The Shadow Crown (CHAPTER 4)

The next morning, I opened my eyes and peered around blearily. I rubbed my eyes and rolled to grab my phone off of the night stand. The night came back to me in a rush. I groaned as I thought about my fight with Gann, as well as my fight with Ally. I knew that I would have to apologize to my little sister soon enough, but when I entered the hall it appeared that I was the only one awake. I was surprised. It was nearly ten and none of my other family members were awake. I walked slowly down the stairs and pulled the refrigerator open, grabbing the eggs and cheese. I pulled my mother’s apron off of the top of the fridge and tied it behind me in a bow. As I stood making egg and cheese and omelets for the family, the phone rang. I pulled it off of the wall and balanced it between my shoulder and face, “Hello?”

“Hello. May I speak with Ellanyra or one of her parents?” A voice said and I frowned confusedly.

“Yes, this is Ellanyra. May I ask who’s calling?” I said, switching the phone naturally to the other side.

“Ah, yes. This is principal Wilkin. It’s very nice to be able to speak with you, as you are one of our best students,” He replied.

“Oh, yes, Principal Wilkin. It’s nice to talk to you too,” I answered nervously, hoping that he wasn’t calling my parents to tell them that I failed a class.

“You are probably wondering why I would you call you on a Sunday morning,” He chuckled.

“Haha, yes, I was wondering,” I rolled my eyes, internally asking him to spit whatever he had to say out.

“Well, as you know, we have a Scottish foreign exchange student studying this year in your English class,” I made a face and replied with a yes.

“Sadly, it seems that our new student is not doing too well with your class in particular. I was wondering if you could tutor him twice a week and hour after school hours?”

I sighed, “You know, Mr. Wilkin, I would usually love to tutor someone but I just don’t really have time at the moment.”

“I see, Miss Ella, I see. But might I add that this looks very good on a college resume,” He bribed me. My parents would be thrilled to hear that I was tutoring someone. With four kids, they would do anything for some college scholarships.

I finally gave in, “What days?”

“Mondays and Wednesdays for the next three weeks,” He replied with a satisfied air, “Well, thank you for your time, young lady. I will speak to you this upcoming week with the details. Have a good rest of your weekend.”

With a click he ended our conversation. I realized what I had just done. I would now be tutoring the boy that I hated more than anything. I groaned and with a glance at the omelets, I knew that they were burning. I pulled them off of the burner and turned the stove back to off. Then, I separated the omelets. I only made three so I split them up between the six of us. Just as I set the table, my mom and two sisters came down the stairs. I smiled and tried to look at Ally, but she avoided my gaze. I huffed with annoyance. I thought my sister would be over our little fight by now. I was ready to move on from it. She was my best friend and being in a fight with her was a terrible feeling. My mind snapped back to my conversation with the principal, “Morning, guys. Mom can I talk to you for a minute?”

My mother looked at me worriedly and I reassured her that nothing was wrong.

She smiled, “Ally, Pia, why don’t you go in the living room for a moment.”

Pia ran happily into the room, Ally trailing her slowly.

Mom then noticed the omelets laid out on the table, “Oh, sweetheart. How nice of you to do this!”

“It was nothing,” I blushed happily, I knew she would be pleased, “So mom, principal Wilkin just phoned.”

“Oh?” She worried, her eyebrows furrowing.

“No, it’s okay!” I swallowed, “He asked me if I can tutor someone from my English class. The Scottish student, Gann.”

“The boy you’ve been fighting with?” She half laughed half snorted.

“Well, yes actually. It’s not ideal but he promised that it would look good on college resumes and that is perfect. Everett will probably get some great scholarships for his football, and then where does that leave me? Maybe this will get me a really good scholarship, Mama.”

“I understand,” She nodded, “And I’m glad that he thought of you when looking for Gann’s tutor. That means that he might call on you for something like this again! I’m proud of you, my little Ellie.”

I smiled and walked across the kitchen to hug her. She held me close, “I just can’t believe how old you are. It feels like just yesterday your dad and I were bringing her and Rett home from the hospital. Rett screamed and screamed on the drive home, but you, you were as quiet as a little mouse. You looked up at me with your beautiful eyes and I was so in love with you that I could barely breath. I love you, my sweetheart.”

“I love you too, Mama,” I breathed. She pulled away and smiled, looking me in the eyes. Ally strolled around the corner and asked if she could finally come in.

“Yes, dear,” Mom chuckled, “Bring Pia also.”

Ally dragged Pia away from her doll house and plopped her down onto the chair across from where I was sitting. She smiled at me with her perfect little pearly white teeth and I laughed softly, I loved that little smile. We ate in silence, with Pia talking about basically nothing every once in a while.

After breakfast was over, Mom sent us upstairs to get dressed. I ran to catch up to Ally and physically turned her to face me.

“Can I talk to you, Allerton?” I asked hopefully.

Her eyes narrowed, “I suppose so,” she drawled out.

I sighed with relief, grabbing her hand and pulling her into my tiny room.

“I’m sorry, Al, I really am,” I knelt in front of her, “I never meant to miss any part of your concert! I have been waiting for ages to watch you play up on that stage, and it was just as amazing as I had ever imagined. Ally, you’re an amazing pianist and I promise you that I will never, ever, miss another one of your performances. I would never have left the auditorium if I didn’t need to handle a situation that was time sensitive.”

She only stood there, her eyes narrowed into two tiny little slits. She finally said softly, “I forgive you, Ella. But I can’t understand why you would leave. What was this time sensitive issue that needed to be handled immediately? You’ve been avoiding talking about this, but I need to know. What is going on, El?”

My heart skipped a beat and I looked away. I breathed out slowly as I realized what I needed to do, “I’ll tell you Ally, but I need to tell Rett and Pia too. None of us should be in the dark about this.”

Ally nodded, with some weird sort of understanding and left the room to retrieve our two other siblings while I gathered my thoughts. I would have to tell them about me and Pia’s sightings of the shadow-like men. Pia came skipping in and gave me a confused look, but I reassured her with a smile. Rett stalked in and asked me what was up.

I sat them down on my bed and stood in front of them, “So, guys. Don’t be angry okay? No matter what I say, you won’t be mad with me. Promise?”

They mumbled their promises and I continued with my lecture, “A couple of days ago, me and Pea started seeing these weird shapes that look almost like men, but they are all in shadow. Also, Gann has been acting really weird.”

“That’s it?” Rett laughed.

“What do you mean?” I asked, offended.

“Well,” Ally started, “Just because you’ve seen a shadow and your friend is acting weird, doesn’t mean that the world is ending like you made it sound.”

“I’m not just making all of this up,” I snapped.

“Okay, okay,” Rett said holding up his hands in surrender, “What has Gann been doing, exactly?”

“I fought with him. During the end of Ally’s recital,” I swallowed, “He was acting really, super weird.”

Ally rolled her big brown eyes, “Spit it out.”

“Fine! He told me that all he wanted to do was protect me, and that he didn’t want to talk to me. Oh, and he called me by my full name.”

“He told you that he wanted to ‘protect’ you?” Rett puzzled while Ally shook her head in confusion. Pia only sat there, looking at me with a bit of her own confusion.

“Uh, yeah. But maybe he didn’t mean to! Maybe this was some whole misunderstanding. Some sort of lost in translation thing,” I pondered, fluttering my hand dramatically.

“If you thought it was just Gann being stupid, then why did you tell us?” Ally asked.

“Okay, so maybe it is more. But now I feel dumb for telling you guys without like any real information,” I groaned, sinking into myself.

“Ella,” Rett reached out his hand to me, which I took gratefully, “We’re your siblings. You can tell us anything and everything. We might question you, but we do love you after all.”

“Well, okay,” I laughed.

“She’s telling the truth,” Pia stared outside of my window with a frightened air around her. I turned slowly and walked to my pane. Sure enough, a dark person lurked outside of my house, gazing up to where I stood with my siblings.

“Holy crap,” Rett cursed behind me as Ally just watched with her mouth hanging open.

“This is called a stalker, Ella,” Rett stated, with wide terrified eyes.

“No!” I shouted, throwing up my hands to stop him from marching out and calling the police, “It’s different, Rett. It’s more than just a stalker, I promise! Something is, I don’t know, different about Gann.”

He watched me with narrowed eyes. I knew that I had won when he sat angrily on my desk chair.

“So, what’s the plan, Ella?” Ally asked, eyes bright with interest.

“I don’t think there is a plan. Maybe I’ll just wait until something else happens.”

“Yeah, but…” Ally started.

“Kids! Get down here!” Mom called.

Speaking quickly, I said, “Tomorrow, I have to tutor Gann. I’m going to kind of pull information out of him. After school, meet in the back yard.”

They all nodded in agreement. Ally took Pia’s hand and led her out of the room. As I walked out of my room, Rett grabbed my elbow and looked at me, worry clouding his gaze.

“Ella, please, listen to me. I know you think that you can handle this, but if you are in real danger, I won’t let you do this alone. Where are you tutoring him?”

“In the library, I think.”

“I’ll be there. I don’t care if it’s after school. I’ll be in the library, not with you, but near you. I won’t let you do this alone, sis.”

“Rett,” I croaked, my throat getting thick with emotion.

“I love you, Ella,” He smiled, “You’re my twin. No one will ever understand me like you.”

“I’m lucky to have you, Rett. I wouldn’t want anyone else as my best friend.”

We hugged and he turned to leave my room. I sighed, running my hand through my long golden brown hair. My life was becoming more and more complicated, and I really didn’t appreciate it. I walked to the top of the stairs, and lifted my chin, bracing myself for whatever was to come tomorrow. For the first time in my life, I didn’t have any idea what the future held for me.

Ahhh, okay. Finally done with this chapter! Sorry about the wait (homework has really picked up and I barely have any time!).  Enjoy! Can't wait for the upcoming chapters. Please review!