Page 150 of Rest In Knotty Pieces

“Are we ready to discuss this?” I snarl, breaking the tense silence.

The thrones in the shadows rumble, vibrating, but they stay in the dark. For now.

Jay leans forward, his sword across his knees, glaring at me. “We can’t go back there.” He’s got blue hair, blue eyes, pale white skin, and looks desperately sad. There’s a gold key on a chain around his neck. Sometimes I wonder about that key and what it’s for.

I lift my chin, my inky blue-black hair falling around me. “I don’t see that we have a choice.”

Kestrel stands up and walks into the middle of the space. She’s got a long gown on; it’s soft and green, her hair streaked with reds, browns, blonds, and one white lock on her brow. Her eyes are violet, and she smiles too much. She is soft, but that is her strength.

I like to imagine Kestrel is who we should have become if life didn’t try to chew us up and vomit us out.

Jay stands up, glaring at Kestrel. “No.”

His long hair is held back by a gold coronet, and I think he’s wearing leather armor.

“I think we need to do this. We go to him before he comes and takes what is ours,” Kestrel says with a sad smile.

Raven pops her chin on her fist and watches with a blank expression. I want to punch her in the face.

Merle starts to shake and jitter her leg.

I pull out a dagger and start spinning it in my hand. I can’t kill them, I’ve tried. It does nothing but piss everyone off, but it’s tempting right now.

I glance to my left and see nothing but a mound of huge, stuffed teddy. I heave a sigh, feeling the part of me that is still soft and caring get all gentle.

“Dove?” I whisper. “Come on, sweetheart, we need to figure out how to save the alphas. You like them, don’t you?”

The teddy shakes, and the sound of a child crying starts.

“I guess not.”

“Now look what you’ve done!” Kestrel growls at me and goes and kneels in front of Dove.

The sound grates, but only because it demands for us to do something to fix it, but we can’t. The past isn’t something we can erase. We can’t eliminate the pain. No one can stop Dove crying.

No one can stop her pain.

So, she just cries.

All the time. It never ends. In every moment of our lives, we can all hear her in the background. Sometimes she weeps, sometimes she howls, sometimes she sobs, but she cries.

And we need to protect her.

“Argh!” I throw my hands in the air. I stand up, pacing and staring into those dark spaces. What’s in the shadows? What’s on the other side of this field of light? What will I find?

“Raptor?”

I turn back with a smile, finding Raven ruffling those damn wings. I sashay towards her, walking in stilettos with expert ease.

“What are you up to?” I ask on the sly, glancing at Jay, Kestrel, and Merle, who are gathered around Dove.

“Me? Nothing at all.”

I whip my head toward her. I might be a cold-blooded killer, but Raven is something else. She’s…I don’t even understand her purpose, but she’s more than us. Something special.

“Why are you a beta?”

“Why would it matter what I am?” she asks me with a smile that is all too innocent and mocking.