Chapter Text
Reed wanted to see the monster.
See it peel back from its cloak of darkness and show the beauty that lay underneath.
He flinched as another raindrop dripped over his forehead into his eyes.
He wanted to complain badly. But, how do you work up that courage when you're in a place people like you don't come back from?
No, he wouldn't complain. It was his curiosity that had landed him here, and what a foul curiosity it was.
The beast. Large beak. Massive wings. Talons as sharp as knives cutting through the sky.
He needed to see one. Needed to see that they were real. The big ones, not just the little mountain hawks back at home, who fed on carrion and muskrats. No. The real deal. An adult, purebred mountain hawk.
The thing Reed had been dreaming of since he was a child. Ears up, listening to every little cricket chirp and twitch of a jungle cat. Every caw and call of an exotic bird...
Goddamn birds.
Reed usually despised them, but mountain hawks had always been an exception. Reed recalled each and every terrifying detail. Every warning word in the books he'd managed to get his hands on before being thrown out of the library.
This was it. The moment he'd always been waiting for. Reed continued focusing, letting his eyes drift shut as he trudged on through the deep, undergrowing mud of the Ded Forest. Mountain hawk homeland, and he'd found his way right into the heart of it!
Listening...
"Reed?"
If Reed's skin could have jumped right off him and run away into the vegetation, it would've. Reed didn't care how gentle the voice had been. It still scared the shit out of him.
He whipped around, "What?!" only to be met with widened brown eyes.
Fear blossomed across those eyes, and Reed felt a twinge of guilt match his irritation.
"Reed," His sister Violet warned in the same soft tone. "Why are we here?"
Reed blinked. "Uhm,"
Yeah, he'd forgotten completely about that.
The problem with having an inseparable twin always there for you was that when you wanted to risk your life and do something stupid, they were kind of always there too.
Violet's anger turned gentler. "Reed," She repeated. "You know very well this isn't a place for people like us. If you're not going to tell me why we're here, I have half a mind to turn right around and go home."
No. Reed hissed internally. His lie wasn't ready yet, and Violet sure as hell wasn't going to like the actual reason.
Violet was sweet, not dumb. Reed had managed to learn that in the past fourteen years.
Reed opened his mouth to spout some kind of non-committal nonsense when a terrifying screech rang through the forest.
Reed could only catch a glimpse of Violet's terrified face before she grabbed his arm and dragged him down with her to an army crawl position on the ground.
Reed held down his excitement as he held his hands over the back of his head, caught off guard by Violet's terrified expression. He didn't remember her being this scared of them.
Another screech, followed by the biggest shadow Reed had ever seen, soaring over them. Engulfed in shadow, all Reed could hear was his and Violet's hearts thumping in their chests, and their heavy, panting breaths in the warm forest air.
The forest was stunned for a moment before the crickets shrugged it off and began chirping their rhythmic song again. Reed wanted to breathe out in relief, but he knew these monsters too well.
They weren't just vigilant, like Reed and his sister Violet, with super hearing.
They were smart. Smarter than some people in this bloody body heap of a world. They knew patience, these predators. Knew how to wait for what they wanted. For Reed, it was riveting. This was the creature he'd traveled all the way from Mantican to see, after all. But then there was also the thing he'd completely looked over.
He'd been willing to risk his life to come see his favorite animal. See its shining feathers and titanic, razor-sharp talons. But, Violet came with him everywhere. How could he leave her back in Mantican, when his only promise to her had ever been to keep her safe? Blinded by his own excitement of finally being without a guardian, he'd come up with some stupid reason and dragged Violet here with him.
To his credit, none of this felt real.
First, Clover told them they had to survive on their own, and now, well, no, scratch that. There was no credit for Reed. He could see that now, belly down in this wet, muddy jungle of beasts no manticore should've ever entered in the first place.
It hadn't been Reed's choice for him and his sister to be on their own, but it sure as hell had been when the first thing he'd done was drag her here to see some exotic, bloodthirsty harpy pet.
Another screech boomed through the Ded Forest, and again, every animal went quiet. The crickets picked up again, only when a deep, dark shadow hovered over Reed and Violet's heads. Violet's back shivered, where old talon scratches left scars all down her back.
The satisfaction of finding this giant bird in its natural habitat faded quickly. Reed sucked in his pride and reached warily out in front of him to take his sister's trembling hand.
Mountain hawk. Good gods, I did this all just to see one mountain hawk? At least it was bigger than the ones back home. What a nice treat, before their demise.
Thirty or so minutes passed. Reed's hand became slippery in his sister's, but he didn't let go. The suns would rise soon. He could feel it, hear it in the waking wildlife.
Damn, Reed had lost track of time. They'd been walking all night. At least they hadn't heard a screech in a long while.
With great care, Reed let go and stood up, slipping a little on the muddy leaves. He looked around, under, over, and above the forest so thick you could barely see the sky beyond a few holes. He offered his slippery hand to Violet.
Her breathing had slowed down over the half hour they'd lain there, but her eyes had grown glossy. Reed breathed in deeply as she accepted his offer.
"You're right, sister. I don't know what I thought I'd find here. Let's go home." Reed said in a low voice. He tried his best not to sound too defeated.
Violet sighed, nodding as she rubbed the mud on her tunic with her free hand, before giving him a knowing look.
Reed didn't like her smugness. "What?"
Violet rolled her eyes, snorting. "Was the beast as big and muscular and cool as you imagined?"
Damn. He'd been caught.
Reed looked away, afraid Violet's smile would rub off on him.
"I didn't actually get that good a look at it," Reed admitted after some thought. "It was probably just a baby, though, if it didn't have the hunting skills to see us."
Violet didn't say anything, only let go to rub her brother's back.
"I'll never understand your fixation with these monsters trying to eat us every day, but I won't be mad at you for it. We came. We saw. We learned. Let's finish the steps and go home, eh? Make this our first big mistake of our adult lives?"
Reed smiled at the quote of their adoptive mother. Clover was her name. Reed missed her, and they hadn't even been kicked out for a week.
"Yeah," Reed sighed. "Lets...go..." He trailed off, hearing something fluttering in the air above them. Violet heard it too, and they locked eyes, frozen.
Their eyes followed the feather as it twisted and turned in the air, falling between them at their feet.
Reed felt his back grow cold, completely forgetting the warm, gentle hand that had been there not two minutes ago.
Violet looked down with him, staring at the massive white-spotted feather on the ground as mud seeped into the soft, silken barbs.
It was as large as an arm.
Reed squeezed his eyes shut. The tall trees looming all around them seemed to grow steeper. They loomed dark shadows so dark they even penetrated his eyelids and somehow made them even darker.
The trees wooshed this way and that, accompanied by the same crickets and chirping birds.
Goddamn birds...
When Reed dared to open his eyes, he looked up to see Violet's, glossy, wide, and brown. Together, they investigated upwards at a painstaking pace, neither wanting to reveal what awaited them.
Up,
Up,
Up...
Nothing.
Arms wobbly, legs weak, Reed hastily turned with Violet so their backs were against one another. Reed reached out his hand again, squeezing Violet's trembling palm as tight as he could.
Rain droplets dripped from his nose onto the muddy feather.
Something swept over a patch of grass fronds farther away. A few seconds later, another screech, from the opposite side of the clearing, this one loud and booming, wafted through the leaves.
"It's messing with us," Violet whispered weakly as they turned in a wary circle.
"Put that together already, sis," Reed whispered back unhelpfully, swallowing.
"Maybe you read the map wrong," Violet tried in the same whisper. "Maybe we're not in harpy territory."
"I don't think our biggest concern is harpies right now, Violet?"
"Yeah, but maybe it is a baby, y'know? M-maybe we're not where the big mountain hawks are, maybe, maybe it's just little hill hawks. Harmless, tiny hill hawk..."
"Violet, those don't exist, and you know it."
"I know!" Violet snapped, covering her mouth and going back into a whisper. "I just want you to lie to me, Reed. Lie to me. Tell me this isn't real. We're not in harpy territory. We're back home. We're back home." She repeated, screaming and pressing hard against Reed's back as the hawk flew over their heads, circling steadily for a few rounds.
Its mass covered the little moonlight peering through the trees.
Reed sucked in a breath, shaking his head and squeezing his sister's hand tighter. "I'm sorry, Violet, but that's no damn baby."
It was impossible to get a good ratio of the beast's actual size from where Reed was, but he could still try to compare it to the ones he'd seen in daylight.
The ones across the savannah back home were few and far between, and usually the size of dogs.
This hawk had to be ten times the biggest one he'd ever seen.
Huge wings. Four legs to more efficiently balance their large weight and grip onto branches. Two stomachs. One to consume liquids, the other solids. Smart. So smart...overpowered, of course, by extreme blood lust.
There had only ever been one species of intelligent people to ever conquer and train mountain hawks, and not to be too disrespectful, but harpies could go tie up their self-righteous wings and throw themselves off the Lycan Mountains.
Besides, no harpy was ever helping them. They were fighting alone.
No, scratch all of that. That all made their inevitable demise much more heroic than it actually was. This was Reed's fault. His dumbass snuck them into the Ded Forest on feather-brain land.
The animal kept on circling.
Violet wouldn't stop shaking and making Reed feel even worse.
Reed sucked in air and decided to try to make her feel better. "Think we could bring it home with us?" He tried.
No response beyond her quick breathing.
"Not even a feather?"
"..."
Nothing. Gods, he hadn't bombed that badly since he'd asked out that lynxai girl in that market bar when he was eight.
Reed blinked as he looked around, realizing suddenly that the shadow was gone. He looked up to see the mountain hawk, in all its mountainly glory, perched confidently on a thick branch above them.
Reed knew he'd been mostly joking, but finally, in the moonlight, he really did want to take that beautiful bird home with him.
Rays of starlight bounded over pitch-black feathers, flowing across a white underbelly and giant feathered tail. It looked like the slowly dying night sky itself, now shimmering as the suns slowly began to take over light duty for this new day. White speckles around its black beak looked like stars. Larger dots looked like faraway planets, illuminated by those very stars.
Its black orbs for eyes looked down right at them, head twitching to the side, as if it were studying Reed as much as he was it.
Reed and Violet slowly came out of their fighting stance. Reed still held firm to his sister's hand, ready for the inevitable:
Run.
That was what manticores like them were made for, anyway.
Reed knew that feeling. Feeling the wisp of hungry knives breezing across your back. The low, deep growl of a warning. The hissing. The screeching. Only other drifters like them could ever understand the screeching.
Reed was ready to run, but, to his immense and uncontrollable guilt, he was also fascinated.
He truly couldn't help himself. Couldn't stop the awe from exiting his lips.
"Mesmerizing." He whispered, feeling his vision go slightly blurry. "You're mesmerizing."
Violet hesitated. "Are you here to eat us?"
The hawk cocked its head in a tick to the other side. It sat back on its haunches, swaying the thick branch back and forth.
An indication of no? Reed thought hopefully.
Violet breathed in awe, smiling between Reed and the bird with some giddy kind of wonder.
"I'm going to call him Star." She whispered excitedly as the bird began preening the tuft of feathers on its chest in a rather bored way. "Do you like that name, birdie?"
Then, the worst voice Reed had ever heard came from behind them.
"Afraid she already has a name."
Smug. Man. Harpy. Dipshit.
Dread filled Reed, along with extreme aggravation and annoyance, as he turned around to greet his old ass friend.
Lapis the harpy smiled a toothy grin, lifting his chiseled chin to nod a hello.
Reed didn't dignify it with a response, stepping in front of his sister.
Lapis scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Thank you, Reed Tarrow, for asking. It's Icar. My hawk's name is Icar. Trained her since she was an egg. Cute, isn't she?" His expectant talon tapping on the hilt of his sword made Reed's left eye twitch.
"Lapis." Reed smiled sourly, before a sneer took over. The look the soldier gave him let Reed know his reaction was exactly what the soldier wanted.
"We're not scared of you anymore, Lapis!" Violet spoke in a small voice, peering over Reed's shoulder.
The harpy man turned his head, pupils dilating, before bursting into a deep, hearty laugh.
"Oh, well damn then, that sucks, because I myself am so scared. Oh, skies, what's your sister's name, Reed Tarrow?"
"Fuck off." Reed bit back.
The man held his hands up innocently, glancing at his sword before chuckling and letting it squelch onto the muddy ground.
"Hey now, we're old friends, Tarrow. I at least wanna know your names before I finally throw your decapitated heads at my boss's feet."
Reed didn't respond. Violet squeezed his arm tightly.
Lapis chuckled again, giant deep blue wings rustling behind him. He nodded to himself, looking around the clearing, and then to Reed and Violet's bags, slumped in the mud.
"Oh, the fun I've had with you two over all these years." The harpy soldier gave his signature dipshit grin, trodding over and pulling up the flap of Reed's bag.
Violet lurched forward, but Reed held her back. Reed looked around rapidly. Into the branches, up to the terrifying silhouette of the mountain hawk, staring at them entirely still. There had to be a way out of here.
"Eugh." Lapis's face twisted as he found the few mantican coins Reed had, scattering them all in the mud. He wiped his hands on his tunic before continuing to snoop through Reed's shit. The man scrouged around more before pulling out the last of Reed's squirrels he'd caught himself.
It was the newest one, warm and not fully bled out yet.
"If I had two guesses, my first one would be you stole this from our land, huh, canary?"
Reed only kept on glaring. Lapis shrugged, inserting his long, long talons through the animal's eye sockets. Violet wasn't able to stop herself from gagging as the soldier made his hand into a semi-fist, tearing the animal in half. Lapis stared at the half that was now mostly skin, before throwing it into the woods. He took the second half and ate it without even so much as warming it up, let alone cooking the raw, bloody meat.
Goddamn. Birds.
Harpies didn't have beaks, but the man tore it apart savagely all the same. Like a hungry child to a cob of corn. When he decided he was finished, lips covered in dark scarlet, the man wastefully threw the rest of the perfectly good squirrel into the vegetation. Lapis wiped his face with the sleeve of his tunic, yawning wide.
"Man, you know this really brings me back. That time I ran into you at, what—HA—three in the morning? In Mantican, of course. I was out getting prisoners. Great skies, the amount of times you two got away just because you had your own disgusting kind around you, all looking the same. Damn, Reed, the amount of times I just prayed you'd grow up enough to drag your sorry asses over here. Pft...wait, why did you guys drag your sorry asses over here?"
Lapis's face grew serious when neither Reed nor Violet responded. He finished poorly wiping off his face, squirrel still dripping off him as he walked over.
Harpies were tall. Unnaturally tall. Disgustingly tall. Lapis had to lean down as he walked over to them, just to meet Reed's eyes, making him scrounge like some hyena or wolf. Reed noted how Lapis didn't even bother to pick up his sword. His wings puffed out behind him, like the peacock he was, to make himself look even bigger.
The man got right in Reed's face. "I asked you a question, boy."
"I'm full grown for a manti," Reed bit back, refusing to let himself feel small. He jerked his head. "and so is she."
Lapis's face didn't change, apart from one thing. The pupils in his eyes thinned to little strips. Violent strips. Strips Reed knew all too well.
"I don't think you've seemed to notice. You're not home anymore, Tarrow. Mommy cheetai can't protect you anymore, can she?"
Reed had a choice. He knew that. Knew he should probably choose the second option. The boring option. The option that saved his sister...but his pride just wouldn't let him. You'd understand too, if you'd been dealing with this stuck up blueberry your entire life.
"What, like when mommy-cheetai gave you that scar beneath your ear with that skinning knife?" Reed scoffed, letting all the nerves in him release in a mocking, true laugh. "What? Big strong Sir Lapis, scared of a manti?" Reed gave his best eye roll. "A woman no less. Chicken much?"
Violet's brow furrowed.
Lapis's face twitched, nose wrinkling as his mouth moved without any sound. Reed had never seen him so pissed. Has it always been that easy?
Shaking, Lapis brought up his long-nailed hand and snapped his fingers. Like a strike of lightning, the mighty mountain hawk behind them swept down. It snatched Reed from behind, screaming like thunder as its talons seeped into the shoulders of his jacket.
Reed yelled out, not in pain but out of reverence for his surely ruined jacket. He'd sewn it together himself out of the leftover fabric his older sister Mayflower had gifted him. It was practically designer, all the way from Jagger. This beautiful monster had destroyed it.
"No good moggy catty disgusting ass peasants, thinking they can stride into here en' call me a fucking chicken right to my fucking face," Lapis hastily muttered under his breath, pacing and kicking up mud in the clearing with his taloned feet.
"Don't hurt yourself now." Reed prodded further, running on adrenaline now. The mountain hawk hummed a growl, digging its talons tighter into his skin. Reed seethed, yelling into the air.
"Yeah, you fucking bitch," Lapis hissed in a sudden urge of rage, racing up to Reed and trailing the sword he picked up across Reed's neck. "You fuuuucking annoying little puss-puss, I'm gonna be free of you, you hear that, Mrs.Tarrow?" Lapis turned to Violet, who had her hands over her ears and was hunched over, staring at the ground with her eyes closed. Lapis's brow furrowed, and he turned to Reed, letting the moment marinate before letting go. The soldier snapped, and his mountain hawk released Reed, dropping him into the mud.
Reed spit out the mud that had splashed in his mouth, flipping Lapis off as the man yanked him up by the wrist. Lapis practically snarled, slapping Reed's hand. Fine. Reed stopped flipping him off with that one and moved to his free hand. Lapis smacked that one too and Reed brought it back across the man's face.
SMACK.
Reed was waiting for that brilliant moment. The moment Lapis always lost his shit, did something stupid, and Violet and Reed escaped...somehow. Except, they weren't in their home field anymore. Reed looked at Violet under his arm, trying to give her the motion to run, but she just shook her head, hands still over her ears.
Reed, stop it. She mouthed.
Reed exhaled. Trust me. He mouthed back, looking back to Lapis. The man pulled him off the ground, putting them face to face as the harpy man reached his full height, still snarling.
"I'm not playing bitch, I'm—"
"Being real this time." Reed finished the soldier's sentence for him, using the same chipper, choppy accent all harpies came built in with. "Yeah, sure, man."
Then Reed realized it was real.
Violet screamed as the mountain hawk grabbed her, shoveling her into the muddy ground. Lapis dropped Reed, pressing him too into the dirt with his foot, and pulling out his sword again.
"Any last words, parasite on my shoulder?" Lapis sneered, raising his sword above his head.
Reed's mouth blubbered, as his short, short fourteen-year life flashed before his eyes. Reading stolen books, sleeping in cold places, sleeping in dirty places, sleeping in dangerous places. Cold. Poor. Stealing food. Stealing money. Getting mugged.
Shit, this was what he had to show for all his years of struggle? One fuck up and there he went?
And Violet...
Reed turned to Violet, gasping as he reached out his hand.
Violet's arms were held behind her back by Icar, and she sobbed, shaking her head against the ground.
Reed inhaled, feeling like his lungs were being held by a brick wall. He turned up to Lapis.
"Fuck you." And spat on the man's talons.
Lapis smiled, raising his sword.
Reed's sad life flashed, quick and depressing.
The sword reached the sky...
"Sir Lapis?"
Reed's blood went cold. He looked up, for the first time in his life sharing a moment of pity with Lapis.
They both looked at one another with the same look.
Oh shit.
Lapis sheathed his sword, arms shaking as his entire demeanor changed. Suddenly, Lapis wasn't so muscular. So big. So scary. He waved his claws and Icar hopped off of Violet.
Reed brushed off his decimated jacket, still hyperventilating from his final moment experience. He blinked his blurry eyes rapidly, only seeing the source of the sickly sweet voice from where Lapis looked in horror.
The rain stopped, almost as if it too understood the weight of respect the feminine shape standing there demanded.
Lapis folded his wings, stumbling forward and getting down on one knee. He waved his hand and Icar too bowed its mighty head as well.
Reed staggered up, wiping his eyes, and there she was.
The pinnacle of perfection, in her species anyway.
Yellow eyes, wide, commanding...sexy?
She was taller than Lapis, maybe eight feet? The talons on her feet had been painstakingly encrusted in red, saffron jewels.
Her lips were what most might describe as perfect, puffed and scarlet. Her wings were red, as were the dots beneath her eyes and feathers down her tanned nose. Golden beaded necklaces draped all down her long, exquisite neck.
Reed would have to clean off his jaw later if he survived this encounter, because it was essentially on the ground.
He'd seen harpies before, mostly Lapis (*they didn't really enter the Manticore Kingdom unless they really needed to) but, never female. Harpies didn't exactly have a matriarchy, but, man, they really did adore their women, didn't they? If harpies could ever be pretty—well, fine, she was the prettiest lady Reed had ever seen.
Reed knew exactly what this one was though. She had to be...that tiara...
"Princess?" Lapis questioned. "What are you doing out here?"
The woman considered his question, aiming those shocking eyes right at Reed. Then, thankfully, she looked away.
"Why are you hounding these children?"
Her voice was clean, warm, almost. Refined. Deep. Terrifying.
Lapis blinked in shock, glancing at Reed. Reed held his hands up.
What the hell do you want me to do?!
Lapis turned back, eyes wide.
"Sapphire, I—"
"That's princess, to my mother's vermin like you." The woman snapped. Her eyes slitted like Lapis's had, before something seemed to catch her attention.
Princess Sapphire's long red locks bounced a little as her face...softened? She strode over to Violet, staring at the woman in terror with her hands still over her ears.
Sapphire stepped right in front of her, staring down her nose at Reed's sister. Reed felt his body grow more alert.
They were surrounded by forest. Two harpies, of considerable size and build. Sure, they could climb. If Violet was to get out of this, one of the only options would be to take down Lapis and somehow distract Sapphire long enough to let her get away. Reed would. He was stupid, but he'd do anything for her.
Then again, that wasn't even considering Icar.
Reed felt his body tense as Sapphire continued to stare at the person who mattered most to him in this world.
Sapphire pulled a familiar half of a squirrel out from under her wing, glaring at Lapis before offering it to Violet.
Violet hesitantly accepted it, hands shaking.
"What, what am I to do with this?" Violet asked.
Sapphire blinked. "Alone. Poor. Manti. You must be hungry."
Violet breathed in deeply, looking down at the shredded squirrel. "We, uhm. I can't eat this."
"You little—" Lapis cut off as Princess Sapphire gave him a warning glance.
Sapphire tilted her head to Violet.
"Why?" She commanded.
Violet searched for what to say. "It's not cooked."
Sapphire looked more confused than angry. "How strange. My manti servants and maids care not. They eat what they're given. Oh well, you'll figure it out just fine."
Lapis put something together before Reed did.
"Sss—Princess Sapphire, you've misunderstood my cruelty towards these, these creatures. They're not like the manticores you know. These brats—"
"And you misunderstand the limits of my niceties, Sir Lapis." Sapphire bit back, placing her hand on Violet's head. "Just because these manticores don't understand they'd be much happier in our kingdom than their own doesn't mean you can just kill them. We're harpies, surely you understand we're more refined than that. No,"
Sapphire let go of Violet, turning to Reed.
Reed, having an out of body experience and watching the scene play out before him as if he wasn't there, felt his body go frozen all over again at her look.
Except the look was full of pity?
"Poor, poor mantis." Sapphire breathed, slowly approaching Reed. "Living in the muddy streets of Mantican their whole lives, never understanding the cruelty of the system they live beneath because they've grown accustomed to that vile king of theirs. Poor poor...what's your name?" Sapphire stopped in front of Reed, hand hovering over his own head.
Reed swallowed. "Reed."
Sapphire smiled, then paused. "Read, like, like the book?"
Reed fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Actually—"
Lapis coughed meaningfully.
Reed nodded, looking at his feet. "Yeah, yeah, like the book."
Sapphire's hand came down on his head. Her engraved nails were as cold as they were dangerous. "Poor Read. Well, don't fear, dearie. You're in harpy hands now. Gentle, assertive, refined harpy hands. Even better, my hands. My good, good hands. We'll find a good place for you. We do to everyone welcome in our fine kingdom, and everyone is welcome, Read."
Reed just stared silently at his boots, information rushing through his head as the rain started up again
Sapphire shook herself, wiping her hand on her clothes as she stepped away from him.
In a jerk of surprise, Sapphire snatched Lapis by the shirt collar and pulled him to his feet.
"You bring them back to where they should be. You clean them up and bring them before my mother by tomorrow. Don't lay a finger on them, and you get to keep your wings. Don't want your precious little sister to end up like my Ame, do you?"
Lapis nodded curtly, exhaling as Sapphire dropped him back to his feet. "Of course, your highness."
Sapphire muttered something beneath her breath even Reed couldn't hear.
Lapis motioned to Violet. Reed wanted to laugh at him being put in his place, but bigger things were going on. Questions and not nearly enough answers.
Violet glanced at Reed for confirmation, and Reed nodded, regret and hate bubbling beneath his skin as she walked.
As they neared Lapis, the princess decided she had one more thing to say.
She spread her vast red wings and turned over her shoulder. "And Lapis?"
Lapis snapped up, eyes wide again. "Yes, princess?"
Sapphire looked him up and down before turning to Violet, smiling. "Just remember to be good. It makes everyone happier."
And she was gone, flapping through the rain until she disappeared into the foliage. Disappeared, along with all of Reed's dreams. All his dreams of freedom and joy for his sister.
All in turn of his biggest dream. Seeing that stupid monster.
Well, he saw it, and now his life was considerably—no, objectively worse
At least it can only go uphill from here.
Authors Note: New chapters will be added every Mon and Tues, but the first four chapters are here now!