Chloe laid eyes upon the levitating figure robed in turquoise, finding herself among the presence of upmost royalty. With Dwight comatose beside her in the bed of turquoise grass, she bowed down before the Council member with planted palms. Despite her reservations, her obligation felt compelled to show respect to one of the most powerful fairies known to existence. What other godchildren on Earth can say that they have come face-to-face with a fae equivalent of God?
Beneath the dark shadow of her hood, Treebelle rose a quizzical brow. Bending her arm towards her with Bella the owl still perched. "What is it that you are doing?" her feminine voice addressed the platinum blonde calmly, leading Chloe to lift her head with a fretting frown as if she'd done something wrong.
"I'm sorry…" she uttered pitifully. "I-I wanted to be respectful."
"Sit up, child."
"Y-Yes, ma'am…" Chloe did as told without question, straightening her back while still on her knees. Not that the Council woman came across domineering, but Chloe's sense of inferiority did not want to appear discourteous.
"Try not to fret." Treebelle could read Chloe's unease in her hunched shoulders. "I have no qualms with you."
"…forgive me." Chloe briefly bowed her head. "I-I just don't know where we are or why we're here."
A drowsy moan turned Chloe's gaze to the boy's lethargic stir, purple eyes squinting not just from the shimmering curtains of yellow rays robbing slumber's darkness out of his sight. His head unmoving, sluggish fingers felt along the grass, presumably in search for the glasses that had shifted away from the turbulence of spasming limbs. Noticing this, Chloe only had to look down to spot the black specs that were next to her sandals, and she thought to grab them so that she could hold them within Dwight's reach.
"Thank you…" Dwight groaned to whoever had handed him what his haze was looking for, adjusting his glasses on his face with one hand as he willed his other arm to lift him. Blinking the last of sleep from his eyes, though his mind continued to swim towards the shore of wakefulness.
The first that cleared the blur were vibrant pools of blue staring back at him, gentle yet troubled. Her round chin trembled ever so faintly, worry etched through the wrinkles in her forehead.
"…Chloe?" the dryness in his throat croaked, sitting up further as the crook in his neck made his nose scrunch. The sides of his temples pulsed in weak throbs, and he recognized the mild aches in his arms and legs.
Further confirmation of what this meant came when her puckered brow turned away, and his features fell shamefully. Having a seizure in front of others was embarrassing enough, but what he hated most were the seizures in his sleep without warning.
"…I'm sorry." he apologized, lowering his chin as she glanced back at him.
"Don't apologize." Chloe dismissed. "You had no control."
Not disproving that she had to witness his biggest flaw only deepened Dwight's frown. "But I probably scared you."
"Don't worry about me…" Chloe thinned her lips, clenching her jaw. "I'm fine."
"Do not invalidate your own feelings, Chloe." the robed elder counseled, and Chloe quietly gasped towards her. "No one faults you for admitting to distress."
Ashamed of herself, Chloe hung her head. Dwight quickly recognized the Council woman but did not recognize the indigo plumage and dark-teal stare of the owl on her arm.
"And do not apologize for what you canst not control, Dwight." Treebelle then addressed the male godchild. "Seizures are inherently distressing even to the most exposed."
Dwight's two fingers massaged his left temple, grimacing at her words; his best friend and his godfather would say similar things, yet try as he might, his self-conscious could never take those words to heart.
"I have brought the two of you here to my private dwelling." Treebelle then informed. "There are matters in which I must discuss with you."
"…are our godparents okay?" the knots in Chloe's stomach questioned.
"Your godparents are fine." Treebelle assured. "Right now, however, they hold no relevance."
A haunted look crossed her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"She just means they're not what she needs to talk to us about…" Dwight spoke mutedly based off the few details the Council were willing to give before in regards to their godparents. Though this did boggle his mind on what a member of the Fairy Council needed to discuss with two godchildren if not about their fairies.
"Be with them, Bella."
By Treebelle's gentle instructions, the indigo owl let out a tu-whoo. Spreading her wings to lift off from her maker's arm. The godchildren leaned sidways from the expansion of Bella's wings in her noiseless landing in the child-sized patch of grass between them, watching her wings retract to her sides as she waddled on her talons for the ruffling feathers on her chest to face the direction of the robed figure.
Bella's neck snapped ninety degrees in an unblinking stare, locking eyes with the boy's blinks that became more discomforted as awkward silence crept into the air. She stared like a statue frozen in time, and it was starting to crawl an icy chill up his spine.
Treebelle hovered a short distance towards the children, lowering her feet to the ground. "She has taken a liking to you."
Dwight's brow wrinkled cringingly which did not seem to faze Bella's locked eyes in the slightest. "Weird way of showing it…"
"You do not appear to be suffering from the worst of postictal." Treebelle observed Dwight's wit. "You can thank Bella for that."
Bella ruffled her feathers with a charming hoot, softening Dwight's cringe.
"If not for her, you would likely still be seizing right now."
Hugging knees to her chest, Chloe eyed the owl's enthrallment towards the other godchild. If not for Bella, she would likely still be panicking, too…
Shifting gears, Treebelle folded her arms over her chest. "Do you remember the boy that assaulted you?" she tested, and he raised his mulling gaze to her.
"…I think so…" Dwight droned. Memories of that day sizzled like fuzzy static in his brain.
"His name is Bradley, one of the boys that jumped you and Gary." The Councilwoman gave a soft reminder. "He was the one who slammed your head against the sidewalk."
Chloe observed Dwight's absentminded hand reach to his forehead, brushing along the healed indent.
"An altercation in juvenile detention had led to the loss of his left eye."
Dwight's broad eyes snapped. Without the gruesome details, he could only imagine what must've become of his assailant. "Is…he okay? Besides the eye?"
"That, I am uncertain," was half an opinion, half a statement. Partially because she figured even the toughest spirit would be forever bruised after being rendered permanently blinded in one eye, and partially because she did not want Dwight to worry himself over what should not be his main concern.
"W-What about my dads?" Dwight inquired next, worried something terrible might've happened to them as well.
"Your fathers are not physically harmed." Treebelle confirmed.
"They're probably worried sick about me…" Dwight's guilt thought aloud, and Chloe wrinkled her brow at the thought of her own father's wrecked nerves.
"Um, excuse me…" Chloe raised her hand as if waiting on permission from a teacher to speak, letting down her hand once acknowledged by the Councilwoman. "Will we ever see our parents again?"
Treebelle sighed heavily, mentally preparing for the bombshell that she had held off dropping on purpose. "Chloe…" she began, kneeling on one knee to the platinum blonde. "…there is something you must know."
When her peripheral noticed Bella snap her feathered neck a full 180 in her direction, lines of dread formed across Chloe's forehead, making her gulp down the acid welling in her stomach. She furrowed towards the hooded fae, haggard with worry as Treebelle cleared her throat.
"I am sorry, Chloe." Treebelle uttered solemnly "…your mother is gone."
Her hollowed core froze icy cold.
The skin that was already faintly pale blanched chalk-white. 'Your mother is gone' echoed between her ears in a haunting reverb. Her arms tensed with the rigidity in her shoulders, her heart stumbling over its own rhythm as its drumming palpitations thundered over the dizzying whirlwind of incoherent thoughts. Shuddering breaths escaped, lungs forgetting how to breathe as chills surged through her veins.
"…Chloe?" the Councilwoman's gentle voice came muffled in Chloe's ears, as if her head had sunk underwater. Staring straight ahead, the yellow rays of light and turquoise grass began to blend in a darkening blur. Her world blinked black as a panicked tremor shook through her arms, chattering her knees. Losing her grip on reality…
Dwight goggled when a glaze as ghostly as her face glossed over Chloe's eyes before they rolled back in her backwards fall. He gasped a sharp breath when her back arched and her eyes fluttered. Body shaking vigorously and limbs flailing like a fish out of water which, from what had been described to him in the past, looked hauntingly familiar.
Bella sprung to action, the feathers in her wings expanding as turquoise blazed in her vanes. Enveloping Chloe in the magical sparkles that quickly reduced the overwhelming spike in her anxiety as her thrashing becalmed.
Her head bobbled back and forth until it wilted to one side, and rigid breaths of distress clutched the sides of Dwight's head.
Leaned against the rocky magenta wall of the galactic mountain, Hazel palmed her chin as soft fingers gave gentle strokes along the purple stripe of the red ferret contently nestled across her crossed legs. As if each brush of his fur spread another coat of numbing cream to the aching wounds to her soul. She could feel all her troubles slowly fading away simply by the comfort of Simmons' overfond presence. Not a permanent fix, she recognized that…but…it was nice.
"Why did you separate us from our godparents in the first place?" Remy queried the hooded fae before them, brows slitted to the figure robed in pink who was levitating just above one of the cracks in the ground bubbling with red magma.
"Because the other Council members and I wanted zero interference from them." Persimmon simply stated, the gruffness in his voice remaining leveled.
After he had made his presence known to the godchildren, the Councilman had been quizzed more by the older lad while the younger girl seemed content in giving his magical companion her attention. From the cynical crinkle in the boy's features, the lack of trust was not unsurprising, nor did Persimmon take it personally. That nanny and his sick pleasures had done a number on the boy's ability to recognize harmless intent.
Remy scowled, gritting his teeth. Circumvented interference from anyone who could save them sounded the alarms in his psyche, tingling his spine with the unsettling notion that this was all part of some twisted scheme.
"…what kind of Fairy Council are you…"
Hazel glanced up from her gentle strokes, hearing the distrust in Remy's snarl. Despite essentially being kidnapped by the Fairy Council, she had yet to find a reason to be wary of them. She was always one to try and find the good in others. Perhaps that was the flaw that eventually led to her downfall…
Persimmon, unfazed, held Remy's suspecting gaze. "We do not mean you harm-"
"Bull!" Remy growled, standing to a split stance with fists wadded defensively to his sides. "Give us our godparents back!"
"They shall be returned in due time." Persimmon guaranteed without raising his voice. "For now, I am unable to do so."
"And why the ever-loving hell not!?"
The yellow eyes beneath Persimmon's hood furrowed in a stern gaze, his patience waning. "Sit down, child."
"No!"
"Sit. Down."
Hazel frowned, growing uncomfortable from the brewing tension. Sensing this as well, Simmons jumped from Hazel's lap to brush his left side against Remy's right leg who grunted in response.
"Stop that!"
In spite of Remy's demand, Simmons crawled up Remy's leg to latch onto his shoulder, and before Remy could think to tear him off, a taffy-pink aura illuminated Simmons' red fur. The surge in Remy's frustration weakened, also weakening his mind's control over his own body. Enwrapping pink sparkles stumbled him back to the mountainous wall, dropping straightened legs down on his backside next to Hazel's watchful gaze.
Only when the sparkles waned did the numbing tingles in Remy's bones subside, and Simmons crawled from his shoulder to nuzzle down in the crevice of his lap.
"Now that I have your cooperation…" Persimmon coolly remarked as Remy had enough control to bitterly snarl towards the Councilman, feeling very much coerced "…we can get to the real matters at hand."
Hazel swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Fenwick is a threat no longer." Persimmon began with less daunting news. "For he is now out of commission."
After a puzzled pause, the two godchildren exchanged glances. Hazel downturned the corners of thin lips before Remy returned the Councilman's gaze with a cocked brow "…meaning?"
"Meaning he is of the physical and mental suffering to where he will likely be left with no choice but to enter early retirement."
That told a lot and said a lot of nothing at the same time.
"What even happened?" Remy inquired out of morbid curiosity more so than care.
"He got a taste of his own medicine." Persimmon summarized.
"Was…" Hazel peeped, wringing her hands "…w-was he…touched?"
"Worse; he was violated and stripped of his manhood in the worst way imaginable."
Sensing that Persimmon purposefully omitted explications, Remy lowered his troubled grimace to the beady blue-violets staring at him sympathetically. Struggling with whether his ex-nanny's physical and emotional suffering qualified as true justice. Was it more justice than putting the creep behind bars? Was it more justice than making his sick pleasures public as a sex offender? What even constituted as justice in this case?
Hazel's gaze downcast, biting her lip. Fenwick had done deplorable things, and yet, she didn't know if she would've wished this on him. She was a strong believer of karma; regardless, even with Persimmon's limited account, that type of karma sounded…cruel.
"Hazel?" she heard the Councilman's call, meekly meeting his addressing gaze. "There is something I must tell you that you may find…upsetting."
Brown eyes grew wide with a worried shudder. Simmons stretched from between Remy's thighs before his paws slunk towards Hazel, careful not to startle her as he nestled his way onto her lap.
With a softened expression, the Councilman exhaled a gruffy breath. "Anthony had reached a point wherein he could not bear the crushing guilt of his sins…" he stalled, prolonging the rip of the bandage "…so, he ended his own suffering."
Simmons pressed his right side against her striped sweater, stretching his neck to brush the forehead of his bristling fur to the little girl's chin that had begun to tremble. She gasped a sob as the eyes that had taken forever to dry freshly brimmed with the breath-taking punch to her hollow chest. Was this karma?
Remy lifted a curious gaze towards Hazel's tears. "…did Anthony do something to you, Hazel?"
Hazel winced plaintively, and the ferret allowed her quivering arms to cling around his body.
"I do not intend to speak your truth for you." Persimmon advised. "And I cannot allow you to continue to hide behind locked lips."
Hazel clutched Simmons tighter "…no…" she whimpered, shaking her head. "…I-I can't…"
"You are hurting no one but yourself."
Her eyes shot up, tears slipping down her cheeks. If what Persimmons said about Anthony is true, then her brother can never hurt her again. With her luck, their parents would somehow pin the blame of his untimely death on her sudden disappearance. How was she hurting herself when she would be punished regardless?
"Hazel." she didn't need to look to feel Remy's piercing eyes. "What did he do to you?"
"…no…" her sorrowful tears buried wet cheeks into the red ferret's fur, Simmons' frowning at the weight of her anguish. The pain was far too great, but she'd rather the pain destroy her than everyone around her.
Persimmon found himself in a pickle. He saw no trouble using his magical companion to discipline a defiant child. However, drawing the most traumatic secret out of an inflicted child, he recognized, was a whole other test of his morality.
Acting entirely on his own, Simmons went aglow in taffy-pink glitters, but instead of controlling Hazel's body, he accessed her mind. Downloading her memories into his magic's internal hard drive.
"Simmons, what are you doing?!" Persimmon fretted. Considering the intrusiveness of it all, he did not think this the best approach. However, there was no changing Simmons' mind once made up.
Hazel squeaked when Simmons wildly wrestled against her clinging grasp, wiggling himself free. The young billionaire gasped in small surprise when Simmons leaped across into his lap and pressed his front paws to the boy's shoulders. Red paws glistened pink, transferring flashes of magical data into the computer of Remy's mind, and his lips pinched together in a hard line, mint-green widening in a catatonic stupor…
He saw everything.
He saw the nanny act upon his twisted fantasies with a young boy, the same twisted fantasies that had been acted upon him. He saw Fenwick cup Anthony's cheek, reaffirming him that their bond must stay between them. He saw the argument in her bedroom, Hazel's proven accusations against Anthony's conflicted denial. He saw Anthony stick a needle into Nyekundu…saw Hazel hitting him in distress. Saw him smack Hazel to the ground, saw him straddle her and force her arms over her head. Saw him shove the handkerchief into her mouth and-
…Christ...
When Simmons retreated his paws, weak lips parted in a sharp breath, and haunted mint-green glossed. Any semblance of coherent thoughts a jumbled, chaotic mess in his busied brain. There were simply no words. His heart cracked, shattering into broken pieces. That sick, demented bastard! That poor, innocent girl…
Realizing what had just occurred, a knot clenched her throat, and her jaw grew tense with strain. Guttural shame and gripping agony quivering her lips as pain poured from her eyes. She doubled over with her hands cupping her face, amplifying her sniveling whines. There are such things best left unsaid, yet what's done in the dark will always come to light…
Remy inched his head towards her ragged sobs, spiteful fire tremoring beneath his watering stare. That prick had the nerve, the absolute gumption, to kill himself…because he was suffering?! Because he couldn't deal with what he'd done?!
"The nanny had manipulated her brother." Persimmon grimly clarified as if he could hear Remy's thoughts. "Coerced him into attacking his own sister so that his own hands remained clean."
"W-What?" Hazel whispered shakily, lowering her damp palms. "Y-You mean…?"
"Yes…" Persimmon grimaced beneath his hood. "Anthony had been sent to drug your godmother and break your spirit as part of Fenwick's malevolent scheme."
As tears streamed from Hazel's trembling wide stare, Remy grinded his teeth with gritting fists, strained breaths flaring his nostrils as Simmons knitted his commiserative brow. Anthony had his faults, but Fenwick did not deserve to draw breath! Living in suffering was not justice! That unsightly urchin deserved to rot in the hottest, fiery depths!
"Remy…" The elder fae addressed the other godchild, choosing to move on to the next important matter. "There is something I must tell you as well."
Mouth clamped with a tremoring jaw, Remy forced fixed eyes to meet the Councilman's gaze, spasms of irritation crossing his face.
"The Buxaplenty private jet nosedived and crashed in a field." Persimmon allowed his pause time to breathe before he dropped the bombshell "…there were no survivors."
The shiver that shot down Remy's spine spread like a burning wildfire.
As her own eyes stung red with heartache, Hazel turned to the vexed gawk of momentary paralysis that froze like a still frame. The world around him felt detached from what was real, like a fish-eyed blur, yet his heightened awareness sharpened his senses into overdrive.
Golden rays of her last hope of sunlight diffused into an endless pool of blue, growing darker and darker the further she sank. Her feeble arms failed to paddle against the gravity of descending depths. Her kicking legs struggled to bring her back towards the sun-speckled surface, sinking her faster. Strands of platinum blonde rose like seaweed upwards, rippling in the swirling currents dragging her down.
Fire stung in her chest, a winter chill shivering in her skin. Her heart hammered against her ribs, ballooning a deafening pressure in her skull. Suffocation crushed her lungs, and the desperate fight for air choked in her throat. Blackness slowly crept around her vision. Her lungs cried out, and a gush of water rushed in a silent scream.
Water crashed in salty burns against her throat, tearing agony throughout her body. Her arms weakened, and her legs slowed. The water let her go, her body floating like a soft feather down deeper. Her thoughts drifted into flickering snapshots of memories before the baby-blue orbs that darted with terror glazed over, and her eyelids lowered as a sea of abyss washed over.
The light was blind, and darkness shined…
She awoke with a gulped breath, springing upright in a jolting start.
"You are alive, Chloe." Her eyes snapped to the fae hooded in turquoise kneeled to her left, a gentle hand palming her tense shoulder. "It was not real."
Breathing labored, her crazed eyes darted about. Scanning the sea-green ivy vining the umber trunks of curved trees. Tips of her icy fingers felt the soft bed of grass beneath her, bare arms washed with the yellow rays above.
Raising a trembling hand to the rapid thumps in her chest, her constricted throat found the voice to squeak "…w-what happened?"
"You had a seizure." Treebelle revealed, and Chloe shot her a baffled glance.
"…w-what?!"
"It was psychogenic and non-epileptic, triggered by extreme emotional stress and anxiety." Treebelle calmly specified. "Almost like an overblown panic attack."
Chloe looked to her sweaty palms with a shudder. She vaguely remembered something similar to this back in her hometown of Brightsburg; her fourth-grade class was in the middle of standardized testing when a prompt asking to identify a number pattern sent her fear of answering incorrectly into a surging spiral. Her panic had gotten so bad that she remembered these cold shimmers shaking in her body, and then the next she knew, she felt herself on the ground. Opening her eyes to mocking laughter and pointed fingers of her peers…
Her brain was diseased, even back then…
Still kneeling, Treebelle released Chloe's shoulder. "Would you like to talk about your dream?"
The Councilwoman's question pulled her back to real time, staring at the glowing yellow eyes shrouded by hooded darkness. Considering the idea, but only for a second. "…n-no…" Shame hung Chloe's head, lowering her upturn palms to her lap. She didn't want to talk about anything. Not about the vivid dream that felt more real than the punching blow of her mother's death…
Then, realization broadened her stare. "W-Wait…" Chloe lifted her chin, her eyes darting back and forth "…where's Dwight?"
When she heard a low tu-whoo, she glanced across to her left to see dark-teal saucers fixed in their stare towards her. Bella was nested in the other godchild's bent knees. She seemed unbothered by the shuddering shoulders that wrapped lanky arms, restricting her wings to the sides of her chest. She also didn't seem to mind the whimpering cheek pressed to the indigo feathers behind her head.
"Your attack was quite the shock for him; he had never seen anything quite like that from you before." Treebelle explained why Dwight was squeezing an owl from a distance.
Chloe's brow furrowed in a guilted frown. "I-I'm sorry…" she turned to Treebelle's attentive gaze. "I-I didn't mean to scare anybody…"
"Do not apologize. You had no control."
Chloe stiffened, recognizing the words thrown back at her.
"He is very worried about you." Treebelle hinted at a suggestion. "How about you go over to him? He may appreciate it."
Looking back to the boy's faint shivers, Chloe agreed with a weak nod. Grunting from the dull soreness in her muscles, she staggered to her feet with Treebelle's assisting hand. Once steady enough, she tugged awkwardly at platinum blonde locks, taking a deep breath in her tentative strides towards him.
Flinching her ear-like tufts, Bella acknowledged her oncoming presence with a twitter, though Dwight's lack of awareness continued to nuzzle his cheek into her feathers. He jerked from his mewling trance when Bella broke his arms' embracing barrier to expand her wings and leaped from his lap into a smooth glide through the air, something she easily could have done if she had wanted to leave at any point.
As Bella returned to the outstretched sleeve of her maker, a small breeze swept through his striped shirt. Dwight sat agape at the seamless sway of platinum locks dancing with the gentle gust of air that faded as quickly as it started.
Stopping less than a foot away, Chloe licked her dry lips, bending her arms to her chest "…hey, Dwight…"
He swiftly shuffled off the ground when the stun of surprise wore off. "Chloe! You're awake!"
She had no time to brace herself for the impact of his thankful embrace. She winced as he latched onto her, nestling his chin on her shoulder as her arms were strained to her sides. The longer he held her, the redder her cheeks flushed.
He gave one gentle squeeze before letting her go. "I'm so glad you're okay…"
"…um…yeah. I-I'm fine." she blinked to the relief in his gaze, managing to keep her tone deceptively even "…are…you okay?"
He smiled his first genuine smile in a long, long time. "I am now that you are."
Despite her overall fatigue, Chloe feigned a withered grin. Dwight really was such a kind soul. Why did he ever have to suffer…
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm…a little stiff." She admitted, rubbing the crook in her neck.
"I bet." Dwight empathized. "Does your head hurt?"
"…sort of?" Chloe guessed, though her head felt foggy rather than achy. "But…if it's okay…" she tugged at another strand of hair, clearing the scratchiness in her throat. "I-I'd like to ask you something."
"Sure! Ask me anything."
She could feel a humid heat beneath her armpits, hesitant to ask "…are you ever scared when you have a seizure?"
His smile wilted, though it did not drop completely. "Yeah…especially if I can feel one coming on."
Chloe absently scratched at her chin "…does…it make you anxious?"
Thinking for a moment, Dwight shrugged "…sometimes, yeah."
Bella twittered out of shrill boredom, ruffling her chest feathers. Treebelle held a finger to her shaded lips to calmy shush her; she was simply trying to hear the conversation. Just listening from a distance. No eavesdropping once so ever.
"…I probably sound like a hypocrite, but…" she picked at her nails, her gaze downcast. "I'm sorry for making you worried..."
"It's okay." Shoving hands in his jean pockets, Dwight folded his lips before his shoulders drooped with a sigh. "Now I understand what others go through with my seizures…"
"Yeah, because seizures can be terrifying…"
In a finger's snap, her eyes became as distant as her voice. Struck with the bang of suppressed memories "…that doesn't mean I struggle with this so-called anxiety…"
The unexpected change in her demeanor squinted Dwight's quizzical brow "…wait, what do you mean?"
"You have a real, neurological disorder…yet I pop pills that clearly didn't do their job…" Chloe's stare blanked, as if the thoughts in her own head had been swapped with the cold, vicious tongue of her mother "…I don't need them, and never did…"
Deep furrows appeared between his brows, studying the eyes that seemed to stare through him like translucent paper. Where was all this coming from?
Haunted eyes stricken with inner anxiety, her lips twitched in sharp, anxious gasps for breath.
"Chloe?" he stepped forward, pressing tender hands to the rigid wrists clutched against her. "Chloe, what's wrong-"
"Get a grip!" she shouted, swiping his hands away. Wild eyes glaring past Dwight at whoever or whatever was invisible to everyone else but her. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with you!"
Dwight's jaw dropped, taken aback. Frozen in his stare "…C-Chloe-"
"You saw for yourself what a real mental disorder looks like! That boy's poor brain literally malfunctions at a moment's glance!" Chloe's feet stumbled backwards by an unseen finger firmly shoving her by the chest. "You make yourself hyperventilate! You make a big fuss over stuff that's just all in your head!"
She clutched at her chest with trembling fingers, as if trying to keep her pounding heart from exploding from her chest. Her mind jolted blank, anxiety boiling into rage. Rage that bubbled deep in her pit, sweltering through her throat.
Reading between the lines of pain in her scowl, his brows knitted, and his stare glossed. These were not Chloe's words. This was not her. This was someone else's needle whose hostility had etched spiteful words into the skin of her psyche like a deep-rooted tattoo.
"Stop being a whiney brat-"
A hooting screech rang, cutting the air. As if slowing time, a swipe of wind from the gaudy stretch of spread-eagle wings acted as a barrier between her and Dwight. Saucers of dark-teal orbs pierced with a turquoise glow, and Chloe's scowl weakened to a vacant expression.
When Bella's eyes dimmed before she fluttered off, a heaviness washed over her, and her knees buckled as her legs gave way.
"Chloe!"
Dwight rushed with outstretched arms, catching her frontwards fall as her deadweight fell against his chest. Though she could barely keep her head from rocking back, her eyes were still open. He could see a semblance of her essence seep through the glassy blue orbs rimmed with fresh tears, her murmured whisper distant with a pained crack…
"…m-m…m-my mother…is dead…"
He locked eyes with her as a breath shuddered in his chest. He saw a single tear trace a haunted path down her cheek, and an empathic twinge in his heart bit down on his quivering lip, his own eyes brimming at the heart-wrenching sight.
Holding out her sleeve for Bella's smooth glide to land noiselessly, the Fairy Councilwoman observed the children from a distance with a vexed grimace. This was exactly what the fae elder had been afraid of…
Connie Carmichael had full, unabating control…even in death.
AN: Would you believe I had writer's block all week up until yesterday, and then I pull this out of my ass?
Ya'll...I think Dwight and Chloe are growing on me. I freaking love them to bits.