Things are heating up...
Can you stop being yourself for a damn minute?
Nope.

[Oliver]

I gotta admit, I regret not standing up for my sister and it's not mainly because I am kind of afraid of her. But I couldn't support my sister on something disagreed on, either.

The Queen had made herself clear, but I didn't really trust her (even though I was grateful she had saved Echo and Felix from that psycho). Why didn't she show up earlier if she knew what this Amon guy had done? Why didn't she fill us in? And If she was so hell-bent into helping us find a way home, why did she send an army after us instead of a couple guards to inform us?

Apart from that, after an encounter with her our uncle was found dead in his bed. How were we supposed to trust her? Queen or not she had caused enough trouble already, even if she didn't mean to (which I highly doubt).

Even if she was telling the truth, why should I believe her? She obviously knew Amon was after us. She probably even knew he was at the hostel. Why didn't she interfere faster when he attacked my sister and Felix? They came back to the room bloody and bruised. If she took care of Amon as easy as it looks, what stopped her from doing so earlier?

Unlike my sister, I wasn't so naive. She could be right, but I wasnt going to buy Deidre's story that easily.

Echo's being mad, though... That worried me. We had been in another dimension for more than three weeks, and we both knew the more we stayed the harder it would be for us to leave, especially for her, since fell in love with the place since the moment we came. And it wasn't just the place she was in love with, let's be serious.

And she wasn't the only one.

What?! I am not in love with Felix! It's Celine I liked since I met her. And I will stop here before things get cheesier and more awkward for me.

The next morning I had to try really hard to stay calm under my sister's deadly glares.

We were packing to leave. Both that Amon guy and the Queen knew where we were. They could still decide they wanted to come back with an army and kill us all. No, I am not exaggerating.

«I am going downstairs to tell the owners we're leaving. I think they will be glad to see us go after last night's mess...» Celine said.

«What makes you say that?» my sister asked sarcastically and rolled her eyes as Celine walked out of the room ignoring her.

Echo and Felix had cuts and bruises everywhere, especially the latter. They were both pale and Celine and I tried to prevent them for packing themselves but they weren't having it.

«My head hurts... I swear, if I see that guy again I'm going to kill him...» my sister remarked sitting on her bed. «I'm done.» she fell on her back and closed her eyes.

«Don't fall back asleep, when Celine returns we are leaving.» I told her.

«Whatever.» she muttered, but fell slept anyway.

That girl sleeps all day and stays up all night. Have you ever tried waking my sister? It is impossible. Celine seems to be the only person so far that has made it, but she won't say how.

I knew she did what I told her not to do just to annoy me. She was going to do that a lot until I apologised and that wasn't going to happen because I was right and she was stubborn.

Besides, I am older and no one can tell me otherwise.

No, not even Echo.

Celine came back to the room sighing.

«What happened?» I asked her.

«They want us to pay for the mess, especially since the other guy left without paying his bill. I told them I was coming to get the money, which we need, so that means that we will have to leave from the window. Quickly.»

«Dammit. Echo, wake up, we are leaving.» I told her. She groaned in her sleep and rolled on her side. «Oh, come on...» I poked her arm, but she just slapped my hand and fell back asleep.

«Echo Jewel Waters, if you don't get up right now I will murder you.» Celine said in a tone that made us all freeze. My sister still didn't wake up. «Well, that usually works...» Celine shrugged and cringed.

«Echo wake up, dammit!» Felix yelled at her. Nothing.

I grabbed Echo from the legs and pulled her towards the edge of the bed. And I dropped her. That woke her up, but it made noise too.

Soon the owner was rushing upstairs and we were jumping out of the window.

When we were out of sight, my sister slapped me.

«What the hell was that about?» I yelled at her.

«Dropping me off the bed.»

«I told you not to fall asleep and you did, we couldn't wake you and we were running out of time. It is not my fault. I was forced to. For once in your life, think before throwing accusations.» I argued. That shut her up.

«So what are we going to do now? Are we going to find another village to destroy or camp?» she asked after a while. She didn't apologise or anything, but I didn't expect her too. Her pride was always so much it was frustrating.

«They sound equally bad to me...» I replied.

«I think we should go to another village for a while, we have enough money to spend a week there. We can spend the remaining week on making a plan on what we will do when we go to the palace.» Celine suggested.

«Wait, when? When did we decide we were actually going to that ball?» Felix asked.

«It's not like we have a choice. It is our only way home.» I told him and glanced at my sister. Her mood had rapidly changed from "sorry-not-sorry" to "I-will-kill-you". How I got that with just a glance? If you had been around my sister for as long as I have, you would have probably learned the basics. Nothing more.

If her middle name wasn't Jewel, it would have definitely been Privacy. Trust me.

{Echo}

I didn't know if my brother was baiting me on purpose. But one was for sure, we were being followed. Now, you say, what does that have to do with anything?

Long story short, it didn't go very well. Not for the guys following us, at least. And me.

But really, now, who cares about me?

So, back to the point. Before we knew it we were surrounded. Apparently, Amon's pals hadn't gotten the news and were waiting for us to leave the village.

«Ollie, I don't mean to upset you, but we are being followed.» I whispered.

«Why would you think we are being followed?» he asked. Loudly.

I facepalmed. And five soldiers surrounded us.

Yay!

I glared at my brother as we all dropped our luggage and grabbed our weapons. He gave me an innocent shrug.

We attacked.

I shot an arrow at one guy's neck and he dropped dead, just like the guy Felix shot between the eyes. Celine sliced a couple throats and stabbed a guy, but what can I say? Daggers are faster than bows and arrows. My brother, well... He tried. He managed to injure the last soldier's leg.

We dropped our guard, which led in a second ambush and one of the new attackers grabbing Oliver and putting a knife at his neck.

And then I lost control. Don't tell my brother, but I might love him. Might.

«Leave him alone!» I shrieked and all the newcomers went up in flames. The soldier that was holding online, pushed him away on an attempt to get rid of the fire. They  all burned alive, except for one, whom I left run away to tell his boss. Maybe that would stop him from sending anyone else.

«Echo?» I was so mad that I had forgotten that my brother didn't know about my powers. His voice was full of hurt.

I froze, which is pretty ironic considering what I had just done. All the soldiers were now piles of ash. I wasn't the only one frozen. Celine, who knew what was going on, and Felix, who was still trying to realise what had just happened, were too.

«Ollie, I- I tried to tell you! You didn't listen, I am so sorry!» he just shook his head.

«You did kill dad. That's why it was so easy for you to kill all these soldiers.»

«I--»

«You know, for a fire elementalist you are pretty cold-blooded. You just killed half a dozen people like it was nothing and you don't give a damn.»

«They were going to kill us, that guy was going to kill you! You are so hell-bent on going home, but you don't realise that if something happens to you I will have to go back alone! That I will have to go through double the torture because you won't be there to pick me up and because mom will blame me for you not coming back! I tried to save you because you are my brother! I have no control over this thing, you have no idea how scary it is feeling like you are going to catch on fire any time, okay!» I yelled at him and ran away, because that's the only thing I am good at. Why face your problems when you can just hide from them? It is the easy option. No pain, no feelings. Just the relief of not having to deal with any trouble for the day.

I was terrified. Oliver would hate me after that. I know I had tried to tell him I had killed dad, that I had tried to explain but I never really though he would believe me. Ever since we came to Imyrth he had become a bit more open-minded. That's why I had tried to hide my powers from him ever since we got here. He would hate me.

And the worst part? He would be right. He would never forgive me. My losing my temper had killed not only dad, but also six more people.

And, spoiler alert, that was only the beginning.

I kicked a rock as hard as I could. I let the tears stream down my face. I had saved my brother, but I had lost him.

I ran my hand through my hair and took a deep breath. My hands were shaking.

I had really done it this time. Even if Oliver forgave me, which I really doubted at the time, it would be too real for me this time. Before he found out, there was still a slight possibility that I was crazy, or that it was just a dream. There was still a slight possibility that I would wake up and my dad would be there.

Now that my brother knew and believed me, there was no going back. He would blame me,he would hate me and the guilt would be triple, because up until now I had killed a person. Now I realised that it wasn't just a person, it was my father and it wasn't just my father; it was Ollie's father too.

I didn't think I would be able to live with that.

A/N: Bello peeps. So... What do you think so far? I suggest you kill me before I write the second book because (as I have implied multiple times up until now) things are getting worse.

Are my warnings getting annoying? Sorry... Just trying to say that if you don't like the ending it won't be my fault. It will be yours because you ignored me. :)

So, yeah. There will be many warnings and a lot of foreshadowing. I am evil and I don't deserve the gift that is called Internet. Jojo and Ria are going to kill me... (sorry...).

Well, that was it. Sorry again. If you can't handle unhappy endings, do not proceed. I don't want to die earlier than I should.

Bye, peeps!

-Choco<3