Pandora's Box

Chapter sixty-two

"Juniperrrrrr..." Lilli shines as she slumps onto June's bed. It's been two days since Sol's 'resurrection' and the palace seems to be quieter than ever. Sonii is expected to be home really soon. June assumes she'll be surprised at how everyone is acting.

Sol has been glued to the library chairs for the time being.
Kai has been walled up in his room and hisses at anyone attempting to pry him away from his bed.
Milo hangs around the quieter edges of the castle. It's not really different compared to the person he's been lately. Ever since he and Sonii realized what the bracelet meant, he has been staying in the shadows, not wanting to encounter anyone.
Toni hasn't left the kitchen. He's still distraught about burning his dish the day Kai carries Sol's body to the Queen's chamber.

"Whaaat?!" June whines back like a child. Lilli stuffs her face into one of the many grey pillows on June's bed and screams into it. Since Lilli has a tendency to over react from time to time, June doesn't make a big deal out of this occurrence. She keeps her eyes fixed to her laptop screen, scanning the latest news sites so that she's not out of touch with the real world.

"Is there a reason you're being so dramatic?" June says, almost sounding board.
Lilli groans in annoyance but sits up and pushes her loose hair out of her face.
"When did guys get so complicated?" She finally says as she tosses the pillow aside.

Lilli's words make June laugh. She's surprised that after all they've been through, this is what is really getting on Lilli's nerves.
"Who? When? How?" June shuts her laptop and faces Lilli. She's been yearning to have a normal naive teenage girl conversation and now she has her chance so she wants to know all the details.

"His name is Cody. He's the groundskeeper's son. He's been helping me take care of the jaguar." Lilli smiles at the thought of all the times Cody stayed with her as she fed and bathed the animal.

"You mean the guy who always talks like he's high?" June ruins the mood as usual.
"Don't say that! He never gets enough sleep so he's always tired." Lilli throws a pillow aiming for June's head but misses.

"Okay fine, let me be serious for once. What exactly is your problem?" June raises an eyebrow making her seem like a detective in an old Sherlock Holmes film.

"He's so damn clueless. I feel like he's not catching on to the hints I'm dropping." Lilli dramatically drops her head into the palm of her hands as if she's admitting defeat to a battle that isn't real.

June breaks out into a fit of giggles as the door whips open and Sonii throws herself onto the bed to emphasize her exhaustion.
"Tired?" June asks, fully knowing that at this point, that classifies as a rhetorical question.

June finally catches Sonii up on whatever little has happened in her absence. The only major reaction was concern for her brother after hearing he's literally been living within the isles of the palace library.

"Lilli, I love you but you have inexplicably horrible taste in men! Honestly, if it really is love, then you wouldn't be feeling so indecisive." Sonii exclaims after she's caught up on the important news, she can spend a few moments as if she's back in the real world and these were seen as 'problems'

The girls talk nonstop as if they hadn't seem each other in ages. For some reason, they don't hassle Sonii to share what happened when she left, it's as if they know she doesn't want to talk about it. At one point, June's room becomes filled with the bright specs of daylight peaking out from behind the moon and June falls into a deep sleep. Lilli is too lazy to move to her own room and ends us falling asleep in June's room.

However, Sonii doesn't feel the need to sleep. It's as if her blood has been replaced with liquid energy and she can't find herself to sit still. She tiptoes out of the room and down the stairs towards the kitchen. The halls are dead silent, nobody would be up at this moment except...Toni?

Sonii hears the clattering of pots before she sees Toni covered from head to toe in a layer of flour. She laughs at the sight and darts for a towel.

"Whatever happens in this kitchen. Stays in this kitchen." Toni says warningly but the flour around his face makes him seem like a disfigured Cookie Monster and Sonii's laugh echoes throughout the room.

"I'll just grab my breakfast and head out." Sonii assures Toni in between her laughter. Eventually she manages to wipe off most of the flour leaving Toni looking like a Dominican Dracula.

"Aren't you tired?" He calls out as Sonii moves swiftly towards the fruit basket for an apple.
"Not really. Actually, I think I might want to head out for a run." Sonii smiles and dashed out of the room. The quick movement of her feet makes her feel free. The thought of running is her sweet escape and for the first time, she finally understands what the Aura of Magic had been wanting to tell her.