Chapter Five[V]: What's the Plan? (III)

Xenos Waters holds the ice pack against his side, body slightly twisted so his left shoulder doesn't touch the couch and rip it to shreds. "Well, what can we even do?" Xenos asks, bringing his good hand up to run a hand through his hair in frustration. He hates this, he hates feeling so helpless and weak, he hates it when he has no control over his life whatsoever.

Felix frowns, sighing tiredly as he stretches out on the couch, his other foot gently pressing his own ice pack against his elevated ankle. "Run and hide," Felix says blandly, "staying away from everyone else so that when this creature comes back to find us they don't end up killed."

"God, this sucks," Xenos groaned, scowling. "I guess all I can do is call the orphanage so Ms. Wilson doesn't have a heart attack when I don't go back."

Felix hums. "We have a landline in the kitchen, feel free to use it." He looks at the clock. "You should probably call around now since it should be lunch at school." Xenos nods, standing up slowly and walking over to the kitchen, he heard Felix mumble under his breath, "Damn creature, I should be eating butter chicken right now."

Xenos silently agrees with Felix, he's also a bit mad since he knows that butter chicken is one of the most delicious things he's ever eaten. His stomach growls softly as Xenos grabs the landline, making Xenos pause and call out to Felix, "You think we should order Indian or something?"

He sees Felix think for a moment. "Screw it, I'm hungry and I really don't think that creature is going to show up right as we get our food. The number for a good Indian place is on the fridge, along with their best dishes." He pauses. "Make sure to get butter chicken."

"Way ahead of you," Xenos says, deciding food becomes first as he dials the number of the Indian place. The line is soon picked up and Xenos places his order, two dishes of butter chicken along with some naan bread. The person on the other end of the line says it should be done in around thirty minutes, and Xenos finishes the conversation by saying the address of Felix's house conveniently written on a note on the fridge.

Xenos hangs up, dialling the number of the orphanage which he knows by heart and placing the phone against his ear. The dial tone chimes twice before the line connects and Ms. Allan, Ms. Wilson's secretary, answers, //𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘕𝘰𝘷𝘶𝘴 𝘖𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺?//

"Hey, Ms. Allan, this is Xenos."

//𝘖𝘩, 𝘟𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘴! 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦?// Ms. Allan's concerned and soft voice sounds through the speaker, making Xenos chuckle.

"No, Ms. Allan, I just wanted to tell you and Ms. Wilson that I'll be staying over at a friend's house for a few nights. He's sick and his parents are out of town right now, so I'll be helping him get better instead." It's technically telling the truth since Felix is injured and Xenos is helping him get better. Though Felix isn't his friend, more so someone who survived being attacked by a demon with him, but Xenos isn't going to say that.

//𝘖𝘩 𝘮𝘺, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘔𝘴. 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘴𝘰𝘯. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥, 𝘟𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘴, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭.//

Xenos smiles awkwardly at the praise. "I will," now that's a lie, "and thank you, Ms. Allan, I'll call you again tomorrow. Ah! Also, could someone place two dollars under the triplets pillow? I promised them they would get that amount If they drew a moustache on Poppy."

He can hear Ms. Allan laughing softly from the other side. //𝘚𝘰 𝘪𝘵 was 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘟𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘴.//

"Have a good day, Ms. Allan." Xenos places the phone back into the receiver, sighing in relief that it was Ms. Allan who answered and not Ms. Wilson, Ms. Wilson would have definitely asked some more questions, probably more than necessary. He walks back over to the living room, sitting down carefully. "The food should be here in half an hour."

Felix nods, seemingly satisfied. "Excellent, want to watch some Netflix while we wait?"

Xenos shrugs. "I don't see why not, just. . ." he hesitates, "let's not watch anything horror or demon related."

"Agreed, comedy it is," Felix says, grabbing the remote control on the table in front of the couch and turning on the television. They decide on some random comedy, neither of them caring what it is as long as it distracts them from the fact that a creature is after them for some reason and Xenos is being slowly eaten alive.

Because Xenos knows, just like Felix knows, that they're both pretending to be fine. How can they be? They were attacked by some monster, had to jump from the two-story window to escape, and ran through hail for two or so hours. And now, now they have to stay away from everyone else, waiting like sitting ducks for that creature to attack them once again. In other words, they're waiting for their death because there is no way they can run away again in this injured state.

That fact alone is not something Xenos nor Felix wishes to discuss, or even mention in passing. Instead, they ignore it, because maybe, just maybe, if they don't acknowledge their situation, it'll go away. Xenos frowns, the comedy becoming background noise. Out of the corner of his eyes he can see Felix doing the same. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵, Xenos thinks, 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘵.

Xenos flinches out of his mind as the doorbell rings suddenly, he hops off the couch so fast that he winces as his ribs protest. "I'll get it," Xenos says, heading to the back door he had specified the delivery driver should use.

"I'll get the money, then," Felix says, also standing up from the couch a little too quickly. It seems they both want to do something to escape from their thoughts.

He opens the door, seeing a tall man in a black outfit with a black baseball cap covering his eyes standing there. The man has boxes of Indian food in his hands. "That was quick," Xenos says, taking the food out of the man's hand, "my friend will be here shortly with the money, sir. Until then, please come inside." Xenos doesn't want to aggravate his frostbite anymore than needed.

The man nods, coming inside and closing the door behind him as Xenos happily walks over to the kitchen, placing the food on the counter. He hums as he opens the brown paper bag, the heavenly scent of butter chicken permeating through the air. His stomach growls and Xenos takes the food out of the bag, placing it neatly on the counter with the tinfoil-covered naan bread in the middle.

Deciding he can't take it any longer, Xenos unwraps the naan bread and rips one of them in half, joyfully munching on it as Felix suddenly appears, presumably having gone upstairs to get the money. Xenos feels a bit guilty that he didn't help Felix, but determines that if Felix needs help then he'll call on Xenos.

He walks over to Felix, ripping the naan bread in half and giving one part to Felix in exchange for the money. Felix happily makes the exchange, immediately starting to eat the naan bread as he leans on the couch. Xenos heads over to the man, extending his hand to give the man the money, only for him to stop midway through as the man lifts his head and they make eye contact.

Xenos blinks, stunned. The man's iris' are a golden yellow with silver specks scattered around, the same silver specks that are in Xenos' eyes. Xenos steps back, alarmed and suddenly fearful as his mouth dries up. "Hey now," the man says gently, a tone that makes Xenos back away more until he's standing next to the alarmed Felix, "no need to be afraid."

He hears Felix curse quietly, but Xenos continues to stare at the man. "What do you want?" Felix asks harshly, much more confident than Xenos can even dream to be, even if it is false confidence.

"Me?" The man smiles, pearly whites shining. "I want to help you two get away from the creature, the dhabeho, that attacked you."

That makes both of them pause. "How do you know about that?" Xenos blurts out.

The man gestures at Xenos' shoulder, and Xenos abruptly realizes that he had forgotten about the scales which are now past his elbow and just below his chin. Felix tenses, placing his body in front of Xenos so that the scales can no longer be seen by the man. Xenos peaks past Felix's shoulder, his right hand clasped around his left wrist tightly to keep his hands from shaking.

"I would know those scales anywhere, in addition, I killed the dhabeho following you two," the man said casually, as though killing that creature-- dhabeho is a trivial thing.

"You. . ." Felix stops, collecting himself, "you killed it? You killed that creature?"

"The dhabeho," the man gently corrects, "and yes, I did."

Xenos can only gape.