Markadia

Chapter 3

~ Andrew's POV ~

As we sat in the living room, eating our hot vegetable soup while Aubrey continued asking trivial questions about our lives, I felt the weight of the day fall on me like a grand piano. Nothing about the search had gone as we planned and even after finding the one we had been searching for, we were still doubtful of the future of Markadia. Before we even knew who we were searching for we knew they would be our only hope of saving our kingdom and that hadn't changed after finding Aubrey. No matter who she was, or the skills she was lacking, she was still our only hope and my first priority was making Chris understand that monumental fact. He had to believe that our plan would work because it was all we had and turning back not only meant losing everything, it would mean giving up all hope.

"You're a shield?"

Aubrey's question to Uncle Rusio pulled me back to reality as I turned to focus in on their conversation, hoping to escape the insanity inside my head for a moment. Apparently, Aubrey had come full circle once again and was curious about our powers.

"So, you can make people see whatever they want?" She asked curiously.

"Or whatever I want, as the case may be." Uncle Rusio responded with a coy smirk as he took a large spoonful of soup. His eyes traveled to Aubrey's spoon she was holding tightly in her right hand and within seconds the spoon had disappeared, only to be replaced by a beautiful long stemmed rose. Aubrey took note of his concentration and turned her attention to the beautiful red flower in her hand. It was the first time I had seen her smile in the twenty-four hours I had known her. The room seemed to lose its tension almost immediately. Even Chris was entranced, only removing his eyes from her when she caught him staring. He quickly shook his head and the scowl I had come to know quite well returned to his face as he cleared his throat.

"Great, so we're putting the last hope of our kingdom on a girl who's impressed by a mediocre magic trick." Chris scoffed while staring down at his bowl of soup.

"Fine, then show me what you can do, tough guy." Aubrey spouted back, placing her bowl and spoon on the coffee table in front of her. I saw Chris' expression went slack as he tried, unsuccessfully, to pretend he hadn't heard. I quickly spoke up the minute I felt Chris pushing me to change the subject.

"Chris is a little sensitive about his powers," I replied, already expecting the glare I received from Chris.

"What, is it something stupid like, the power of extreme origami?" Aubrey chuckled at her guess and I couldn't help but smile along with her. Chris was probably going to kill me for what I was about to do, but he wasn't attempting to make Aubrey feel the least bit comfortable after being pulled from the only world she knew so I figured maybe giving her something to laugh about would ease her uncertainty. I placed my bowl of soup to the side and leaned forward with an eager smile in anticipation of my next words.

"You know how, in those Disney movies, the princess always had some kind of strange power that attracted animals to her and she could carry on conversations with them as if they were humans?" I raised my eyebrow as Chris' glare burned the side of my face like a hot iron.

"No," Aubrey exclaimed softly as a small giggle escaped her lips. She slowly turned to face Chris and his jaw twitched with animosity. "You possess the powers of a dainty princess." She shook her head in amusement. "No wonder you're such a joy to be around, you're overcompensating."  

Chris' anger was like a flood of red in my vision, blurring every other emotion. I shouldn't have said anything, but I had never met anyone who could make Chris so angry so quickly. I shifted my head to look at him, my eyes sending a silent warning as his knuckles began turning white from gripping the bowl in his hands so tightly. "Chris, don't." My voice was so soft I wasn't sure I had even spoken the words, but I must have because the red faded from my vision.

He leaned forward slightly, his jaw still clenched. "I'm not overcompensating, trust me." His voice was so cold and raspy it sent a chill through Aubrey. He stood up from his chair and began walking towards the kitchen, stunning the living room into silence.

"Uncle Rusio, do you mind showing Aubrey to her room?" I asked while gathering up the bowls from the living room.

"Yeah, just make sure that kid doesn't fry anything else in my house."

I shot the burly man a cautious smirk before disappearing into the kitchen. I found Chris standing at the kitchen sink taking deep breaths to calm his frustration. I knew I shouldn't have said anything. The possibility of Chris losing his temper, and especially with Aubrey, wasn't worth my amusement. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"Do you think this is a joke?" Chris growled fiercely, his back still turned to me as he gripped tightly to the edge of the sink. "The blind hope you have is infuriating."

"And the lack of trust you have is maddening." I shot back while taking a few steps towards Chris. I was cautious with my steps. I had been the target of Chris' abilities before and I didn't feel like repeating that painful part of our history. "We knew this was going to be difficult from the start, Chris. Sure, we've had a few setbacks and Aubrey isn't exactly-"

"She's a dead end, Drew."

"She's acclimating! She's asking questions and starting to accept who she could be, we always believed that would be the most difficult part." I decided to take a few more steps in my enthusiasm. "I don't know why she is affecting your emotions so much, but you need to remember who you are. There was a reason you didn't want to leave New York, Chris and I don't think we made it this far just to give up."

Chris remained silent a moment, the movement of jaw line telling me he was contemplating his response. He wouldn't argue with me anymore. He couldn't. "You are sure this will work?"

"The future is unclear, presently, but if we try training her tomorrow we may have a clearer picture."

"Fine. We train tomorrow." Chris surrendered as he walked towards the door. "Let's hope she has a good night's sleep, she will need it." He exited the kitchen quickly, his words leaving a dry taste in my mouth and a grim picture of what the next day would hold.

~

I know I probably shouldn't even be uploading this because I haven't had a free moment to write, but I couldn't resist. I'm hoping to get some more writing in tonight so wish me luck and let me know what you think of the story so far!

Any questions? What do you think of the characters? Who is your favorite? I would love to hear what you think! :)