the next day at breakfast, things seemed tense and seraphine noticed that not only were nick's parents absent from it, so was wendy.

instead, cassiel was bringing breakfast out, something a garden boy definitely didn't sign up to do.

on several occasions she wanted to get up and help him, but as if he could read her mind, nick's hand with stray to her thigh almost every single time she was tempted to stand.

when it was over, nick suggested that they took a stroll in the gardens, and so they did.

"the weather's always nice out here," he told her, "like...it never rains."

seraphine raised a brow, "really?"

nick squeezed her hand as they walked, "full truth, violet shore is just a magical place."

looking back at the house, seraphine finally couldn't hold in her questions anymore.

"what's in the west wing?"

nick stopped, "what?"

"the locked up section," she stated again.

a part of sera wanted to tell him about her nightmare, or her little trip to and from the large doors, but she didn't. she wasn't sure why.

"baby i don't even know, it's probably just business stuff."

"so can i go see it?" she pushed, "i've been curious what your family does, you've never told me."

nick chuckled, deflecting, "well you know i'm a suuper handsome and rich hot model"

"nick!"

"what? you don't think so?" he teased.

seraphine groaned, but let a little giggle slip past, "i'm serious though, like if we're serious should'nt i know these things?"

"seraphine odessa finch are you trying to guilt trip me right now?"

"w-what!"

nick grinned, "i'm just teasing."

he had his hand around her, his fingers tapping.

"okay but nick-"

"NICK NICK!"

suddenly seraphine was interrupted by beatrix running towards the two, wearing a swimsuit that suggested she was at the beach.

"i-i oh my god nick i think she might be dead!"

she was breathing heavily, her eyes more panicked then a deer in headlights.

"beatrix what are you talking about?" nick asked, shockingly calm.

"w-wendy!" she blurted, choking through her tears, "you have to come"

she began running back towards the beach, and seraphine and nick followed. the three quickly got down the stairs, down to the beach where alora and aure were.

aure looked like he was the one who had died, face pale, eyes dialated. alora was in a similar state, fearfully trying to hold down bleeding.

"what exactly happened??" nick asked, rushing to wendy's side.

bea was sniffling as she spoke, "w-we were just next to the water, and suddenly we saw a body and-"

she broke down sobbing again, in an almost theatrical way that made seraphine question her.

nick examined wendy's wounds, and seraphine was cautious about coming closer. from where she stood, she could see it looked like she'd been stabbed.

alora was properly sobbing now, except hers felt a lot more real then beatrix's.

"we have to call an ambulance! a doctor or something!"

"no" nick snapped at her, "i'll take care of it."

"she's going to die nick!"

"no ambulance! fuck! alora end of discussion."

he leaned down to pick wendy up, turning to seraphine who was now more concerned then anything.

"don't worry okay baby? wendy will be fine"

it was really hard not to worry when you're boyfriend was holding a near dead body while speaking to you, but she nodded, and he walked past her.

"aure come with me"

nick shouted back, and aure stood from the sand, his face still an ashy shade of grey.

he was gone before seraphine could ask if he was okay, but she watched him go. turning back to the girls.

beatrix looked like she was tired from keeping up a scared face rather then running, and alora looked utterly mortified.

"alora are you okay??" seraphine walked over to the girl, who at the moment was just staring at her blood covered hands.

"a lot of blood..." alora just whispered.

"c'mon, let's go inside i'll help you get cleaned up."

it took beatrix's help to get her up, and finally walking up the stairs.

at the top, seraphine looked down at the spot where sendy's body was just moments before. a perfect white sand beach, cursed with the bodily fluids of someone undeserving of that fate.

the sugary red blood glinted along with the sand, looking more like a snack from afar then possibly someone's end.

"seraphine"

bea's voice snapped her out of her trance, and she turned to help get alora into the mansion.

. . .

upstairs, seraphine and beatrix sat by a tub as alora sat inside, sobbing. sera felt bad for not feeling as sad.

did that make her crazy? not feeling that intense emotion when met with death?

it made her think back to her nightmare the night before. glancing at alora, it brought back the image of the younger blonde screaming bloody murder.

"it's gonna be or lori" bea comforted alora, playing around with the surface of the tub, mixing it with her finger.

"i can go check on them," seraphine suggested.

for a moment beatrix's eyes hesitated, but then she nodded, "yeah, you go do that."

sera squeezed alora's shoulder lightly before walking out of the bathroom, down the grand stairs instead of the staff elevator she always took.

for a moment the idea of the staff elevator distracted her, making her think of cassiel. she hadn't seen him since breakfast, and she wondered if he knew about what happened with wendy. sera knew they seemed close.

she bounded down the stairs, unsure where she was going, but she was drawn to the kitchens, where indeed deep down in that honestly dramatically large kitchen, wendy was propped up on a chair.

bloody,

but conscious.

seraphine watched the soft rise and fall of her chest as aure, who at this moment was still only in his swimming trunks, was stitching the cut shut.

nick was beside the two, wiping excess blood off wendy's arms and collar.

"nick?"

the two boy's heads snapped up at her. aure's eyes remained scared, but some colour was back in his face. nick simply gave her a reassuring smile.

"she's fine baby, looks like she just accidentally hurt herself"

now that's when seraphine's concerned face fully melted into a frown.

"yeah uh, i asked her and she said she had a little accident while trying to do cassiel's garden work, you know how big those tooks are"

"yeah but-"

"actually, me and aure should probably bring wendy back to her room to rest, you should check on alora."

"i just did."

she watched as aure helped him get wendy in his arms again.

"just check again baby okay? alora gets like that sometimes, and maybe try not to bring this up to darlene"

"why?"

"baby please"

he sounded so desperate and pleading at that moment that she just nodded, "sure yeah..fine"

the two boys walked past her, leaving her in the kitchen by herself. for a little bit she just stood there, half staring at the floor half zoning out before being interrupted.

"what happened here?"

seraphine turned to see darlene walk in, wearing her hair up in a dramatic hair-do, and a ball gown for some reason.

"oh uh..."

darla stopped to sniff the air softly before turning to sera, "hm..blood, who's is it?"

"i uh.." she hesitated, "wendy's"

to her utter shock, darlene just pouted, "aw that's all too bad, i quite liked her."

seraphine frowned, "what?"

"well she's dead isnt she?" darla gestured to the blood around the chair wendy sat on, "that's a lot of blood."

"no actually uh, she's alive"

the other blonde's eyes lit up, "oh? a dead girl walking."

"well i'm just glad she's okay"

she nodded in agreement, "me too, stabbing would be a horrible way to go"

"honestly..yeah"

darla spun around, the dress poofing up in a manner that resembled a pastry.

"does this fit me sera?"

the casual tone of the question caught seraphine off guard.

"yeah i mean you look great"

darlene squealed, "perfect! see you!"

and then she left, leaving seraphine in solitude again. it was very easy to feel alone in a house like violet shore manor.

a couple minutes later when she turned to leave, seraphine had to stop at the door frame, her brows furrowed in thought.

something was very very wrong beacause...

she never mentioned that wendy was stabbed.

kalo's korner !

poor wendy...poor alora...poor seraphine

this is proof seraphine has the survival instincts of a gummy bear because how do you stay in a house after that..