You can't change the past but you can change the future.

~Reggie Dabbs

   Liliane was trying to send me a message; I knew that. But it got hard when a mute girl repeatedly point at her necklace and looked desperate. I sneaked glances at Lincoln, unsure of what to do. But he seemed to be in his own world and kept staring at his twin with clouded eyes. Grabbing her hand, I focused on the creepy pendant.

   "Okay," I said, observing the skull. "What about it?"

   Her hand stilled for a moment before escaping from my grasp. Liliane pointed at her brother before pulling him towards her. The brat seemed reluctant to share whatever information he had. My forehead creased as I stood up and got closer to him.

   "Spill the beans, Lincoln," I threatened, stepping closer. "This is about Lord Marcus and the key!"

   Lincoln didn't take a step back. His cool demeanour made me even more pissed off. 

   "Or should I say... King Marcus?" I whispered.

  That ignited some emotion in his eyes.

   "Do you think I'm so freaking stupid? There's people calling me 'princess' and that dead giveaway when my grandfather said her daughter is Princess Elizabeth. Why do you even bother hiding it from me anyway?" I raised my voice. "Never mind, I don't need your sad excuse. Just tell me what you're hiding from me."

   "Fine," he gnashed his teeth in anger. "That necklace keeps me from becoming a monster. Happy now?"

   I took a step back to give him some privacy. "Monster? What do you mean by that? Also, I'm sure Liliane pointed at her necklace because it's related to the key. Not you becoming a monster!"

  The rage in his crimson eyes warned me that he might broke some furniture if I continued pressing this matter. Still, I took the risk and probe him furthur anyway. I would do anything to find someone who took care of me before. 

   "I am not a mind reader, Artemis," he snarled. "I don't know what my sister wants to tell - I'm confused as hell too so back off."

   "Look - " I started, only to be cut off by the sound of the door opening.

   All of us turned around. An old looking satyr barged in with a salver filled with exotic dishes. He wore a cheerful smile on his wrinkled face as he placed the tray on the table. Silence settled on the room as we stood there, watching him placing the dishes on the table. After a moment of setting down the platters of food, he grabbed the salver and grinned.

   "Enjoy your food, mates!" His voice sounded croaky.

   Lincoln ruffled his dark brown hair in an attempt to calm down. "Edgar - "

  "Aye, Lincoln? I did add your favourite O blood in these!" Edgar piped in, wagging his tail.

  The brat looked speechless and wasn't too sure on how to shoo the satyr off. Suddenly, the enthusiastic satyr sent daggers at my direction. His hooves clomped on the floorboards as he walked towards me. His bright smile left and was quickly replaced with a deep frown. I just realized he looked a lot more older when he frowned. 

   "Young lad, I know you ain't belong here!" he scolded, pushing me to the door. "This place belong to my old friend Lincoln and his sister Liliane."

   "No, wait!" I tried to stop him from pushing me but before I knew it, the door slammed shut on my face. 

   I could only make out muddled voices even though I pressed my ear on the sturdy door. Lincoln's exasperated voice said something I couldn't decipher and Edgar quickly replied with his chirpy voice. With one hand on the doorknob, I debated with myself if I should go in again or leave things like it is.

   Maybe you should walk away, a voice in the back of my mind suggested. Besides, Lincoln is as lost as you too. A sigh escaped from my lips. The mystery of the missing key remained unsolved after all. The cold wind bit my exposed skin without mercy, sending shivers down my spine. Tucking a stray strand of my hair behind an ear, I walked back to my room. 

   Desmond was reading a classical book when I opened the door. His sea green eyes left the yellowed pages for a brief moment before focusing on the story again. I didn't know he's a reader, I mused, sitting beside him on the bed. He seemed enthralled with the rather thick book - which I found quite adorable. 

   A sharp pain reached my head and it felt like a hammer kept pounding on my poor brains. A pained shriek escaped from my lips as I succumbed into the waves of sheer agony. A dull thud of the book barely registered through my ears when I grabbed my head in an attempt to stop the pain. My eyes rolled back, revealing only the whites as a piece of my memory returned to me.

  "Fennel, stop stealing my books!" A nerdy looking guy whined, his hands reached out for his book named Great Expectations.

  "Oh hell no!" I giggled, running away from him.

   "I have no idea why I became your boyfriend in the first place," he complained, his cheeks getting red from all the running. "You're a terrible girlfriend."

   I stopped in my tracks and waited for him to catch up. "We're together because of love."

   With that, his arms looped around me and we dissolved into a passionate kiss.

  A pair of arms shook my still body like there's no tomorrow. At first, I couldn't listen to what Desmond was saying; all I heard was his urgent voice that didn't make sense. The pain slowly died and a migraine settled in instead. My body curled into a fetal position, unwilling to move any longer. Sadly, Desmond had another idea since he took me in his arms and started whispering comforting words in my ear.

   "Another memory?" he asked, burying his chin on my dirty blond hair.

   I could hardly nod. Guilt began to eat me from inside; knowing that I once had a boyfriend somewhere in this world and we probably didn't break up yet. And now you're with Desmond Kennedy, my inner voice murmured. Now, it felt wrong when his warm body enveloped mine - as if  I'm cheating on my other boyfriend.

   That nerd might be searching for you now, Artemis, my subconscious mind persisted.

   Desmond must had felt my hesitance. He looked at me with those gorgeous green eyes but at that moment, I chose to break our eye contact. I can't tell him I belong to someone else. 

   "Are you okay?" he mumbled. "What's the memory about?"

   I raked my brains to find a convincing lie. "Just about... my puppy's death." I lowered my gaze in shame. 

   When he murmured his apologies, I didn't say anything and just froze there, wondering where my other boyfriend is. 

   "Can you leave now?" I whimpered, staring at the empty space.

   A barely audible sigh left his lips as Desmond gave me a grim nod. The sheets rustled when he went out from the bed. After a small peck on my cheeks, he walked out from the door and closed it behind him with a gentle click. I buried my face at the pillow, countless thoughts swirled around in my head. 

   "How am I going to face Des now?" My voice stifled by the pillow.

   I'm not too sure how I ended up sleeping but by the time I woke up, someone covered me with a blanket. Rubbing my sleepy eyes, my legs left the warm bed and touched the cool surface of the floorboards. A beam of reddish light came from the window, indicating that it's getting late. Probably evening now, my sleepy mind concluded.

   Something clicked in my head - I was supposed to do something in the evening but I couldn't remember what was it. With wobbly legs, I made my way to the cupboard to pick another outfit. My instincts told me that I would need a new attire later. With a tired groan, I pulled open the cupboard doors and was vaguely surprised when nothing came out to drown me.

   My eyes flickered to the neat folded bundles of clothes. A small note attached to a striking red dress caught my attention. Without any hesitation, I plucked it and read the calligraphic handwritten note out loud.

   "To my dearest Artemis, when I came back to our room, you're fast asleep. Your innocent sleeping face compelled me not to wake you up - so I spent time cleaning the room. If you noticed it. I have a feeling that you will forget the feast and might be in rush to attend it now. I already selected a dress for you so that you won't have to bother finding a dress. I'm sure it will look great on you. Yours sincerely, Desmond."

   "OK, what kind of person writes that kind of thing?" I snorted, crunching the paper.

    Hating the fact that his "feeling" is right, I took the scarlet dress. Within mere seconds, I was in the dress. Moving towards the dusty floor length mirror, I scanned myself. The velvet fabric clung to all the right curves, highlighting my petite figure. Its off shoulder top had intricate designs everywhere while the lower part of the dress was swathed with different aligned layers of translucent cardinal fabric.

    "Though I do admit that his sense of fashion is much better than the brat's..." I trailed off, combing my rebellious hair with my fingers.

   A melodious string of musical notes took me out from my daydreaming. Curious, I looked past the grimy edges of the old window and into a symbolic ritual which included a massive bonfire. Shoot! Slipping into a pair of chosen high heels, I sprinted out from the house and draughted to the crowd.

   The heat of the growing fire worried me but not too much. Those centaurs looked unfazed by it anyway. Several damp logs were placed around the bonfire to serve as seats for the satyrs and well, us. The half horse half men just folded their legs underneath and made their places between those logs.

   An arm reached out and grabbed mine, startling me. Turning my head around, it turned out to be Desmond. His finger pointed at an empty place beside him. Planting my butt at the moss covered trunk, I gazed into the dancing flames of the fire. For a moment, I thought I saw a battle scene played within it. 

   "Oi lad, quit daydreaming and accept the drink already!" A chirpy yet croaky voice snapped.

   Dazed, I looked away from the bonfire and met the angry eyes of Edgar. His scarred hands held a mug of steaming black coffee. With much reluctant, I reached out for it and nearly spilled its contents when it burned my palms. Edgar cocked his head to a side.

   "Watch out, it's hot." he warned before trotting away to serve other guests.

   It's a bit too late for that, don't you think? I answered him in my mind. Glancing at Desmond, I noticed he took a few sips from a similar mug and mumbled something along these lines, "Could use some sugar or milk."

   "Is the... feast over?" I tried to start a casual conversation.

   He released a sigh. "Yes, the amount of food was bountiful and I tried to save some for you but who would have thought that centaurs are big eaters? Besides, Lincoln told me you prefer blood."

   "Speaking of Lincoln, where is he?"

   "I don't know nor do I care." he said with bitter undertones.

   Did they have an argument when I was asleep? Clamping my mouth shut, I watched him as he downed his strong black coffee in one go. I didn't stop him when he went back to our assigned room. It seemed to be the right thing to do, anyway. 

   A towering figure loomed over him. Raising my eyebrows, I eyed Cuchulainn with slightly biased view. As usual, his disheveled hair rose up his attraction level - no matter how unusual was it. Careful, Artemis... You already have two boyfriends at hand, you don't want to add another one! My inner voice advised me.

   "Shut up." I muttered, rolling my eyes inwardly.

   One of Cuchulainn's eyebrows went up. "Yes, Princess Artemis?"

   "Nothing, nothing!" 

   He huffed at me before asking where I went when the feast started.

   "Sleeping, sorry." I said simply, too tired to lie.

   It must had been a bad choice since he looked pretty offended. Oh great, I pissed off three guys in one day. Yay, me. I thought to myself.

   "Hey - " I tried to explain but he made no intention to listen. Flicking his annoyingly long tail at me, he headed to a group of female centaurs.

   "Con - freaking - gratulations, Artemis." I facepalmed myself.

~~~

A/N

Heya! First of all, I see a lot of comments from my silent readers in the last chapter. Thank you for cooperating :D Anyways, see you in the next chappie and don't complain about Artemis' screw ups. People in real life do that kay? Kay. Whoops, almost forgot to say the thing I always say! xD

Vote and comment if you enjoy the verbal arguement between Artemis and Lincoln, a possible arguement between Lincoln and Desmond!

Also, I wanna ask something - who's on team Desmond and who's on team Lincoln? Whoever have the most members in the "team", will have a chance of turning things into their favor! ;)

Ciao,

~Jen