Forced to be a Hero - chapter 3

Instructions

It was still dark outside when I woke up. For a second, I thought maybe something had happened to the sun, but I quickly realized it was just early. Rolling over, I groaned. Maybe I should be going to bed later. Actually, I do typically, but I didn’t think anyone wanted to talk to me last night. That didn’t matter. It’s not like I wanted to talk to them. I closed my eyes, just trying to get those thoughts out of my head, but the next time I opened my eyes, the sun was up. Great. I’m not sure I had fallen asleep. “Are you awake, Nayla?” Charlotte asked. “No.” I said into my pillow. “Would you like breakfast?” She questioned. “I guess.” I sighed. I didn’t really feel like it. Just as I was about to leave the room, Charlotte frowned. “Shouldn’t you get dressed?” I groaned, but listened. What else was I supposed to do? Not do what they told me to? Alex and Samuel were already at the table. Charlotte smiled brightly at me, as if she wasn’t just telling me to get up. I don’t like people who are too smiley. That’s probably why I wasn’t all that close to Owen. Everyone else was. I tried to copy Charlotte’s smile (I think I was getting good at it by now) as I looked at Alex and Samuel. Ales gave me a bit of a look, but then turned away. “Do I have to meet Owen’s nephew?” He inquired. Hearing a mention of Owen’s nephew, I had to wonder why I wasn’t asked to meet him. It didn’t matter. Obviously. “You said you would.” Samuel frowned as he reminded Alex, who let out a moan. “Do I have to meet Owen’s nephew?” I bit my lip. “Of course not, sweetie,” Charlotte smiled as she gave me a fruit drink, “unless you want to.” I sipped my drink. Of course Alex did and I didn’t. Alex put his hand on the table, extremely annoyed. No one spoke for a bit, and I pulled on my sleeve. Our silence was interrupted by Madeline, who came into our house without permission. I narrowed my eyes at her. She was usually a very outgoing, optimistic, smiley person (which I guess was why she was a good match for Owen). Madeline was basically the kind of person I didn’t like. “Madeline, is something wrong?” Charlotte asked, clearly concerned. Madeline’s face was red, so I assume she must’ve been crying. “Last night, someone came to our house.” “Congratulations.” I said under my breath. Samuel gave me a look. “He attacked him!” Madeline continued. I stared at her. “He attacked Owen!” Alex jolted (I mean, of course he would, Alex was quite close to Owen). “What do you mean?” “It was a magic user!” Madeline tried to explain. “I was told by the knights that came to our house that he was likely from Whispina!” I didn’t know my geography or history well, but magic users were bad. I think I’ve heard that Whispinian magic users were even worse but I didn’t care too much. “Why were knights art your house!?” Alex yelled. Madeline was crying. “I don’t know!” Samuel spoke next. “What do you want us to do?” She wiped her eyes. “Owen always talks about how great Alex is with a sword, so I thought he could go to Whispina to… well…” I’m pretty sure Madeline was suggesting that Alex killed the Whispinian man who hurt her husband, which was a bit surprising. “He’s 17.” Samuel reminded her. “Yes, but…” Madeline ran her fingers through her long brown hair. “He could just go and come back…” “Are you crazy?” Samuel stood and hit the table. “Don’t you know how dangerous it is?” “I’ll go with him.” I offered. Alex glared at me. “I’m not the only one affected by this!” She tried to defend herself. “So many of my friends have told me that someone they know has been attacked by a magic user too!” So we sat there. “I’ll go with him.” I said again. “Oh great!” Madeline exclaimed, her regular smile coming back. I have a feeling she didn’t like me much either. “Don’t I get a say in this?” Alex frowned. I shrugged. Madeline dropped the smile again. “Please, Alex. You need to go.”