The Three Kings Ch. 1

Chapter One: Harmony and General Interest

“Even so, of the many different people a person on average meets, it is rare for one to fit almost immediately in harmony and general interest.” –Murray Bail, Eucalyptus

♛

There were moments when high schoolers seemed to revert back into their preschool years, and unfortunately, one of those moments was right now.

A substitute teacher had taken over Ms. Veritan’s AP Literature class and students were doing whatever they pleased.

Paper footballs flew across the room, chatter bounced off the walls, and chairs were being shuffled around the room. There was a three desk stretch of silence, and a girl sat in the middle. She had bright orange hair, freckled skin, and gentle features. Both desks next to her were empty, but a chair to her left held her backpack.

A few rows behind her was a group of kids who were on the football team together, talking about school, girls, and everything in-between.

Instead of disregarding the assignment that had been passed out as busy work—like most of the students, one of the boys sat at a desk slightly off to the side and filled it out.

A white beanie covered some of his dark, wavy shoulder-length hair, accenting the color of his black graphic tee that had a picture of two angry beakers, and block lettering that read “Stop overreacting.” His skin was on the lighter side, but with a peachy undertone to it, and a brown leather cuff bracelet sat around his right wrist. Along his right arm though, was a collection of tattoos—a series of black bands, varying in thickness. They extended from his wrist to his bicep, the space between each band differing from one to the next.

He glanced up every now and then, his amber colored eyes focusing on the girl with ginger hair.

With a burst of confidence the boy reached down to his open backpack and pulled out a notebook he mainly used for Chemistry class, and tore out a sheet of paper. He then picked up the pen he’d been using to work on his assignment with and started to scribble out a small message.

Would you mind if I came and sat over by you? You seem harmless enough compared to the kids I’m sitting next to.

The boy stopped writing for a moment and looked over at the girl, then smiled slightly, pulled his silver lip ring in between his teeth nervously, and continued.

I’m just afraid I’m losing too many brain cells :)

He folded the paper up into an airplane, leaned back in his chair so that he had a clear shot at the girl’s desk, then tossed it. He watched it glide through the class before finally settling on top of something in front of her. She turned her head in the boy’s direction, some strands of her curly hair falling over her shoulder, and her eyes seemed to narrow marginally.

The boy had returned to working on completing his worksheet while waiting for some sort of a response from the girl, currently taking no answer as a "no." He looked down when something hit his ankle and reached under his chair. His fingertips brushed a paper plane, and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He unfolded the piece of paper and found not only his own writing, but also much neater and fancier cursive lettering underneath.

Promise not to bug me? I’m working on something important. Russell Lynes once said that our secrets are as surely revealed by what we want to seem to be as by what we want to conceal. Careful what you assume. ;)

He laughed softly and looked over at the girl, who was watching him as well, except she was twisted in her chair so that she could look at him. If he focused, he could guess the color of her eyes—either gray or brown, but it almost seemed to be both.

The boy grabbed his things, not bothering to pack up, and slid out of his chair.

“Hey, where you goin’ Sanchez?” One of the boys called out as he stood up, and the boy nearly winced at the sound of his last name. Damn it, he thought, so close.

“I need to ask someone a question about the worksheet.” He said before turning and walking towards the front of the room, stopping as he got to the girl’s row. He let the paper plane fall onto her desk with a smile and dropped into the seat to her right.

“Fancy seeing you here,” He chuckled and twisted the leather cuff on his wrist anxiously. “I’m Dominik.”

The girl’s eyes were focused on his bracelet, but she looked up at him with a crooked smile and held out her hand.

“You don’t need to be scared. I’m Scarlette,” The girl had turned in her chair to face Dominik, an arm resting on the desk and the other on the back of her chair. “And I don’t bite.”

Her hair was now tied up into a ponytail that ran halfway down her shoulder blades, and a pair of black and gray framed rectangular glasses rested on her nose. A silver earring that resembled a barbell pierced her cartilage and he looked at it curiously. An industrial piercing. Rad. But what really grabbed his attention was the color of her eyes—they were brown and gray. One eye was purely gray while the other was split horizontally between gray and brown.

Dominik looked down at her hand in surprise, not having realized that she’d been holding it out, then shook it gently. His hand swallowed hers up, and he nearly started to laugh, two dimples appearing by his lips.

“How could you tell?” He tilted his head out of curiosity. Not many people noticed the habits he took and the behaviors he displayed. Actually, only about five other people did that, and three of them were family, so they didn’t count.

“You started to play with your bracelet when you sat down and most people fidget with things when they get nervous. You were biting your lip ring too.” Scarlette turned in her seat to face her desk again, and now that he was closer, Dominik could see that there was a drawing of two people on it.

They were in a forest, half bare and half flourishing, some sun rays washing over a woman like water. A dog with three heads stood between the woman and a man, who was enveloped in darkness. He had long hair and a crown on his head. Then Dominik noticed the flowers intertwined with the woman’s hair, and a lightbulb went off in his head.

“Is that Hades and Persephone?” He pointed to the drawing, gesturing to it to silently ask if he could look at it, the English assignment long forgotten about.

Scarlette’s eyes widened slightly, but she nodded and slid the larger sized paper onto the desk Dominik sat at. His gaze flowed over the paper, a finger tracing the intricate lines in a daze.

“This is amazing.” He chuckled in awe and looked back up at Scarlette, whose cheeks had a slight pink tint to them, enhancing the rounded angles of her face and bringing out a light smattering of freckles.

“It’s-I mean-I haven’t... Thank you.” She stuttered, seemingly unable to find the right words to say. Dominik noticed that she was wearing a gray tank top that said "Always cranky" underneath a black bomber jacket with lettering on the back, but he couldn’t make out what it said. She was also wearing a pair of black and red acid-wash jeans with rips in the knees. It was an odd mashup of styles, yet looked perfectly put together and in place on her.

“You like Greek mythology? Or just the story of Persephone and Hades?” Personally, Dominik loved mythology of all sorts, though he had a soft spot for the gods of Olympus.

“I’m kind of obsessed with Greek mythology, but Hindu is also really cool in my opinion.” Scarlette shrugged and smiled, looking down at her drawing. Dominik gave it back to her carefully and gazed at her before starting to work on his worksheet again.

“Do you do commissions?” He asked while writing down the answer to a question, and Scarlette, who had been drinking out of a steel coffee cup covered in superhero stickers, lurched forward as she tried to refrain from spitting out her drink. She looked over at Dominik with guarded eyes, her body seeming to tense a little.

“I-I probably could but people don’t really ask me to. I’m not super public about my work at school. I’ve done some commissions for people online who see my work and email me, but no one at school.” Scarlette started to ramble as her gaze darted in different directions, yet they never landed on Dominik or her drawing.

“If you’re up for a few extra bucks, I’d love to have something you’ve made.” The two of them looked at each other in silence for a few moments. Then Scarlette visibly relaxed and she nodded with a small smile, a dimple by her left eye appearing.

“Yeah, yeah. No that’d be... that’d be cool.” She sat back in her seat, staring into space as Dominik finished his worksheet. He glanced up at the clock and with a twinge of disappointment, realized there was only five minutes left of class.

“Here, let me see.” Scarlette snatched up his worksheet, then angled her body so she was blocking the paper as her pencil darted across the backside, which was blank. He laughed as he tried to readjust himself so that it was visible, but she just moved with him.

“Now that’s not very fair.” Dominik jested and raised an eyebrow. Scarlette looked at him from over her shoulder with a smile and shrugged.

“You’re a big boy and have big boy pants, put ‘em on and suck it up.”

Before he knew it the bell rang and Scarlette slid his worksheet back over to him as she stood up and started to gather her things. She’d turned it right side up so that what she’d done on the back was hidden. Dominik flipped it over, revealing fragile pencil lines that crossed and flowed together to create a figure. Some of the lines were darker where she’d gone over the same area multiple times or added more pressure to the pencil. He recognized the figure almost immediately. Scarlette had drawn Hermes, propping himself up against a wall and his arms crossed. His hair was drawn short and wavy, little tufts poking out from underneath his winged helmet. She’d given him a t-shirt and jeans, altering his Vans so that wings extended from the heels of the shoes.

Underneath the drawing was a small inscription and a signature:

Thanks for keeping me company Philotes. Hope I didn’t kill too many braincells.

Scarlette

Dominik looked up to see if Scarlette was still next to him, but like he’d suspected, she was gone, as if she’d simply evaporated into thin air.

With a sigh he packed up his stuff, except for the worksheet, which he folded up neatly and put into the pocket of his jeans.

Dominik left the classroom and headed towards the library, his thoughts filled with swirls of mythology, the color orange, and freckles.

♛

“Alright, don’t get settled in. There’s a new seating arrangement for the next six weeks.” Mr. Schroeder, one of the Chemistry teachers at Furnica High School, announced as students started to file into the classroom.

Three boys walked into the room after fourth period, and moved towards the back so that they were out of the way and could talk with each other.

“Are your parents in town, Q?” Dominik looked over to one of his friends with silver hair styled in a pompadour and sharp blue eyes framed by thick, black rimmed glasses.

“How is that related to the things we have to do today at all?” Another boy with light brown hair and forest green eyes turned to Dominik with an eyebrow raised. Dominik shrugged and leaned against a counter, careful not to break or spill anything on top of it. His hand was in his pocket, playing with the corners of his worksheet.

“It’s indirectly related, Tav. You mentioned Caroline wanting Quentin over, which reminded me that Pops wanted to know if your family could come over for dinner this weekend, and it reminded me to ask if Quent’s parents were here.” He looked over at the boy with brown hair. It was long and wavy on the top, but the sides were shaved, and to balance it out the longer parts had been cut into a fringe that ended just above his eyebrows.

“Octavian gets invited to dinner and not me? All because my family is dysfunctional?” Quentin feigned hurt and acted as though he were going to pass out. Tav rolled his eyes while pushing up the sleeves on his flannel, and shoved Quentin playfully, nearly causing his friend to fall over.

“Oh shut up, Q.”

“Make me.”

“You’re both so annoying, murder is an option I’m willing to consider.”

Their banter was interrupted by Mr. Schroeder and a bell signaling the beginning of class. Octavian narrowed his eyes at Quentin before turning to face the front of the class, his fingers latching around a set of silver dog tags around his neck.

“You will all be given new seats. If there is an actual issue with your seats, you can come to me at the end of class and I will do my best to accommodate you. Now, starting from the left…” Tav let his mind slip from the classroom, thinking about his teenage sister Caroline. She’d come to him a few days ago complaining about a boy that kept trying to talk to her and follow her around, and she didn’t understand why. Octavian had tried to help her understand in a way that was easy for her.

***

“He likes you, Care. He just thinks you’re pretty.” Tav sat next to her as she played video games, the television emitting the sounds of explosions and gunfire.

“Then why doesn’t he just tell me that? He’s nice to look at too.” She sighed in frustration, but not because her character died. Emotion was always something Caroline had struggled with.

Tav chuckled before turning his body so that he could look directly at his little sister. She had her dark hair pulled into a ponytail and was wearing a Batman headband.

“Does Batman ever tell Catwoman that he loves her?” He had to think for a moment to try and find the right analogy she could relate to.

“No, of course not. Bruce doesn’t tell Selina he loves her because he’s scared...oh.” Her face lit up with understanding, her jaw dropping open a little bit. The controller clattered into her lap as her hazel eyes widened.

“There ya go, tike.” Tav tugged on her ponytail gently before getting up off of the couch-

***

“Octavian Michaelson and Scarlette Rosewater.” Tav’s attention snapped back to reality as his name was called, and his eyes roamed the room for his seat. It was on the left side of the room and towards the back. A girl with ginger hair was already sitting down, her pen flashing across a page in her notebook. After adjusting his backpack, Octavian went over to his chair and sat down to her left, careful not to bump her as he did so.

“Quentin Snow and Dominik Sanchez.” Mr. Schroeder called out his friends’ names and Tav watched as they moved to the same row on the other side of the classroom. He leaned back in his chair to look at the two of them, but only Dominik seemed to be paying attention. Quentin’s gaze was inconspicuously latched onto the girl who sat next to Tav. Only someone who had his mannerisms memorized could tell he was staring at her, and Dominik tugged on his shoulder. The lost look in his eyes dissipated as he looked over at Dom, replaced by an expression of curiosity. They started to talk to each other, so Octavian set all four chair legs back on the floor and leaned back in his chair. His attention moved to the notebook on Scarlette’s desk, which was filled with numbers and equations and decimal figures.

“Please tell me that’s not AP Calculus homework for Mr. Treyor.” He struck up a conversation, nodding towards her notebook. She turned her head to look at Tav with a chuckle. She sounded tired.

“No, no. It’s... something else I’m working on. You’re saved.” Then she closed the notebook and slid it to the edge of the desk. His eyes followed the notebook before floating back up to her face.

“Good, because that looks complicated and I suck at math as it is.” He nodded and smiled proudly, earning another laugh from the girl. It was infectious—the sound of it made him smile even more and chuckle.

“I’m not too bad at it.” She shrugged and pushed up the sleeves of a black bomber jacket, revealing an array of hair ties, rubber bands, and friendship bracelets that were both new and old.

“Not too bad? Not too-kid, you’re doing like, 80 miles an hour on my 25 mile an hour street.” She laughed and looked over at Tav with bright gray eyes, but they weren’t just gray. One eye was an odd shade of gray, mostly a dark color with streaks and flecks of pale steel, but the other was half gray and half brown. Sectoral heterochromia, Octavian thought to himself.

“I’ve just had a lot of practice, especially with this stuff. Math in general comes easy to me, but this is an area I specialize in I guess.” Scarlette shrugged and Tav watched as she started to pick at the threads around her wrist.

“Alright, now that you’ve had time to get acquainted with your neighbor, it’s time for a short lab.” Mr. Schroeder started to hand out a green sheet of instructions to each row. Tav looked up from Scarlette’s arm as she reached out to grab the worksheet, then handed one to him. He watched her as she pushed up her glasses and started to read over the content.

It was a penny lab, where a group of two each used different substances containing phosphoric acid and observed which substance cleaned a penny the best compared to how much phosphoric acid it contained.

“Did he tell us to bring pennies to school?” Scarlette looked over at Octavian, her expression looking slightly panicked. He nodded while lifting his right side off the chair a little bit, pulled his wallet from his pocket, and started thumbing through his money.

“Yeah,” He mumbled distractedly before pulling out a handful of pennies and holding out the palm of his hand. “Here, I’ve got tons.”

Her voice seemed distant as she muttered, “Thanks.” Her eyes seemed to refocus on the world when she looked up at Octavian. Scarlette’s fingertips rubbed against the skin of his palm as she grabbed a few pennies, and to Tav’s surprise, they were calloused.

“Do you play guitar?” He asked her after she set the pennies down on the table, lining them up neatly.

“Yeah, yeah. My mom taught me when I was younger, but I still play,” Scarlette turned in her chair to face Tav, and he nearly laughed at the words on her shirt. “What about you?”

Octavian shook his head but replied with, “I don’t, but a buddy of mine does. I wish I did, though.” He chuckled with a shrug before glancing up to see other students moving to get their materials.

“It’s tough when you first start out, but it gets easier. Do you want me to grab the stuff we need?” She stood up from her desk and leaned against the table while waiting for an answer.

“You sure? I don’t mind.” He raised an eyebrow and moved to get up, but she reached out and tapped the table with her fingertips.

“You’re good. I got it.” Scarlette chuckled and disappeared towards the back table, and Octavian took the opportunity to go talk to his friends while he waited. He slid into Quentin’s empty seat, capturing Dominik’s attention.

“What’s up with Quentin?” Tav whispered energetically, the mystery enthusiast in him starting to show. Dominik leaned towards him, their eyes locking onto each others’. His light brown eyes sparkled with excitement as he started to speak.

“He says he doesn’t know her, but I think he’s lying.”

“Quentin never lies about who he knows, what makes her so special?”

Dominik shrugged.

“I met Scarlette this morning in Literature, and she seems pretty normal to me. I mean she’s different than other high-schoolers, but she’s not ‘crazy ax murderer’ different.”

“Maybe they hooked up at a party or something?”

“Or maybe she’s the reason he’s never hooked up with someone.”

“Or maybe it’s because I have to deal with you two bumbling idiots all the time, and never have a chance for anything else.” Tav could feel Quentin behind him, and imagined a grumpy expression on his friend’s face. He swiveled in his chair to look at Quent, who did indeed look grumpy. His eyebrow was raised in irritation and his jaw was clenched. Tav could guess that if he weren’t holding several beakers made out of glass, Quentin would be strangling him.

“That sounds about right. Good talk, chap.” Tav stood up and clapped Quentin on the shoulder before making his way back to his own seat, noticing that Scarlette was on her way back as well.

He saw it just moments before she tripped—a student sliding his leg out into her way. Octavian had just gotten to his seat when Scarlette stumbled, and he darted in her direction with wide eyes.

She managed to catch herself somehow, but the sudden shift in balance caused one of the beakers she was holding to slosh its contents onto her exposed arm. She cried out as her arm jerked up and the beaker broke against the floor.

Octavian caught her arm as she tried to roll down the sleeve, his hand circled around her wrist and holding it firmly.

“No, no, don’t-don’t pull your sleeve down.” He sputtered before pulling her towards the sinks, suddenly grateful they were seated towards the back of the class. He jerked on the faucet handle, causing cold water to rush out and he stuck her arm under the stream.

“If my skin melts off I’m blaming you,” Scarlette laughed nervously then clenched her jaw. “Do you even know what you’re doing?”

“What’s going on?” Mr. Schroeder was suddenly behind the two of them and Tav rolled his eyes. Took him long enough.

“Someone tripped Scarlette and she spilled some of the cleaner on her arm. We’re washing it off with water.” Octavian was suddenly aware of their position. He had moved himself so that he was behind Scarlette, almost cocooning her as they washed her arm off. She smelled faintly of cigarette smoke and soft perfume with a hint of citrus. She was incredibly short compared to him; judging from his height of about 6’1”, she was around 5’2” and 5’3”.

“Take her to the nurse after a few minutes.” Mr. Schroeder walked off, mumbling about how clumsy students were, and Octavian wanted to tell him off.

“Are you secretly a scientist for the FBI posing as a student? Like ‘21 Jump Street’ part three?” Scarlette asked jokingly and Tav laughed a few notes at the scenario that popped into his head.

“No, my friend Dominik is a geek and loves doing home experiments. That would be interesting though.” She turned her head to look over at him with a slight smile while turning her arm under the water.

“Dominik? A lip ring and chemistry t-shirt?” She was looking down at the sink basin and her arm. The skin was puffy and bright red with irritation.

“Yeah he’s right over there,” Tav ticked his head to where Dom and Quentin sat, and chuckled when Dominik saluted Scarlette with two fingers and a nod. She laughed as well, then turned her attention back to the sink. “You want to go to the nurse?”

“That sounds like a good idea.” She nodded and turned off the water with her uninjured arm, then started to grab some paper towels.

“You don’t wanna touch it right away. Here,” Tav let go of her wrist as his cheeks turned pink, and slipped out of his red and orange flannel, revealing a black bro tank underneath. “Just wrap... this around... loose. Like this.” He worked his hands around her arm carefully as he covered up the burn, and when he looked at her, her eyes were locked on his right arm.

“That is... a sick ass tattoo.” Her eyes were traveling up and down his arm, admiring the ink. Just below his knuckles is where the tribal designs began, and it extended up his entire arm and onto his shoulder, disappearing under his tank top where it curled onto the right side of his chest. Tav held out his arm and twisted it with a crooked smile.

“Better be, it was expensive.” He chuckled and finished tying off his flannel. Scarlette pulled her arm into herself almost naturally before heading towards the door with Tav. He held out his hand behind her as a precautionary measure while holding the door open for her, saluting his two best friends before letting the door fall shut behind him.

♛

The final bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, and in this case the end of the week. Quentin habitually glanced over at an empty seat two tables away from his own, only to remember that she wasn’t here. She was probably still in the nurse with Tav after burning her arm in Chemistry class, and he wondered how she was. It doesn’t matter you idiot, she doesn’t care anymore. Why should you? Quentin pushed the thought from his mind hastily and refocused on packing up. He grabbed his backpack after zipping it up and stashed his papers and drawings into a cubby that was assigned to him all year.

“Have a good one, Ms. T!” He called out as he ran a hand through his silver hair and walked towards the exit.

“You too, Quentin.” She waved at him from her desk as he passed through the doorway.

He headed towards the student parking lot, sliding his keys from his pocket, and saw Octavian up ahead walking with a girl. He shook his head and smiled at his friend while trying to find the right key to his car.

After finding the key he needed, Quentin looked back towards Tav and his mystery girl, only to recognize the way her hair curled into itself when it was pulled into a ponytail. A twinge of jealousy burned in him for a moment, but then his conscious bit at him saying, It’s your fault that she hates you.

He looked away as he got to his car, a yellow 2014 Chevy Camaro, and it chirped as he unlocked it. After opening the door and sliding into the driver’s seat, Quentin jammed his key into the ignition and leaned against the back of his chair as the car purred to life. Warm air rushed out of the vents and he quickly reached over and turned off the heater before putting the car in reverse.

It didn’t take him long to get out of the parking lot, and Quentin was halfway home when his phone started to ring. He pulled up to a stoplight and answered the call, quickly putting it on speaker.

“Hello?” His thumb tapped against the steering wheel as he waited for the light to turn green. Traffic was lighter than normal, which was odd considering students wanted to leave school as soon as possible for the weekend.

“Yo, Q, you coming over today?” Octavian’s voice quipped throughout the car and Quent swore under his breath.

“Fuck,” He groaned and pulled forward as the light turned green. “Yeah man, I’ll be over in a bit I’m halfway home so I’ll drop my stuff off and head over.”

“S’all good, none of use are there yet, I’m still on my way home.” Quentin made a left turn and sped down a long street while listening to Tav talk.

“Want me to bring anything over?”

“Anything you feel like bringin’ I guess. We don’t need anything, but whenever you bring stuff it’s always poppin’.” Quentin chuckled at his friend’s slang. Almost every week Octavian would find some new terminology and would use it like his life was going to end.

“Poppin’, huh? I’ll see what I can do. Be over in a bit.” He hung up a few blocks away from his house. A few minutes later he was pulling into an upper-class neighborhood, cruising past large houses and mansions.

As he drove up to a large modern Victorian house, Quentin was surprised to see another car parked in the long, winding driveway that was lined by roses and a cobblestone pathway. He parked his car next to it and grabbed his backpack before locking the doors. The front door swung open as he stepped onto the porch, and a young man—who was a dead ringer for Quentin—was leaning against the doorframe casually with a crooked smile on his face.

“Hello, brother.” He had cropped dark hair and shining blue eyes almost the exact same shade as Quentin’s, but his eyes were more narrow compared to Quentin’s almond shaped eyes.

“Cody? What the hell you doin’ here man?” Quentin chuckled and enveloped his older brother in a hug, clapping him on the back with a grin. Cody hugged him back with a soft laugh and a shrug as he stepped back into the house, leaving Quentin room to walk inside.

“I heard Mom and Dad were out of town, so I figured I’d stop by.” The brothers walked past walls filled with artwork and knick knacks their parents had purchased on their numerous business trips. They turned a corner and sauntered into the kitchen, where Quentin dropped his backpack onto the dining table.

“How’s school goin’ for you man?” Quentin asked while he popped open the stainless steel fridge and started to look around inside.

“It’s alright, what about you? You got, what, two months left? Isn’t your spring break next week, too?” Quentin listened to his older brother while pulling out a liter of Coke, and setting it on the island behind him.

“No, it’s like two weeks away or something like that. So close, yet so far.” Quentin replied dramatically and Cody chuckled with a shake of his head.

“Got any plans for tonight? I was thinking we could do something fun.” He asked while his younger brother closed the fridge door and meandered over to a double-door pantry, and threw open the doors like a princess in need of fresh air.

“Dom and I are headed to Tav’s for the night. I’ll let you know if we’re gonna crash there though. How about tomorrow night? That or Sunday, but the Sanchezes invited us over for dinner.” Quentin started to ramble as he pulled various bags of chips from within.

“Invited or summoned?”

“You know Kade and Cisco, who can turn down their family dinners?”

“But Mom and Dad are out of town.” Quentin made a face at his brother’s knack for stating the obvious, and whirled around with three family sized bags of chips in his arms.

“I know that. You’re family too, Codes.” He shrugged and dropped the bags onto the counter next to the Coke.

“I’m touched. I’d love to go, besides, how old is Caroline now?” Cody smiled cheekily at his younger brother, and for a moment Quentin felt like he was looking in a mirror.

“Eleven. Look, I gotta go, but I’ll see you later?” Quentin felt a wave of relief wash through him when Cody nodded and leaned against a kitchen counter.

“See you later, little brother.”

♛

It was late in the afternoon, around 3:45 PM when a Jeep Wrangler pulled over to the curb in front of a two-story house, but the driver didn’t turn off the engine or move to put the car in park, just sat there and let the engine idle. She stared at the house as if it were hideous, but it was in fact, just the opposite. It was an older, cottage-style house that replicated those from fairytales. The outside was made completely of brick and the roof dark brown. It had two stories and a small attic, a large backyard with a swing, and a forest that grew onto the property line. A soft buzzing caused her to shift her gaze to the middle console where a phone sat, the screen lighting up with a text message.

New Message from Aaron

You home yet?

Scarlette unlocked her phone and started to type out a response with an irritated huff.

No, and I won’t be for a while.

She let her phone fall into her lap with a sigh and relaxed into her seat. Scarlette sat there for a moment before putting her car in park, yanking her Harley Quinn key lanyard from the ignition, and getting out of the car. She didn’t bother grabbing her things except for her phone and keys, hoping she’d be going for a ride sooner than later.

Scarlette walked up a stone pathway to the porch, her arms out for balance as she walked on her tip-toes. When she got to the porch, she slid her key into the lock, and turned it before shoving the front door open.

Scarlette stood in the entryway, part of her wanting to turn around and make a run for her car and never look back, but another part of her willed her to stand her ground. Her chest ached as she thought of a third alternative, as she often absent-mindedly did, but she pushed it away with determination.

The first thing she did was head to the kitchen and grab the shopping list that was pinned underneath a happy face magnet on the refrigerator door. Then, she grabbed a Sprite from said fridge before heading upstairs to her bedroom.

The door to her room was wide open, despite the fact that she closed it every morning when she left for school, and so were the blinds. Sunlight filtered in through the windows, illuminating the cream colored walls and casting reflections across multiple computer screens.

Scarlette lazily walked into her room while looking around and cracking open her soda can. Instead of posters or stickers taped to the walls, there were paintings and graffiti art that she had created. An image of Batman and Catwoman stood around tendrils of ivy leaves on one wall, a split scene of Hades and Persephone completely covered another wall, and a mix of different styles of art were quickly filling up another.

She made her way to the desk that held three computer monitors, a curved keyboard, and a wireless mouse. Next to the monitors were two picture frames, one containing a picture of Scarlette and a young girl with light brown hair, and the other was a cheerful photo of five people including Scarlette. The older woman had the same color scheme as Scarlette did with ginger hair and gray eyes, but Scarlette’s features matched those of the man with his arm around the woman’s waist. Beside Scarlette was a tall boy who looked like the woman and the little girl in the previous picture.

She dropped into a black swivel chair after pulling it out from underneath the desk and jostled the mouse. The computer monitors startled awake, their screens flashing and running lines of code like a waterfall. Groups of sticky notes cluttered the edges of the monitors, and her eyes wandered over them as she skimmed their contents.

TAKE HALF OF WHAT’S IN THIS ACCOUNT. IT BELONGS TO A GANG CALLED THE THREE KINGS. IT’S DONE BY MIDNIGHT.

Scarlette plucked off the orange note and read it over a few times, the string of numbers glaring at her.

“The Three Kings? Sounds like The Royal Flush Gang in Batman.” She snorted and shook her head before taking another sip of Sprite. She set the can down on the desk and started to type lines of code and commands. The left monitor was suddenly filled with a window containing account numbers and their amounts. All but two of them were shell companies set up to a tech company.

“Alright, let’s drain the gangbangers.” Scarlette grumbled and continued typing as a small window with a meter popped onto the middle monitor, the level slowly dropping as the amounts on the left screen slowly started rising.

Then a window popped up on the right screen, the portfolio of the account finally having been put together. Scarlette’s fingers stopped moving and the guilt started to set in. It belonged to someone named Jax Teller. He owned a small restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. Scarlette started to wonder what Scott needed from someone who lived over five states away.

Her fingers suddenly started to dart across the keyboard in a panic as she tried to reverse the hack, but her gaze kept darting up to the picture the bank had of the owner. It was a middle aged blonde man with a beard, and he was smiling.

He’s innocent. He doesn’t deserve this.

“No, no, no, no…” Scarlette looked over at the meter on the middle monitor and saw that it had halted, then slowly started to increase again. The numbers on the left monitor started to drop, and she leaned back in her chair with a sigh. To ease her nerves, she pulled her hair from its ponytail, re-tied it, then started over again.

She looked back over at the right monitor and swallowed the lump in her throat. She felt like crying, hating herself for everything Scott had made her do.

“I guess I’ll deal with that later.” She spoke softly, her eyes darting to the clock at the bottom of the screen. An hour and a half had passed since she’d gotten home, and Scarlette lept to her feet as she swore in anger at herself.

“Fuck, I have to go.” She pulled her keys from her pocket, the lanyard swinging in her hand. She grabbed her can of Sprite, accidentally bumping her bandaged arm on the corner of the desk. The keys fell from her hand, the lanyard catching around her wrist as her bad hand dropped the can of soda, and her good one caught it. “Ow, damn it.” She growled and kicked the side of the desk angrily before pulling her bedroom door closed behind her.

Grocery shopping took longer than it should have, but that was partially due to the fact that Scarlette drove around town, going to different stores for different items, and by the time she had finished, it was time for her to pick up Tessa.

She drove up and down back streets on the way to her sister’s friend’s house, who lived up in the nicer area of town.

Scarlette started to recognize the streets as she drove, and mansions and multiple-story houses started to line the roads. She slowly pulled up to a Gothic styled house with what appeared to be around three stories.

She sat in the car for a moment, her gaze stuck on the front lawn of a large Victorian house with roses and a cobblestone pathway, and she imagine two kids playing in the yard, giggling with grins on their faces.

“Unlock the door you idiot!” A bang on the window caused the two children to dissipate, and Scarlette looked over to see a young girl with light brown hair and blue eyes, but features similar to her own.

“Oi, stop your whining.” She grumbled and jammed her finger into the unlock button with a smile. The passenger door flew open and the girl slid into the seat with a laugh.

“How was school,” She looked over at Scarlette excitedly, but the smile fell from her face as she saw the bandage wrapped around Scarlette’s forearm. “Did he…?”

Scarlette shook her head before pulling forward onto the street and driving back towards their house.

“No, but you need to stay at a friend’s house tonight.” Scarlette’s voice turned serious, causing fear to flash across her sister’s face.

“W-why?”

“I couldn’t do what he wanted me to, Tess.”

“I don’t know why you ever do anything that asshole asks, but you always tell me to drop it, so.” Scarlette rolled her eyes at Tessa’s vulgar choice of words.

“You don’t need to know why.”

“I’m your sister. I have a right to know why you put up with his bullshit.” Tessa shouldered Scarlette as she changed lanes.

“Stop.”

“What, it's true! You always seem to forget that I’m not your baby sister Scarlette, and I stopped being your baby sister when you and I had to start relying on each other instead of Scott!”

“I said enough!” Scarlette’s grip on the steering wheel had tightened, the skin around her knuckles turning white.

The two girls sat quietly until Scarlette turned off of a main street and started heading towards the highway.

“Spencer asked me to steal some money from a gang called The Three Kings-”

“-I’ve heard of them. They’re the most known gang in town, but rumor has it there’s only three of them.” Tessa cut her off and started to ramble about the group—to which Scarlette groaned—as she drove, taking the first highway entrance she encountered.

“The point is, is that the account number led me to some random citizen in Illinois.”

“What was the name of the dude?”

“Jax Teller.”

“Jax Teller?”

“Yeah-huh.”

“You know that’s a character on a fucking TV show, right? Sons of Anarchy. He’s the main character.” Scarlette shot Tessa a glare when she swore, but when her eyes flickered to the clock, her stomach churned with anxiety.

“Elizabeth said I can crash at her place for the night,” Tess said quietly, her gaze stuck on her phone.

The rest of the car ride was quiet as Scarlette turned around and drove towards Elizabeth’s house. When Scarlette pulled up to the right address and turned the car off, Tessa’s hand curled around her wrist.

“Come back for me. I don’t want to get a phone call from the city morgue. It’d be a huge hassle considering I’m only thirteen.” Tessa’s voice seemed to tighten despite her dark joke, but Scarlette nodded with a bitter laugh.

“I’ll always come back for you.” Scarlette watched as Tessa closed the car door and walked up to her friend’s house, the latter of who opened the door with grins and giggles. Tessa turned and waved to Scarlette with a sad smile before disappearing inside.

The car engine roared to life as Scarlette took a deep breath, then put her car into forward, and drove away from her little sister and into the sunset.