When In Doubt, Go With Blue

Viper In the Grass

The Queen took her leave of the group and it was just Ben and the Queen-approved couple. 

"I propose a toast. Farah, your bourbon?" Ben prompted. 

The brunette smiled weakly and, reluctant to leave your side, grabbed two glasses and the bottle. You were also feeling particularly clingy so you wrapped your arms around one of hers when she returned. She deposited the delivery on the table and hugged you once more. 

Ben started pouring the drinks. 

"What about Headmaster Silva?" you asked. 

Farah smiled down at you. "We'll have another drink when he finds out," she answered easily enough. 

You scoffed a laugh. "My tall, alcohol drink of water."

Farah winked at you, earning a fresh blush. She took one of the glasses, the one poured with a more heavy hand. It was over double the liquid in the other. You hoped Ben didn't want that one for himself. "Ben doesn't drink this much," she answered your thoughts. 

True to form, Ben put up his glass, thirst slated, you guessed. 

"Anyway, we're an official couple now, so you can drink after me."

Because she was running her mouth, she wasn't drinking. So you took the glass from her fingers. "Or vise versa." You took a gulp and had barely swallowed it when the burn in your throat made you cough uncontrollably. The two more familiar with drinking laughed. Farah herself had hardly swallowed the generous amount of alcohol left when three teen girls burst through the doors. Unfortunately, they were moving so fast and instinctively that you'd barely registered their presence before they were in the office, too busy coughing the alcoholic taste away. It didn't work. And your throat still burned. 

They immediately started babbling about Beatrix. Aisha took the head, of course. "She was in the East Wing with Boom during assembly."

Farah frowned at hearing two, possibly more missed the screening session. "And why was Bloom down there?"

The girls all sparked with offense, but Musa started the argument. "That's what's important to you?" she snapped. 

"What matters is that Beatrix wasn't at the assembly," Aisha butted back in. 

You were confused. What did the assembly have to do with anything?

Ben and Farah shared a look which Terra immediately cut into. "Oh, my God! We know! We know that someone killed Callum, and that it was a fairy, and the assembly was to find out who it was so can we please just drop the bullshit?" 

You were glad someone knew. And you were glad someone informed you. Maybe you did need to start reading Farah's mind. You stared at her, no longer at all pleased. She might have felt it, but she showed no signs. 

"Terra!" Ben went to scold. 

"No! No, no. You don't get to shush me. And if something happens to Bloom because you didn't tell us about this-"

Aisha, ever the voice of reason, butted in once more. "We haven't heard from Bloom in hours and nobody's seen Beatrix."

Right on time, Saul barged in. He paused when he saw the four students. 

"It's alright. They all know," Farah announced. Oh, so she did acknowledge someone didn't who should have. 

Saul looked over at you briefly, but went back to Farah with a grimace when he saw your cold expression. "One of the queen's guards was knocked out. His SUV is gone." He turned to move back out. 

Farah faced the three teens, "We'll find her," then you. She nodded, a secret code. You couldn't quite decipher it, not sure you even wanted in that head right now. "I promise." They left the room next. 

You had two options: stay with the stewing hormones or help your girlfriend. Official and all that, now. You scoffed at how happy you were that she was in fact, your girlfriend, and how enraged you were that she was lying to you. You asked her multiple times, like she had said, and she'd fed you the same lie each time. With a groan, you spun and followed the trio from the office. "I want to come." 

The group paused to see you over their shoulder, but Farah waved the boys on. 

You met her at the bottom of the stairs. 

Farah had her hands in her pockets already and she looked down at you with a sigh. "You can't. You're only just coming into your powers yourself and this is a mystery card with a death toll. And Bloom's still coming to terms with the secret that is her life." 

"She's trying to understand herself. No one gets that like I do. And I'm quite the mystery card myself, in case you didn't notice." An argument almost against yourself, considering you couldn't control your mystery card. But you wanted to help and you needed to know what these redhead's problems were. 

Farah didn't react for a long moment. She readjusted her stance. "I'm sorry, but this was a part of the approval. You cannot be involved in any of my official business. And this is official." She turned and walked away without further response. 

You took in a deep breath and watched her leave.