Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or ill.

( Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)

At first, I thought it was a prank. You see, you start being friends with Hugo and, after a short while, you sort of expect pranks to pop out anywhere, anytime. He can be really creative about them, really.

So when he started shaking my shoulder, telling me I needed to stop reading and go before both of us got into trouble, I was suspicious. Very suspicious.

That suspicion grew to full out paranoia the second I saw Natalia in the living room – Nat wasn't a born prankster, but she sure loved to help Hugo with his pranks. Not that I didn't understand, despite how annoyed it made me when I was pranked... After all, nobody can deny it made for a break of monotony, a way to pass time.

Things In Between could be quite boring. As there were no nights, no sense of time passing, it was easy to fall into a routine that never ever ended. A forever repeating loop.

It wasn't pleasing, and if some were to be believed, it could induce madness. Clarisse, one of the Instructors at the School In Between seemed to be a firm believer in that.

"The Weak don't survive long in here." She told me on a particular day, as we were leaving. "You need a strong purpose, something to guide you, as you no longer have time to do so. We never realize how much we depend on time until we no longer have it."

Well, strong purpose or not, Hugo's pranks were a way to count time. We could say a thing had happened 'before he pranked Luc' and 'after he pranked Malach.' It might not seem much, but when you lived as we did, it was something.

I had managed to find a different way to guide myself through the endless days - and, once again, I had to thank books for that. My average reading speed meant I could read a book of around three hundred pages or so a day, so every time I read a book that size I counted a day had passed.

It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

And before you ask, yes, I was using a notebook for it. If my calculations were right, this meant that roughly sixty-five days had passed since I first woke up here, In Between. Natalia had let me pull her kitchen table in the bedroom, and with a chair, I had a nice place for studying... And the kitchen table got used.

I mean, she never ate. Why do you need a kitchen table when you don't eat?

So, it had been roughly two months. I have to admit I wasn't studying when Hugo shook me and told me to follow.

I mean, the book was open. There was paper and a handful of scribbled notes. But my mind? That was far, far away.

I wondered how they were doing.

Of course, you know who they were. My parents, Jace, Ingy, Dash...

I wondered. I worried. I fretted – and then I called myself names. No reason for worrying about things you can't change, that's just a waste of time and energy.

Then I wondered again.

Last night – or before I finished reading "How to protect yourself against Magic, volume one" – Natalia and I had talked about it.

"It's cute," she insisted, as I pretended to smooth the sheets on the bed. I still needed the bed – mostly as they were still patching me up. I had a feeling things healed slower in the In Between, because even cuts I thought would heal within two, three days seemed to take forever.

Or maybe it was due to infection.

Nevertheless, she watched me as I gingerly laid down and prepared for the inevitable poking and prodding that would follow.

"I think he stole it from Jace." She continued, as if she wasn't carefully taking away the coverings. It hurt. "Nobody knows about it... well, we do, and I think his aunt knows as well. It's cute."

"But why would he steal a package from my favorite caramels?" I wondered, shaking my head. I remember how much I enjoyed eating them whenever I read – the taste of melted sugar always made me smile. "It's silly."

"It's not silly, it's cute." She corrected and I could almost see her smile inside my head. "He bought a ton of those caramels, did you know?"

That was cute

"And he's been searching for ways to bring you back – that has worried Malach for a bit. After all, not all the ways he's been discovering are, how do I put it, good." I hissed – a bit because it hurt, a bit because I was worried. "We're worried about what he's going to do if he becomes desperate."

I was hoping it wouldn't come to that, which is why when Malach walked in the living room with Luc, signaling for Luc to come closer to me as he sat by Natalia I felt as if I had eaten a stone.

A heavy one.

"Is everything all right?" I whispered and winced when Malach's eyes on me were somber.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked, offering me a picture. I took it from his hands without hesitating, my hands trembling as I tried to understand what it was I was seeing.

It was a beautiful sculpture of a rose, made of what looked like to be a pale pink crystal.

"This," he said, tapping on the picture. "is the Sacred Rose. As of yesterday's evening, it's missing... and the Army has asked that we recover it."

The Army was short for the Holy Army – and trust me, you didn't want to mess with them. They were the Law and Order in In Between, and their job was to make sure that no troublemaker entered Serenity or Heaven.

As a student, I didn't have many interactions with them, but everybody heard whispers. The Army wasn't known for being merciful or kind, but they were fair - and the stories of punishments applied by them were enough to give one nightmares... if, you know, you slept.

That said, I told myself I didn't need to be afraid. I wasn't going to do anything wrong and having the Army owning you a favor, well, it could come in handy someday, right?

Listen to me, I even sound as if I know what I'm doing. Look what dying did to you...

"As some of you know, the Sacred Rose is one of the blessed items. Its power is to take volatile situations and turn it into peaceful ones. For example, should you offer this rose to a general, he would be willing to sign a peace agreement. If you gave it to a crying toddler, he would settle down... and so on." Stopping to face us, Malach's expression grew grave. "As any Holy object, it needs to be recovered before whoever stole it can use the Rose for evil. Are we understood?"

We all nodded and I blinked. "At least, it's for peace. I mean, it's hard to use a Rose that brings peace for evil, right?"

Malach's expression darkened. "Oh, Maisie... but there are horrible, horrible things that have been done by evil men who had the Rose with them... After all, peace is just another way of non-resistance, right? For the Rose to work, the person giving them for the other has to be a kind-hearted one, one who wished to compromise for peace. This way, the arrangement is fair to both sides - anything else is just someone telling the other what to do."

With those words weighing heavily in my head, I turned to glance at Natalia when she coughed delicately.

"Well, now I'm sure you're wondering what you are doing here, Maisie - after all, your goal is clear." Smiling, she got to her feet even as Malach sat down. "The thing is, we have reasons to believe the Rose is currently in Dashiel's hands."

"Dash?!" I couldn't hide my surprise. "You must be wrong! I mean, Dash... he's not a bad person. He wouldn't do something wrong, even if he did have the Rose."

"We don't believe he stole it," Nat rushed to add, patting me on the shoulder as one might try to pet an angry kitten. "we just believe it's in his hands – which means we have two things we need to do – first, we need to recover the rose. Second, we need to discover where and from whom he got it from."

"And three," Malach added, getting to his feet and facing all of us. "we need to do this before Izak discovers that Dash has one of the holy items. If Izak steals the Rose, things are going to be incredibly more complicated."

"Not to mention, May, you shouldn't be going back there - not yet. But as you know Dash and he knows you, it should make things easier if you ask him for the Rose. That said, it's dangerous for you to be there for long, especially as your wounds haven't yet healed."

I grimaced "This is strange, isn't it? It should have healed already, right?"

Hugo poked me and grinned. "Don't worry, darling Maisie May. We'll be with you each step of the way!"

Frowning at Hugo, Malach took a deep breath. "Very well. Let's get a move on. We need to get it back as soon as possible."

*

Things are always easier in our head than it is in reality.

We didn't account for the day, which meant that when we arrived at Dash's house, it was a school day. Which meant he was at school.

The only person in the house was Savannah Blackwoods, and I had to say I was surprised to see her sitting at Dash's mother's home office.

It didn't fit her at all.

The earthy shades of browns and greens provided a very peaceful ambiance, and I found myself sitting in a chair to watch her work.

And I fell right through it, much to Hugo's pleasure.

As he was laughing at me, Malach poked his head inside the room and gave me a nod. "We'll go ahead and search for the Rose. You stay here with Hugo, just in case we meet trouble." Turning to Hugo, he added a glare. "And I hope, Hugo, you understand the seriousness of what we are doing here."

Laughter instantly disappearing from his face and eyes, Hugo glanced at Malach with a serious expression. "I do. More than anyone."

A nod from Malach and then he was gone, leaving a now gloom Hugo to pace around.

I was thinking about what could I say to cheer him up when my eyes fell on Miss Savannah's worried expression.

"What a gloom air in here..." she whispered, shaking her head as if to clear it up. "I better add some incense."

As she rummaged her bag for the correct incense, I turned to glance at Hugo.

"Sorry," he grumbled, glancing from Miss Savannah to me and then back at Miss Savannah. "I didn't mean it... But Malach really knows how to press my buttons, I tell you."

It was weird to see Hugo in a bad mood - he was always so cheerful and upbeat. But I guess that just goes to prove that we never know what is underneath a person's face, what goes inside this person's heart.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. That was a thing though - how many times I pretended to fit? How many times did I hide in the bathroom inside my grandparents' house, counting breaths in order to be able to head out there and face the family?

How many times I wanted to scream for help, but no one heard me?

It was always clear in my head that family is the one thing that we're supposed to have for sure. Family is the one that supports you, helps you up when you are down and loves you independently of who you are or what you can do.

What kind of person was I that I couldn't make my own family love me?

I didn't feel safe at my grandparents' and I hated huge family parties. Just the thought of all those people, all those eyes looking at me, judging me, it made my heart beat faster, my hands sweat and my eyes were suddenly filled with tears. I just wanted to get out, I needed to get out--

"May? Are you alright?"

Hugo's hand touching mine made me come back to what we were doing, to where I was. No more eyes on me, no more voices telling me what a failure I was, what a disappointment I was. No more voices asking if I really should eat the dessert or about when I'd let Mom help me pick my clothes. How I should talk more. How I shouldn't keep reading those 'childish' books.

No more.

It was difficult coming back. I forced myself to focus on what was going on - on the feeling of Hugo's hand on mine, on the soothing lavender scent from Miss Savannah's incense. Whenever I went back there, be either in reality or in my head, it was always difficult to get out. To shut up the voices.

I don't know how long it took me, but when I came back Hugo wasn't the only one there any longer.

Luc was looking at me with worry in his eyes and I forced myself to smile a bit.

It must have been the smile from Hell, the way he looked spooked by it. I couldn't help but laugh.

They looked more relieved when I laughed and, to be honest, I felt better too. I always did.

Ingreth knew how much I hated going to the huge parties my family would throw every now and again - I had a huge family, huge parties were just a consequence.

I couldn't skip them - though I did try, most often than not. I couldn't avoid it. But they ended, and then I got to go over to my room and read my books. I could live wonderful and dangerous adventures as I munched on caramels and chocolate. It was my happy place.

As long as I kept that image inside my head, I could face anything.

Though I was unable to do that now, I had Hugo and Luc. They didn't say anything - they didn't need to. Their eyes told me they accepted me, no matter what.

I guess, in a way, they felt more like family than my own family did. Hugo and Luc, my new brothers - not that Jace would lose his spot as my favorite big brother, but there was a nice feeling of comfort growing in my chest, a feeling of... Acceptance. Unconditional love.

I couldn't make it stop.

As I was going over my feelings, I heard the door downstairs open and my heart stopped. Dash was home.

*

I had this scene in my mind - of Dash rushing up the stairs, grabbing me and twirling me around the room. He was supposed to tell me he missed me and that he never, ever thought of Ingy in that way.

Yes, I was still stewing over that.

But what can I say, I was really good at stewing. Jace would say that making me mad was the worst thing ever, even worse than making Joanne mad - because Joanne would blow and get over it. I'd stew.

I could stew for months.

That said, my adorable movie version of our meeting never happened. Instead, Dash went to his bedroom, showered, and then went back downstairs.

I wanted to follow after him, but Hugo said nay and Luc stood in front of the door, looking every bit the bodyguard he had decided to be. I was, of course, reviewing their applications on becoming my brothers.

I was getting mad.

But I didn't need to fire them before they were hired, thankfully, as Dash came back upstairs carrying two plates of what looked like chicken breast sandwiches.

"Aunt Savannah, I made a sandwich for you, as I know you've probably forgotten to eat already." He said, walking inside with ease as he deposited the plates on her table, grabbing one of the sandwiches for himself. "Did you have any new books for me?"

They started talking and he was halfway through his sandwich before he finally turned away from the table.

Before he saw me.

╭───────╯•╰───────╮

THERE IS NEW INFORMATION IN THIS CHAPTER - THAT SAID, YOU STILL SHOULD BE ABLE TO FOLLOW THE STORY IF YOU READ THE PREVIOUS VERSION OF IT.

Originally published: December 16th, 2019

Revised: March 24th, 2020

╰───────╮•╭───────╯