𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕣𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕛𝕚𝕥𝕫𝕦 ~ L. Garmadon

14: Prophecy

Lyra woke up to a sore neck and an even worse back.

The sounds of snores startled her, and she jumped up in shock, looking around the room with eyes blurred with sleep.

The video game room, she realized.

She must've fallen asleep on the gargantuan, extremely comfy couch while the others were playing.

Speaking of the others, Nya had fallen asleep--and was still sleeping--on the other side of the couch. The snores were erupting from Cole, who was laying down on the floor with a spilled bucket of popcorn beside him. Kai and Jay were sprawled in armchairs, Nintendo Switch controllers still in hand. Zane was nowhere to be seen, which made sense.

"Shh," Lloyd murmured from a separate armchair. "They stayed up much later than either of us, and we have training today, so it's best to let them sleep as much as possible."

Lyra felt a shiver run up her spine at the sound of his raspy voice. With her brain still fogged up with sleep, she nodded. "Should we get out of here so your loud voice doesn't wake them up?"

"My loud voice?" Lloyd asked. "You're the one who jumped up like a kangaroo when you first woke up."

"In every other respect, I'm much quieter than you." Lyra softened her voice until she could barely hear it, even with her good ear. "See?"

Lloyd rolled his eyes and pretended to storm out of the room. Lyra followed him, trying not to giggle.

When they were safely out of hearing range, they stopped in the middle of the hall.

Lyra blinked the sleep out of her eyes, rubbing them for good measure. She took a good look at Lloyd, with his wrinkled green T-shirt and messy blonde hair that managed to be cute even when she could tell he put no effort into his appearance.

"So...Froot Loops?" he offered. When Lyra's eyes brightened, all thoughts of sleep forgotten, he grinned and grabbed her hand, dragging her to the kitchen.

This time, Lyra was the one to climb up and grab the box of cereal. Before she could get the milk, though, Lloyd snatched it out of her hands, a spark of challenge in his eye.

"Um, excuse me," Lyra jumped off the counter and crossed her arms. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Eating?" Lloyd suggested innocently, the spark in his eyes still there. "There's nothing wrong with that, right?"

"There is when you're stealing my food to do so," Lyra informed him. She held a hand out. "If you give it back, I won't have to resort to...unethical retrieval measures."

"Such as?"

"Such as blinding you, punching you in the gut, then running away with your whole Froot Loop supply."

Lloyd merely shook his head at her. "That's too violent for this early in the morning. How about I make you a bowl of cereal, add a bit of fruit salad to the mix, and we call it even?"

Lyra pretended to think about his offer. "Hmm...fine. Just lemme go get changed first." She gestured to her wrinkled indigo hoodie.

Lloyd nodded and waved her off, much to Lyra's amusement. She turned and exited the kitchen, walking down multiple hallways--and going in a full circle once or twice--until she found the laundry room.

Seriously, this ship feels bigger than the palace.

She grabbed her clothes from the dryer and put them in a spare laundry bin Lloyd had pointed out to her previously.

As she made her way toward her room, she caught a whiff of a familiar scent. She inhaled, trying to find the source.

To her surprise, it was emitting from her purple pile of laundry.