A shorter chapter, sorry… D:
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Charlie Bone! OR:
Alan Llano and Jannae Deinla!
They belong to my pen name is pen name!
However, I DO own Ritz Knightly and the rest of the Knightly Family!
WARNINGS: Same as usual, some misplacements and some randomness~
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Chapter Three: Frozen Nails
Manfred sat in the warmth of his office, but not because he wanted to be there. He was angry that he couldn't leave. Why, you may be wondering? Well…
The hand that had come in contact with Ritz's blue nails had begun to grow frostbitten!
The flesh was turning a darker blue now, heading toward purple and eventually black… And soon, Manfred knew in disgust and horror, it would fall off. He had tried everything he could to stop it from doing what it was doing, even taking to sticking it in the flames of his ongoing fire, but nothing worked!!
The hand was completely frozen and he had no way of changing that… He would lose his hand! Manfred glared at it, cursing Ritz over and over again. It was her fault! Her and her silly endowment! He had to do something… And he was beginning think that he had to report to Ritz about it…
Manfred groaned, but if he wanted his hand back to normal, he'd have to visit Miss. Egotistical and Boisterous. So, he wrapped his hand in some gauze bandages and left his office, heading straight to the drama department.
He was almost there when he was stopped by Asa, who was snooping through the cape room.
"Manfred? Where have you been?" Asa asked with wide gold eyes, moving down to Manfred's hand. Manfred scowled at him.
"Hell, that's where! I have to give Knightly a piece of my mind." He snapped. Asa blinked.
"Ritz? Are you telling me Ritz did that?" He asked, perplexed. Manfred was beginning to grow extremely annoyed.
"I know it's complicated for your puny mind to comprehend, seeing as you failed ALL your final exams last year," He began icily, making Asa flinch, "But this isn't the time for chattering because my hand is going to fall off from frostbite!"
"Sorry." Asa apologized under his breath. Manfred rolled his eyes and brushed past him into the drama room. He let his black eyes flashed across the room and land on Ritz, who was sitting by herself in a row of chairs. Her feet were propped up on the chair in front of her, her hands behind her head.
Manfred approached her swiftly, making his presence known by knocking Ritz's feet down and causing her to yelp in surprise.
"Hey! Oh, Manfred… Good afternoon-"
"Drop your silly act," Manfred interrupted angrily, "What did you do last night?"
"Hm? Well… Get caught by you, of course." Ritz murmured, her lavender eyes searching his face for any hidden meanings to his words. Manfred, however, wasn't amused by the evident answer and rolled his eyes, holding out his hand.
"This. This is what I'm talking about, Knightly," He hissed so the other students couldn't hear as they chattered, "It's frostbite. It happened when your nails cut my palm."
Ritz's eyes widened as she sat up and pulled on his hand, forcing him to sit in the chair beside her. She unwrapped his hands, her eyes scanning the skin that was now turning purple at a dangerously fast rate.
"Oh wow… I've never seen frostbite so bad… Did you try and warm it up?" She asked. Manfred scowled at her.
"I'm no fool, of course! I even stuck my hand in the fire. I couldn't feel it. In fact, the fire went out." He muttered. Ritz looked at him, then down at his hand. She was becoming a bit uneasy. This had never happened before… On accident. She'd done it on purpose to people who've jumped her on the streets, but never to-
She mentally slapped herself for almost finishing that thought. Manfred wasn't her friend. Manfred was not her crush. Manfred was merely a flame in her path. Yes, that was it. A flame that had to be extinguished like all the others.
Ritz sighed at last and dropped his hand from her palm, making Manfred glare at her.
"I'm sorry… But I have no way of helping."
"You better be joking, Knightly. I won't lose my hand because of you!"
"Hey! It's not my fault you didn't take it carefully! You snatched it from my hand, you twit!" Ritz snapped just as angrily. Manfred was about to yell back, then took a deep breath to calm down. Upsetting the girl was not going to help him.
"Look, is there anyway you can get my hand unfrozen? There has to be something." Manfred tried, his voice a little uneven. Ritz could tell he was angry, but she knew it wasn't his fault. He was obviously fearful of losing his hand.
At least it wasn't his eye, Ritz tried to joke to herself, smirking, then an idea clicked into her head. She looked at Manfred.
"I think I have a way we can get your hand back to normal."
XxXxX"You want me to redraw Manfred's hand?" Jannae asked curiously, tilting her head as she set down her drawing utensils. Ritz smiled falsely again.
"Yes, it's just… Manfred made a bit of a mistake-"
"You did!" Manfred cut in harshly.
"-So, his hand is frozen and may fall off if it's not fixed… I was hoping you could use your endowment to draw him a new hand… If that's possible." Ritz added. Jannae touched her finger to her lip thoughtfully, studying Manfred's dark purple hand.
"Hmmm… It's worth a try." Jannae agreed reluctantly, then picked up a pencil and a new slip of white paper as Ritz unwrapped Manfred's hand all the way. Manfred glared most of the time as he watched Ritz pull up his shirtsleeve. He was mostly uneasy by the way Ritz's nails dug into his skin, but not enough to puncture it.
Jannae got to work, glancing at Manfred's hand every so often as she bit into her lower lip in concentration. Ritz kept at Manfred's side the whole time as she watched Jannae work.
She was amazed at how realistic the hand was and she hoped very much that this would work… If not, Manfred was going to have her head in exchange for his hand dying. Ritz shivered visibly at the thought of Manfred's anger at that point.
Manfred noticed, then frowned at his darkening hand. Ritz ought to be scared, Manfred thought angrily, it was all her fault he ended up getting in worse situations by the day!
"Finished…" Jannae smiled at her work. Ritz blinked.
"Wow… Jannae, that's wonderful." She drawled in awe. Manfred frowned.
"Yes, yes. Wonderful. Now what?" He demanded.
"Someone's impatient." Ritz muttered. Jannae smirked, then held a finger to her lips.
"Wait for it. It has to take time to transfer…" As soon as she finished, to the trio's delight, Manfred's hand slowly began to return to its normal coloring. Maybe a bit better than before as well!
The flesh grew from black purple to blue to red to pink to pale.
Everyone gave a sigh of relief. However, Ritz was in for it because as soon as Manfred was content with his newly restored hand, he delivered a stomp to Ritz's foot. Ritz yelped and jumped back as if shocked. Jannae raised an eyebrow, holding her picture up and ready to put it into a folder.
"You make me regret helping you, Manfred." She warned, earning a warning look of her own from Manfred's sharp black eyes. Ritz rubbed her sore foot with her other foot, pouting down at it. Manfred grabbed her wrist to get her attention, which worked very nicely.
"I'm not thanking anyone," He seethed, "Especially when this WAS your fault. You better see to it that you work on that act of yours. I'll see you in detention!"
"Yes, sir." Ritz muttered and jerked her hand from Manfred's newly tight grip. Manfred then swept out of the room quickly and angrily. Ritz watched him go with angry lavender eyes. Jannae stood beside her now, holding her sketchbook.
"If you want, I can draw him choking on a biscuit at snack time." She offered dryly.
"Please do." Ritz responded in the same tone, although, they both knew they'd be in big trouble with the headmaster if anything was to happen to his little boy.
XxXxXThat evening, Ritz was heading to her room as all the other girls began to pack. For the next day was the day everyone was free to leave Bloor's Academy for the weekend, save for two students… Billy Raven and Ritz Knightly.
Ritz had a home, oh yes. She allowed to head home and enjoy the comfort of her warm, cozy room… But she wouldn't. She remained on her bed as Jannae stuffed her things into her packs. She looked at Ritz with a frown.
"Why don't you go home if you can, Ritz? Do you really want to put up with Manfred's badgering?" She asked, concerned. Ritz shook her head and stood up.
"No… I don't really want to… I'm allowed to stay here anyway. I just don't feel like putting up with my siblings."
"… You don't live with your parents?" Jannae asked hesitantly. Ritz smiled.
"They're not around anymore. My older brother, Vladimir, takes care of my three other siblings and I." She replied. Jannae's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yea. There's Vlad, the eldest. Kornelieus, or Kobi as we call him, is the second eldest. Then there's Stanislav and Ebony, my only sister. They're all older than I am…" Ritz added, although, she sounded a bit annoyed. Jannae only gave a nod.
"I see… Well, I wish you the best of luck with Manfred." She said with a smile. Ritz forced a smile back and followed Jannae downstairs where she was getting picked up. As Ritz watched with a deep sense of dread at being alone now, she was beginning to wonder if maybe she should go home…
No, it wasn't very safe. Ritz frowned as she watched, only to have someone watching her.
"And why aren't you leaving?" Manfred asked, annoyed. Ritz flashed him a look of forged innocence.
"Don't you want my company, Manfred?" She asked. Manfred glared at her coldly.
"Despite it being the weekend, you are still to refer to me as sir."
"Oh, right… You're superior to me… I almost forgot."
"Knightly-"
"Sorry, sir. I'm not feeling well. Heading back off to-"
"Making an attempt to weasel yourself out of trouble, are you now?" A voice asked. Ritz looked annoyed and angry now as she looked up. Manfred let his eyes travel in the same direction.
A thin, very beautiful girl, maybe Manfred's age, was approaching the school with a bag. Her long black hair was tied up in a ponytail, her eyes a pale periwinkle. She wore a red business jacket over a black turtleneck and a pair of skintight black jeans that disappeared into her long black boots.
Manfred immediately knew the woman to be one of Ritz's relatives for their facial features were completely the same.
"What are you doing here?" Ritz demanded. The woman looked at her slyly, holding out the bag.
"Don't ask questions. Vladimir wanted you to take this with you. No room for it in the house- Oops." She stopped as the bag slipped past Ritz's hands and onto the pavement, its contents spilling on the sidewalk. Those contents consisted of a photo album, several notebooks, and some pens.
"You did that on purpose, Ebony." Ritz spat, earning herself a sharp look from Ebony that could kill. Manfred frowned, folding his arms over his chest as Ritz bent down to pick up her things. Ebony looked at him pointedly.
"If she's any trouble, feel free to call us… I'm sure Vladimir can put her in her place if you can't." She said stingily. Manfred frowned. The girl gave off a very dark, cruel aura. One that even surprised himself.
"I can take care of myself, thanks," Ritz broke in before Manfred could reply, "Now leave."
"Suit yourself, twat." Ebony retorted, then spun on her heel, and left in a very sassy fashion that made Ritz glare after her.
"She's worse than you." Manfred admitted, glancing at Ritz, who scowled darkly.
"She's my worthless sister is what she is."
"How old is she?"
"Eighteen… Why do you care?" Ritz snapped, earning herself a sharp look from Manfred.
"No reason. Get to your room so I don't have to deal with you this weekend." Manfred commanded. Ritz sighed, preferring not to argue today and obeyed. Manfred watched her go, then looked back in time for Ebony to jump into a black Volvo and drive off past the speeding limit.
Manfred had always expected sisters to be close, but this must have been a reason as to why Ritz was staying. However, Manfred decided, it wouldn't stop him from pressuring Ritz into siding with him against Charlie Bone…
Certainly not.
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A/N: Okay, yes. I have allowed Ebony to make an appearance. You won't know her endowment or any of the other Knightly endowments until later on. o.o
I hope you enjoyed this! (Worry not! Alan will make more appearances in the future. –shifty eyes- xD) Anyway, thank you all so much for reading and please review! (Flames not included)