Chapter 11: Loss

“That doesn’t make any sense” Leah says as she paces the cottage trying to calm herself  “Yeah if that were true, that would mean you are at least 500 years old” Malcoy adds he looks slightly calmer than his wife “when we found Celeste she was barely a week old, her umbilical cord stump was still attached to her body” he continues. The old lady sighs “did I not just tell you her mother was a time aetherius?” Leah and Malcoy remain silent “well if she truly wanted to hide her child from danger, where would she send her?”

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I run into the palace to go find my parents, the rogues that aren’t dead yet are retreating. When I get inside the palace walls I take off the helmet that’s part of my pack warrior uniform, I throw it on the floor and I bump into someone who is running towards the west gate. I apologize to him and continue running, I need to find my parents. I make my way to the courtroom and there are twenty guards by the door about five of them point their guns at me and immediately I scream “I’m Celeste Eques, I’m looking for my parents” one of the guards recognizes me and says “Oh that’s Gregory’s little sister, let her in” the guards lower their guns and let me in. As soon as I get into the room I spot my parents with Mirena and Alyssa “where the hell were you?” my mother says as soon as she sees me, I hug her and my dad “I was with the guards at the west gate” I say “You were what?!” the entire group screams “I’m here now and I’m fine so lets focus on that” I add, my dad gives me a look that tells me we will circle back to this discussion later but he doesn’t say anything else. “Do you have any idea where that blast came from?” Mirena asks, I rub my right thumb in the middle of my left palm and hope to the goddess that my parents don’t notice what I just did, I respond to everyone saying that I have no clue where the blast came from. Technically, it’s not a lie, I have no idea how that blast came out of me and I am sure if I say it out loud as soon as this rogue situation is over I might find myself in a nice institution with a lovely jacket on.  The courtroom doors open again and the guard who recognised me earlier walks in to announce that we are safe now and the teams are returning.

Everyone is rushing out trying to find their loved ones. I am outside with my parents, Alyssa and Mirena anxiously looking out for my brothers and Gerald. The cars arrive at the palace and all the different uniform colours are mixing together. It’s chaotic but at least everyone is safe. I begin to feel panic rise in my chest then I hear Mirena say “praise gaia” I turn and I see Anthony and Greg walking in and just behind them Noah is helping someone in blue all three of them are fine there’s not a single scratch on them. My relief is dashed when I see that the person Noah is helping isn’t Gerald. They get to us and there’s hugs all round then I start looking around again, my entire family is standing behind me now, my mother rubs my back “don’t worry honey, he is going to show anytime now”. It feels like we are all holding our breath now, I am digging my nails into my palms, then I see someone in blue walking up to me. I smile as Hunter stands in front of me “Gerald?” I ask and he swallows then opens his palm revealing a blue tassel that has the initial “G” on it, the tassel I gave to Gerald in the morning. 

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the hooded figure stands in front of a cave, all the rogues return and stop in their tracks when they see it. “Did you get it?” it asks when the final rogue returns, the rogue lowers its head to the ground admitting that it has in fact disappointed his master. The hooded figure walks up to the rogue and breaks its neck causing the others to flinch in fear. “Pathetic” it says as it walks away from the dead body and the other rogues