SURVIVE (THRIVE: Book Two)

Chapter 42- Temper

I feel sick to my stomach as this girl gazes at me. Not ten minutes ago, I was having a conversation with Artemis about what we were going to do, and now some psychopathic freak is standing before me wearing her face and seeming all too pleased with herself.

    "Why would you want to meet me?" I ask, trying to contain my anger.

    "Oh, honey, why wouldn't I?" She asks as she taps her finger on her chin "Considering that you were a life never intended to be returned, I can't help but be curious about you." she smiles as she flicks my hair away from my face.

    "Before you get any ideas, she's mine," Sterling states bluntly. Suddenly, she seems irritated as she leans back.

    "Come on Luci, do you always have to be such a buzzkill? I just got here." she sighs as she turns around and wanders towards the others "Where are my things? I want to change out of these rags." she states as she heads to the hall.

    "I'll show you to your room," Marissa says as she follows her out. Cleo and Tex seem to be looking at her and shaking their heads.

    "Same old Ember." Cleo states as she peeks down the hall "I would have at least appreciated a thank you. That girl was putting up a decent fight."

    "Don't you dare talk about her!" I shout aggressively. Sterling immediately re-covers my mouth as the others look at me irritatedly.

    "Sweetheart, hush." Sterling says as he gently caresses my cheek "I should have known that those old cages would be useless, this one's got a fighter's spirit, doesn't she?" he states in admiration "I'll be bringing her to my quarters from now on, hm?"

    "About that," Winona begins as she blocks his path "Don't get too comfy, we're going to need to find a new hideout since you brought this one in," she states exhaustedly.

    "The Eternal ones think that this place is still sealed, and even if they got in, your cast on this place would have us covered," Cleo explains.

    "Don't get frustrated at me for being overly cautious," Winona states frustratedly as she begins to head out.

    "Gaia, for fucks sake, if you wanted to be careful you wouldn't be hanging around that priestess all damn day," Cleo adds angrily. Winona seems to stop for a moment, as if she's ready to snap back at her, but decides not to as she goes. Suddenly, Tex looks at Cleo worriedly as she paces across the room, starting to blow out the candles that surround us.

    "Tatia, you really need to be careful how you talk to her. The last thing you want is to piss her off again." Tex sighs as he goes to her, but she brushes him away.

    "Look, I'm on edge right now, okay?" she states as she forcefully blows out one candle after another "Kai won't talk to me, that's all I'm focused on right now." she sighs.

    "I'm sorry." Tex sighs, not knowing what to say "I love him like he was my own too, but he might need to do this on his own."

    "Excuse me?" she snaps.

    "I'll leave you two alone to talk," Sterling states awkwardly as he heads for the door with me.

    "Probably for the best, the last thing that I want to do right now is to get in trouble for stabbing you," Cleo states bluntly as she continues around the room.

    "Excuse you?" Sterling asks as he twists my arm behind my back "Getting mad at me isn't going to change anything right now, so why don't you just calm down already?" he states angrily.

    "Piss off." Cleo barks as she suddenly flicks her wrist, shooting a small bolt of electricity toward us. Before it has a chance to make contact, Sterling throws me to the ground out of the way, causing him to get shocked.

    "Tatia!" Tex shouts as he rushes to her, grabbing her by her wrists "Lucius, get Tessa out of here, I'll handle this." Tex sighs as he turns back to look at Cleo. Everything hurts as I try to lean up, but I can hardly get my balance as I push my chest off of the floor. Suddenly, I feel Sterling's arms reach around and hoist me off of the ground, proceeding to carry me down the hall. This must have been at least the fifth or sixth time today, and I tell myself that things can't get any worse, but I'm not stupid enough to believe that to be true anymore. I have no idea for sure how much time has passed, but it still has to be the same day. I woke up on Josphine's ship this morning, just last night I had told Magnus my true identity, and now the thoughts about how worried everyone must be were coming second to all the things I had just found out about. The Ancient ones were their own story, but Kai? He was the brother that I had never known that I had, and my mother has no idea he is still out there. Right now, I feel like I need to talk to her now more than ever.

    "Here we are, lovely." Sterling smiles as he sets me down, gently nudging me into the room. This place seems completely disconnected from the burnt wreckage of the rest of the compound, it is beyond clean, and everything around us appears to be placed methodically. The walls are coated in a slick ruby red, and the floor is made of the same stone as the halls behind us, but it has been polished to a near shine. A majority of the shelves and division walls are made of carved stone, but all of the additional furniture is made of wood that has been stained black and carved intricately.

    "Well, this is... alright then," I state awkwardly as I step inside, trying to turn back, but he pushes my gaze back forward.

    "I'll take that awkward stature as a compliment." Sterling says as he closes the door behind us, pushing past me to look around the room "This old dungeon isn't exactly where I had hoped that we would be staying, but I guess that you can say that I've found a way to make the most of it." he smiles. As he turns away from me, I glance back at the door, suddenly feeling nervous as I see a strange black aura resonating from it.

    "Where else would you be?" I ask curiously as I begin to make my way across the room.

    "We've lived all over town, sweetheart." he states as he gently sits down on a plush couch "Since we all decided to return at once, we felt it was better to stay under the radar and reside here for a while," he explains as he reaches for a glass flask behind him, it appears to be filled with some sort of wine.

    "I figured that you would always stick together since you could choose when to resurrect yourselves," I state bluntly as I lean against a shelf lined with various types of stones.

    "Typically, no." he sighs as he swishes the bottle around, tipping it to his lips and taking a gentle sip "As you can see, we don't always get along the best."

    "That much is obvious," I say as I cross my arms, suddenly feeling sore when I bump the wound from earlier.

    "Yes, well, Tatia is a bit short-tempered, Atlas is a man of few words but you do not want to cross him. Calista seems to go with the flow, but when something intrigues her she goes all in on it. Gaia has never met a challenge that she couldn't face head-on, not to mention that she's never been truly outmatched. And Ember...." He suddenly stops and stares into his wine "My sister gets what she wants."