~x~ Chapter 42 ~x~
"Um… is there something on my face or something?" I stammered nervously.
"No…" Dan trailed off with a somewhat breathy voice. "It's just, it was a little unexpected."
"What was?" I frowned, not understanding what he was talking about.
"Your smile." Drew said, surprise still gleaming in his eyes.
"What about it? I've smiled before." I commented a little defensively to hide my own embarrassment.
"But not like that." Dan shook his head. "And if you have, we've definitely never seen it."
"Even if I haven't, was there really a need to stare like that?"
"I wish we had a camera. Jackson and Quinn are going to be so jealous."
"A camera? Really? Is that necessary." I grimaced at the suggestion. It wasn't like I held an immense hatred of having my picture taken, after all, I've had to deal with it over the past year or so as a singer, but during my everyday life, I wasn't particularly fond of cameras. "Anyway, you guys forgot to answer my question. Is Trace going to the dinner as well?"
"I'm not sure, he isn't usually told to attend since he's so young and all." Dan shook his head. "How are you so attached to him? How did you know him in the first place?"
"Remember that game from training? The one where we had to get the signatures? Well one of mine was Castile and he happened to be at the elementary division at the time. I bumped into Trace then and he seemed to attach himself to me and since he's such an adorable little kid, I couldn't help but love him."
"It was such a shock when he suddenly appeared at lunch like that and threw himself at you. We hadn't seen Trace get attached to anyone besides Castile since…" Dan trailed off, unsure of whether to carry on or not.
"Since his mum passed away?" I finished for him. "I know about that. Castile told me that that was one of the reasons why he stuck with me, it had something to do with my hair resembling sunlight or something."
"That makes sense, considering how Lady Mirin passed away…"
"His mother was murdered by Strigoi?"
Now, that I didn't know. Ali did say an attack but I hadn't explicitly asked him what they were attacked by… Gee, just what was the world coming to? There hadn't been so many threats from Strigoi since… well since the whole hunt for the royals began around a century ago during Rose Hathaway's time. I sincerely hoped that there wasn't another hunt, because the results of the last one hadn't been pretty losing us at least two royal families if memory served.
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Gee, the royals don't seem that protected, do they?" I scoffed.
"They're the most well protected Moroi." Dan protested.
"Oh really? Because it sounds to me like you guys aren't very well protected at all." I argued. "Think about it. Within a week, you four and Lady Drozdov were in danger of being killed. That kind of thing shouldn't happen, right? Then adding up all the other incidents that I'm hearing about, it all sounds very strange."
The pair stared at me as though they couldn't believe what they were hearing, and yet, the understanding began to seep into their expressions and I could practically see the wheels turning in their heads.
"You know, Kai." Dan glanced at me in amazement. "You've just made a scarily good point."
"Just the truth." I shrugged, feigning nonchalance when in fact I was flat out concerned. If things were getting more dangerous for the royals, then others needed to notice pretty damn soon otherwise we'd have another whacky crisis on our hands. No one needed to have a repeat of what happened a century ago.
I thought back to when Martin had admitted that he and rest of my tight family unit had their suspicions that the attack on the Academy six years ago wasn't just an accident like everything else had thought. What if they were right? What if it had been an attack that was made to look like a simple accident involving the failure of the wards? What was really going on?
"What are you thinking?" Drew asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. He was giving me one of those strangely intense stares again. It was the one that suggested that he was suspicious of me.
"Just thinking." I retorted smartly. "Am I not allowed to think, Ozera?"
"Is it just me, or have we somehow got onto an extremely serious topic?" Dan cut in to break the tension that was slowly building between Drew and I.
"So we have." I sniggered. "So, tell me more about this dinner. What's it like?"
"It's exactly what it is. It's just a dinner." Dan told me with a shrug. "Our parents all know each other, some of them have been friends since the Academy days."
"Did they all come here?"
"No, not all of them. Though I think Uncle Dallas, Aunty Felicia and Uncle Klaus did."
Drew sighed and shook his head with a sardonic grin on his face. "My parents were here and nearly killed each other and then realised that they didn't hate each other but that it was actually quite the opposite."
"Your parents are?" I asked curiously.
"Aunty Felicia and Uncle Klaus." Dan filled in for me.
"Ah, I see. So I guess you call them like that because you've known them for a long time?"
"Since we were tiny little kids."
I thought back to how I addressed my tight family unit and realised that I called all of them by their first names except for Aunty Jules since she really was my aunt. I tried to remember why and couldn't help breaking into an amused grin when I recalled the reason. For one thing, none of them ever insisted on it. I also used to have a strange habit of calling them strange derivations of their names back when I was tiny.
"You really do randomly break into smiles sometimes, don't you?" Dan commented in amusement.
"It may be a bad habit of mine."
"Were you thinking of something in particular?"
"I was just thinking that it's quite nice for you guys to have such close relationships with one another."
"Oh trust me, there's no doubt that our parents will be welcoming you with open arms." Dan told me. "They'll be fascinated by you, I guarantee you that."
"I don't want them to be fascinated by me!" I protested in embarrassment. "I mean seriously, catching the attention of so many people at this school is bad enough, but royal lords and ladies? I don't know how much I can handle."
"You really don't like being in the spotlight much, do you?" Drew commented with a teasing grin. "That's quite a surprise considering how you're a famous singer."
"When I'm a singer, I get to hide behind my band. I'm not alone."
"Well then, why don't you hide behind us?"
"Don't be silly. If I hide behind you guys then I'd be seen as riding on your tailcoats. I'd rather not do that. The amount of brutal rumours that will stem from that will be too much of a headache to deal with."
"I think you've dealt with enough bad rumours to last you a life time, Kai." Dan pointed out.
"Precisely why I want to avoid causing any more of them. They annoy me more than anything else."
"I thought mindless jerks annoyed you most?"
"Well, them too." I laughed. "But at least I can make up excuses most of the time to beat the crap out of them. Ungrounded rumours… those aren't so easy to beat down."
"You've certainly thrashed Nick good and proper." Dan chuckled.
"Hopefully he'll back off for a while now. Seriously, I don't understand what his problem is. I mean, why does he pick on people so much?"
"He's always had this kind of strange attitude." Dan tried to explain. "Sort of like trying to make an important place for himself. I have to say though, if you look past all the nasty comments, he's actually a pretty decent leader."
"So he does actually have a not-so-jerk-ish side?"
"Yeah, it's rare but it does happen sometimes. How else do you think we've managed to put up with him all these years?" Dan scoffed.
"There are times when his crude comments are just too much." Drew commented.
"I remember you mentioning something like that before." I grinned, recalling our conversation in the woods.
"The others have better tolerance than I do. I usually walk out first before he gets on a roll." Drew grumbled.
"Quickly going back to the dinner. How formal is it?"
"Casual formal. Just no jeans and tacky clothes. Your normal everyday clothes would probably give our parents a shock." Dan told me.
"Well, even I wasn't planning on wearing what I usually do." I rolled my eyes at him. "I do know the meaning of formal. I just wondered whether I should be turning up in some kind of a fancy dinner attire or something a little more dressed down."
"Since it happens every month, it's not really a fancy dinner occasion."
"Do you guys go every time?"
"Not always, but we go to most of them mainly as an excuse to get out of school once a month for a nice meal."
"The food here has its ups and downs, doesn't it?" I sniggered. "And that's why I'm glad I have free reign in the home ecs classroom."
"No way!" Dan cried out in disbelief. "How did you get into Valiere's good books so fast?"
"I cook well and I know it. That was part of how we broke out actually." I admitted sheepishly.
"We heard. We wondered how you knocked out the guardians at the gate so we asked around. You knocked them out with cookies? That's kind of brutal, don't you think?"
"Why?" I blinked in surprise.
"Well, cookies are meant to be comfort foods and a little more innocent than most other foods. You wouldn't really expect cookies to be so… lethal."
I thought about it for a moment before I burst into laughter. "That is so true! Man those guardians are going to be wary of my cooking for the rest of their time here."
"I think all the guardians will be more careful if they're standing guard at the gate."
"Hey, if I can help intensify the security around here, I'm proud of it." I scoffed. "It kind of scares me that we managed to get out so easily and so quickly. They got to us pretty quickly, which was good, but we never should've been able to get out in the first place, right?"
"We are still heavily down in numbers when it comes to dhampirs, Kai." Dan explained. "They try their best to assign enough guardians to each Academy and have enough at Court and that's not counting the dozens who need to be assigned to royals. It's only understandable that they have at least two guards per gate."
"You'd gained their trust." Drew pointed out. "That was one of the main reasons why you managed it so easily. They never would've expected you to drug them."
"Oh dear… have I ruined the trust that the guardians had for me?" I groaned. "Man, and I thought I did pretty well considering I've only been here a week or so."
"I'm pretty sure you'll repair that pretty soon so long as you don't go trying to trick people again."
"Well I hope so. I liked having their trust. It made things so much more… comfortable around here."
The three of us jumped when we heard the door slam open and we turned to see the Dragomir twins stroll in with scowls on their faces. "Why didn't you two say that you guys were taking over the lesson with Kai?" Jacks complained.
"It's not fair that you two get to snatch so much of her time." Quinn added.
"Gee, it's not that big of a deal, you know." I scoffed.
"You owe us a lunch by the way." Jacks told me as he casually slid onto the table beside me.
"Really? But we've already had breakfast and the break out, don't those count?" I reasoned.
"No way are we letting you talk yourself out of it," the twins chimed.
"Or are you too scared to be with us?" Jacks teased.
"Don't be stupid, I have nothing to be scared of." I scoffed, rolling my eyes at him.
"Hey, what do you guys say to having a library session tonight with the girls?" Dan asked them, going back to what we'd talked about at the start of the lesson.
"You're having a library session? Why?" Quinn frowned in distaste.
"The girls haven't caught up on the work yet." I explained. "I hope you don't mind."
"I don't particularly mind it." Quinn shrugged nonchalantly. "It's just, I don't enjoy being surrounded by so many books."
"Well then we'll pick a big table by the window, how about that?" I compromised.
"Only if you promise to bring food. I can't handle work without food." Jacks added.
"Anything else?" I asked, arching my brows at the twins.
"Nope, we're satisfied now," they chimed.
"Gee, I've never met anyone with such an aversion to libraries before." I grumbled.
"How can you handle them? They're so quiet, no food, no drinks, surrounded by a bunch of old books and you can't talk properly." Quinn complained.
"Quietness isn't necessarily a bad thing, Quinn." I drawled. "You don't have to fill every moment with some kind of sound."
"What is wrong with you, woman?" they chimed again.
I smacked them both in the arm and pouted. "There's nothing wrong with liking a bit of peace and quiet every now and then."
"Silence is awful." Jacks grimaced in distaste.
"Well, from the amount you guys talk, I'm not surprised." I scoffed. "Okay, since you two are both here, I'm going to butt in on some family issues here. What is up with you and Trace?"
Things seemed to freeze as I'd thought it might and I watched them carefully as the shocked expressions settled on the twin's faces. I waited patiently for them to give a response and Drew and Dan stared at me in surprise. Their expressions basically screamed: 'You're doing this now?'
"How much do you know?" Jacks murmured eventually.
"Just that you guys are siblings and that Trace seems to have a strange fear of you two even though I can't think why." I told them. "I've been trying to think up a reason since yesterday and nothing came to mind. You two don't seem the type to make people fear you, much less little kids."
Quinn sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "It was our fault to begin with. We just didn't know how to receive Trace the way he deserved."
"We were angry. So angry. Our mother had just passed away not even three months, and then dad's old love was welcomed into the family straight away. We didn't harbour any hard feelings against her. She was a lovely woman, don't get us wrong."
"But it was just so hard for Dad to be with someone again so soon. Then two months later, they announced that she was expecting."
"I remember that." Dan butt in. "You two were a wreck and were rarely home at all. You guys stayed at mine most of the time and you didn't go home until after the birth."
"You guys are such idiots." I told them bluntly. They shot me a glare but didn't argue because they knew it too. "So, what happened with Trace?"
"At first, we didn't really do anything."
"Which was the problem."
"We never made any effort with him at all and avoided him since we thought that if we were too close we might accidentally take our anger out on him and hurt him."
"Then things got worse and worse and because we cared about him, we were often rather harsh towards him."
"A little while ago, he got hurt because of us and instead of worrying about his injury like we should've done, we got angry that he was there and put himself in danger. I think we shouted at him."
"Now, whenever we see him, we just don't know how to respond and apologise because he's already so wary of us."
"He probably hates us now."
"You two are a bunch of idiots." I told them again. "But I can understand how things have gotten this way. I knew you two cared about the kid."
"How do you know Trace so well?" Quinn asked, glancing at me curiously.
"During the game last week, I had to get a signature from Castile who was at the elementary school at the time and Trace latched onto me. He grew on me." I explained, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. "Trace is really cute…"
"Hey, don't go stealing our brother from us." Jacks warned.
"If you two don't smarten up and sort this situation out, I just might." I threatened. "Trace deserves to know that you two could be real nice brothers."
"Could we be good brothers for him after what's happened?"
I glared at the stupid twins and scowled. I couldn't believe they were being so dumb and ridiculous. "If you two don't start toughening up damn soon I'm going to beat the crap out of you."
"Why? What've we done wrong?" they demanded indignantly.
"You're being stupid and ridiculous and that's only going to hurt Trace even more. You're meant to be older and more mature so act like it!" I paused and took a deep breath to stop from raising my voice. "He thinks that you two hate him and that makes him less likely to approach you two. You're a family, please be a family." I pleaded with yearning.
How much I would give to have my family with me. Would I have ever had siblings if my parents had been alive for longer? I would never know that, but I did know that I didn't want to see the rift between them become any bigger. Families were meant to be treasured, especially when Trace was such a darling little kid and the twins obviously cared for the boy.
The twins glanced at me with widened eyes before they both suddenly tugged me into a tight hug. I choked as I was suddenly squished between the two and somehow managed to get my head out and rested on a shoulder. I sneezed as a loose strand of hair tickled my nose. Drew smirked in amusement and kindly tucked the loose strand behind an ear and I smiled gratefully at him. If he hadn't done that, I would probably be sneezing a few more times.
"This is a touchy subject for you, isn't it?" Quinn murmured against my hair.
"Sorry." Jacks whispered.
"Don't worry about it." I reassured them. "So long as you two get the point."
"We do," they murmured.
"Did you have siblings, Kai?" Quinn asked tentatively.
"No." I told them honestly. "But I've always wondered if I might have and what it might have been like."
Suddenly, another weight joined the hug and I peeked over to find Dan joining in with the hug. "It's alright, Kai. We'll adopt you!"
I spluttered with laughter. If they knew who I really was, would they say the same thing? It was a nice gesture though and twisting my head, I somehow managed to plant a sloppy kiss on Dan's cheek. "Cheers, Dan, but I think I'd go insane if you were my brother."
"It won't be that bad," he protested.
"You say that now." I scoffed. "But really, thanks for the thought. I appreciate it."
"The offer will always stand. Our parents will love you." Dan told me plainly, completely unabashed.
"Aunt Tessa will turn your wardrobe inside out, Kai." Jacks chuckled.
"So you're coming to the dinner." Quinn stated rather than asked.
"They didn't really give me a choice to say no." I grumbled. "How rude would I be if I actually declined an invitation made by four royal families? I may be daring, but I'm not that stupid."
All three of them released me at the same time and I hadn't been expecting it so naturally I fell forwards. My lower back tingled when I felt warm fingers on my bare arms and I glanced up at Drew gratefully for catching me. The tingling was a weird sensation and I didn't know what it was. It made me want to shiver but I managed to repress the urge, just barely. He went so far as to help steady me back up and he gave me a playful wink. In return, I smacked his arm.
Suddenly, an idea popped into my mind and I gave the twins a mischievous grin. Just as Drew released my arms from having balanced me, I felt him stiffen slightly and I briefly glanced at him in puzzlement. He looked normal but I could see something gleaming in his eyes, a strange sense of recognition and I wondered why that was.
"I don't like that look." Quinn gulped.
"What are you thinking?" Jacks narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me.
"Well, I just thought of a perfect idea to help get things back on track 's all." I told them simply. "You two are going to invite Trace to the dinner."
They stared blankly at me for a couple of heartbeats before their eyes widened in shock. "What?" they shouted with such identical voices of shock that I almost couldn't differentiate between the two.