Heart of the Pride by Anaya Phoenix (top 10 novels to read txt) 📕

"And we got your favorite comfort food, just in case you want pig out." Ferris said softly from somewhere behind her.

"Dude, you just slipped it in that she was a pig." Cameron scoffed with, what sounded like,  a thunk to the back of the head.

"Did not, I bet no one was thinking that until you said it." There was silence before somebody spoke up.

"Actually, I was thinking it. But out of respect to your sister I didn't say anything." Cassie said softly. Her family quieted down before giggling.

"You think we have respect for this dork?" Zena said with a small little chortle.

"We're only doing this because we're being paid to." Sasha said while giggling. It did Izzy good to know that her family and friends were there for her.

"You guys are awesome, you know that right?" Jaime said in awe and respect. Wrong words, Izzy thought with an inward smile.

"Pssh, of course we know that." Cameron snorted and was agreed with automatically. Bella hadn't stopped stroking her hair. She leaned down while her family was talking and kissed  her head before whispering in her ear.

"This is what we do, Izzy, for our own. Whenever your ready, wherever your ready you can call on us for comfort. Never forget that Isabel, never forget that the amount of love we have for you surpasses any and all of the hate and anger that may come your way." It was soft, it was love filled and it was caring. She opened her eyes and looked up at her twin, the face that was so much like hers smiled brilliantly and cocked her head to the side.

     Izzy Sat up and looked around for her junk food, she grabbed it and dug her spoon in her sticky, sickly sweet comfort.

"You shouldn't do that," she mumbled around a spoonful “makes your double chin stand out."

"This coming from the hippo eating cookies and cream ice cream with chunks of keebler cookies, Oreos, and chocolate syrup." Bella snorted and crossed her arms.

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you too."

"Guys, the love in this room is choking me. Like seriously, if you don't cut it out I'm going to die." Amelia said dryly, Izzy merely snorted into her ice cream and kept eating. Things tasted so good when you were a human... tiger... thing. The chocolate popped on her tongue and the cookie dough smoothed it out. It was heaven in fucking carton.

"So are we just gonna act like what happened didn't happen?" Darren asked and Cassie glared at him. Izzy put another spoonfuls in her mouth and shrugged.

"What's there to talk about? I was lied to and betrayed by my own parents. A guy I really liked turned out to not be  a guy at all. Oh yeah, before  I forget, the piece de resistance, my family has been cursed by gypsies... Not really much  to talk about Darren." Her siblings shared a look, they all knew that tone of voice. She'd shut down and was using her humor as a way to shut out her emotions. None of them really liked what followed after. Confrontation.

She sat simmering as she finished her last spoonful of sweet, icy bliss. She saw the look that they threw at each other, they were right to  be wary. Shit was about to hit the proverbial fan. She gently put the carton down and licked her lips, catching any stray traces of chocolate  she could find. She looked up then  at her twin and took  a deep sigh. She was standing before any of them realized it.

"Grab her!!" Amelia yelled and Izzy shrieked as she was instantly gripped by two pairs of arms.

"Let me go!!!" She snarled and struggled to get out of the prison. "I'm just gonna talk, I swear." She crossed her fingers and tucked them  in a place where she was sure they wouldn't see them.

"Fingers on her left hand are crossed." Zena said, pursing her lips at her sister. She scoffed and crossed them and focused on her toes.

"Fine, now I promise." Her shoes  were snatched off and she snarled in rage. It was impossible that they had figured out everything... Well, almost e everything..

"Fine fine, I'll pinky promise." She said, doing her best sound defeated. Bella raised her hand with  victorious little smile, but was stopped by Cassie's hand.

"If you pinky promise, your pinkies will cross, so it would be like she technically crossed her fingers." She explained and Izzy jerked in Jaime's arms.

"Death, a slow and painful one." She snarled at her friend, who merely shrugged and smirked. After taking several deep breaths she relaxed her body.

"Ok, I promise that my hands will not be used during the conversation, or any other part of  my body." Things were silent as her request was pondered.

"You can let her go." Ferris said finally, watching warily as his sisters feet were placed back on the ground. She moved her head from side to side and cracked her neck. She gave them a curt nod before going off to find her parents.

     They were waiting  in the kitchen, both wearing pain stricken faces. Her mother clutched something that was hot, with  absurd Izzy could tell it was hot chocolate. Her father was merely pacing  the floor.

"I'm not mad with any of you, I want you to know that." She said softly whole pulling out  a chair and sitting down. Both her parents watched her with calculating eyes. God, it looks like they haven't slept in days.

"I honestly just wanna talk this out." She sniffed  and clenched her teeth a little before stopping herself. "Which means you don't have to keep  a constant watch on me Jaime." She stayed silent until she heard the footsteps fade away.

"Ok, you guys can explain why, in all hells, didn't you tell the pair of us."

"Your mother wanted to, but I didn't know if it was safe or not. You two fought like crazy and couldn't resist telling each  others secrets. I didn't want to take the risk that you would get really posses off and just blabber about it." Her father said, walking to the chair and sitting down. Well, Izzy thought sadly, the truth does tend  to sting.

"Are they a risk of being apart of this?" She asked, needing to move along from the hurt.

"We don't know. That's what we were worried about, that's what all those arguments were about when you were kids. We had so many kids, being zealous, and now we have no clue how the curse is going to affect them." Her mother said softly, her eyes never moving from the steam rising from the cup.

"You said the curse skips a generation, right?" Izzy asked, scooting forward in her seat. She was ready to throttle one of them, or both, for putting her siblings at risk.

"Right, it attacks every other child."

"And there's no case where it attacks every child?"

"No, all the females in our family were instructed to one child. They didn't want to take the risk of not knowing how the curse would pan out." She shot her mother a look before leaning back.

"I was rebellious and tired of always having stupid rules on me. I should've just stuck  to the stupid rules." Izzy wouldn't say anything about that. She just wouldn't.  Her mother ran her fingers through her hair and blew out a lengthy breath.

"We're sorry Izzy-" she cut her mother off  tuned her ears to the sounds around her. A small and faint "Izzy"  could be heard. She cocked her head, trying to pick up where it was coming from.

"Izzy?" Her head snapped back  to her parents and her brow furrowed.

"Did you hear that?" Her parents looked to each briefly before shaking their heads. She gulped and nodded once, she didn't recognize the voice that called to her. She ignored it and went back to talking to her parents.

     She finally gave  upon talking to them and went in search of food. There was nothing in his house to eat, especially since she had a craving for Chinese food. She poured and walked to the front door, a table Sat next to it with keys on it. She picked up  a set and smirked.

"Family night!!!" She yelled, opening the door and running to Timmys Father's truck. This should be fun, she thought cheerfully as she jumped in the car. Tendrils of doubt began to slither up her spine as she turned the car on, her hand stilled on the wheel as a thought wiggled its way into her brain.

"Maybe you shouldn't do this.." The voice said softly. She looked around the car to see if anyone was stowed away in it. There wasn't another person  in the car besides her. It was the same voice from earlier. Her head was so muddled she didn't even recognize that her family was walking  to the car.

"Great, now I'm hearing voices." She mumbled to herself before blaring the horn and rolling down the Windows.

"C'mon, I ain't got all day here!!!" She yelled  in a rusty New York voice.

"Do you mind, I'm walkin' here!!!" Her twin yelled back, she was always better at the voice than Izzy was and took pride that everyone knew it.

"I'm starving and you're just taking your sweet time."

"You wanna see  me take  my sweet time? 'Cuz I'll show you my sweet time!!"

"St your bony ass in the damn car Bella!!"

"I-"

"If the next words that come out of your mouth aren't 'I'm sorry for taking so long', so help me God I will pimp slap the shit out of you." Izzy said calmly while starting the car. Bella humphed but got in the car anyway.

"All you can eat buffet, here we come!!!"

     She wasted no time whipping out the wallet she'd picked from Timmys' pocket. She took out the necessary amount before speeding off and getting food. There was  a smattering of people here in there but not enough to really put a dent in the food. She picked  up a tray and went to work on the deliciousness that lay before her.

"Touch my fucking French fries and I will stab you in the fucking eye." She growled shoving a piece of steak in her mouth. She didn't understand why she was  so hungry. She shouldn't be this hungry!!

"You can't have mash potatoes and French fries! That's too much starch." Ferris whined, his eyes dead set  on the last bit of French fries in the restaurant.

"You're too much starch, now shut up and let me eat my God damn food!" She snarled whole picking up a spoonful of potatoes that had been drowned with gravy.

"Mom, she's not being fair and she's using curse words!" Her brother said  to their parents  who were at  the other side of the long table.

"Stop snitching on your sister dear." He  mother reprimanded, not looking at the two but laughing with their father. Ferris' mouth popped open  and she made sure to keep the spoon in her mouth extra long before popping in one of the French fries off her plate. They were pretty damn good fries.

"Look, more!!" Zena gasped as she ran to where the man was restocking the food. It always astonished  her to see how people reacted to her