She is glad that she doesn’t live here, because to her it seems that the owners of this castle have a lot of appearances to keep up. And she isn’t really one for keeping up appearances, especially at this young age. She is only six (though occasionally she has the wisdom of those older than her, a by-product of growing up with Jasper) and so such a charade seems stupidly unnecessary to her. Shrugging childishly, she watches two girls as they approach her. One she recognises as Jasper’s sister (though Iodine is Jasper’s real sister, she has been told that there are many others who are also related to him), and the other is made of water. It ebbs and swirls as the girl moves. It confuses Ellie a little.
“Hello,” she says shyly, smiling weakly at the pair. She is nervous – she doesn’t like strangers, not after the jokey stories that her brother has relayed to her over the years, about strangers who kill and maim and destroy – though these two don’t appear to be much of a threat. Blinking, she nods to Lil’s introductions: “I recognise you.” Standing up, she glances at Jasper before replying. “Yes, I’m Iodine.” She doesn’t know if Lilith knows that she, Iodine, is also her, Lilith’s, sister, but she doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t want to spoil the surprise, as Jasper says.
The cat girl reaches down now, prods around with the clay on the floor around them and from it comes the soft figure of a kitten. Ellie recognises it as Flo, and wishes that the grey cat was here with her, curled by her feet or pawing at her baby blue jeans. She wouldn’t even mind if the Russian Blue was scratching playfully at her fingers or attempting to gnaw on Ellie’s ear. “What happened to our familiars?” she asks innocently; Jasper said nothing, only picked her up and ran with her, to the cave where they were entrapped by water and by Perry.
She sighs, quietly. “Will we be okay?” Jasper told her they will be; every second spent away from him is another second where she doesn’t believe him anymore.
I O D I N E
i'm only going to heaven if it tastes like caramel
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