GLASS NERVE | alex rider

Eleven.

( tw : talk about weight, drugs/drugging )

CHAPTER ELEVEN
NIGHTLY TERROR

     "My dad used to fight people for money on national TV but he broke his hip way long ago so he's like completely worthless now. Shares a name with that kid." Lilith explained, unable to stop fidgeting as she explained herself to the room. Alex knew if Bella could hear her sister talk about their father like that, she'd have jumped her already. "I, myself, am I bit fucked in the head in street terms. Like a psychologist's wet dream."

Both Stellenbosch and Dr. Baxter looked at Lilith, one out of contempt and one out of pure shock.

This girl is so weird.

"What'd you do then?" Laura asked this time, unlike James, who asked Alex. "Something crazy, I assume."

"Well, I do a lot of things but latest thing was when I tried to squeeze the air out of my stupid sister. She's my twin, I hate her, so I thought I might try to strangle her straight out of my life." Lilith turned and looked at Stellenbosch with a disappointed look. "Obviously, that didn't work and now I'm here. In front of you."

James and Laura were instructed to show Alex and Lilith where they'd be sleeping and he could only hope that out of everything, at least the beds may be comfortable.

Their rooms were nothing short of bleak. Twin sized bed, blank, dreary walls, and equipped with enough privacy to fill half a shot glass. It was hard to swallow and even harder to keep down, burning through Alex's chest like whiskey as he took in the poor conditions the school had the kids cooped up in. He didn't expect much, truly, but he expected just a bit more.

"Two hundred grand for this?" Alex scoffed, looking around with a frown before taking a seat on the sink counter. He watched Lilith look around, her interest peaked for once in her life as she did. "Better than your 'former institutions'?"

"In what world did I say you could talk to me?"

James couldn't help himself, laughing loudly as Alex paled and quickly looked away. That felt worse than a blow below the belt—like an embarrassing scene straight out of a teen drama show. She was so angry.

He watched Lilith as she walked (more like stalked) around the room, arms tightly drawn across her chest and pulling the back of her jacket taut against her spine. She looked as uncomfortable as she did predatory, jaw tight and and eyes stiffly narrowed. Laura went on and on about the school but Alex couldn't stop watching Lilith.

Something was so glaringly off about her.

She always attempted to make herself seem smaller than she appeared, arms crossed and head downturned as she detached herself from the other three. She treated her hair like a curtain, hiding behind it like a kid with stage fright. This girl, with her track record and sharp tongue, always looked like she was a stressed animal locked in a cage, just pacing back and forth aimlessly.

It didn't help how similar she looked to Bella. If she grew her hair out and chopped off the bleached bits, they'd be right back to identical twins. Nothing about her seemed right at all. She just exists—chained to her existence like a dog to a fence.