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Volatile Addiction

"By the Moon, you're out here early!"

Adea looked up from the garden to see her mother emerging from the cottage. The sun was just barely cresting over the mountains. Alyra was normally up long before Adea, and would often have to wake her to join her in the garden, but this morning, Adea had beaten her outside.

"I woke up a little early," Adea responded, "so I thought I'd get a little head start."

"Oh really? Why's that?"

Adea lowered her head, smiling in playful shame. "Well, our trip to the Valley is coming up, and I just thought if we finished harvesting early that Eran and I could go a day or two in advance. At least, if that would be alright with you."

"You and Eran?" Alyra raised her eyebrows.

Adea was caught off guard. "And Ellis and Jay," she stammered, "and Lyda- You know what I mean!"

"Mhm," Alyra teased her. "I think it's cute how close you two have become. I just wouldn't tell your father if I were you."

"Mother!"

"Oh, I'm just playing!" Alyra laughed, kneeling just across the garden from her. "How's your little friend coming along?"

"Great!" she exclaimed as she jumped up and ran over to a small strip of groomed soil at the edge of the tree line, where a single flower stood about nine inches out of the ground, sporting three arrowhead-shaped pedals painted with a beautiful mixture of red and purple. Adea first noticed it growing several weeks ago and began to take care of it out of admiration. "I think she's fully grown by now. I want to find a nice pot in the Valley to put her in. I've been saving up from the past few trips."

"That would be nice," Alyra said. "I didn't think it would grow very well on its own, but you've taken such good care of it. You truly have in your blood the love for things that grow." Adea could not hold back her smile as she returned to the edge of the garden. "Yes," Alyra continued, "I wouldn't mind if you went to the Valley early with your friends."

Adea's eyes lit up. "Really? Oh, thank you, Mother!"

"That being said," Alyra raised her hand to cut her off, "since you're up so early, why don't you do me a favor and go feed the horses?"

Adea looked over toward the stables, allowed her head to fall back and let out a soft groan. "I thought that was Father's job."

"Your father left early to empty the fish traps. It'll take you five minutes."

Adea just stared at the stables for a moment before pulling herself to her feet in a sluggish manner. "Alright," she moaned playfully as she lumbered over to the stables.

At first, Adea winced at a rather rancid smell as she neared the stables, but she shrugged it off. Upon opening the shed door next to the stables, several of the horses stuck their heads out, eagerly anticipating their morning meal.

"Typical," Adea mumbled to them. "Asleep for work, awake for food." She giggled to herself as she grabbed a pitchfork from the shed and headed over to the piles of hay just outside. Throwing off the tarp that covered one of the piles, Adea went about scooping up the hay and dumped it into each pen. "Hazel," she called as she fetched another forkful for her favorite horse who, curiously enough, was the only one to not react to her presence. "Breakfast time, you sleepy horse!" Adea approached Hazel's pen, but before she could heave the hay inside, she froze, widened her eyes in terror, and screamed.

Alyra's head shot up. She leaped to her feet and ran over to the stables. "Adea! What is it?" Adea only stood there, staring in absolute shock into Hazel's pen. Alyra followed her attention, letting out a gasp in horror at the sight before them.

Hazel lied on the floor of the stables, her neck bending lazily at an unnatural angle and her tongue dangling out of her mouth. Flies were swarming around her carcass, drawn to the pool of blood that had been flowing out of the gaping hole in her underbelly between her front legs.

"Il vah'Sel!" Alyra cried with an exclamation of the language of their ancestors. "Hazel, no!" She reached over and pulled her daughter into her arms, who was already sobbing uncontrollably.

"What's going on?! What happened?!" The two of them looked up to see Matthias running out of the trees with a sack of fish slung over his shoulder. He dropped the sack on the grounded and sprinted to the side of his wife and daughter, his eyes quickly drawn to the horrific sight before them.

Matthias stepped inside the pen to examine the carcass as Alyra leaned in to observe. Adea was already sick to her stomach, and the putrid smell coming off her favorite horse's body was not helping. Her mind was so distraught that she barely noticed Lyda emerge from the cottage at the sound of their screams.

"Something got into the stables!" Alyra cried in a quaking voice. "A wolf, or coyote or something. They could've killed all the horses! How could they possibly get in?!"

"I don't think this was the work of animals," Matthias muttered, closely examining the wound in Hazel's underbelly.

"What do you mean?" Alyra asked.

"This wound isn't from a bite, or even claws. It's a cut." Matthias turned and gave his wife a serious look. "And her heart is gone."

At those very words, Adea's eyes spread as wide as they would go and her jaw fell open. A wave of goosebumps spread across her arms and the voices of her parents had been drowned out until they were completely inaudible to her. Afraid to even think about it, Adea's head slowly turned to look at her sister standing beside her.

Lyda was staring at Hazel's mutilated body with an expression of shock and sorrow. Detecting her sister's gaze, Lyda turned her head to meet her eyes. Adea's face was filled with terror and apprehension, and it was all Lyda needed to read her mind.

Adea could not gather her thoughts together. In her heart, she desperately wanted her sister to give her a sign that none of this was as she feared. Then, much to her astonishment, Lyda's head lowered as her expression twisted into a piercing glare. To Adea, it was a look filled with malice that sent a clear and simple message, "Don't you dare say a word."

A week had gone by since the brutal slaughter of Hazel. Adea had never been more scared and unnerved in her life, not because of what had taken place in her own backyard, but being absolutely certain that her sister was behind it. Although Lyda never said a word about it, there was no doubt in Adea's mind. The look she had given her petrified Adea to her core, and she could not bring herself to even consider speaking to their parents about it. If Lyda was capable of killing their favorite horse in cold blood, who knew what she might do if Adea ratted her out. At least, those were her thoughts. The question raging around in her mind was, how could Lyda even think about doing something so perverse?

Even after all this time, she could not take her mind off it. She hoped to try to forget all about it when Eran, Ellis, and Jay showed up to prepare for their trip to the Valley, but even they knew something was terribly wrong when they noticed how pale she was. At this point, Adea was able to just shrug it off and issue a poorly delivered, "I'm fine!"

Nobody bought that lie for a second, but they all thought it best to leave it alone. They were about to leave for the Valley when Lyda finally rushed out of the cottage.

"Hey! Wait for me!" she called after them. Adea immediately felt sick. Lyda had been invited to join them, but never gave an answer, and frankly, Adea was hoping she just stay home after what happened.

"There you are!" Eran greeted her. "I didn't think you would show up."

At last, Adea found the strength to turn around. To her surprise, she noticed that Lyda was dressed in a set of blue and gray silk garments as opposed to her typical leather attire. Resting around her shoulders, she wore a light shawl that draped just over her breasts. Her dark-fair hair was straightened and combed, and she had applied a noticeable amount of makeup. Adea stared at her suspiciously. This was not the first time in the past several years that Lyda dressed up for occasions that hardly called for it.

"What are you all dressed up for?" Eran asked as if reading Adea's thoughts.

Lyda tilted her head and shot him a playful look of curiosity. "What, a girl can't look nice in public?"

"Yeah, maybe this time a man will notice you," Jay teased her.

"Shut up, Jay."

The lot jeered and laughed at one another the entire trip to the valley. Normally, Lyda and Adea would travel with their parents by horse-drawn carriage, following a path along the ridgeline that bent like a bow toward the east. On foot, however, they were able to cut straight north toward through the mountains, keeping as high up on the hills as they could until they reached the mountain that loomed over the Valley.

It was just short of a five hour walk, deciding to break for a late lunch on the hilltop overlooking the Valley. Even from this height, they could see the great village below bustling with life. Everybody was having such a good time as they sat on the mountaintop, laughing among each other. It had been a long time since the five of them had fun together like this. Adea had finally lightened up, drowning out the horrific images of Hazel's carcass. Lyda seemed happy as well, and for this moment, Adea felt like they were a real family like they used to be.

The atmosphere was cheery as ever when they made their way down the mountainside and into the village. As often as they came here, Adea never got used to the excitement of the village market plaza, lined up and down the road with kiosks and pavilions purveying everything from produce to various trinkets, from the mountains and from the Outside as well. It was not often that the Valley received goods from the Outside, and it always fascinated Adea to learn of the cultures beyond their borders.

"Look at what women wear in the Outside," Adea said as she approached a small pavilion displaying old colonial gowns, corsets, shoes, and other feminine attire not at all like anything she and Lyda had in their wardrobes.

"Ugh," Jay muttered in disgust. "None of that looks comfortable at all. I guess that means Lyda would like it." Everyone laughed at the jeering remark, except for Lyda, who just rolled her eyes and approached a nearby kiosk containing a series of books from the Outside.

"Why don't you guys wait for us here while Ellis and I go pitch the tents out in the field," Eran said, adjusting the pack slung on his back. The fields just outside the village were where most people from elsewhere in the mountains would camp while visiting the Valley. Around the spring and autumn harvests, the fields were usually packed with hundreds of campsites.

"Try to find a spot close to the village," Jay called to them. "I hate walking around everyone else's campsites!"

Ellis immediately headed off toward the northern edge of the village that faced the Valley fields. Eran and Adea slipped each other a quick kiss while nobody was looking before he turned and hurried after his brother.

"I'm gonna go find a food vendor while we're waiting for them," Jay said as soon as the boys had disappeared.

Adea shot her a look of disbelief. "We just ate, Jay!"

"I know! But I have a soft spot for Outside delicacies. I won't be long!" With that, she turned and took off into the crowd.

Adea smiled as she shook her head. That just left her and Lyda, whose face was still buried in the books in the kiosk next to the pavilion. "What do they have over here?" she asked as she approached her sister. Lyda glanced at her for a second before returning her attention to the book in her hands, not so much as saying a word. "Books in the Outside are definitely different than they are here," Adea said to herself, "and much bigger."

"It's a prominent part of their cultures," the short elderly woman standing inside the kiosk responded. "I have read all of these many times. Fascinating tales! If you're looking to learn more about Outsider culture, might I recommend novels such as this one?" She reached over the stacks with a scraggy hand and picked up a plain-covered book, handing it to Adea.

Adea flipped it over to look at the spine, which showed the title, Pride and Prejudice. "Oh, no thank you," Adea said with a kind smile as she handed the book back. "I don't do much reading. My sister on the other hand…" She made a gesture toward Lyda, who was still flipping through the pages of one of the thickest books Adea had ever seen.

"Ah!" the old woman exclaimed. "Fascinated by religious texts, my dear?"

Lyda closed the book, and Adea could see the design of the cover, which boasted an intricate cross shape just above the words, Holy Bible. She did not know what kind of book it was, but she was alarmed nonetheless by the woman's mention of religious texts. Adea had a bad feeling in her gut that Lyda was trying to pursue her obsession further.

"What is this book?" Lyda asked inquisitively.

The elderly woman stared at it in silence for a moment as if trying to find the right words to describe it. "Well, I would say it is a collective of religious and allegorical texts recounting the long history of Outside culture and the deities they worshipped."

"Deities?" Lyda repeated in a hushed tone. "Like what? Give me names!"

"Oh my, you're quite aroused by this topic, aren't you?" the old woman laughed. "Unfortunately, I must confess that I know very little about it myself, but I can tell you that every Outsider household is known to have copies of these texts."

"Every household?" Lyda's eyes widened in amazement.

"That's what they say. But I wouldn't-"

"I want it!" Lyda said excitedly. "How much is it?"

"Lyda, wait!" Adea jumped in. "You don't even know what this is."

"What does it matter to you?" Lyda shrugged her off as she produced a small pouch of money from her waist and paid the vendor. She immediately took the book in her hands and began flipping through it again as she walked away.

"It does matter to me!" Adea pressed as she followed close behind. "It's bad enough that we've dabbled into magic we don't understand, now you want to meddle with realms you know nothing about!"

"That's why I want to learn about them!" Lyda fired back. She veered off into a small alley between pavilions so that she could examine her new book without running into people. "You heard what that woman said. Every household out there has one of these, and they say that the Outside has made advancements to their civilization beyond anything we can imagine. Don't you see? That's not a coincidence! Just as we learned how to control our own dreams, they've discovered secrets of the world we never thought possible, and it could all be here, literally right under our noses."

"You don't know that!" Adea cried, trying to get through to her.

"I will," Lyda responded in a low voice, her expression shifting into a familiar glare. "I don't know why I keep bringing someone as weak as you into all this."

"Lyda!" Adea gasped at her insult.

"I wanted us to take this path together. I thought it was meant to be, but I was kidding myself. You'll never have the spine for any of this. So do me a favor and just stay out of my way!" She slammed the book shut and tried to walk away again.

"Listen to yourself!" Adea shouted boldly. "Ever since you started this when we were children, you've done nothing but descend deeper into desolation! It is the cause, not the solution! It's done terrible things to you and caused you to commit atrocities I never imagined you capable of! This isn't who you are!"

"And you think you're so high and mighty, don't you?" Lyda suddenly whipped around and yelled back. "You think you're so much better than me! You always had to be the sweet little innocent one, and it makes me sick! Weak, spineless. You don't deserve Eran's affection!"

"What are you-"

"I've seen you!" Lyda cut her off before she could finish. "I've seen you kissing him on the porch when the sun goes down."

"Are you spying on me?!" Adea exclaimed in offense.

"You don't exactly hide it. Honestly, it makes me want to vomit to think about him being attracted to a priss like you."

Adea was left speechless by her sister's slanderous outburst. "How dare you!" she cried, standing up to her for the first time.

"Oh?" Lyda reacted as she stepped up into Adea's face. "If you have something to say, now would be the time to grow some skin, little sister."

Adea hesitated for a moment, going to incredible lengths to show that she was not intimidated. Lyda's gaze threatened to penetrate her soul, and Adea fought the overwhelming urge to look away from her. At last, she took a quivering inhale and said, "You've lost your mind, Lyda. That's what I think, and it's because of your addiction to things like that book in your hand."

"Is that right?" Lyda muttered.

"Yes, that's right!" Adea stood her ground. "I want you to go sell it back right now. If you don't, I'll be forced to tell Mother and Father about it."

Lyda snapped before she even finished speaking. She lunged forward and forcefully shoved Adea into the pavilion's post. Adea grunted as the back of her head slammed into the post, dazing her for a second. She tried to break free, but Lyda planted her hand against her chest with such unnatural strength that she could not move.

"Let me go!" Adea tried to shout, but the pressure against her chest caused it to come out hoarse and raspy.

"You listen to me and you listen good!" Lyda hissed through clenched teeth. "What I do with my life is none of your concern. I don't care that you're weak, nor do I care that you're a frightened little child!"

"Lyda," Adea gasped and winced in pain. As she berated her, Lyda continued to apply so much force to her chest that it was becoming difficult to breathe. "Please, you're hurting me!"

Lyda seemed to ignore her pleas. "You're not a woman yet, so you're in no position to make threats! As far as I'm concerned, you're nothing but a dog who lacks the heart to see beyond your own feeble understanding. So just stay out of my business! And if you even think about saying a word to our parents, I will personally see to it that your sleep is filled with the most horrific nightmares you have ever experienced in your life! Forever! Do you understand?"

As her pressure continued to increase, Adea opened her mouth as if to say something, but her voice came out as nothing more than a raspy breath.

"I said do you understand me?!"

Suddenly, Adea let out a high-pitched squeal when she felt an excruciating snap within her chest, accompanied by the unnerving sound of a bone breaking. Lyda immediately released her pressure, her eyes widening in shock when she realized what she had just done. Adea fell to the ground, crying and clutching at her chest in pain. Lyda was at a loss for words, yet buried beneath a natural sense of pity was a voice in her head that wanted to say that she deserved it.

"Lyda, what happened?!"

Lyda whipped around to see Jay running toward them. "I-" was all she could manage to say. Jay knelt by her side. She tried to help Adea sit up, but she only squealed painfully. Lyda then looked up as Eran and Ellis spotted them by the pavilion, having returned from setting up their campsite just outside the village.

"What's going on?" Eran asked as he and his brother hurried over.

"Adi's hurt!" Jay answered frantically.

"What??" Eran cried. He knelt down and began to pull away at Adea's upper garment where she was clutching her chest. That was when he saw it. Just below her left collar bone and above her breast was a large, terrible looking bruise that could only indicate a broken rib, or ribs, he could not tell for sure.

"What happened?" Eran demanded to know. "Who did this to you?"

In a gesture that seemed to take a great deal of strength, Adea raised her arm and pointed up at Lyda. "She did."

Everyone's attention quickly turned to Lyda, shooting her expressions from shock to disbelief. Eran's was particularly angry. "Are you out of your mind?!" he shouted as he stood up and shoved her. "Her rib is broken! What has happened to you? You've become so volatile that you're capable of hurting your own sister! Don't just stand there, say something!"

There was nothing to say. If Lyda was feeling any remorse for the pain she caused Adea, it was brought out by Eran's heated reprimanding. Left utterly speechless, Lyda broke down into tears before turning and running off into the crowd, her book tucked beneath her arm.

"Eran," Ellis called from Adea's side. "We need to get her to a healer."

"Are you sure? A healer did this to her," Jay joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Not the time nor place, Jay," Eran rebuked her. He bent down and scooped Adea into her arms. "You're gonna be alright."

Adea put an arm around his shoulders to support herself. "Thank you," she uttered quietly.

The gesture made him smile, and as they walked away from the plaza, Eran asked what happened between the two of them. Adea, unfortunately, was too terrified by what happened to answer, and she simply shook her head, pleading to put it behind her.