Crescent World

04

Sarah and I barrelled down the hallway. I pounded heavily on Donald and Anna's door. It swung open to reveal an already dressed and polished Anna despite the early hour.

"What are you doing?" she snapped.

"Who did you just bring in?" Sarah demanded, ignoring Anna's question.

Anna lowered her brows. "It's none of your concern. Go back to your room."

"Mom -"

She shut the door before Sarah could finish. For several seconds, we just stood there, staring at the closed door then looking at each other. To my surprise, Sarah looked pissed, her brows were lowered in a deadly scowl and her face was flushed with red.

Before I could even blink, Sarah flung the door open so hard it bounced off the wall with a loud bang and nearly hit her in the face, startling Anna, who dropped her phone. Sarah shot a hand out to push the door away and stormed in. I followed behind her, stunned at the sudden outburst.

"You can't keep doing this to me!" she thundered. "You can't keep this stuff from me and keep me in the dark!"

Anna's face flushed an equally bright red and I saw where I got my blushing tactics from.

Anna raised her hand and pointed a shaky finger to the door. "Sarah Elizabeth Gray, get your ass out of here and go to your room this instant!"

"No!" she yelled back. "I want answers!"

I grabbed her shoulders and gently pulled her back. As much as I liked seeing her go off on the bitch who gave birth to us, I didn't want Anna to punish Sarah.

"Sarah," I said softly into her ear. "You need to calm down, okay?"

"No!" she shouted and yanked away from me. "I'm not going to calm down until she gives us some effing answers!"

Anna stormed over to us, got only a few inches away from my sister's face, and growled through clenched, "Listen to me, right now. If you don't stop, you'll be put back in the Dark Room, do you understand?"

The anger on Sarah's face immediately slipped away, replaced with unmistakable horror. Her face turned sickly pale and I recognized the look in her eyes. She was having flashbacks. Horrible flashbacks.

Anna stepped back, the flush leaving her face as well. I thought guilt crossed over her face but her usual mask of cool arrogance slipped back on. She turned away and picked her phone up off the floor.

I quickly grabbed Sarah and dragged her out of the room. I heard Anna slam the door shut behind us.

We passed by several Shifters on the way back to my room and I realized that everyone in the hallway heard what happened.

I noticed Eve leaning against the wall as we passed. She shot me and Sarah a cruel smirk.

My wolf begged to be let out, to go wild and try to rip her to shreds again. As it was, I saw the air around me shimmer as I desperately wanted to Shift and wipe that smirk off her face.

I shoved my wolf down as far as I could and settled with giving Eve an evil look and continued to walk Sarah to my room.

I got Sarah in my room and closed and locked the door behind me.

***

We stayed in my room until almost seven in the evening. I sat with her and comforted her as she sobbed into my arms. She managed to calm down after a few hours but was too scared to go back out there in case she faced Anna.

Obviously, whatever the Dark Room was was terrible and triggered trauma inside of my sister.

She didn't tell me what it was or what it meant and I didn't push her. I sat with her and comforted her the best I could.

She seemed almost calm enough to go back out there when there was a sharp knock on the door. Not even two seconds later, it opened and Eve stood in the doorway. She gazed at me and Sarah sitting on my bed and I swore disgust crossed over her face.

"It's dinner time," she said. "Your mother wants to know where you are."

"You can tell her we'll be eating in the dining hall," Sarah said before I could say anything.

Eve shrugged. "Fine by me," she said and walked out without closing the door behind her.

I got up, closed the door, and turned back towards her. "Will they be okay with that?"

She shrugged and hopped up. "Don't know, don't care. What are they going to do, ground for eating in the dining hall? On second thought, they probably would, but they can suck it."

I couldn't help but laugh. Our stomachs suddenly let out loud growls, causing us both to jump. We looked at each other for a second before we burst out laughing.

I was about to walk out the door but she stopped me by saying, "Uh, I think you might want to freshen up."

I frowned. "Freshen up?"

She giggled and pointed to the mirror on my dresser. I froze when I saw my reflection.

Since I'd been dragged out of bed really early this morning and spent the entire day focused on comforting Sarah, I didn't take the time to notice my appearance or anything else.

My hair was a huge greasy, tangled rat's mess on top of my head that would take forever to brush out. And I was still in my pajamas, which were crumpled and wrinkled.

"Yeah, I'd better freshen up," I said and walked into the bathroom.

***

After a quick shower, dressing in clean clothes, and Sarah helping brush out the huge red jungle that was my hair, we made it into the dining hall. Everyone looked up at us in surprise as we got our food and sat down. We'd been eating dinner at Donald and Anna's suite for the past few weeks so everyone would be surprised to see us out here. No one tried to stop us or follow us. I was still curious about why I was suddenly allowed to walk freely without having people follow me.

We found an empty table and ate. I noticed Shifters glancing over at us, but no one tried to sit with us or make conversation with us. I wondered if Sarah had any friends in the Pack, or if she did, why they weren't making an effort to sit with her.

As though she were reading my mind, she said, "People only see me as the Apex's daughter. No one wants to be my friend since they're too scared to get close to me."

Irritation sparked inside of me. I remembered when I was in public school how people wouldn't talk to me, no one would be my partner for class assignments, sit with me at lunch, ignore me whenever I would try to talk to them. I remember feeling incredibly lonely and feeling like it was my fault no one wanted anything to do with me.

On the other hand, I could understand to an extent because it seemed like everyone was afraid of Donald and Anna and probably wanted nothing to do with his family, but it still angered me as I saw the air of loneliness that swirled around her.

"Well you got me," I said and she gave me a grateful smile.

She said something but my gaze snapped over her shoulder. My jaw dropped as shock completely floored me.

Rikki and Brandon were eating at a table a few feet away.

EDITED: 12/26/21