"Why are you so weak?" Tia shifted back into her human form, staring at her naked daughter. She was lying on the ground, covered by snow and shivering because of the coldness. She was seething, her grey eyes were slightly darker.
"I don't want to do this anymore!" Zuri was now screaming at her grandmother. She hated the feeling of being defeated and then forced to shift back into her human's form, naked.
It was not that she was embarrassed about her nakedness, though she was still uncomfortable about letting her grandmother see her so bare like this.
"Why? You don't like me seeing your small tits?" Tia scoffed, as Zuri covered her chest with her long white hair and trudged to where she left her clothes earlier.
"Tia!" Zuri snapped at her, but she didn't know what to say in response to her comment. Well, she was not on the busty side, but she was not small either for her body size.
"What? You want to deny it?" Tia raised her brows, she folded her arms in front of her chest, as if to show her that she was at least two sizes bigger than her.
"Damn it, this old woman." Zuri followed that with other curses that she had learned in her twenty nine years of living.
"I can hear that," Tia said, as she walked over to Zuri, who was putting on her clothes. She was so tired, every training session felt like she was being bullied by Tia instead.
"I intended for you to hear that," Zuri replied and shot her grandma a dagger look when she stood next to her. "What is it? You want to hit me again."
"Stop being dramatic, this is why you have not been able to beat me so far." Tia clicked her tongue, she treated Zuri as if she was a spoiled little brat who was sulking because she couldn't achieve something.
"That's because you use that damn protection magic." Zuri put on her pants and took her sweater, but this sweater was so cold because she left it on the cold ground for quite a while.
"That's the point of this training, for you to be able to break the protection magic that I create. The protection I created earlier wasn't even that strong." Tia leaned her back against the tree and looked up at the sun. It was not too bright, but the sun had never been brighter than this around this mountain.
"How can I do that?"
"Concentrate."
"You have given me the same answer more than a hundred times now." Zuri stomped her feet to get rid of the snow from her boots. "I have concentrated enough."
"You do not concentrate enough, you brat!" Tia clicked her tongue again, while Zuri could only glare at her. She really wanted to fight her, but the invisible wall of protection that she built was so hard to be penetrated.
"I do!" Zuri insisted. "How do you know I am not concentrated enough? You are not me, you can't read my mind."
Zur was about to turn around and leave Tia there alone, but then she said something that left Zuri seething.
"You are thinking about Chaos. You are wondering when he will wake up and take you away from this place. You are thinking about how you dislike the weather here, the coldness and everything that you eat. Am I wrong?" Tia raised her brows smugly.
She watched how Zuri turned her body around with her eyes wide open. She didn't need to hear the answer, because her reaction alone was already an answer enough for her.
"Tell me if I am wrong." Tia walked toward her. "Our protection spell is strong, but you can definitely break it if you think a little bit about this training, but instead, you hate it. You can't even stand this training a minute longer."
Zuri gritted her teeth. "This is a waste of time."
"You are the one who is wasting my time!" Tia snapped at her, she literally growled at her.
This was the first time for her to be so stern with Zuri. Even though she always talked without thinking twice, this was the first time that she spoke to her in this tone. She looked absolutely done with her granddaughter for the way she handled this situation.
"Do you really think your attitude helps?!" Tia walked closer toward her. "Do you think if you wait for him, he will magically wake up?! Or do you think if I put down the protection barrier you can wake him up with a kiss?" Tia stopped walking in front of her and then scoffed. "You are so delusional if you think it will work."
Zuri gritted her teeth.
"What do you want now? What is your little head thinking right now to solve this problem? Or do you really believe what I said will work?" Tia was openly mocking Zuri now.
Meanwhile, Zuri didn't have anything to say back to her.
"Tell me, what do you have in mind to make things better? Do you really think sulking like this and refusing to learn anything will help with you and Chaos's situation? Do you even realize what you and Chaos will face?"
Zuri balled her fists beside her body and lowered her head, she didn't find it in her to look at Tia's sharp eyes right in the eyes.
"You have gone through so much and I understand that. I thought those experiences had wisened you up, but it seems I am wrong. You act like a moron. A petulant child, who hates the cold weather and decides not to do anything. Curling on your bed, waiting for a miracle to happen."
Tia didn't even stop when she saw Zuri's whole body start trembling because she was holding back her emotions. She had started talking, thus she wouldn't stop until she had said it all. Zuri had annoyed her with her attitude for the past few days.
"We don't wait for miracles to happen. We will create one." And then as a final word, she spoke in a very disappointed tone. "You can do as you wish. Wake him up if you can, break the spell and take him away if you can, after all, it is Chaos, who was very adamant for you to be here, but you don't even try to figure out why he had that plan. Do as you wish." n)/0VElb1n
And after saying that, Tia walked away from Zuri. She didn't turn back at all when she left her in that vast land, covered by snow, as white as her hair.
=========================
It had been a few days since Knox returned Rhea to her and since then she had been very protective of her daughter. She didn't allow her to go out, she didn't even allow her to have a tea party in the garden with her dolls, because that was the place where Knox found her.
However, right after that day, her brother, Sol, called Sebastian to the facility, he said that he needed his help, because he had been working for Knox and he wanted him to help with something.
Of course, asking for July's help was out of option, since what she had in mind was protecting her daughter alone.
But, Sebastian had been away for two days and would only return twice or thrice a week, as he helped Sol with something that he didn't even say to her.
July didn't even want to know, she was done with those matters, she wanted to wash her hands, to be away from the war between the supernatural creatures and humans.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Rhea ran toward the bedroom, where July was preparing their bed because it was time for her to sleep.
Hearing her panicked voice, July immediately left what she was doing and approached Rhea in the living room, because she just went to the kitchen to get a drink.
"What is it, Rhea? Are you hurt somewhere? Tell me, what happened?" July felt blood rushing to her head and her heart was beating so fast. It was only the two of them in this house, since Sebastian was in the facility.
"No, I am not hurt." Rhea shook her head, but July still knelt down in front of her to check her body, whether she got injured somewhere. "There, in the kitchen, the scary uncle is there."
Rhea pointed her finger toward the kitchen and July swore that her heart skipped a beat when she heard that.
Because there was only one person that Rhea addressed in such a way. It was Knox.
When Rhea told her what she was doing and what Knox had done to her, whether he hurt her or not, she said that Knox didn't hurt her and he was a magician because he could make things appear out of thin air.
"What?"
"Yes." Rhea nodded vigorously. "He is there, in the kitchen, but he is sleeping."
July felt her mind go blank when she heard that. She couldn't think fast enough because all of this was so confusing to her.
"What do you mean?"
"He is sleeping. I woke him up, but he didn't open his eyes."
July was silent for a moment and then forced a smile on her lips. "Okay, I will go and see him, why don't you go to the bedroom and pick the book you want me to read tonight?"
"Okay," Rhea said readily, she then went to their bedroom.
July made sure that she had closed the door before she went to the kitchen.