy.
It was possible that Jenna was talking about a type of Rapidash I hadn't seen before. I couldn't discount the possibility of encountering a species or form that was not shown in the games.
She gingerly took it with both hands, scrutinizing the picture before nodding her head.
"Yeah..." Jenna muttered and carefully gave me back my Pokédex.
I did a quick read-through of the information on it to find that they were only found naturally in Galar, matching what I knew.
If she found Kantonian Ponyta unfamiliar, and she didn't know what Galar was then…
Where in the world was she from?
According to my research, it's not unusual for certain species of Pokémon to be raised for various uses. Psychic-types were used for teleport stations after all. Rapidash themselves were very common mounted Pokémon for trainers to use to get around in the wilderness. Especially when they couldn't exactly drive a car everywhere they wanted to go. Hearing her story shouldn't be strange.
But for the purposes of mounting, Galarian and Kantonian Rapidash served the same function.
Reading further, Galarian Rapidash were actually far harder to raise outside of Galar. Apparently, without careful breeding, some of the Ponyta would even turn out Kantonian. Some researches even speculated that the existence of the Galarian Rapidash might have been caused by the trace amounts of natural Dynamax energy that existed within the soil of Galar.
It wasn't even very lucrative to raise Galarian Rapidash. There was little demand for it outside of Galar. And the costs of upkeep just made it not worth it.
So then…
"Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked carefully.
I looked out of the corner of my eye to see her chewing the bottom of her lip.
She looked very hesitant to answer.
"From… uh… Kalos…" Jenna finally answered. "My village raised a herd of Rapidash… I didn't know they were all that special… I just wanted to ride one…"
There was a hint of sadness in her tone for some reason.
There were also a lot of strange implications within those few words. But I hadn't intended for this line of conversation to turn into an interrogation. Due to her obvious discomfort, I decided to end it here, despite my interest.
I had only desired to get rid of the awkward mood that had surrounded us since we began our journey. Not to antagonize her.
I watched as Lyra left Dusk's back with an acrobatic jump, hopping over to Jenna and grabbing her hand with one of her paws.
"Pun!" Lyra shouted and gave her a bright smile.
Jenna looked down in surprise and gave a small smile of her own.
It was unfortunate I could see a slight edge of gloom in her eyes…
I had failed miserably… All I had done was replace the silence with a veil of melancholy.
I looked over to Dusk to see her looking at me with worried confusion.
I just gave her a nervous smile with a small shrug.
I'm sorry you have such a rotten trainer, Dusk…
Maybe when we reached Jubilife the atmosphere would change.
I peeked over at Jenna to see her looking at the ground as we journeyed, a dull faraway look in her eyes. Her grasped hand never left her smiling Lopunny's.
Lyra's smile was a lie.
I couldn't help but wonder what their story could have been.
We had finally arrived at Jubilife City that very same day, thanks to Jenna's insistence.
According to her, the contest she wanted to enter in Floaroma would begin in about a week and a half from now. She had expressed that she wanted to register early, so she wouldn't have to worry about it while she and Lopunny began practicing their contest appeal.
While a stuttering mess, Jenna appeared to be quite capable when a topic was of interest to her.
Though, despite her mind being willing, the body was… less so.
She was currently holding onto the sleeve of my jacket as I escorted her through the throngs of the city. Her half-lidded gaze showed clear exhaustion, a small yawn escaping her mouth. Lyra had already been returned to her Pokéball for the same reason. We had gotten up at the crack of dawn and had travelled the entire time.
I had thankfully gone to bed very early the previous day, so the only tiredness I felt was in my sore legs.
Jenna and Lyra appeared to have very little stamina.
Gazing around, I could tell that we were pretty close to the Moonlit Night Hotel.
It was time to put that generously gifted VIP card to use.
"Not much longer now till we find the hotel." I reported to a tired Jenna.
"…Not nuff moneh…" Jenna slurred out, another small yawn escaping her throat.
I smiled at her lucidity.
"Don't worry I'll be covering for it." I waved off her concern.
I felt her grip on my jacket's sleeve tighten.
"…Nice uv you… Thanks…"
I looked down at a cackling hyena to see that Dusk was enjoying this.
"Why are you cackling?" Dusk's laughter stopped at my snarky tone. "I still have to give you a bath, stinky."
Dusk's ears twitched as she turned her head away from me in a huff, clearly offended at my comment.
I gave a soft chuckle at her reaction, exiting an alleyway Amber had taken me down many times on the way to the park…
Only to come face to face with a familiar boy with sun-kissed hair, a larger blue penguin by his side.
I stared into his clear blue eyes that suddenly shined with energy at our impromptu meeting.
I began to sweat and hurriedly made to turn away from him towards the direction of the hotel.
"I challenge you to a battle, my guy! And I'm not taking no for an answer!" Arthur excitedly challenged me with bravado.
I stopped in my tracks with a groan and turned to look at him over my shoulder with narrowed eyes.
I could see Arthur and his Prinplup in the same pose, pointing at me with confident grins on their faces.
"No." I deadpanned.
I looked over towards Jenna to see she was fully aware now. I could even see a small amount of fear on her face from the loud boy's sudden outburst. I turned around fully with a sigh, noticing Jenna using my body to shield herself from view.
Arthur and his penguin instantly deflated at my succinct response.
"D-D-Do you know t-this person?" Jenna stuttered out a quiet question.
"I suppose…" I muttered back with annoyance. "He's that guy I beat in that Jubilife Tournament…"
"I-Is he here for r-r-r-r-r-revenge?" Jenna questioned in a frightened whisper.
I sweated a bit at her overactive imagination…
Arthur seemed like the passionate type, so his loss against me would have only motivated him to train a bit harder. If anything, he was a very confident person if his purchase of the Dig TM before the tournament was any indication. I doubted he was actually taking the loss all that poorly to the point of wanting vengeance.
"I just said that you can't decline, my guy!" Arthur yelled out in exasperation, ignorant to our conversation.
"Maybe later, Arthur. We just got into the city and we just want to rest for a bit…" I lied.
I had no intention of facing him. If I gave in here, there was no telling how many more times he would annoy me for just one battle. Not to mention I would be triggering the rival flag with him.
"But we are eternal rivals! Any time our eyes meet, our fated duel must be had!" Arthur spoke with a determined smile on his face, his closed fist raised towards the heavens. Prinplup next to him nodded their head along with their trainer's words with crossed arms.
"Why, exactly, do you think we are rivals?" I challenged his claim with a roll of my eyes at his overzealous cheesiness.
"Oh, that's easy! We met in the finals of the tournament, and we're both beginners!" Arthur puffed out his chest in pride at his reasoning, his Prinplup continuing to nod at his words like the typical yes-man.
"You mean the tournament where you were carried by Whisper?" I deadpanned.
He recoiled at my words with a grimace.
"I-I mean, you were carried by Amber too weren't you?" Arthur finally questioned back in a quiet tone.
Well, he had me there…
"I'll give you that." I conceded. "So then we can't really be considered rivals if that's the case..."
"Sure we can!"
"Do I get a say in this?"
"Nope!"
I sighed at Arthur's hardheadedness. Rivals, as I thought they would be, were a real pain to deal with. I glanced over at Jenna to see her looking between the two of us anxiously.
"Still, I'll have to decline. I just want to check in and go to sleep." I explained to Arthur, hoping he'd understand.
I was surprised to hear him sigh back in exasperation.
"What if we bet on it, my guy?" Arthur proposed, his face impassive.
I perked up at the mention of money.
"…How much?"
"How does 150 sound?"
I nodded my head with a greedy smile.
"Sounds good."
I flinched a bit when I noticed Arthur staring at me with a disappointed look on his face.
"Whisper was right…" Arthur muttered under his breath.
The duck does that mean!?
I heard a yawn to my side.
I glanced at Jenna in guilt to see her tired look back in place.
She must have calmed down when she noticed that Arthur wasn't actually a threat.
"Hey, Jenna, can you release Lyra? I'm sure she's rested enough." I gently asked her, taking out the envelope containing the VIP card from my jacket.
"Oh… sure…"
With a pop and a flash I was greeted to the sight of a stretching Lopunny, a cute yawn escaping Lyra's muzzle.
I gave the envelope to a confused Jenna.
"There's a card in there for the Moonlit Night Hotel. Show it to the person at the front desk and they should give us a room." I informed Jenna. She opened the envelope to take a peek at the card. "Following this road that way," I pointed down the street. "Take a left and go down that road. The hotel should be located right across from a bistro."
Jenna looked a little unsure at my words.
I looked down at Lyra to be sure she was listening.
"I want you to remember this too. Make sure Jenna gets there safely, okay?" I asked Lyra with a smile on my face.
Lyra looked surprised at being addressed by me, but quickly bounced her head up and down with a cheerful shout.
"Lo-Pun!"
I turned around to follow Arthur to the nearby park, giving a casual wave to Jenna.
"If they give you any trouble about my name being on the card, just tell them you're my girlfriend or something." I flippantly advised.
The sound of nervous sputtering was my only answer as Arthur and I left her.
"My guy, I can't wait to show you how far my training has come!" Arthur exclaimed with a bright smile, clearly pumped for our rematch.
I rolled my eyes, turning to look over my shoulder with concern to see Jenna staring at the card with an intense blush on her unsure face.
I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck.
Maybe this was a mistake…
As expected, the park hadn't changed at all from my last visit here. The only difference was the time of day. It had taken us a bit to finally arrive at the park, a few of the street lights popping on at the early onset of dusk.
I stood across from an excited Arthur at the chalk-line dirt made battlefields, half his body lit up by the glow of a nearby light post. Dusk was already at my side ready and willing to battle.
"Okay! First to lose two Pokémon is the victor!" Arthur exclaimed with enthusiasm, a Pokéball already in his hand despite Prinplup's presence by his side.
I sighed at Arthur's presumptuousness.
"It'll be first to lose their initial Pokémon!" I called out across the field, holding my index finger up in emphasis. "I only have Dusk!"
Arthur looked surprised at this.
"W-What have you been doin', my guy?! Even I have another Pokémon now!"
"I've been too busy training Dusk to worry about catching another." I simply explained with a laid-back roll of my wrist. Dusk already bounded her way onto the battlefield, a howl escaping her maw.
After seeing Jenna's distraught expression, I just wanted to get this battle over with.
"I was really looking forward to giving the new guy a go too…" Arthur mumbled with dejection, and gestured for the penguin at this side to take to the battlefield. "You're up, my guy."
Prinplup didn't seem affected by Arthur's demeanor and took to the field with gusto, a shrill trill coming from its beak.
I began a countdown timer on my Pokédex.
"3…" The robotic female voice called out.
"Prinplup, water-type, mixed attacker with movement options." I gave a brief summary under my breath to Dusk.
"2…"
Her ears twitched at my words.
"1…"
I looked across the battlefield to see a determined gaze on Arthur and his Prinplup's face, a fire in their eyes. While I had seen a similar expression on Roark, it was not nearly as intense.
That's right…
This wasn't a regulated test like the battle with Roark had been…
For all intents and purposes, a gym leader was, by design, supposed to lose. It was obvious a gym leader did their best to win against any challenger, but they had no real pressure on their shoulders to do so.
Arthur and I were just two regular trainers who wanted to win against the other, no matter the cost.
I steeled myself once I remembered that simple fact.
"0…"
"Dusk, Thunder Fang!"
"Prinplup, shield it!"
I raised an eyebrow at Arthur's command.
Dusk wasted no time and dashed to the penguin's side, her teeth shining and sparking under the artificial lighting of the street lights.
Prinplup, however, calmly observed Dusk's movements and, just when the hyena went in for the lunge…
It was stopped with a loud clanging noise when Dusk was forced to bite down on the penguin's proffered arm.
A clang?
I narrowed my eyes and took a closer look at the arctic bird's arm to see a faint glossy tint shining from the nearby light. This caused a reflective spotlight to hit the ground nearby. The glossy tint reminded me of a sheet of…
"Metal Claw?" I questioned aloud and glanced over at Arthur.
He had quite the smug expression on his face.
"I thought that, since Dusk liked to bite a lot, that a shield might be handy!" He exclaimed proudly, not even bothering to hide his stratagem. "Whisper helped me come up with this little technique when she was tutoring me."
I sweated a bit.
This guy was way too overconfident for his own good.
Also tutoring?
I shook my head of the unnecessary thought and refocused on the battle.
Dusk's fangs were having trouble penetrating the metal coated fin, the sparks of lightning bouncing uselessly off of the newly reinforced hide.
I had to admit it was a very interesting way of using metal claw.
I watched as Prinplup raised his free fin slowly, hiding it from view with his body. A brilliant sheen began to reflect off of its surface.
I widened my eyes at the devious ploy when I realized that the penguin planned to use Metal Claw properly while Dusk was uselessly trying to damage him.
"Dusk—"
Prinplup batted the hyena away with a loud thud before I could warn Dusk. The impact forced her to release her hold on the penguin's fin. She bounced a couple of times across the battlefield before righting herself mid-roll, landing in a hunched position.
Thanks to my training, Dusk lifted her head towards the sky and let out a haunting Howl without even needing to be commanded.
Arthur widened his eyes when he recognized this.
"Oh, uh… Bubble!" Arthur flubbed out a command.
Knowing that Prinplup wasn't fast enough to deal a physical blow, he made to try and prevent her from buffing herself with a ranged move.
His hesitation cost him when Dusk nimbly maneuvered around the slow moving bubbles, a red aura surrounding her body.
I noticed that Arthur was watching the battlefield warily.
He was waiting for me to make a move…
Very well then, I was actually a little curious about trying something…
I'd be down 150 if this didn't work. But if I didn't know what was about to happen, then Arthur definitely wouldn't.
"Dusk, use Dig and make a hole out of there!"
Arthur smiled.
"Prinplup, Dig, beat them at their own game!"
Prinplup immediately dove into the ground, following Arthur's orders without hesitation. Arthur's smile evaporated when Dusk remained on the surface, her tail wagging and a smirk fully in place at his reaction.
I could even see a drop of sweat fall down the side of Arthur's face.
"W-What the?"
I gave a smirk that matched Dusk's.
"Follow him, you're the boss." I mumbled a series of commands under my breath for Dusk to hear.
Dusk went down the same hole Prinplup had made.
Considering that Prinplup could only travel one way, since he didn't have time to setup several tunnels, Dusk could easily follow the trail and corner the penguin.
"Surfacesurfacesurfacesurface!" Arthur rambled on desperately, hoping his Pokémon would hear him.
Arthur had planned to beat me at my own game, neither of us able to surprise the other with a well timed attack from beneath the ground of the battlefield.
Basically, in that scenario, the first one to resurface would become a sitting duck. And there was no telling what would happen if one of them was lucky enough to stumble upon the other's tunnel.
Unbeknownst to Arthur, I had used a code phrase to reverse engineer the situation so that the first to leave would end up the loser.
My smirk widened with satisfaction when Dusk broke through the surface of the field like a desert shark, a writhing blue penguin snared in her sparking jaws as dirt and dust filled the area from her dynamic entrance.
Thanks to the lightning, I barely noticed sheens of gloss enveloping the penguin's fins.
"Throw him away!" I commanded with no hesitation.
Before Prinplup could gain his bearings to deliver a decisive counter-attack, Dusk yanked her head to the side and opened her jaw. The penguin was sent flying in a heap onto Arthur's side of the battlefield.
The Prinplup managed to recover in a panic and stood tall before the hyena with narrowed eyes.
But I could tell the penguin was exhausted. His breathing was heavy as his chest rose and fell at a faster pace.
Prinplup was on his last legs.
"Keep Dusk at bay with Bubble. She can't hit you if she can't get close." Arthur commanded with wide eyes.
It was quite the contrast from earlier where he looked so keen to battle me.
Now, he looked desperate to win.
I couldn't help but sigh, however, at his latest command.
Arthur really had a bad habit of making a lot of assumptions.
"Snarl." I commanded dully, not a hint of worry to be found in my voice.
He did have a powerful tool in that shielding technique. He just needed to find more applications for it.
I hope he didn't mind me stealing it if I ever get a Pokémon who can do something similar…
With a Snarl, Dusk opened her mouth as dark tendrils pierced through the shining bubbles with ease and hit the penguin in the stomach. A trill of pain escaped Prinplup's beak as it crumpled to the ground with a thud.
Even if he had managed to stay in the battle, it would only delay the inevitable.
Snarl would have made any further attempts at using Bubble weaker after all.
I strode over to Arthur's side, Pokédex already out and Prinplup being returned in a beam of red.
"Good match." I mumbled to hopefully speed up the process.
"Yeah, my guy, good match." Arthur said with a sportsman-like smile as he pulled out his own Pokédex.
I noticed it wasn't quite as enthusiastic like his other smiles.
"…Your shield technique is really interesting." I complimented awkwardly. "I'd look for more ways to use it."
His smile fell away in confusion as both of our Pokédexes dinged at the completed transaction.
"Oh…Yeah!" His jubilant smile was back on his face. "I'm afraid I'm not the brightest guy. I can't exactly take any credit for coming up with it!" He chuckled good naturedly.
"You said Whisper helped you come up with it." I stated what I had heard earlier "So she's tutoring you?" I tilted my head in confusion.
"I'm paying her to give me some pointers." Arthur nodded with a grin. "She seemed pretty experienced if she was able to keep you and Amber under control without my help."
Arthur flinched as if he'd just remembered something.
"Who was that girl you were with earlier, my guy?" He questioned with a tilt of his head. "She seemed pretty scared of me for some reason…" Arthur began to sweat a bit in worry.
Arthur was pretty sharp if he picked up on that during our conversation earlier.
Maybe I had misjudged him a little. I had initially pegged him for the dense, hard-headed type.
"I wouldn't worry about it. Jenna is pretty jumpy. I'm escorting her to Floaroma Town for a contest by her request." I explained. "She apparently recognized me from the Jubilife Tournament footage on the news."
"Hey, but I was on that video too!" Arthur exclaimed, a finger pointing at himself. He looked offended. "Why didn't she recognize me!?"
That… was actually a really good question.
What made me more memorable than Arthur that she would completely forget about him? Yet she recognized me almost immediately at some random mining town.
Was it simply because Amber and I had won, so our faces would inevitably show up more during the broadcast and highlights?
While that might be true, the second place contenders had been given similar treatment if my research on Pikatube told me anything. Whisper had a bit of a cult following here in Jubilife based off the comments section
There were even people jealous that Arthur got to pair up and actually fight alongside her.
In my opinion, those people are crazy.
"Anyway, I'm gonna go meet up with her." I gave a casual farewell to Arthur, making my way to leave.
Dusk gave her own bark of farewell as she excitedly followed me, most likely high off of her recent victory.
"Later, Aster! I'll win for sure next time!"
I sighed at his energetic tone.
Where did that guy get it all from?
After arriving at the hotel, I realized that Jenna and I hadn't exchanged numbers yet.
Thankfully, the lady at the front desk informed me of the room number. According to the woman, Jenna had insisted that I be told when I arrived.
I was now currently standing in front of the door to our room. It was located on the highest floor of the hotel. I could definitely tell that this was the VIP floor based off of the silky looking red carpet that was not at all similar to the floor Looker and I had stayed on.
I double checked the room number before knocking on the door.
With a click, the door opened within a few seconds and I was greeted to the sight of someone I was not expecting.
A flaxen-haired girl looked at me with a smile before it quickly turned into an upset frown.
"Oh... It's Dusk's trainer…" Amber spoke in a voice that sounded acutely agitated. "Also hi, Dusk!" Her tone and expression went from tensed to excited with the drop of a hat as she looked between the two of us.
I heard an excited yip below me and knew I didn't need to look to know that Dusk's tail was going crazy.
"Uh… hi?" I merely greeted her in confusion despite her hostility, my mouth half-opened as I tried to process what was going on.
What in the world was she doing in our room?
Did I find the wrong one?
I double checked the number though!
Did the lady up front make a mistake?
Is she stalking me!?
Amber rolled her eyes at me, completely disenfranchised to my confusion, and grabbed my wrist.
"Get in here you dead-eyed dunce!" She exclaimed in thinly veiled frustration. "We have to talk before Jenna and Whisper get back."
I sweated a bit at her tone.
Whisper was even with Jenna?
What in the world happened!?
I didn't even have time to soak in the fancy room we would be staying at. My attention was fully focused on the usually foxy maid as she dragged me into the center of the room.
She turned back around to face me, her arms folded.
I could tell that this was no prank.
Staring into the pools of her eyes, I could see faint traces of melancholy and anger. Though I wasn't sure if it was being targeted at me or not. All I knew for certain is that something had happened when I parted ways with Jenna.
I remembered the lost look Jenna had when she stared at the card I had given her.
I couldn't stop myself from clutching my head.
"Be careful, young one."
The guilt I had felt earlier deepened when the witch's vague warning echoed in my head again.
