chapter three | another pink rose

"Vana!" Marnie yelled, "You need to come quick!"

The ravenette furrowed her brows, rushing after her friend at the tone of urgency in her voice; she believed she saw a glimpse of someone clad in metal while she was running, but she couldn't even be bothered to react at that moment - her friends could have been in trouble.

"Marnie! What's going on?" She asked, having caught up to her friend as they sprinted in a direction that had a lot of noise emitting from it.

"Ethan started a fight." The brunette stated, just before they ran up on the Halloween store. Everyone, absolutely everyone, was transformed back into their monster forms; she looked around rapidly, watching with an adrenaline rush that she hadn't had since she and Sophie ran around yelling Trapa at people.

Suddenly, a large cloud of purple smoke surrounded them, and her amber eyes could just barely see Ethan on the ground, she rushed toward him, noticing how his once striped shirt was now a red and black flannel.

"E! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, what is this stuff?"

"I don't know, but-"

The sound of a dagger unsheathing caught her ears, and she snapped her head in it's direction just as the reflection of the mall lights caught it's blade. It grazed her shoulder, but luckily Ethan wrapped his arms around her and rolled away before it could do any further damage.

...

She was hissing in pain the entire way back to the house, everybody worrying about her up until they reached the door. Aggie sent her an apologetic look, ushering her inside; the girl practically collapsed on the couch, and Sophie widened her eyes at her friend.

"Vana! What happened-"

"I'll explain later, can someone please get this fucking thing fixed please? I don't have enough energy to use my magic."

Ethan nodded, walking over and muttering some spell that his mother had taught him when he was younger; the wound sealed up almost perfectly, the only thing in its place was a large scar when he was done.

Levana sent him an appreciative look, before looking around at her friends as Marnie was summoned to a council meeting. "So, uh... did you guys buy anything interesting?"

They chuckled weakly, surprised at how she could be making jokes in such a situation. They all nodded, telling her what they'd bought, before dispersing back to their rooms; Ethan had helped her from the couch, guiding her back to her room.

When they entered, her witches glass was ringing, and she groaned as the screen lit up to reveal Edgar Dalloway. "Hi, Mr. Dalloway."

"Hello, Levana. How's your arm?"

"It's fine; stings a little, but it was much worse before Ethan helped me out." She nodded, sending the man a tight lipped smile as she glanced to the corner of the room, where Ethan was hidden away. He didn't want to talk to his dad just yet, at least not before winding down from the day's events. "Uh, Mr. Dalloway, not that I'm not happy to hear from you, but uh... may I ask why you've called?"

The man sighed, "Well, you always were a cut to the point type of girl... I know you overheard my conversation with your mother, when I informed her of Sebastian's death... I just thought you had the right to know that today's events, and the calling card that you'd seen at the school, confirm our biggest fears. The Knight of the Iron Dagger are back, and they killed your father while he was in the human world."

"I wouldn't have been able to figure that out," she muttered, her sarcasm not going unnoticed by the blue eyed man; he let it slide, considering the severity of the situation.

"After our meeting with Marnie, I wanted to ask you for your perspective on today's events... and if you would like to return to Halloweentown."

Levana nodded, taking a deep breath. "It was a good day, up until the smoke appeared. Some humans were mocking Halloween, as they do, and" she glanced to Ethan, "a fight somehow broke out. From what I've been told, Ethan was the first to get hit, so Chester stepped in to protect him. That's when the smoke formed, and that's when I showed up to the scene. I ran to Ethan, and that's when I heard the dagger unsheathing. Luckily, it only hit me and not anyone else, but Ethan rolled me out of the way before whoever it was could do any further damage."

Edgar nodded, "I see. Well, thank you for protecting Ethan. I owe you so much... Now, would you like to return to Halloweentown?"

"No, Sir. I believe in the Cromwell Clan, and I believe in your son and our friends even more. I think allowing Marnie to reach the deadline, instead of cutting her short, would be the best thing to do for everyone... because, if we turn back now, we may never even get the chance restore peace between humans and monsters once more."

"I respect your answer, Levana... I'm sure your father would have been proud of you." He smiled, "Well, get some rest. You've had a rough day."

"Thank you; talk to you later."

When the call ended, the girl released a groan, throwing herself back onto her bed. Ethan stepped from the corner, his hands placed awkwardly in his pants pockets as he laid down next to her; they stared at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity, before a light pink rose was dangling over Levana's face.

She chuckled, smiling as she accepted the flower from the air above her; Ethan smiled, too, happy that she was okay - happy that they were okay. He was worried that she'd blame him for starting the fight, but seeing as she covered for him, he knew that they were fine.

"Hey, E?"

"Yeah?"

She turned to face him, her amber eyes glowing as their gazes met. He had the sudden urge to count the freckles on her face, but fought it as she spoke her next words. "You're the best."

"I think I should be saying that to you," he chuckled, but was cut off when she placed a chaste kiss to his lips.

It was so sudden that both of them had believed that they'd imagined it, that their mind had played the same twisted trick on them in their moment of vulnerability. It didn't feel real, until they sat up and began leaning toward one another; Ethan's hand cupped her porcelain face, and she placed her free hand right on top of his as their lips ghosted one another's.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" She whispered, the chill of her minty breath dusting across his lips as the question hung in the silent air.

"Are you?"

Without another word, their lips collided; it wasn't sensual, or lustful - it was gentle and passionate. Neither one of them had allowed these thoughts to grace their mind for more than a millisecond since they were thirteen, but it just felt right - like they were made for each other.

When a knock sounded on Levana's bedroom door, the pair leapt apart; the ravenette placed her pink rose with the others, a small smile on her lips as Marnie entered the room. Luckily, she hadn't noticed any off putting behavior, and if she had then she'd just chalked it up to shock after the day's events.

"Vana? Would you mind telling me about what happened to your dad?"