Chapter 44

KIRA:
I find the owner of the voice as fast as it came. And what I see is an angry-looking Adam standing just outside by the side of the balcony. I get a memo of his reaction instantly, recalling the first-ever long proper discussion I had with him.
“Uhm, Adam, what are you doing here?” I say, giving him the way eyes because I was certain he was going to snap any moment from now.
Instead of responding to what I asked him, he starts to come to the front slowly, still maintaining the visible anger on his face.
I give a brief stare at Bradley who seems confused about the present setup but in my mind, I was blaming him for this because the reaction I was getting from Adam was totally his fault.
When Adam gets to the front, it is clear now that he has his sight set on the confused Bradley. I have to ask the moment he takes a step up the balcony, “What do you think you are doing, Adam?”
Fortunately, I was quick to react because as soon the words leave my lips, my brother has jumped straight at Bradley with a growl which sounds more like a battle cry.
My newfound speed was useful because before he could touch Bradley in any way, I was already in between both of them, using the momentum to grab both of Adam’s arms that were going right for Bradley’s face.
The next thing I do is lock his hands under the pit of my right arm. I follow it up with a twist of his body, putting his back against the front of my body before using my other arm to chokehold him.
“Let me go,” Adam says as he struggles to get out of my reach but unfortunately for him there is no way he will be doing so because I would not allow him to hit Bradley.
“Only if you stay calm,” is what I tell him. “What were you trying to do in the first place? Didn’t I already tell you not to do it?”
“Not my business. Let me go first. I need to teach him a lesson so that next time he will know not to hurt you,”
Then I hear Bradley from behind say, “But what did I do...”
“Oh shut up, Bradley! You know what you did. Adam wants to get back at you because of that so it is better you keep your trap shut before I hit you myself!” are the words that leave my lips as I shut Bradley up.
A little while later, Adam stopped struggling to get out of reach and it was a clue for me to let him go lest his neck suffers some serious pain from having to withhold him too much.
Adam keeps a distance away from me and Bradley as he gets down the balcony. He still looks angry but all of a sudden switches to surprise which I would say I have no idea what made him do like that.
“How did you get so fast... so strong?” those words come out of his mouth unexpectedly to me as he stares at me in awe. It is at that time that I recall how fast I had stopped him. And how much strength had been used to prevent him from getting out of my reach.
“Uhm, uhm,” I struggle to come out with an explanation because, to be honest, I have no plans to tell my brother anything about the change I have gone through. “I have not—”
“She has been training with me,” Bradley quickly comes to rescue while I am still unable to even come up with anything logical to say.
Adam shifts his gaze from me to Bradley and the shift causes a switch in his expression because he now looks angry again as if ready to go at Bradley once more.
“I never asked you,” he says to Bradley and looks back at me, “Is it true?”
I swallow a gulp and nod as a response. I think that got him satisfied because the surprise has totally gone away from him and he is back to looking normal. But behind that normality is still anger which I know would be there for a little while.
When he starts to walk up the balcony again, I let my guard up, preparing to restrain him should in case he tries to attack Bradley again. Even when he finally reaches the balcony and seems to behave like he has no intention of coming at him, I still stay in between both of them, following his every move as he approaches the door.
By the door, he looks ahead of me to Bradley behind and says to him, “Don’t you ever hurt my sister again, you moron!” That was enough for him because he opens the door after that and gets into the quarters, leaving Bradley and me alone outside.
After a sigh, I turn around to look at Bradley who still has the confusion mustered on his face. I scoff and move away because I still plan to keep my distance from him.
“What just happened?” is what I hear him ask as I sit on the first step of the stairway.
“You want to know what happened?” I start to say without glancing at him for even a second. “Well, that was my dear brother planning to beat you up after you hurt his big sis with your words. Is that enough explanation for you?”
“Did you tell everything that happened?”
I have no choice but to gaze at him for a second it two because of his ridiculous question. I made sure it didn’t last more than that before looking away from him. “And why would I tell him anything? I only made him know it was you who made me that miserable. The worse thing is that you had the guts to snitch on me as well,”
“Your parents demanded to know your whereabouts. I had no choice but to tell them.”
“Couldn’t you have found an excuse to give to them like you always do?”
“I’m sorry, but you know how I was that day. I let my emotions cloud my judgment and I truly regret what I did,”
His apologies do not even seem to get to me because hearing him speak was putting more to the anger that I have stored in me against him. I swear that I could hit him on the face this instant if I have the chance.
“Just go. I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” I tell him after some time of already feeling sick to my stomach.
“In like forever?” he asks.
“Perhaps,”
I hear him sigh. Obviously, I didn’t mean that but it was good that I put a little bit of pressure on him like he did to me when he had messed my mind up when he had spoken to me spitefully without a care in the world. Still hurts me to today.
“I will be leaving now,” he says as he starts to walk down the stairs by my side. I make sure to leave enough space for him to pass through because I sure would not be giving him a response.
*****
REID:
“So that is it? Everything you said now is all I need to know about the crisis on the pack?” Venice asks after I finish the full explanation about everything I had to say about the whole issue with the pack. The mysterious disappearances most especially.
“Yes, that is all,” I tell her while watching her apply ointment on my palms which were burnt from having to use them to handle the silver chains used on Hunter.
My hands had been numb at that time because the chains had burned through. It was my fault that I did not use any form of protection before handling the chains but the issue at hand at that time gave me no time to even think of that. Even Ryu went through the same experience as I did.
“Do you feel better now?” Venice asks as she stops applying the ointment and a nod is what I give to her as a response. “So the thing that you guys saw as possible clues were haunted all of you at first before it made Hunter go berserk today, is that it?”
“Exactly,” I affirm. “And it is strange because we still have no idea what it is. Even those in the library haven’t been able to land on a conclusion with the pieces of evidence so right now we are left in the dark,”
“And the possible solution is to make a pact with the Green Dales that have been our arch-rivals for so many years now? I don’t see that working, you know. It feels even weird talking about it,”
“I know. But the Elder might have seen something before deciding on that,”
“Who is this Elder by the way? Father talked about him a lot in the most spiteful way but he never mentioned why he despises him.”
I shrug as I stand up. While adjusting my coat-like jacket, I say, “Let’s just say he’s one of a kind,”