Life in the Shadows

Aurora finally decided that Evanna wasn't in the Castle and that she was probably somewhere in the grounds. As she exited the Castle, she saw Delos on the other side of the black gate that run round the perimeter of the Castle. His head was hung and she could tell that he was crying. She debated for a moment whether to go and talk to him, deciding not to after about 2 minutes. She had come out here to find her cousin, and that’s what she was going to do.
Walking determinedly down to Evanna’s favourite place in the entire Castle, Aurora saw the figure of her cousin sat crossed legged by the small lake. She was obviously crying, what was it with everyone and crying today? Aurora thought as she steadily approached her cousin.
“Eva? Eva, are you okay?” Aurora questioned softly as she got closer to where Evanna was sat. Evanna shook her head; it was so smaller movement that Aurora wouldn’t have noticed she had done anything if it wasn't for her improved Vampire senses.
“Talk to me, Evie” she whispered softly as she sat down next to Evanna. Evanna turned her face slightly to look at Aurora.
Aurora was stunned, Evanna’s eyes were red and puffy, inky tear tracks were stained on her cheeks and her eyes were producing yet more tears. Her face was whiter than normal and her mint green eyes had been partially taken over by the chocolate rims. Evanna was going through her slow Change, something that she couldn’t control, but when she was sad enough she would go through slow Change, when she was worried or angry she would go through fast Change. You could always tell when Evanna was going to change because of her eyes. Her eyes were normally a minty green, outlined with dark chocolate, but when she was Changing the dark chocolate outline would consume the minty green.
“Evie, is all of this about the whole husband thing?”
Evanna nodded, turning her head back to face the surreal lake that never moved, even when you jumped into it the water never rippled.
“Come on, Evie. Let’s go back to the Castle”
Evanna’s head whipped around to face Aurora, her pupils had become dilated and there was only a small circle of green left in her eyes. Red fur, the same colour as her hair had become more evident on her pale skin.
“Evie, stop it” Aurora instructed, it was times like this when she wished that she could Change whenever and not have to wait until she was particularly angry.
“Why? I don’t want to go back there. To be made to marry someone that I don’t love” Evanna whispered, almost inaudibly.
“Evie,” Aurora began “No one can ever make you do something that you don’t want to do”
“I don’t want to be trapped in this Castle, and yet they seem to be able to make me stay here all my life. Whereas you and Jonas and everyone else can just come and go as you please!”
Aurora’s head drooped, she knew that this was something that had always bothered Evanna deeply, the fact that she was never allowed to leave the Castle and everybody else was.
Evanna’s tear stained face turned to look at Aurora again, apparently when Evanna cried the tears didn’t burn her skin like when every other Schwarzes Lockian cried.
“Why me?” she questioned “Why me, Rory?”
Aurora couldn’t answer, for she did not know the answer. Why wasn't Evanna allowed out of the Castle when everyone else was allowed to come and go as they pleased? Why wasn't she allowed to tell Evanna about all of the wonderful things that lay outside of the Castle grounds, all of the weird things that happened in the Human Realms?
The question ‘Why?’ was something that Evanna often asked Aurora, she was dying to know the reasons behind her capture. The reasons why she wasn't allowed to leave the Castle. Aurora knew quite well that it was driving Evanna insane not knowing about what was on the Outside, outside of the walls that she had always been trapped behind. Not knowing was something that caused Evanna great pain, she loved to know what was happening in the Castle, and was normally the first to find out if someone had been fired or someone had died.
“Why is a good question” Aurora eventually replied, helping Evanna to her feet. Her eyes had stopped producing tears and were slowly returning to their normal appearance, the fur on her skin had vanished as though it had never been there in the first place.