And Then There Were Four by Lilith Carrie

How could she not want to admire this place all the time? It's beautiful.

"You're crazy. I'd admire this place every moment of the day."

Letting a small smirk of amusement escape her, she shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe, but without coffee? I don't think so."

Coffee... It was my best friend and comfort to survive anything.

Something my mother and I had in common. "Lead the way... I need like four cups."

"Four cups?" Trixie laughed. "Why do you need so many?"

Staring at her with my mouth parting, I shook my head. "To get through today. How else do you expect me to be nice to anyone? It's better to caffeinate me to make me cheerful otherwise I'm likely to bring this whole place down."

"Yeah, okay let's not do that." She smirked as we passed through the large burnt red and black wooden doors accented with black iron that went from the ground high up above me. The door had to have been at least twenty feet high, a little excessive in my opinion but to think about how they made that was pretty amazing.

The moment we passed the doors, I was stopped in my tracks once more. Outside there hadn't been many people wandering around, but the moment I stepped inside, the building people were everywhere. It reminded me of the college my parent's went to I had toured my senior year of high school.

There was no rhyme or reason to the chaos, but one distinct difference between them all was they didn't look quite like the people I had known in the human realm. Most looked human-like which was nice, but others had brightly colored hair, gold shimmering accents, and most of all-wings.

"Trixie... that pink-haired girl has wings."

They weren't the glittering wings someone would have initially thought of when you say wings, and they weren't exactly feathered either. They were red and white and though there were scattered feathers throughout, they were also almost fur-like. An odd look for someone who was supposed to fly.

"Oh, her?" Trixie replied with a sigh. "Yeah, that's Cersei. She has Griffin in her, and honestly, I don't see how but don't get too close to that one. She is a bit... unstable."

Trixie wasn't someone who typically said bad things about anyone, and hearing her say this girl was unstable, and I was best to basically stay clear from her was shocking. "Noted."

Pulling me along behind her, Trixie took me down various hallways lined with photos, and floral decor, dark wood floors lining wall to wall. Every inch of the place I admired until we approached the dining hall as she explained and I was taken back by how many people actually filled it.

Tables upon tables littered the massive hall adorned with black, white, and red table clothes. Floral centerpieces with strange flowers I had never seen before, not to mention the awesome black steel candle hanging candle chandelier sitting massively in the center of the

room.

As soon as I entered the room with Trixie all eyes fell upon me.

Being put on the spot like wasn't

something I enjoyed. And as I

followed Trixie past the vast amount of people lingering about their table's eating breakfast and drinking coffee, among other things, I took note of the brightly colored hair, eyes, and even tails which adorned some of the figures.

Even though they were different from the type of people I was used to, I could see couples, best friends, and what appeared to be siblings.

"You keep staring like you have been, Cassie, and someone is likely to think you, weird."

Weird... I was weird. I had been called weird and dangerous my entire life and though I played it out by acting like I didn't care, truth be told, deep down I really did. I just was very good at not letting people see my emotions. Hiding was something I did well.

"I'm not worried about what people think," I replied with a grin as I nudged her with my shoulder. "Now, where's this coffee? As pretty as it is here, I need coffee before anyone else comes to speak to me."