<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ffcc">Alexi smiled at the complement. </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4dffa6">“Yeah once Ayla realized she was actually good at playing along in my head…”</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ffcc"> he teased. But even so the two of them had yet to win a game against him. They’d come close a few times, but to no avail. He stared at the board, pondering the moves, weighing his sisters input before moving another piece.<br/>
</span><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ccff99">Ayla looked up from the book she was reading, an odd sensation in her mind. One she hadn’t expected to feel.</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#a6ff4d"> “I…. I’ll be right back…” </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ccff99">she said, worry behind her eyes as she stood up, leaving the book on the couch she had previously been sprawled out on and walking out of the room. Making her way quickly down the hall, her fists slowly clenched, eyes narrowing. After they’d gotten the second box from their mother, Ayla had put wards on them of her own creation. A ping in her own mind, and a trap, a phantasm that would entice the person into playing with an imaginary kitten until released from the spell or physically touched. But she knew most everyone in this house, and no one who lived or worked here would have dared even try to open a locked chest. Right? The feeling of betrayal was strong as she pushed the door open. </span><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ffcc"><br/>
Alexi looked up, startled by his sister’s sudden action, and drastic shift of mood. </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4dffa6">“She’s angry… betrayed…” </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ffcc">he murmured, before looking over at Lucian, concern in his voice. </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4dffa6">“Someone touched something they shouldn’t have.”</span>