Reflection

14

I stepped back out into the large room, trying to pull myself together, like Adam instructed. He had brought me to a nearby bathroom, wiped the blood off of both of us (thankfully there was none on my dress), and wiped some of the ash off, but left most of it on.

The music was back on as we stepped out into the room, and I fidgeted nervously. Adam seemed confident and smug. How could he be so confident? Then I reminded myself: you're an actress. Act! So that's what I did. I straightened up, held my chin high, and marched into the room.

The Elder's eyes drifted to us the second we entered. I had planned on hiding my eyes, but I hadn't completely cooled off. When it had happened, I'd been scared, but now I was just angry about his attempt to kill us.

So I took a deep breath, and raised my eyes to his.

At first he looked a little surprised, whether from the ash or that I was moronic enough to do what I was doing, I didn't know. Then he quickly wiped all expression off his face, though his eyes were still narrowed. I allowed a small, smug smile to cross my lips as I glared at him. Neither of us was going to let our eyes drop, and I certainly wasn't planning on it until I heard Reuben. "Adam! Scarlett!" he exclaimed as he approached us.

"What happened?" he asked. Right on his trail were James and Ellie, both staring at me with wide eyes. "Is that—?" started Ellie.

"Ash?" James finished. Adam nodded. "Scarlett was ambushed. Luckily, I got there just in time to kill them both and save her life."

My eyes snapped up to glare at him. "That is not what happened!" Adam looked amused as Reuben asked, "What really happened?"

"Well—" Adam started. "It's not important," I interrupted, giving Reuben a look that said, 'later.' James, however, didn't seem to catch on. "Wait, but what happened? Did—" Ellie slapped a hand over his mouth. "She said it's not important."

James finally seemed to understand, and nodded. "Ok so two guys—" Adam started after rolling his eyes. I smacked Adam on the back of the head and hissed, "Shut up!"

He did. Literally. Even though he tried to, he couldn't seem to get the words out. "Woah!" Ellie exclaimed. "Can you teach me how to do that?" Adam looked at me with a panicked expression. Fix this!, I heard. I glanced around. "Who said that?"

Reuben, who was staring at Adam, muttered, "said what?"

"'Fix this,'" I answered. It wasn't Ellie, it was a guy, and Reuben didn't know what I was talking about. "James?"

He shook his head. I glanced around the room. No one else was paying attention to us. "Adam?" His eyes were wide; I could tell it was him. But he couldn't talk, and someone else would have heard it.

"I have an idea," I told Reuben. I looked at Adam. "You can talk now."

He opened his mouth, but had nothing to say. I was starting to worry that it hadn't worked when he said, in a very small voice, "That was me."

"How? You couldn't talk!"

"I didn't say it," he replied. "I was thinking it."

I looked at Reuben. "What is going on?"

"I don't know," he said, looking genuinely flustered.