The Inheritance Games Oneshots

I sat in shock on one of the enourmous couches that lined the ways of the private jet. I still couldn't believe that I was on an honest-to-god private jet. I mean, I had known that the Avery Grambs (and by extension, the Hawthornes) were rich, especially after spending the last few days on the island, but actually seeing it, feeling it, out in the real world was a different expirence entirely.

I watch Grayson's face carefully. He hasn't said anything for a full five minutes, which I have learned wasn't unusal, but after the phone call with his brothers, I wasn't sure if him trying to resemble a statue for much longer was good for him.

"Grayson?" I spoke up tentatively, not wanting to cause him to have a mental breakdown or something. 

A quiet pause, a sharply inhaled breath, and then-

"He didn't tell any of us."

"I know." I respond, not sure what else to say to make him feel better. Because I really did want to make him feel better. Because for better or worse, I was now invested in Grayson Hawthorne, whether he liked it or not.

"Not me, or Nash, or Xander. Looking back, I'm pretty sure he didn't even tell Avery right away." He leans back in his chair, meeting my eyes, looking straight into my soul, almost as if he can hear my thoughts.

"Does that make you feel better?" I ask. "That he didn't tell anyone at first?"

"No. And it's not even because I mind that the told other people, it's just that he didn't think that we- I- could handle it. Because in the end, we should have been there beside him, and we weren't. He didn't want us to be. I know that he was trying to protect us, but that's just makes it cut deeper."

"Why?" I could tell that right now, he didn't want to have a conversation, he just wanted to talk to somebody. He needed to talk to somebody, and he needed them to not judge or hold whatever he said against him later.

"Because, Lyra," he says, a pained smile flashing across his face, "the way we were raised, we were taught to always, always, put family first, and I realize that in some twisted way, that is what Jamie did here. But it still feels wrong."

"Do you really think that it was-" I pause, looking around to make sure no one is listening before continuing to speak in a whisper. "Alice? That she would do that to her own grandson? That she would threaten her own family?"

"She hasn't been apart of this family for a long time now,' he says at normal volume, as if he doesn't care if anyone overhears. As if he stoped caring what other people thought a long time ago. "She made her choice when she left, and she cemented it when she kidnapped Jamie- because yes, I do believe that it was Alice who took him. She might be considered a Hawthrone by legal standards, but she isn't one of us anymore."

"By one of us, you mean like the way Avery and her sister aren't Hawthornes- well I guess Libby is a Hawthorne." I pause for a minute, then continue on. "I guess what I'm asking is do consider Avery and Libby to be family, but not your grandmother?"

"Absolutely," he replies, without a moment's hesitation. "They're Hawthornes now whether they're both married to my brothers or not. And yes, my grandmother became an outsider the minute she turned on one of our own."

"Our?" I question, uncertainty flooding my body, locking my hand where it gripps the edge of the couch I still sat on.

His gaze locks onto mine, an expression I can't quite read, and expression I'm not sure I want to read written on his face.

"Yes, Lyra." He says, his voice hinting at something deeper, something neither of us want to acknoledge yet.

"You're one of us now."