Page 50 of Fallen Thorns
“Yeah, I suppose.” My mind wandered.
“A lot,” Mars pressed.
I pressed my lips together in hesitation. “We’ve stuck close by each other these last few months and we knew each other before moving here. Familiarity, you know? I don’t think I do well in new places.”
“Yeah, I get that. I was seven when I moved over here; I couldn’t speak a word of English and I was just expected to blend in as if it’s the easiest thing in the world. Well, I quickly discovered it was not.”
We both laughed.
“So, have you ever been back then? To the Philippines?”
“Once. It’s not exactly around the corner, but it was nice to see my grandparents again. They never change, probably never will. Maybe they’re immortal too,” they joked.
I never knew my grandparents. They both died either before I was born or shortly after, and my dad’s side might as well have not existed at all. I didn’t say that though. No need to dampen the mood.
“You mentioned you had a sister?” I probed, just trying to make the conversation flow.
“Yeah,” they said absently. “Poppy.”
They didn’t continue and I feared that I’d already managed to ruin the conversation. “We don’t have to—”
“She passed away.”
My chest exploded. “God, I’m sorry, I didn’t...”
“No, no. You couldn’t have known. I don’t really discuss it, ever.” They downed the rest of their blood. “Don’t worry about it. Please.” Mars smiled.
But I could only sit and watch as my surroundings fuzzed and warped around me.
“Don’t get hung up on it, honestly. It’s completely fine. Anyway,” Mars gestured with their hands, “let's get this place cleaned up.”
“Yeah...”
It surprisingly didn’t take as longas I had originally anticipated to get the room somewhat back to normal; in fact, with Mars’ help, we were done in no time. I washed the window frame as casually as I could in case someone were to see me from outside.
We worked mostly in silence and I blamed only myself for that matter. I shouldn’t have pushed, but I was glad they felt able to share that with me. Maybe we were becoming good friends. Was this friendship? I needed to be kinder to them. As they scrubbed the walls, I kept looking over and watched as they and brushed their hair behind their ears. What was that moment? My lip still tingled from the touch, and I instinctively pressed my thumb to it as though to wipe away the sensation. It was nothing. Just a friend helping a friend.But what if they... I shook my head. I couldn’t bring myself to think of it. Mars seemed so genuine and kind, and theywereattractive, but I just couldn’t...dothat.What is wrong with me?
ChapterTwelve
I’ll wait for him. He will come to me. He always does.
“Ihad a look into that name you gave me: Lucy, Lucienne. I asked around a bit. No one was willing to give me any information, or more, no one had any information to provide.”
It was the following day, and we were back at the hideout. I’d slept in my own bed that night, mostly buried under the covers and squeezing my eyes tight in desperation, yearning for sleep to take me. My room no longer felt like my room anymore. It was beginning to hold too many scenes I would rather have forgotten.
Mars met me in the morning and walked me back to join The Thorns; we strolled mostly in silence, but there was no awkwardness between us. I spent the entire time stealing glances at them and trying to figure out what made me worth all this. They could have all left me — or killed me even, because that’s what I deserved, for everyone’s safety. But they didn’t. If anything, I felt closer to The Thorns now than I had with any group at school. There was this unspoken unity and respect, something I’d so ignorantly turned away from. A family.
Marianne was pacingas Mars and I sat on the couch opposite her.
“You would think that sort of green hair would be an easy marker, but nope,” she continued, hands finding her hips. “Apparently university students had a meeting and decided natural hair colours just weren’t cool enough anymore.”
“I mean, why not? Uni is all about finding yourself, right?” Mars jested. I forced a delayed chuckle. That had been my plan, to find myself.Now perhaps I never will.
“We’re sure she’s the one doing the killings though?” I asked, though it was half a question, half a request for confirmation to ease the darkness in my mind. I already knew the answer, I just needed to ask one last time.
Marianne twitched. “Most likely. But like we’ve said before, she can’t be doing this alone. Even the youngest of our kind know it would be stupid to enact so many close public killings in such a short space of time. No, she’s with others. How many, we do not know, but all we have to go off is your description and…” She gestured to the medieval style door to our left, “those two.”
I’d almost forgotten about the two captives.
