The Banished Hybrid book 1: Hybrid's Revenge (14+) (Draft 1)

Chapter 6 part 2

We were still running around playing and laughing when Alice finally came back. She brought back a rabbit. She must've went out hunting. 

Jasmine stopped playing and saw the rabbit in Alice's hand. She clung onto me and whimpered. Seeing the dead rabbit must remind her of when she was out here alone and scared. 

"We don't eat that," I told Alice as she came closer to us. 

"Jazy want chips," Jasmine told me almost on cue as she agreed. 

I nodded my head. "Okay," I replied. 

"Fine," Alice said, not really wanting to argue. "This is for me. Not you. I'm going to need a fire though. Can you make one for me?" 

I glared at her before I waved my hand and made a small fire pit appear near the other side of the cave with firewood and everything. I wanted the stench of cooked rabbit as far away from us as possible. Alice silently turned toward the fire pit and walked over to start her meal. 

"Jazy want chips!" Jasmine told me impatiently when I hadn't given her any. 

I made Jasmine's favorite flavor of chips appear in her hands a second later and pleased, Jasmine smiled with excitement as she ripped the bag open and started stuffing chips in her mouth. I noticed Alice watching and when she saw me, she shook her head with amusement and went back to her cooking. I wondered what her problem was but didn't bother to ask for I was watching Jasmine who was now sitting on the ground eating her chips with happiness. 

After Jasmine finished her bag of chips, which was only a few seconds, she threw her crumbled bag down, licked her cheese covered fingers, and said, "Thirsty now!" 

I smiled and made a can of Rootbeer appear in the palm of my hand. Excited, Jasmine took the can, opened it, and gulped it down. She crushed the can when she was done and set it to the ground. 

"Emi eat!" Jasmine ordered me when she noticed that I hadn't eaten while she did. 

"I'm fine Jazy," I said. "I'm not hungry anyways. Besides, I can't eat while she eats that!" I pointed to the gross carcass Alice was eating. I stuck out my tongue in disgust. 

Jasmine laughed at my sour face. I smiled sheepishly at her. At least we were trying to make the best of our situation. But I knew we couldn't stay here forever. We need to find Mommy. 

"So, uh, what do you know about the castle?" I asked Alice as she was eating. 

Alice choked on her meat. "What?" She asked, surprised. 

"The castle," I repeated more seriously. "What do you know about it?"

Alice looked at me, still surprised that I would want to know anything about the castle. "Well, they have lots of guards patrolling the castle grounds. You won't be getting into the castle without them stopping you and if your father banished you and your mother, there's no way they'll let you in," she explained.

"Then how do we get in?" I asked impatiently.

"Well, if I were you, I'd disguise myself as a servant or something with a different name and everything," she said.

"Play dress up?" Jasmine asked with excitement, perking up with attention at the sound of her favorite playtime hobby.

Alice looked confused and I gave Jasmine a small smile. "We, uh, liked to play pretend back at the apartment," I clarified.

Alice nodded. She still didn't understand but that was alright with me. I had a feeling that she didn't play any kind of game when she was younger.

"Dress up?" Jasmine asked me expectedly.

Guess we had to play dress up now. It was either play dress up or watch Jasmine throw a tantrum because we didn't do her favorite game.

"Alright Jazy," I told her. She got excited. "I'll make some stuff appear."

Jasmine watched me with excitement as I made all sorts of clothes and scarfs appear on the cave floor. Alice watched with caution, observing us as Jasmine went for the clothes to start dressing up.

Jasmine went for the scarfs first. It reminded her of when we went to the Fear Night festival. But I think the royal family and the chieftain would still figure out who we were with just scarfs. But I let Jasmine have her fun for a while.

"Emi scarf!" Jasmine said as she put a blue scarf around my neck. "Emi play with Jazy!" She took my hand and had me sit down with her and tried on different clothes.

I noticed that Alice was looking at us with amusement. She was seeing how much I cared about my sister that I would actually forget about myself for a bit to spend time with her. I ignored Alice while trying to keep Jasmine entertained for however long she wanted to play.

"Dye hair purple?" Jasmine asked me as she was done trying on the clothes.

"Sure Jazy," I said, smiling a little.

Jasmine gave me an excited smile and I waved my hand toward her and changed her blond hair color to purple. She squealed with delight as I showed her hair with a hand held mirror that I made appear in my hand.

Alice shook her head with amusement. "Your sister sure acts like a three year old," she said.

I glanced nervously at Jasmine, hoping she didn't hear Alice's comment. Rude or not, Jasmine didn't like it when people mentioned how young she acted or about her weight or anything about her. Unless they said how pretty she looked. But Jasmine was too absorbed in looking at herself in my mirror to notice what Alice said.

"She can't help it," I replied with caution in Jasmine's defense. "Humans did terrible things to her. I bet you'll be seriously screwed up too if it happened to you!" I growled the accusation toward Alice who blinked back in surprise.

"Humans say they want to be our equal," Alice said, to my surprise. "But they're just a bunch of liars and cruel species. They don't even let magical creatures help rule the kingdom. That's what I apparently heard your mother was doing."

"What?" I asked, confused. I made sure that Jasmine was still busy admiring her purple hair before I went on. "What do you mean?"

Now it was Alice's turn to be confused. "Didn't Octavia tell you?" She asked.

I shook my head. "She said she was doing something important but she never told me," I said. I tried not to sound sad while thinking of my mother. But I think some sadness came through.

"You miss your mother?" Alice asked with understanding.

I nodded my head, trying to keep myself from crying. I didn't want to lose control of my emotions again. I didn't want to lose control of my emotions again. I didn't want to keep hurting Jasmine and having to apologize to her. I looked away from Alice, ashamed to show such human emotion.

But the next thing I knew, to my surprise, Alice gave me a hug and held onto me almost like Mommy did. Maybe Alice realized that I lose control of my powers every time I got really upset and didn't want to get knocked out again. Or was just showing me sympathy. Either way, I kind of liked her hug.

"Emi?" Jasmine whined a few seconds later. She squeezed herself in between Alice and I so she was hugging me instead of Alice. Not liking how I was being hugged by someone else other than her and Mommy.

Alice didn't protest. She basically knew the basis of Jasmine's childish behavior. She watched quietly as Jasmine was squeezing me protectively.

"Emi! Emi! Emi!" Jasmine chanted quietly in my ear as she was nuzzling me. She looked outside and I did too to see it was getting dark outside. "You never know what kind of creatures are out there at night." 

I watched as Alice went out of the cave as I stood there with Jasmine hugging me as I wondered how we were ever going to find Mommy. 

This marks the end of Chapter 6 part 2
Chapter 6 will continue in part 3
As always, thanks for reading!
J. D. Driscoll