Errand grinned. "We took a lot of good pictures!"
Ferrahn and Seph looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Of course he wouldn't have said that if he hadn't appeared in a good number of those pictures.
"Feyn hasn't come yet," Razkil said quietly.
Errand looked at Razkil who gazed back at him without blinking. Then he turned towards Seph and gave her that look; the look that always said: he's feeling bad again and it's your fault so fix it.
But surely Feyn's tardyness in picking up Kamahn couldn't be her fault, she thought with some misery. She looked at Ferrahn and sighed. The look that the cat gave her said that even if it wasn't her fault, it was still up to her to make things right.
She looked at the pictures they'd been looking at on the monitor screen and sighed again. They had been a pretty good distraction until now. "Let's go take a look at him."
So down the stairs they went. Seph opened the door to her room slowly and paused. The four of them held their breaths; they knew what to expect. The moment they stepped through the doorway, gloom would descend upon them.
Ferrahn hissed softly. "There's no reason why we should tolerate his moods like this."
"Hush. You don't want him to get angry," Errand whispered back.
Razkil didn't speak, but was the first to enter the room. Surprisingly, Evien stepped up to him, his calm face agitated.
"Have you seen Luthien?"
Surprised, everyone stared at him. Behind him, Kamahn stood with his arms crossed, but there wasn't any of the expected gloom emanating from him.
"Have you seen Luthien?" Evien hissed.
They stared at him, wondering if they had heard right. Evien, asking them if they had seen his twin? Evien snarled and brushed past them out of the room.
"Why is he asking us if we've seen Luthien?" Seph asked Kamahn with a frown.
"He's probably gone off to be by himself," Ferrahn said, stretching lazily.
"We can't find him," Kamahn said, looking at them with disgust.
"Evien didn't try to er...'call' him?"
Kamahn's narrowed eyes and his silence told them quite clearly that it had been an idiotic question. The others looked at Seph, thankful that they had not been the first to ask.
"All right, fine, stupid question," Seph mumbled. "It's strange that Evien can't call out to him though."
"He says he can't feel him," Kamahn said, frowning up at her.
"Well, I didn't do anything to him, if that's what you're thinking," she said, making a face at him.
"Luthien isn't on the balcony?" Ferrahn asked thoughtfully.
Kamahn made an exasperated sound. "I already said we can't find him. And he's not answering Evien."
"That's strange," Seph said.
"Let's look for him," Razkil suggested, carrying Errand in his arms.
"His body isn't here either," Seph said, looking around her room quickly. "If we can find it, maybe we'll find him."
"I'll go look at the balconies," Ferrahn said, turning towards the door.
Silren touched his elbow. "I'll go with you."
"I'll go look outside," Seph said with a sigh.
Kamahn nodded firmly and walked out after Ferrahn and Silren. Razkil looked at Seph worriedly.
"Where do you think Luthien went?"
She sighed. "If I knew, we wouldn't be looking for him like this."
"Why would he leave anyway?" Errand said irritably. "I think he just wants to scare us by disappearing."
"And scare Evien too? I don't think so. He never leaves Evien's side without letting him know first."
Razkil nodded. "This isn't like Luthien at all."
"The two of you go after Kamahn. He's probably going to look for Evien. Keep an eye on them."
"I hope we're not going to be miserable again," Errand muttered as they went their separate ways.
.
Some time later, Ferrahn called out to them. "I've found him."
They converged to the living room, and Evien ran up to where Ferrahn was sitting on the sofa arm.
"Where is he?" he snarled.
Without a change of expression, Ferrahn gestured towards the corner of the living room a few feet away. Peering into the corner, they could just see the tips of Luthien's toes peeking out from behind the curtains. They watched as Evien ripped aside the curtains and knelt before Luthien's curled up body.
"Something isn't right," Razkil thought to them.
Evien howled, his frustration echoing across their minds. "Where are you?!"
"He's not there," Ferrahn said with a sigh.
"We came across his shell like that," Silren said, holding Razkil to him. "I don't know where he could have gone."
"Hell,' Seph muttered looking at where Evien was bent over Luthien. She'd never seen Evien distraught and had no idea how to react. Among the two of them, he was the quiet one where Luthien was the one with the free barbs. You never really knew what he thought, whether he was amused or annoyed.
"Luthien will probably be back later," Silren said sagely.
It was hard to believe Luthien would leave Evien like this. But then, Luthien would never have left without a word in the first place. The only assumption one could make was that something had happened. But even so, Luthien could have got word to someone.
"He'll come back," Razkil said firmly.
"Right."
Silren walked forward and reached out to touch Evien's shoulder. Before his fingers could make contact with Evien, the cat whirled around and snarled at him, his claws slashing across Silren's hand.
Ferrahn jumped between them and pushed the surprised Silren back. "Don't touch him!" he hissed, his claws out.
Evien snarled as he eyed the two of them, his body tense and his claws still extended. His wild eyes said he didn't recognise them. Razkil quickly pulled Silren back and looked at him with concern.
"I'm fine," Silren said shaking his head. "Just surprised."
"I'm scared," Errand said cowering behind them.
Kamahn stepped forward and Evien hissed at him. "We're not going to hurt you, Evien," he said quietly.
Evien snarled at him, one arm trying to gather Luthien to his side.
"Move away," Ferrahn snapped, stepping back. "We look like we're cornering him."
They shuffled back a good many feet. All the while, Evien snarled and hissed, his wild eyes darting to and fro. They watched silently as he dragged Luthien away from the corner. He would fly at their faces if they moved towards him, they understood; the black cat dragging away his twin wasn't one they knew.
"What are we going to do?" Errand asked softly.
Kamahn stepped away from them and followed Evien.
"Is that wise?" Seph asked worriedly, but no one could answer.
"I'll keep an eye on him," Ferrahn said with a look at Silren. "Stay with the rest."
Razkil, Seph, Errand and Silren looked at each other.
"Any suggestions?" Seph asked after a while.
"I'm just scared," Errand said tearfully. "Evien doesn't seem like Evien at all."
"He isn't," Silren said, hugging himself. "But this 'Evien' is more...whole than Evien usually is."
"Do I want to understand that?"
"This Evien is here becuase Luthien isn't here," Razkil said quietly. "I don't think he likes that very much."
"Are we making observations or is this something you guys felt?" Seph asked the two.
"Something I felt," Silren said, rubbing his arms.
"Are you all right?" Errand hugged him.
"He really wanted to hurt you," Razkil said, hugging them both.
"Yes. It surprised me."
"Just be thankful the attack wasn't physical. You'd probably have been clawed to the bone." Seph sighed. "Though I guess it probably cut just as bad mentally. I know I winced when I saw him slice through you like that."
Silren smiled slightly. "I'm still shaken."
"So are we, Silren!" Errand started to cry. "What are we going to do? What if Luthien never comes back and Evien goes crazy and attacks all of us?!"
"Gods, Errand! Don't say that!" Seph shouted at him. She hated it when he panicked and cried like that.
"It'll be all right, Errand," Razkil said hugging him tightly. "Luthien will be back. He'd never leave Evien."
"Yeah, so don't go making your wild assumptions like that," Seph said irritably.
"I can't help it!" Errand sobbed. "Nothing ever stays right."
"Things usually turn out all right," Silren said with a smile. "We just have to wait it out."
They went back to Seph's room and waited.
Soon after, the moans began.
|
