SURVIVE (THRIVE: Book Two)

Chapter 26- Kept in the Dark

"Upstairs, now." Daddy shouts at Aria and Pearl as we walk down the hall to the dining room.

"Yes sir-" Pearl tries to respond.

"Daddy, no. They know what's going on and deserve to be kept in the loop." I state defensively.

"What were you five thinking going down there? How did you even know what we were doing?" He asks worriedly.

"We overheard you and Aunt Viki talking before. Don't blame me for being curious about what the fuck is going on." I state aggressively "There's no need to treat me like a child who can't handle shit anymore."

"Tessa, maybe we should go." Aria tries to cut in.

"Don't." I state bluntly "Daddy, don't be mad that we followed you downstairs. We were just doing what we had to do."

"Breeze, I'm not mad that you know. But you shouldn't have snuck around behind our backs like that." Daddy sighs "This is serious, and now that we've looked into it more, you can see how risky it is." he explains.

"I know." I sigh "But what are we supposed to do now?"

"We haven't figured that out. It sounds like you know as much as we do at this point since you were listening in... Wait a minute, how did you get to that section of the caves?" he asks worriedly.

"Um, what?" I respond nervously "Well, we just went in another way and-"

"You opened the vault, didn't you?" He asks frustratedly "Breeze, we sealed that place up for a reason. You shouldn't have gone down there."

"We didn't exactly have another option," I mumble, trying not to make eye contact. Pearl and Aria both seem nervous and don't know what to do. This entire conversation is just awkward, he hasn't treated me like a kid in over a century now.

"Fine, I'll let that slide for now." he sighs "Girls, I won't keep you in the dark about how this goes, Roxie is having the same conversation with the others right now. But I have to warn you, you can't tell anyone about this. It's too risky for a lot of reasons, we don't want to tip off the culprits and we definitely don't want to cause a panic in town. Got it?"

"Yes sir." Pearl and Aria say in unison.

"Is there anything else you want us to do?" I ask anxiously. He seems to think for a moment as he looks at the three of us.

"If you hear anything suspicious, I want to be the first to know. Aside from that, keep up like normal," he explains. The three of us nod our heads in response. "Good. Now, you three should probably head back to the home soon. When you see Nanea and Brendan, let them know that I need to talk to them urgently."

"Will do," I answer as we start to make our way out, but before we make it very far, I stop and turn around. Daddy looks at me in confusion for a moment before I run into his arms, embracing him tightly. He immediately hugs me back, gently holding the back of my head.

"It's going to be okay, we're going to figure this out," he states reassuringly.

"I really hope so."

The walk home was completely silent, none of us knew what to say at this point. The people around us in town were just going about their daily lives, and I couldn't help but look at each and every one of them with a sense of dread. Who knows who could be lurking among us, and who knows who the next victims might be? There's no way that something like that would only happen once. They were right, it seemed like a cult may be being formed right under our noses. The closer we got home, the more I felt a morbid curiosity about what that sacrificial circle looked like. The thought terrified me.

"I feel like I'm going to be sick," Pearl states as we walk through the door.

"Me too." Aria sighs as she wanders to the couch, sitting down and curling into a ball "Your world is insane, you know that?" she states as she looks up at me. I can't help but sigh and look down at the ground.

"I would be lying if I said that it wasn't. But still, I've never seen anything like this happen after all this time." I explain nervously "Everyone sounds terrified, I don't even know where to start. Ever since I was born, I've heard stories about their old lives, but I've never experienced anything remotely as bad as any of that shit."

"How are we supposed to just keep this to ourselves? Everyone in town could be in danger." Pearl asks worriedly.

"Arsen was right, if the rest of the public found out, it would cause a panic." Aria explains anxiously.

"So, what? Are we just supposed to sit around and wait for these freaks to leave behind another pile of bodies?" Pearl asks defensively.

"That's not what I'm saying." Aria sighs "But what is anyone else going to do about it? We don't know shit about this stuff and they're right, we don't know how to go about looking."

"Not to mention we seem like we're in over our heads here," I state bluntly. Pearl seems to be at a loss for words as she goes over to the other chair and sits down, thoughtfully staring out the window.

"Tessa, how are we just supposed to go to school tomorrow after all that?" Aria asks worriedly.

"I don't know, I guess I'm used to keeping big secrets at this point. But... I have no idea." I sigh as I sit on the ground against the wall.

"What are you going to do about Magnus?" Pearl nervously asks, "We already agreed that he deserves to know about you."

"Son of a- I didn't even think about that." I say frustratedly "I don't even know where to start about that. This just turned into the worst time to reveal shit." I explain.

"It's also the worst time not to say anything about it." Aria states "Seriously, the longer you hide this the harder it's going to be."

"She's not wrong," Pearl says in agreement. I look between the two of them and bump my head back against the wall.

"Damnit, you guys are right." I sigh, "I'll find a way before the end of the week, I promise."