14 | THREE DOWN
“You’ve been awful quiet, princess.” Mikyle says to me early the next morning. We’re halfway between Colton and Kiwina by now, the stillness and quiet feeling almost as claustrophobic as my raging thoughts. At the crack of dawn, Mikyle came to collect me and the two of us left Colton without so much as a ‘goodbye’ to Mina.
After my conversation with the Ancient, however, the King’s behaviour towards me is the least of my worries. *I mean, what could be more important than the apocalypse?*
It’s the first thing I intend to ask Blue next time I see him. *How the fuck could my mate keep this from me? What’s wrong with him? I mean, I get the whole ‘I can handle it on my own’ bull, but it’s not like him! Or, at least, it was something he pestered me about last year when we were having shit-visions. And now this?? I mean, seriously?*
“-Princess?” Mikyle interrupts my inner-rant, reminding me he said something.
“I…I think I’m still in shock.” I mutter to him honestly. I want to talk about the stuff with the Ancient, but it’s not something you can just tell someone like Mikyle. I think, if I tell him an Ancient visited me and told be - point-blank - that Blue and I screwed the world over by living, he’d either have me committed or try to find a way to kill the lady. And probably die in the process.
“Yeah, I get that.” Mikyle says slowly, and I feel his eyes on me for a second. “Well, I guess, whenever you want to talk about it, I’m here. Okay?” His words would be so sweet if I weren’t mentally drenched in blood from a hemorrhaging wound the size of the whole universe.
“M’kay…” I hum, leaning my head against the cool window and staring at the blurs of yet another city. As much as I’d like to ask him about his family and weirdness from the King, I know that’s a me-problem. And not exactly the most pressing issue.
I find myself massaging the burning ache in my chest as we get closer to Kiwina, though the pain and pull have dulled considerably, the bond feels particularly tight for some reason. It both irks me and makes me miss Blue. Yet another problem I’m going to have to deal with. I think to myself, getting lost in the replay of the conversation with the Ancient.
She said she talked to Blue seven months ago and he decided not to involve me. Now we’re seven months closer to D-day had he hasn’t so much as mentioned this to me. Aggravation creates a monster-headache, pounding against my skull as I think over the options the woman gave me.
They all sound like shit.
Well, at least the two I’m actually considering.
Though I’m not sure what we’ll need to do specifically, the Ancient mentioned screwing with five evens in the next three weeks. Five that will happen simultaneously. I assume these five things will bring about the end of the world, and that’s why they need to be altered. In my head, I try to think of at least five people I could trust to help me with something this huge. Mom and Hale make two, then there’s Ms. Jin, of course. But beyond that, I don’t know who else I can really count on to get any job done and live to tell the tale. Or trust enough not to screw things up - myself included.Normally, I’d include Blue in that list - but seeing as he failed to mention the apocalypse and our hand in it - I don’t count him as particularly ‘trustworthy’ at the moment.
I massage my temples, thinking for the next few hours of how the hell I’m going to explain all of this to my parents. They’re the first on my list of those I should interview for the job. In three days, I need at least five people to help, ready to go at a moments notice to wherever the events are taking place.
“You sure you’re feeling okay, princess?” Mikyle asks me as we park in front of my house some time later.
“I don’t know, Mikyle.” I tell him honestly, my temples tender after so much time and pressure I put into massaging the hell out of them. I’m sure there’s a fading bruise there, but my headache hasn’t lessened. “I feel like I need to sleep for a couple hundred years.” I grumble, unbuckling my seatbelt and turning to face him in my seat. “You and I are going to have some serious words in the near future.” I warn him, narrowing my eyes at the vampire.
“We will,” He agrees with a solemn nod. “First, I’m going to have to report this to your father.” He warns me back and I feel my mouth twist into a grimace. “He knew the risks in taking you to the palace.” Mikyle insists, making me relax a little.
But only a little. Hale can be downright scary if you piss him off. And I’m pretty sure my encounter with the King will piss him off. Despite our relationship being as lax as it is, it’s clear the old vampire cares about me enough to go to war - as I saw last year. My father may be many things, but I’m not sure I like the idea of setting him loose on the palace just because the King tried to kill me.
“Just…” I feel my grimace become a rueful smirk. “Don’t exaggerate.” I warn him and Mikyle shares my smirk.
“Don’t worry, princess, I know how to talk to your old man.” Mikyle tells me, and for once, I take his words at face value.
“M’kay.” I hum and open my door, hoping out and pulling my duffle from under my seat. “I’ll call you sometime in the next few days to talk about what happened.” I add over my shoulder, making sure to give him the verbal warning only after I’ve exited the car. I don’t want him to try and talk to me about the lesser issue right now.
“I’ll be waiting with bated breath,” Mikyle replies putting the car into gear. I roll my eyes, slamming the car door on his smirking face as the vamp mock-salutes me through the window. I give him a quick wave before turning and going into the house, not bothering to see if he waits for me to go inside before he drives away.
The second I’m truly alone, everything I talked over with the Ancient begins rattling around in my head. I toss my duffle into my room, not caring where it lands, before heading out the back door. The air’s warm with the afternoon sun, but I’m unseasonably cold within. It’s not the weird emptiness or biting chill that comes with the vampiric change, it’s other. A pang of disbelief and incredulity warring in the pit of my soul and clouding my mind.
And suddenly, I don’t want to be alone.
Taking a second to kick off my tennis shoes, I take off towards the woods behind my house, keeping my form human since it’s still light outside. My Wolven senses rise to the surface as the usual exhilaration that comes with running floods my tense body. Though I long to be in my wolf form, I find running like this even better for me. Considering I’m a hybrid, and my vampire form is more humanoid than the Wolven one, I stick to a more humanoid form most days now anyway.
I follow the pull to run faster and faster with each passing second, easily maneuvering my body through the thicket of trees and shrubbery as I go. The sounds of life and rustling of leaves in the air pull at the messy tangle of my thoughts, soothing and emptying them of their restrictive power over me. The more I run, the better I feel. So I keep going, past the boundaries of the woods of Kiwina and into the even thicker trees in Port Greene. I keep running, not bothering to allow my human thoughts to stop me as my instincts drive me to the place I feel I need to go.
