The Reveal

The freckled girl sat on the chair, the fireplace burning as Javier gave her a cup of tea.

“Did they bring you here, Lyna?”

Lyna shook her head, “I ran away.”

“You ran away? And you didn’t get caught?”, Javier had his hair down, his dark brown hair reached his collarbone.

Lyna shook her head once more, “They didn’t see me”

Javier didn’t say anything for a while after that, letting the tired girl drink her tea. The tea tasted bad, Lyna thought. Javier couldn’t make tea even if his life depended on it, but the thought is what counts.

“I should let you rest. Your bed is still there in the girls’ dorm. Fleur would change your bedsheet everyday”, Javier smiled.

“Hm…”, Lyna hummed, standing up. She turned to face Javier, “The tea was terrible”. Lyna then walked to the girls’ dorm. Javier grinned at her, this was her usual behaviour and hearing these insulting words from her made him happy.

She was back.

———

“What the hell?!”, Aiyla screamed. Her appearance hadn’t changed at all. She had the same baby face, black hair and blue eyes.

“Oi! Mind your language!”, Marceline yelled, squinting her eyes open, “God. You shouldn’t be going through your rebellious phase yet, you’re only eleven.”

Jade and Fleur groaned as they too woke up at Aiyla’s scream.

Mary, however, stayed asleep despite all the noise. She was a heavy sleeper, after all.

“What is it anyways?”, Fleur sat up, her eyes shut as she yawned.

“Hi”, Lyna suddenly spoke, sitting up.

Everybody sat up immediately, looking at the spot where the voice came from, everybody except Mary of course. Lyna sounded the same and Fleur could recognise her voice almost immediately.

“What the hell?!”, Marceline screamed as well.

Lyna forced out an awkward smile, looking at the other girls. Fleur began to cry.

Fleur stood up quickly, rushing to Lyna’s bed as she gave the girl a hug.

“You— Theo and me, we— and then— we waited— he drew pictures and there were—cats that ate—“, Fleur sniffled while gripping the freckled girl, barely able to form proper sentences.

“How’d you get here?”, Jade asked, completely ignoring their wonderful little reunion.

Lyna patted Fleur’s back, comforting her, “I ran away. Got tired of waiting for you guys to rescue me.”

Fleur wailed, “It wasn’t our— fault— Anne said— Nngh— I missed you so much—“

Lyna smiled into Fleur’s shoulder, “Don’t worry, Fleur. I don’t blame you guys at all. Just shut up and hug me, you can’t even speak properly.”

Fleur bawled her eyes out into Lyna’s shoulder, gripping her hard as if she was trying to stop her from getting stolen away again.

Aiyla was beginning to cry, but held her tears in. Marceline looked at Aiyla, “What? You happy she’s back?”

Aiyla shook her head, scrunching her nose, “Noo…I don’t care about anybody—“

Lyna looked at Aiyla, “Oh?”

Marceline chuckled, looking at Lyna, “Kid’s going through her rebellious phase a little too early.”

Lyna chuckled, “Nice to meet you again too, Aiyla.”

Aiyla heard this and immediately stuffed her face in her pillow, crying her eyes out.

Jade yawned, “You came back last night?”

Lyna nodded.

“Should’ve come back during the daytime when we were all awake, now my sleep is ruined.”

Lyna grinned at Jade, “Still as bitter as ever.”

Mary was still asleep.

———

The girls has been sitting together for an hour in the room, talking. They had kept asking her about how she got back and what the devilish Camellia had done to her, but each time she avoided their questions, so they stopped asking, realising it must be something she wasn’t comfortable enough to talk about.

Mary was still asleep.

———

Fleur had finally stopped crying, still gripping onto the freckled girls’ arm.

Lyna and Fleur began to walk out of the dorms, Theodore was sitting in the lounge, reading a book.

Lyna held Fleur’s hand as they walked towards Theo, who was completely focusing on his book.

“Yo, Theo”, Lyna spoke.

“Hey Lyna”, Theodore replied, still reading his book.

He paused, his eyes widening as he slammed the book shut, looking up.

There she was.

He stood up, staggering backwards, “Lyna…?”, tears swelled in his eyes.

Fleur bit down on her bottom lip, to stop herself from crying.

“Are you a ghost?”, Theodore did the same as Fleur.

Lyna chuckled, humming lowly with a “no”.

Theodore sprinted over to Lyna, hugging her, practically squeezing her. The girl could barely breathe but allowed him. It had been two years, after all.

After their little reunion, Theodore started asking questions but stopped after seeing Fleur eye him, he understood.

———

As the three of them reminisced on the past together, Aiden and Tyler walked out together along with Benedict, they reconciled and let out a few tears together but were quickly disrupted after Adam, Anne and Javier had arrived to interrogate her.

———

Arthur laid down on the bed, Leonardo staring down at him, heavily concerned. Arthur sniffled, his head burning. Leonardo placed his own hand on Arthur’s forehead but pulled away after feeling the heat, “Please, let’s go to Miss Anne.”

Arthur shook his head almost immediately, “She already has so much to worry about, I don’t want to be a burden.”

“You aren’t a burden if you’re unwell”, Leonardo wrapped his hand in his own.

Arthur shut his eyes, panting as sweat dripped from his forehead. Leonardo grabbed a cloth from one of the side tables, placing it on the other boys’ forehead.

Just then, Adam opened the door, staring at the two boys, “Arthur, are you alright? What’s wrong?”

Arthur sat up quickly, shaking his head, “Nothing. I’m alright.”

Leonardo looked at the boy, visible concern on his face.

Adam nodded, “Lyna returned. Miss Anne’s calling everybody.”

———

Everybody was there, sitting in the lounge, except for Mary. She was still asleep, Adam had told Anne that he would fill her in when she woke up.

“Well, first of all. It’s great to have you back, Lyna”, Anne started.

Lyna nodded.

“We have questions. A lot of them. Are you willing to answer?”

Lyna paused for a few seconds, “Yes”, she finally said.

Anne nodded, “Where did they take you?”

“A large cave within the outskirts of the forest. It had never been found because it was shielded by the trees surrounding it.”

Anne nodded once more, glancing at Javier, “Well then, we were right.”

Lyna tilted her head, “You found it?”

“For the past two years, we have been searching for their hideout, we discovered it a month ago.”

“That’s impressive”, Lyna responded.

Anne smiled in return, “Next question. What was inside of the cave?”

“It was an underground hideout. It was huge and the place was crawling with Camellia, from young kids to the elderly, but I only got a glimpse of it after which they locked me up in their dungeon.”

“Can you tell us about them? If you have any information, that is.”

Lyna nodded, “They murder solely for their own pleasure and their red eyes not only enhance their physical abilities but their mental abilities as well. They are also unable to change their eye colour, so it’s easy to differentiate whether they’re a human or a Camellian.”

“How do you know they can’t change their eye colour?”, Anne asked.

“They made a deal with me. If I’d answer their questions, they’d answer mine.”

“Did you answer any of their questions?”

Lyna shook her head, “All of my answers were lies.”

“What else did you find out?”

“That they’re going to attack.”

Anne leaned forward, “When?”

“Exactly two weeks from now.”

Anne relaxed herself, “Are you affirmative?”

Lyna nodded her head, “I did not ask them when they would attack. I overheard a conversation between two of the guards.”

“And how did you escape?”

Lyna began, “A few months ago, they let me out of the cell and ordered me to clean certain areas of the cave. While they weren’t looking, I ran out and had been running ever since then.”

Anne nodded, “Well then. That’s settled. Fleur, tell her about our plans later.”

Fleur nodded in response.

Arthur was glaring at Lyna the entire time.

Before Anne could leave, Leonardo stood up, “Miss Anne!”

Anne turned around, “Yes?”

Arthur looked up at Leonardo, glaring at him to stop, but Leonardo disregarded the boy.

“Arthur has been feeling under the weather for a while. It’s getting serious.”

Anne looked at Arthur, who was staring down at his lap, nervous.

Anne walked up to Arthur, placing her hand on his forehead but quickly took it off after feeling it, “My my. Arthur, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Arthur muttered, “You’re really busy. I didn’t want to bother you.”

Now, Lyna was glaring at Arthur but for what reason?

Before anybody could say anything else, Lyna spoke, “How often does this happen?”

Arthur looked up, sweating.

Leonardo answered for him, “It’s been happening ever since I knew him, mostly during the Winter.”

Lyna eyed Arthur, Arthur doing the same to the girl.

Anne placed her arm around Arthur’s shoulder, helping him up, “Come.”

Arthur agreed.

———

After getting his temperature checked, Arthur was sent to rest in the boys’ dormitory, Leonardo stayed by his side the entire time.

Lyna walked in.

Leonardo looked at Lyna, “Yes?”

Lyna walked forward, “I need to talk to Arthur.”

Leonardo nodded.

Lyna arched a brow, “Alone.”

“Oh— Alright.”, Leonardo stood up, glancing at Arthur as he walked out, shutting the door behind him.

Arthur looked at Lyna, sitting upwards on his bed.

“You’ve been hiding it for that long?”, Lyna spoke first.

Arthur looked up, “And why did you lie?”

“Who’s side are you on?”

Arthur looked at her, “Leonardo’s side.”

Lyna chuckled, “We can cooperate together. It’ll be the best for the both of us, Leonardo and your own kind as well”

Arthur looked away, nodding, “What about everybody else here?”

Lyna raised a brow as if the answer was obvious, “They are the enemies.”

Arthur looked back, “You won’t betray me. I won’t betray you.”

Lyna nodded, reaching out her hand.

Arthur took it. The two of them shaking hands.

———

Mary was overwhelmed when she saw Lyna, hugging her until the girl could barely breathe as they took a trip down memory lane together. After Adam explained everything to Mary, her attitude changed.

———

“Two days left”, Javier said to Jade.

Jade turned around to face him, nodding.

Javier grinned at Jade, “I hope you’re prepared.”

Jade rolled her eyes, “Of course I am.”

———

Everybody was prepared. The ranks and files had been decided. The strategies they would use and the weapons that they would use, but what they were unprepared for was the betrayal.