Chapter 12: Not So Cold After All

                                    

                                          
"Harlow? What are you doing here?" Ace asks and Harlow glances over at him before pointing at Ryder, "Mother and Father sent me here to make sure that he doesn't screw up."
                          
I look at Ryder and gently place my hand on top of his shoulder and he turns to look at me, his eyes searching mine wildly. Does he hate her, too? No. No, Ryder doesn't react like this to people he hates. Is he...scared? I turn my gaze back to Harlow and she continues to ignore the presence of everyone but her brothers.
                          
"Are you serious?" Ace frowns slightly, "Ryder doesn't need supervision. He's perfectly fine on his own."
                          
"Yet he doesn't even have a familiar and he's a junior," Harlow counters, "Pathetic."
                          
Ryder clenches his fist even tighter and I can feel him become tense.
                          
"I don't like Ryder just as much as the next person," Antheia speaks up, "But what gives you the right to call him pathetic?"
                          
"I'm his sister," Harlow says.
                          
"I don't care who you are," Antheia says, "He may deserve to be called a lot of different names, but pathetic isn't one of them."
                          
"And you're just a familiar," Harlow says as she stares at Antheia blankly, "You have no say."
                          
Antheia narrows her eyes at Harlow and Flinn tries to comfort his sister while at the same time tries to keep her from lunging at Harlow.
                          
"Hey," Spade scowls, "What's wrong with being a familiar?"
                          
"You're my brother's familiar," Harlow says as she turns towards Spade, "Meaning you must somehow be important, but nevertheless, you're just a familiar."
                          
Spade crosses his arms and clenches his jaw while Ace continues to frown.
                          
"Don't talk to him like that," Ace shakes his head, "Familiar or no familiar, he's my friend and he deserves to be treated better than that. All familiars deserve to be treated as if they were just another person."
                          
"Not my problem," Harlow says bluntly, "And as I was saying, I'm here to make sure that Ryder doesn't screw up. Believe me when I say that the second he screws up he will be punished, and he will screw up."
                          
Tempest raises a brow at Harlow and Ezra frowns while Solstice glances up from her book.
                          
"I think you'd better leave," Tempest says.
                          
"Fine," Harlow simply shrugs and clutches her book to her chest before her eyes drift to Ryder, "But I was just stating the truth and he knows it."
                          
"What a grade A--" Tempest starts, but gets cut off.
                          
Solstice glances at Tempest and Tempest sighs.
                          
"Sorry," Tempest says, "I was just stating the truth."
                          
Ezra chuckles and Tempest smiles while Solstice goes back to her book.
                          
"You have a point," Ezra says.
                          
"Ryder?" I whisper as he stands up from the table.
                          
He glances down at me before walking away without a word and I look at Ace worriedly, who just lowers his gaze to the ground solemnly. I sigh as I watch Ryder walking away before I look back at our group.
                          
I wonder why Ryder is afraid of his little sister...
                          
***
                          
After school ends I head back to my dorm with Antheia and Flinn and on the way to my dorm Flinn continues to make jokes and Antheia just rolls her eyes at her brother. Whenever we reach my dorm and I open the door I find Ryder sitting on his bed and staring at his wand. I close the door gently and sit my back down by the door and make my way over to Ryder while the twins transform into their fox forms and go to sleep on the floor.
                          
"Hey," I say as I sit down next to Ryder and smile slightly, "How many secret siblings do you have?"
                          
"You met them all," Ryder sighs.
                          
"Oh," I chuckle slightly before frowning, "Hey Ryder...can I ask you something?"
                          
"Are you going to ask me about Harlow?" Ryder asks and looks at me before looking back down at his wand.
                          
"Yeah...if that's okay," I say, "You seemed afraid of her."
                          
"Because I am," He says after a while and sighs.
                          
"Why?"
                          
"Harlow is gifted just like Ace and me, even though I have to work harder and Ace does anything perfectly the first time he tries, Harlow has to work hard too, but she's always been the most powerful out of the three of us. Harlow is only a year younger than me, but she's supposed to make sure I never mess anything up," Ryder explains.
                          
"I still don't get why you're afraid of her," I frown.
                          
"Harlow always used to yell at me for everything I did, even if it was so close to perfect that it couldn't be any closer, and she's very skilled with knives and swords, as well as fencing. And one day whenever I was twelve and she was eleven I did something that didn't meet her standards and she had a knife in her hand. Harlow usually had some sort of weapon or book in her hands considering she was always reading or practicing. She would sometimes even chase me around with them. Anyways, one day we were in the hallway in our house at night and she wasn't happy with how I did something, so she was complaining and slowly walking towards me and waving her knife at me and swinging as a warning. I kept backing up as she kept coming closer, but one of those times she actually cut me," Ryder explains.
                          
"Your scar..." I gasp and Ryder gives me a bitter smile.
                          
"Yeah," He says, "She slashed me from the bottom of my jawline to almost clear up at my cheekbone."
                          
"Ryder," I sigh and he looks at me, "I'm so sorry..."
                          
"It's fine," He shrugs, "I've lived with her my entire life. I just, I thought that I finally didn't have to deal with her anymore whenever she went to a different highschool than me."
                          
"Don't worry," I smile as I reach out and stoke my fingers across his scar and his eyes widen in surprise, "I'll be here for you!"
                          
"You're still as positive as ever," He smiles slightly at me before standing up, "Come on. I'll help you practice some more so that you can pass your exams tomorrow."
                          
I smile at him before standing up and I start practicing my magic. Ryder Axilum, you aren't as cold as you seem.