I woke up around five or six. Alain was still out like a light. Whatever happened to him yesterday wore him out. He was asleep when we had dinner. Lie was too, but that was because I spelled her.

I needed air. Being alone was suffocating. Alain would tell me it was okay to wake him, but he needed the sleep since he didn't sleep much under the best of circumstances.

Wandering into the kitchen, I found Ms. Sarah at the table with a coffee mug and newspaper.

"Everything alright, sweetie?"

"Just feel sort of tight this morning. Don't really know why..."

I was out of that wretched place. That shouldn't have happened. Having either of my brothers next to me was usually enough.

"Feels strange, doesn't it? Could you be missing Cece?"

Cece? I never brought that up in front of her. Had Alain? Wait. Why did she need to hear that from us?"

A chill charged through me. "Kayleigh! Sarah?"

Ms. Sarah come and wrapped her arms. "I'm just sorry I couldn't tell you sooner. I didn't want to overwhelm your friends and I was afraid of how you'd react."

I didn't blame her. This couldn't have been easy to tell me.

"So, you're my Aunt Sarah?"

"I am. I was still in school when you were born. If Lany and Phoenix weren't born so close together, I probably would've visited then."

I leaned into her. "You wanted to meet us?"

"Of course. Atsushi thought I'd pop from too much excitement each time I found out each of you were going to be born."

"Was it just hard because of the divide between worlds?"

"If I could've, I would've been there when you were born."

Ms. No, Aunt Sarah wasn't lying. Her warmth assured me of that.

Aunt Sarah had tears in her eyes. "Leon and Noelle made a grave for her, right?"

I nodded. I'd only seen it once or twice. I never liked the idea of a grave. It was an eerie place. Just because it was where the body was didn't mean that was where the rest of the person was.

"Could you take me there?"

"I need to see if Noelle can get us through. My brother seemed exhausted, so I'd rather not wake him." The winds around me woke up. "Does he know?"

Aunt Sarah shook her head. "I didn't realize you were Cece's kids for a long time. Leon never told me that he visited you before that time came. He was too afraid to say anything cuz he knew the story was really out there."

It definitely was. As a big sister, my heart ached knowing I put him through that.

"I accepted it, because I spent my early years watching Cece and Noelle's bond grow on Engrada. When he finds out, my husband will probably think I had a bad dream or something."

Probably...

I pulled out my phone and dialed Annie. I hoped I wasn't waking her.

She picked up the phone right away. "Tiana?"

"Could you open the gate home for me? I wanna go back, but I don't wanna wake my brother."

I grabbed Aunt Sarah's hand. It was soft and warm. It was so familiar.

Annie opened the gate, so we walked through together.

She was waiting for us on the other side. She was still in night clothes, though.

"Kayleigh, are you playing tricks on me?" Annie had gone pale. In that moment I forgot her new body for the more child-like one I knew growing up. "Sarah? Is that you?"

Aunt Sarah embraced Noelle. "It really is."

"Kayleigh." Noelle went stiff. "Is she?"

"She is."

Noelle had tears in her eyes. "I had no idea he was your son. No one ever told me."

"I was planning to let him experience this place, but this boy who was stationed by our summer property told me it wasn't safe. Leon said the same thing, but he always kept me in the dark."

Noelle gazed into Aunt Sarah's eyes. "You look well."

Noelle was definitely older than Aunt Sarah. I could hear it in her tone. Noelle got to watch her grow up while she was here.

"Did you make her a grave?"

"Come with me." Noelle was letting her powers rather than her feet carry her.

I hadn't been to the grave in months. Probably not since his evolution in October.

I was desperate when I went back then. At this point, I had the body of a nine-year-old, so my mind had the opportunity to grow up at least a little bit. I was still very much a kid, though.

I was so worried about him. It was the first time I got to see him evolve. Phoenix was around seven or so at the time. We weren't able to keep him away. He doesn't seem scared, but it worried me, Annie, and Leon. His ability to communicate exploded after we got out, but he always seemed more childlike.

Even after all these years, I still remembered his first word. It was a bittersweet day for me and Mother. His first word was Daddy. It was the day Daddy first got sick...

Phoenix was only two or three or so when it happened. We doubted he could remember Daddy. I had memories, but there weren't many. I was only five at the time...

Aunt Sarah knelt in front of Mother's grave. "I'm so sorry, Big Sis... I should've made it a point to visit you once in a while. By the time Kayleigh brought you home, I hadn't seen you since I was little girl."

Not since she was a kid? How much older was Mother than Aunt Sarah?

"Our kids should've met when they were still babies. Maybe things would've been different if we hadn't drifted so far apart."

I didn't feel good... It was cold and sticky... The air was heavy. I would've lost my breakfast if I'd had any.

A chill surged through my body. My gaze drifted leftward.

There stood a headstone. It looked much like Mother's. Why hadn't I seen it before? Was it always here?

I fell to my knees. "Daddy..."

There were strong, hairy arms wrapped around me.

"Leon?" This was Aunt Sarah.

"I had to come when Noelle told me you were here. I wanted to be here in case you needed me."

Noelle left us something before she vanished.

"Leon?" My voice shook. "Did Daddy always have a grave here?"

"He did. You'd only came here to see it once before. Cece wanted to give you the chance to say goodbye after we put him in the ground. You never liked it here."

I still didn't. It was a waste of space. What use was a grave when you had to go to it? My piece of Mother was this ring. I had it with me no matter when I missed her.

"You must miss him dearly."

I buried my face in his shirt and just cried. I hadn't cried for him since I was a little girl. I couldn't afford that opportunity for myself while we were sealed away. I needed to be strong for Phoenix. If I cried, so would my baby brother. I couldn't have that.

Leon helped me to my feet. "Tiana, I have something to show you."

Aunt Sarah bowed her head. "Go on ahead. I'd like a moment to be alone with my sister."

What was Aunt Sarah thinking? Just cuz that was where her body was, didn't mean Mother was there. Why would Mother confine herself to that space when she wasn't tethered to an earthly body anymore?

Leon led me back to the palace. He led me down the innumerable long hallways. He led me upstairs. He led me into a room I hadn't stepped foot in since I was five years old.

This was Daddy's room. This was where he did his work. This was the room where our workers didn't dare to bother him.

I loved this room. It was quiet. I could be alone with Daddy. I wasn't a princess. I was just a little girl. This was one of the most normal rooms in the entire palace.

"Rachel insisted on helping me do some work, so I asked her to comb through some of the old documents. I didn't care if they were organized or not when I fled the palace." Leon flinched at those words. "The night before last, she came upon some letters Connor wrote. She came to me saying it didn't feel right for her to go through them. I longed to hear his voice, so I went through them myself. That was when I came upon a note, he wrote a few weeks before Kayleigh came to lead him home."

I picked up my head. "A note?"

"He had commissioned a jewelry maker from his hometown. Apparently, they had gone to school and played together."

"Where was Daddy's hometown?"

"If memory serves, it was called Villars. It was a little town. Many pass through it on their way to Bea's Blaire. Often times, they won't believe it unless you show them a map of the region."

Bea's Blaire? Where had I heard that name before?

Leon opened the drawer on Daddy's desk. "He knew this person was an expert craftsman. He also wanted to support an artisan from his hometown."

That was wonderful. Surely, we had jewelers in the palace, but it was more important to Daddy to support someone from his hometown. The gift itself was more than the person who crafted it.

Leon set a piece of tissue paper in my hands and smiled. "Open it."

And so, I did.

Hidden beneath the plain, white tissue paper was a silver bracelet. It had things hanging off it. hearts, stars, music notes, swirls of wind, and tiny embers.

"Leon. What is this?"

He took the bracelet and put it on my non-dominate wrist. "I believe this would be called a charm bracelet."

A charm bracelet...

"Connor planned to give it to you for your sixth birthday. He never told me or Cece. Otherwise, we would've given it to you back then."

"Leon, I don't care about that. I never expected any presents from Daddy after he died. You and Mother and the staff gave us more presents than we knew what to do with after that happened."

Leon pulled out another container. "You deserved it. You did what you could to hide your true feelings from us, but we knew you were hurting. You were always incredibly close to him."

Crying and pain wouldn't change the past. I always knew that on some level.

"As for your beloved brother, we felt the need to spoil him for an entirely separate reason. He was only three years old when Connor journeyed home to be with Kayleigh. His speech was so limited back then. We never knew if he understood what happened. It compelled us to do whatever we could to make him happy. It hurt for us to see him cry."

That made my heart ache too. Especially if it happened, because he didn't have the words to tell me what happened. It was tempting to force Annie's hand to make her teach me how to read minds, but I never went through with it.

"What is that?"

Leon opened the big round box.

"A pocket watch? Are you saying Daddy wanted to give Phoenix a pocket watch?"

Leon nodded. "Connor enjoyed collecting them. This was apparently your brother's favorite. In the note he talks about your gift, he mentioned he wanted to give it to his boy. It also asks you, me, or Cece to give it to him if Connor isn't able to."

Kayleigh. Daddy was incredible. I never expected any of that. I should've known better. He was the best daddy ever.

"The prince's birthday is yet to come, right?"

I nodded.

"You should give it to him then."

I had tears in my eyes when I shut the box. "I will."

I found Aunt Sarah in the entrance seemingly petrified by the grand staircase. She had the thing Noelle left us in her hands. It was a strange black box.

"Are you ready to go home?"

She nodded.

I opened the portal and hoped Kayleigh smiled on us. I didn't want to run into the others the second we got back.

***

Thoughts on Tiana, Sarah, and Leon? The graves and the gifts from beyond the grave? Theories? Predictions?

~Shino out!