Chapter Text
It took just as long to get back to Kennedy’s house as it did to get to the troll’s. Maybe that had something to do with lily getting just the teensy-weensiest bit lost, but she was going to blame it on the sunlight making it hard for her to move around without being seen.
Unlike when she was leaving last night, there was no way for her to reach the doorknob, not to mention the fact that it was probably locked and there was a good chance that Kennedy's parents were just inside the door. Besides, it would be way more fun to sneak in through the window anyway!
There was a tree outside Kenney's window and Lily climbed up the backside of the tree and balanced on the branches like a tightrope walker. She ginned and launched herself off the branch, which shook as she took off and grabbed the windowsill right before she would have plummeted to the floor.
Lily pulled herself up and dusted herself off before cracking open the window and shimmying inside. She turned around to close the window and did a double take when she saw her reflection. She looked so cool! Kennedy was going to be thrilled with how haunted she looked!
Lily grinned proudly and made her way back onto her stand. She couldn’t wait for Kennedy to get home from school.
Kennedy walked in the door after school and almost walked straight back out again. Mom was sitting on the couch looking angry. Levi was sitting next to her and shot Kennedy a panicked glance as she closed the door. Kennedy gulped and went to sit down too, “Hi?”
Mom gave a disappointed sigh, “one of you two snuck out last night. Now fess up. Which of you was it?”
Kennedy looked at Levi, who shook his head frantically, “It wasn’t me.”
“Not me either.” Kennedy said. “Why would we sneak out on a school night?”
“Well, I don’t know.” Mom huffed. “But the door was unlocked this morning and I know I locked it last night. I already talked to your father and it wasn’t him”
“It wasn’t us either!” Kennedy argued. “Where would we even go?”
“Well, there’s no one else it could be!” Mom yelled. She took a breath to compose herself. “Fine, you’re both grounded.”
“What?” Levi shouted. “That’s not fair!”
“Well, I’m sorry, bu I can’t just do nothing.” Mom said. “YOu have to understand that I’m doing this for your own good. I’m not even mad, just worried.”
“You sure seem mad to me.” Kennedy grumbled. “What are we even supposed to do?!”
“You can both stay home and work on your projects or whatever you like.” Mom said. “I’ll even let you keep your phones. Just no going anywhere besides school for the next couple days and no sneaking out. ”
“We didn’t even sneak out in the first place!” Kennedy rolled her eyes. But whatever, fine.”
Mom nodded in satisfaction.” Levi?”
“Yeah, sure,” he sighed. “I’ll tell my friends that my parents are being completely unreasonable.”
MOm sighed. “Just go to your rooms.”
Kennedy gave her one last glare and trudged up the stairs, levi on her tail. She hadn’t even done anything wrong! It was probably Levi who’d snuck out anyway, he had more friends to go meet in the middle of the night. So why did she have to get punished for something he’d done.
She ripped open the door and slammed it behind her. Whatever. It wasn’t like she ever hung out with friends anyway and she was still allowed to work on her projects, so it wouldn't’ even be that bad. Hopefully.
She took a deep breath to calm down, then glanced over toward her desk and screamed, “Levi!!!”
Lily was confused and honestly a little terrified. She’d heard yelling from downstairs, which was
way
too familia, especially after visiting the troll’s house last night. Daddy was yelling again and she needed to hide before…lily pushed the memories away as hard as she could. This wasn’t
before
. She was safe, she was strong, nothing could hurt her. That still didn’t make it any less scary when Kennedy took one look at her and yanked her from her stand. She crushed lily in her hand as she stormed across the hall and pounded on Levi’s door, “Open up, right now you stuppid, brainless…”
“Uh, geeze, kennedy.” Levi’s voice filtered out. “You're really making me want to open my door right now.”
Kennedy scowled and pushed the door open before he had a chance to lock it. She mared across the room and shoved Lily in his face. ‘What is this?”
Levi glanced between her and Lily, “Uh…your doll? You made a few changes to her, I guess?”
“No, I didn’t.” Kennedy said. “ You did. I know I said you could borrow her to take pictures or whatever. But that doesn’t give you the right to…”
“What are you even talking about?” Levi shoved her away. “I haven’t touched your stupid doll!”
“Yes, you did.” Kennedy shook lily violently. “She was gone this morning and you didn’t even have the decency to clean her up after whatever photoshoot you were doing! Just look at her! She’s got this weird paint everywhere, not to mention the singe marks on her skirt. What did you do. Surround her with lit candles or something?”
“Look. I never touched your stupid doll.” Levi yelled. “Sure, I borrowed her one time. That’s it and then I returned her. And besides, I couldn't have done whatever it is you think I did because I was at school, same as you!”
“Just fess up already.” Kennedy glared at him, her grip on Lily getting ever tighter. “First I get grounded because you snuck out and now…”
“Ok, let’s get one thing straight.” Levi interrupted. “I did not sneak out. You did.”
“No, I didn’t!” Kennedy yelled. “And I obviously didn’t mess up my own doll either.”
Levi scoffed, “right so of course now it’s all my fault.”
Kennedy shrugged in frustration, “You said it, not me.”
“Kids?” Mom yelled from downstairs. “Is everything alright?”
“Just peachy.” Kennedy yelled back. “If Levi would just admit…”
Levi looked at her incredulously, “I didn’t do anything!”
Kennedy gave him a look, “Yeah right.”
Levi’s phone rang and he glared at her, “whatever, we’re done.”
“Oh no we’re not.” Kennedy reached for his phone and Levi ran across the room and hopped onto the bed as he answered the phone. “Hey, jackson, what’s up?”
Wherever Jackson said made Levi stop, “No, I’ve been too busy running away from my crazy sister. What happened?”
Kennedy stopped trying to get to the phone. And looked at him in confusion, “What's going one?”
Levi shrugged and kept listening to the call, then looked down at lily. “Uh, yeah, I’ll think about it. It would make for a good story. I’ll, uh, I’ll call you back.”
He hung up and Kennedy huffed expectantly. Levi was silent for a long moment, “There’s been a murder.”