A/N: Picture of Lady Eluen's office in the media.
Both the picture and the journal weighed heavily in my hands. I felt that I shouldn't take them yet at the same time I felt like I had the right to know the truth. There was something about Daniel that made my suspicions rise; something wasn't right.
In the end I decided to put them both back, knowing that being caught with the items would only make Jett despise me more. And he was the only one I dared ask about all of this.
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When I woke up, it was four in the afternoon and I got up with my mothers necklace tangled in my hands. The picture of Daniel that I had stolen from the school cabinet was on my nightstand and the moment I woke up I reached for it.
The same charming boy smiled back at me, the same chain that resembled my mothers around his neck.
I needed answers.
I lay in bed for another few minutes, fighting my urge of sleep and convincing myself that unearthing the truth surely couldn't be as hard as I imagined it to be.
With false determination and a sudden feeling to do something before I drowned in my own doubt, I got up and managed to pull on a sweater and some jogging pants.
It was too early for anyone to be in the kitchen. Class didn't start until around eight in the evening and I usually woke up around six or seven.
At four the kitchen was deserted and I switched on the light before reaching for some yoghurt.
Though it still felt weird to live in a reversed cycle where the nights were days and the days were nights my stomach had adjusted fairly clearly.
I moved onto the kitchen counter, my legs swinging as I dug into my light breakfast, managing to forget about my worries for just a tiny moment.
But I should've known that peace in the mansion couldn't be possible with the Lionfields.
'So you're awake,' a voice drawled and I looked up, shocked, a spoonful of yogurt falling onto the ground with a wet and uncharming 'slurp'.
Jett was lounging in the corner, in the leather coffee table chair that looked out upon the back garden. His legs were crossed and his hands together as he turned to me, eyes narrowed.
'You're such a creep,' I hissed, jumping from the counter to pick my spoon up.
Jett scoffed, 'I'm not the one creeping in other people's rooms,' he hissed, making me stop in a mid bend.
I straightened up, forgetting about the spoon, 'What?'
'You think I'm unobservant enough to let you slip in and out of my room unnoticed?'
I stilled at his words, heart pumping as I quickly bent, picking up my spoon and turning to rinse it off in the sink. I'd never been good at hiding my emotions and no doubt Jett would look past my lousy poker face in a heartbeat, 'You're crazy. Who'd want to go into your room?' I continued, a shrill laugh erupting from my lips.
It was silent and when I turned to look past my shoulder, Jett breathed into my ear from the left, 'Liar'.
I screamed, shrinking away from him but he caged me in. Arms on either side of me, his hands resting upon the sink, 'What do you want?'
'I want you to butt out of my business,' he growled, holding up something.
I looked at it and a treacherous gasp escaped my lips before I could stop it: it was his wallet.
'I see you recognize this,' Jett growled, his menacing face inches from mine as he flipped it open. The family photo stared back at me, as if it taunted me for doing such a lousy job of putting it back in.
After having made the decision to not take any of Jett's items I had become paranoid. I thought I had heard footsteps and proceeded by stuffing the items I had found back into their original places. The photo had become slightly crooked and was definitely not in its original state.
'I have a problem,' I murmured, ready to tell him about my mothers necklace. It was weird that out of all people I found that Jett was the person I could trust the most.
There was just something about his straight forward behavior that made him more believable to me than the sickeningly sweet attitude of the others.
Maybe the world had made me bitter and I couldn't believe there were nice people in the world anymore.
Jett interrupted my cynical thoughts, 'You do, I didn't think you'd resort to being a terrible kleptomaniac in such a short period of time,' he mused, grey eyes boring into mine.
'No, you asshole,' I growled, watching his eyes narrow, 'I'm talking about a problem that we both have'.
'Last time I checked I don't go around snooping in your things,' he snapped back, 'In fact-'
'For God sakes, let me talk,' I growled, interrupting him, 'This!'
I whipped out my mothers necklace that I had put on my neck before I left my room. Jett cocked an eyebrow, 'Stole that too?'
'It was my mothers,' I ground out watched his eyebrows arch. In a moment I had grabbed his wallet and I held it up next to the necklace watching his eyes dart back and forth before he looked at me once more, 'What the actual-'
'Uncle Edmund gave it to me when we first had dinner together,' I explained, watching as Jett held up the necklace in his fingers – the pendant dangling back and forth in front of those penetrating grey eyes, 'He said it was my mothers'.
'How did he get hold of this?' Jett questioned.
'He said my mother left it before she moved to Caleburg,' I answered, taking it when he handed it to me, 'He said she didn't want anything to do with the mythical world'.
Jett raised a brow as he leaned back, elbows against the counter as he took a bite from his apple, 'It looks the same as Daniels'.
'What does this even mean?' I whispered, 'Do you have any idea where Daniels is?'
Jett shook his head, 'My memories of Daniel are pretty vague in some spaces... Especially on the night of his murder'.
The last word lingered in the air and I shrunk together despite the warmth of the kitchen, 'I thought it was an accident'.
Jett looked away, 'I killed him'.
'What?' I mouthed, making near to no voice, 'What do you mean?'
Jett looked at me, his grey eyes for once portraying regret instead of haughtiness, 'It was my fault Daniel died'.
'H-How?' I stammered.
Jett looked away, staring at the stove before he sighed, 'I don't like talking about it'.
I winced, realising that my question had been quite insensitive, 'I'm sorry'.
'Either way,' he sighed, 'what else did Edmund tell you?'
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'Where are we going?' I growled out as Jett pulled me into a familiar alleyway, 'I'm not very keen on risking missing another day of school to go partying with you'.
'We're not partying,' he muttered, leading me down the same stairs Nathaniel had taken me down on the day we bought my school supplies.
'Why're we going to the market?' I asked, watching Jett open the door of the market before ushering me through.
The place was deserted since it was early for most mythical beings. The shops were in the midst of being set up as Jett led me to the fancy part of Elixir Lounge.
'It's too early for Roran to stand guard at the club entrance,' Jett replied, 'and we're not looking for them'.
'Who are we looking for then?'
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'Jethriel Lionfield,' the woman behind the table rose, she was beautiful.
With black hair and luminous green eyes, the woman looked like a porcelain doll. Her shoulders were draped in purple silk, covering most of her body in a elegant draping yet exposing enough flesh to let one know that what was to be found under the silk would be just as perfect as they would assume.
'Lady Eluen,' Jett greeted back, bowing at his waist before kissing the back of the hand the woman offered. She was quite petite and he had to bend quite far.
I couldn't disguise the shock on my face, I'd never seen Jett act like a gentleman before - without the pushing of uncle Edmund or Nathaniel.
The woman's eyes flickered to my face and by the soft gasp that left her lips I knew that she recognised me even though I had never seen her before.
'Nice to meet you,' I managed, stepping forward at Jett's searing stare that he cast past his shoulder. I held out my hand, assuming that there would be no need for me to kiss hers as Jett had done, 'I'm Keira van der Laine'.
'I know,' Lady Eluen murmured back as she looked at my hand before wrapping her thin arms around me. Caught in her tiny embrace, my eyes widened and I shared a shocked look with Jethriel who looked just as surprised as I was, 'I haven't seen you for so long!'
'Have we met before?' I managed as she pulled away from me and gestured for us to seat ourselves upon the chairs in her office.
'Oh yes,' the Lady answered, seating herself back into her seat before she looked at the both of us, 'Ryane was a good friend of mine, she took you to me when you were but five'.
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After tea had been brought, something that smelled delicious and had a rose colour to it, Lady Eluen had smiled at the both of us before saying, 'Now, what is it that you wish for me to do?'
Jett cleared his throat suddenly, drawing both our gazes before he said, 'I have had an off feeling about something lately... and I was hoping you could help me'.
One of Eluen's groomed dark eyebrows arose and I watched her slim fingers wrap around her cup before bringing it up to her lips, 'I'm going to assume you wish for this to stay between the three of us?'
Jett nodded before casting a worried glance my way, 'It's something concerning my brother'.
At this Eluen's luminous green eyes turned darker and I watched her place her tea cup back down with obvious distress, 'It has been a long time since you brought Daniel up to me'.
I watched Jett gulp, his fingers were also knotted in his lap; the first time I'd seen him act his age around an adult. Not that Eluen looked anywhere near old, in fact, she looked as if she were younger than him, 'I'd like you to take a look at this and tell me what it is'.
In a fluid movement, the black and white photograph was laid onto the neat table of the woman and Jett jerked his chin at me. It took me a moment to remove the crystal necklace from my neck but then that too was laid upon the desk.
Lady Eluen's eyes narrowed but she leaned forward and for a moment surveyed the two objects before her eyes widened and then closed, 'I see'.
'What do you see?' I managed, speaking for the first time, 'The necklace belonged to my mother'.
'No, it didn't,' she smiled, though I could see that it was a fragile thing and took a lot of effort to muster, 'I gave two, one to her and one to another'.
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For a while, the room was silent except for the soft sound of the toys in Eluen's room. They decorated her bookshelves and whirred with their own being, I was thankful to them for they filled up the sudden shocked silence that threatened to overflow me.
'W-What?' I managed to stammer, 'Y-You what?'
Eluen smiled before clearing her throat, 'I'll start from the beginning then'. I watched the doll-like persona sigh softly before she picked up the necklace that was laying upon her desk. Looking at it a sweet but bitter smile appeared upon her lips and she began, 'Ryane came to Metaine so many years ago, six years after she'd moved from Caleburg. One of the Lionfield children had fallen ill,' with a soft inclination of her head towards Jett she said, 'it was Daniel. That child always had a weak body and the Lionfields were desperate. At the time, he was their eldest son and the successor to the Head of the Elrioud. Ryane showed up, taking you with her,' Eluen directed towards me, 'to the Lionfield Estate. After curing Daniel, Lorraine Lionfield had begged her to stay and to take on the duty as the Lionfield doctor. Her son was not yet stable and their family was too important to the mythical community to push out such a weak heir. Despite her desperate calls, Ryane insisted in moving back to Caleburg, insisted that she did not want anything to do with mythical beings ever again. Something made her change her mind and she came here,' Eluen sighed once more before holding up the necklace to us both, 'This is called a Sanafaté. It's a Latin abbreviation for heal; sanabit and fate; fatum. Your mother's,' she whispered, 'was called Sana. The other necklace,' she nodded towards the picture, 'was called Faté and belonged to the Lionfield family. It's the one that you've given me. These are communication devices to the wearers, alarming one of the danger of the other. It was used in the old times to alert the personal doctors of their patients need for them. Yet because of their side effect, they were cast aside'.
'What side effect?' Jett whispered, asking the question I wished to voice but my mouth felt too dry.
Eluen breathed in deep, 'It makes the wearer's very vulnerable, to ensure that the patient doesn't die before their arrival. The necklace will drain energy from one of them to sustain the other's life. As so it happened that people used to use it as a torture device, it wasn't a good way of working. I had warned both families but the Lionfields were only grateful,' she looked shortly at Jet before at me, 'and the van der Laine's were convinced that no danger was to be found in Caleburg'.
'I-I don't understand. Why would mom leave me Daniel's necklace? What-,' I managed to stammer, feeling that the world which in I had been dropped seemed to go even deeper than I thought it would.
Eluen smiled sadly at me, 'That I do not know but Ryane also told me to do something else when she took you here'. At my shocked look she gulped, 'She told me to take away your ability to See'.
'See?' I whispered, sharing shocked looks with Jett who only frowned at me.
'Yes,' Eluen put down Faté softly, 'your ability to see the mythical world as it is. She wanted you to grow up without the dangers of the mythical world and had me blind you in order to give you a normal life. If you wish, I will lift the spell and have you remember all that you've forgotten'.
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After being instructed to lie upon the soft carpet by the small fireplace Eluen had in her office. Jett was instructed to hold me down as Eluen bent over me, 'Don't worry, it won't hurt'.
Cloth was bound over my eyes and I was swept into darkness and then the chanting begun.
Lady Eluen's voice was like a brook, that quickly flowed into a river, and then a lake, and then a small sea before joining the vast ocean. The enchanting words were of a language I did not understand but even so I knew that the words were old, so old I would never know their meaning.
Slowly, as if fragments of my cloudy mind were taken away with the force of the water she created, I began to see for the first time what my life had been.
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'Oh, Keira,' mother sighed, picking me up from the grass as my small hands stretched towards a daisy. There was a small creature perched on top of it with small dragonfly wings and a scrunched up face. It was naked and obviously a girl but as small as one's palm. It watched me as I got up and flew up, quickly joined by some of its friends.
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Mother chanting in the garden when my nose was pressed against the window. The clouds covered the moon and I watched tall dark creatures skulk around the woods of the house before dad pulled me away and lulled me to sleep.
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The woman in the bus who had lost half her face. She had mushrooms growing from her neck and her feet were alike bark. She had stared at me with one yellow eye before mother turned me away and silenced my crying with an ice-cream cone. We stepped out of the bus at the nearest stop and took a taxi instead.
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Me crying when something slimy and dirty had me in its arms. Mom screaming in the background before it evaporated and I fell onto the ground - the first time I'd fractured a bone.
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'Remember your manners now, Keira dear,' she murmured to me, kissing my forehead as she tightened my pigtails.
I had clutched my teddy closer to my overalls and nodded before she pulled me out of the taxi and we walked up white marble stairs until we came to a grand wooden door. Golden lion heads acted as door handles and the rope that was attached to the bell was golden and seemed to be a lion's tail.
Mother pulled it and a loud echoing noise swept through the building before a couple had opened it. A man and a woman with dark hair, their eyes silver and blue. They had smiled at me, ruffling my hair but the woman had seemed sad. Her eyes were red as if she had cried and then I was led off by a maid who promised me sweets.
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'Who are you?' a boy sneered, his arms crossed as he lounged upon a chair thrice as big as himself. He looked to be about eight or nine with dark messy hair and eyes so silver that they bore into my soul.
I dropped the lolly the maid had given me as he jumped from the chair and strode towards me, his clothing so much more formal than me that I wiped a dirty hand along my worn overalls, 'Keira'.
He wrinkled his nose before putting his hands behind his back, looking me up and down, 'You will be good'.
I frowned at him before bending back down to pick up the train I had been playing with.
'You shouldn't play with that,' he continued, taking it from me, 'A real lady drinks tea and learns to dance'.
'I am not a lady,' I countered, making a grab for the train but he smirked and held it away from me.
'You have to be if you marry me'
I watched his smug face before sticking my tongue out, 'Who'd want to marry you?'
The boy's face reddened before he threw the train down, 'You have to! I chose you as my bride!'
'I'm going to tell mama!' I shouted before running out of the playroom with the boy upon my heels.
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'Don't cry,' I whispered, patting the weird boy's hair as he crouched on the grass, sobbing.
'I'm not crying,' he hissed, looking at me with snot running down his nose, his grey eyes shining with tears.
'Yes, you are,' I insisted, shrinking away as I eyed the snot.
'No, I'm not,' he growled, staring morosely back at the rose bush we were hiding behind.
'Why are you crying?'
The boy stayed silent for a while before saying, 'My brother's going to die'.
'Mama says nobody dies,' I nodded wisely, 'She says everybody lives forever'.
The boy snorted, 'Your mother doesn't want to help my brother, so, he's going to die'.
'That's not true!' I shouted, jumping up as I looked down angrily at the older boy.
He turned away from me and I huffed before running back to the grand white house, to find my mother and tell her that she couldn't let the brother die.
A/N: I hoped you liked it! Please vote and comment if you did! ♥