After Cassandra and Hannah had been bandaged up and taken care of by Abigail, and Arthur had dragged me off Lucas before any permanent damage could be made, there was time for an explanation. Hannah was lying in bed, still wearing her sunglasses. When Abigail had offered to bandage her up she insisted on doing it herself, and shooed Abigail away. Everyone else, including a pale and shaky Cassandra was sitting in the living room, demanding an explanation from Lucas. Cassandra sat on the windowsill, staring outside, while me, Abigail and Arthur were sitting in front of Lucas. Arthur sat with his arm ever so slightly in front of me, in case I tried to attack Lucas again. When I jumped onto Lucas and attacked him he had tried to shove me off of him, but didn't do anything with the knife. He had stabbed Cassandra and Hannah. Why not me? I decided to get the conversation moving. "I can't believe you did that. Your own sister and an innocent traveler!" "I didn't do it." "of course you did! Who else would have!?" My voice had risen to a shout, and I realized I was standing up. Arthur had stuck his arm out in front of me, afraid I was going to leap on top of Lucas again and shoot a crossbow bolt into his flesh. "Stephanie, calm down and give him a chance to explain." said Arthur. Why weren't they angry at him? Hannah had lost so much blood, she was probably going to die. He had stabbed his own sister too! Maybe they knew it isn't like Lucas to do this. That's what I thought, but unlike them I hadn't restrained myself. Lucas took a quick look at me to check I wasn't going to dig my fingernails into his eyeballs, took a deep breath, and began to tell us what had happened. "I had just gone upstairs when I heard a scuffling noise. I walked into Hannahs room where I saw Cassy on the floor. Blood was everywhere. Hannah was standing over her, with blood dripping from her face. Cassy had two gashes in her arm from something. I couldn't tell what had happened, but from the look on Cassy's face when she looked at Hannah I guessed it was Hannah who had done that to her. I wasn't thinking. I ran over and shoved Hannah away before she could do any more damage to Cassy. I didn't realize I was still holding my dagger until I saw it go into Hannahs stomach." Part of me believed him, but some of me was still wondering if he would try to kill Hannah just to protect his sister... "I believe you." said Abigail. "I don't." said Arthur. The three of them looked at me, waiting for my opinion. I decided the best thing to do was to forgive and forget. "I believe you. But does anyone else wonder how Hannah could make 2 large holes in cassys arm without a weapon?"
I'm coming back to England tomorrow! anyway, I wasn't really sure where to put this part, so I'm just gonna shove it here. Cassy was lying in bed, glumly probing the wound on her arm. It was lucky she was immune to the poison, but it had still made her quite weak. She looked so pale. Her skin was almost translucent. She had been quite upset since the incident. It must have been awful for her. Hannah and Cassy had grown so close, and then Hannah tried to kill her. I quietly walked into the room and sat on the edge of Cassandra's bed. I knew just the thing to cheer her up. Well, it would at least be useful. "Hey Cassy? I know something you could do that could lift your spirits." She looked up at me. She wasn't smiling, but the look wasn't hostile. She nodded, waiting for me to carry on. "Would you like to learn to write?" She nodded, and a smile lit up her face. ~><>~><>~><>~><>~><>~><> I hammered on the door, not caring about the looks people gave me as they walked past. "HEY DANTE!! OPEN UP!!" I kept banging on the door until it opened. A curly-haired 17 year old boy opened the door. Dante. We used to be friends at school when we were little. Now we ask each other for favors when we have a job that needs doing. Apart from that we hardly talked at all anymore. We didn't seem to have the time. "What is it steph? You're so lucky my parents are out..." "Dante your parents are always out in the morning. I have a job for you." "What is it?" "I'll tell you once you have put some clothes on and cleaned yourself up. Did you know you're still in your pajamas? Go have a shower or something." "Eugh. Fine. Since when are you my mother?" "Shut up. I'll be waiting out here for you. Be quick." He groaned and walked off. I stood by the door, waiting for him to come back. After absolutely ages, he came back. His hair, normally light brown, had gone dark and was plastered to his head. He held a towel in his hand, but made no attempt at drying his hair. "dry your hair before you catch a cold." "it's July." "So what? You can still catch a cold. The weather hardly changes in England. Look, I think I see a raincloud over there." While he looked at the completely clear sky for signs of rain, I plucked the towel from his hands and threw it at his head. He said something unintelligible from underneath the folds of cloth. "What was that?" "I said I hate you." "Nice to know." I looked up at the sky. "you're so lucky you're tanned. I'm probably going to burn in this heat." I said to him. "I hope there isn't another drought..." "Me too. Last time my sister almost died from dehydration." he mumbled. "so what was it you wanted me to do?" "I want you to teach my friend how to read. Her name is Cassandra, she's 16, and she can't speak. I would do it but I'm too busy." "Is she pretty?" "You will find out if you do it." "How much will you pay me?" "Depends what you want me to pay you in." "Food. My family has been starving." Dante's family had been through some tough times. While my family always seemed to have enough to eat, Dante barely scraped by. I tried giving him some food, but whenever his father saw me talking to Dante, he would go ballistic and chase me away, screaming every foul name he knew at me. We aren't the best of friends. His mother doesn't seem to like me either. I had considered taking Dante into the forest, but it was too risky. I could turn away from him for a second and turn back to a bloody mess of human remains. "Food? No problem." "Ok. So is she pretty?" I sighed and dragged him towards the house. ~><>~><>~><>~><>~><>~><> Lucas watched as Dante taught his sister. He seemed angry. I walked over to him and sat down on the couch. "Why do you look so grumpy?" "I have every right to be grumpy. Look at him! He's all over her..." That was a bit of an exaggeration. Dante had his arm around Cassy so he could guide her hand to form letters. But I could see why he would be annoyed. Lucas had to look after Cassandra all by himself. He was used to protecting her, and to him Dante was just another thing he needed to protect Cassy from. I decided to make him calm down a bit before he thought about slicing Dante's head off. "Lucas, relax. I know Dante, and he wouldn't even dream of getting together with Cassy." Not true. All Dante used to do was chase after girls. He wanted me to be with him at one point, but I quickly put a stop to that. He sometimes got the girls he wanted, but their relationship never lasted long. I remember one time he had a girlfriend, and they kept going on and off, on and off. It was actually quite funny. "Besides, he's only one year older. It wouldn't be that bad if they got together. It's half the age distance between Cassy and Dante than it is between you and me." That shut him up.
Why thank you hannah this bit is all about you by the way She was lying in her bed, her sunglasses on the little table next to her. Her chest rose and fell as she slept. It was a miracle she hadn't died from the wound. Even if it had missed any vital organs, surely the amount of blood lost meant she wouldn't have survived... "Hannah?" I think she opened her eyes. She immediately reached for her sunglasses and put them on before she did anything else, so I couldn't tell. "Good morning Stephanie. Did you want to ask me something?" "Well no, not really. It's time to change your bandage. You should really let us look at your wound." "It's fine. I'm fine. There's nothing to look at." Her voice became rushed. She seemed to be panicking for some reason. But what would she be panicking about? "Hannah, you need to let me see it. There's nothing to worry about." She looked at the doorway, made a funny sound between a squeal and a scream and hid under her blanket. I turned around to see Lucas standing there. "what are you doing here?" I said to him. I still hadn't completely forgiven him for stabbing Hannah, even if it was an "accident". "I just came by to see how she was doing." He said coolly. "Go away!" said a muffled voice from under the blanket. "you've already made her scared of you and threatened her life. Come to finish her off?" I hissed at him. I wasn't feeling very kind today, but this seemed a little mean even for me. "No!" His voice softened. "Look, I came to apologize. I'm sorry for what I did Hannah, and I sincerely hope she can forgive me." Hannah peeked out from under the blankets. "y-you're sorry?" "Yes." Lucas replied. "Yes I am. I had no right to do that, even if you were trying to kill my sister." "I wasn't trying to kill her!" she exclaimed. "Then what were you doing to her?" I asked. She didn't reply. I decided not to press her for an answer. Instead, I drew the fresh bandage from my pocket and took a step towards her. "Lucas, if you're going to be in here I want Arthur and Abigail in here too. Just in case you try anything. Cassy doesn't have to come. She is busy with Dante. I doubt she would want to come anyway." "I'm not going to do anything!" He stayed silent for a moment. Then he sighed. "Fine. If you really don't trust me, I'll get them to come here." I heard a pair of footsteps walk out of the room, and a few minutes later 3 pairs of footsteps coming back. "Ok Steph. They're here." Lucas mumbled. I looked back at Hannah. She had turned pale, and sweat was pouring down her face. Was she in pain or was she just extremely nervous? "Hannah you don't look so good. Are you alright?" "Y-yes, I'm fine. W-why d-do you ask?" "You just seem a little... Nervous. Don't worry, this won't hurt." I unbuttoned her shirt, showing the bandage. It was clumsily applied. Hannah hadn't done a very good job. I took the bandage off and looked at the wound. It didn't look like much, but it had gone very deep. Hannah winced in pain. I cleaned the wound as gently as I could and put a new bandage on her. Then I realized Lucas, Arthur and Abigail were all staring at her. I had been too focused on her wound to notice. Hannahs skin was green! Not a pale, unnoticeable green like her face and hands, but a bright, vibrant green. And scales. She was covered in scales. Like a snake. They got smaller and harder to see as they spread out to the arms, legs and neck. Her hands looked like ordinary skin. She shakily reached up and removed her sunglasses. Her eyes... They were red.
It was strange. I expected someone to scream, someone to run away. Maybe even for someone to try and attack her. But we all just stood there and stared at her. She stared back, surprised at our reaction. I think she expected us to try and harm her in some way. Abigail was the first to speak. "Y-you're a m-mutant..." "Yes, I am." The nervousness had vanished from her voice. "I thought Lucas had realized that when I attacked Cassy. To me that seemed to be the only explanation to why he stabbed me." "I was protecting my sister." Lucas growled defensively. "speaking of Cassy, how did you do that to her?" Hannah bared a pair of very sharp fangs in explanation. I took a step back. "It's odd. My fangs are extremely poisonous, normally my prey drops dead in seconds. But Cassandra is still alive..." "Your... Prey?" Arthur asked. "Yes, my prey. How else would I have survived in the forest? Every living thing in there is terrified of me and my fangs." she said proudly. "Wait a second... So you were trying to kill Cassy?" Abigail said. Oh god. I glanced at Lucas. His voice became full of rage. "You tried to kill her!? What did she ever do to you!?" "No no no!" Hannah said desperately. "I would never try to kill Cassy! I just couldn't help it. I kill in the forest at least every three days. I've been stuck in the house for over a month without being able to kill. I know we have meat but the animal part of me goes wild. I've been going insane trying to keep it under control. It just got out of hand..." "Animal part of you?" I asked. "yes. I'm not completely mutant. There's alot of explaining to do..."