Fireheart [Fanfiction - Alternate Universe]

Blowing the cover

NOTE: I am so incredible and stupidly excited for you all to read this chapter!! I think it's one of the best so far, and I actually had sooo much fun writing this! Buckle up, because you're in for a ride!! You'll laugh, you'll want to cry, and your heart will squeeze in your chest, and by the end of it, if you're like me, you'll be screaming excitedly haha

Enjoy! <3

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Celaena's heart had stopped for a second and then started beating as wildly as ever. Elide was standing in front of her, her shoulders still squared and her chin held high enough to be looking into Celaena's eyes.

"I don't know what you mean," Celaena said, trying to pretend she wasn't petrified for what was about to happen. She could fight a bulky man with a knife with her eyes closed and not fear death, but facing Elide? Her whole body felt like a shaky leaf.

She couldn't admit a single thing to Elide. This girl wasn't stupid, but there was no way she had figured out who she was; there was no way she knew her as Aelin. She could have gone as far as to realize she had some kind of secret, but so had Nehemia, right? Not like that had gone well.

"Please, whatever you do, whatever you say, don't treat me like an idiot," Elide said, and her eyes filled up with tears. "I know what I know, but what I don't... is why."

An eerie silence set between them as the front door opened quickly. A young girl came in and jumped into a cubicle. Both teens stared into each other, Celaena walking backward to be out of the way, and Elide following. When the girl came out, she glanced at them awkwardly, but they acted like nothing weird was going on.

"Here's what I know," Elide said confidently once they were left alone again. "And correct me if I'm wrong." She waited for a second to see if Celaena would interfere, but she just stared, her palms sweating as she waited for the emotional punch. "You entered Adarlan Elite High as an exchange student from Terrasen, but when I looked into the records," she shrugged at Celaena's raised eyebrows. "I'm part of the school's committee, I can do those things easily. So anyway, when I checked the records something seemed off, so I called your previous school to get some information on you... and I was told you never attended Terrasen High."

Celaena swallowed and tried to breathe normally, commanding her heart to calm down. She had training, she knew how to act in these situations. She'd done it a thousand times before. So why was this so different?

"You might be wondering why I checked your records," Elide continued. "I'm not... I'm not a stalker. It's just that... the first time I saw you, you reminded me of someone I used to know. A very good old friend of mine... So I just had to see it for myself, I had to look into it because... because you know, the thing is... my friend is supposed to be dead. But I could never believe it, there was never a body, and I just... I had to hope for the best, it was the only way to move forward."

Elide wiped some tears that were rolling down her cheeks and Celaena bit the inside of hers not to cry again. She had never stopped to think what her death might have meant for those she loved. She knew she had people that had loved her dearly, but the mourning for her parents had been everything she'd allowed herself to feel for so long, that she didn't think she'd ever stopped to think how other people felt about it. About losing their friends, about losing her.

"I still don't know why you're telling me all this," she said as dryly as she could, breathing through the lump in her throat.

"Because," Elide took something out of her handbag and put it on top of the vanity. It was the folded napkin. "My friend used to make these swans. Funny, right? But that's not all... There were a lot of little things that made me think of it, small gestures, like the way you always bite the inside of your cheek when you're nervous, or how you never eat the crust of your pizza... how you hold your pen in your left hand instead of the right when you're not using it." Elide lifted a finger for each thing she mentioned, and Celaena couldn't believe the girl had been paying so much attention. "But, there was just one thing that didn't fit... and it's that my friend had light blue eyes, a pretty peculiar turquoise with a rim of gold..."