The Girl Who Stopped Time

Blame

I wake up to loud whispers in my ear. My semi blurry vision seems to instinctively search for Atlas, though he seems to be nowhere in sight. The whispers fade and I realize that they are in fact coming from outside of my room.

I get out of my bed, weary of my limbs but I find them to be not nearly as shaky as they once were. I actually feel quite refreshed. I can't remember the last time I had that good of a night's sleep. I didn't have a single dream nor nightmare. The other nights I've been here I either haven't slept, had a nightmare or I've somehow been knocked into unconsciousness; which I don't really count as sleeping.

I slip on a pair of nikes and exit my room. I follow the voices to the main living room where the siblings are having a very heated argument. Oleander is sitting on the piano bench with a bored expression, while Gilah, Lorelei and Ira are all sitting on the couches with little Aggie playing on the floor. Then Atlas is in the center of it all, standing firmly with his arms crossed over his chest.

I stay at the top of the stairs, hidden away so they can't see me but enough so I can hear their conversation.

"Breath Atlas, we can figure this out." Lorelei says calmly, her energy not quite matching the rooms.

"Breath? Lori, do you not realize the stakes we are facing? Azrail is back and there is only one possible way that that can be."

"When you wish upon a star..." Oleander begins to sing and all heads turn towards him, most likely giving him death glares. "What? He could have." He shrugs then stands up and begins to leave the room, shoving his hands in his jean pockets.

Before he can make it, he is shoved up against the wall with Atlas holding his shoulders roughly. Oleander tries to push him away but he is too strong to escape. I know that feeling.

"Here we go again." Ira says and stands up, walking towards them with Gilah in tow.

"It was you, wasn't it? You gave him some of your power so that he could come here. You slimy son of a-"

"Of course, you would blame me for this. That's so cliché of you Lassy, blaming the teenager."

"Don't call me that, and you are to blame. You were supposed to deliver Avianna safely to her room and you couldn't even do that. How do I know you didn't just hand her over to him?"

"I already told you," Oleander says then is finally able to push Atlas off of him. "She was in my grasp, then all of the torches went out and when they came back on, she was gone. This isn't my fault."

"Stop lying."

"I'm not lying."

"Yes, you are. You're a terrible liar."

"I'm not ly-"

"Will you two potato heads shut up?!" Ira yells at them, thrusting them apart with her hands and holding them at an arm's length apart. "Your useless bickering isn't doing anything for us. Azrail is here, in fact he could be listening to us right now and knowing him he'd be laughing his ass off listening to us. I'd be laughing too if I didn't know how serious this is. We all know how dangerous what he's capable of. Now, you two can either calm your shits or I'm going to lose my cool and burn you all to a crisp." Steam begins to rise from the top of her head and the rooms temperature rises.

The two boys jump away from her instantly and pat down their smoking shirts. Bits of the fabric breaking off and falling to the floor.

"Geez Ira we get it -you're hot- but that doesn't mean you have to ruin my favorite shirt." Oleander says then sits back down on the bench, pouting over his burnt top.