Twisted Blood

While Ridley was dead asleep with Ankh curled up next to her, Ryan could finally take a hot shower first thing in the morning. Already not having her identical twin hogging the shower was a plus to her night life. The hot water felt amazing over her skin! Esmeralda was frying French toast while Clarke was still upstairs, freshening up from his long eventful night. Ryan slid down the banister with a broad grin on her face before gleefully bouncing into the kitchen. "Good morning," she cheered loudly. Esmeralda furrowed her eyebrows at Ryan. "I could get used to this!"

After that, the hunter helped herself to the pot of coffee. "Used to what," Esmeralda replied then flipped the next batch of French toast onto the pile. Ryan sipped her coffee and her grin went nowhere. "What could possibly be making Ryan Aimée Axel so zesty this early in the morning? Or should I ask what you're getting used to," she added while Clarke cruised into the kitchen. The principal was tying his ling hair back into a manbun.

"Being an only child."

Clarke picked out a mug for his fourth cup of coffee in that morning. "Who's being an only child," he asked.

"Me," Ryan replied nonchalantly. "No Ridley, means I can take a decent shower before school. Not to mention how much peaceful my night was without having to worry about her negative radiation. Please can I be an only child?"

"How exactly do you propose we do that," Clarke egged on with a warm chuckle. Esmeralda took a moment to sip her own coffee while watching the last two slices of French toast sizzle.

Ryan smirked evilly to herself, unfazed by how she was pleasured by the thought. "I could kill Ridley," she suggested. Clarke made nothing of it but Esmeralda froze and worry was awash on her face. "Yeah. She's asleep now so I could just take a knife and..." instead of finishing, she made a gentle slice through the air. "Or shoot her in the head and be done with it quickly. Yeah. Throw her body in an empty grave and cover it with some dirt so when a coffin is lowered on top of her... she'll be completely gone."

"I don't think that's funny," Esmeralda's jeered. "I don't want to hear you talking like that about your sister again."

"Lighten up, Esmeralda," Clarke countered. "It's a balanced state of mind."

"'Balanced'? How is sociopathy a 'balanced state of mind'?"

"Hope for the best, but preparing for the worst."

"It's diabolical!"

"Geez, Ezz," Ryan cut in sourly. "It was a joke not a dick, don't take it so fucking hard." Ryan collected her slices of French toast, with her upbeat mood fleeting. "I'm out of here," she declared coldly.

"Like you would have the balls to do something so garish," Richard commented from the doorframe. "Really think about it: smelling her bleed out at your feet, hearing her wheezing dying out, feeling her grow weaker, watching the life faded from her eyes," Richard went on while he circled his granddaughter. He knew he won; Ryan's face fell sadly. She glowered at him. "You don't have the balls."

She shoved him in the chest before storming out of the kitchen. From the foyer, Ryan could her hear father and grandfather bickering. The school was a hum with conversation when Ryan reached the main buildings. Her schoolbag was slung over one shoulder and not completely closed. She ripped her locker open, tearing it off its hinges. She growled her fluster then tossed the door aside angrily.

She stuffed her books in her bag before sighing defeatedly. Moonbeam shook her head as she approached her friend. Gracefully she leaned against the neighbouring locker. "You know, in the circus, it's the bearded lady and the world's strongest man. Not the world's strongest hairless lady," she joked.

"Bite me!"

"Ouch," Carson added behind her. "Who spat in your coffee?" The Taiwanese senior held the ripped-off locker in her hands. Ryan's scowl deepened as she grabbed her locker from her friend. She realigned the hinges then slammed the locker shut. "Rye," Carson persisted pitifully, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she roared, earning a bigger audience than she had from destroying her locker. "Jesus fucking Christ," she hissed while modelling deeper into the school.

The mornings were getting nippy from the looming autumn. Ryan clutched her blazer tighter against the chilly breeze. She caved into her seat in art, not bothering with setting up her easel. Mr Goodrich was flipping through a magazine with his cup of coffee in hand. Ryan glowered out the window while her class started to fill up.

Alex and his roommate, Ashton, were nose-pressed to their cellphones while haphazardly moving to their seats. Alex buried his phone then shoulder-nudged Ryan in the side. "You smell like libido," Alex whispered with a chuckle. Ryan was unamused. "What is that, liquorice?" Still she said nothing. "Hey, I'm kidding. I know you love Chinese five spice."

"Good morning my bold future Bogi Fabian," Mr Goodrich cheered. "I hope you've all been reading up on Fabian," he asked more than stated and his class avoided eye contact and art teacher sighed defeatedly. "Can one of you, at least, tell me her full name," he added unenthusiastically. "du Toit?"

"Bogi Fabian?"

"Oi vey. Here I was, thinking glow-in-the-dark murals would interest at least one of you," Goodrich sighed. "Bogi Fabian was born as Boglárka Réka Fábián, a Hungarian-Italian artist. Her murals are quite exceptional. By applying complex painting techniques and a wide range of colours and pigments, she created a starry atmosphere, visually opening up confined spaces, usually applying a three-dimensional effect in the daylight as well as in the dark or under UV light."

"So she's an optical illusionist," Hannah du Toit countered.

Mr Goodrich bounced his head around then leaned against his desk. "Well I suppose you could say so," he replied. "Since none of you bothered to do the reading, we'll have to cancel the trip to the night market's glow gallery." Disagreement erupted with boos and jeers to the teacher. "Don't look at me," Mr Goodrich countered, over his strident students, "made your bed now rest in it."

"Damn, I remembered you wanted to see the live wall art," Alex whispered to Ryan. "Maybe we could go for your birthday?" The hunter ignored him and began reading what she should have read two days ago. Alex was caught off guard by her silence. "Wait. Are you Ridley? That explains a lot," he went on then started poking her in her arm. "Ryan is not so frigid."

"Knock it off," Ryan jeered then shifted her back to face him.

Mr Goodrich went on with his lesson but Alex grew worried. "If it was last night then... maybe we should talk about it. To... you know... maybe... because we've never really-"

"Please shut up," Ryan ordered coldly.

The art teacher downed the last of his coffee before wishing up his lesson on glow-in-the-dark art. Ryan's newfound frigid state lasted the entire class and she essentially switch off. Alex tried not to let her radiation faze him but he greatly cared for her.

While his students were rotting in the schoolwork, Mr Goodrich retired to refill his cup of coffee. His students were haphazardly working and more focused on their unrelated conversations. Ryan's scowl only deepened while she forced herself to concentrate on her classwork.

Alex sighed defeatedly then stopped coping the answers from the back of his textbook. "Rye," he began earnestly, "I..."

"Alright," Mr Goodrich barged in while glancing at the clock above his board. "Sounds like you're done! Good. Fabian's work is often based on primary questions of human existence with her visual themes regularly focusing on space and universe-depictions," he went on. "Not only will your theme be 'my existence' but you will be making your own glow-in-the-dark paint."

"Wait really," one of the boys in the back asked. "Our own glowing paint?"

Mr Goodrich nodded in reply before taking another glance at his wall clock before turning to his class. "The bell's going to ring in a short while, so your homework is the next twenty pages, along with the comparison between consciousness and existence in art."

"Terrific," Hannah sneered behind Alex and Ryan.

"Just for that, du Toit, you can also include three-dimensional effects and magical realism, symbolism, naive art and naturalism to your list." More groans erupted from the classroom. "Hey, hey! Want to add classicism?" The class went silent as the bell tolled. "I didn't think so," Mr Goodrich said. "While you do your homework, brainstorm ideas for your piece. Don't forget your theme is 'my existence'. Also think about what colours you guys want to use."

Ryan bolted out the classroom while Alex stood near the door watching her. In mathematics, Ryan's head was out the window. Literally. She watched Sayeed and his dogs, without Ankh, watching over the day students. Ryan watched the dogs keep watch while Moonbeam and Carson settled in the seats on either side of her.

Her day passed in a coldhearted blur and by lumch, Ridley had had enough. In place of joining her friends at the rocks near the teachers' quarters, Ryan ventured to the clearing on the rear end of the campus. It was quiet. Not strangely quiet but more of a calming sort of quiet.

That calm was snuffed out by a fiery jealousy laced with rage. "Where are you!" The clearing remained unchanging. "Please, let me just kill Ridley. I can't take this anymore!" Still there was no reply. Ryan let out a monstrous roar and the lively green grass dried up and turned to ash. "Renee!"

The trees behind her rotted and contracted its size as an odour escape its trunk. Ryan panted her rage angrily before the odour of the tree filled her nostrils. She turned to see what she did. Curiously she grazed a green-mould trunk, only for it to fall to mush. She touched one of the unfazed trees.

That tree also rotted at her touch. The tree next to it, Ryan kept both her hands on the trunk and the entire tree turned to ash after it moulded. Her rage went nowhere so she took it out on the trees. She punched each trunk in pure lividity and each time it, without fail, the trees died from decay.

"Taphokinesis. Manipulation of decay," Ridley stated from behind her sister. Ryan spun around to meet the mirrored face. "Interesting. Too bad Renee's blood gave me all the cool stuff," she purred and Ryan's scowled faltered. "Did you really not think I didn't know what you were up to? I predicted this. You would constantly be shoving questions down my throat about our dear mommy."

"Leave me alone," Ryan hissed. "This is your fault!"

"I wasn't the one who talked you into believing that you're lesser than. You did that all your own," Ridley purred. "Everything else that followed was purely because you talked yourself into that. The moment you believed that I was your biggest obstacle, was the moment you signed your death warrant." Ryan took a defensive stance with her fists raised. "Don't play coy with me, little sister," Ridley purred evilly. "You always knew that one of us was going to die and die by the other's hand. The same as dad's brothers; the orginal Ridley and Ryan Axel."

"How do you know about them? Daddy's never mentioned them before. Ever."

"To you," Ridley replied. "Does it really surprise you that he trusts me more than you? I've proven myself while you? You're not even trying to play catch up. You're just... irksome."

Ryan's breathing grew erratic from her bracing herself to attack her sister. "You've never called daddy 'dad' a day in your life," she pointed out. "Getting out out now before your imminent death? I'll be sure to pass it on to him."

Ridley smirked while Ryan pulled out her gun. "Easy, warrior goddess," Ridley purred with her hands up in surrender. "I needed a test subject before the grand reveal." Ridley's face shifted to that of Renee's. Renee's blue eyes took in her daughter's enraged dark ones. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I want to kill Ridley. Now!"

Renee sighed then cupped Ryan's cheeks in her long bony fingers. "Look me in the eye." Her eyes tinted gold and Ryan's eyes couldn't waver from hers. No matter how hard she tried. "Don't kill Ridley. Not until I give the order."

Ryan blinked off her mothers hold then shook off the daze. "What did you do to me?"

"Call it mind control, call it an irresistible suggestion," Renee purred. "As for your new ability..." she went on grabbing Ryan by the wrist to study her unassuming palm "... you're not as mentally resilient as you should be, in terms of being a hunter. I suggest you don't do anything to agitate it. Or not, I can't really make you listen. Well I could, but it would be more fun to see an out of control halfritch in such a sterile environment."

"A half what?"

"A halfritch. Half eldritch, half not," Renee replied nonchalantly as she circled her youngest child. "One more thing." Ryan followed Renee with her eyes to see how exactly she just 'vanished'. "Your birthday is coming up; I have a special gift for the house of Axel. If you're brave enough to handle violence like that. Girls like you are usually so opposed to malice of such magnitude."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to cut your hair."

"I'm a hunter, not Samson."

"Good. Await my instructions on the matter," Renee concluded. "In the meantime, you're more than welcome to antagonise Ridley and her little squeeze. What's his name? Jakob's boy."

"Dane? What, no! They're not... are they?" Ryan's puffed cheek deflated as an evil smirk spread over her face while the bell rang in the distance. "Ridley and Dane are truants?"

Renee paused from circling Ryan as she replied, "calm yourself. You're the only truant in Dunon Academy. By the way, that human you've cozied up to... not bad. He plays my harpsichord, if you catch my drift."

"And, cringey mother moment," Ryan replied sing-songly. "And nobody refers to non-ampyras as 'human' anymore. Not since we called ampyras 'vamp-'" Renee narrowed her eyes on her.

Renee patted Ryan's shoulder with a menacing chuckle. "Get to class," she ordered sweetly but there was something menacing in the eldritch's eyes but still Ryan obeyed. "Oh, one more thing. Tell Richard I say 'hi'."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Yes! I'm kidding! Richard would slice you in half in a heartbeat if he so much as suspected we have been talking. The fact that you're unscathed is actually quite surprising, I'm not going to lie."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Ryan hissed.

"You and subtle are not very good friends," Renee clarified. "You wear your heart on your sleeve. For a hunter that's bad but as an halfritch, that's exactly what I need."

"Are you ever going to tell me what you're planning?"

"Maybe when you come clean about your after-dark activities with the human, I will come clean with my motives. Now go! Three wolves are en route." Renee raised her arms and vanished into a puff of black mist.

Ryan was stunned stiff! According to the book on eldritches, teleportation was a scarce skill among the eldritch. She shook off her surprise then groaned before returning to class. Half way back, Ryan saw Ridley with Ankh at her side. They were on a leisure stroll through the school. Strange that Ryan couldn't tell her mother from her sister but now she could tell that the person she saw was in fact Ridley.

In English Carson and Moonbeam were passing around messages and chuckling. Danielle joined in on the conversation on their group chat while Mrs Hues read chapter fifteen of 'Picture of Dorian Gray'. Moonbeam, when she wasn't typing vigorously on her phone, was busy braiding Carson's hair.

After school, Ryan found Ridley on watch with Sayeed. The two dobermans were running amok on the grass while the German Shepherds were dutifully at the Egyptian hunter's side. Ryan exhaled roughly but she couldn't move.

She was frozen to the spot - against her will! She couldn't move. It was an effect of Renee's 'irresistible suggestion'. There was a major part of Ryan that wanted to march over there and just shoot her sister broken. Bubbly Axel groaned then retreated, freed from her mother's absent hold.

She joined Carson in the library, who was drinking the smoothie she smuggled in. Ms Ross was typing away at her outdated computer, with the two friends out of her line of sight. The library was still, despite the other sun students who were leisurely reading or doing some or other form of schoolwork.

Carson took another sip of her smoothie while Danielle joined them. Her blonde hair was in a French braid that rested over her shoulder. "I want to die," Carson groaned softly. "Ms Geoff is going to be the death of me."

"Same," Danielle replied. "That's why I don't do my history homework. My stress levels have actually gone down. Now what does that tell you?" Ryan forced herself to chuckle lightly in reply before looking down at her art textbook. "Although, I could really use some help with physics."

"Don't look at me, I don't know shit about physics. Physics scares me," Carson countered.

"But you're Asian. And I mean that in a seriously non-racist way," Danielle replied.

"Ms Kobliska said the same thing so I dropped physics for geography."

"You could always ask Dr Coleman for help. He has tutelage classes everyday around seven at night," Ryan suggested. "He's the physics teacher for the moon students. Dane says he makes physics interesting. One time they made bread and cake from scratch for some or other proportional study. If you could prove why it failed, you got extra marks. If your bread rose enough and your cake was baked perfectly, you got double your extra marks."

"Not all heroes wear capes."

"Can we please swap physics teachers," Danielle pleaded to the ceiling.

"Or you could just ask Alex," Carson added. "Spare yourself the withdrawl symptoms."

"You just had to ruin it, didn't you?" Carson shrugged nonchalantly to Danielle then continued on her smoothie. "Whatever. Are you okay," she blurted to Ryan. "All day you've been acting squirrely and now you're... just... you."

Ryan exhaled heavily then looked out the library window. "I'm fine," she replied then saw Clarke with Dane at his side. "I just have to go. See you tomorrow," she added in a hurry then bolted out of the library before they could stop her. "Daddy," she called before she was completely out of the library. "I need to talk to you. About Ridley and Ryan Axel."

Dane furrowed his eyebrows while Clarke's usually unchanging face went pale and he suddenly looked terrified. "Rye, now's not-"

"I don't care! Ridley knew and I didn't," she started, suddenly fuming. "She always knows something before I do and I'm sick of it! You say you don't treat us differently but you trust her more than me! I hate it! I want to know! I don't care if I have to shoot Dane in the head to find out," she hissed then aimed her gun straight between the Danish ampyra's eyes. "Because I will!"

Clarke's eye twitched from his thinning patience but he knew she was right. "Have intelligence run a secondary update. Notify me if there's a change," was all Clarke said to Dane, without looking away from Ryan. Dane nodded mutely then went off to carry out his orders. "Draw your weapon on a fellow hunter again or use your position as my daughter against me again and I will shoot you." Swiftly Clarke disarmed her and held her gun pointing back at her head. "Know deep in your heart that I will, Ryan. I'm growing tired of your brattish behaviour."

"I want the truth," she ordered, unfazed by her father's threat.

"My office."

She led the way to the school office, where Esmeralda and all the other secretaries were hard at work for the dregs of their working hours before the night staff came to take over. Mr Derrick, the moon English teacher, was already helping himself to coffee despite the 'early' hours.

Ryan let herself into her father's office and the cold principal shut the door behind him. "You want the truth, here it is," Clarke began. "Richard and Barbara Axel had three sons: Ryan Darren Axel, Ridley Matthew Axel, and Rowan Clarke Axel. We-"

"Stop right there," Ryan hissed as angry tears filled her eyes. "How...?" She couldn't get a single sound out of her lips that were clearly trying to convey a reply. "You... not only did I not know I have uncles but I didn't even know my own father's name? Yet you expect me to trust you?! Not just as your daughter? No! No! I fucking refuse!"

"Rye, I go by Clarke because of what happened between my brothers and I," he admitted weakly. Ryan shook her head in distaste but said nothing. "We trained together all our lives. Our parents taught us. They taught us to be these macabre monsters. We were pitted against each other because back then, only a few hunters could become the elite. And we were so... brutal, so ruthless that we would damn near kill each other when we trained. We broke each others' bones. We... we tore each other to pieces in the most barbaric ways imaginable."

"Just get to the point."

Clarke weighed then leaned onto his desk. "One night, there was emergency evacuation in les Bourgade. A horde of Class E were accumulating numbers in a cave on Montagne Blanche. Barbara didn't want us anywhere near the mountain until she and Richard returned. Ryan was always impulsive and that night he disobeyed a direct order."

"So he got himself killed?"

"No. He made hunt," Clarke corrected. "He earned three gradus that night: his hunter gradus; his mana for taking down the mayor because he led the horde and a gradus from the Soloist series called the assassin. At age twelve, he became the youngest hunter in Monteiro to earn more than one gradus at once. He was our younger brother but we were jealous to wit's end of him. I made hunt when I was seventeen and it drove Ridley up a wall."

Ryan could see the pain in Clarke's eyes but she didn't care. This story, and how she came to hear it, were evidence that what Clarke and Esmeralda taught her about trust went against who they trusted. They trusted Ridley more and they had little faith in Ryan, much less trust. In all this, the one thing Ryan asked herself was 'why? I made hunt. Not Ridley. Why don't they trust me?'

"Ridley must've been twenty when he first made hunt and by then, I was eighteen and Ryan was fifteen. Richard was extra harsh on him for that and Ridley didn't ever recover from the ridicule. He lost his mind and he blamed us for it. He came home so drunk and so angry that night that he just... shot Ryan in his sleep."

The younger twin before the great hunter's eyes went wide. "What did oupa and ouma do?"

"Nothing," Clarke replied. "They believe that our line of work is survival of the fittest. They said that Ryan's death was his own fault, that he shouldn't have been completely asleep," the principal added. "Ridley didn't stop there. He went on a hunting frenzy, murdering anyone who crossed his path. He was labelled a rogue but even after he was given his rogue gradus, he still killed onsight. That's when I got my wake up call. I felt horrible about everything I was taught to suppress so I turned away from my parents' way."

"What about...?" Ryan laced her fingers in front of her nervously. She was entirely sure she wanted the answer to her next question. "What happened to uncle Ridley? Where is he now?"

Clarke straightened up then sized up his daughter, who he towered over. He cupped her cheek, feeling his upset towards her diminish. "Sometimes when I look at you and Riddles, I can't believe how grown you are. It feels like yesterday when you used to climb into my bed because you couldn't sleep. How both of you just wanted me close. One day I was all you had and now... I'm just your dad."

"You didn't answer the question," Ryan pointed out, pulling away from her father. She wasn't at all satisfied with him or Esmeralda, considering the lack of trust they had in her. "Where's the original Ridley Axel?"

The principal nodded mutely to himself while he lowered his hand. "It will hurt you," he stated, "and maybe even change the way you look at me as a person." It was Ryan's turn to nod without a word. "I killed him." She gasped lowly. "I had to. The Hunt wouldn't intervene because Ridley singlehandedly lowered the Class E and Class F numbers. He almost earned as many gradus as Richard and that's all your grandfather really cared about. There were other hunters who tried to stop Ridley but they were no match for him. Renee and I-"

"Renee?"

"Renee," Clarke confirmed with a nod. "This was just before we found out we were expecting," he added. "Renee was around our entire lives. She actually started the Guardian Program here, back in 1874, when the fortress was converted to a school. We were the only ones who knew Ridley's moves enough to neutralise him." Ryan swallowed hard then nodded evidently still taking the story in. She turned on her heel wordless to leave. "He was my brother, Rye! I loved him. That's why I never set you against Ridley like that. You need each other but there will always be a chance where one of you might have to end the other. I pray to whatever entity can hear me that that day will never come."

"You set Ridley and I against each other the moment you decided that she could be trusted and I couldn't be," Ryan stated with her back still facing him. "You think she's the better hunter, you trust her and not me, you told her all this and not me." Stiffly the huntress circled to scowl at her father. She clenched her fists at her side. "I would gladly kill her in a heartbeat if-" she cut herself off to preserve her allegiance with her mother. "Once! Just once, I wish someone would treat us like equals. Treat us like Ridley and Ryan. Not like Ridley... and Ryan. But clearly that's asking too much, from my own father!"

"Ryan Aimée Axel, you...!" she slammed the door on her way out of his office.

By dinner, Ryan was still fuming at both her parents - Esmeralda, not Renee - and it showed around the table. The tension was so heavy that even the legendary Richard Axel was silent. Ryan sat between her sister and her grandfather, too livid to be near her parents. The round table was lined with Ridley's cooking. She had a lot of free time during the day so she took the liberty of making dinner.

Her lentil stew was perfect for the cooling weather outside. The Monteirian south didn't have very cold winters, like most countries along the Mediterranean, it just rained a lot during winter, and autumn had chilly winds. Ridley's stew was hearty, unlike her exterior, and lightened the unease in the dining room.

Ryan was already in her pajamas, fresh from doing her homework, while Ridley was in her school uniform, prepared for the night ahead. Ryan ate mutely and even her fork didn't clatter against her bowl. Ridley ate a light helping as her breakfast while her family tucked in heavier helpings for dinner.

"Dinner's really nice," Ryan directed to her counterpart. "Then again it's you; you're just perfect!"

"Ryan Aimée Axel!"

"You know what," Ryan went on, ignoring Clarke's warning call, "since I discovered that we're named after uncles I didn't know we had, I'm curious. Where do our middle names come from, hm? Did Renee have sisters we don't know about," she spat sarcastically.

"Yes," Ridley replied squarely. "Aimée and Dominique de Luq."

"Wow," Ryan sang sourly. "Would you look at that? Another thing Ridley knew that I didn't. What's new?" Clarke exhaled sadly. "What? Were we actually supposed to be triplets and one of us ate the third in the womb? Ha! We could be like our namesakes. One kills the other, the other gets killed by another."

"You have gone far enough, young lady," Clarke hissed. He was dressed in a different suit than earlier. There may have been sun teaching staff and moon teaching staff but there was only one principal. "This is exactly why you weren't ready to know!"

"Why? Because I'm impulsive, like Ridley M. Axel? Yeah well, I'd rather be rogue, out there lowering Class E and F numbers than a part of this psychopathic, overbearing, homicidal, dictatorial, egomaniacal, frigid, dysfunctional family of assholes!"

"Enough," Esmeralda roared angrily as she stood up. "Clearly this family has some creases to iron out," she began calmly. "Creases that we will iron out but not tonight. Tonight we are going to enjoy a peaceful family dinner with peaceful conversation."

Richard huffed his disdain. "And how do you propose we do that," he inquired smugly, speaking for the first time.

Esmeralda sat down coolly as a grin threatened to spread over her face. "I have some exciting news," she began faintly nervous. "I was going to wait for a better time but..." she shrugged wordlessly in place of finishing. "I'm pregnant."

"What," Clarke and Ryan replied together. "Why didn't you tell me," Clarke went on.

"You didn't know," Ridley asked and they all turned to her in confusion. "Blood cravings, glowing skin, crying for no reason by yourself."

Ryan, still fuming, let out her next comment. "That's great, Ezz. Maybe if you have a boy, you could name him Rowan. Someone may as well use it."

"Ryan," Clarke hissed.

"I'm going to bed," she cut in before leaving.

"I'm going to class," Ridley added then left mutely.