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Chapter 48: The Atticus Problem
Huling Na-update:
2024-10-29 19:42:56[Lazarus]
For the first time in Legacy history, the Legacy Seven are meeting without the leader present. Technically it isn’t a real meeting without Atticus. We can’t have a proper quorum without him. As is tradition, we always work out our differences and problems as a group, with the leader making the final call.
So what do you do when the leader is the one who is the problem?
Three times in the over 200-year history of the Legacies has this situation ever come up. In all three occurrences, the final decision involved keeping the leader in place and letting them stay in power until the end of their term. Part of the problem is, it takes a unanimous vote to displace a leader. And with the way we are all vying for power and trying to dispose of one another for personal advantage
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The Bully Games Chapter 49: Girl Talk
[Lily]Atticus would not look at me for the entire ride to Central Park. I wasn’t sure what I did wrong, but I can feel a new distance between us. After how close were were just moments before, I don’t understand what happened to change things. Except for the kiss. That was not a “friend” kiss. The other legacies are all gathered at a large table. The restaurant is closed except for us, which feels strange because this is a world-famous restaurant in a world-famous park in the center of New York City in the middle of the day. Usually, a place like this would be packed with people who made reservations months before. And yet here we are, eating lunch, the whole place to ourselves. How much money did it take to make this happen? How much influence and power? Has this power been mine all alone as an Adare? Would using my grandfather’s name opened doors like this for me in the past if I had felt confident enough to use it?Madison wasted no time waiting. As soon as we were within ears
The Bully Games Chapter 50: Jailbreak
[Lily]Stunned, I sit for a moment, staring at Nyx’s number before answering. “Hello?”“LILY!!!!!!!” I pull the phone away from my ear as she chatters nonstop about how much she misses me and loves me and my ears hurt so badly I almost miss the important part. "You're where?" I ask as she takes a brief moment to breathe. "Did you just say you are outside?""Yes!" I almost start laughing as I imagine her bouncing up and down outside. "OMG OMG OMG I found you!"I carefully pull myself off the floor and explain my situation. Nyx sends me a text of instructions on how to get to the back door through the kitchen with a note that she'll meet me there. Hobbling on my crutches, I consider my options. I can return to the awkward meeting with the other Legacies where I have to answer questions about my wet and dirty dress, sit next across from Evie, who now wants me out of her way by any means necessary, and next to Atticus, who can't look me in the eye but is defending me against his friends
The Bully Games Chapter 51: Meeting the Carters
[Lily]There is a moment of stunned silence as the two of them blink at one another right before they fall over laughing. “Hey!” Link laughs. “What was that for, Cuz?”“Never writing me back, you Asshole!” Nyx laughs. “Damn, boy, I thought you were my friend and then you never wrote me or sent a postcard or anything. You suck!”For a moment I just stand there, looking at my friends, both new and old arguing like a couple of old hens, I feel both confused and ignored. How the heck do these two know each other?“Oi~!” I wave my arms to get their attention. “Remember me?”They both turn to look at me and they start to blush. Interesting…“Oh,” Nyx comes back to stand next to me. “Link and I go waaaay back. We have been in Ballet Camp together every summer since kindergarten. And Band Camp, and Wushu and…”Ah, it sounds like they know each other very well. “Are you two…” Not wanting to imply something too strongly, I don’t finish the sentence, leaving the idea dangling in the air that t
The Bully Games Chapter 52: Unexpected Connections
[Lily]Godmother. Is that even a real thing anymore? Do people still have godmothers?Apparently, I still do. And my godmother is a famous supermodel. “But I don’t know you,” I say without thinking, only seeing that my words hurt by the way she steps back, her eyes dark with sadness. “That doesn’t mean I don’t believe you, but it seems strange that my mother would leave me to someone I hadn’t even met.”“You’ve met me,” she laughs, “But you were little the last time and don’t remember. I think you were maybe four at the time. I used to come out and spend summers with your mom before my…” she looks over at Link and winces, “before my breakup with Link’s father. I stopped coming to California, and it wasn’t safe for her to come back to New York,” she explains. “Your grandfather didn’t want her ANYWHERE near the city ever again. In his mind she was dead…”“Until she was,” I murmur, growing bitter as I consider my grandfather and how he didn’t care about my existence until the only perso
The Bully Games Chapter 53: Vanished
[Atticus]When Evie returned to the table, I knew something was up immediately. She seemed far too pleased with herself. “Did you see Liliana,” I asked her directly as she sauntered over, positioning herself next to Veronica, who moved over to make room for her best friend.“Why would you ask that?” she grins sweetly. “Lily and I aren’t exactly friends.” Zephyra snorts sarcastically, “That’s an understatement.”Ignoring the side chatter, I try again to get a real answer out of Evie. “Liliana headed in your direction to check on you to make sure you were okay and you are saying you don’t know where she’s gone?”She shrugs. “I didn’t say I didn’t know where she is,” she clarifies. “I said we aren’t friends.” She chooses to ignore as she takes a seat and picks up the menu, pretending not to notice or care about the way her words are affecting me.“Hey Ace, chill,” Simon taps my shoulder drawing my attention to him. “She’ll be fine. Even better probably because she is now alone,” he the
The Bully Games Chapter 54: Party Crasher
[Lily]Atticus is making a huge ruckus, so while Link goes downstairs to talk some sense into him, I lean out Alexis’ window.“Atticus!” I hiss down at him. “What are you doing? Are you drunk?”As he rocks on his feet he is quite clearly drunk.“You left without saying anything,” he sways, barely standing as he almost trips down the small stoop to look up at me. His face is flushed and he seems unable to stand still.“I left you a note!” I scream down at him, mystified by his suddenly possessive and obsessive behavior. “I told you I just needed a break. I’ve only been gone for..”“Two hours!” He holds up his phone to show
The Bully Games Chapter 55: The Plan to Save Nyx
[Lily]Nyx looks both frightened and angry, terror filling her eyes as she clenches her hands. “You can’t let my father find me. Please, we gotta hide me.”“Shhh,” I try to calm my friend down, but her eyes are wide and unfocused. She’s petrified. I’ve never seen her this scared before, even when she found out that Atticus Preston and the rest of the Legacies have skeleton keys to every room in the Academy--An event which led to her putting deadbolts on her dorm room and, as I am now learning, a brief stay in a mental facility while she worked through her persistent panic attacks.As I try to comfort my friend, Atticus and Link briefly come to an unspoken truce. It is hard to make out exactly what she is saying, but according to Nyx, her father intends to keep her trapped in her bedroom here in NYC until she c
The Bully Games Chapter 56: Into the Lion's Den
[Lily]That wasn’t the answer any of us were expecting. We are all racing away in the night avoiding Nyx’s dad and heading right back to the very place I was trying to escape and the best reason that Atticus could give to why Link’s plan would work is “because it would be fun…”Why would anyone find any part of this situation “fun.”“Does it matter why I’m doing it?” Atticus drawls, his voice taking on its usual sarcastic tone. “It should only matter to you that I’m willing to put my neck out there to save you.”“I’m grateful,” Nyx responds, her voice completely deadpan. “But that still doesn’t answer my question.”
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The Bully Games Chapter 80: Taken
[Lily]Spending my evening with Link has been a blessed relief. He is just here for me, as a friend who cares, and he has worked hard all night to keep my mind carefree as we talk about everything from favorite books to movies that we hate.It has been a great distraction from the burning stare I feel along my spine. I can feel that Atticus is watching. But every time I start to look nervous or grow sad, Link has sensed it and taken me somewhere else, out of Atticus' path, or found some new way to distract me, to keep me from falling apart, or worse, into Atticus' arms. He even shields me from the spiteful energy radiating off of Evie as she glares at me right before screaming her relationship woes all over the dance floor, spewing hatred at Atticus. I will need to give Nyx a very big hug later. "So I was thinking," Link smiles as we take time to admire the ridiculously ornate and well-stocked food area, "Actually I was wondering if you have any plans for the upcoming holiday brea
The Bully Games Chapter 79: Counting Your Losses
[Atticus]It was a relief when Evie finally left me alone. Her presence grates on my nerves, and her kisses leave a foul taste in my mouth like wine turned to vinegar. Loving Liliana has taught me how kisses should taste. Sweet like honey candy, not bitter and cold. But how do I tell her how I feel? Will she believe me?I wouldn't if I were her, not with how I've treated her over the years. Even these last two months, with how close we've become, I could understand why she'd take a moment to pause and consider that it might all be one big trick. The sad thing is, she wouldn't be entirely wrong. This whole escapade started as a cruel way to make a brilliant soul dark, corrupting her fully, before tearing her apart like some kind of pagan sacrifice. We wanted to lift her above everyone else before we took her down so fast and so low that when she hit bottom the pain would be more excruciating.And it was all my idea. And I can't say anything about it or I not only risk my spot as a l
The Bully Games Chapter 78: The Equinox Ball (part 2)
[Evie]"Can you believe the nerve of some people," I grumble in Ace's ear as I pull him into the tent? "Bringing the riff-raff to OUR ball as if...""He's hardly the riff-raff, Evie," Atlas cuts me off, "He's your cousin," he pulls away from me. "You know, if all you're going to do tonight is talk about Link, I'll find something else to do with my time."Ace puts his hands in his pockets and stands there, staring at me, his blonde waves flipped over one eye. He looks bored. Or I should say, distracted. All night he's been looking over at her thinking I wouldn't notice. Fine. Two can play that game. "You know what, Ace," I hiss. "If hanging out with me is so boring, maybe we should BOTH do something better with our time," I take a step away from him expecting him to reach forward and apologize like he usually does. But Atticus doesn't move. He stands there, his face as hard as stone. "Go on then," he urges. "Go bother one of your friends. I don't care what you do with yourself, Evie
The Bully Games Chapter 77: The Equinox Ball (part 1)
[Lily] "Link!" I run around the other Legacies, who all give me strange looks as I ruin the perfect line of their precessional. I don't care about their sneers. I only care about my friend, who I haven't seen since that strange weekend in New York. "Lily," he opens his arms. "I am happy to see that you are happy to see me," he gives me a rakish half smile, before looking down at the corsage in his hand. "I wasn't sure if you'd be happy to see me or not." My face falls hearing the note of uncertainty in his voice. He's been nothing but kind to me, but I've been a terrible friend. Link and I have been corresponding via video chat and email, but I stopped calling when Atticus and I began our nightly study sessions. Part of the reason was because I was just too busy to make the time. But the bigger part, the part that makes my heart stop in my chest, is that it felt like I was cheating. Even though Link and I have never been anything other than friends, I know he likes me, and I gue
The Bully Games Chapter 76: First Dates
[Lily]Atticus has been conspicuously absent this week leading up to the ball. I haven't once seen him enter or exit his room, nor is he taking meals with the rest of the legacies. "Does anyone know what happened to Ace?" I asked the crew the second morning he didn't show up. Nobody responded with words, but Evie gave me a whithering look, and Veronica's eyes opened wide with warning. The message was clear enough, even without anyone saying a thing: Don't ask. That afternoon, I responded to his invitation and slid it under his door. By now, I'm sure he's seen that I will not be going with him, but that I am also not going alone. Instead, I'll be tagging along with Nyx and whomever it is she is taking as a date. Nyx has been so secretive about the identity of this date, that I can't help but bubble over with anticipation and curiosity. I can easily say I am more excited about the idea of who she is taking than I am about whatever little surprise she has in store for me. Friday nigh
The Bully Games Chapter 75: Not According to Plan
[Atticus]I am in no mood for this meeting. Especially not with the way Evie is acting, like she's already won something.She has a plan, I know she does. She hasn't set it off yet, but it feels like I'm waiting for something, something big to happen. I promised Liliana that I'd protect her. But how do I protect her while still following the rules of the game? One of the biggest rules is that we do not tell anyone else outside of our tight circle of seven what is happening.This is why we are meeting in Laz's room, the room furthest away from Liliana's, to have this final meeting before the Equinox Ball."Alright, the first order of business," Laz starts. "Does anyone have anything to report?"Evie is the first to raise her hand. "I'd like to give Simon kudos as far as gluttony," Evie points to Simon who grows very red in the face, I'm not sure if it is from embarrassment or some other emotion. He almost looks mad. "His work at the club was a prime example of gluttony. Of course, it w
The Bully Games Chapter 74: Bully for You
[Lily] By now, Atticus knows I received the invitation. There is no way that I didn't not with how everyone else at school is chittering in corners about it. Which is why I'm not surprised to see him waiting for me at the base of the legacy stairs. "Liliana," he stands, reaching for my books. "We need to talk. About the invitation, about everything." "Then talk," I say a bit more gruffly than I had intended as he follows me up the stairs. "Not here," he gives me a meaningful look and I shake my head. There is no way I'm going back into his bedroom. If he gets me in there, I'll end up in his bed, and then he'll find ways to distract me. I need to keep my mind clear and I can't think straight when his hands are on my body. I wish I never knew what it felt like to be kissed by Atticus Preston. "I don't think it is a good idea for us to be alone together," I wait for him to reach me at the landing and then lean in and hiss, "Somebody saw us this morning, Atticus. We weren't care
The Bully Games Chapter 73: Yes or No
[Lily]The poor freshman looked terrified as he handed me the invitation. "Thank you, Ms Adare," he bowed as he backed away as if I were some kind of royalty. People are so terrified of Legacies that even a "not quite" Legacy like me is a person to fear. The envelope is cream and embossed with gold and overly fancy like everything else at this school. He must have planned this because my name is engraved on the invitation. That isn't a last-minute detail. This isn't a reaction to my behavior this morning or a way to apologize for being an ass. He had planned to ask me. He wanted me on his arm at the biggest school event of the season. I pause. Was he telling the truth when he said he does care about me? Could it be..."This changes nothing," Nyx insists. "So what if he planned to ask you out before you dumped his sorry ass if you can even call it dumping him since you weren't really in a relationship," she points out. "So what if he wanted you to be his date? You know it probably
The Bully Games Chapter 72: Confessions
[Lily] It doesn't take us long to get cleaned up. I borrow one of his shirts so I'm not naked in the hall, and he gathers up all of our clothing to be washed by his cleaners. I always feel a bit weird after these sessions. I'm not sure if I should be thanking him, or pretending like it didn't happen. While my body is finally relaxed, getting all the pleasure it craves, my heart is more confused than ever. One moment I feel alive, like my whole body is afire. The next, I feel lost and a little ashamed. I let myself become Atticus' dirty little secret. What would Nyx say if she knew? She'd be disappointed. Never mind Link--we aren't technically dating but we do correspond. What would he think of this little "arrangement." Just because we aren't technically having sex doesn't mean this isn't a betrayal of sorts. What am I doing if this means nothing to him? Atticus stops me as I reach for the doorknob. "Liliana, talk to me." It's a struggle, but I make myself turn and face him. "At
