AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glare at her, channeling Imryll, though it does me as much good as it does him. Exactly none.
“Can I ask you a question, Rinya?” Madi inquires, picking a pastry from the basket.
Rin nods, mouth thankfully stuffed with a berry muffin. What kind of berry? I can’t begin to guess. So I don’t even try. I’m still holding onto the illusion that some ignorance is bliss.
“Why do you talk like us, like you’re from Earth, too?” Madigan asks.
“My father is from Earth.” Rin shrugs and stirs her tea. “We’ve all picked up a lot of weird sayings from him and the others who’ve stayed.”
“And cuss words,” I add. “William taught them swear words when they were kids, and Isolde hates it. It’s pretty funny, actually.”
“Them, who? The Mongrels?” Madi guesses.
Rin wobbles her head, saying yes and no. “Mostly Ada’s guys and me. We grew up together. They were my brother’s friends and became mine when Joldwin died.”
“I’m sorry,” Madi begins, frowning at her pastry before she sets it down.
“It’s okay,” Rin tells her, perplexed by the Shade’s condolences. “It’s not something you should feel bad about.”
“But I do,” Madigan murmurs. “I had an older brother, too. We were really close.”
“Had?” I ask, catching the past tense. “Oh god, Madi, when did he…”
Madigan grimaces, her eyes glistening as she stares into her cup of tea. “The last day we were on Earth.”
“Your dad?” I inquire, barely able to hear my voice.
“Me,” she replies, awaiting judgment, but I have none.
I tilt my head, confusion causing me to squint. “What do you mean?”
“I’d rather not talk about it,” she tells me.
“Okay,” I softly reply, though I hope she opens up.
I won’t push her. She doesn’t owe me an explanation, but Harrison’s death is not something I want her to grieve on her own. Not when I’m here to grieve with her. There was a time when I felt Harrison was more my sibling than the flesh-and-blood related to me.
Instead of letting her fester in her pain alone, I choose to be the first to open up. It’s what I should have done years ago, but I wasn’t ready.
I survey the surrounding Mongrels, noting quite a few are studying our table, though no one is close enough to hear us.
“I killed Penny,” I confess with no context.
Judgment isn’t something I’m concerning myself with anymore. Either they accept it, or they don’t. Rin doesn’t even blink as she sips her tea. Madigan’s face morphs to show that fiery passion she’s always held so close to her heart.
She never liked my sister.
“Who is Penny, again?” Rin asks, knowing exactly who I’m talking about.
“Her sister,” Madi answers, brows furrowing. “And good. Can I say good? Is that okay?”
I chuckle, though they can tell I’m forcing it. “Yeah. It was three months before we got here. But Dad was in the car with her when she lost control. He didn’t make it either.”
“Wait,” she drawls, eyes wide as they brim with tears. “What?”
“It’s a long story, but I tried to make her overdose like I did her boyfriend,” I say, swallowing the thick grief down.
The emotions grow thinner every day, though I’m keenly aware that some pain never goes away. It only gets easier to live with the grief. Moving on sucks when you deeply love the person you lost, but there is no magic cure that stops the mourning. Not in either world. The only thing we can do is endure and hope they knew how much we cared.
