Silver shook her head. "What can't he understand about the fact that I love him? I don't care what crap he's gone through or goes through or what's in his head or anything else. I love him no matter what. I've spent two years proving that. Why can't he get that?" she looked up at Vi, her eyes filling with tears again.
Miki raised her hand toward him for a fist bump. "Already done, kid. Ryder will be a great addition to our Epic Group of Awesomeness. I think Kissa got mad cuz he and I get along so well. Man, alive, I thought I'd hate him after he pulled that stunt on me but he's really great, actually."
Cage giggles, giving her a fist bump. “He’s awesome.”
Violet takes Silvers hands. “Patience, Dear. Do you understand Gabriel and everything he does? It’s truly hard to grasp the concept that somebody loves you when you do not love yourself.”
Miki raised her eyebrows at him. "We give Kissa some competition for his attention."
Silver nodded, her tears dripping down her cheeks. "I know he struggles with it. I just don't know how else to show him how much I love him." she looked up at Vi. "What does he need?"
Cage nods. “Ohh yeah. Because he likes us already.”
Violet bites her lip. “Hmm. The best way might just be to be patient. Let him know you’re there, but you won’t push him. I honestly can’t say if that’s the best way, since I don’t know Gabriel too well. You may do better asking Kissa, or better yet, Ryder.”
Silver let out a sigh and wiped her face again. "Okay. Sometimes it's just hard to keep being patient. I think I will talk to Ryder about him though. He definitely seems to know Gabriel a lot better than we do."
Miki jumped up and ruffled Cage's hair. "Wanna go spy on them and see Kissa's bone collection? I wonder what species she has."
Cage bounces up. “YISS. Let’s.” He heads up the stairs quickly.
Violet gives Silver a smile. “Definitely. I think, at the moment, he’s upstairs with Kissa. She said something about a… bone collection?”
Silver glanced up, gaze following her sister as Miki pelted after Cage. "It seems like there's a party up there." she said to Violet as she slid off the barstool and headed up the stairs. She found Cage and Miki peeked into the Kissa's room through the slit between the door and the frame. She leaned over them, frowning as she tried to find what they were looking at.
"What are we doing?" she whispered.
Cage shushes her. “A beautiful moment.” He whispers.
Ryder sits on the bottom of Kissa’s bed and Kissa sits halfway into her closet, a large tote beside her as she pulls out shiny, clean bones and shows them off. She’s currently holding a possum skull. He raises his eyebrows and nods.
“Got any human bones in there?” He jokes
She nods enthusiastically.
Miki clamped a hand over her mouth to hold in a squeak. "She's a cannibal, I knew it."
Silver made a face. "I mean… I'm not surprised." she whispered. "But… guys, look how clean they are. She–"
"She freakin' scrubs the flesh off with her bare hands." Miki finished. "Or teeth. You never know with her."
Ryder stands and jogs to her, settling down by the tote. “Oh my word, you do! Who’d you kill?” He looks up to her, eyes bright, obviously excited.
She sighs. “I didn’t kill this one. I found the body though.”
Cage cover his mouth to silent a gasp and crawls back from the door.
“OH MY WORD.” He whispers.
"Wow." Miki whispered. "She sounds so disappointed that she wasn't the murderer."
"I think we should tell Ben." Silver said.
Miki snorted. "What would that do? You think he'll make her get rid of them?"
"She's has human bones in her closet, Miki." Silver hissed.
Cage turns back to them. “Not worried about where she found a body, why she kept it, and how she got the bones out of that flesh????”
“Oh.” Ryder replies. He pulls the shiny, clean skull, out of the tote. “How’d you clean it off?”
She shrugs. “Gabriel helped.”
Silver choked and stumbled back from the door, hitting the wall beside Cage. "Gabriel what–"
Miki rolled her eyes at them. "She obviously ate it, Cage. I just said she was a cannibal."
"Gabriel knows about her bones?" Silver gasped. "And he helps her clean them off?"
Kissa squints and turns to look at the door. She automatically stands, hissing aggressively. “WHAT'RE YOU DOING GO AWAY!” She shouts.
Ryder stands, laughing, and puts a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down, Kis. They just want to see your bones.”
Silver let out a shriek and scrambled backwards down the hallway. "I'm telling Ben!"
Miki groaned and pushed away from the door, her butt hitting the floor with a loud thump. "GUUUUUUUUYS, you ruined it! We can't spy if she knows we're here!"
Cage stands. “KISSA DO YOU EAT PEOPLE?!”
“HOW DISGUSTING! WHY WOULD I EAT SUCH A REVOLTING CREATURE.”
Ryder laughs, patting her shoulder again. “Oh my word kiss.”
"Uuuuuggghhhh." Miki groaned again and flopped back onto the floor. "Ruining my spying AND my theories! It sounds so much more interesting if Kissa eats the bodies and keeps the bones."
Silver bolted to her feet and dashed over to the railing, searching the lower floor for Violet. "VIIIIII!" she yelled. "Kissa keeps bones in her closet!!! Human bones!!!"
Kissa walks to the door and slams it, screaming into the wood. “GO AWAY.”
Violet stands up from the chair, setting her book down, “what??”
"Wait, wait!" Miki said, sitting up. "Wait, Kissa!" She leaned over and pressed her mouth to the crack under the door. "What bodies do you eat if you don't eat humans?"
Silver gasped for breath and pointed back toward the hallway. "Kissa said she found a body and cleaned the bones off and she keeps them in her closet! A HUMAN body!"
Violet stands still in horror. “Is this a joke?” She softly asks.
Ben opens the back door, coming in. “What’s all the commotion??”
Kissa kicks at where Miki’s face is at the bottom of the door. “GO AWAAAAAAYYYY!!!”
"BEN!" Silver yelled. "Kissa ate a human body and keeps the bones in her closet! I heard her say it!"
Miki snorted with laughter, hearing Silver's less-than-accurate report. "Oh dear." she muttered under her breath as she pushed to her feet and joined Silver at the banister. "Okay, the bones are for real but Kissa said she doesn't eat humans so I doubt she ate the body. But she did literally said she found a body and kept the bones from it. Ask Ryder; she was showing them to him."
Ben furrows his brow. “What??” He heads up the stairs and Violet sits down with a sigh.
“Kissa, where on earth did you get those bones?” He shouts.
“The forest.” She replies.
He stares at the door. “Our woods?”
“No!” She yells. She turns to Ryder, teeth gritted. “See what I deal with?” She hisses.
He chuckles. “You know, they’re humans too. If someone randomly had Kavi bones laying around you’d sure be uncomfortable.”
Silver followed, hiding behind Ben and biting one of her fingernails. "Ryder was holding a skull." she whispered to him.
"Wait," Miki bent down and spoke under the door again. "Where did you get them if they weren't in our woods? How long have you had them?"
She huffs, turning back towards the door. “Years ago, Mik. Literal years. I found it out on a mission.”
Ben sighs. “That’s disgusting. Why did you just keep it?”
She rolls her eyes. “I thought they’d want it and when they didn’t I kept it.”
He blinks. “That… that doesn’t answer my question.”
Miki rolled away from the door and sat down beside Cage. "She has literal skeletons in her closet. I'm never gonna let her live this down."
"But why did you keep them???" Silver squeaked, still hiding behind Ben. "Why did you clean them off? This is like… premeditated and thought out bone keeping. Isn't that illegal?"
