21: Involvement

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Soft rays of sun peeked through the window and blinded me, but the warmth of the light felt good against my skin

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Soft rays of sun peeked through the window and blinded me, but the warmth of the light felt good against my skin. I forced myself out of bed, lazily carrying myself towards the bathroom as if I were a heavy sack of potatoes.

When I heard Emmet shuffling around in there, dropping multiple things to the ground, my mood grew more sour by the minute. 

"Hurry up!" I yelled, desperately wanting to take a quick shower before I needed to go to class. 

I reeked. If I didn't shower, I would only make the stench in the Iarhus smell worse than it already did. After a few more dropping sounds, he banged his head on the corner of the mirror and cussed.

A heavenly fragrance suddenly fogged my senses and made my mouth water. Reece was frying bacon, by the intense smell coming from the kitchen. With my significantly lightened mood, I skipped my morning routine in the bathroom, decided I'd need to find a way to kill my sense of smell before classes and rushed downstairs instead.

Stepping through the wooden frame that led into the kitchen, I spied on my brother whose toned muscles flexed with even the flip of a pan. 

Maybe if I hovered behind him long enough, I would smell like food eventually. Perhaps the bacon smell would linger, and during classes I would smell bacon rather than the usual stench.

Wouldn't that be comforting.

He cracked six eggs into the pan, humming a melody he hummed all the time. As he heard me approach, he slowly turned to look at me. His eyes grew double their normal size.

"You look horrific," he greeted, laughing at my responding facial expression.

Deepening my tired frown, I took a seat on the cushioned bench that stood against the wall and muttered, "What a nice hello." 

I shifted on the bench, pulling one leg onto it. "Is Mother in?"

By the tensing of his shoulders, I expected she was already gone. 

Shaking his head he said, "There's been a lot of worry in the council about the body we saw. She's got her hands full at the moment, so I wouldn't expect seeing her any more than usual."

Silently nodding, I wondered what that entailed. Unfortunately, Mother nor Reece rarely shared what really went on within the council. I suspected they were sworn to secrecy, and knowing the council, if anyone would go against that rule, bad things would happen to them.

Pulling both knees to my chest, I hugged myself while I waited for breakfast. Just a few minutes later Emmet jogged into the kitchen, his hair brushed and his pullover on wrong.

I snickered at his arrival and started laughing as he glanced down at himself with a confused expression on his boyish face. 

He rolled his eyes and sighed exaggeratedly. "Why does this always happen?" 

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