Trifecta: Ice [Complete]

Ch 14: Grim Normalcy

Karen was concerned.  "You don't have to spend time with her, Elise."

"I know," I assured her.  "But if I-I'm going to b-b-beat i-it, I have to tr-try."

"Only if you're sure," Serge said, finishing the argument for me.

I paused and decided to attempt an explanation.  "I w-wouldn't have been a-afraid of this b-before."

Karen's response was begrudging.  "I did tell you we wanted you to find a way to have as normal a life as possible, didn't I?"

I nodded.

"If you think it will help, then I'm happy to be proven wrong.  But you have to send her away if it gets too much for you to take."

"Yes," I agreed, although I doubted I could even if I wanted to.

"Th-thanks," I told her.

"No need to thank me, Elise," Karen said.

"For trying t-to pro-protect me."

"How could I do anything else?" she asked me and I suspected she was smiling from the sound of her voice.

* *  *   *   *   *   *  * *

I hid in my room as waves of anxiety rolled over me pulling me this way and that, but I forced myself not to spend all my time cowering in the corner.

Instead, I popped in my earbuds and listened to my two melancholy songs and picked up the new phone I had barely touched since Sean had brought it to me.

I was excited, but the curse was not pleased with the happiness I could slightly feel.  I shivered.

I ignored the text notifications and the curse as best I could and turned on the screen.  I punched in the passcode I found on the sticky note in the box; my fingers tingled unpleasantly each time I touched the screen.

I had apparently missed two calls from dad's home phone, two from his new cell and one from Matthias and there were also six texts waiting for my attention.

I ignored the calls.  I did not want to talk to them yet, but they were understandably concerned.  I realized I was going to have to make myself keep in regular contact with my old pack so that they would not waste more time and energy worrying than they had to.

I went into my text messages and read through them.  All were from my father, except one from Moramay from his phone.  Even if she had not put her name I could have guessed it was from her, because even in troubled text format her personality shone through whereas all the texts from my father were serious and worried.

His reaction to my situation was understandable but it made me feel terribly guilty.  The curse stabbed me with its agreement.  I had caused so much trouble to all the packs and I definitely deserved to suffer.

I bit my lip and turned my attention to creating a suitable response to my father.

Hi dad, i'm settling in.  No need to worry everyone here has been really supportive.  I'm working hard to fight the cu

My fingers slowed midway through the sentence until I could not make myself continue, so I changed the last sentence entirely.

Hi dad, i'm settling in.  No need to worry everyone here has been really supportive.  I'm doing what i can manage

The message was hardly perfect, but I couldn't bring myself to care.  I hit send with my numb fingers before dropping the phone on the bed beside me.  As I lay back on my pillow to wait for Jodi to return, the phone chimed that I already got a response.