One minute, Celeste and her brother and cousins were in her New York apartment, stepping over bloody shards of glass and stew that had been upturned on the floor, and the next they were all gathering in Blackthorn Hall’s Lounge — Ari, herself, Oberon, Luc, Eleanor and Livia — to try and puzzle together what was happening. Where all of their parents had gone. There were so many people hurrying about the room, gathering chairs and paper and pens, that Celeste felt quite overwhelmed. But at the same time, it all felt distant. Like it was all happening at a distance: like Celeste was in the eye of a storm that was raging on around her. She could see and feel the tension of her cousins and brother around her like it was electricity sizzling and crackling in the air between them all, but it felt very far away at the same time. She couldn't see the situation in front of her, not right now.
Her mind was still back at the apartment. She couldn't stop seeing horrid images of what could have happened to her parents. Bloody images of her parents hurt and burnt and bruised, being dragged away by whoever had taken them. The images had been made only worse when an acorn had dropped into her hands upon their arrival in London: a letter from the Courts. Celeste had opened it frantically, with fierce hope that it was her father, King Kieran, but found to her own despair that it was not him. It was General Winter. She had skimmed the letter with shaking hands.
"Young Mistress Celeste,
We hate to bombard you with such letters at this hour, but we demand that you return your Father King Kieran to the Courts at once. He has been absent for some time and did not announce his departure nor a time for his return. The court is growing quite unsettled. I, General Winter, understand how scarce and precious your time with King Kieran is. But unfortunately his priorities must lie with the Court, lest it falls into disarray. A message in response announcing when we should expect the King's return would be appreciated at large.
Yours, on behalf of the Unseelie Court,
General Winter.”
Whoever was targeting them had gone so far as to take her Father — the King of the Unseelie Court — and leave an entire kingdom without a leader. And now Celeste was expected to clean up the pieces, being the "only biological child" of the King.
No, Celeste wasn't in the eye of a storm. She was in the eye of a tornado, and the world was spinning frantically around her, too quickly for her to keep up with. Everything was spinning, spinning quickly and violently — so violently that her stomach heaved. Celeste hardly recalled staggering to the nearest window and shoving it open. She was only faintly aware of her family calling her name as she knelt on the window seat, gripping the windowsil, and leant outside into the open air. She inhaled deeply through her nose, despite the tightness of her throat, and took in the smell of dirt and trees and rain on the wind as it caressed her face. She let it anchor her to her senses. She swallowed bile, grimacing at the taste of it on the back of her tongue.
Celeste felt a solid hand come down on the centre of her back, gently, bracing her. "Celly.” It was Arrius, her older brother. Her shoulders tensed are the sound of his voice, but Ari didn't move away. Some distant part of Celeste was grateful for that. He drew gentle circles on her back, a soothing sensation. "Los vamos a encontrar. lo prometo."
It was something the two of them had learnt from their Mother: to speak Spanish. Arrius often only spoke like that when he was trying to comfort her, because he knew she didn't like being made a fuss out of.
It only really worked when the people around them didn't speak the language— which included now. "I know we'll find them," Celeste murmured, looking over her shoulder at her brother. Arrius's expression was soft — concerned, but soft. He leant forward to listen to her, his eyelids fluttering slightly closed as the outside breeze brushed across his cheeks. Despite her mood, Celeste couldn't help but smile a bit to herself. The two of them were always more content in nature, with the wind on their faces and the sun on their skin. "But," Celeste went on, her brief moment of tenderness dissolving in despair. She leant her shoulder against Ari's. "What if we don't find them in the way we want to?”
"We can't afford to think like that. None of us can. But, as long as we work fast, we should get them back before any more tragedy can happen," Ari pat Celeste's back once more, and his hand remained there — a steadying weight — for a moment. When Celeste nodded her head once, he stepped back, dropping his hand. She clambered back from the window, but left it open, so the breeze blew through the room lightly as they worked. She swung her legs over the edge of the window seat, and tipped her head back to really look at her brother.
She watched as he glanced over at the others, who were in hushed conversation over the table, and saw his face tighten as his eyes flickered to each face at the table. For a single, agonising moment, Celeste could see what their mother meant when she said Arrius sometimes looked uncannily like their Dad, Mark. The thought made her throat ache again, so she turned her attention to her cousins. Luc, white hair tousled as though he'd scrubbed his hands through it, was jotting down notes on a piece of paper, and Eleanor was looking over his shoulder, pointing and murmuring as well. Or she had been, until she looked up and met Celeste's gaze. Ellie offered her a comforting smile, and took their moment of eye contact as an invitation to come over. She crouched down in front of Celeste and took her hands gently.
"I'm just as scared as you are right now," she said quietly, her blonde ponytail falling over her shoulder as she tipped her head to the side. “We all are, I think. But really, you don't have to worry about what we're going to think if you show that you're not okay. If it's any consolation, I threw up on our way here, but LJ didn't judge me for it."
“Gross, Ellie," Ari simply said, crossing his arms.
Eleanor pulled a face at him.
Celeste smiled at Eleanor, but she didn't really feel it. Ellies smile didn't seem to reach her eyes, either, but Celeste couldn't blame her. They all had to hold each other up right now: they couldn't expect just one person to hold the fort in this mess. Still, she appreciated both Ari and Eleanor's efforts to try and cheer her up.
“Thank you, Eleanor," she whispered, squeezing Ellie’s hands.
“Guys!" The library erupted with sound as Oberon rose from a crouch by a window just down from where Ari and Celeste were. His wings — large and black, like his father's — ruffled apprehensively as he lifted an acorn into the light. "It’s a letter from Faerie.”
LJ joined Celeste as she hurried over to Oberon. "You said you got a message from Faerie before, right? Asking about Uncle Kieran. Maybe this is a letter saying they found him? Or he came back?"
"Doubtful," Celeste looked at LJ with what she hoped was mild disappointment — only a fraction of the pain she really felt. "It's probably only General Winter again, demanding that my Father returns to the court." LJ looked a bit disheartened, and Celeste simply shared her grim look, before looking back at Oberon—
Who was reading the message. Celeste was about to protest, say that it could be confidential business of the Unseelie Court, but stopped short when Oberon lifted his head and frowned at her, at all of them.
“It’s not," he said. "General Winter. It isn't him."
"Well, who is it then?" Celeste demanded through her teeth. Her heart was pounding. Could LJ be right? What if it was her Father? Hope ignited Celeste's soul as she reached out to take the letter from him. Oberon turned, lifting the message out of Celeste's reach.
"Oberon, I swear on the Angel—“
"It's from the Seelie Queen," he said quietly as they all surrounded him. Luc had come to stand by his twin brother's shoulder, and was wearing an identical frown. It would have been funny if not for the tension of the situation.
"The Seelie Queen?" LJ did not sound pleased. "What could she have to do with any of this?"
Celeste's gaze shifted out of focus as her mind whirred. Suddenly everything began to make sense, like two puzzle pieces clicking together in her mind. She drew in a gasp, covering her mouth with her hand. Judging by the dawning look on Eleanor's face, and the way Arrius, beside her, had touched her shoulder, they, too, had come to the same conclusion as Celeste had.
“A lot," Oberon spoke the exact revelation that had crossed Celeste's mind. "Because she's the one who took our parents.”
~~~~~
@tsc-reader
**Note from the Author: Please keep in mind that these early chapters are from over 2 years ago, and have been left unedited/revised for authenticity purposes (save for one continuity error in this chapter that I fixed up.) the length and quality of the writing in these chapters will continue to improve from here as we get more settled in with the narrative. Enjoy!***
