Typhoon & Tempest

Chapter Thirty Two

Lily sat in her room staring at the large white box at the end of her bed. Her fingers twitched and curled at her side, her right arm numb in its sling, wondering if she'd have the guts to open up the box. A glittering silver ribbon was wrapped around its length. There was a small note on the front but Lily already knew what it said.

Hey Lily,
This is a little gift! I thought you'd might like it and come along; Jack, Karen and I would love to see you there. This was one of the seven dresses I ordered but this one was a bit big around my hips. It'll fit you perfectly! And blue is a much better colour on you than me. There's some shoes in there too if you don't have any, just nude heels, feel free to keep them. I hope to see you there, Dad says it's fine! Don't forget to wear the corsage!
Claire Lauren
Xoxo

Lily swallowed. She'd read it over and over again after Claire had left it when she'd last visited. She didn't know what to think, her stomach was in knots at the idea of dressing up and being surrounded by people who she wasn't close with. Lily didn't like crowds. She didn't like attention.

And she knew they'd only be talking about her - about what she did to those rogues.

Lily had heard whispers while she was recovering the past five days. Jack, Karen and Claire got her back to Freida's house and her aunt had almost screamed at the sight of Lily's drenched and bloody body. While Ollie cleaned and dressed her healed wound, slung up her paralysed arm, and helped her into her own Bambi flannelette pyjamas - Lily didn't have the energy to complain about wearing the disastrously bright yellow - she overheard her friends clearing up the mess of glass shards and tumbled flowers from broken pots as a result of the vicious storm now dispersed.

Freida watched Ollie carefully tuck Lily into Jack's bed, plumping up her many pillows like a nest. Lily's eyes were beginning to close when Freida stopped Ollie from leaving the room with a firm hand on the door frame.

The old supernova stared deep into Ollie's eyes and the nurse's shoulders curled in, a shattered look in her eyes. "She'll be okay. Her shoulder is healing, but her arm? I've never seen a scar like that, and I d-don't know if she'll be able to use it again." Ollie hurried to wipe the tears lining her dark eyes, drawing a deep breath in an effort to calm her wobbling lips.

"A lightning scar." Freida mused, looking at the bandage now over Lily's right arm. "She's asleep. Let's chat in the living room with the girls. The glass should be off the sofas by now."

Ollie looked back at Lily one last time before making her way to the hallway, pausing when she shut the door. "Freida," she called, the witch turning around and cocking her head. "She caused the storm, didn't she?"

Freida narrowed her eyes. "Remove that fear from your voice, Olivia. That storm wasn't her fault, that was the consequence of that pathetic rogue trying to kill her. If she were anyone else she'd be a charred corpse in the middle of the forest. She's lucky - not everyone who's executed in that graveyard lives."

Ollie frowned, a hand still on Lily's door. "I've never seen someone like this before Freida. I don't know what to do."

"Oh, Olivia." Freida sighed. "You have. You do know. You just don't remember."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ollie asked, but a glaze had formed over Freida's eyes and that madness had returned to the witch.

"I smell a barbeque." Freida hummed, walking to the kitchen fearlessly over her broken belongings with bare feet. "Come, Woman of Jacob, let us feast."