Kacie
“Goldfish!” She yells competitively. “I win!” She says triumphantly.
“That’s not how it works,” I say and pick up a card. “You say ‘Goldfish’ when I don’t have a card and then it’s my turn to ask if you have a card I need.”
“Bullshit,” she sighs. I don’t miss the doubtful look she shoots me. Her shoulders slump and she sinks into her chair.
“Do you have an 8?” I ask as I stare intently at the back of her cards.
Without checking her cards Clara looks at me for a few seconds before answering, “No.”
I try hard to keep the smile that threatens to take over my face.
“Are you lying?” I ask.
“No, goldfish,” she says matter-of-factually, and her eyes flick to the deck. I reach over to pick up and she watches me smugly.
“You didn’t even check your cards,” I mutter before looking at my cards.
“Do you have a 3?” She asks as she ignores me.
“Hmm,” I contemplate as I pretend to look over the cards in my hand. “I don’t know,” I mumble.
She huffs.
“Oh! Here,” I say and throw the card across the table to her.
I watch as she dances giddily and puts her pair down with the others.
“It’s my turn now. I want…,” I start, “Do you have a 6?” I ask. I suspect she has an 8 in her hand but I already know she’s not going to give it to me.
Clara’s eyes flash and before I know it she’s put her hand face-up on the table.
“Hey! What are you doing?” I ask.
“You’re going to win this round. I’ve already seen it and I don’t want to see it again,” she huffs as she rolls her eyes.
“I didn’t see it though. How am I supposed to know if I’m going to win or lose?” I ask.
“I’ve just told you so now you know,” she says.
Gosh, I want to slap her but I can’t help the laughter that bubbles up from my chest. I drop my face into my hands and laugh so hard my eyes filled up and tears threatened to spill down my cheeks.
When I look up from my hands she’s scowling at me. “I can’t help it! You’re such…” I trail off and giggle.
“For all I know, you were cheating,” Clara snarls.
I had been bored and decided to wander around the house, with Clara in tow of course. I found some cards on one of the shelves in the sitting room and since we didn’t have anything better to do, I challenged her to a round of speed but she didn’t know how to play.
She didn’t know how to play any card games so I had to think of something easy. Goldfish was the only game I could think of that wouldn’t require too much effort to learn.
“You’re just a sore loser, Clara.” I laugh, and her eyes narrow. We’ve been getting along and I think we could have been friends if it weren’t for the mate stealing attempts and her terrible personality.
The guards snicker but Clara silences them with a glare. “Yeah, and how does it feel to be a hostage?” She snaps.
I’m surprised but know she’s throwing a fit because she basically lost. “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me how it feels to be a sore loser?”
She looks pissed.
“Well…,” I say trying to hold back my laughter, “do you want to play another game?”
She pauses.
“No. You’ll win the majority and I’d rather not,” she says.
“Alright.”
I start to gather up all the cards when she loses patience and with a flick of her wrist, she gathers them all up and puts them in the card case. I know she’s a witch but the knowledge of witches and what they can do is little to none since they’ve been labeled outcasts.
It still surprises me what she can do with just a single movement. From what I’ve seen she could make this all go away if she wanted to. I don’t think she even likes Ken… She could toss the guards aside. Maybe if-
“Don’t,” she says, cutting off my line of thinking and grabbing my full attention.
“I didn’t,” I start.
“I’m not going to help you escape because that’s what it would be,” she says, pointing between the two of us. “You escaping, not me.”
“But why?” I ask. “From your conversations, it doesn’t seem like you guys even remotely like each other. “I get that he knows something…,” I say.
“He doesn’t know something,” she seethes and I shiver as the air grows cold. “He has my sister and I would do anything to get her back. That includes dog sitting,” she spits.
So much for getting along.
“What’s her name?” I ask. “What?” She asks.
“Your sister, what’s her name?” I ask, rubbing my wrists. The handcuffs are still on and burning through my skin. It’s so lonely without Athena, I’m not used to her not giving her opinion on everything.
Sigh.
“Harper,” she breathes.
“What happened?” I ask.
“Why do you care wolf?” She asks and I think she’s genuinely curious.
“We’re here all alone together,” I said shrugging, “other than the guards and I’m bored and maybe I’m tired of fighting.” And I want to know more about why she does the things she does but I won’t say that.
She takes a deep breath and looks at me. “She disappeared,” Clara whispered. At this moment, she wasn’t a witch and we didn’t hate each other. She was Clara, Harper’s big sister.
“She’d been gone for a while, it was too late by the time I figured it out. Harper isn’t like the other witches, she’s sweet and innocent. She’s… she’s everything pure and good in the world. She’s everything we’re not,” she chokes. “She’s practically a baby,” she says as she turns her head to look at me.
Clara glances out the window and when she turns back she’s gained control of her emotions. “I’d burn the word down for her,” Clara the witch swears.