Grey II - Ghosts

Chapter 41 - Traits

The skeletons beneath the floorboards have much more to tell.

I'm a Lion, I'm a Wolf - No Really, It's Fine

I sat on the edge of my bed, Levi next to me dangling his feet over the edge and James in the only chair in the room, looking guarded and entirely unhappy. He looked less like a shell and more like the old him, if only because his face wore a suspicious look, something I realized I was fairly accustomed to seeing there.

"You're a lot nicer than I thought you'd be. I couldn't tell from Jordan what you'd be like, it's really confusing in there."

James' eyes flicked to mine at Levi's words, but then away just as quickly like he wished he hadn't looked to begin with.

"I'm not nice."

James' voice sounded flat again, and I tensed at the noise, wishing he'd Shift, or do anything to break through the death quickly settling back into the lines of his face.

"Your mind says otherwise though. You're very nice, well, not very nice. Maybe nice isn't the right word. You're good, that's it, you're very, very good."

James let out a breath of air, something similar to a mocking laugh, though the connotation was lost because of his lack of commitment, his lack of emotion, of everything.

"You don't know what you're talking about, kid."

I silently agreed, making Levi give me a sharp, little glare.

"That's what Jordan always says when she doesn't like what I know, but just because you disagree with something, doesn't make it not true. I'm right. Your head says so. You can't fool me like you can with yourself."

"So I'm good? I'm a good person? A good Human Being? How about I think about the last month and you can see how good I've been? How about I show you when I was your age and you can tell me what a good boy I was."

"I didn't say you were a good Human Being, you aren't one. You are a good Darkling though, and a very good Half. And I already know what you've done for the last month, the last few, and you're still good. You kill people, but you're still good. Abby kills people too, or he has before, but he's good, so is Jordan. A lot of good people kill people - bad people. And when you were my age you weren't who you are now. It's silly to still think of yourself as someone you haven't been for decades, don't you think? I don't still think of myself as a baby, cause I'm not one now. I grew. Just because you used to be something doesn't mean you still are, or always will be. Duh."

I smiled at his snotty reply, though I hid it by glancing down at my lap, letting my hair fall in front of my face. James was right, I knew that, but Levi's argument was adorable, in a know-it-all kind of way.

"So, you're what, trying to say all the things I used to do no longer matter and I'm good just because my mind told you so? Lovely, I can sleep soundly."

"You don't have to get mad just because I said you're good. If it helps, Jordan probably wouldn't like her biggest features either."

Both my and James' eyes shot to Levi then, both of us looking wary, both of us nervous at what exactly he meant. He had never talked to me about my 'features' before, but I felt like it was a conversation we should have had weeks ago, certainly not now with James here. I was the one that answered.

"What do you mean 'my biggest features'?"

"Remember when I told you that Abby is wise? Wise and good. Those are his biggest features, that's what he's made up of the most. He has other traits, duh, but his biggest ones are those two. They define who he is the most. Well, I figured yours out, and his too."