"Lala, wake up." My left eye was soon pried open, and I looked over to Violeta. She smiled at me, and I gave her a sleepy one in return. I sat up and realized Noor wasn't here anymore.
"She went to that one place she did yesterday." Am I really that readable?
"What time is it?" She looked over to the bedside and pointed at the clock. I looked over and found it only to be seven in the morning.
"Right, there's a clock there. I can't believe anyone has clocks on their bedside tables anymore." Violeta shrugged at me.
"I dunno. Can we go eat breakfast now?" As soon as I started moving, she jumped off the bed with a happy squeal. Why are most kids always wide awake and full of energy in the morning?
We made our way downstairs, and I found that we were the last ones to be in there. Okay, I guess everyone is a morning person except me. Violeta already chose my seat for me, which was right beside her. The table was full of so much food. It looked like how I picture someone who ordered the whole menu at a restaurant.
"You should go for the chicken and waffles. You can't go wrong." Brandon muffled out his suggestion with a mouth full of food. Kind of disgusting. I just gave him a weird look and grabbed a huge waffle and a couple of pieces of chicken. I took a bite, and I cannot describe how delicious the food was.
I know it may sound hella lame, but I miss Noor a lot. She's only been gone for a few hours, and it feels like years.
"Hey, loser! You want to go do something?" I was a little startled when Nina popped up out of nowhere and threw herself on the couch beside me. I leaned my head back and groaned.
"Yes, please. I need a distraction. What do you have in mind?" She looked off in thought, and then her eyes lit up.
"Let's go to that one outlet mall across town. You know the one with the Dippin' Dots?" I shot straight up to my feet.
"Now you're speaking my language. Let's go."I am absolutely in love with Dippin' Dots.
"I knew that would get you to go." She stood up, giving me a teasing smile. I just pushed her shoulder slightly, but when she went flying to the ground. I'm still getting used to how much stronger I am.
"Shit, sorry, Nina." I helped her off the ground, and she just looked at me, shocked.
"When did you become so strong?" I shrugged and let out a nervous laugh.
"I just work out a lot. Come on, let's go." I didn't give her a chance to respond as I grabbed her hand with one of mine and, with the other, picked up the keys to her car.
"You drive." I handed her the keys. I hate driving.
The drive there was good. We caught up on each other's lives. Well, I mostly told her lies. I hated that I had to lie to everyone I loved here. I hope I can be honest with them one day, but I feel like that's a long shot.
"Hey, what's wrong? You got a depressed look on your face all of a sudden." I sighed and turned my attention towards the window.
"I just miss Noor." That wasn't a lie, I did miss her very much and was a little sad about that, but my expression is because I'm lying to my family.
"I can tell you two are very close. I've never seen you like this before." She lightly tapped her fingers on the steering wheel—something she does when she wants to say something but doesn't know-how.
"Just spit it out." She glanced over at me wide-eyed. I don't know why she's so shocked that I pick up on and know what her mannerisms mean. Another thing she does is that when she's tired, she starts twirling her hair.
"How'd you know?" I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a bored expression.
"I've been your sister for 22 years now. I know you. Now, what is it?" She tapped her fingers a little more.
"How'd you know you were gay?" I gasped a little bit and started coughing from choking on air.
"What?" I looked at her wide-eyed.
"You heard me…." I looked down at my lap. Then I snapped my head back to her with a sly smile.
"If you're asking me this question. Then, Nina, you might be a little gay." She smacked my arm, and I laughed loudly at her reaction.
"I never said that I was gay. I was just simply asking how you knew, is all." I rolled my eyes at her response. I can't believe she thinks I'm this dumb.
"Whatever you say, Nina. If you are, just know that you'll be accepted by everyone completely." She didn't say anything in response but continued to tap her fingers.
"I just knew, Nina. From a young age, I always had crushes on girls and not guys. I could never form an emotional bond with a guy. Sure I know when a guy is good-looking, but I'm never physically attracted to them. It's like when straight girls acknowledge how pretty another girl is but has no thoughts or desire to date them. I hope that makes a little sense." I shrugged at the end. I really don't know how to explain how I knew. It's just something that came naturally to me.
"Thank you for sharing. I think I understand." She pulled into a parking spot and turned to me with an excited smile.
"Are you ready for some Dippin' Dots?" I looked at her in disbelief.
"Hell yes, I am." I hurried out of the car and headed in the direction of where they sell my favorite ice cream. Nina was trying her best to keep up with me, but I was walking so fast. She's a little shorter than I am, so her strides are smaller than mine.
We were barely around a corner when I briefly noticed something. I stopped Nina from going around the corner and put her up against the wall with my hand over her mouth. She looked at me like I was absolutely crazy.
"Shh… Don't say anything. Don't move." I peeked around the corner and made eye contact with it. If you didn't have enhanced vision like the supernatural, you would have just thought it was a shadow. But I knew that it was one of his puppets. I was sliding its way against the wall towards me and fast.
"Fuck. Run to car, Nina!" She stood frozen in her place, so I grabbed her and pushed her in the direction of the car. "Go!" Just as I turned around, I was face to face with this shadow figure. I looked to where their eyes should be but found nothing but endless darkness.
They put their hand on me and quickly pulled it off, screeching in pain. I took this moment while they were distracted and put my hands up, pushing them forward, willing myself to hurt them. I closed my eyes while doing it and opened them to see this bright light shooting out of my hands and going through the shadow figure until they evaporated into thin air.
I took off to the car immediately. I was not trying to wait around and see if it came back. I hopped in the car and slammed the door shut, causing Nina to jump in her seat. She looked at me with teary eyes.
"What?" I shook my head, signaling her to stop.
"Not right now. I need you to switch me spots, right now and quickly. I have to get us to where Noor is." She didn't freeze this time. We switched spots quickly, and I started driving like a bat out of hell to Noor.
I got us there in no time. I found a parking spot quickly, which I was thankful for. I turned off the car and swiftly made my way out of the car. This time Nina actually kept up with my fast pace. I looked at the receptionist, and she stood immediately and bowed her head to me. I nodded my head back to her and looked over to Nina, looking back and forth between the receptionist and me with a confused look.
I got in the elevator, punched in the code. The panel switched to the hand scanner.
"What in the hell kind of spy shit is this?" I put my hand on the scanner, getting the green light for us to access the hidden floor of this building.
"You might want to hold on." I grabbed the railing, and she looked at me to say something when we dropped sharply. She latched onto me, holding on for dear life. Once the door opened, I dragged her out of the elevator. She still seemed to be in shock from the drop, and I didn't have time to wait for her to come back to reality.
"What is this place?" She was looking around everywhere. Her curiosity was childlike.
"We have a problem!" I busted into the room, catching everyone off guard. Noor immediately rushed to me, faster than a human ever could. I know Nina's mouth was probably on the ground at this point.
"Are you okay? What happened?" My eyes softened as I saw how concerned she was.
"I have a better question. What the hell was that thing? And what are you?" Everyone's eyes made their way to my sister Nina. They all looked shocked.
"Lareina, what is she doing here?" I looked at Noor, and it took everything in me not to roll my eyes.
"Firstly, Yes, I'm fine. Well, as much as I can be right now. They've found us. I saw one and had to fight it off." I gestured over to Nina. "She's here because not only was she with me, but she witnessed the whole thing." I put my head into my hand, shaking it. "I'm just glad no one else saw." Noor grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"Okay, now on to my questions…." Nina now had her arms folded across her chest. I took a deep breath.
"They are souls that are being manipulated and controlled by an evil supernatural creature called the Puppeteer. The Puppeteer is after us and trying to kill us. I don't really know why that is, but maybe it's because we want to kill him, or maybe it's just for power." I gestured between Noor and me. "We are soulmates. Everyone has one, even humans; they just can't really tell when they've met them like how supernatural creatures do. Noor and I are Fae." I pointed to the rest of them. "That's Hannah; she's a witch. That's Naiomi, she's a vampire, and she and Hannah are mates. Then that is Rowan; she's a, well actually, I don't know what she is. What are you?" I asked, looking at her.
"I'm Fae as well." I nodded then turned back to Nina.
"Okay then, she's Fae. She's Noor's adopted sister. Any more questions?" Her eyes were completely glazed over, and all at once, they fluttered closed. I rushed over to her, getting there just in time before she hit the floor. I picked her up and took her to the couch. I looked in the direction where I felt multiple pairs of eyes were burning holes into me.
"Well, this should be interesting, right?" I chuckled nervously, looking back in between them and my sister. Yeah, this is bad.
"Tell us everything that happened." I nodded and made my way over to the table where the rest of them had already found their seats. I sat down and rested my fidgeting hands on the table. I looked at everyone's expectant eyes, and I felt like I was in a high-profile business meeting.
"Alright… So, storytime…"