"But I didn"t do anything." Edlyn squeaked. "Ya well, the students say they saw a priestess and the church needs to keep up their appearances so why not grab a new face to take over the old one?" Ariana said bluntly. Edlyn went quiet and contemplated the new problem. Davita looked at Eldyn then her wet hair. She inched closer then smiled."Edlyn what did you grab me?" Ariana called out. Edlyn was caught off guard and tried to surpress a laugh as Davita created some wind to dry her hair. "I saw how Cayden looked at you when you wore that outfit." Edlyn admitted. "I only wore this once! How could you possibly know how he looked at me?" Ariana shouted.
"It wasn"t only you who was observing me. I knew you were watching me and when you weren"t looking I was watching you. So when you came back to the dorm late I caught him watching you and his eyes were glued in a way I have only ever read about in my novels." Edlyn teased. Ariana turned beat red and thought about how Xander and Cayden would be waiting outside. "Fine. I"m wearing it but it"s only because I have nothing else to wear." Ariana said with fake anger.
"I know you don"t have anything else to wear. I threw you pajamas out. There was no saving them." Edlyn said with a light chuckle. Ariana grumbled as she changed. When she was done a crimson faced Ariana stepped out and glared at Edlyn. "You look so good! I only got to see this from a far and then raced back to the room." Edlyn squealed as she jumped around looking at Ariana from all angles. "Mrs. Dabney said the same thing." Ariana said with a clenched jaw.
"Oh so she bought this for you! She"s got great taste." Edlyn said with a bright smile. "Edlyn." Ariana sighed. Edlyn stopped moving around and looked up at Ariana. "What are we going to do?" Ariana asked helplessly. Edlyn dropped her gaze and looked at her hands. "I don"t know." Edlyn replied. Davita looked at the two girls and then decided to dry Ariana"s hair.
"They might take one of us." Ariana said as Davita zoomed around. "Or both." Edlyn added. "Can we stop them?" Edlyn then asked. "I don"t know." Ariana answered truthfully. After a few momets of silence Davita finished drying Ariana"s hair. "We should ask someone for help." Edlyn said as she brought up gaze to Ariana. "Who?" Ariana asked. "Everyone who knows the truth." Edlyn said firmly.
"But I still have to talk to Cayden..." Ariana said with great reluctance. "Do it now. I know it"s hard but he should know everything.... You"re not alone. I will be with you while you tell him okay?" Edlyn said as she grabbed Ariana"s hand. "Xander should know too." Ariana said with a shaky smile. "Are you sure?" Edlyn asked.
"Honestly, I"m afraid but I have a feeling he might help us if he knew everything." Ariana said as her body trembled with fear. "Okay." Edlyn said. It took the girls another ten minutes to get ready and when they built up enough nerve they stepped out of the changing room. Xander looked up and smiled softly as he looked at Edlyn. Ariana stepped forward and looked at Cayden then Xander.
"Sorry Xander before I hand Edlyn over to you, you will have to listen to my story." Ariana said firmly. Xander"s turned from delight to confusion in a split second. "Why?" He asked but Ariana kept her face composed. "Because we need your help. Let"s talk somewhere else." Ariana said as she walked towards the exit. "Where are we going to talk?" Xander asked as he conintuously glancing at Edlyn. "The Dabneys." Ariana said as they walked.
By the time they reached the Dabneys Ariana felt drained, she could have sworn a life time had pa.s.sed by instead of 15 minutes. Everyone was too quiet and it was unsettling. Ariana could feel her heart pounded as they walked up to the Dabney"s front door. She gently knocked and the door was thrown open. Mr. Dabney looked like he was in so much pain as he looked at Ariana. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as tightly as he dared. "You stupid child!" He shouted as his body trembled. "I know." Ariana whispered.
"Pascal let them in already!" Mrs. Dabney shouted from behind her husband. Pascal nodded his head and without letting go he gently picked up Ariana with his embraced and backed into the house. "Let go now! It"s my turn." Mrs. Dabney shouted as she held out Brie. Mr. Dabney looked at Brie then Ariana then Brie again. He let go of Ariana and grabbed Brie. "Honestly you act like a big suck sometimes." Mrs. Dabeny said as she jumped onto Ariana.
"She"s a strong girl and nothing really bad could have happened. She is safe and sound. Everything is fine and will stay that way." Mrs. Dabney said as she hugged Ariana but her body was shivering as she spoke. Ariana guessed those words were more for Mrs. Dabney"s peace of mind rather than Mr. Dabney or herself. "We need to talk." Ariana said as everyone slowly walked in. Mrs. Dabney looked at everyone and nodded her head. "I"ll get some tea." She said as she let Ariana go.
"Cayden... I"m sorry about what happened and I trust my family to fix it but right now I need to tell you something really important... Don"t hate me too much."
....
Cayden sat in silence. Xander looked confused. Edlyn couldn"t take her eyes off of Ariana as she told everyone her story. She told the absolutely everything. The only thing that was left was her biggest secret and her future plans but Edlyn had no idea how she was going to bring it up. There was no way Cayden wasn"t going to find out.
"Do you still love him?" Cayden asked slowly as he clenched his fist that laid over his knees. He refused to look up at Ariana and kept his face hidden with his fringe. Ariana didn"t say anything for a moment then sighed. "Yes." She answered loudly. Veins started to pop out from Cayden"s hands. He looked like he was barely holding on to his anger but Ariana figures another blow to his ego might set him off.
"Ariana"s you left out the important part." Edlyn said softly. Ariana paled. "I know." She replied.