The Little Crow

Chapter Forty One - [The Park]

Thea was sitting in her bedroom, trying to go to sleep. It was still a little early for bed, only just past nine, but after spending so many days without proper sleep, she was hoping to catch up on at least some of it.

Unfortunately, her mind thought otherwise... there was just way too much on her mind.

In addition to that, the fact that her brother was able to so easily figure out her feelings for Niall... it made her nervous. He wasn't home yet, but she knew that the second he did come home, he'd want to discuss it further. He'd want to talk some sense into her... which of course, was more of a reason for her to try to sleep. He couldn't confront her if she was asleep.

Nevertheless, no matter how she tried, she couldn't get herself to sleep. Instead, her mind wandered to Aaryan, and even Luana and Milo and Rue... and of course, Niall.

It was Niall that she thought of the most, mostly because now that she cooled down a little, she accepted that her outburst wasn't entirely reasonable. She also kept remembering the look on his face as she accused him of lying to her. For some reason... he looked stricken. Not angry or annoyed or dismissive. Her words had actually upset him, and whether she was right or wrong, that made her feel bad.

And now she may have ruined everything.

She quit her job.

She left her new friends behind.

And Rue... she just abandoned Rue. Sure, she meant what she said about trying to find her own way to help him, but what could she really do? There was very little she could do without that team. It felt almost crippling.

As she stared at the wall, frowning and holding back tears, she suddenly heard the sound of clattering against her window.

Her body shot up and turned.

Of course she knew who it was. It was Aaryan.

He had followed her all the way here?

At first, she thought to ignore him, lying back down with her back to the window, but when she heard the clattering again, she remembered that the last time she had heard this, he had proceeded to climb up the side of her home and in through her window.

That was the last thing she needed right now.

She climbed out of bed, pulling a robe over her shoulders and night dress, before walking to the window. When she reached it, she saw him, down in the yard to the right of her parents house. He was wearing a coat to protect him from the cold but that was it, no gloves, no hat, nothing else, and so she imagined he was freezing, standing out there on a cold Aburethian night. To make it worse, it was still snowing. Apparently it had been snowing nonstop the entire week, and his shoulders and head were covered in white.

After a moment of hesitation, she pulled the window open, wincing at the icy air that hit her as she did. "What?" she called, trying to sound as cold as the weather was.

He surprised her by throwing something.

She didn't know why, but she assumed it was a snowball, causing her to duck as it flew in over her head, but when she turned, she saw that it was a crumpled up piece of paper which hit the wall of her room before falling onto the floor and bouncing over to her feet.

When she picked it up, she opened it and read the messy, large handwriting.

Meet me at the park.

That was all it said.

Thea turned and looked back out the window, a look of disbelief on her face. Did he think she was stupid? However, when her eyes met his, he gave her a salute before stuffing his hands back into his pocket and walking off in the direction of the park.