CHAPTER 8

I woke up early today and it didn’t take me long to get ready. I had about thirty minutes before work officially started.

I knocked on the Nevaeh’s door but she didn’t respond.

“Nevaeh”

“Coming” she shouted from inside. Her voice sounded much better so I felt at ease.

She opened the door and I entered.

“You didn’t open yesterday” I said in an accusing voice.

“I’m sorry Paisley. I just… we have only four days until they come for me”

“Stop talking about leaving Nevaeh. I’m going to see Silas today”

“Promise me Paisley. That you’ll get me out of this”

“I promise Nevaeh” I squeezed her hands. My phone rang and I reached into my bag.

“Patricia. I’m awake and already on my way”

“There’s no need for that” I frowned.

“Why? Did I get fired”

“No. The boss asked us not to come in today”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Yes. He said we should consider it an off day”

“I can’t believe it”

“What’s that?” Nevaeh asked.

“The boss gave us an off day” her eyes widened.

“I’ll talk to you later Paisley. I have to go” Patricia hung up.

“Did he really give you an off day?” I nodded.

“I can’t believe it. But why did he suddenly give an off day”

“You should enjoy it. Get some rest. You have bags under your eyes”

“Yeah. I should I just have something to do. Also, Kamiko told me a new diner is opening today. She wants us to check it out”

“Thats good. At least we don’t have to go to the pink place all the time. I hate that place” I chuckled.

Most people didn’t like the pink place. I went there because Edel wanted us to and there was no other good restaurant around. If this place turned out to be good, Rhea was going to lose a lot of customers.

“I’m going back to my room” I told Nevaeh and returned to my room to remove my clothes.

After I had changed into something simpler, I set out to find Silas. The house was empty again. I’ve not seen Coulter around and I made a mental note to call him.

Silas was outside his home when I came. “Good morning Paisley” he said stiffly.

“Good morning Silas. I’m here to see you”

“I know. Harriet told me. Want to come inside?” I nodded and followed him inside.

He opened his office blinds and sat behind his desk.

“Harriet told me you were here yesterday and you mentioned you wanted to see me about the choosing?”

“Yes. My sister cannot go to the beasts” I said in a firm voice.

“You want to go in her place?” He arched a brow.

“Of course not. I don’t want any of us to go”

“That’s impossible Paisley. Your family has been chosen”

“You did the choosing Silas. You can change it”

“You want me to replace your family with another family” I stayed silent and he scoffed.

“It’s pretty selfish of you. You don’t want your sister to go but you want me to send the daughter of another family”

“It’s not….”

“Your family has never been selected before. I’ve had relations who have been sent to the beast. You think I like it?”

“Then nobody should be sent to the beasts. We can’t keep sending our loved ones to them”

“Then are you ready to face the consequences?”

“I think you’re over exaggerating the consequences Silas. The beasts cannot possibly wipe out the entire village because we don’t send a bride to them”

“That’s what you think?” He laughed and it scared me.

“They are animals and they can do anything. I won’t put the life of the others at risk because of your family. The decision has been made and Nevaeh will be sent to the beasts”

“But…”

“We will not speak about this again” he said dismissing me. I huffed and stood up, leaving his office angrily.

I had failed. I wasn’t able to help Nevaeh. I strolled around the park for a bit and then I decided to go home. I couldn’t go to Nevaeh’s shop. She’ll see that I was upset and I’ll have to tell her that I was unable to help her.

Coulter was at home when I returned. He was lounging on the sofa with a friend.

“Where have you been?”

“The next town” he said simply. I rolled my eyes and entered into my room.

The phone rang and I picked it up.

“Hello Kamiko”

“The opening is tonight. Do you want to go shopping before it starts”

“Kamiko…” I grumbled.

“Please. I have nothing to wear”

“When?”

“In an hours time”

“Two hours please. I need to sleep”

“Okay. I’ll come to your house then” I hung up and crawled into bed. I slept easily.

The pounding on my door woke me up. I rolled out of bed and opened my door.

“You said two hours” Kamiko shouted pushing me aside and entering the room.

“I was asleep”

“Get dressed. We don’t have much time anymore”

I grumbled under my breath and entered the bathroom.

“Is it me or does your brother look hotter” she said from the bathroom door.

“What the hell Kamiko”

“He was shirtless when I entered. You should see his muscles”

“Stop talking about my brother like that”

“What? I’ll totally hit that”

“Then tell him. Don’t spoil my ears” she laughed and thankfully, she didn’t say anything about it again.

I changed into pants and a small top. I decided to call Nevaeh to see if she needed anything from the small mall.

“Nevaeh. Kamiko and I are going shopping. Do you need anything?”

“Yeah. The shop is busy so I can’t come and there will be no time to do a video call to choose what k want so just get me anything you like”

“Okay”

“Edel was here”

“He was?”

“Yes. He didn’t look happy. I think you should call him”

“I’ll do that” I hung up and grabbed my small purse. Why was Edel unhappy? We haven’t talked much since that night at his house. But if something was bothering him then he should have called me so we could speak about it.

As we were crossing the pink place, I saw him going towards the back.

“Kamiko. Please I need to speak with Edel. I won’t waste time”

She grumbled but nodded and I ran to the back.

“Edel. Edel” he stopped and turned towards me.

“Babe” he kissed me when I came closer.

“Nevaeh said you came to the shop today and you looked unhappy. Is something wrong?”

He muttered something intelligible under his breath before he gave me a fake smile.

“It’s nothing”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes” he said in a hard voice and I studied him. Something was definitely wrong and if he didn’t want to tell me then I wasn’t going to push him to.

“Are you going somewhere?” He asked.

“Yes. Kamiko and I are going shopping. A diner is opening today and she wants us to try it out”

He frowned but nodded and walked away. Leaving me standing alone at the back.

I turned away and went back to Kamiko. I’ll go and see him later today and maybe he’ll tell me what is actually bothering him.