The Glass Ballerina Who Danced On Knives

Do what I'm told

Xan leads Avery and Grayson to the great hall, but I head up to my room instead with the intent of decoding the letter I got from Granddad. Following the steps I used on the rhyme from the glass panel I take it line by line.

My dearest Trinity,
Monsters are real. And they look like people.

Nothing sticks out to me in it except for the "Monsters" the T has an added curve to it, but it could be a slip of the pen.

As I read the rest of the note nothing else sticks out except for "Angel" the e also has an extra curve at the end.

I feel like I've hit a roadblock. It reads like a final goodbye letter, but granddad being granddad there has to be more.

I run my thumb over the paper, deep in thought. And then it hits me. Parts of the letter paper are raised. It's been monogrammed. I rummage through my drawers, but the anticipation is bursting in me, coming out of my fingers which make it a little hard to find anything for decoding monograms. I'm tired, so I simply hold it up to my dear light and the message becomes clear.

"Stone."

There are around thirty stone Angels around the house, to my knowledge. This would be a long hunt.
I wander down hallways and passages, looking for anything that sets one of the statues, but a message pops up in the group chat.

Xan: Great hall, guys!

I sigh and tuck my phone away. The Angel can wait.
As soon as I reach the great hall the first thing that I notice is the only slightly creepy tunnel in the floor. I descend gently down the stairs.

Grayson's voice reaches my ears. "I trust you."
I knew, with every fibre of my being, 17 years of family, that Grayson Hawthorne didn't trust easily—or much. I swallow my shock.

"Go ahead." Avery's voice finds its way to me

After a lengthy pause he breaks the silence  "Two."

Two what?

"Good guess." Avery lets out a small smile.

Grayson lets out a ragged breath, and then I see him gently turning Avery's face back toward his. "Avery." He almost never used her first name. He gently traces the line of her jaw. "I won't let anyone hurt you ever again. You have my word."

Lips meet lips and her nose presses into his cheek. They hold each other. His armour of grey fabric wraps around her.

I hate when I don't understand something. I hate when the puzzle pieces don't fit. I turn the table over and send the pieces flying.

I don't interrupt them directly though. I stomp on the steps a little louder.

They pull apart as I step down into the room.
Xander and Nash climb down shortly after me.
"Where's Jameson?" I ask.

Xander clears his throat. "I can report that some very colourful language was used when I requested his presence."

Nash snorts. "He'll be here."

What a Nash thing to say.
We wait — five minutes, then ten.

"You might as well unlock yours," Xander offers helpfully. "Your hands, if you please."

Grayson goes first, then I step up, Nash is last. After the touch pads scans out hands, we
hear the telltale sound of deadbolts being thrown, one after the other.

"Three locks down," Xander murmurers. "One to go."

Another five minutes. Eight. He's  coming, I tell myself, we mean more to each other than that.

"Jameson isn't coming," Grayson says, like he'd wanted to make me lose hope.

"He'll be here," Nash repeats.

"Don't I always do what I'm told?"

We look up—and Jameson jumped.  Wow. I'm supposed to get the dramatic entrances. He lands between us and Avery, going almost to the ground to absorb the shock. He straightens , then meets our eyes, one at a time. Nash. Xander. Grayson. Me.
Then, Avery.

"You don't know when to stop, do you, Heiress?" That didn't exactly feel like an indictment.

"I'm tougher than I look," Avery tells him. He stares at me for a moment longer, then turns to the door. He places his hand flat on the pad that bore his initials. The last deadbolt was thrown, and the door was released. It creaked open—an inch, maybe two. I expected Jameson to reach for the door, but instead, he walked back to the opening and jumped, catching its sides with his hands.

"Where are you going?" I asked him. After everything it had taken to get to this point, he couldn't just walk away.

"To hell, eventually," Jameson answered. "Probably to the wine cellar, for now."

"Don't leave," Avery calls after Jameson. She runs and jumps onto the ledge. When she almost slips, Grayson catches her and pushes her up.

They disappear and soon after so does Grayson.

I turn to my brothers. "I can't take this, I'm going up. Go knows what they're going to get into. I climb out easily and catch up to them silently.

"Knew what, Jamie?"  Grayson's voice is ice cold.
Jameson turns back to face out brother. "What happened on ten-eighteen."

"It was my fault." Grayson strides forward, taking Jameson's shoulders in his hands. "I'm the one who took Emily there. I knew it was a bad idea, and I didn't care. I just wanted to win. I wanted her to love me."

"I followed you that night." Jameson's statement hangs in the air for several seconds. "I watched the two of you jump, Gray."

"You followed us?" Grayson can't make sense of that. "Why?"

"Masochism?" Jameson shrugs. "I was pissed." He paused. "Eventually, you ran off to get the towels, and I..."

"Jamie." Grayson drops his hands to his sides. "What did you do?"

"What did you do?"

"She saw me." Jameson turned from his brother to look at me. "She saw me, and she smiled. She thought she'd won. She thought she still had me, but I turned and walked away. She called my name. I didn't stop. I heard her gasp. She was making this little strangling sound."

"I was in the bushes." Everyone turns to look at me and Avery brings her hand to her mouth in horror.

"What?"

A.N.: sorry for it being so late I had so many assignments to do oml also, it was the first day cog Chinese New Year yesterday so the preparations were also taking up some time. Hope you love the cliff hanger! Have an amazing week and I love you all sm
<3!
Sky(lar)