“Momma, I brought you flowers!” Sparrow’s little voice chirped. She bounced around me to our mother, tending to the small garden we had. The fair haired child was so proud that she had spent the entire afternoon picking wildflowers of all hues to deliver to our mom. I patted her shoulder, standing next to her. My mom took the present in careful hands, leaning up from her work. Mom’s hazel eyes closed in contentment as she took a whiff of the plants.

“They’re beautiful, little bird.” My mother sighed, wrapping one long arm around my little sister’s waist. Sparrow threw her thin arms around my mom’s neck and squeezed her as tightly as she could. It seemed as if this was another normal day in the life of the Merida house hold.

“I’m going to play with the man, momma!” She turned around and skipped off. My mom shrugged it off, as if it was nothing. Her mind probably translated it to playing with Toltek.

“Man?” I whispered curiously. As I followed my gaze to my sister, there was a tall figure, almost statue-like, at the edge of the woods. The cloak was draped around his shoulders, barely touched by the wind. When it did, it revealed pale skin beneath the fabric.

“SPARROW!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. That pale skin could only mean one thing….

And so I watched her reach her small hand up to be taken by his.

“SPARROW!” I gasped. My lungs heaved up and down, as if I was punched in the chest. Heartbeats pounded faster than a galloping horse as I leapt to my feet in anxiety. Stumbling over to the bars, I collapsed against them. Taking deep breaths, I attempted to rationalize the situation.

It had only been a dream, only a figment of my imagination. That wasn’t reality. Beautiful little Sparrow couldn’t be taken, no, not her.

“Are you okay, Jynx?” Misty asked me. Her face appeared through the bars. I nodded, trying to force a calm smile on my face.

“Oh yes, I just had a bad dream.” I yawned. Misty’s eyes held another question, but she never asked it.

“They’ll be down to give us some free time in a few minutes.” Grey-Girl warned. Stretching out my legs, I went and leaned against the back wall. Cold stone seeped through my shirt to chill my back. My scattered thoughts started to slowly recollect after Austin’s feeding.

“Horse, run fast to slay the queen. Tower take down the pawns and capture the king. Little feet on clay tiles, twenty squares what seems like a mile!” Blue clapped and cheered at the mention of free time.

“Yes, Blue, Ghost will come down and play chess with you.” Mike chuckled. My thoughts were tossed aside at the mention of chess. I remember the town’s peasant, Sires, challenge anyone who passed by him to chess. It seemed to be his only possession and only hobby.

“Chess?” I asked.

“Red for the cancer, red for the wealthy, red for the drinks that are mixed with suicide!” Blue chuckled gleefully.

“She likes to play chess with Ghost. Blue is very good at it.” GG explained. Nodded, I peered over to the poetic girl.

“Black for the deceit, black for the swords, black for the rivers run on the ground.” I heard the words and shuddered. Sure, the tiles were red and black, but Blue somehow managed to make them menacing.

The door swung open silently and Ghost came in, locking it behind him. Quietly, he went to each door and used a single rusty key to slide into the lock and let the iron doors squeal as they opened. Ghost opened Blue’s door first. The three girls silently filed out.

Once everyone entered the floor, Ghost took a board out from under his arm and set it down in the corner. Blue sat opposite of him, her rough hands clasped together. The two looked content as they set up each end of the board.

“Hey, what’s up?” Vic came next to me, sitting down and leaning against a wall. Sighing, I turned and raised an eyebrow as a silent shrug.

“Nothing much. You?” I asked casually. It’s not like something had instantly changed. We literally saw each other every moment of every day. The only time I didn’t see him was if I turned around to talk to Misty.

“Eh, Tony is still drawing turtles in the dirt and Mikey is still sleeping for most of the day.” He responded. We both turned back to face the front of the prison area. Misty, Annabelle, Luna, and GG were all chatting together. Kellin, Mike, and Jaime were playing some finger game in the dirt. Tony was drawing turtles.

“STUPID MAN ON HORSE THAT TRAMPLES A TOWER! SNOW SHALL FALL RED! JUST WAIT UNTIL THE HOUR! FOR THEN AN ARMY WILL BE DEAD!” Blue screeched in dismay. Ghost looked pleased with himself as he gently knocked Blue’s dirty white tower onto the stone. A tiny horse head figurine took the tower’s place. He beamed. She glowered.

“Your move.” He chuckled softly. She grumbled and unfolded her arms before sliding a pawn over a couple spots.

“Their games are usually much louder than this.” Vic whispered to me quietly. I smiled, my eyes crinkling from the gesture.

“I can’t imagine.”

“Trust me, it’s gotten bad enough that Master Motionless ran down here, thinking that Master Ghost was draining her.”

“Geez, that’s pretty loud. Now I have to ask, will I ever see Misty tease one of the night hounds?” I asked him quietly. In the corner, Tony looked like a little kid playing with crayons. His face lit up when he finished his shelled drawing.

“Only if Master Balz takes her up at the same time Austin takes you aboveground.” Vic rolled his eyes with another shrug.

“Or if Master Balz takes Op’Ri’Er down here. It happens on occasion.” Misty joined in. Annabelle joined Tony’s side in the corner, breaking away from Misty and GG.

“Yes and trust me, you will find out that he is a pervert, but a wonderful one at that.” Misty giggled. Ghost rolled his eyes, but kept concentrating on the game. Blue looked happy as she kicked his evil knight off the board.

“You are lucky that I don’t tell him this stuff.” Ghost grumbled.

“Don’t worry, Master Ghost. I tell him myself.” Misty chuckled. Oh the rebel girl; She would get herself in trouble one day.

“Why haven’t I drained you already?” He muttered and knocked off Blue’s queen, causing her to be sent into a shrieking fit.

“THE QUEEN IS DEAD! THE QUEEN IS DEAD! A SPECTER KILLED HER, NOW OFF WITH HER HEAD!” She wailed over and over. Mike clapped his hands over his ears.

“Blue, we get that Master Ghost killed your queen!” He grimaced. Ghost patted Blue’s knee but she had fire in her eyes now.

“You love me too much to drain me!” Misty devilishly yelled back over Blue’s fits.

“I believe the answer is that since Blue is your friend, so I’m not allowed to drain you.” Ghost growled when Blue smacked his knee, making him pay attention to the game. He grabbed her hand, interlinking his fingers in hers and sliding his queen figure into a new position. She grumbled and furrowed her brow in deep concentration.

“Well, aren’t you a little sneak?” He scoffed softly. When Ghost had been too busy arguing with Misty, she had taken her turn and kicked off one of his rooks.

“So is this the usual free time ritual?” I questioned Vic. He nodded, a slight smirk tainting his lips.

Twenty minutes later, we finally had a chess game winner. Pawns were scattered on the floor from where each opponent had slain them.

Ghost was placidly smiling.

Blue was steamed.

“Red leaves in winter will bleed marks of treachery on broken words… For leaves never escape the wretched promise of fall.” She muttered. Himes laughed in the corner since he was the only one who could decode her cryptic messages.

“Hey, you did win last time.” Ghost stuck out his tongue. Blue pretended to pout and helped clean up the figures. They slid easily into a drawer in the bottom of the chess box. They cleaned up and Ghost went to the door. Blue trailed in his wake. The Master gave her a quick kiss before swiftly leaving the room.

She sighed like a love struck child and flopped on the ground beside GG. Annabelle came up beside me and Vic. She sat in front of us, hunching over. Something seemed to worry the girl.

“Hey, Annabelle. What’s up?” Vic asked curiously. She bit her lip. The dim light cast faint glows around the room.

“I’m just worried about Alex.” She whispered. We both turned our entire attention on her. Even Luna and Tony drawing mustaches on turtles in the corner didn’t distract us.

“Why so?” Vic asked softly. The girl hesitated.

“He hasn’t fed in a week.” She responded. My slow brain sped up and the pieces clicked together.

No feeding in a week means he’s very hungry.

Very hungry means bloodlust.

Bloodlust means danger.

This is troubling.

“I thought he fed a couple of hours ago. Didn’t he come down?” Vic pondered. She nodded quickly with a slight exhale. Her hands wrung together in anxiety.

“Well, he came down but he didn’t feed. It’s been a week today and he’s already two days over his limit. I can’t force him to do anything, but I don’t want him to hit bloodlust.” She murmured.

“Don’t worry, I think Jack will try to help keep Alex in check.” Vic patted her shoulder. I nodded. By the way Annabelle talked about Alex, it seemed like he would be smart enough to come down soon.

“Maybe today?”

“Maybe.” He answered with a slight smile.

Oh how wrong that maybe was.

Notes

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