Scarlet in Glezentine

Chapter 12 - Basketball

Caroline slowly exhales and stares at James directly into his eyes. He doesn't back away, and I'm surprised. Her stare could burn a hole through anything.

Then her glare softens and she nods slowly. "Okay," is all she says before disappearing. Not walking off, but actually vanishing from sight!

James sees my shocked look and says, "It's normal. She does it all the time. She also did it when we left the group of people back there." He pointed in the direction we'd come from.

"What did we do, exactly?"

"Caroline is part of the shadow house, remember? That means she has the power and control over them. She can bend shadows to basically make her invisible. It's easier to do it at night, because it would be weird if there was a random shadow in broad daylight."

I guess that makes sense. "Well, where did she go?"

"Hopefully off to the palace, to explain things to her father, so that I don't die immediately."

"What?! Why?"

"Ouch," he says, putting his hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt, just as I had done before. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

I roll my eyes. "I mean why would they kill you immediately?"

"I know that. They'd kill me because they probably think I killed those people, no matter what the king says."

I look over to the dark forest, then over to the town, newly alight with sunlight, then back to James. "Where to now? If it doesn't matter what the king says, where would we go if you don't want to die on sight?"

He thinks for a moment, before saying, "There's a small place out behind my house that no one uses anymore, but still works. We could even play a game or something."

"Sure. Sounds like fun," I say as we start walking back in the direction of James' house.

~**~

After a bit of walking, a bit of doubt creeps its way into the pit of my stomach and lies there, growing.

James knows I don't know how to get around Glezentine. He could be leading me in the wrong direction.

But why would he do that? I kept countering myself.

Why would he kill those people?

He didn't kill anyone. I scold myself.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" asks James, finally breaking the silence. "You're usually asking a billion questions right now."

I glare at him and he puts his hands up in a placating gesture. "It's just a question. You're being very quiet, and it's honestly a little unsettling. From the moment I met you, you've been very ... talkative."

It's sweet that he asked, but he needs to learn how to phrase things better. "I'm fine, just thinking."

"About what?"

"Once it's all over."

"What's over?"

"Look who's asking all the questions now." I say, smirking at him, but answer anyway. "Once the competition is over, I'll either be dead, which isn't good, or I'll be done everything, and the border might let me through. But what happens if it doesn't? That's the only way to get to the other side, right? And if it thinks I didn't work hard enough, try hard enough, do anything hard enough, will it still let me through?"

What had started as a small lie, a seed, becomes a flower blooming. I realize that question has been haunting me ever since James said he's gone to talk to the border. It felt nice to let the questions out in the open, for someone else to deal with.