Book One: Time Of The Clan

chapter 8

Illiya banged on the door, worried for the kid that she had quickly come to like. She took the key out, jingling it in the lock, she got the door open. She burst in to find Atticus... sleeping? She walked closer.
The dragon was curled up with him. He was in. A light shirt and shorts, prepared for sleep, but what really caught her attention was the swollen, purple wrist. His wrist was bruised and and twisted, it looked like it was excruciating.
"How did he get this..." iliya whispered. She felt terrible for the boy. How he had lasted so long hiding it was beyond her. She set to treating it. She kneeled down beside him and gently took his wrist in her hand, the little dragon woke up and chirped at her.
"Shh!" She shushed him, she did not want the boy to awaken and attempt to leave.
She continued tending to the wound, letting her warm magic wrap around it, healing it the best she could. Once she had finished, she set his wrist down. It wasn't perfume that, but it should definitely help it feel better. Just then the boy began to stir. Iliya hushed him, comforting him. He blinked a few times and sat up.
"Iliya?" He asked groggily.
"Yes kiddo, I'm here. You're okay." She comforted. It suddenly looked like he was scared.
"You saw it didn't you?" He asked, his voice shaking.
"Yes. I did." She confessed. "How did you hide that for so long?" She looked at him concerned.
"I... I don't know. It would be there whenever I was alone, but when someone showed up, it was gone. As if it was never there to begin with. I was going to tell osmoses I just didn't know how." Atticus held his wrist with a wince.
"I tried my best to heal what I could, but you're too new to this world, using powerful magic on you might just cause further damage. It looks as if your magic has been healing you for the time, we will talk to killian tomorrow, he can use his ice affinity to help take down the swelling, then we will go to mephisto to get treatment for the bone itself, and to hopefully set it." She spoke.
"I don't like mephisto. He's scary and looks at me weird." Atticus pouted.
"Well kiddo, he is our only option, I will be there with you, he won't be able to do anything to you." She consoled.
"Why do you keep calling me kiddo?" Atticus asked, he did not hate the name, but he didn't understand why she referred to him as a kid.
"Because, compared to me, you are just a kid, you may be old enough to marry and stuff like that, but your still young." Lilya told him.
"How old are you then?" Atticus questioned.
"Now now, you never ask a lady her age." Iliya teased. "Now that you and I have talked, you should go to sleep. May I talk to the others about this?" She asked.
"Yes. You can. It's not like they're not going to figure it out tomorrow anyways.
"Well then. Good night child, rest well, from what I hear you have a big day ahead of you." She laughed quietly. Atticus smiled and settled down, laying to rest next to. A warm hopper who purred at the attention, rubbing out against him and stretching.
Iliya shook her head and walked out, leaving the boy and his dragon. She locked the door behind her and set off to her room, determined to get a good night of sleep before tomorrow, she expected it to be difficult. It was clear that the other leaders had just dispersed since she saw some of them on her way to the given room. She saw mephisto and decided to let him know that he was going to be needed.
"Mephisto." She called. The tall man turned and plastered a fake smile on his face.
"And what can I do for you?" He asked.
"Tomorrow, I will need your assistance. Atticus is injured, I will be with him. Be prepared for us please?" She requested. There was a strange look on Mephisto s face before it completely vanished and was replaced with a stoic grin.
"Why of course, rest well now iliya." He chuckled and walked away. Iliya thought Atticus might have been right, that man was clearly not all there. She sighed and headed towards her room, once she got there, she made it a goal to fall asleep quickly, for surviving tomorrow would be no easy feat.

Atticus awoke with a fright; he was surprised that aamon did not wake him up to argue. That was, at least, until he remembered that he had locked the man out. He figured he should get dressed and find the guy. He pulled himself out of bed and lazily threw on a hoodie and some day-shorts with a nice pair of shoes, they were definitely not something aamon would have him wear in public, but aamon was not here.Atticus figured aamon might want a change of clothes too, so he grabbed a bag. He grabbed aamons cologne and filled the bag with proper clothes, something aamon would actually want to wear today. He put the shoes on top last. With a sigh he decided he was ready to go. He went to the door and unlocked it and left. He found aamon on the common room couch, sitting and reading.
"Rough night?" Atticus asked, with a soft smile.
"As if you were not the one who caused it." Aamon growled.
"I brought you clothes? Thought you might need them. You can uh...you can sleep in our bed tonight, I still don't want to talk yet, but I don't think it's fair to confine you to the couch." Atticus smiled nervously.
"Thanks for the permission to my own room." Aamon snarked.
"Hey. Don't take that tone with me. You were not fair to me either last night, you should have known I wouldn't have wanted to talk about what happened back there, not yet at least." Atticus protested.
"Very well. You are under no obligations to talk to me." Aamon turned away. Atticus pulled back at him he rested his small hand on aamons shoulder.
"Aamon. Please. Wait. Wait for me. I'm not ready to talk, but I will be, just not yet. Wait." Atticus pleaded with a stony guise.
"Fine. Now, we have things to tend to, iliya has requested to See you and it has only added to our very busy schedule." Aamon dismissed Atticus. Atticus watched the man walk away, farther and farther away from him. Atticus glared at aamons back, the man was clearly mad that the control was taken out of his hands, but why would he get so worked up about Atticus? Atticus just couldn't understand him.
Atticus turned to walk the other direction, he hoped he would bump into iliya. He walked through the corridors that soon opened up to reveal the dining room, the table was occupied by all the leaders, while his seat was missing.
"Hello." Atticus said, announcing his presence to the room. Many heads turned towards him.
"Why hello love, fancy seeing you here, I thought you were busy brooding." His words were harsh.
"Aamon, I tried to talk to you and you walked off, I wasn't ready to speak with you yet. Now, where is my seat?" Atticus asked.
"Once you learn to respect me, you can sit beside me." Aamon smiled.
"Hm. Aamon, you don't understand, do you? Any of these leaders would be happy to take me with them, I can go with any of them, and what would you do?" Atticus threatened.
"You're trying to leave me?" Aamons eyes darkened.
"No, but if you act like this then I will." Atticus made it a promise, to aamon, and to himself.
The other leaders thought this was funny, the boy was acting up and Ammon was not used to his toys defying him. Iliya was proud of Atticus for standing up for himself, she would willingly take the boy under her if he needed shelter. She pats the empty spot next to her, motioning for Atticus to sit beside her.
Atticus saw the offer and went over to the woman, he sat beside her and smiled, Meredith was all the way beside aamon which made this seat perfect for him, to his right was romaline, he was in his demon form, but the thrumming magic from the day before was gone, making it easier to be around him.
"Where is the little dragon?" Iliya asked.
"She is still on the bed, or was, I don't know what she's doing now." Atticus smiled when he heard a cooing noise behind him, hopper had followed him.
"And why were you hiding?" Atticus asked. Hopper pulled out a piece of cloth, a familiar piece of cloth.
"Hopper!" Atticus cried out, she had dragged his boxers all the way out here, in front of all the leaders.
"Bad..no eating my clothes." He scolded. She growled softly and flared her wings, jumping on his shoulders and making herself comfortable. He slid the boxers in his shirt and returned to his seat.
"Well iliya, here she is, not even 24 hours and already causing trouble." Atticus shook his head, laughing.
The dragon purred around his neck. A portion of food appeared on the plate in front of him, he graciously ate everything, well, everything except the meat. He would give that to hopper.
The little dragon gratefully accepted the offering and downed them with speed, likely not even chewing.
The other leaders seemed to be, looking at him.
"Is there...something you guys would like?" Atticus asked them cautiously.
"Well, we want many things form you, many that you may not give us." There was a rumble coming from romaline, he reached out and rubbed Atticus's lower back. Atticus jumped at right contact but didn't pull away, he didn't want to offend the other leaders, but he also didn't want to make romaline mad by rejecting the affection, what Atticus didn't understand was that romaline was doing more than just being friendly. The foreign hand soon pulled away and Atticus let out a quiet sigh of relief, not liking the contact.
"Don't worry about Roma just yet, if he does something you don't like, tell me, but he normally is pretty respectful of others, I'm sure you can tell him to stop something, and he will." Iliya comforted. Atticus smiled, brushing off the previous event.
"Thanks, iliya. I think I am finished eating, would you like to leave with me?" Atticus invited her.
"Sure, kiddo lets go. I'm sure you want to get out of here." She teased. Iliya stood up, said her thanks, and turned to leave with Atticus and hopper.
Once they had left the room Atticus asked iliya something. "why didn't the others ask about my injury?"
"Because I told them not to mention it. Aamon was already being rude, you did not need anyone else harassing you this morning." She laughed.
"Thanks" he appreciated her support.
"No problem, we don't want a repeat of yesterday." She nudged his shoulder and knocked him over a few steps.
"Hey!" Atticus shoved her back, hopper barked at the sight, wanting to join in the play too.
Iliya s wings flew open and knocked Atticus over, but he just jumped back up and dove onto iliya.
The two roughed and tumbled with each other, hopper jumping in and nipping at them as well.
They collapsed in a pile, laughing with each other.
"That was fun!" Atticus chuckled.
"You're a good fight kid. We should do that more together." Iliya said to him. "Now we have to go get ready to visit mephisto, we will have to ask where his room is, he will tend to you in his room, hopefully completely healing you." Iliya told Atticus. She saw worry flash across his face, but he masked it quickly.
"Hey. What's wrong?" She asked.
"Mephisto is just creepy, he looks at me weird, I don't want to be stuck in his room." Atticus confessed.
"Then I will wait by the door, making sure it stays open, good?" Iliya asked.
"Good. I know I have too, I just don't want to...he scares me." Atticus said.
"I know. Just don't show that to him, demons often get off on fear, he seems like the type." She made sure to tell Atticus that, the demons clearly got riled up when Atticus's fear scent flooded the room as he ran. She did not want to have to fight against mephisto, she wanted him to heal Atticus and let them leave. That was all.
Iliya smiled at Atticus, all they had to do was fix his wrist, then, he could learn to actually live.

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