Flightless- Chapter Two

‘Grandpa Melvyn’s not here,’ Dannie stated calmly, without panic. Indigo and Brynn nodded with him.

‘I bet he’s out by that grave,’ Brynn added, kicking up dust and slumping onto the brown leather chair, and Grandpa and Brynn helping to make it to cheer Dannie up, who had accidentally sat on his pet worm, about seven years ago.

Brynn remembered carving it, the smooth, easy strokes of Melvyn and the rough, vigorous strokes of Brynn, who felt at that time she was the best at it of all. Indigo and her were sometimes alike in personality, but Dannie would never be. He was so… different. From all of them.

And the grave Grandpa visited; he always took a bouquet of self-picked wildflowers to a old, faded stone grave, wrapped in a piece of yellowed cloth that he kept safely hidden from all of them, snipping off a small piece whenever he went. It was a grave in a forbidden area they’d never been to, and the way Grandpa was so serious when he talked to them sent them a clear message of what would happen if they did.

He never told them anything about the grave, whenever they brought up the subject, he would look away, scowl, send them to the Hayloft for a hour, or wave them off and ponder in his room for hours.

So they had guessed the person laid at the grave was important to him, and he definitely didn’t want to talk about it.

Ever.

Dannie’s stomach growled again and he set an frustrated glance at the stove, which was just an hole with coal and wood set in it, and you made a fire in it with their endless supply of flint and quartz, and sometimes they used the fire-breathing phoenix, Safira, to spark up the firelight.

‘That grave,’ Brynn shivered, heading towards the kitchen. ‘I’m not sure if I like the idea Grandpa Melvyn visits it without us. He could be hiding something. If that’s our parent’s grave, then he’s *definitely* hiding something. He never lets us hear about our parents. Or visit their grave. You know what? Lets-’

Dannie shot her a sympathetic look, heading towards Braxi to undo the harness and lead him to Sylva’s stable.

‘Your imagination is running away with you again. Don’t let it run, remember that we don’t know It's their grave yet, and Grandpa has never lied to us before. He’s never hidden something from us,’ He reminded her, before taking a large step onto the plain thin-bamboo doormat.

‘He’s hiding our parents from us,’ Brynn pointed out, but Dannie was gone. She sighed and began to try get some friction into the flintstones.

Dannie was probably going to pick up his new book hidden in the treehouse in the Leftforest, as he always did when he had an opportunity to escape his usually fighting little sisters.

‘You know, you’re right,’ Indigo sighed from her leather seat as Brynn’s flint erupted into a storm of sparks then caught into flames.

‘Uh-huh,’ Brynn answered blankly, barely listening. ‘I feel like your the best at it.’

‘At being right? Thanks, but, seriously, what have you done with the real Brynn? Also, I don’t have time for the mushy-gushy sibling love stuff, my point is your *right,* because I agree with you. Grandpa must be hiding something. Our parents are *Garnette and Pierce Doctor.* But he said it so hurriedly, I remember. And he made it up so fast. If he was part of our family, it would make sense, Brynn. You definitely got your imagination from him. But I don’t care about anything nerdy Dannie says about your theory. I think… I think Grandpa’s not who we thought he was,’ Indigo admitted. ‘I think he’s a liar.’

The last words struck Brynn like a bullet, tearing right through her heart sharply and faster than the speed of light. She had only heard the very last sentence, “*I think he’s a liar*”. It was a thing she’d never expect her dear, funny and sweet triplet sister to say, in her life.

*I think he’s a liar, I think he’s a liar, I think he’s a liar.*

And Brynn knew Indigo meant Grandpa Melvyn, but she wouldn’t believe it. NEVER. Fury burned in her face, and she was sure she was red, and if not, purple. *Control your emotions. Calm. Soft. Maybe she didn’t mean it. But since when has Indigo been so bad at being sarcastic? Or am I just gullible?*

BUT SHE SAID THAT GRANDPA MELVYN WAS A LIAR. Her face whipped around to bore her eyes into Indigo's, blazing a cold fire. Disbelief. Anger. Confusion. Anger. Anger. Fury. Outrage. Anger. Fury.

‘He’s *not* a liar! *You’re* always making up lies about people *we* love, and I know you do to. Why can’t you just… be *nicer* for *once*?!’ Brynn yelled, dropping the flint as the flame died down and made a fire on the pile of firewood, where she forced out a pan with a lot of frustrated groaning, and slammed it onto the stove.

Indigo flinched at her sudden actions, looking hurt but puzzled. ‘Okay, okay, I was only trying to be nice. Since when have you decided you didn’t like mystery?’

‘I’ve *always* liked mystery! And lying is not being nice, no matter what you say. You need a dictionary, Indigo! I’ll give you *mine.* Search up the definition for, “nice”.’ Brynn snapped, feeling her skin burn hot around her face as she angrily punched down a waiting bowl of dough and dumped it onto the pan, which was sizzling madly already. The dough began to turn a pale brown as she set it down to toast.

‘Did you hear what I said before?’ Indigo asked quietly, beginning to undo her soft side again. Her scared, worried, small soft side that only the triplets knew she was ashamed of, the one she had tried all those years to bury away. But Indigo wasn’t tough, or a hero. She just felt… sad. She remembered her parents; in that fire. The pain it caused her, the shock, the nightmares that was beginning to spread something across her soul, something neither Dannie or Brynn knew about, something created from all the years of restless nightmares, the years of guilt that she was only a baby and couldn’t stop anything. The guilt that she was the one who told the dragon something she shouldn’t.

But she also believed Grandpa was her grandfather, because she didn’t remember vividly or understand the night out in the cold, the one reaching her arms out to try speak to the will o’ wisp, telling it to lead the way. The last time she’d ever be fully happy in many long years.

But she couldn’t say it to you now, and she couldn’t say what was crawling up her heart, not until later. But one of the secrets she had never told was that she was a Morphspeak. She could talk to any animal, or brainwash them.

‘I didn’t hear half of it,’ Brynn admitted, feeling her cheeks cool down a little. Maybe it was misunderstood? But why else would Indigo say such a thing about a dear family member?

‘Exactly. So how do you know what I said?’ Indigo pressed, while Brynn’s cheeks grew hot again, but not from anger, from embarrassment. And a bit of guilt, seeing the tough sister she’d always known and loved looked so unnaturally… hurt.

‘I don’t know,’ Brynn whispered, running over to give Indigo a hug. ‘I’m so sorry. Can you, um, say that again?’

The stillness afterwards made the scene very much awkward, and Indigo just continued staring at her. ‘All right, long story short. Grandpa Melvyn might be lying to us about our parents. We need to visit that grave.’

Brynn gasped, putting her hands over her mouth, feeling her eyes stretch wide. She quickly broke from the hug, acting as if it had never happened. ‘You have *no idea* how much trouble this’ll cost us. We’ll- we’ll- we’ll hurt Grandpa so much. You know how he gets about that grave!’

‘It’s worth getting in trouble, but I don’t know about the other part- hurting him… but we don’t have to tell him, do we?’  Indigo pressed hopefully,

‘I’d never lie or keep secrets from *Grandpa!*’ Brynn yelped, and Indigo looked away, looking like someone had punched her in the stomach, clearly she was thinking very hard about something.

Her past- and what Brynn had said that added to the awful things wrong with her. Brynn's never lied to Melvyn. But *Indigo* would. She *could*. She *did*. *Too many times*. And even to people more important that Melvyn.

A vivid picture of Dannie and Brynn flashed into her mind. Like them.

‘I know. But this time Its a good secret,’ Indigo reassured her, lightly. ‘Oh, and another thing, if you say *one word of this* to Dannie, I’ll chop your head off and stuff it.’

‘You won’t, besides, you’re too sweet to do anything like that. Secondly, gross, Indigo. Cut it out,’ Brynn snapped. ‘Thirdly, I understand why you don’t want to tell Dannie. But… he’s our sibling. He has to know. We might lose him if we don’t tell him.’

‘Stop knowing everything,’ Indigo grumbled, but then lit up her face in a bubbly way Brynn had never seen her do before. ‘So are you in?’

Brynn hesitated, feeling her thoughts whirl madly like a storm, the winds blowing in all directions, speed increasing and decreasing, thunder and lightning clapping and flashing… One decision. If she said no her life might stay normal. But if it was a ‘yes’, in every way it was wrong. Every path she’d choose would be wrong. She was sure if she agreed, her life would never be normal again.

A long silence passed before Brynn forced the words out before she changed her mind.

‘Sure, I’m in.’