Partners In Crime(Dalador/Aladarius)[The Owl House]

Chapter 14

(⚠️TW⚠️: slight mention of child neglect.)

{A Couple Days Later}

~Darius POV~

Something hit my window, jolting me and Eber awake. A crow phone sat on the ledge of the windowsill. Eber hissed at it. I got up, opened the window, and answered.

"Hello?" I said.

"Lilith is missing!" Eda shouted on the other.

Eber jumped back, obviously able to hear Eda.

"What?" I asked.

"Lilith! Is! Missing!" She repeated. "She didn't come down for breakfast, so Mom asked me to go get her and when I went in her room she wasn't there! Lilith wasn't in her room! There wasn't a note or anything!"

"Deep breaths, Eda." I said. "Deep breaths."

Eda took a few deep breaths.

"Meet me at the town square. I'm going to call the others." She said. "We're going to look for her."

{An Hour Later}

"Everyone searches a different part of town and the woods." Eda said.

We each picked a place.

"Meet back here in the square at sundown, got it? If we don't find Lilith, Darius is calling Archer." Eda stated.

"Me?" I asked.

"Yes, you. Alador may be the best duelist in the club but you're Archer's favorite. Everyone knows that. He'll help if you ask him to." She said. "Now, everyone, go! Find Lilith."

We all nodded and headed in our separate direction.

{Several Hours Later}

No sign of Lilith anywhere. I climbed up a hill.

"A tower? Oh, this must be Mr. Clawthorne's tower." I said aloud.

I checked around it. Nothing. Then I went inside. A cloak was hung on a hook that was hanging on the wall by the tip of a nail.

"Lilith? Ravenette?" I called.

I climbed the ladder up to the top.

"Lilith? Li-" I said the spotted her sprawled on the floor. "Lilith!"

I rushed over.

"Darius?" She mumbled, slowly opening her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you!" I snapped. "Everyone's worried! You disappeared and no one knew where you went! Eda sent out a search party."

She sat up.

"I'm sorry. I needed to clear my head so went for a fly on my staff. I must've lost track of time and fell asleep here." Lilith said.

"Why did you need to clear your head?" I asked, sitting next to her.

"I doubt you'd understand. Your parents are probably amazing." She said.

No, they aren't. They suck.

"You could still tell me." I said. "Sometimes it's better to get it out, even if someone doesn't understand. I won't tell a soul, not one."

"Not even Alador? He's your best friend." She said.

"Not even Alador." I said.

She nodded.

"Tell me what's going on." I said.

She nodded again.

"I don't want to blame her because it's not Edalyn's fault but our parents favor her over me. I try and try but they don't see me. I get good grades, I make captain of the grudgby team, 'oh, how nice, sweet flea, now go fold the napkins.'. Edalyn doesn't get detention or she uses the right cup, 'oh, amazing, witchlet! Let's get ice cream!'." Lilith said. "I'm just tired of it. I tried to talk to Mom last night but she waved me off and said I was imagining things. I'm not imagining things, am I?"

Lilith let out a sob. I patted her back.

"I'm sorry things are so hard for you." I said.

"Why don't they see me? Am I not as good as Edalyn? Is she just...better?" She sobbed. "Am I broken? Is there something wrong with me?"

"No, no. There's nothing wrong with you. You're not broken." I assured her.

"Then why is Edalyn better than me?" She said.

"Eda isn't better than you, Lilith." I told Lilith. "You're one of the smartest people at Hexside. Everyone knows that."

She didn't respond. She just sobbed into her hands.

{A Few Hours Later}

"Thank you for listening to me." Lilith said as we walked back the Bonesborough town square.

"It's not a problem." I said. "If you ever need to talk about anything like that, just let me know."

She nodded. We got to the square.

"Lily!" Eda shouted.

She ran over to Lilith and grabbed her shoulders. Eda looked over her sister, trying to figure out if she was hurt.

"Are you okay? Where the hell were you? Why did you disappear like that? Never do it again!" Eda shouted. "I was worried sick!"

A few townsfolk looked over but Eda ignored them.

"I'm fine, I was at dad's tower. I couldn't sleep so I went for some fresh air. I only meant to be gone for a few minutes but I fell asleep. I'm sorry." Lilith said then looked a little past Eda.

"But can you agree to never, ever disappear like that again, Lilith?" Porter said.

Lilith nodded.

"I promise I won't disappear again." She said. "Hopefully none of you were worried too much."

"I wasn't worried." Raine lied.

"You were worried like the rest of us, Raine." Alador said. "Probably as worried as Edalyn was."

Eber agreed with Alador.

"Eber, you traitor." Raine said. "Don't agree with that!"

Lilith laughed. Eda let go of Lilith's shoulders and just looked relieved.

"I should probably take you home. Mom and dad were worried." Eda told Lilith.

"They...were?" Lilith asked.

Eda nodded.

"Of course! We all woke up and you were just gone! Now, come on! Let's go. They'll be so happy you're alright." Eda said.

Lilith nodded.

"Thanks for finding Lily!" Eda told me then the two Clawthornes ran off.

"Did Lilith tell you anything? Why did she run off? It obviously isn't because she couldn't sleep." Porter asked. "What is it?"

"That's what she told me and I'm inclined to believe her." I said. "She'd know."

Porter sighed.

"How about we go grab some food, we've been out all day and I assume none of us stopped for food during our search." Raine said. "I'm hungry. Aren't you guys?"

Eber said he was hungry. I nodded

"Yeah." Alador shrugged.

"I could eat." Porter said.

Eber jumped on my shoulder.