Fire And Ice

Chapter 26 - Study

Hailey's P. O. V

Finding out Ari was a werewolf too had been the best thing to happen to me in months. Finding out we were sisters... well, half-sisters? Best thing since Keily started being horrible to me, which was about ten years ago. Maybe eleven. I'd lost track.

When Ari first mentioned her father – our father – and how horribly he'd treated her and her mom, my heart ached for her. But as she mentioned how happy he'd be to hear of her death, a look crossed her face. It was dark and menacing. Like it would make her ecstatic if she could to crush that happiness into nothingness and watch him suffer. Yes, he'd done terrible things to her and if it were me, I'd want to make him pay for it too.

But this was much different.

The look in her eyes begged for pure, undiluted rage to be unleashed on their target. But it seemed to be held in check by something – a cold and calculating patience.

This was a whole new side of Ari, one that I'd never guessed would exist. It scared me.

The look passed quickly. So quickly that I'd almost managed to convince myself that my newfound half-sister didn't appear to be a vengeful mastermind.

Almost.

As she told me the horrors of her past, I felt both furious at Clark and sorrowful for her. I wasn't even aware of when I started crying till I sobbed, causing her to look at me.

Sitting there and hugging her, doing my best to comfort her, my wariness of that look faded away. Of course she'd hate anyone who was cruel enough to mar her like that, to permanently brand her as a 'worthless mutt' and torture her for no reason.

It wasn't the same. My mom didn't restrain or beat me or outright insult me, but she discriminated against me for something I couldn't control. Even Keily treated me similarly despite the fact that she didn't really know how different we were. So I empathised with Ari. I understood and admired her strength to carry on.

And I loved her. I loved my little sister and I let her know it.

When I felt her return the hug, I felt closer to her than I'd ever felt to any family member since I was little. After staying like that for a while, I'd managed to calm down. I didn't really know why I was crying in the first place but it didn't feel awkward or wrong when my head cleared a bit.

"It's okay to cry. It's alright to scream." I told her upon noticing her stillness. Then I pulled away.

There was no evidence of tears on her face. Her eyes weren't bloodshot or watery and her cheeks weren't tearstained. You'd think she wasn't fazed if you didn't read her expression carefully. Her smile was the most genuine I'd seen on her since I met her. I knew she wasn't ready to really show grief after what was probably a lifetime of holding back her pain. It was okay, we'd get there eventually.

"I'm a mess." I laughed as I imagined what my face probably looked like, eyes puffy and cheeks red.

I got up and made my way to the bathroom to fix my face. Before reaching the door, I faintly heard her whisper, "Thank you."

Looking back, I smiled before opening the door. I shook my head at my reflection in the mirror, having been right about my appearance – my eyes were puffy and bloodshot and most of my face was a deep pink.

I hated how easily I let my tears escape. Every damn time. It was probably the reason Keily picked on me consistently. Every time she saw my tears, her taunts became more vicious. I wished I had the strength to hide my pain from the people responsible for it – to at least pretend their words and actions didn't get to me. But I always let it show and in that way, I envied Ari, even though bottling up her emotions wasn't healthy.