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Just before they went to bed a few hours after sunrise in the early hours of the morning Shelby told Cleo, Pearl and Martyn what she did.
"I turned Drift."
All eyes snapped to her. Pearl was the first to speak.
"What happened my blood moon?"
Shelby melted just a bit hearing Pearl call her that. Pearl had nicknames for each of them. Cleo was her flaming sun, Martyn her stormy sea and Shelby was her blood moon, a reminder of the deep red that Shelby's hair once was and how similar it was to their moon. In turn Shelby called Pearl her new moon.
"Drift was alone surrounded by smoke. She was going to die. They left her alone to die. I turned her to keep her safe. Drift was one of my first real friends, I can't lose her? Who would let someone as nice as Drift die to something that they helped create? Who would leave her to die!?"
Cleo wrapped her arms around Shelby and gently pulled her so that she was between them and Martyn. The moment that Shelby was between them Martyn wrapped his arms around her. Before Shelby could even look at where Pearl had been there was a wolf laying on top of her.
Shelby gently ran her fingers through Pearl's fur to ground herself just a bit further. After a moment Martyn spoke, his voice full of care as he held her close.
"You're not a monster Shelby. I don't care what the other humans think. She was dying and you did what you could to keep her safe."
Shelby nodded against him and for a moment there was silence.
Then Cleo spoke.
"Shelby."
"Yeah?"
"You came back missing a sunflower."
Of course Cleo caught that.
"I may have maybe put it in Drift's hair after I turned her."
Cleo hummed as they held Shelby close.
"Well we'll talk about that in the morning then won't we? For now, it looks like it's bedtime."
Shelby looked down to see Pearl asleep against her.
Yeah. Sleep was a good idea.
~~~~
Drift hid the sunflower in her pocket. She wasn't sure why she kept it with her and didn't just throw it out or burn it. She kept it in her pocket as she sat at the small table her and Avid had as they talked about the fire.
Avid ranted about how evil the vampires had to have been to set the fire, about how they didn't have protection from them anymore, about how he was going to see if the others would help him rebuild the wall out of stone so it couldn't be burned.
Drift said nothing about Shelby, said nothing about how vampires could fly in, how they could still get in no matter what he tried. She said nothing about how it hurt knowing so many of their friends were on the other side. She didn't tell him how often she wondered if it was their fault their friends were gone.
She said nothing about just how hungry she was. After all, Avid wouldn't be able to help. Not with this.
Would he push her away if he knew? Kill her? Give her to the Doctor as an experiment to figure out the cure?
~~~~
When Pearl woke up it was to someone knocking cautiously on their bedroom door.
Pearl wiggled her way off of the bed and blinked herself back to a human form before opening the door to see Apo ready to walk away, as if she was scared of someone else seeing her.
"Apo?"
Apo turned to face Pearl, a weary smile on her face.
"Hey Pearl. Sorry, did I wake you up?"
Pearl nodded before opening the door wider and waving Apo inside.
"Come on in, I'll wake the others."
"You don't have to-"
"It'll be fun. Come on, give me an excuse."
Pearl watched as Apo stared for a moment before walking in. The moment the door closed after Apo Pearl smiled at her and transformed before doing something that would get her shouted at.
She jumped on top of Martyn.
Martyn shouted at the sudden weight on top of him and woke up Cleo and Shelby who both grumbled at him and Pearl before Cleo noticed Apo standing in front of the door.
"Apo, good whatever time of the day it is."
"Good afternoon I think, Cleo."
"Time is subjective. Pearl, get off of Martyn, Martyn don't chase her around the castle while we have a guest."
Pearl pouted as she crawled off of Martyn.
Cleo smiled and waved Pearl over, petting her gently while they smiled at Apo.
"What can we do for you Apo?"
"I wanted to ask about last night, what happened there. And thank you for the warning Pearl, I don't know if it was meant to be a warning, but it got me out of there before the smoke got too thick so- thank you."
Pearl nodded at Apo while Martyn chuckled off to the side.
"That was my idea, having Pearl howl as our signal. Thought if Ren was still in town he'd take it as a sign to book it. Didn't want him getting caught up in all that when he helped us, yknow?"
Apo nodded.
"Right. Still, thank you."
"Course."
Apo nodded once more.
"Right. I should go before the others see I'm here. I don't feel like dealing with Scott or Owen right now."
Cleo nodded at Apo while Pearl jumped down and headed towards the door, she'd show Apo a quick way out where she wouldn't get caught.
"Pearl can take you out. You might want to shift so they don't know it's you."
"Right. Thanks again."
"It's no problem, go on Apo. You'll have to show me where you end up, we can go hunting for some animals sometime soon."
"Maybe. See you later Cleo. Shelby, Martyn."
Apo shifted and waited while Cleo opened the door, the moment the door opened Pearl started to move, confident that Apo could follow her. When they reached one of the secret exists Pearl shifted to wave Apo goodbye before walking back to her room to get changed for the day. Time to see the after affects of the fire.
When Pearl stepped into the room Shelby was pacing and she looked ready to bolt.
What happened in the five minutes she was gone?
"Am I missing something?"
Cleo chuckled and waved her over.
"Come here dear. How much do you remember of what Shelby told us last night?"
"Shelby turned Drift to save her. Why? What did I miss?"
"Shelby came home without a sunflower."
"Did she lose- oh."
Pearl turned to Shelby with a small smile on her face.
"Did you give it to Drift?"
"…Maybe."
"You know usually we talk before we share sunflowers Shelby."
"I'm sorry! I know I just-"
"You were trying to comfort her. Come here, lets talk about this before we see what's left of the wall."
"Okay. Yeah, okay."
~~~~
Martyn chuckled as he made his way towards the town. Shelby and Cleo were in his pockets and Pearl was following him in her wolf form, ready to protect him if need be. He didn't remind her he had a sword and could protect himself, he knew she worried because she cared.
Martyn whistled as they got to the burnt remains of the town wall. It was burnt to a crisp as if they hadn't gotten water in nearly enough time. The grass near the wall was burnt.
Maybe now they'd realize what they'd done.
Shelby flew off while Cleo stayed in his pocket, they had someone to visit.
It didn't take long for them to get to Ren's house. Martyn knocked on his door, a small smile on his face that only grew when Ren opened the door.
"Come on inside before the town sees ya out here, wouldn't want them sending a hunt to my door. Is it just you and Pearl? Where's Cleo? She get out of the fire okay?"
Cleo flew into Ren's house from Martyn's pocket and chuckled from where she landed behind Ren.
"I'm just fine Ren. How are you? They haven't been causing you trouble have they?"
Ren shook his head at Cleo while Pearl closed the door behind her and Martyn.
"I'm fine, they haven't left their town much today, or if they have not many of em have come over here. Sausage came over to make sure I wasn't dead and to tell me what happened and ask if I'd seen anythin. Told him I'd slept through it, terribly thick these walls are ya know, can't hear much of anythin from out there when you're inside."
"And you close your curtains at night."
Ren smiled at Cleo as he responded.
"Moon's bright, best to use blackout curtains."
Martyn realized just what Ren was saying, the implications of his words. He had blackout curtains, ones that wouldn't let any sun in. Ones that would probably keep a vampire safe if they were in his house to hide from the sun.
Martyn wondered just how long Ren had had these curtains.
The group talked for a bit, laughter filling Ren's house as they spoke like nothing had changed, like they hadn't been kicked out of town and burned down the wall. By the time they left Ren had managed to get each of them to promise to visit him again at least once a week.
"I won't lose my friends cause the others are paranoid. Ya better come visit again. Doesn't need to be all three of ya, come and go as you please, you're always welcome in my house."
An open invitation. Martyn saw the shock on Cleo's face as Ren said that, the smile that pulled at their lips. Maybe Ren would be their reminder that Martyn wasn't the only human capable of having common sense unhindered by paranoia.
~~~~
When Drift returned from helping gather stone for the wall she was surprised by a basket resting on their porch, a small tag with her name on it was attached to the handle with a yellow ribbon. Inside was a wine bottle, a flask and a few sunflowers, some real and others fake along with a note.
Drift quickly brought the basket into her room before putting the wall supplies in the chest Avid had made outside their house.
When she got back into her room she read the note, she wouldn't touch the rest of it, not yet.
Dear Drift,
Hello! I wanted to make sure you're okay after last night, I'm sure that was scary and I'm sorry about that. I should have found a way to warn you before hand. You're not the one burning our houses or kicking us out, you're just following Avid because he's your friend and you're trying to pull him out of this spiral he's found himself in.
I left a few things in here to help you out after last night. The flask has pig's blood in it and the wine bottle has sheep's blood. Cleo says it's surprisingly easy to pretend that blood is wine if you know what you're doing.
You're always welcome at the castle if anything happens. I'll make sure you're okay, you're my friend Drift.
Your friend,
Shelby
Shit.
Okay.
This was fine, it was fine.
Shelby was trying to help. She was trying.
It was fine, it had to be fine.
She needed to hide this from Avid.
If she put the sunflowers into a small vase in her room and the silk ones into her small jewelry box no one would need to know.