#bronwen traver

[nappe-plays-the-sims]

Happy Halloween!

I'm a little early, but since Simblreen is right around the corner, why not?

@luverofralts makes the cutest sims. And of course, my game being how it is, ACR runs wild and makes additional adorable kids for said sims.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"We really need to bring this cottage into the new era. We don't need pictures of war criminals on our walls for 'history's' sake. Respect the past, but focus on the future. Yes. Yes, I like that. When I get a free moment, I'll mention it to the palace art team."

Maura murmured to herself as her eyes took in everything in the cottage that she wanted to change. It was her reign, and the cottage should reflect that. While she did love the historical photos and would probably face an intense battle to move them with her relatives, times had changed. Photos of King Ben, the national hero who had saved the islands from Pleasantview, but had murdered several of his children as well as some of their spouses, the Red Queen, who had no business being on any wall because of her crimes, and Queen Celeste, who tried to overthrow the grim reaper while enslaving her zombified mother, disgraced the warm feeling Maura wanted the Siew family cottage to have. Maybe if she put all their pictures upstairs in what had once been King Ben's office, she could balance honouring the past while still creating a better future.

"I can shove that picture in my attic if you'd like. You're glaring at it like it kicked a puppy."

Maura turned to see her cousin Claudia walking up to her, her usual confident smirk on full display.

"You're welcome to it," Maura offered, smiling despite her frustration. Claudia often had that effect on her. "I'm making a list of photos that may need to be retired."

Claudia scoffed.

"Just imagine living with the portraits of terrible people whose blood runs in my veins every single day. Pleasantview would fall before it gave up worshipping the ghosts of its past."

"Well, I guess you don't have to worry about being lost to history someday," Maura teased. "Give it a century or two and you'll probably be promoted to a demi god."

"I would make an excellent demi god," Claudia agreed. "But you can't be inventorying every picture here. Some of our relatives were good people. Not many, but some. Besides, don't you have a royal archivist? I just email mine and the pictures are rotated within a day. They deal with all the safety procedures needed to store the pictures for the next hundred years and I get something new to look at. I know this cottage is for all Siews, but the monarch of Twikkii Island owns it, so it should fall within your archivist's obligations."

"I'd prefer to deal with them myself. They can store them for me, but I'll be making the choices of which picture to display. It's probably the thing I like most about this job. If my mother had lived, I'd imagine that I might have been a royal curator for her. There'd be more pictures of Trent and Callista than I'd like, but no job is perfect."

"Very noble of you," Claudia remarked dryly. "They are your half-siblings, I'd imagine your mother would want pictures of them around. Honestly, with your complexion, jealousy's not flattering. You're the queen, and Trent is an orphan. Have some compassion for your little brother or are you getting rid of those pictures because the people in them are starting to look just like you?"

"Not all of us come from the two happiest dead people in existence. I'm an orphan too. My father was murdered by my grandmother. Mom shouldn't have remarried. She just forgot about him, like he didn't even exist."

Claudia raised a skeptical eyebrow, baffled at her cousin's behavior.

"Are you okay? Usually your daddy issues aren't this obvious. Added to a pregnancy that is obviously not your wife's, you're starting to look a little unhinged. Is something happening? I can help, unless you've got some insane grudge against me too."

"It's nothing," Maura snapped, turning away from her cousin. "It's just pregnancy hormones. Everything is great. I love my life. Everyone is jealous of my good fortune, so I should love my life. And I do."

"You could always step down if you hate your life," Claudia teased. "I'd be happy to claim my inheritance from my mother and add Twikkii Island to my realm."

Maura shot Claudia a nasty look, but after a moment to think, the nastiness faded into a weak smile.

"Do you have days like this? Days when you just want to fake your death and flee somewhere you've never been? That makes me a bad person, right? I feel like a bad person."

Claudia wrapped her cousin in bone crushing hug.

"All the time. I think about what my life would have been if Dad had never found out his true parentage. Would I be happier? What job would I have? It's only natural when you're in a position like ours. It doesn't make you a bad person to have doubts about your life. It makes you human. Look, why don't you come visit me more? Or I can stop by your place and we can go to that wonderful spa we went to before your wedding. You need someone to talk to, and I'm probably the only one who understands what you're feeling. Unless you want to ask the old, boring kings of Strangetown or Crystal Cove."

Maura laughed, despite her mood. Claudia always had been good at getting under her skin.

"Okay. I promise to spend more time with you to stop from being a complete bitch all the time. Ulyssa would probably love to have me out of the palace for an afternoon anyway. For now, help me log which paintings I should store. You know our history probably better than even I do."

Claudia craned her neck, looking for a certain portrait that had always creeped her out.

"I'd vote for that one," she said, pointing across the room. "Every time I'm here, one of the dogs is always barking at it. It has to be cursed or something. Something is off about it."

"Ah. You have a good eye. It creeps me out too. It's King Ben, after all. The man was a monster. No wonder the dogs can sense his evil."

"Oh, there's a million pictures of him all around this place," Claudia scoffed. "He was a fine king. He saved your country from becoming a part of mine under my psychotic grandfather. The heroism and the murders kinda cancel each other out, I think. No, he's not the problem. She is."

"Who? Is that his cousin or something? The names aren't engraved on the frame."

"His sister, Winter," Claudia replied. "She was a hell of a witch. I have some of her books in my library. Talented, but like you, a little unhinged."

"Ha, ha. I'll add it to the list."

"Are we supposed to be doing something? I feel like we should be doing something."

Adam looked nervously around the cottage, looking for guidance. It wasn't often that they were invited to the Siew cottage and just standing in it made Adam paranoid that he might accidentally break something expensive. He'd been there before, of course, but he never truly felt welcome.

The Siew family was gathered for a family barbecue, and even those at the far ends of the family tree were invited to celebrate. Adam and Remy got their invitation because their half-siblings were Siews. Elowen and Bronwen weren't just going to leave Adam and Remy out of a royal feast just because only their mother had married into the Siew family.

"Don't start cleaning something just because we don't have titles," Remy groaned. "We're invited guests, not the help. We're not doing anything to set up. Period. Our earned coven titles are more than good enough."

"Apprentice is a better title than princess or Duke?"

Remy punched her twin on the arm.

"Yes. Yes, it is. Now let's go find our sisters. They probably know where the booze is."

"Dad! You made it! I thought you, Dad, and Vrai were going away this weekend."

Ewan Traver embraced his father, Travis Traver, surprised at his presence. Ewan had inherited the title Travis had never wanted, and took care of the Goldman estate and all the responsibilities that went with it. His father, despite being born in Twikkii Island to two of its citizens, disliked spending any time on the island. He had been raised in Pleasantview and Crystal Cove. However tropical the island was, it held no allure for Travis, so his presence there was somewhat surprising.

"Your father and Vrai went ahead. I might join them later, but I wanted to be here. The anniversary is coming up and it's good to be with family. This was where she grew up. I wanted to see it the way she once did."

Ewan paused, unsure of what to say. His Aunt Celeste, better known as Queen Celeste of Crystal Cove, had practically raised his father after their father died giving birth to their half-brother, Ewan, and their mothers were murdered. The two siblings had been unsettlingly close until Celeste's death, due to the stranglehold she had on Travis' life. She blocked his mother's family from contacting him and insisted that he name his oldest son after their father. Aside from eloping with Ewan's father, Leonid, Travis' entire life had been carefully planned by his controlling sister. But Celeste had been gone for over a decade now and Travis was free to chart his own path forward. He hadn't recognized Celeste in the year or so proceeding her death, and he couldn't forgive her for telling his biological family that he didn't want anything to do with them. Or co-running a cult obsessed with killing the Grim Reaper. Or naming the child she created to sacrifice after him. Or murdering their half-brother, Ewan, as a child.

There were many things Travis hated about his sister, but every year near the anniversary of her death, he spent time in Twikkii Island, trying to understand the little girl who had been born there and where she had gone so wrong. He hadn't had any insight on how to forgive her yet, but every year, he was hopeful.

"So, are you going to help plan the memorial ball this year? Edana has been pretty busy and I've got some of the vendors lined up, but I could use some help."

Travis smiled tightly. The queen had provided a grant to the Goldman estate to celebrate Travis' parents after it had been revealed that their deaths were caused both directly and indirectly by the crown. Unhappily, the deaths of his parents and the death of his sister fell within the same month, so every time he left to grieve for his sister, he was expected to also celebrate the lives of the parents he'd never known. The anniversary of the day that his daughter, Tristianne, had been taken from him was only a few months later. It seemed fitting that he was in a polycule with the Grim Reaper; death seemed to follow him wherever he went.

"We'll see," he said at last. "The hospital still might call me in for a few consults. A retired doctor still has his obligations to old colleagues."

Ewan mirrored his father's tight smile. That was a no. It would hurt less if his father would just tell him upfront that he wanted nothing to do with whatever Ewan or the queen planned. It would be far more honest.

"Sure, just let me know your schedule when you can. No worries if you're busy."

"Isn't there supposed to be food at a barbecue? I'm starving."

Elowen set up the pool table while Victoriana waited.

"The food won't be ready for another hour at least. Mom said we have to wait for Grandma and Grandpa to come and they're at work. Grandpa refuses to let someone else touch the barbecue when it's his 'passion'. They'll be here soon enough though."

"Very soon," Adrienne agreed. She was too young to play pool, but she enjoyed watching the game. It was the closest she got to socializing with her extended family.

"Fine, I guess I can wait. There were chips in the kitchen though, right? We could steal some of those."

"Do you like my dress? I got it last weekend in the Pleasantview mall. It was on sale and I couldn't possibly say no to it."

Bronwen spun around dramatically to show off her dress to Fiolett. The younger girl clapped enthusiastically, wishing that she had a dress that pretty. She had a lot of dresses, sure, but they were all picked out by her dads. Fiolett couldn't wait until she was a teen and could pick out dresses for herself. That was a long way off though, so she admired other people's dresses for now.

"Be sure to congratulate Roman and Abe for me. That's wonderful that they renewed their vows. If I could find it in myself to forgive Trent if he cheated on me, I'd want to renew our vows too. It's a fresh start. Good for them."

"It's not entirely like that, it's...." Adrian trailed off, trying to find the words to explain a demon wedding. Truthfully, he wasn't entirely sure himself what Abe and Roman had volunteered for, but he didn't want Cindra to know that. "Well, maybe it is a bit of a vow renewal. Theo officiated it, so I guess it's like a magical, demonic vow renewal. You couldn't talk me into one."

"That would mean walking down the aisle again," Cindra teased. "We all know you're terrified of weddings. Otherwise, Evren would have a ring on his finger by now. Are you ever going to make an honest man out of him?"

Adrian frowned, not liking the direction their conversation had turned.

"Maybe. Not that it's any of your or Trent's business. It would make the legal process of passing my title to my legitimate daughter from another marriage harder. It's just easier this way."

"It does not," Cindra laughed. "Everyone knows that Luciana is going to become a duchess one day, the queen more than anyone. She'd have the legalities all sorted out in an afternoon. You're just chicken."

"I am not! Evren doesn't want to get married either."

"That's not what Trent said after he went bowling with Evren last week. Evren told him that he's just waiting for you to make a move. You'd say no if he proposed, so he's waiting for you to do it."

"He would never say something like that to my cousin," Adrian insisted. "You're just hoping to plan another wedding, no matter who it's for."

"Who can blame me for wanting to celebrate love? Planning my own wedding went amazingly and I want to plan another one!"

"Wasn't your little sister, Lauren, around here somewhere? Plan her wedding!"

Travis Maricourt was as far as he could get from the noisy group of people as he could be. His parents weren't coming until later, so most of the afternoon was his to sneak off and enjoy. Claudia wouldn't force him to socialize and Oliver hadn't bothered to leave college for a family event since their mother's birthday. Their father's birthday was coming up, and that was probably the last Travis would see of Oliver until the next family birthday. Travis couldn't wait to start college and finally get some time to himself without his parents "encouraging" him to talk to people he had no interest in talking to.

He didn't trust his annoying relatives not to read his journal if he brought it with him, so instead, Travis brought his magical theory workbook. Theory didn't feel like homework to him, like it did to his classmates. It was fascinating to map out the bones that held up the living world, to see how the pieces of an existential puzzle clicked together. His parents talked a lot about how the worlds of life and death overlapped, and Travis simply had to know how it all worked. Not that he would change existence or anything if he learned how. He just had so many questions.

"You were right."

"I usually am. Today, I wish I wasn't, though. I don't know what this means. There's definitely a current running through here, but why?"

Izanami bowed his head, contemplating the situation.

"I don't like this," he finally decided. "This feeling...it feels old. Demonic, probably."

"It feels like it did over a decade ago," Lukas insisted. "Like when Leo was attacked...but also different. There's this sense of...nothingness. Can you feel it too?"

Izanami nodded his agreement.

"I'll contact Gee and let him know how he should do my job. You can't intervene here."

"I know that. I'll go to the school and make sure that the children are safe. I'm not taking any chances with their safety. But this will probably blow over and be fine, right? Oh! Arterius! Call him and tell him to meet me at the school. Just because he's an adult doesn't mean he's exempt from family meetings."

"Of course, dearest. I'll join you in a moment."

Lukas vanished into a shower of sparkling light. As soon as they were out of sight, Izanami closed his eyes and tried to listen to the hum of existence. Screams echoed over loud waves crashing against jagged rocks. A hurricane roared as it churned into existence. A royal ship cracked in two as it sank beneath the wild waves.

Lukas lifelessly lying encased in a glass tomb. A howl of wind that swept away the souls of the dead. The cold truth that sometimes even the dead could die.

It had all happened before, and now it was happening again despite Izanami's best efforts. A shiver ran down his spine as he felt several names engrave themselves on the list in his son's office. The deaths had been finalized. There was no hope of changing them now. It was beginning.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

"I was going to," Remy said defensively. "Then no one would tell me where to find a Genie lamp or a Resurrect-O-Nomitron, so I had to hit the books and find my own way."

"You didn't take that as a sign from the universe that it was a bad idea?"

"Well, I promised her I would do it-"

"So you were being a good, loyal friend keeping her promise," Bronwen said, trying to hold back a laugh.

Remy rolled her eyes. "Perhaps I had some additional motives about wanting to experiment with demon magic."

Bronwen shook her head. "I don't know what to tell you, Remy."

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Look, Adam, we need to talk about the other night. I've had some time to think about it, and I don't think that we're good for each other anymore. Everyone I talk to thinks that we're toxic together."

"Wait, what?"

Adam Darktide stared in shock at his apparently ex-boyfriend. Theo had gone home for the weekend and ignored all of Adam's messages, leaving Adam with an idea of how angry Theo was at him. But breaking up with him?

"It was just a stupid kiss," Adam insisted. "You kissed my brother. I think that's worse than kissing a friend."

"See, this is why people think we're toxic," Theo snapped, making Adam flinch. "I can't just compare two actions and decide which is worse for the rest of my life. It doesn't matter if kissing your brother is worse than you kissing a friend, they're both bad! I don't want to have to justify you cheating on me because I did something you think is worse. You cheated on me, Adam! On purpose and with someone I know you're attracted to. You want let me even touch your hand, but you'll kiss someone else in front of me? I'm tired of this."

"This is just a mistake," Adam pleaded, suddenly realizing how serious this conversation was. "Look, I'll try to be more open about physical contact, and I'll never speak to Josh again if you want. We're supposed to be a team, remember?"

Theo scoffed at the idea.

"We're not a team though, Adam. Teammates work together through problems, while you just keep pulling away from me, no matter what I do. I'm done with this. We're over."

Theo made a stern face, one that he'd been practicing all weekend. Rien thought it was acceptable, though it could use some work.

"But we're tied together," Adam tried. "Lukas bound our powers together. We need each other."

Theo rolled his eyes.

"Our powers are tied together," he replied angrily. "You ground my abilities and I give you access to some of my power as thanks. We can do that for years and be an ocean apart from each other if we have to. I don't need to talk to you for the magic to work."

"Theo, please, let me make it up to you," Adam pleaded. "I can't lose you. We're meant to be together, I know we are."

"Adam, my parents cheated on each other, my Aunt Ulyssa cheated on her wife, and I can't prove it, but I'm pretty sure my Aunt Lucy has cheated on her various partners too. There are too many cheaters in my life, and I'm not going to just stay and put up with someone who cheats on me. I'm better than that and I'm better than you. We're done."

Theo turned away from Adam, unable to witness the tears in Adam's eyes or his heartbroken expression. He needed to stand firm in this decision, or he'd just watch the same thing happen over and over. Adam could kiss other guys and whatever else he and Josh got up to, but he wouldn't be doing it while dating Theo.

Once Theo had left, Adam broke down crying. The last thing he needed was for Theo to see how upset he was. He wasn't sure which would hurt less: Theo's pity or his scorn.

It was a dark time for the Darktide twins. Remy had been dumped by Malika, and now Adam had been dumped by Theo, all because of a stupid dance. At least Remy seemed to be spending more time with Victoriana and was doing a terrible job of hiding her crush on the crown princess. Adam was just alone. Josh had been weird since the kiss and Despina had clearly taken Theo's side in the breakup. Every time he walked past his cousin, Despina looked like she was about to spit on him just for existing. Adam hadn't always been close to his cousin, but he thought that Despina would back him of his life imploded. Apparently, she was Team Theo.

"Thanks for the invite, Theo. I'm sad that you've broken up with Adam, but damn does your dad make a good cheesecake. He really made you a cake for breaking up with Adam?"

Bronwen wasn't always a fan of human food, but Roman's cooking was always appealing. Plasma was growing more important to her now that she was maturing, but you couldn't do much to spice it up when it got boring.

"He said it wasn't a celebration of our breaking up, but as a consolation for after. Like how people eat a tub of ice cream while watching sappy movies after a breakup."

Bronwen laughed at the thought of Theo's father not celebrating the removal of Adam from his son's life.

"You do know that that's a celebration cake, right?" she replied. "Your dad's probably drinking champagne at the moment. He hates anyone who gets involved with you or even flirts with you. The man's insane."

"Adam always said that my dad didn't know what he was talking about," Theo sobbed. His cheesecake sat untouched while his actions caught up with him. He was mad at Adam, and he was right to break up with a cheater who was afraid of being anywhere near him, but he had really just ended his first relationship. It was supposed to be his forever relationship and now that was gone. He wouldn't be marrying Adam in college, and he wouldn't be picking out baby names when they had their first kid. They were never going to buy a house together or travel the world like they'd planned. Whatever he had with Adam was gone. His well planned life was dead now.

"Hey, things will be okay," Bronwen promised. She smiled, thinking about all the times she'd fantasized about this day, when Theo and Adam broke up and Theo was lonely. Today, now that it had actually happened, Bronwen wasn't interested. Things with Davis had been going pretty well since the dance, and she was excited to get to know him better. They were technically dating but were taking things slow. Davis didn't want to rush into things until she for sure could handle his parents. Being the son of Life and Death was a lot to handle, and Davis didn't blame her if she couldn't deal with them. So far, she'd only met his parents once and that had gone okay. Death had tried to impress her with homemade blood pie that had appealed to neither her human or vampire tastes, while Life had largely ignored her in favour of mumbling to themselves and flipping through the pages of a heavy, leatherbound book. So overall, Bronwen counted that as a success.

"I'm sure you're right," Theo sighed. "Everyone keeps saying that it'll be okay, but none of this feels like it's okay. It feels empty and sad and hopeless. I know that he's upset too, and all I want to do is comfort him. Is that stupid?"

Bronwen shook her head slowly.

"Of course, it's not stupid," she assured her friend. "You haven't even told anyone but me about the break up. It's all still new."

"Well, actually, Despina was the first to know," Theo corrected her. "She all but forced me to break up with him and probably cast a hex or two just for fun."

"She sounds like a good friend to pick you over her cousin," Bronwen noted. "Is she interested in you?"

Theo paused, remembering all the times he'd picked up on a potential interest from Bronwen. Adam had said that it was nothing, but Adam wasn't around anymore to give him advice.

"I don't think Despina is interested in me," he offered. "She's got the future king of Strangetown following her around, so I doubt that she'd be interested in her cousin's ex. She's not really my type anyway."

"And your type is?"

Theo eyed his friend cautiously

"Well, not related to my ex, at least. I know Edana would probably murder me for even looking at Despina, despite how much of a bitch she is to her niece and nephew. They're all she has left of her demented brother, and she's not going to let me anywhere near them, even if I wanted to. Despina's nice, but only Adam was worth dealing with his mother to date. No offense, I know she's your stepmom."

"Yeah, that's fair. Elowen and Remy have millions of stories about Edana. She still doesn't know what to do with a half-vampire stepdaughter, but she tries her best, so I'm grateful for that. She's still unhinged about her brother though. My dad’s had to talk to her a million times about how creepy she is about him. She can't let go of the guilt of not saving him. It's sad, really, but I could picture feeling the same way if Elowen died in some cult I couldn't pull her from. We've been best friends since the day I was born. It's hard to break that bond."

Theo tried to think of a sibling that he would ruin the lives of innocent people with his grief over but came up empty. He'd be sad if any of his siblings died, especially Rien, who he probably knew the best, but Edana's grief consumed her like a poison. Theo knew that life had to be lived even with a broken heart, which was precisely the situation he was in now with Adam.

Speaking of Adam, Theo could hear the sound of a piano drifting from the music room. It had to be Adam playing it, as very few other students did, and the song being played was Adam's favourite to play. It was an old Tredony lullaby about the Pirate Queen, and it had been burned into Theo's mind by how often Adam played it. There was nothing more that Theo wanted than to run to Adam and wrap his arms around him until the sorrowful music stopped, but that couldn't happen. That wouldn't happen ever again, and Theo's heart broke again after realizing that.

"It's so hard not to just go comfort him," Theo said, trying to focus on the cake before him and not on Adam. "Do you think it gets easier?"

Bronwen shrugged.

"I haven't really dated someone before, and my dad had been married to Edana for most of my life, so I'm not sure. I guess so? Remy seems to be bouncing back from her breakup, so maybe you'll be the same. Maybe you just need to date someone new, and things with Adam will hurt less."

Theo nodded thoughtfully.

"You may have a point. I have a lot to bring to a relationship, and I don't need to worry about the feelings of a cheater, no matter how Adam is hurting. He did this to himself."

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

Queen Maura stared at the assembled crowd waiting for her to speak on the ground. She remembered watching her grandmother address the nation from the balcony on the highest floor of the palace. Queen Spencer had made it look impossibly easy, but then, she had spoken from there for decades. Maybe at some point, her grandmother had struggled with the task like Maura did. Probably not, but Maura could dream.

"Thank you all for coming to the Goldman Memorial Ball to honour two of our nation's greatest citizens, cruelly lost in the shadows of war. The current Duke and Duchess Goldman will be our hosts for the duration of the day, as we celebrate Prince Ewan Goldman and his posthumous Duchess, Elizabeth Traver in the place the prince spent much of his early years. Please welcome Duke Ewan and Duchess Edana."

Ewan and Edana were positioned at the entrance of the palace with a speech prepared to begin the festivities that would give Maura precious minutes to prepare herself for a day of maintaining the illusion that she was in any way prepared for this.

It was another royal event where hundreds of innocent people gathered, expecting Maura to guarantee their safety. She hadn't been prepared for a family barbecue that had ended the lives of two of her children; what possible guarantee could she give that their guests were safe today? Even worse, her surviving children would be milling around the room with these guests, in places she couldn't guarantee their constant protection.

She sighed heavily and took a reassuring breath in to steady her nerves. Her security was well trained and prepared for trouble. Claudia was bringing her own security and Roman's demon son as well, so there was even more protection against Maura’s mysterious enemies.

Mysterious and anonymous as an assassin. A trained assassin just like the man I thought I knew so much about. My dear old assassin father who faked his death to abandon me.

Maura shook her head vigorously, trying to free her mind of any thoughts about the past. This was the present and the future. Her life lay ahead of her, not in the pain of the past.

Maura descended down the stairs just in time to walk out with her wife, Ulyssa. Ulyssa had been just as much of a wreck as her wife all morning and the two women shared a miserable look before reaching the door.

"Please let this go smoothly today, without any bloodshed," Ulyssa whispered loudly, casting her eyes upward in case any deity could hear her plea. "Please. Please."

Maura couldn't have said it better herself.

"Welcome, Duke Goldman," Maura exclaimed loudly, holding her arms out to embrace Ewan. "The palace is yours for the remainder of the day. Do your ancestors proud."

"T-this isn't televised is it? Are millions of people going to see me dancing?"

Travis Goldman looked around anxiously looking for new crews and cameras, but he didn't see any. Just because he couldn't see them though, didn't mean they weren't there.

"No, this is just for the nobility," Claudia assured her little brother. "Some things need to stay out of the public eye, so we maintain a level of secrecy and interest. What people can't see for themselves drives speculation. Just like when Master Maricourt holds a coven meeting that apprentices aren't allowed in. It makes you curious, right?"

"That can't really be the reason for all this," Travis scoffed, making his sister laugh.

"No, not really," Claudia confessed, still laughing. "It's a memorial ball for the family and nobility, so it's supposed to look somber and respectful. The speeches will go to the media, but none of the dancing or fun. It's a good type of event for Maura to restart the royal schedule with after the palace mourning period. No cameras, a limited guest list, and all the security I could bring with me without causing a scene. This will be good for Maura."

"Being queen sounds complicated," Travis noted. "I'm glad that it's you on the throne and not me. When do you get time to read?"

Claudia tried to stifle her laughter as best as she could so she didn't interrupt Maura’s conversation nearby.

"That's a good question," she replied. "You and Ollie just enjoy your lives in the nobility, and I'll take care of the throne. Trust me, it has its benefits."

After several minutes of Maura speaking with the Goldman family, Claudia was allowed to greet her cousin.

"Hey. How are you holding up? Nothing bad will happen today. I promise you."

Maura hugged her cousin gratefully.

"You don't know how much that means to me," she said quietly. "Ulyssa and I have been losing our minds trying to get the kids ready while trying not to think of the worst case scenarios."

"That's understandable, but you have a limited guest list and both of our royal security teams. Plus, both Theo and Adam are in attendance, and trust me, those kids can pull off amazing things together. There's nothing to worry about."

Maura tried to smile, but she wasn't fooling the cousin who knew her better than anyone.

"Of course. Those are all perfectly logical reasons to believe there won't be any disturbances. Only...my children died at a barbecue with family only in our secure cottage. Nowhere is safe, Claudia. My mother died on our yacht while guarded. There's no reason why I should feel safe in my own home and you know it."

Claudia sighed. Maura had a point, but being paralyzed by fear was only going to lead her to the same path as Crystal Cove's ineffective king. There was no way that Claudia was going to let her cousin be ridiculed like King Liam.

"Just trust me on this one," she assured Maura. "This is going to be fine. If even the tiniest thing goes wrong, I'm prepared. Hellfire will rain down on anyone who poses a threat."

Instead of reassuring her, Maura’s anxiety doubled at these words.

"Not actual hellfire though, right? You're just using a metaphor and not telling me why you brought a teenage demon to my home to protect me...right? Claudia, this is my home, even if magic or whatever, thinks you have a better blood claim to it. You can't burn down this building that's stood for centuries just to protect one ball!"

Claudia waved away her cousin's concerns dismissively.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Nothing will happen, but if it does, then we're good."

Claudia could hear Maura start to stammer back a reply as she walked past the queen and into the castle. A devious smile graced her lips as her plan fell into place. Now Maura had something tangible to think of instead of worrying about assassins breaking through the windows. If assassins came, Claudia had security to deal with them, but how likely was that? No, now Maura wouldn't spend the day worrying about outside threats. Knowing Maura, she would now follow her cousin and Roman's fire prone son around, worrying about hellfire burning down her throne room instead of reliving the trauma of losing her children. Maura was lucky to have such a thoughtful friend. Besides, everyone knew that hellfire was cold and easily manipulated by magic. Even if Claudia had retained Theo's services for her defense, hellfire was the last thing Maura should be worried about.

Adam stared at the ballroom with an ever growing anxiety of his own. This would be the first time that he'd see Theo in months, and his heart still froze in his chest at the thought.

Theo would want to kiss him. He'd be physically touching Theo's skin again, just as he had before when touching Theo had nearly killed him.

But Theo was fixed now, or so he promised. A god had reassembled all the broken pieces of Theo's powers and he was safe to touch. Adam could close his eyes and still feel Theo's hand running across bare skin, sending shivers down his spine. Giving in would feel so good, but Adam couldn't. Something would go wrong. It always did, no matter how safe he felt. He loved Theo, but he couldn't deny how terrified he was to be standing near him again. It had just been Adam on his own for months now, recovering without Theo's help. Did they even still have things in common anymore? Adam knew that he'd changed since Theo left, and he didn't doubt that Theo had done the same.

"Look at Adam. He looks like he's about to have a stroke. We should get him a drink or something before he explodes and ruins the ball."

Bronwen stared at her stepbrother with concern, while Remy shrugged with indifference.

"He always looks like that," she remarked. "Theo's going to show up any minute and then he'll be fine. It's just nerves."

"Where's your date?" Bronwen asked, noticing that Adam wasn't the only Darktide looking anxious. "Did Malika stand you up?"

Remy scowled at the name.

"She had something come up," Remy replied, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice so that her stepsister wouldn't think that it bothered her. It didn't. At all. "It's for the best though. I didn't really like dancing with her much anyway."

Bronwen nodded, not willing to waste a perfectly good ball listening to her sister complain about her love life.

"Where's your date anyway?" Remy asked, hoping to deflect from her own problems. "Did your perfect demigod stand you up?"

Bronwen laughed happily, only deepening Remy's resentment.

"No, his mom dropped him off and security won't clear him while Life is around a secure royal property. He texted me saying that his dad was going to intervene and that he should just be a little late."

While the other Darktides were stressing about their own love lives, Elowen was pretty content with hers. Travis was dressed in his uniform, his hair brushed and not a book in sight. He was a perfect prince or Duke or whatever rank his sister would give him when he came of age. He held Elowen just the way she'd imagined he would while dancing, and he didn't miss a single step or step on her toes. No one thought of him being anywhere nearly as trained as his sister, but this dance revealed Travis' considerable skills. Clearly, he had been hiding his talent from the world.

"Well, Duchess Goldman, how is your ball so far? None of the kids are causing trouble, the queen looks like she's distracted, and everyone looks like they're having fun. I'd call this a success."

Ewan spun his wife around cheerfully, immensely glad that so far everything was going to plan.

"Yes, so far so good," Edana agreed. "I don't see Adam's demon anywhere. Maybe Her Majesty left him at home."

"You know that's only going to make Adam cling harder to him," Ewan chided gently. "You know, some of us dated people just to piss off our parents and when they didn't react, we moved on."

"Not me or my brother," Edana snapped. "I had respectful matches the coven approved of and Adam? He always brought home polite, beautiful witches. Which is why I just can't understand our children. Did you see who our daughter is dancing with? Travis Maricourt! His mothers were cruel, psychotic, evil-"

"Okay, how about you leave chaperoning the kids to me?" Ewan suggested, spinning his wife to distract her from Elowen's dance partner. "Travis Goldman is a perfectly nice boy. Do you really think one of the Goldman kids is going to do anything evil? You've met my aunt and uncle. Trust me, Travis is nothing to worry about. And as for your brother, I don't know why you can't see that he wasn't some saint. Obviously, he met his kids' mother somewhere, and she wasn't a 'polite' woman. If you ask me-"

Ewan wisely ended his thought before he could dig himself too deep. A dance floor wasn't the place to confront his wife's deep-seated brother issues. If he pushed too hard against the image of "poor Adam, lost saint corrupted by an evil woman" Edana was going to snap, just as she always did when her brother was mentioned. There were some days that Ewan wished that he could have met Adam before his death and punched the guy in the face.

"Yes, you're right," Edana conceded, though her eyes still burned with an indignate anger that Ewan knew all too well. "My brother was a bad person, how ever could I forget that? My son surely won't make the same mistakes and my daughter won't be tempted by the son of such powerful witches. Everything will be fine."

Ewan sighed, but tried to keep his expression neutral so that the queen didn't see his frustration at a ball he was hosting.

"Edana, the kids aren't our lost family members. None of them are Adam, or my sister, Tristianne, or even you or me. I know we're still not masters of the whole raising teenagers thing yet, but I know that none of the kids are going to follow someone else's path. They're going to find new, unexpected ways to drive us crazy and we need to be prepared for that instead of chasing the past."

"Would you like to dance?"

Remy looked up from her phone to find Princess Victoriana watching her. She instinctively looked to her side to see who Victoriana was talking to, but there was only Bronwen, still texting her date.

"Me?" Remy asked curiously. "Sure, I'm the best dancer around. I'd love to."

"Great! I was hoping to dance with an expert," Victoriana laughed. "After all the lessons my mom has put through, it'll be good to have someone be able to keep up."

Terror grabbed at Remy as she thought about all the dance lessons she'd ignored over the years. She could bluff her way through dancing with a future queen...somehow.

"Your mom keeps giving me a dirty look," Travis remarked as he perfectly executed the complex footwork few other dancers could master. "I get it; she knew my bio moms. Does any of that bother you? I promise I won't be mad if you don't want to date me because of my bio family. A lot of people get weird with me when they learn about them. Well, and then even more weird if they find out my parents are reapers and my sister is the queen of Pleasantview. I have a complicated family."

Travis seemed to brace himself for rejection, while Elowen's heart wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. It was too focused on the word "date."

"You want to date me? Like be my boyfriend?" When Travis nodded, Elowen's entire face lit up. "Yes! Yes, I'll be your girlfriend!"

"You're a pretty good dancer," Victoriana lied, dodging Remy's wandering foot as she fumbled through the dance moves. "Do you practice at school? We have to at my school since so many of us are future leaders and will have to attend a lot of balls in our lives."

"No, we mostly focus on magic," Remy replied. "Spells, potions, healing magic, sometimes curses. It's pretty dull, especially if you're not planning on being much of a witch when you graduate."

"You still feel that way?" Victoriana asked curiously. Remy was always full of surprises. "With power like yours and your family all being in the coven, it would make sense for you to follow a life of magic."

Remy rolled her eyes, forgetting that she was dancing with a princess.

"It's all overrated. Just look at my brother. He's attached himself to a hurricane of demonic power and he seems miserable all the time, especially after nearly dying and being scarred for life. My dad leads the coven, but he's lonely and can't ever keep a partner for more than a few years. My mom- well, you've met my mom. You know what she's like. Magic ruins people's lives. I don't see what's so great about it."

"I don't think magic is to blame for all of that," Victoriana replied. "You're just so good at it; I'm surprised that you seem to hate it so much."

"I'm not good, I'm practically failing," Remy said quickly, before Victoriana could compliment her any further.

"You're failing on purpose. Everyone knows that. If you actually tried, you might even be better than your brother. Hell, you could even take your father's place and run the coven one day. I'd appoint you when I'm queen."

Remy laughed nervously, unsure of what exactly the princess was planning.

"You really like to talk like you're queen already, don't you?" she asked warily. "Your mother and Miruna's baby will be head of the coven, that's already been decided. I don't have the proper bloodline even if I wanted the job-which I don't, by the way. Thanks for the vote of confidence though."

Victoriana shrugged.

"Well, keep it in mind," she suggested. "It was just a thought."

Princess Georgiana tried to play her video game as quietly as possible. The last thing she wanted to do was be a part of any of the festivities in the ballroom. Dances were loud, annoying, boring things and as part of the royal family, Georgiana was expected to smile and stay focused on being a princess. While her parents were focused on the ball, Georgiana planned to hide by the large plant in the hall until she could take off her stupid formal ware and play video games wearing her pajamas in her room. Adrion was the future king, let him worry about dancing.

And Adrion was doing his part as best as he could. While Georgiana hid in the hallway, Adrion and Viola danced with the adults, always being sure to keep a calm, royal composure while there were guests at the palace. Their parents looked happy and relaxed, so Adrion and Viola trusted that they were safe. Balls weren't really that bad. There was food and music and they got to stay up later than their bedtime until the guests left or their parents sent them upstairs.

Theo walked by Princess Georgiana, who was doing a poor job of hiding from the adults. He shook his head, thinking about weird it was that his half-sister lived here in this palace. Then again, he had just spent the summer living with his other half-sister in a different palace with his dad's ex-fling. His life truly was a strange one.

But Adam was here. Finally, he'd be face to face with his boyfriend again and everything would be right in the world. He knew that Adam had been acting even more anxious than usual, and it was probably Theo's fault because of the accident that had nearly killed Adam. Theo wasn't stupid, he could understand Adam's fear. It was just up to Theo to help him move past that.

"Theo? Is that you?"

Adam stared at the sight before him, hardly believing his eyes. Theo stood before him, dressed in his formal apprentice uniform, looking nervously around to find his date. Adam was immediately overwhelmed by a whirlwind of feelings he didn't know how to process.

There was a battle raging in Adam's mind that he lost the moment Theo walked in the room. There was no fighting against a force like that.

Theo looked as gorgeous as always. He smelled like fancy soap he'd probably used at the castle. Adam could feel the connection between them crackle through the air between them. A mild static charge ran through him as Adam felt Theo's power linger in the air between them. He really had been altered by Lukas. Theo didn't feel anything like he used to. Power radiated from him, pulsing like waves that tried to submerge Adam in their dark depths.

"Theo!"

Adam's arms were around Theo before he could even announce his presence. It felt good to be in Adam's arms again, breathing in the familiar smell of the cologne his father insisted he wear to formal events. A million memories rushed back to him in an instant, his heart leaping with joy to finally be reunited with the boy he loved.

"You're late," Adam whispered as he pulled away from his boyfriend. "I didn't think that you'd make it."

Theo shrugged apologetically and Adam lost himself in Theo's guilty smile. Theo had a smile that could melt steel. Adam didn't stand a chance.

"I got held up in security," he replied. "There was a line because a certain deity triggered a million security measures designed to keep them out. It was a whole thing, but I'm here now."

"Well, it's a ball, I guess we should dance," Adam said finally, his brain short circuiting trying to count the freckles on Theo's nose. There seemed like more than usual now. "Everyone else is."

Theo nodded and extended his hand. Adam placed his hand in Theo's and walked towards the dance floor.

Electricity jumped through each finger as they brushed against Theo's. It hummed through their bodies as they pressed together to dance. Could other people feel the intensity between them or was this something only they could feel?

"I've missed this," Theo said quietly to avoid eavesdroppers. "The dream realm couldn't even come close to matching this. I'm actually touching you again."

Adam instinctively snapped to attention at these words, pulling slightly away from his dance partner for his own safety. It took a moment, but his brain did catch up, realizing that his fears were unfounded. He could see the hurt in Theo's eyes when he had pulled away, but he hadn't had any control over his reaction. Clearly, there was a long road of regaining trust between them.

"So, did they teach you how to dance at your school? You're way better at dancing than I remember," Adam asked, desperate to restart their conversation with anything else.

"A little," Theo replied. His gaze lingered for a few seconds longer than he'd intended on the large scar on Adam's face, which Adam noticed and turned his head away. "It was mostly the castle training though. Queen Claudia trained me for a bunch of scenarios, including dances. They did let me study some battle magic at school, though, which has forms similar to dancing. Torkel was a really good teacher when they let me talk to him."

More than anything, Theo wanted to touch the scar his magic had left on Adam. To trace it and see if he couldn't fix what he'd done. Adam was still looking away though, setting a clear boundary. Theo wasn't to mention the scar, and even if Theo wanted to try to help, he wasn't welcome to try. He could respect that. He already felt guilty enough, and he didn't need to feel any worse.

"So are you almost ready for school?" Adam said after an awkward few moments of silence. "My dad is already stressing about it. We're getting an exchange student this year from Jubilant Accosts, maybe you know him. His name is Sebastian something."

Theo shook his head.

"No, I didn't meet anyone named Sebastian. To be fair though, I didn't meet a lot of people there. I was pretty much locked in my room reading ancient books about demonic energy transfer. Maybe he went to the school across the street. They study light magic and healing. Do you know where our rooms are going to be at school yet? I guess we won't be roommates anymore, but hopefully, we're on the same level. We can still sneak out to watch the stars either way."

"No, I haven't asked about rooms yet. Knowing my mom, I'll probably be stuck with Remy again."

"Remy? But she's your sister. They don't assign siblings together so that people meet other students."

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm the exception."

Theo and Adam quickly gave up on conversation and focused on their dancing. There'd be plenty of time to catch up later where things might not be so awkward.

At least Adrion and Viola were having fun.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Do you have a date to the Goldman Memorial Ball? I'm still looking for someone that I don't might spending an evening with or being photographed with. Who are you going with?"

Bronwen looked nervously at her sister, who was too busy checking out her makeup to listen. The Goldman Memorial Ball was next week and time was running out to pick a date. Her father and stepmother were hosting the annual event at the palace, and all eyes would be on their family, so she had to pick wisely.

"Of course I do," Elowen replied cheerfully. "It's a surprise. Why haven't you asked anyone yet? We have a whole school of eligible guests to ask."

"Uh, well, I guess I was waiting for someone to ask me," Bronwen stammered. "I don't know who to ask. Does Remy have a date?"

Elowen rolled her eyes at the thought of their half-sister's love life.

"I think she's taking her girlfriend, Malika, but I don't know why. Those two barely spend any time together anymore, and their 'open relationship' is a joke. They spend far more time with their hookups than each other, and I'm pretty sure Remy forgot Malika’s name last week when I asked if she was coming swimming with us. I'm guessing that she'll take Malika, though, for appearances."

"What about Adam? Does he have a date?"

"Quit thirsting after Theo. You know that he's Adam's boyfriend and his date. The ball is right before the start of school, which Theo will be back for. There's no chance of you stealing him from Adam."

Bronwen tried to hide her frustration at being called out by her sister, but failed. She wouldn't mind Theo as a date, but Elowen was right. He and Adam were planning their college wedding and were bonded together to control Theo's powers. The only thing she'd ever be to Theo aside from his friend was aunt to the millions of kids he and Adam had planned.

"I don't want to steal him," Bronwen protested. "There's nothing wrong with wanting a dance or two with him. He's a nice guy."

"Who will be dancing with Adam," Elowen chided. "I'll be your wingwoman then since you can't decide who to pick. Let me make some calls and see if we can't get you a date before the ball starts."

Those words were terrifying based on every other time Elowen tried to do something nice for her sister. Elowen had no idea of what her sister liked, even if her intentions were good.

"Elowen? You called?"

A male voice Bronwen didn't recognize appeared in their hallway, accompanied with a shower of magical light.

"You summoned some boy here?" Bronwen hissed, looking for a place to hide from her sister's act of sisterly devotion. "Who? Why? What do I say? Urgh, sometimes you're the worst, Elowen!"

Elowen shrugged as if this were a perfectly reasonable thing for her to do.

"Go find out. It's Will from Princess Zarah's. He doesn't have a date to the ball either, and his moms are rich. He's perfectly nice and not dating our brother."

Elowen peeked out into the hallway where a confused boy was waiting for her.

"Where's Elowen? She said she wanted me to come over," he said, causing Bronwen to flush with embarrassment.

"Uh, she's just doing her make up," she replied nervously. "She wanted me to talk to you until she was done."

"So how are you?" Bronwen asked with false enthusiasm. Maybe she could fake being confident long enough to ask this boy to the ball. He looked attractive enough, and he seemed to know her sister well enough for her to judge his character. A blind date was better than no date to their family ball. There was no way that she was standing in front of a crowd while her entire family had a date with them.

"Good, I guess," Will replied. "Elowen said she wanted to go get fries on the boardwalk that's down the street in her message. I didn't think that you needed to put on makeup for that."

Bronwen rolled her eyes at this.

"Trust me, she never leaves home without at least wearing lipstick. Everything requires makeup."

"Okay. I guess it's a girl thing. Cool."

An awkward pause fall over the hallway, making Bronwen panic. Things weren't going the way they did in the movies at all.

"No, my brother wears a lot of makeup," she added quickly. "His boyfriend too. Plus, my dad and his brother. They all take a really long time in the bathroom getting ready for work and school."

Will just nodded in acknowledgment and checked the time on his phone. Bronwen grimaced at this, realizing that she needed to turn this conversation around and fast.

"Do you want to go to the Goldman Memorial Ball with me?" she asked, barely stopping to breathe. "It's next week and Elowen said that you're a nice guy and-"

"Sorry. You seem nice, but vampires aren't my thing. I'd prefer to date someone less undead. Nothing personal."

"Oh."

Bronwen's heart crashed inside her chest, and she could feel tears spring to her eyes. People were usually wary around her in public because of her paleness and tendency to burn in the sunlight, but this rejection still hurt. There weren't very many vampires in Twikkii Island, and there wasn't a single other vampire student in school. The only other vampire Bronwen had ever known was her mother, and she didn't have very clear memories of her before she abandoned Bronwen at Ewan's door. This was probably why she was the only family member to not have a date to the ball, which wasn't fair. None of this was fair.

"Fine. Whatever. I wasn't really being serious anyway. Elowen just asked me to ask you out of pity."

With that, Bronwen burst past Will and down the stairs before he could see the tears in her eyes.

Who cares about this stupid ball? I don't need to even go to it. After all, no one wants to dance with a vampire.

"Ewan, honey? I just need to pop over to Strangetown for a bit. Can you start dinner before I come home? I pulled out some meat from the freezer for you to cook."

Edana smiled when her husband nodded enthusiastically. Now this was a husband. As much as she cared for her ex-husband, Ewan Maricourt, he was always far too snooty and entitled to be an equal partner in their marriage. There was a reason why he'd been single since their divorce. He was a great warlock and friend, but a terrible husband.

Ewan Traver was down to earth, funny and supportive of even the most crazy of Edana's ideas. If she disappeared for days researching in her office, Ewan would have breakfast made for her before he left for work and had happily eaten dinner with her surrounded by ancient texts of dark magic. She didn't know what she had done to deserve him. His brother had told her horror stories of Ewan before he'd met her that didn't reflect the man she married. He had been a bit wild, but then again, so had she. He had two kids with two different women when she met him, and she'd narrowly escaped a cult due in part to the man she had mercilessly bullied with her brother. They were both works in progress, but they were perfect for each other.

"Did Charley summon you?" Ewan asked. "He had papers delivered for you yesterday that you needed to review. They're on your desk. You've been so busy working that I hadn't had time to mention it."

Edana nodded.

"Yes, His Majesty needs me to sign an insurance waiver. He's loaning us one of his mother's tiaras for the ball since I'm apparently an honorary daughter to him. Or so he says. I feel guilty about the whole thing, honestly. I don't deserve all the things he's done for me over the years. My fathers would be rolling in their graves to see me wear the former queen's tiara. Darktides aren't princesses, Ewan. We're pirates or demons or idiots that fall victim to a cult."

Ewan smiled and gently took his wife's hand.

"You do deserve it. Charley sees you for the person you are, and he likes you. There's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to be what you feel like your family is. You can be yourself, Edana Darktide-Traver, a witchy duchess wearing a queen's tiara with a past that's behind her."

Edana sighed reluctantly.

"Fine. You're right. You're right, okay? I'm just going to go with it and see how things turn out. Have you got your suit ready? The queen won't tolerate anything less than perfection after all the tragedy we've seen. Everything has to be perfect."

"Yeah, my suit is fine. It's my dad who's the problem. He keeps throwing a fit about having to go every year to celebrate the dead parents he never knew at a ball he doesn't care about. Even Queen Maura has heard him ranting. The queen! I guess pushing seventy makes you forget how to be respectful of your queen and your family."

"Give him some grace," Edana replied gently. "He doesn't remember his parents. The sister he trusted with his life betrayed all of us, and his little brother is the dead, rightful king of Pleasantview. I think that would make anyone a little sensitive on the subject."

"I guess," Ewan reluctantly agreed. "He's still being a child about how he treats the situation."

"Speaking of children, Bronwen is outside in the sun talking to a boy," Edana informed her husband, peering out a window. "Do we know about this? Should I intervene?"

Ewan laughed at the thought.

"You're going to have to give the kids some freedom at some point, Edana. We do want them to be well adjusted members of adult society in a few years. Yelling at every boy or girl our kids date isn't going to help that. She's probably looking for a date for the ball. It's all the kids have been talking about this week."

Edana didn't look thrilled at the idea of their children dating, but it was out of her hands. In a few weeks, the kids would be back at school, free to get up to mischief out of their parents' eyesight.

"Is that demon boy attending?" she asked, fully anticipating the response. "Can we not ban him from our own ball?"

Ewan shot her a tired look.

"Of course he is. He's Adam's date, and he's escorting Queen Claudia. The more you hate the kid, the more Adam is going to cling to him. My sister did the exact same thing with all of her dates, and my parents never learned. Those two aren't even fifteen yet. Are you with the same person you were with at that age?"

Edana didn't reply. Of course, she wasn't with a childhood crush, but she could remember those feelings, even if she couldn't remember their names. She could also remember her brother staring her in the eye and telling her that the woman she loathed with every fiber of her being was going to be in his life forever.

Ewan was right, just as he usually was. Yelling at her brother, Adam, hadn't worked then, and yelling at her son, Adam, wasn't going to help anything now. All she could do was make sure that Adam's demon date knew how much she disliked him and hope that her son made better choices in the future.

"Well, since you're the parenting expert, go check in on Bronwen and that boy. I don't want her burnt to a crisp pursuing a date to the ball. She needs to worry less about boys and more about the sun. I'll go fill out that paperwork from His Majesty before I leave and drop it off while I'm in Strangetown. Don't forget about cooking up that meat for dinner."

"Um, hi Bronwen. Your sister mentioned that you needed to talk to me?"

Bronwen had run outside to cry in private, only to nearly run head first into Davis Lane. This was obviously the work of Elowen and her good intentions. Boys didn't usually just show up at their house wanting to speak with her.

Honestly, Bronwen liked Davis far better than Will, so at least her sister's victims were getting more accurate to Bronwen's taste. Like her, Davis was a bit of an outcast himself. His parents were gods, but he and his sister were pretty ordinary, something that clearly frustrated them when people looked at them, expecting to see their parents' powers reflected in them. Destiny had been failing science class last year, or so Bronwen had heard, and Davis was well known for his inability to succeed in any sport the school made them play for gym class. Surely, Davis would see past the vampirism and connect with her for being different like he was.

"Will you go to the Goldman Memorial Ball with me?" she blurted out awkwardly before she could change her mind. If he was going to reject her, it was best to just get it over with.

"Of course!" Davis exclaimed, hugging Bronwen with joy. "I would love to! My mom's been talking about it for weeks now, but I didn't know who to ask. Honestly, I've always thought you were pretty, but I kinda thought you were out of my league."

A surprised laugh escaped before Bronwen could stop it.

"Out of your league? Your parents are gods! You must get all kinds of invitations to dances."

Davis shrugged.

"Not really. Most people are afraid of my dad and worried about my mom, so not many people see us for who we are outside of our family."

Ewan smiled from his hiding place under the back deck. Bronwen was smiling and laughing with a boy who appeared to be doing the same. It was a welcome change from her worried and stressed behavior all week. Being half-vampire wasn't easy, especially in a tropical place like Twikkii Island, and Ewan was proud of his daughter for the way she handled herself. Dating was its own challenge, especially as a vampire, and Bronwen seemed to be getting the hang of it.

But Edana wasn't completely wrong to be worried. As much as Ewan liked Theo, he was a dangerous influence on Adam and had very nearly gotten him killed. It had been an accident, and Theo had been traumatized just as much as Adam had, but it had still happened. If there hadn't been adults nearby, their family would have lost Adam and the joy he brought to them. Part of being a parent was protecting your kids from what they were too young to understand, especially if it was dangerous.

And Life and Death were dangerous. Ewan's brother, Leo, worked with Lukas, and he had a bunch of stories about what he'd seen that had chilled Ewan to the bone. It also didn't help that Edana's own brother was involved in trying to kill the Grim Reaper, and presumably Death as well. He had been killed for the attempt, but the whole incident made Ewan realize how dangerous it was to be close to Death or a reaper. Edana and Charley had been chasing down an ancient reaper for months, something that had deeply worried Ewan. The deities of Life and Death frequently left a trail of human bodies in their wake and it terrified Ewan to think that his daughter might be in harm's way if she dated their son.

But that was just the fear talking. Ever since his twin sister's death, Ewan had held onto his kids tightly. It was how he'd been raised, after all. To this day, Travis Traver still had opinions on his children's lives and how they should be behaving that drove Ewan insane. His twin, Tristianne, had made it her life's mission to ignore every expectation their father made for them, and every day, Ewan grieved her loss. She would have the answers to his parenting fears; she always had the answer to everything.

Tristianne would be smacking him on the head and asking what was wrong with him for thinking this way. Their fathers were dating the Grim Reaper, and nothing devious had come for them. He couldn't let fear dictate his life or ruin his relationship with his kids. He would call out a warning to his daughter about standing in the sun and then head back inside after inviting the teens to come play pool in the basement where the sun wouldn't be an issue. If Bronwen liked a boy with dangerous parents, then Ewan would treat him like he treated Theo: warmly, but with a heavy dose of caution.

This was never what he expected when he pictured having kids. A much younger version of Ewan would never have thought that he'd one day be juggling demons and the kids of deities as part of parenting his kids, but it was what it was. He just hoped that whoever Elowen was bringing to the ball was boring in comparison.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Remy questioned.

"They say we vampires are dead inside," Bronwen said. "I'm starting to wonder if it's not the witches who are."

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Remy got out of the couch and started pacing around the living room. "This isn't forever," she said, almost to convince herself more than to convince Bronwen. "They'll figure out how to stop Cain from screaming in my head, then mother will stop punishing me and I can get all my magic stuff back."

"How good of you to be optimistic in these trying times," Bronwen said, trying not to sound sarcastic. "Are you equally certain that Cain's painful half-existence will be resolved?"

Remy didn't seem to hear her. "She has been talking about getting me back into a magical school, so she can't be planning to have me away from my stuff for that much longer."

Bronwen shrugged. She was homeschooled due to her condition. Elowen had spoken about their previous magical school as if it were paradise, until Remy got kicked out and Edana made Adam and Elowen switch to a non-magical school too.

"Do you think she'd send me... back?" Remy asked. "Back to Shadowvale?"

Bronwen stared. "After you tricked that boy into carving his eye out?" she asked.

"I didn't trick him," Remy said defensively. "I merely-"

Bronwen shook her head. "If Edana sends you back, she has lost her mind," she stated. "Watcher, Remy, don't you have any conscience?"

"He still has his other eye," Remy mumbled.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Bronwen sat down next to Remy on the couch. She didn't practice witch magic herself, nor was she sure if she even had it in her blood, so her opnion would matter little to Remy. However, their half-sister Elowen had rumianted over the situation and voiced many of her thoughts and feelings of it aloud, albeit with not particularly polite words.

"Perhaps you should have resurrected him using a traditional method," Bronwen said.

[arkhelios-gameplay]

Remy seemed to sense the lack of empathy from her step-sister, because she changed tactic. "It's like drowning in a world drained of color," she said in a sorrowful voice. "A hollow ache that no mortal remedy can fill."

[arkhelios-gameplay]

"Being without magic sucks!" Remy declared as soon as she sat down in the couch.

Bronwen pressed her lips together tight to prevent herself from saying "have you considered it's your own fault?" and instead said: "I can imagine." She looked at the clock nervously. How was it still so early? Elowen wouldn't be home until afternoon to take over Remysitting duty, so she'd need to tolerate her for a while longer.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"This place is even more beautiful than I thought," Despina gushed, looking in awe at the grounds of Pleasantview's Academy of Magic. "It's amazing!"

"Try saying those words to Master Ewan Maricourt and he might just lower your tuition," Adrian laughed.

Despina beamed at her cousin and the responsible adult he'd found to help her. Theo had gone to Adam after the Arkhelios mixer with her request to apply for subsidized enrollment at their prestigious school. Both boys had turned to Adrian for help, as he was currently helping Theo's father pay for Theo's enrollment. Unfortunately, Adrian wasn't able to cover the costs himself, as he only managed a fraction of Theo's tuition himself, but his partner, Evren, had had some ideas. He knew the Pleasantview coven extensively and what loopholes might be exploited in a case like Despina's. Evren couldn't turn down a student that might add to the coven's greatness or disappoint the partner who had a heart bigger than his checkbook. As an added bonus, he would be taking away talent from the Arkhelios coven and away from Wanda's inept hands.

The only catch was that Despina had to have enough potential to even be considered as a candidate. Both she and Eero had to pass the entrance exam before they could even be considered as students, let alone subsidized students. Eero had never cared much for formal magic and had failed his entrance exam. Magic didn't call to him the same way it called to his sister.

Despina had thrown everything she had into her exam, desperate to get out of Arkhelios and find her place in the wider world. Her parents were talented magic users from what anyone would tell her and she could follow along with some of the spells in the study guide Adam had lent her. She knew very little about her mother, but Despina could almost picture her father whenever her aunt spoke of him. He was smart and gifted, ambitious and fearless. If there was a challenge that arose, he usually fought tooth and nail to beat his sister to the answer. Despina could relate to this. She, too, was ambitious and driven, willing to chance everything on getting a place in her cousin's school.

She not only passed the exam, she nearly aced it. Her score was high enough for both admittance and for the financial considerations to be raised with the school. Despina had stared at the letter congratulating her on her results for what seemed like ages. After a lifetime of being ignored and underestimated, finally, she had proof that she belonged with the strongest students.

Evren had presented the Pleasantview coven with Despina's test scores, asking that she be sponsored by the coven on the condition that she joined them when she was of age. It had been a common enough request in his own time and Pleasantview rarely bothered to change rules and practices after several centuries. Very little changed in the coven over time, and that was how the coven liked it.

Over the years, Despina had come to the rather obvious conclusion that her parents were part of the reason she was held back from her potential. There were people who held her parents' choices against her, others who feared what their daughter would do with a proper education. And of course, her aunt and guardian, Edana, who barely acknowledged her niece and nephew. Edana had had several children all within a few years of each other at a young age and reasonably couldn't take care of additional twin infants with her resources. Now that the twins were older, and Despina had proved she had the ability to learn what her cousins were learning, it became harder to rationalize why a slacker like Remy was admitted to the academy and someone like Despina wasn't. True, her cousins had Maricourt blood in them, but the Darktides were also a powerful family, something her aunt boasted of constantly. So why did her legal guardian ignore her?

That was the cornerstone of Evren's presentation to the coven- the irresponsible neglect of talent due to prejudice. He couldn't fault Edana for struggling with the burden of caring for her brother's kids with everything she had been through, but the Pleasantview coven was a different matter. Was Master Ewan Maricourt denying a talented student entry simply because she made his ex-wife uncomfortable?

There was nothing more powerful than public derision and Evren's presentation had swayed quite a few members. He might have had support, but even a subsidized tuition needed to be paid from somewhere. Adam Darktide had left a small estate that his sister had used over the years to care for his children. There wasn't enough left for four years of tuition and then college for both twins.

That was where Adam came back into play. He was close to the magic users of Crystal Cove and Master Josh Toyonaga in particular. Without his help, Adam would have struggled to complete the crystal ring he made for Theo, along with several other projects for school. It was Master Toyonaga who had been bullied for months by Adam and Edana Darktide and who currently lived with the king of Strangetown. When his favourite nephew in law came to him with a proposition that would benefit his beloved Edana's talented niece, King Charley had been all too happy to create a fund to pay for the educational needs of Despina. The Strangetown coven had been decimated on his watch and it was only fair that the crown pay to compensate one of the victims of that coven.

Despina wished that she could be a fly on the wall when her aunt was told about the fund. Edana wasn't a bad person, but her distant, disinterested management of her brother's children had to end. Now Despina had the chance to prove that Edana had been wrong to be so dismissive of her.

With a grateful hug with Adrian and her cousin, Despina went in search of the girl's dorms and her new bedroom. There was a dress code that she needed to comply with and her very own schedule and textbooks to look over.

Everywhere she looked, something spectacular appeared. Old portraits in golden frames were fascinating. The view she'd briefly seen outside was a breathtaking glimpse of all of Pleasantview. The school library had huge, leather bound books that looked as old as the school itself. Despina was absolutely going to love it here.

As she made her way toward her assigned room, Despina couldn't help noticing a boy who looked just as lost as her. He wasn't in his uniform either and was currently staring intently at a row of houseplants.

"Um, hi. I'm a bit turned around," she called out, catching the boy's attention. "Do you know where the girls' dorms are? I think I've taken the wrong staircase by mistake."

"Sorry, I'm new here," the boy replied. "I just started yesterday and I barely know where my own dorm is. I'm Jasper."

"Despina."

"This is my first day," Despina said excitedly. "I didn't know anyone else was starting halfway through the semester like I am."

"Yeah, well, my mother had to be convinced to let me come," the boy replied. "We don't have a school for magic anymore, but she thinks Pleasantview is too pretentious. The sheer cost of studying here is nuts."

"Yeah, it really is," Despina agreed. "I don't know why it's so expensive. Surely, the magical community here has enough money to get by without gouging everyone."

"It's the Maricourt name, I think," Jasper said. "People go crazy to study with them even though half the family has been caught murdering people or breaking the natural laws over the centuries. My grandfather is paying though, so my mom was overruled. He wants me to learn from the best."

"They really are the best magical teachers, it seems, even if they suck as people. My cousins go here and they learn so much cool stuff that I can't wait to learn about."

"Well, maybe we can study together," Jasper offered shyly. "I know I have a bunch of work that was assigned to keep up with the class, I'm sure you have the same."

"I'd like that."

"Your piano skills are amazing, Adam," Bronwen complimented. Both she and Theo had been dancing for half an hour already, with no signs of stopping.

"I know, right?" Theo agreed. "I keep telling him that we need to start a band. With my guitar, we'll be unstoppable."

Adam rolled his eyes but kept playing.

"Theo, when is the last time that you even practiced your guitar scales? You need to have a solid foundation to grow from if you want to play an instrument. I haven't seen you play it in weeks."

"Because I'm too busy for scales," Theo scoffed. "Between homework and studying my textbooks, I don't have time. Besides, you don't exactly make it easy to focus when you're distracting me. If there was less kissing, there might be more time to practice dumb scales."

Adam flushed slightly, but laughed.

"Well then, I guess you'll never succeed as a guitar prodigy because I don't plan on stopping those distractions."

Bronwen wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Ew, guys, get a room already. Some of us here aren't being controlled by our hormones and would like to get back to dancing."

"Only because you're single," Adam pointed out, changing from the song he was playing to a difficult scale to impress Theo. "If you were dating someone, you'd be doing the same thing."

"Yeah, don't you have a crush on anyone?" Theo asked, eager for gossip. "Remy's dating Malika, but she has a crush on a new person every week and Elowen has a huge crush that she keeps denying. Isn't there anyone that you're interested in?"

"No," Bronwen insisted, despite her face turning a deep red. "I haven't met anyone yet that I like. I'm only fourteen, there's tons of time."

"I'm fourteen, and Theo's turning fourteen soon," Adam pointed out. "We're already looking at ideas for when we get married at nineteen, so it goes by fast. You never know who'll you meet."

"You're getting married at nineteen?" Bronwen exclaimed. "Isn't that a little young?"

She tried not to gag when the two boys stared lovingly at each other.

"No, eighteen is too young," Theo replied. "We're being mature and waiting until we're older and pursuing magic degrees in college."

Adam nodded proudly, twisting Bronwen's stomach when she thought of attending their wedding in just a few years. She didn't want to be the girl whose entire life revolved around a boy who wasn't available to her, but she couldn't control the jealous feeling burning in her chest. She needed a distraction and fast.

"Who cares about relationships?" she lied. "Let's have more music before an adult comes and finds us having fun. I'm missing second period for this, we might as well keep dancing."

"Totally!" Theo exclaimed, playfully spinning his friend around with ease. "I have class soon, so we need to hurry up. If I'm late again, I'm going to lose marks in potions, and then they'll call my dads. That cannot happen; they'll murder me for sure."

"Hey, Travis! Wait up!"

Elowen chased after the reclusive student. What did she have to lose? Her sister had told her a million times to tell him her feelings, and it might as well be today.

"Hey, Elowen," he replied quietly, looking desperately for an escape from this social encounter.

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out later?" Elowen began quickly, before her target could escape. "You look like you know how to have some fun."

Travis looked at books spilling out of his backpack and then back at the pretty girl standing before him.

"Me? Are you sure you're not thinking of someone else?"

"Ummm, yeah, I'm pretty sure," Elowen confirmed. "I see you around the halls sometimes, and wanted to hang out with you. Is there something wrong with that?"

Travis stared in disbelief at the words.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked with horror.

He definitely didn't seem to be asking arrogantly. He had the same dejected tone as her sister Bronwen did when people made fun of her vampirism.

"Yeah, you're the guy in my English class who actually writes his own papers instead of trying to find a spell to do it for them," Elowen answered truthfully. "You helped Adam study for the ancient runes final after he spent all his study time making out with his boyfriend."

Travis scoffed, his cheeks flushing despite his best effort to hide it.

"I mean, who I am genetically," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "My mothers were terrible witches who only acted selfishly, even with each other. They led the cult that decimated the Strangetown coven. They only made me to use my life-force as bait for the Grim Reaper. If they hadn't been stopped, I'd probably be dead."

Travis braced himself for the rejection he knew was coming. No one ever saw him for the person he was, just who his bio parents had been. On top of that, he was being raised by reapers, which also didn't buy him a lot of social points. He was being raised by his biological uncle, a man who was only dead because Travis' mother killed him as an infant. His adopted sister was queen of Pleasantview, which only added to his anxiety. Would people hate him for his parents? Would they only try to use him to get to Claudia? As if being a teenager wasn't hard enough already.

Elowen just stared back at him, cocking her head slightly like he'd said something in a foreign language.

"Why would any of that matter?" she laughed. "Dude, I only exist because my dad was a massive slut and my mom was sad at the time he picked her up at a bar. Who cares how you were born or why? My mom does weird shit all the time and you know what? My dad brings her coffee every morning and sits down with her to help with that weird shit. Why are you any different?"

Travis blinked, unable to understand if Elowen was being sincere. No one paid attention to him, and here was the daughter of one of the most accomplished witches alive telling him that she saw him for who he was inside.

"Ah, shit, the rain wasn't supposed to start til this afternoon," Elowen groaned. Here she was, pouring her heart out and not only was Travis staring at her like she had a wart on her face, but she was about to be soaked while he did.

Without warning, Elowen felt arms wrap around her, gripping her tight as the rain began to pour.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" Travis asked quickly, still looking as if he were waiting for this to all turn out to be a joke. When Elowen nodded, all thoughts of getting to class evaporated.

Elowen shot the shy boy a devious look.

"You know, we're getting soaked out here. We should go inside and change into dryer clothes."

All the air seemingly evaporated from Travis' lungs at the thought.

"Y-yes. I think we should."

"Despina looks like she's going to fit in great here. It's so rewarding to see the younger generation find their paths in life."

Evren smiled politely at his partner's words while trying to gauge Edana's reaction. The witch had been uncharacteristically quiet for the few minutes that they'd been discussing her niece's admittance to the school Edana had done nothing to help with, and that made Evren nervous. Edana spoke her mind on any topic quite often, and to see her lost for words was unnerving.

"I hope you don't think we overstepped," he said cautiously. Beside him, Adrian looked confused at the civility of his words, but Adrian underestimating magic users was something of an ongoing trend. Evren was fairly certain that going to the Pleasantview coven and painting her as a neglectful guardian would have consequences for him and he wanted to know what those would be before they snuck up on him. "Your niece came to us in confidence and it goes against the values of our coven to waste potential."

"Yes, yes, of course. Ewan notified me as a courtesy earlier. Her test scores were quite remarkable."

Evren waited for the conversation to escalate to anger, but nothing happened. It almost looked as if Edana wasn't even paying attention to them in favour of something she was mulling over in her mind.

"The sponsorship from the Strangetown king was extraordinarily kind," Adrian said, seeing if that statement would be ignored as well.

"He owes it to her. His Majesty did nothing to reign in his coven, and people suffered," Edana murmured. "I tried to stop it, but I couldn't. I failed. He failed."

Evren and Adrian gave each other baffled looks. This certainly wasn't the way they had anticipated the conversation going. Edana barely looked like she was present in the room.

"You couldn't stop an entire coven on your own, you know that, right?" Evren asked, his eyes full of concern. "There was nothing that you could have done. You survived to keep the coven alive. It can't have been easy to juggle everything in your life while also grieving the loss of your coven, your family. Losing mine was devastating too, but I keep their memory alive every day."

"Despina has her father's talent and his eyes. I'm sure he'd be proud of her," Edana lied.

Her brother had been willing to sacrifice his children to pursue dark magic. He'd broken another natural law trying to speak to his sister beyond the grave and only mentioned his kids as an afterthought. Adam didn't give a damn about Despina or what she did, and yet, every time Edana looked at the girl, all she could see was his reflection.

Showing up to the school today wasn't important though. For all her experience and education, Edana was struggling to understand what her dead brother had been trying to warn her about before being escorted out of the world of the living. None of it made sense. There was next to nothing published about reapers, especially ancient ones. He'd mentioned Josh Toyonaga's husband knowing something about the explosion in Twikkii Island, but what did that even mean? The two men were hardly ever in the islands unless they were visiting Edana and her husband, and she'd never believe that either of them had the ability to pull an attack like that off even if they confessed.

As her mind wandered off trying to piece together the clues her brother had clawed his way back from death to give her, a thought came to Edana. Duke Siew was nothing special, but his partner was something of a mystery himself. Where had Evren come from and what might he know about her mysterious puzzle?

"Master Thorne, have you studied much about reapers in your training?" she asked. "Was your alternate version of old Strangetown aware of their movements or history?"

Evren stood baffled for a moment, as he was prepared to discuss Despina, while her guardian apparently had different ideas.

"My Strangetown was likely very similar to yours," he answered. "I spent most of my time in Pleasantview, though. They didn't need an architect hanging around, I'm afraid. From what I can remember though, Master Casper Maricourt and his daughter did write about some controversial topics. There were whispers about him researching death and immortality, but I don't know what came of it."

"His daughter led our coven to their deaths, that's what became of it," Edana replied angrily. "Charlotte carried on his work to its conclusion, but she didn't exactly like sharing with those beneath her. If there's a stash of secret documents from her hidden away somewhere, I can't find it."

"Charlotte was centuries old?" Adrian gasped, honestly surprised by the information. Would Evren live to be 300, long after he was dead? Would their children? This was a subject that was going to be addressed when they got home.

"The more you throw yourself into magic, the more magic throws itself into you," Edana shrugged. "That bitch was ancient and powerful, but she didn't have much of a life outside of her schemes."

"Try the royal archives," Evren suggested, ignoring the look of despair Adrian was giving him. "If the coven's affairs were settled, they would be in the royal archives. If Charlotte laid a finger on anything, it would be archived there. Have you tried appealing to the Queen of Pleasantview? She's descended from reapers, they may be able to answer your questions."

Edana scowled at the thought.

"No, His Majesty would be offended to have me meet with her," she lied. The last thing she needed in her life was dealing with Pleasantview or its monarch. That path only led to danger. "Besides, I need to know about ancient reapers and there's no chance of the queen revealing ancient secrets even if she did know them. Have you ever heard of a reaper named Atem? He's apparently the Grim Reaper's son if that helps."

From Adrian's blank stare, Edana ruled him out as a source of help. Evren, on the other hand, looked as if he was thinking.

"I've heard of the Grim Reaper in the stories of the destruction of Old Strangetown," he murmured. "I faintly remember a confrontation between the son of the Grim Reaper and Alpheus, the ruler of Strangetown at the time. Maybe that time period would be a good place to start. The archives have been burned and rebuilt in a nearly endless cycle since then, though. They may not be complete."

"That was the time of the Demon Wars in Viper Isle?" she asked, quickly writing a note to herself in pen on her arm. "If I summoned a lesser demon from then, they may be able to enlighten me on the subject."

"No! No. Start with the archives," Evren insisted. "That can't be an option. Those demons were insanely powerful. You don't want to risk a Great Demon or a Blood Demon escaping. Do you not know what Alpheus was?"

Edana's only response was a muffled grunt of acknowledgment, while Adrian watched the conversation with interest. Evren knew so much about magic and history. Adrian didn't even understand all the things Evren rambled on about to other warlocks, but Evren knew them well. He was a constant source of knowledge and power, and Adrian loved him for it. He may not know what Evren was saying half the time, but seeing the awe on everyone's face when Evren began talking was incredible. The man was a walking encyclopedia and he was all Adrian's.

"What was Alpheus?" Adrian asked curiously. "I don't know if we ever covered Strangetown in school. It doesn't sound familiar."

"He was a yellow eyed blood demon," Evren replied, watching as a look of recognition passed over his partner's face.

"Oh, like Theo?"

Adrian watched Edana and Evren trade careful looks. Neither of them seemed to be eager to answer the question.

"Sort of," Evren decided at last. "He was very old. One of the originals. Theo doesn't have his...temperament."

"The instant he shows that temperament, he's never seeing my son again," Edana stated, her personality seemingly returning now that she had a clue to chase down. "Alpheus fought Death itself, his kind should never return. Adam will see when the time comes."

"Hey, great. We'll see you around. Nice catching up with you, Edana," Evren called, steering Adrian away from the witch before one of them exploded. He could already see the vein above Adrian's eye begin to twitch, just as it did whenever one of the kids disobeyed them on an epic scale. "Message me if you want an archive research partner, I haven't been to the archives in ages."

"What are you doing?" Adrian hissed as his partner pulled him into the hallway. "That woman! I never know whether to hate her or feel sorry for her, but I don't care what happened to her coven if she's going to hurt Theo like that. You know Adam is his whole world and if she thinks that she can push him around or try another Maricourt reunion to control him, I-"

"Breathe, my love. You know that I'd do anything for the children, but tact is what is needed here, not rash anger. Theo has proven surprisingly capable of getting what he wants, despite what Adam's parents say. I have a feeling that whatever happens between him and Adam, none of us parents have much of a say in the matter. I love that you're so protective, but fighting a council member in a Pleasantview school isn't going to change anything."

"You're right," Adrian sighed. "As always. It's just...the way she looked at me when I mentioned Theo...it was like I was talking about a monster. With his family history, the last thing he needs is his boyfriend's mother calling him monstrous or dangerous."

"Hmmm." Evren paused for a moment, trying to phrase his next words compassionately. "You mentioned Theo, you brought him up. I was just trying to prevent a desperate Strangetown witch from messing with forces she cannot control for no reason. There's something of a history of bad ideas in her family, so i thought that some intervention might be needed. The demons she was thinking of summoning were monsters, without question. The Demon War ended only with the intervention of reapers and Life and Death. Blood demons were terrible, twisted things-at least when they roamed the earth. I'm not even sure if summoning one is actually possible these days, but it would be suicide to try. Then you brought up Theo as one of their brethren and understandably, Edana's mind drew comparisons."

"Well, he's studying blood magic, what else am I supposed to think? The Sovereign calls him a blood demon herself!"

"A hybrid version of one, yes. Nowhere near the level of cruelty and malice of the original demons. It's of no help to Theo to make comparisons, no matter how good your intentions are. A lot of magic users whisper about his education and wonder if it's going to become a problem in the future."

"I see. You work with a lot of small-minded people if they think Theo's capable of becoming some monster."

"I do, absolutely," Evren agreed. He smiled playfully, hoping to change the tone of their conversation. "They're all better than dealing with Wanda."

A small smile tugged at Adrian's mouth despite his indignation.

"They are not," he replied. "She's trying her best. You've been to Arkhelios, you know what she's up against. One of these days, she's going to catch you off guard and hex you. You're ridiculous."

Evren wrapped his arms around his partner playfully, glad to see his mood improve.

"Come on, let's find Despina and say our goodbyes. We both have work to get back to."

"As much as I want to stay here forever, I have class soon," Elowen declared, continuing to kiss Travis despite her words. "Plus, I think the coven is meeting here later on, so it's probably for the best we leave."

It would be just her luck to have her mother walk in on them. That was the last thing Elowen wanted. If her mother got over finding Elowen in various states of undress in the coven meeting room, then finding out who she was spending all her time kissing would absolutely ensure she was grounded until she was thirty-five. There was no way in hell that Edana Darktide's daughter could ever be with Charlotte Maricourt's son. If she hated Theo for dating Adam, Elowen could only imagine what her mom would do if she knew she'd seen Travis Goldman in his boxers.

"Yeah, my mom would kill me if we were caught in here," Travis agreed. "She would probably like you if you wanted to come over for dinner on the weekend, though. If you don't mind her making a scene, that is. Oliver's not dating anyone and Miruna's not over very often, so she might be a bit...much if I bring someone home."

Elowen smiled.

"I know all about over the top moms, trust me," she laughed. "That sounds like fun, just, maybe let's wait a few weeks to see how things go. I really like you, Travis, but I just need time to tell my parents about us. You've seen how well they reacted when Adam started dating, I just want to avoid a scene or an elaborate Maricourt family meeting."

"Yeah, I get it. We don't have to tell anyone until we want," Travis agreed. "Seriously, my family is a lot. I don't want to scare you away, but, if I don't warn you, you'll probably run anyway and I don't want that."

"You have met my family in passing, haven't you? Seriously, you'll be the one running away."

"Challenge accepted," Travis laughed.

Someone in the hallway passed by the door and both teens froze in terror. When the footsteps carried on down the hall, the relieved teens quickly reached for their clothes.

"We'd better get out of here quick."

"No arguments here!"

"Yes! This is the best thing to ever happen to me!"

Despina took a moment to celebrate in the empty kitchen. Her life had changed overnight beyond her wildest dreams. She was attending the most prestigious school for magic and she'd already made an acquaintance with similar interests even before her first class. Her troubled parentage for once in her life wasn't holding her back; it had been the reason for her scholarship. Things in her life couldn't possibly get any better.

"Nice dance moves."

Despina stopped her private celebration when Adam appeared from down the hall.

"Adam! Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"It's my job to escort you to your first class," Adam announced formally. "I'm sorry Theo couldn't also be here to help, but he has detention. Just a piece of advice, try to arrive on time for class if you want to stay out of trouble."

"Got it."

"Despina! Just who I was hoping to see. You look incredibly studious," Evren greeted, embracing the teen warmly. "We're about to leave, is there anything else you need before we go? Do you have your schedule?"

Despina nodded.

"Yes, and my very own guide," she said, pointing to Adam. "Apparently Theo's too busy with detention."

"Again? Roman's going to hit the roof," Adrian sighed. "Despina, try to keep an eye on those two for me, will you? Don't let them talk you into skipping class, especially since those classes are incredibly expensive. Right, Mr. Darktide?"

"Right, sir," Adam answered guiltily. It wasn't as if he hated his classes, he just could think of a million things he'd rather be doing instead. "Let's get going, Despina. You don't want to be late for your first class."

"We did a good thing here, Ev. That talented witch is getting the education she needs because of you. All of our kids are going to do well because of what you give them. You have a genuine talent, and I love that about you."

The two teens quickly exited the area, now that the adults were getting sentimental and gross.

"I love you too," Evren replied, pulling his partner in for a quick kiss. "But I noticed something earlier that I want to discuss. You looked really uncomfortable when we were discussing Charlotte earlier with Edana. I'd know that brooding look anywhere."

"It's nothing. It's just that...well, I'm probably going to die for the second time somewhere under a century from now. I don't think getting kicked out of the demonic void is going to save me again. But you-"

"This is about witch lifespans?" Evren exclaimed, looking instantly relieved. "I thought you might have objected to my recommendations for research or something like that. My love, witch lifespans vary greatly. The truly powerful ones can live centuries, just like demons, but very few live past a normal lifespan for a non magical person. The effort it takes to extend a life is intense, and often filled with difficult or immoral choices. The leader of my coven in this reality died quite young and he was immensely powerful. Don't worry, I'm not planning to start over with a younger magic user when you die of extreme old age, surrounded by our family."

"I wasn't worried about that," Adrian lied, failing to hide his relief. "It's just four hundred years alone, watching your family die as they all get older...it sounds incredibly lonely."

"It does. Roman's starting to rub off on you, I think. You two worry to death about things that will never happen. Speaking of, we should probably get home before the school calls the Bellamys with news of Theo's detention. Roman's going to be livid."

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Hey, Eero. Did you want to dance? I don't see anyone else worth dancing with here."

"Uh, thanks, but I can do better than some consolation dance from a newbie," Eero shot back, still eyeing the newcomer. He was fairly handsome, if you ignored his attitude.

The Arkhelios Academy of Magic's mixer was more of a success than the students had hoped. With new arrivals settling in Arkhelios and signing up for school, Eero and Despina Darktide finally had enough classmates to be picky about their dance partners.

"You are cute though, I guess I could give you another chance."

Eero smiled flirtatiously at the boy in front of him. There were only so many people in Arkhelios and the guy was pretty easy on the eyes.

"What's your name?"

"Malik," the boy replied.

He was casual about his answer and confident in himself, which Eero found irresistible. Too many students here lacked confidence or were just trying to coast through school to get it over with. This Malik guy was different. Eero didn't even know him, but he could feel something different about this guy.

"Well, Malik, let's dance."

"This was such a nice thing to do for your cousin," Theo gushed, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend and smothering him with kisses. "Aunt Wanda's probably thrilled about the turnout too. Bringing our friends to this lame dance gives your cousins and their classmates a chance to meet cool people."

"That's surprisingly elitist of you, Theo. You're sounding like a Bellamy with that kind of talk. It's not flattering."

Adam detached himself from Theo's grasp and shot his boyfriend a nasty look.

"Just because we go to an expensive school doesn't mean that my cousins are any different than I am. It's not their fault their parents died and my mom can't pay for their tuition for our school."

"Sounding like a Bellamy?" Theo repeated, utterly confused at what prompted the words. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Just your family's attitude. Eero says that Wanda is a tyrant about the Bellamy name and how powerful it is in Arkhelios. Same with your dad. It's no secret that he boasted about his family when he went to school in Pleasantview. People remember things like that. Plus those kids over there haven't shut up about the Bellamy family since we got here. It's getting annoying."

"Kids?" Theo turned around, looking for the alleged kids, but only saw the familiar faces they'd brought from their own school. There was no one else that he recognized as Bellamys. "I don't know who you're talking about and Wanda's always like that. You've seen the mausoleum she built for our family, right? The thing that blocks most of the sunlight from my parents' lawn? I don't sound anything like Wanda. If you don't like my family, Adam, then I don't have to be here. It's not like your family is any better. At least mine hasn't dragged you in for a formal confrontation about joining bloodlines."

"Theo, that's not what I meant! I just wanted you to be nicer to my cousins. They're more sensitive about things than they sometimes show to people. All everyone talks about here is how great the Bellamys are and it's not fair. They don't have anyone else here."

"And that's my fault, how exactly?"

Bronwen watched Theo argue with his boyfriend with interest. Those two hardly ever fought, at least not in public. The party was too loud to hear what they were arguing over, but it was intense enough for Theo to storm off.

"Theo! Over here! Do you want to dance?" she called, but received no reply. Theo simply kept walking, completely unaware of his friend's offer.

"Theo! You came."

Despina waved at her cousin's boyfriend like he was the only person in the room. Theo shot an annoyed look in Adam's direction and headed over to talk to one of the cousins they'd been fighting over.

"Excuse me," she said, quickly brushing across the crowded room to greet the demon hybrid. "I didn't think you'd actually come. I appreciate it."

Theo shrugged, suddenly wary of Despina's interest in him. Clearly this invitation had been given with some kind of agenda, but he was determined to be as supportive as he could just to show Adam how wrong he was.

"It was Adam's idea," he replied cautiously. "I'm just his date. It's quite a party, you've got here."

"You don't have to lie to me, I know it's nothing like your school's parties. Wanda tries her best, but building a reputation takes time and probably more money than she has access to. We don't have a lot left over for parties. Eero's happy here, I think," Despina sighed. "He probably the only person who loves the weather in Arkhelios. He says it reminds him of Strangetown."

She paused for a moment, trying to choose her next words carefully.

"Look Theo, I'm miserable here. I know my aunt is doing her best for us, but her best isn't fair. Why do her kids get to go to the best schools in the area, while Eero and I have to stay here, far away from her sight? I know she hates my parents, but she can't be mad at us for being their kids. I never asked to be born into this messed up family and I know I can do better given the right resources. Can you please help me get into your school? Maybe I could get sponsored by someone so my aunt doesn't have to worry about the tuition either. Please. You don't know what it's like to have a dream of doing better, only to be stuck in the middle of nowhere. I know I can pass the entrance exam. I can do the work if I get the chance."

"I know all about being stuck here," Theo replied sympathetically. "I didn't think I'd ever get out of Arkhelios and learn real magic when I was younger, but I was lucky. My parents and grandma pay for my schooling even though it costs them a lot of money, probably more than they're comfortable with. I can try to see if there are scholarships or something, but there weren't any when I applied. Sorry."

Despina nodded, trying to hide her disappointment.

"Of course, that would be amazing if you could. Excuse me, I'm going to grab some more punch."

The girl walked dejectedly towards the refreshments and Theo felt terribly for her. He did know what it was like for money to stand in the way of one's dreams. What would his life be without his education? He'd probably be dead and he'd definitely not have Adam in his life. He was a completely different person with extremely different prospects in this reality than any other reality where he stayed enrolled in Arkhelios.

Well this was just the opportunity to prove to Adam that he was wrong about Theo's perceived family entitlement. Despina had come to him, a fellow scholarship student without the means to pay for his education, and not Adam, who was born into a rich, powerful family. Adam could talk all about these so called Bellamys at the party until the end of time; Adam's own cousin had turned to him for help. Now that he had proof that Adam's worries about his cousins feeling offended was completely unfounded, Theo practically skipped back to Adam's side so that he could gloat about winning their argument.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Gentlemen. How's the water?"

Victoriana cringed as she sank into the hot water. That had sounded lame even to her.

"It's fine," Travis replied, his voice clearly making his disinterest known. "It's just like any other hot tub: boring and filled with the skin cells of everyone in it."

"Gross, Travis. Shove over."

Bronwen pushed her way into the hot tub, over the protests of the boy she was shoving.

"Hey, Claudia. Hey, Theo. What's up? Anything interesting happening?"

"Not since I got in like thirty seconds ago," Victoriana snapped, irritated by her friend's arrival. How was she supposed to talk to Theo with her snooping around? Travis didn't want to be there and thus wouldn't get in her way, while Bronwen very clearly would.

"Hey, Bron, maybe you should stay inside for a bit. Your vampire skin will burn if you stay out too long."

"I'm only half vampire and can stay out for hours. You've seen me do it all the time, Your Highness. I don't want to wait in the stupid house when the excitement is happening put here."

"What excitement?" Travis grumbled, looking enviously at the house.

Victoriana frowned at the negative energy coming at her, so she playfully splashed Theo, trying to get his attention in a positive way.

Across from her, Bronwen fumed, her pale skin turning dark red. Theo didn't like to be splashed, at least not by anyone other than Adam. She'd tried it herself once and he'd glared at her, but to her astonishment, he merely smiled at the princess.

It has to be because she's rich and going to inherit Pleasantview one day. It has to be as simple as that.

"So, you see Rien, you want your brushstrokes to be confident and bold. Make a statement with your art. Fuel your creation with your emotions."

Anna examined her progress on her painting, then looked at Rien's canvas beside her. It wasn't too bad for a beginner.

Adrian had begged the reaper to help his daughter find a passion for something other than tarot card reading, and Anna had been more than willing to help. As a dead soul in the afterlife, she'd tried her hand at many things to pass the time. Everything there became tedious after a number of years. Painting wouldn't fulfill her desire for a family of her own or give her the ability to make choices and see the world change because of them, but it had been a decent distraction. Working for the grim reaper was an incredible escape from the monotony of the afterlife. All of her many hobbies did come in handy as a mother though. She was great at distracting and soothing kids with a craft or sudden game of basketball.

"I know how to paint," Adrienne replied. "We do have art class in school, remember? I'm only here to make Daddy happy so that I can get my cards back."

"Fair enough," Anna said casually.

Adrienne had been hoping for a scandalized gasp or stern disapproval, but Anna offered her nothing but indifference. Adults were supposed to be easy to manipulate, but Anna didn't even flinch. To the child, it seemed that reapers were magical creatures with nerves of steel, when really, Anna was a mom to three very strong-willed children. There was very little that she hadn't seen.

"What are you going to do if he doesn't?" she asked. "You could be waiting a very long time. It might be more fun if you tried a bunch of stuff while you wait. Make him see how little you're affected by him taking them, so he gives then back to you."

"He'll die if he doesn't. He makes the lady mad and I need to see what she's planning to help them."

This comment did cause Anna to pause. It didn't seem vengeful or angry, just a simple statement of fact.

"Your parents aren't going to die soon. I'd know about it if they were," she replied, looking at the child strangely. Again, nothing malicious was coming from her. It was like she was just reading the paper, bored by the printed facts. "What lady wants to hurt your daddy? Do you know her?"

"You only know when someone's death is written in stone," the child stated, as if it was obvious. "You'll only know when it can't be changed. I can help them if I had my cards."

"Finally! Time to finish my book," Travis exclaimed, reclining on a chair by the pool. "Everyone pretend I'm not here."

"Already done," Bronwen said, rolling her eyes as she sat beside him.

"That's looking really good so far," Anna commented. She held her brush up to the canvas and feigned a painting motion.

What on earth was this kid talking about? There were well established cases of people prophesying the future through dreams, or while under the spell of Life, but this seemed different. Part of their onboarding as reapers had been learning about the various ways a possible vision of a future could be spelled out, but this child was a mystery. She claimed to need to use her tarot deck to access the supernatural, but Anna had her doubts. The girl has demon blood and was ripped out of her father at birth as his spirit fell deep into the demonic void. What kind of impact would that have on a child? As far as she knew, the topic had never been brought up once in their reaper briefings.

"What lady wants to hurt your father?" Anna prompted again, hoping for a better response than before. "If she's dangerous, I may be able to protect your parents."

Adrienne shrugged, wiping her brush clean.

"I don't know for sure, but I keep getting the words 'red queen" when I read my cards," she replied. "She has dark hair, I think. I can almost picture her, but I need my cards."

"Dark hair, pasty skin, way too much lipstick?"

Anna held her breath as Adrienne nodded.

"Yeah, I think that's her. Why do you know her?"

"Uh, yeah, you could say that. Rien, you don't have to worry about her, she died a long time ago. Claudia took the throne from her daughter. The Red Queen is long dead."

"I just keep getting those words in my readings," Adrienne replied, her expression extremely patronizing. "I never said that she was alive or anything. You can't take everything literally when reading cards."

"Oh, well, if you see anyone who wants to hurt your dad, you can tell me or any of the adults here," Anna sighed, trying to hide her frustration from the child. "We can help."

"So, uh, Victoriana. Hi. Do you want to swim, or hang out here? We could talk if you want. I wanted to get to know you better, if that's okay."

Theo flushed, trying not to come across as dull or like he only cared about her money. Despite his best efforts, it felt like he was failing.

"I'd like to get to know you," the princess replied shyly. "I wanted to talk about demons if that's okay. How did you know you had a dark form? Does it hurt to change? How dangerous do you think your family really is these days?"

"Uh...I'm not sure," Theo answered awkwardly. He wasn't sure why the crown princess of Pleasantview was interested in his family and demons in the first place. Of course, Theo knew they were related and shared a demonic family, but Victoriana asking about it seemed odd. "It doesn't hurt, really. It kind of itches. My dad says he has our family under control, but it's nothing you have to worry about, being a princess and whatever. I can tell you about it if you want though."

"I would like that," Victoriana said cautiously. No need to seem as desperate for answers as she truly was. "I'd really like that. Your dad sounds like an interesting person."

"He is, I guess."

"Yeah. I guess."

The two teens stared awkwardly at the ground, unable to think of a way of progressing their conversation without revealing their shared paternity or coming across as some kind of weirdo.

"She knows already, Theo," Adrienne sang, as she skipped by the teens. "You both know the same secret, so stopping being weird."

"You know about me?" both teens said at once, watching their shared sister skip away. "Oh, thank god."

"I didn't know you knew," Theo said. "Here I was trying to be subtle about it and you already knew! I never thought you'd believe me!"

"My mom told me," the princess confessed. "I made her tell me and now she's mad at me, but I finally know! I've been going insane just thinking about it. Who told you?"

"I saw your connection after a spell," Theo confided. "I thought you'd think I was after your money or something if I came out and told you. I still can't believe it."

"We have a lot to talk about," Victoriana said eagerly. "Maybe you could tell me more about Roman Bellamy. I'd like to know all about him. For political analysis of course." An unwavering look passed between the half-siblings, promising that they would keep their true connection a secret from the rest of the teens at the pool. The last thing Victoriana needed was a scandal breaking out while her mother was already mad at her.

"Let's go inside and get some of that lemonade I saw Anna pouring," Theo suggested, gesturing towards the house. Victoriana nodded eagerly.

"Awsome!"

"So Adrienne has a vivid imagination," Anna began, trying to phrase her words gently. Her nephew's shoulders slumped before she could continue her sentence.

"You're telling me," Adrian groaned. "The damn thing is, she's almost always proven right when she 'imagines' things. Even Roman can't read cards like she can."

"So she says. I know you worry about her, Adrian. She seems like a very bright child. Lonely though."

"That's my main concern. Her sister has enough charisma for the both of them. Luci is in every sports team at her school and has tons of friends. Rien keeps to herself and acts like she's already thirty. I don't know what to do, Anna. I've never experienced anything like this before. I used to think that we had an interesting family, but Roman's is something else. Do I put her with other demon hybrids? Should I register her in Crystal Cove to learn about crystals and tarot readings? There has to be somewhere she can shine, but I'm at a loss for where. All I want is for her to have the happy childhood I dreamed of for her, but nothing seems to make her happy."

"We all find our paths eventually, Adrian. I know it's frustrating now, but Rien will find her way. When I was born, I was destined to be the queen of Strangetown and Twikkii Island. What my actual destiny turned out to be was quite different. And Claudia was no different. I would have never chosen the path she's walking for her, but it's where she belongs. It sounds like your daughter is beginning to figure out her future, you just need to wait and be patient."

"You've raised two teens who have turned out to be incredible adults, I'll try my best to follow your example," Adrian said, bowing his head as he spoke.

"You're way too uptight for someone of your rank," Anna teased. "With the succession guaranteed, Maura’s heirs have bumped you even further from the throne. You might as well relax and enjoy your estate like Edana's husband. Luci will need to know how to conduct herself at court, but very little else."

"That's not how my parents saw it," Adrian replied stiffly. "I have a duty to uphold to the crown. Should the unthinkable happen and the royal family is lost once more, Luci is still in the line of succession. If she didn't assume the throne herself, then she needs to defend the monarch. She should just be thankful that I'm not sending her to the military academy I was sent to. My father went there, so of course I had to as well."

She paused for a moment.

"Try growing up in Strangetown," Anna laughed. "From what I'm told, it's intense. I spent an eternity with my grandmother in the afterlife, learning about our family and traditions and a million other superstitions. I love it all, but to live it everyday? I don't envy my cousin."

"Do you think that maybe you spend too much time thinking about what your parents would do or think? They're lovely people, but you're not them."

"They weren’t perfect, that's for sure. I just miss them. I wonder what they'd say about my kids or trying to run a business with Roman. Would they like Evren? How would they help Rien? I wish I knew."

"You'll see them again someday and I know they'll be proud of you no matter what path you choose in life. Try relaxing a bit. Your kids have a long path before them, you just need to trust them."

"Relaxing? Sure, maybe when I'm dead," Adrian scoffed. "Roman needs me to manage our business and Evren needs me to keep him from murdering Wanda Bellamy and the kids need me for everything else. Maura is still pissed at me for sticking with Roman after everything and I don't know how I'm going to pay to send Fiolett to school next year, which Evren has also been extremely cagey about. Should I marry Evren? Does he even want that? If I do, will it change everything for us? If I-"

"Again, maybe you should try practicing relaxation before you take on the entire world," Anna interrupted. "Why don't you take a day just to yourself this week? Maybe even an afternoon if that's too hard. When you quiet your mind, you may find the answers you're struggling with."

"An afternoon," Adrian repeated slowly. "I guess it couldn't hurt. Abe could watch the boys while Fiolett is in school. I don't see the harm in trying."

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"You've got this. You're going to head out there and be completely normal. Theo's more powerful than me, he can probably smell fear with his demonic senses. Just be friendly and pretend it's one of mom's conferences. No one will suspect a thing."

Victoriana nodded at her reflection in the mirror. The past week had been confusing, now that she knew who her father was. Half the time she wanted to teleport to Arkhelios and run into his arms, and the other half, she just wanted to forget that he existed.

Things were weird between her and her mom now. Claudia had all but banished her from her sight and didn't text her back. Victoriana had spent the past two weekends at her grandparents' house, waiting to be summoned back to the castle. The call never came. The queen had all but banished her for the crime of pushing her to name her father, and Victoriana was starting to worry that her time with her grandparents was going to be permanent.

Her grandfather had to work most of the day, so her grandmother decided to take Victoriana and Travis to the Siew family cottage, where conveniently, Adrian and several of his children also just happened to be visiting. Ewan Traver's kids had also been deposited at the cottage, so the lot was full. If things went badly today, Victoriana could usually count on the Traver siblings to cheer her up. Bronwen especially, considering that she had also grown up without one of her parents. Bronwen's mother had abandoned her just after her birth, leaving her with a similar longing to know her place in the family tree.

It was good that her friends were there to support her if anything went wrong. Her biological father's ex-husband and children were there with her and Victoriana wasn't about to waste the opportunity.

"Okay, girls, let's start again. Ten points to Luci for winning last round."

Trent stacked the game pieces to restart the game. The twins were both ecstatic to play another round of Don't Wake the Llama, but behind them, their father wasn't amused.

"Trent, Luci needs to be in the pool practicing for her swim competition in a few weeks," Adrian insisted. "She doesn't need to be distracted with games. Rien has some math homework to do as well, don't think I didn't find that hiding under your laundry."

"Relax, Adrian, we'll just play one more round. I thought you wanted them to socialize while they're here. They can't socialize while doing homework."

"Yeah, Daddy. Rien's practicing doing something other than reading cards all day and I'm already going to win the competition even without practicing. We never get to see Uncle Trent and Aunt Cindra."

"If I do my homework, can you make Dad give me my tarot cards back?" Adrienne pleaded. "I won't fight with Luci again, I promise. Unless she starts it."

Adrian rolled his eyes in frustration. If he didn't remind his daughters about their responsibilities, he wasn't being supportive and if he did remind them, he was being uptight and strict. He couldn't win with the twins. At least Fiolett was still young enough not to sass him too often. It was only going to get worse when they became teenagers. He and Roman would need all the help they could get when the girls were Theo's age.

"Fine, play with your uncle. I have to make some calls. I'll come check on you when I'm done, and then you're doing your homework and practicing."

"Okay, girls, let's go find some information," Victoriana declared, looking expectantly at her small group of friends. The Travers children stared back at her with expectations of their own.

"Why are we trying to get info on Theo?" Elowen asked. "We've known him forever. The only thing you need to know about him is that he has a boyfriend. He won't shut up about him or talk about anything else."

"Theo talks about a lot more than just Adam," Bronwen said. "He likes a lot of things like playing guitar and practicing magic. There's a lot more to him than Adam."

"Please, like we don't all know why you really know so much about him," Elowen laughed. "You want his little demon babies. You're in love with him. Bronwen loves Theo."

"Shut up," Bronwen snapped, her face suddenly very red. "I do not!"

"We're here because I need to watch him. Because I said so, and I'm the Crown Princess so what I say goes."

Victoriana's words stopped the sisters from bickering, just as she'd intended. She was the heir to the Pleasantview throne and her tone needed to convey that. It was something she and her mother had been working on before the queen had distanced herself from her daughter.

"I just want to know him better," Victoriana explained. "His sisters too. I can't explain why."

"Alright, well prepare to learn all about what Adam eats for lunch," Elowen groaned.

"And his favourite food, colour and animal," Remy added. "Plus the names of their future kids and what month is a good month for a wedding."

"Basically, you'll know Adam a lot better than you'll know Theo," Bronwen laughed. "But if you insist."

"Ah, Vicky, I was wondering what you were up to. If you see your uncle Travis, tell him to get in the pool before lunch." Anna wrapped her arms around her granddaughter and smiled. "I saw Theo out in the hot tub on my way in. I hope you two find what you are looking for in each other. Your grandfather and I love you no matter what."

"Ew, Grandma, not in front of my friends! You make it sound like I want to date him or something. I just want to talk to him."

Anna watched Victoriana leave in search of her half-brother with worry. The poor girl couldn't handle a rejection from her sibling if this went badly. Theo seemed to be a nice boy though. She didn't see any reason why he would be rude.

Ewan should have been the one taking the kids today. He cried at the end of sappy movies and probably would have some kind of "family reconnection" party planned to help the siblings adjust to their new relationship. When he found out that he had a living half-brother of his own, Ewan had immediately set up "brother play dates" every so often to give them time alone to bond, despite being adults. Anna had no doubt that if her husband was here, he'd be doing the same for Victoriana and Theo. On second thought, maybe it was for the best that Ewan was working.

"What do you think Victoriana wants with Theo?" Bronwen asked her sister, watching as the princess took confident strides toward the hot tub. "She seems pretty determined to do whatever it is that she's doing."

"Jealous much? She has the same chance that you have with him, which would be zero. The guy is obsessed with his boyfriend, Bron. Move on."

"I'm not jealous," Bronwen hissed, looking around for anyone who might have heard the accusation. "We're just friends. And Victoriana could do way better than Theo, I'm just surprised. She's going to be queen one day and she wants Theo?"

"Maybe she just wants to yell at him for something. He's always screwing up with his blood magic, maybe he went too far and the queen is pissed," Elowen replied. "Victoriana seems jumpy whenever we mention her mom."

"I think something might be going on with her mom," Bronwen said, looking over her shoulder to check for eavesdroppers. "You've seen how twitchy Dad has been lately, and your mom seems to be practically living in the archives. When I tried to do my homework on her desk, I could barely find a place to write on. She had all sorts of weird books and scrolls."

"Yeah, something is up with her. I found her crying in the kitchen before we left for school, but of course she denied it. Do you really think their weirdness has something to do with Victoriana's mom? Victoriana has been staying at her grandparents' house on the weekends now, which is weird, and now she's determined to talk to Theo? It's all weird, but does it mean anything?"

Bronwen shrugged.

"I guess we'll see how this thing with Theo goes today. Maybe it's all just a coincidence."

Travis Goldman tried to walk as quietly as he could across the backyard, hoping to sneak past his mother's watchful eyes. He wasn't sure just what powers a reaper had, but she had to have super sensitive hearing for all the times she had caught him trying to sneak out of social occasions.

Today was no different. His royal niece had been staying with them, forcing social interactions on him the entire time. Now he had to endure a bunch of loud kids and all of Victoriana's friends at the busy family cottage. All he wanted to do was sit down with a good book and ignore all the noisy people around him, but his mother would never allow that. He had to always put on a smile and try to make some friends everywhere he went. His parents "worried about him" far too much. All the damage and trouble he'd caused at school made them think that he was lonely or lashing out because there was something in his life that he lacked. Ironically, the only thing he did need from them was some space, which the two of them could never give.

"Travis, honey, are you alright? Do you want a snack? I think the other teens are meeting in the hottub if you want to join them."

"Mom, I was just going to read a little. I don't want to use the hottub, I want to read. By myself."

"Well that sounds lonely," Anna said. "Why not join the other teens? You know all of them. They're nice girls and I'm sure they wouldn't mind the company."

"Maybe," Travis muttered. "Can I at least read a few chapters? I'm at a cliffhanger."

Anna frowned. It wasn't an unreasonable request, but the instant she said yes, her son would be locked in a room in the cottage, completely alone with the stacks of books he could magically summon. There was no way that he'd actually meet with the other teens.

Her other two children had had the opposite problem as teens. Claudia and Oliver were extremely social, driven to be the top student with a large group of followers. Travis was shy and reclusive by nature and his parents were at a loss trying to know what was best for him.

His biological mothers had both been outgoing, charismatic witches who had the combined audacity to try to kill the Grim Reaper. Travis had none of those traits, preferring to read quietly until people forgot that he was still in the room. She and Ewan had tried to raise him just as they did their biological children, and she'd like to believe that they had succeeded. Little Travis was an introvert in a family of extroverts; maybe it was just as simple as that.

"Go finish that chapter and then maybe you can read beside the pool," she decided. "You don't have to swim, but maybe you can join in some of the conversations later. I love you, you know that, right? I just want what's best for you."

Travis reacted to her words with embarrassment, just as Victoriana had earlier. God forbid an adult tell a teen that they loved and supported them.

"I'll go in the hottub for twenty minutes," Travis proposed, noticing the worry on his mother's face. "But that's it. Then I get to read as much as I want."

Anna had experience with the darkest minds, and the most hateful creatures of the supernatural world, but they were nothing compared to the roller coaster of parenting teenagers.

"I think that sounds very mature and understanding of you. I appreciate you and our talks, Travis."

"Mom!"

With that, Travis scurried away to find a bathing suit, desperate that none of the other teens see his mother expressing her feelings for him.

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"And so you see, I just need help with my- look over there!"

Getting Theo to meet alone in their private quarters was easier than Lukas ever thought. The boy was far too trusting for someone who had had the traumatic childhood he'd had. The little demon had eagerly agreed to help Lukas with his homework without a second thought for his own safety. Either the boy was an idiot or perhaps the deity had misjudged him. A rogue demonic agent would surely have more training and experience and never have followed his target back to their room.

Still, it was critical for Lukas to examine the boy. Saren had some plan for him, that was certain at least. How much had she revealed to her pawn? A quick examination would reveal her scheme for sure.

After weeks of surveillance at school in a non-threatening disguise, Lukas had turned up nothing of interest. The kid hung around his boyfriend like his life would end if they were separated, and his other friends had no clear red flags. All Lukas had learned was that their own twin children were far more socially connected than they or their husband thought. Destiny had a whole list of friends her parents had never met, and Davis clearly had a crush on someone if the rumor mill was accurate. Lukas had better things to do now that this surveillance operation had grown boring.

There was only one way to settle the matter: a hands on examination of the demon's thoughts. The practice was looked down upon as an invasion of privacy for the limited amount of people who could actually perform the spell. There were no laws against it, magical or otherwise. Aside from Lukas and his father, almost no one could even attempt the maneuver.

When Theo opened his eyes, he found himself at home, with Too destroying her favourite toy. Hadn't he just been at school? How weird.

"Hey, Theo. Wanna dance?"

Theo turned around to find Justice Bertino standing in front of the stereo, looking invitingly at him. Beside her, Rose Rivales, watched him with a jealous expression.

"Uh, sure," he replied, extremely confused, but not opposed to the idea. What he had just been doing slipped entirely from his mind, along with his devotion to Adam. Justice pulled him in like a siren with Rose perched, waiting for her turn.

"I really like you, Theo. I always have."

Before Theo could even blink, Justice had disappeared and been replaced by Bronwen. Theo had always thought of her as a friend, one of his oldest. Suddenly, that familiar feeling vanished, replaced by a warmth that was radiating through his body.

"I like you too," Theo whispered, reaching for her hand and watching the hair on his arms stand up as he did.

There was something exotic and dangerous about a vampire hybrid. She understood him and how the world saw him and she was so pretty....

"Oh, Theo, I'm so glad you invited me over. I've had such a crush on you."

Theo blinked as Destiny Lane appeared before him, mashing their lips together before he could react. Whatever was happening to him was strange, but not unpleasant.

"Alright, I've seen enough. Like my daughter would ever be attracted to you. She has higher standards than that."

Lukas pulled away, freeing the teen from their spell. Skimming his tiny mind hadn't revealed evil intentions, just a normal, horny teenager. If there was something sinister, Lukas would have found it. The boy wasn't trained at all on shielding his true thoughts. If he was capable of that, surely the child wouldn't have revealed a crush on Lukas' own daughter.

"What-what happened?" Theo asked, groggily rubbing his eyes. "Did I fall asleep? When did I get here? Sorry, Hayden, I must have been sleepwalking or something."

"Yeah, no worries," Lukas replied, far more focused on maintaining their disguise than the little demon. Using that much energy at once could have shifted their appearance.

"Thanks so much for sharing your potions notes with me," Simon exclaimed, gesturing wildly. "I was doomed to fail without them. You're the best."

Adam flushed at the compliment. He hadn't done anything impressive, but Simon looked so grateful. He was the son of a Strangetown prince and had the same level of parental pressure as Adam. Failing a test wasn't an option for either of them.

He's cute.

Adam shook his head, desperate to clear his mind. Theo was cute, Simon was just pleasant to look at. There was no comparison.

"Uh, I gotta meet Theo," he stammered, scrambling away from the grateful boy.

What was wrong with him? His parents both told him that puberty was a time when he'd be attracted to lots of people in order to understand who he was and who he was drawn to, but his heart belonged to Theo. They were going to get married after graduating. They'd already picked out baby names. It was wrong to cheat on Theo in his mind; surely Theo never thought about anyone but him.

Adam bolted down the hall, where Theo was standing in a daze, looking a million miles away.

"Theo!"

Theo snapped back to reality upon hearing Adam's voice.

"Adam! I have the weirdest headache all of a sudden. Hayden must think I'm high or something, just wandering into their room like that. Maybe I should sit down."

"Here, I'll help you," Adam said quickly, grabbing Theo's hands. "I'll always be here to help you, no matter what."

With a slight cracking sound, a celestial being descended into Lukas' assigned quarters.

"Your husband sends his regards," the being declared. "He's wondering if you're going to be returning for the night or if your 'important' work will keep you busy."

Lukas rolled their eyes.

"No, Michael, I think my experiment has run its course for now," they replied. Leave it to Death to send one of his reapers to check up on them. Back in the old days, Death would have come himself. "The little demon has nothing more on his mind than hormones and I don't need to stick around for that. If Saren is planning something, the kid is ignorant of it. The last thing I need is a teenage love triangle at the moment. Something is wrong and this kid is just a horny red herring. Saren probably wanted me to waste time on this, knowing her. I can always return to this cesspool of hormones whenever I want."

"Why do you always assume your half-brother's identity?" the reaper asked curiously, staring at the photo of a red head on the wall that Lukas had clearly been using as a family photo to complete their disguise. "Death never says, but it's messed up. Do you even talk to him? The rumor around headquarters is that you hate Hayden."

"None of your business!" Lukas snapped irritably. "And I do hate him. He's an entitled prick and that's all you need to know."

They paused, calculating their next move. The little hybrid didn't know his true purpose, which meant that Lukas couldn't pry it from him. They were certain that demons were involved somehow, but they had nothing to work with.

There was a new threat crackling through the currents of life. Whatever was wrong involved Pleasantview and Strangetown, that much they knew. Probably Arkhelios as well in some strange way. Arkhelios was increasingly becoming a problem.

"I have to make a stop before I go home," Lukas decided. "Tell my husband that I'll be a little late for dinner. I have to stop in Strangetown for a bit. Something's not right. Something feels...familiar."

In an instant, Lukas vanished from sight, intent on their newest mission.

"I'll be sure to pass that along."

"Oh, hi, Justice. What are you doing here?"

Theo waved awkwardly at the girl he'd strangely just been thinking of. Considering that she didn't attend his school, Justice's appearance seemed oddly timed.

"Hi, Thomas," the girl said kindly. "I'm visiting my boyfriend. Can you point me to the common room?"

"It's Theo. The common room is down the hall to the left."

Theo could feel his cheeks burn with a foreign emotion. He barely knew the girl and still her indifference to him hurt in a way he didn't understand. They'd crossed paths a few times, but he'd never given her a second thought. With Adam beside him, he didn't need to think about anyone else.

Surely he'd hit his head somehow. He didn't remember hitting it anywhere, but why else had he been in Hayden's room? Why did his stomach twist in knots thinking about the blonde girl he barely knew?

"Come on, Adam, let's go grab a snack from the kitchen, I'm feeling a bit lightheaded," Theo decided, grabbing his boyfriend's hand. "Then we can 'study' for our runes final."