вlood & peтalѕ [ ĸoтlc - тιana ]

ch. xiv

In which we see more of the Dizznee clan, because they are awesome.
If anyone disagrees, they can fight me.

Linh picked her cape up from where it currently was sprawled across her bed. "I'm going to go check on how far Dex's gotten along on the elixirs. See you when I get back, okay?"

Tam gave her a thumbs-up as he shakily wiped his mouth with a wad of tissue. Linh didn't miss the way the pale paper came away stained red.

"How much this time, Tam?"

"N-not too bad, actually." He held up the tissue. "Bits and pieces of a petal. And when you get back..." He trailed off, suddenly very concentrated on wiping specks of blood shakily off his fingers.

"And when I get back...?" She prompted.

He finally met her eye, and the look she saw there was unsettlingly frightened. Before she could voice what she'd just seen, it vanished. "..can we talk?"

Linh stopped fiddling with her Song crest pin, which she still wore, in spite of everything. In her defence, she didn't really have another one. "Uh, sure. What about?"

He swallowed heavily, before flicking the wad of stained tissue in his hand neatly into the bin with a complicated-looking twist of his wrist. "Everything in general."

***

Holy mallowmelt, it was cold.

Linh's teeth chattered as she wrapped her cape tightly around her frame and stabbed the doorbell with a single finger. Thankfully, Juline answered almost immediately. "Hello, Linh. Come on in. I suppose you're looking for Dex?"

"Y-yeah. Could I talk to him for a bit?" She gratefully stumbled into the large foyer and was about to shrug her cape off when three little whirlwinds came bolting down the hall, somehow all managing to crash into her and knock her over backwards.

"Lex! Bex! Rex! That is not how you treat a guest!" Juline was now yelling as she hauled off one of the boys and Bex by the elbows. As Linh sat up, completely winded, the third triplet slid off her middle. "Are you okay, Linh?"

"Yeah...I think?" She gratefully accepted Juline's hand up, only feeling slightly sorry for the three kids as their mother sent them an I-will-deal-with-you-all-later glare.

Juline sighed, running a hand through her rumpled amber hair. "Oh, I just remembered. Dex went with Sophie to the Vackers', so you'll probably have to catch him there. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"It's okay. I was planning on heading there eventually anyway," Linh lied between her teeth. She sent one glance at the now deceptively docile-looking triplets before stepping towards the door, mentally bracing herself for the blast of cold from outside. "I'll be going now. See you soon, I hope."

Juline smiled. "I hope so too. Oh, and when you see Dex, tell him that the triplets got hold of his secret stash of Drooly Dew, would you?"

"I will," Linh promised, before remembering she didn't have a crystal to Everglen. "Oh, I just remembered, but could I use your Leapmaster?"

Juline shook her head, hair flying out of its untidy bun. "We don't have Everglen on ours, I'm afraid. You'd be better off using your home crystal, and thenTiergan's Leapmaster."

"Ah, okay. Thanks." Linh dug her crystal out of her pocket. "Bye."

What do you guys think will happen when Linh sees Biana?