Suspicious

Blaire's Pov

I paced around my room worriedly as I tried to remember if I had cleaned up after myself yesterday. I remembered opening the doors to the dungeon and Indrik's cell but I could not remember if I had shut them before leaving. I ran to the small bedside shelf and opened its lowest drawer. In there, lying peacefully was the bunch of keys that opened the dungeon. I almost exhaled in relief when I realized that the keys could be removed without locking the doors. If I by any chance had not locked the door after me then, Indrik would be in trouble without doubt when the guards came for patrol. The fear of Indrik getting into more trouble courtesy of me was a horrible weight that was pressing heavily on my shoulders. What made it even worse was the knowledge that I could not go to confirm it, not now at least, without making everything worse. Much worse.

I was still pacing anxiously when a knock came on my door. I panicked, wondering if Indrik had already been caught and they were here to take me. The thought increased my guilt so much that I found it hard to breathe.

The knock came again. "Blaire!" I relaxed, just enough to start breathing again. I knew that voice. It wasn't until the third knock that I finally recovered enough to go open the door though.

Jamil whistled in surprise, backing up so he could get a clearer view. "What's going on in there, B? You look like you've seen a ghost. And your hair? It's a massacre." He groaned, placing his hand on his chest like he really was grieving for the departed souls.

"Come on, Jamil! It's too early for silly jokes." I snapped, my relief morphing into annoyance. I had been scared out of half of my life for nothing.

"Alright!" Jamil conceded, standing up straight as he took another look at me. "You look all better now. You're coming for breakfast or not?"

I blinked as I processed his words. I hadn't even realized that time was that far gone. "I'll be done in a moment." I muttered as I vanished into the room with Jamil's voice straining after me.

"You had better be done in that moment, Blaire Willows or I'm leaving you behind. I can't afford to get on Uncle's bad side again."

I buzzed through my humanization routine, (you know, the one where you throw off the monster you turn into from tossing and turning overnight and become the human that everyone likes to blow kisses at) and would have sworn that I kept to that moment but the tight look on Jamil's face when I joined him outside proved me wrong. Perhaps, I had spent too much time browsing through my array of dresses before settling for this lilac dress or perhaps it was the time I spent throwing off sandals in favour of shoes and then deciding the first was better. Or... oh, never mind! Whatever it was, I shrugged. "We had better get going before we are too late." I prodded when he would not move.

"Just a minute!" He muttered as he walked to the door opposite mine and knocked. He was barely done when the door opened and the witch's face popped out with her ugly smile which faded when she saw me. I scowled just in time for Jamil to turn and see it. He shook his head like he couldn't believe how childish I was and whispered something to her before coming over. "Can you be nice, please?" He had to bend over so he could whisper in my ears.

"No!" I snarled back, loud enough for her to hear which was just as well because my burning eyes were fixed on her.

"Come on, Blaire! Just for today? For me?" He pleaded, sounding so desperate that my anger dropped a notch.

"Fine!" I growled, my voice not dropping an inch. "But she had better stay out of my way." My eyes did not leave hers, not even for a moment as I dared her to make one wrong move so I could rip out her eyes and feed them to her.

"Great!" His grin was so wide, I might have as well promised to bring back his runaway crush. "Come on then!" He pulled me along till I was standing two feet away from her with Jamil as the only one standing between us. "You don't think you two could hold hands?"

The look I gave him was enough to freeze over a volcano. That and the not so subtle jab to his ribcage got him to change his mind quickly. "Nevermind! We don't have to hold hands to be a happy family anyway." Another jab to his rib got him raising his voice. "Alright! Alright! Let's just get to breakfast in one piece, okay?"

"Okay. Fine by me." I sniggered, a bright smile on my face.

The dining hall was much fuller than it was the other day which was not good news for me. At the head of the table as usual was Beta Green. Unlike yesterday though, at his right hand side was Zeta Ridrick who was engrossed in a deep conversation with him. On his left side was my mother, Gamma Victoria. Something told me she was supposed to be involved in that conversation except that she wasn't. Her eyes were fixed on me which made me very uncomfortable. I stumbled over to my seat beside Ulo. For a moment, I thought about teasing him about not reminding me about dinner but my mother's burning eyes on my skin made me forget about it. Other than those two, the rest were the same as yesterday, Leon, myself, Ulo, Jamil and that woman who I still could not figure out why she had to be here.

The maids started to serve the food and the aroma was enough to make my belly growl in anticipation but none of it could shake the awareness that my mother was staring at me. I was in trouble. I just knew it.