-HIATUS- ᴏɴᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇᴍ - ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴀᴡᴛʜᴏʀɴᴇ ʟᴇɢᴀᴄʏ (ꜱᴇQᴜᴇʟ ᴛᴏ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ɢʀᴀᴍʙꜱ?) -HIATUS-

Chapter 42

"You two should take it to her. Zara clearly sees this as an issue between her and you two," Jameson says looking at the ring in my sister's hands and then at me. He wants to know what I have to give her. It is just the letter and the picture. There was nothing on it, we tried everything. Besides, they had to go there randomly to find it, and from profiling Tobias Hawthorne, I don't think that this was part of the puzzle. I look at Avery and she looks shocked.

"Ave? Is everything okay?" I ask and she looks up at me. She took her phone out and snapped a picture of the inside of the ring. "Can I see?" Avery hands me the ring and I look at it closely. 8-3-75. I raise an eyebrow and hand it back to Avery.

"Time to make a trade," Avery announces a firm hand on my arm as she pulls me in. I fall to my backside, but Avery doesn't stop. She continues pulling me, I am not even walking. I laugh and wave goodbye at the group as I am pulled away.

---

"Nan just... gave it to you? Legally. She transferred its ownership to you." Zara says sounding like she was going to choke, her voice inconsistent.

"Nan gave me this ring to trade you for your father's ring," Avery says holding up the ring. Zara closed her eyes taking everything in, she was thinking, remembering. Zara reached for a chain around her neck and pulled out a thick silver ring from underneath her dress shirt. Tobias Hawthorne's ring.

"My father's ring, in exchange for my mother's," she says her voice rough, she looks like she wanted to let everything out. How many times had she done that growing up? Or was she always this way... She was always this way. She tried to be the best for everyone, she wanted to be accepted by everyone by being perfect, not wanting, and being knowledgeable. She tried to be perfect for her mother she wanted her acceptance but she didn't want to be spoiled, she wanted to be taken seriously. What did she feel when her brother disappeared? First, what did she feel about Skye and Toby? Skye was everything her mother wanted her to be, her mother spoiled her. Zara felt jealous maybe even unvalued. I know that she loves her sister though, they are siblings. I would love Avery even if she was really mean. Toby? Zara told Skye she lost her mind when she said Toby disappeared, she loved him and cared for him. I bet Toby understood Zara's feelings and thoughts, maybe he was even there for her at her worst moments. They always looked so happy together in the pictures I had seen.

Someone nudges me and I snap out of it. It is creepy how my mind just drifts me off to another world when I think that way, almost as if my mind is in her body. I look at Avery. "We should go," she says. I nod but I don't plan on leaving just yet.

"You go ahead, I have something to say," I say and she looks hesitant. "Please?" Avery sighs and walks out of the room.

"Nan told me," Zara says looking at me, observing every part of me. About Toby being my father? Was there anyone that didn't know? "I refused to believe it. So tell me one thing, is it true?"

"It is true, I didn't know myself. I asked to see my birth certificate. It took a little over a week, but Alisa found it. He is my father, even my last name is Hawthorne," I chuckle a bit but she has no reaction. She looks blank. "I have something to give you. We don't need it," I take the papers out of my pocket and hand them to her, she takes them gingerly not knowing what to do. "I found them walking back to True North from the ski lodge. The big tree?" Zara closes her eyes again, she wants to cry. I should leave it at this. "I found it behind the plaque you made with your siblings. There is a letter addressed to you and your sister. I can leave if you want."

"It would be a good time for you to leave," Zara says her eyes still closed. I nod even if she can't see it and I walk out.

I need to continue my thoughts. When Toby disappeared? She didn't know what it was like for him those past few months, she missed him everyone did. She hopes that he was still alive after finding out his body was never found, she tries to hide it but she has had even the slightest bit of hope over the years until all hope of him being alive was gone. That is why she got mad at Skye when she mentioned Toby, she had been holding all her emotions about Toby in herself and Skye was breaking down her walls... reminds me of Grayson. Now, does she know her grandfather left her a puzzle? Her sister as well? She was raised the same way the Hawthorne Brothers were, it is definitely possible. If she did know why wasn't she playing? She doesn't want to give her father the satisfaction of playing. She doesn't want anything to do with her father anymore, she loved him but... there is something missing, something I need to figure out. Why doesn't she want anything to do with her father anymore? Her siblings? The fact that her siblings were treated differently, could be but something is missing.

"Did Zara say something?" A voice asks from behind me. I look around, I am not in Zara's wing nor in the hallway that connects to her wing. I am in the hallway on the way to Toby's. I turn around and Jameson stands there leaning against the wall.

"No- What- What makes you think that?" I ask and he gives me a look. "No, she didn't say anything. I was just thinking," I shake my head and he walks towards me, slowly.

"You just walked out, we waited for you. You just walked out, Xan tried to go after you. Your sister stopped him, said you needed space, you needed to think," I frown. I am thankful for Avery giving me space but...

"I just walked out? I have no recollection of such a thing," I laugh but he doesn't. "I told you already, I was just thinking."

"Amber, do you what your problem is?" Jameson asks looking... I honestly don't know. I shake my head. "You try to go through every situation doing sunshine and rainbows when that isn't what you actually feel, what it actually is. You hide everything," Wow, is he really doing this with me? What about himself?

"You're talking to me about this?" I scoff, there is something in his eyes. Hunger. Jameson Hawthorne was born hungry. "Look, I don't want to talk about this," I don't want to hurt him, or hurt anyone. But it has to be said. I feel my hands trembling slightly. "I don't want to talk at all," I feel tears stinging my eyes, I do want to talk to someone, but no one will understand. I run away before Jameson can ask me anything. No one follows behind me, I keep running and running. I know this place, the hallway with the secret passageway. The passageway with the spinning wall. It leads to the roof. No one could find me there unless they really looked.

(1294 words)

I know I released Chapter 42 before 41, well I can explain. Chapter 41 is a POV chapter and I need a little more time to complete it. Thanks for reading!