Chapter Text
“C’mon, kiddo, ‘s time to head to school,” Jawbone urges gently from the door of the wizard’s tower. Adaine dutifully shoves notebooks into her backpack, almost ready to go; she’s not the room’s inhabitant to whom he addresses his comments now. “You’ve spent enough time sittin’ around the house by yourself now, this’ll be good for you.”
Aelwyn sighs from her top bunk, already dressed casually for the day but not intending to go anywhere. “I don’t happen to agree,” she returns coolly. She avoids eye contact with him by keeping her eyes trained down on the book in her lap, rubbing the pages gently with her thumbs out of nerves.
“I know you’re still gettin’ used to the place,” Jawbone continues, rubbing the back of his fluffy neck. It’s been just over a week since the Bad Kids (and company)’s triumphant return from their spring break adventures. “But it ain’t healthy to stay shut up in the empty manor all day every day.”
“Quit being a baby already,” Adaine teases lightly, heaving her backpack onto her shoulders. The noticeable improvement in her strength since break has made carrying her many wizarding textbooks around a lot easier now. She looks up at her older sister and raises an eyebrow, smiling. “Come on, you love going to school.”
Aelwyn grumbles and set her book aside. Quickly calculating it out in her head, she figures this battle of wills is not worth fighting -- Adaine is too stubborn and Jawbone is too concerned. “At least allow me to put on a more decent shirt first,” she sighs, conceding defeat and climbing down from the bed. Jawbone smiles. Adaine grabs a flannel shirt draped over the back of her sister’s desk chair and tosses it over, a recent addition to Aelwyn’s wardrobe courtesy of a trip to the mall upon their return to Elmville (she didn’t exactly have much left over from her previous closet). Aelwyn snatches it from the air and makes a face, beginning to pull it on over her camisole and rolling her eyes in reluctance.
“We’re leavin’ in five!” Jawbone announces cheerfully, turning and disappearing down the tower stairs. Adaine follows. Aelwyn takes her time, but she can only stall for so long buttoning her shirt, and a minute or two later descends as well.
In the driveway Jawbone’s car is already full and running, Fig’s metal music blasting from the speakers. With the sharp increase in manor inhabitants that need to get to and from the adventuring academy together five days a week, he’d traded in his old sedan for a minivan, much more reasonably sized for the household. Nevertheless, Aelwyn still has to squeeze into the back seat between the door and her sister, now squished in the middle seat next to Kristen. Fig had evidently called shotgun already, which explained the music. Zayn and Ragh took the wayback.
“Everybody buckled?” Jawbone asks, peering over his shoulder at the small horde of children in the vehicle to check. After receiving a variety of affirmatives (two “yes,” an “uh huh,” a “yep,” a “fuck yeah,” a vague grunt, and an excessively loud “HOOT GROWL!”), he turns back around, shifts into reverse, and pulls out of the driveway.
“We’re listening to anything but metal on the way home,” Adaine sighs, overdramatically so as to be heard over the speakers and the teenage chatter. “Please.”
“Call shotgun first next time, bitch!” Fig calls back, grinning broadly.
“I literally--” Adaine starts again, then interrupts herself and shouts “Shotgun!!” before anyone else can beat her to it -- Ragh and Kristen were already raring to go.
Kristen throws up a dramatic groan. “If you put on another episode of This Solesian Life, your shotgun privileges are hereby revoked . Do you hear me, Adaine? Revoked!”
Aelwyn leans on the door and stares out the window, watching them wind their way through Elmville. She doesn’t have her crystal, she doesn’t have headphones, and trying to read now would only make her carsick; she just does her best to tune everyone else out for now.