Our Deathly Love

I had to wonder if what I was doing was a good idea. Yes, I was attracted to Jasper, I knew I could not lie about that, but was I ready to date? How do you know if you are ready to take that big step from friendship into dating? I hardly knew the boy, yet I was infatuated. Why was I infatuated with him?

I let out a sigh as I ran my fingers through my hair, looking grudgingly into the bathroom mirror. I was about to go on another date with Jasper, my second date with him in less than a week. I was so confused; this was not an ordinary date.

Most people go out to eat, maybe go to a movie on a date, but I was doing something entirely different.

Baby-sitting and gardening was not exactly the most romantic thing. Yet, that was exactly what we were going to do. I would enjoy it though, as long as Phillipe and Cecelia behaved themselves.

Perhaps I could even teach them how to do a little gardening? That would be entertaining; it would be as if they were my siblings, the siblings that I wanted badly.



I had to admit that my outfit was made more towards the babysitting than the possibility of an actual date. I still could not help but smile down at my attire which consisted of a simple grey panda undershirt, dark wash jeans, my key necklace, and a pair of thick grey flip flops.
It would be stupid to dress up; I would only end up getting it dirty. Walking out of my room and into the hallway I was greeted by Jasper's smiling face. He like me was ready to start the day.
His cocky smile was firm upon his face; his eyes glimmered as they looked at me. I watched as he ran his thin pale fingers through his jet-black hair.
"Good morning Emelia, are you ready to go?" He asked joy filling his eyes, as excitement filled his face.
"I was born ready, plus we need to get walking or we will not make it to the pre-school before lunch." I replied walking quickly away from him and down our stairs.
"We can just take the van, I have my license." Jasper replied grabbing my arm to stop me from moving anymore.
"The van?" I asked eyebrow raised.
"We are the first one's up besides the people going grocery shopping that is, and Tristan said they were taking his car. So the van that the school loaned us is free." Jasper replied rolling his eyes as he walked into the kitchen grabbing at the key hook, which held the keys to the van, car, and shuttle the school allowed us to borrow. Behind each keychain I noticed that there was a little white board on a key ring. Taking the van's keys, Jasper than grabbed the white board from behind the set and wrote in very neat cursive;

"So besides the gardening we are also running errands for the house?" I asked raising an eyebrow at the change in plans.
"Emmy, I may not really like Chloe but she has something right, house appearance is very important, I think we should pick up a few things that would help raise the price of the house. I plan on doing a little handiwork on the house this week." Jasper said as he clutched the keys and started walking out the front door.
As I stepped out of the shade and quietness of the house I was immersed with noise, smells, and sights of the late summer.
My flip-flops slapped loudly against the faded white wood of the porch as I tried to keep up with Jasper. I could hear the sound of birds as they chirped happily away; the hot summer sunrays warmed my skin as I walked into their golden beams.
I smiled softly as I opened the passenger side door of the dark green minivan, and buckled up as I watched Jasper start the car up.
As Jasper put the car into drive, my mind swirled with the events from last night. There had been a connection; I knew that for a fact. Yet, I was not sure what this was. I was not Jasper's girlfriend, yet I was not just his friend either. I was that awkward in between, not yet his but still we were connected romantically.
My mind was truly driving me crazy, almost as much as Jasper's polite quietness in the next seat over. You can imagine my relief when he started to speak.
"Emmy, do you even like me?" He asked his eyes never breaking from the road in front of him. I watched as he bit his bottom lip nervously, waiting my response.
"I would not have invited you had I not." I replied smirking at his question, of course I liked him. His bluntness very welcoming at the moment.
"I like you too, but really where does that leave us?" He asked, his eyes flickering to me for only a second before his attention went back to the road.
"Getting to know each other, to see if we want to actually start dating." I replied wondering what his opinion on that matter would be. I was not sure if he was the type that liked to jump head long into a relationship. I did not want to start something that could be messed up easily. I hardly knew Jasper enough to call him my boyfriend, we had gone on only one date, and knew absolutely nothing about each other, basically.
"So… pre-dating before we date?" Jasper asked scrunching up his eyebrows.
"Yah, kind of... We have only just meet each other, before we can start dating-dating we need to see if this is what we really want. I love hanging out with you Jasper, but this is just too soon for me, I know hardly anything about you, and I want the chance to meet other people as well. Ya'know, let's just take it slow, I am still open to dates, I really do like you, but we should see other people as well. Just to see if this is just hormones talking or if we really like each other." I stated feeling embarrassed about the last part. I really did not want to hurt him, but I was not emotionally ready for a full time boyfriend. I watched as Jasper's eyes dimmed a bit, but other wise he nodded in agreement.
"You have a valid point, we should enjoy ourselves and get to know each other before we get really serious. I would not want us to get hurt by rushing into things." He replied to me, smiling sheepishly at my comment.
"Let's play a game." I opted happily.
"What kind of game?" Jasper asked me a smirk firm upon his face.
"20 questions, it'll help us get to know each other more." I answered smiling back at him.
"Okay, I'll go first; what is your favorite color?" He asked laughing at his simple question.
"Grey, how about you?" I asked laughing.
"Yellow, what do you like most about me?” he answered and asked at the same time.
"Pass, different question." I replied laughing, and blushing at the same time, I would not answer that question.
"Come on, you have to answer." He begged smirking, as he knew he was winning.
"Your humanity, okay, you are not a selfish jerk like a lot of the people who go here." I replied quickly.
"I was not expecting that answer, I thought you would talk about my striking good looks." He said laughing out.
"Don't push it." I replied trying and failing desperately at not smiling.
"Oh, Emmy, I was just joking." He said rolling his eyes.
"My turn, did you just sit by me on the bus because you knew I was a Necromancer?" I asked shifting uncomfortably in my seat as I asked the question that had been on my mind the entire time.
"In part yes; also it was because I thought you were very pretty." He said shrugging his shoulders, at his comment.
"Fair enough, I guess, but why are you still here?” I asked earnestly.
“What do you mean by that?” Jasper asked giving me a weird look.
“Why do you like me? It’s not that it is impossible or anything, or that I am looking down on my self, but I am just curious, why are you still around?” I said frowning lightly, wondering if I wanted his brute honesty or not.
“I guess it would be your ability to portray such realistic human emotion, your vulnerability and virtuous kindness are only a few things that draw me in I guess. When Mrs. Smith asked you to read as Hamlet and Gabrial as Claudius in English, you used true feelings and magnified it by tenfold portraying what you felt for him with such sincerity that your soul was open like a book.” Jasper replied quickly as if he had been thinking about it, and yet surprised as if he had not expected himself to say that so boldly.

I could tell he was slightly embarrassed by his thoughtful and rather winded speech about why he liked me, so I decided it would be best to play it down, as if people always commented in such detail about my character.

“I find it funny that you enjoy my acting. I do not like Gabrial actually there is something I need to tell you about him.” I said knowing that now would be the perfect time to reveal what I knew about Gabrial and his plans.

“I am guessing this is about last night.” Jasper asked, easing on the brakes as he rounded a turn.
“Yes, I don’t know if this will change what you think, but really the truth is killing me. After Ripplye came to visit us the first night, I was angry at Gabrial for what he did to my folder; it was petty and fickle I know but I used a spell to spy on him.” I replied wondering what Jasper would think of how I acted.

“Remind me not to piss you off, and go on, there has to be more than that.” Jasper replied his eyes flickering to me quickly, and then back to the road again.

I pulled nervously on my seatbelt, suddenly uncomfortable with the heat in the car. I quickly turned the air condcioning up before I began my tale.

“Arya and Gabrial were talking in the closet, you know Arya is dying; we all know that now, but Gabrial knew before I even could figure it all out. It was like he could smell it, the sickness, and he used that against her.” I replied looking shamefully away.
“He’s a Reaper, of course he could smell it Emmy.” Jasper answered sighing slightly, even he was sore with the conversation.

“I wanted to stop her, but I was using a spell that I had no control over, it had a time limit, I could do nothing until it was over.” I suddenly sobbed out, feeling responsible for what had happened. The pain and regret that had been lingering in my mind now consumed me, I had let this happen. If I had not used that spell and perhaps used a different one, I could have stopped her from making that mistake, or perhaps have told someone who could have stopped her. Now it was too late and I had the weight of the world upon my shoulders.

“I have used spells like that, it is no one’s fault but Arya and Gabrial’s all you can do now is lesson your conscience by telling me, and perhaps later telling Tristan or Chloe what you know.” Jasper replied looking sadly at me through the corner of his eyes.

“I can’t tell them, not yet, I did not tell them right after it happened, I could not help her, they will blame me.” I cried out, picturing Chloe and Tristan’s faces as I told them everything.
“Chloe might perhaps, but I think if you told Tristan soon he would understand, but you should tell me the rest; for your sake at least.” Jasper said shaking his head at my comment.
“Gabrial told Arya that Tristan was holding out on her, and that he knew when she was going to die. Arya was really upset, because we both know that is true, Reapers know those type of things. Gabrial said that if Arya signed her soul over to him, and allowed him to take it and not Tristan, that he would tell her when she was going to die.” I sputtered out, relief filling me as I uttered the last words of my confession.
“That was dirty, I’m guessing the date was only part of the deal.” Jasper replied anger growing in his eyes.
“Yes, I don’t know how to help her though, Gabrial is only using her. He does not want to help her. The whole thing is fishy in the first place. Chloe, Tristan, Arya, and Oliver, seem to be hiding so much, and are just so… Hurt, I just want to help.” I whispered feeling ashamed at what had happened on my watch, even though Jasper was correct and I could do nothing to help her at the time.

“I think Arya is not as dedicated to dying as she wants everyone to believe. You said that she signed a piece of paper, when Gabrial is gone I’ll look for it, in our room. What does it look like?” Jasper asked his eyes furrowed.

“Faded yellow paper, it had black ink used to write it, but Arya’s name is signed in blood.” I said whispering the last part.

“I’ll keep an eye out for it, and I will look for it when he is gone, if we find the paper there may be a loop hole that we can find to help her.” Jasper whispered deep in thought.
“Thanks.” I replied sheepishly.
“It’s no problem really, what type of person would I be if I did not offer that much?” He asked giving me a confused look as he started to pull into the pre-school parking lot.

“A normal person would not get involved in this Jasper.” I laughed out sadly.
“Well it’s a good thing that both of us are not normal isn’t it?” He replied laughing.

I was grateful as we arrived at the pre-school. I was grateful that I could do something that would help keep my mind off of Arya and Gabrial. The day was going to be vexing enough without those thoughts, and the sooner we picked up Cecelia and Phillipe the sooner we could be done.

I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt and got myself out of the van. Following Jasper I entered the pre-school, smiling as I admired the sky blue walls of the waiting room decorated in a mural of a sweet spring day, including animals, plants, and feather like lazy free floating clouds.

The theme of the room was overly cute, and I took a seat in one of the large white comfy couches that threatened to swallow me whole as I sat upon its soft exterior, as Jasper signed us in, on the clip board that the gray haired receptionist had handed him, upon his arrival at the front desk.

“Ah, yes, you are here for the trouble makers, one of the staff will bring them out momentarily.” The woman replied frowning at us in a disapproving way, before disappearing into other room behind her desk.

“So, I’m guessing they were not happy about them running off, were they?” I chuckled at the woman’s reaction from hearing who we were picking up.

“Maybe, it could also be the food fight, or the worm, or even the puddle incident…” Jasper replied rolling his eyes.

“What?” I asked confused and wondering slightly if I wanted to know what they had been up to.
“When apart Phillipe and Cecelia seem harmless, but put together they are a disaster waiting to happen.” Jasper replied annoyed slightly.

“What happened?” I asked amused at Jasper’s annoyance, crossing my legs and leaning in closer to him. His seat being right across from mine gave me the perfect place to observe his humorous discomfort.

”Well, as you can tell Cecelia is a little different from most girl’s her age. She has her own way of doing things, and can be stubborn, and cause a lot of mischief, not to mention opinion-oriented, which has lead to most of the other children to ostracize her, except Phillipe of course who views these things as just another reason to follow her around. Well, Tuesday night, one of the boys, who actually incidentally enough is Oliver’s younger brother, stole Cecelia’s tater-tots. This did not sit well with Phillipe, who demanded them back. In my opinion both of those princes are too full of themselves, and need to be taught a bit of humility. Anyways, after a huge argument, Oliver’s little brother Joshua, smashed Cecelia’s tater-tots, which upset her, Phillipe in revenge dumped his milk on Joshua’s head, then Joshua threw his piece of cake at Phillipe; only to hit the girl next to him, resulting in a food fight that took over three hours to clean up. It involved, not only the pre-school, but because all of the younger students eat together, the entire classes from pre-k to sixth grade. As you can imagine Oliver, Fredrick, and I had to sit there and listen to the teachers yell at us, for being bad guardians for about an hour. Even after explaining to them that they cannot act this way, the very next day, to get revenge, Cecelia put ten worms and dirt (how she even acquired the things we are still not sure on because her recess time has been suspended for Monday’s problem!) into Joshua’s shoes.
And then on Wednesday Joshua pushed her into a puddle and got her Eeyore doll dirty, as well as her dress. She in turn jumped on him and gave him a black eye! I swear I never taught her how to fight, but apparently she beat the crap out of the Prince. Needless to say, the only reason they did not get into any more fights after that is because both of them were threatened to have their visitation days suspended. “ Jasper said a bitter look on his face as he explained what had happened.

“Oh… Wow, your sister is trouble isn’t she?” I burst out laughing as I smiled at his face. Jasper in turn started to laugh as well, beaming at me, we both sat there for five minutes giggling and bursting out laughing randomly just thinking about Cecelia attacking Oliver’s brother.
Okay violence is not something to commemorate but if Joshua was anything like Oliver a good smack or two would not hurt him too greatly.
I got out of my seat and headed over to the door with Jasper as Cecelia and Phillipe entered the room. I looked at their faces realizing that they were so different, Cecelia’s face was bright with excitement at seeing Jasper. Which she took no time to express by screeching out his name and practically flying towards him, wrapping her small arms around him she buried her face into his waist.

Phillipe on the other hand was reserved, the smile that he had had at the beginning was now lost, his eyes gazed down upon the carpet as though embarrassed and left out. I knew exactly how he felt. So smiling reassuringly I walked over and grasped his small warm hand in mine. I watched as his large blue eyes gazed up at me, expression swirling in them as he started to smile.
“Okay, so what time do you think you will bring them back?” The gray haired woman asked breaking the small hallmark moment we had just experienced.
“Around seven.” I answered before Jasper could reply.
“Okay, if you are sure, I’ll write it down, see you at seven then.” She replied rolling her eyes as if keeping the two so long would be murder. I was not sure if it would be as terrible as she thought. I knew that something might go wrong, but how bad could children really be?
I watched as Jasper detached himself from Cecelia’s death grip, and picked up their booster seats. Safety first, after all was important.

I took Cecelia’s hand as well, and followed Jasper as he walked out to the van; swinging the seats as he walked.

Cecelia and Phillipe smiled up at me as we walked out of the building, their eyes glimmering as they did so.

Looking down I smiled as well; it was hard not to. They were so adorable! Cecelia still had her Eeyore stuffed animal with her, but this time instead of wearing a dress, she was in a pair of dark blue bib-over-alls, over ‘surprise, surprise’ a purple shirt displaying Eeyore’s face.

Phillipe on the other hand was wearing basically the same thing he had on Monday; shorts, and a nice sweater with a cute vest over it, but instead of dress shoes he had on sneakers.

I helped Jasper as he loaded the two into the car, buckling them into their booster seats, and got ready to head out to our next destination.

It took us only a few minutes to drive to the parking lot where we would park our car. I say parking lot, because even though the sign said that the Wal-Mart was located there, no store was in sight. Instead all that was present on the grassy knoll was a small shack. At first I was slightly confused, but after a few moments I understood perfectly, having remembered that many of the buildings located on the school premises were just small holdings for a portal to the actual location.

I understood the reasoning behind this, because it made more since to use portals than to make excessive trips out of the school grounds and to the nearest city which would be an over two or three hour drive.

I enjoyed the fact that some of the portals like the Wal-Mart and the food-court were free of charge. Unlike in the normal human world where you would be expected to pay for all that you bought, when magic was applied these items that the shops held did not cost any money to be made by magical means; the whole reasoning behind this was not to make money but to enrich and ease the students lives.

Which in true honesty made my life far easier, seeing as I did not have a lot of money to begin with; which showed that my alchemy abilities were in the lacking.

Yes, like most forms of Witchcraft alchemy was possible, but the study of how to make money out of magic would take many years to complete and there was no certainty that the magic would work for the user even after years of research. So as you can imagine it was not a popular subject to study.
Alchemists were more inclined to the scientific surroundings behind Witchcraft than that of nature and natural thoughts. Which would be difficult for me, someone so wrapped up in the natural and nature behind Witchcraft and the arts that I posses, to be able to perform such magic would be rather imposible.

Which was one of the reasons I was more inclined to forget about alchemy all together. I had a feeling that I would not need to learn such skills anyways to survive at this school. Although, I knew that the shops that I could use with no money attached did me little good when it came to normal items like cell phones, electronics, and fun things that I could spend my time with. Yet, I had a feeling if I continued my studies of my Grimmorie and sold a few things on the side, and perhaps got a job I would be set.

Shaking my head of these thoughts I unbuckled my seatbelt and popped out of the van. Opening the van door on my side I unhooked Phillipe and helped him out of the car, grasping his hand, and holding a reassuring smile upon my face.

Closing the door I was aware that Jasper was doing the same on the other side of the van to Cecelia.

Smiling, I pulled Phillipe along with me as I entered the shack, Jasper only a few steps behind me.

“Emmy I just thought of something.” Jasper replied as he grabbed a shopping cart from against the wall of the grey brick shack, one of the only items present besides the familiar glowing blue ball of light that had been present in the tree.

“Yes?” I replied smiling at him as I too grabbed a shopping cart before walking though the portal, stopping momentarily as I adjusted the to sudden change in scenery.

The walls of the room were painted white, shelves and isles were placed everywhere and seemed to stretch on forever.

Above each isle was a sign in bold letters telling of what was placed upon its sterile shelves. Right in front of where we had popped up was a large map of the store informing future customers where to find things by category. The map was behind what looked like two inches of glass, and bolted to the floor. I had to wonder if they expected someone to pick it up and run away with it? Below the map was a bucket also nailed to the ground, containing small identical maps as to the one behind the glass.

I picked two up and handed one to Jasper as he arrived next to me.

“As I was saying, we are getting a lot aren’t we?” He asked knowing very well the answer to his question.

“Yes” I replied rolling my eyes as I followed the map down a twisting isle that it assured me would take me to the gardening section.
“How do we plan on fitting it all in the carts much less the van?” He asked confusion written upon his face.

Smiling softly I pulled out my grimoire, flashing him a look at the leather cover, his face lit up with understanding.

“What spell are you going to use?” He asked suddenly curious to what I planned on doing.

“Just a simple expansion spell, it is activated by touch and thought.” I replied smiling at him before filling my mind completely with what I wished to do, which would be to make the cart able to hold much more than it appeared to be able to. Which if I thought about it scientifically meant that I was creating a wormhole of such that would be at my command.

Although difficult sounding, it was something that most Witches could complete before the age of seven. Nothing complex would be necessary, and even if I were slightly showing off to Jasper, I would not give myself extra work just to look good.

Touching the cart, I felt energy that I had accumulated pool into my hand, leaving my body and then being absorbed into the cool metal of the shopping cart. It appeared as though nothing happened; no bright lights, no sounds, no changes at all. Yet, I knew that it had worked.

Don’t ask me how, but I did, I always have. I just have a since of knowing after I completed a spell if it had worked or not. I assumed most Witches could, not that I had asked anyone else, but it seemed reasonable enough that others would know if their spells were affective or not, as well.

Pushing those useless thoughts out of my head, I continued onto Jasper’s cart as well, doing the exact same thing as I had done before, and having the same exact outcome.

“Emmy I don’t think it worked…” Jasper replied giving me a doubtful look.

Smiling to myself I was set on proving him wrong, so looking over to the nearest isle I grabbed a large plush pillow that had been on it and dropped it into the cart. Watching with a smirk as Jasper’s eyes widened at the newly empty cart, as though I had not put anything into it in the first place.

“That is kinda’ cool, but how do you get it back out again, and where does it go?” He asked amazement filling his face as well as Cecelia and Phillipe’s who had both gathered around my cart.

“I am not sure where it goes actually, if I wasn’t worried about the possibility of not having air where it went, I would step into it myself. I guess if I was curious I could drop in something living and use the counter-spell to see if it comes back out alive….” I answered thinking deeply about the possibilities on this spell.

“Interesting…. But-“ Jasper was suddenly cut off by a louder voice that was fast approaching.

“Emmy, Jasper! Now what are you guys doing here? Oh-my-goodness, aren’t those two just the cutest things you have ever seen?” Screeched out a rather forcibly happy Chloe.

I say forcibly, because although her tone was kind and pleasant, I knew that she was faking it. Although I was not exactly sure why, but for some reason Chloe was acting a little too pleasant and chipper. Which was confusing, she was shopping with Tristan, Arya, and Mikey for groceries. Not something normal Chloe would be enthusiastic about.

I watched shocked as Chloe came up to Phillipe and Cecelia and bent down and pinched their cheeks.

“You two are just too cute!” She gushed to them. I could not help but laugh as I saw both of their reactions to the way she was treating them. Cecelia said nothing just smiled and allowed Chloe to abuse her cheeks, which I could tell, was rather roughly. Phillipe on the other hand smacked her hand away and practically dove behind me. Hanging onto the back of my jean leg, he sent silent glares her way, before burring his face into my pants.

“Sorry honey, I got a little carried away.” Chloe said laughing as she patted Cecelia on the head one more time, and sent a laugh Phillipe’s way.

“Chloe, you knew that we were getting things for the green-house today.” I replied simply not bothering to explain why Cecelia and Phillipe accompanied us.

“Oh, right, I forgot about that. For some reason I have had this horrible headache today. For the life of me I can hardly remember what happened yesterday… But it is best not to dawdle on the past. Any ways, where did you guys get these little angels?” Chloe asked smiling a deep smile at Cecelia and Phillipe.

Looking over I could see Jasper laughing slightly at Chloe’s comments and actions. I could tell that he was not going to answer he question so I supplied the truth, well half of it any ways.

“Um, Fredrick asked me to watch Phillipe, and that is Phillipe’s friend Cecelia.” I replied trying not to have Chloe bring up why Cecelia was here. Mainly because Jasper did not want to have people knowing about him having a sister. If only to protect her if things went badly, as everyone believed would happen, at the school.

“I’m Jasper’s sister!” Cecelia gushed out, letting the hypothetical cat out of the bag. shit, well there goes the keeping her a secret idea.

“Jasper you never told us that you have a sister! An adorable cutie-pie none the less!” Chloe gushed frowning slightly as she pinched Cecelia’s cheeks yet again.

“Slipped my mind, I never pegged you as loving children so much Chloe…” Jasper replied giving her a weird look. Which really annoyed me, Monday he had been all ‘ Don’t tell anyone about me having a sister.’ Yet now he was all fine with Chloe, the biggest gossip in the school knowing?

“I know, I have always loved children, but for some reason, they never really liked me… I am not sure why though…” Chloe replied patting Cecelia’s head again.

Looking down, I saw Phillipe rubbing his now rosy red cheeks, a glare set upon his face. I could almost not hold in my laughter it was obvious why kids did not like Chloe; she was too rough with them.

“Chloe, I would be very happy if you did not mention Cecelia to anyone though.” Jasper replied growing serous.

“Why? She is so cute!” Chloe said smiling brightly to Cecelia.

“Because, if anything were to happen at the school, I want her to be safe. You have to admit that some of our roommates are not the most trustworthy people on the face of the planet.” Jasper answered demandingly.

“Oh… I guess I could keep it a secret.” Chloe said shaking her head sadly.

“Chloe, Mikey is trying to sneak the chocolate-sugar-loops in again- Oh, hi guys, um… Sorry to interrupt, but I have to take Chloe back now…” Tristan replied appearing out of thin air, like usual, before grabbing Chloe’s arm and dragging her away.

“That was odd…” I replied eyes furrowed.

“Did you notice they were not fighting?” Jasper asked shocked as well.

“You would think after last night it would be worse.” I added suddenly.

“Chloe is in a good mood this morning… Tristan didn’t seem to upset with her as well, and he remembers last night.” Jasper replied frowning slightly.

“I think he is looking at the aspect that Chloe at one time actually loved him… Perhaps he is hoping that her actions last night show that she does not really hate him.” I added hopefully, as I pushed my cart forward and continued on my way to the garden section of the store.

“I think you are right actually… Although I don’t know Tristan well enough, to say for sure.” Jasper replied as though in deep thought.

“Of course I am right.” I replied rolling my eyes as I laughed slightly, trying to pull us out of what would have become a serous conversation.

“So, what are we going to make for our picnic this afternoon, do you know?” Jasper asked suddenly changing the subject as we turned another corner and finally arrived in the garden section.

“I’m not sure, we could just buy something and take it home.” I replied thinking more about all of the things that I needed to pick up rather then my stomach.

“Ya, but it’s not the same…” Jasper whined giving me a puppy dog look.

“How old are you?” I asked giving him a questionable look.

“162 years old…” He replied giving me the same puppy dog looks.

“That is really gross….” I blurted out cringing at the fact of his age…

“There are people way older than I am!” He quickly stated, thinking that he needed to defend himself.

“I am 455 years old” Phillipe replied smiling triumphantly. I was not sure what to say about that, should I congratulate someone who has been six for over 449 years? Should I have said something apologetic? Phillipe seemed happy about it, yet, why should he be happy about being stuck where he was? So I said nothing, which in turn was the worst thing I could have done, at least that is what it seemed by how quickly his smile fell.

“You do realize Jasper that makes you a cradle robber right?” I asked slightly amused.

“Actually, I try not to think about it too much.” Jasper answered hesitantly while running his fingers through his hair, as he seemed to always do when he was uncomfortable.

“Okay, this is where we are going to have to split off. We would finish quicker if you went ahead with Cecelia and got the items you need for the house, and Phillipe and I got the plants.” I replied nodding to Jasper as we stopped outside the door leading to the gardening section.

“You’re right; while I am getting the things I need for the house, I will be sure to pick up the crack filler, new windows, and doorknobs that you will need.” Jasper added before pushing his cart away from mine only pausing to look back at me.

”How are we going to meet up?” He asked smiling at me.

“Phillipe and I won’t need to leave this section, so just come and find us when you are done.” I replied smiling back at him before pushing my cart through the automatic doors and into the heat and humidity.

“This is icky…” Phillipe complained wrinkling his nose as he looked up at me from his place beside the cart.

“It’s hard to get use to at first, but eventually if you give it a chance the heat will feel good.” I said smiling down at him while basking in the heat the room was giving off.

That was one thing I loved about greenhouses they were always warm and safe feeling. If I closed my eyes I could easily pretend I was home in my mother’s greenhouse.

Taking in a deep breath of the warm humid air, I could almost taste the earth thriving around me. Smiling to myself I walked down the isles one after another examining the herbs and various plants, picking only the best for my greenhouse.

I could tell that this was not the most fun thing Phillipe could think of doing. Although highly enjoyable to me, it was not something that would keep a child occupied for a long period of time. So I had to hurry more than I wanted to, even though I felt inclined to hurry for Phillipe’s sake, he never once complained about how boring it was to him, even though by the look on his face I could tell that this was not what he really wanted to be doing.

As I would put things in the cart, I would tell Phillipe some interesting fact or something that the plant could do, or things it could be put into. The more we walked, and the more we added to the cart, the further I began to feel attached to that strange little boy, odd; yet, I could not help it. Even though I was not interesting him, he paid attention, and never complained about how boring this was to him. Which astounded me.

So as we walked I began to share with him some secret uses these plants could be used for. I knew that his teachers, who already thought of him as trouble, would be very angry if they knew what I was telling him. The spells and potions I was teaching him were not only for Witch use, although I will admit they were from my grimoire and were unknown to most Witches they could be used by Phillipe in some unsavory ways.

Okay, so maybe teaching a six year old how to cause more trouble was not a good idea, but I could not help but smile at his interest when I taught him what plants would cause boils, hair loss, skin spots, windiness, and such. Okay, so this might come back and bite me eventually. I had to admit if Oliver’s brother, whom seemed rather spoiled, developed bright purple spots all over his body, or if his hair suddenly turned pink for a week, I would not loose any sleep over that.

So perhaps teaching someone the same tricks I had used on Lilly, and her friends was not the brightest idea. Although, most of the time I used human things to cause them pain, just to show that I did not even need magic to make them look as horrible as they treated me.

I had a feeling that if Phillipe told on me I would be getting the same talk as Fredrick, Oliver, and Jasper had received from the teachers, but instead of it being from the teachers the lecture would most likley be by those three. Perhaps I should not be condoning fighting between courts that are on the fringe of war. It was obvious that Oliver did not like the Vampires too much by his treatment of Vincent; surely Phillipe and Joshua’s fights also had a bad effect on their treaty as well.

Yet, truthfully that was not my problem. I only thought it fair after the way Oliver had messed with peoples’ lives yesterday. As they say karma’s a bitch , not to be mistaken with Karma herself, although depending on who you ask they may call the two interchangeable.

I literally had to shake my head to clear my thoughts. I must admit that I was impressed with how quickly Phillipe, and I were able to find all that I needed.

I guess it should not have shocked me, as they say; time flies when you’re having fun.

Before I knew it, Phillipe and I were waiting for Jasper and Cecelia at the gardening section door. I could not hold back my laughs as they rounded the corner.

Jasper was pushing his cart with much difficulty; mainly because he was giving Cecelia a piggyback ride at the exact same time.

“What are you doing Jasper?” I bellowed out, trying to control my snickers.

“Cecelia was tired of walking and I couldn’t very well put her in the cart, with the spell you put on it, now could I?” Jasper asked blushing lightly at my amusement.

“When do I get my turn?” I asked laughing as I started to push the carts to the check out counters.

“Only good girl’s get ride’s on this golden back and you are being rather mean.” Jasper replied laughing at my comment.

“I’ll hold that comment to you Jasper, just so you know.” I stated smirking as I handed the cashier the list of what we had bought.

The woman gave us an odd look, her eyes scanning our empty carts, and then us in general. I noticed she rolled her eyes, briefly before asking if that was all we had bought. I told her that was it, and pushed my cart over to the portal, leaving Jasper struggling to catch up.

I let out a deep sigh as I took in the warm August air. I paid attention in great detail to the clinking sound the cart made as it rolled over the uneven pavement of the parking lot. Closing my eyes for a brief moment I smiled still being able to feel the sun’s fulfilling rays as they danced across my skin.

Today was a perfect day, one I planned on going splendidly if everything went as planned.

Walking over to our van, I waited patiently for a few seconds for Jasper and Cecelia to catch up to Phillipe and I.

Phillipe and I did not speak as we waited, but it was not an awkward in the least since. I let go of the cart, smiling down at Phillipe. I grasped his small warm hand in mine, swinging his arm lightly back and forth we quietly waited for Jasper and Cecelia to cross the parking lot.

I had to admit that originally I had disliked Phillipe, and had counted him off as just another snotty child, which was why I found it so surprising that his temperament could be so calm and sweet.

Actually truth be known, I think I liked him more than I did Cecelia. Odd as that might sound, Phillipe was like me; he did not feel the need to enter conversations and was more inclined to actions than words to express how he felt. Fredrick had been correct, I could tell that Phillipe really liked me, which was sweet and warmed my heart.

Smiling down at him again I brushed my fingers through his light blond locks. Nodding to Jasper as he unlocked the car and we loaded Cecelia and Phillipe in.

Taking both carts to the back of the van, I waited for Jasper to pop the trunk before starting the other simple spell of transfer.

It, like the original spell was nothing big. All I had to do was cast the same spell as I had before on the carts. This time though I shoved my hand into the black hole of sorts in the cart, grasping the air, I quickly pulled my hand out from the cart before I would be pulled in; then I hastily placed my hand that had once been clutching the matter of the cart spell, flat upon the bottom of the van’s trunk. I drew a small square with the palm of my hand on the bottom of the carpeted van trunk.

Taking a deep breath I shook my hand, then I blew upon the center of the cart, in a rather humorous fashion. Smiling at my work I pushed the carts out of our way and got into the van, the spell now being complete.

Buckling myself into the van, I allowed a smile to grace my face. The ride back to the house was a quiet one, nothing out of the ordinary occurred. The ride in turn seemed to take far less time than the ride to the store, and was quite pleasant.

As we pulled the van up to the driveway I realized that the difficult work was just beginning.

I had a feeling Jasper knew that as well by the grimace that filled his face as he looked at the bulky pile of items that had appeared after I dismissed my storage spell.

“I just want to know how many cans of paint you bought?” I exclaimed looking at the stack of cans that nearly reached the sky. Really, I know that painting the outside of the house would take a lot of paint, but really? There had to have been at least a hundred and twenty cans of paint stacked up into a perfect square.

“Only a quarter of the paint I bought was for the outside; we also needed to repaint the living-rooms. Have you not seen the disgusting coloring and furniture of those rooms? They look like spit up from the seventies.! Not to mention the fact that the attic needs to be finished. Actually, I think all of the rooms but the kitchen and the bathrooms need to have work done on them.” Jasper replied shaking his head sadly.

“We have an attic?” I asked confused, over the week I had never noticed any stairs leading to the attic, or anything like that, although, I hadn’t really even checked out most of the house yet.

“The door that leads to the stairs is in the upstairs study. The attic is humongous, and we could add a game room or something up there but all that is up there now is just four unpainted walls, some old furniture; that Chloe plans on moving down to the living rooms, and an unfinished floor. It is going to be an excruciating amount of work getting all of the things that need to be done, finished in the house! I have to help you with the greenhouse today, as well as switch all of the doorknobs in the house out with these.” Jasper stated exasperated as he held up silver doorknobs. I smiled faintly at the door handles, which were crystal circles. I loved the doorknobs Jasper had picked out; they were beautiful and exquisite, showing great taste on his part.

“How did Chloe get you to be her lap-dog?” I replied laughing as Cecelia, Phillipe, Jasper, and I all started to carry things to a corner of the garage, or put in the various wheelbarrows.

“I am smarter than Tristan, I suppose.” Jasper replied smirking at what appeared to be nothing. I had to wonder about his sanity for a moment.

“How does that make you smarter than Tristan?” I asked frowning slightly as I tried to lift a heavier planting pot onto the flat plant cart; that I had found in the greenhouse earlier in the week.

I watched as Jasper sighed, walked over, and helped me put the pot on the cart, wiping his forehead of sweat before he began to explain himself. All of which I found rather comical.

“The way to get to Chloe, and to get her off of your back, is to do things for her that she may not ask of you, but at the same time you know she would want done. If you do simple things like I did today, Chloe will be far more agreeable towards you. That is where Tristan fails; he may feel like Chloe is out to get him, as do some of the other guys of the house. Most of the time they feel that way because they think she does not like them simply because they are guys. That is not true, you know as well as I do that Chloe will bite off anyone’s head for acting inappropriately no matter what gender they have. All you have to do is apply yourself a little, and help out, even without being asked, and she will treat you with respect… Well, respect and will make you amazing desserts.” Jasper replied as he placed another plant upon the cart.

“That was very deep, and actually I think I know what you mean. I guess doing a few things to make her happy would be better than having her on our butts all the time.” I stated watching my language in front of Cecelia and Phillipe.

“It’s not like doing the dishes or something like that once in a while, without being asked, or offering to help, is a bad thing anyways; it builds character.” Jasper responded, smiling as he watched Cecelia and Phillipe working together.

“As long as she doesn’t start attacking my cheeks with those spider fingers of hers I’d be willing to help out more, I guess.” I shared regrettably.

Ugh, I hated that now I had even more work to do, just to appease other people; life was complicated. People were complicated, social encounters in general I could not help but find tiring. Although as last week went on, I felt that I could handle more, and more conversation; without feeling tired, or uninterested.

Arya had told me that I was becoming a social butterfly, I felt though that I was just adapting to survive, I was not changing, I still preferred to be by myself, and to do things my own way, alone. Yet, even I had to admit that I was less nervous about being around different people; perhaps I was not destined to be a hermit after all. That thought greatly amused me, it was easy for me to picture myself as a shut in, sadly it was a little too easy to picture, if that even made any since at all.

Yet, the more exposure I had to my odd classmates the more I realized that I kind of enjoyed the company of other people. Okay, so Jasper, Fredrick, and Tristan, were not exactly the widest variety company, but it was a start right?

I had not gotten use to the company of other girls yet. Even though Carla, Rae, Chloe, and Arya talked to me every day, as well as others like Tundry, and Rose, I could not help but feel a little ill ease at their presence. Maybe I was waiting for them to realize their disinterest or disgust in me like Lilly had? That would explain why I was trying not to get close to any of them. It was extremely difficult to deny this with Carla and Rae who openly stated and knew exactly how I felt. I knew that I had to push these feeling aside, I mean, the reason Lilly had not liked me in the first place was because I was quote on quote a ‘freak’ which did not apply here, how could I be a freak among freaks?

Taking a deep breath I forced these thoughts from my head, as I normally did with things that bothered me, and got to work.

I had to admit that Cecelia could be a bit irking when she wanted to be. Okay, so if I was her age; appearance, not in actuality , I would not be fond of gardening (for long periods of time) either, but she was taking it to an extreme.

She was not good at keeping on task, although I should have expected this from someone with the mind set of a six year old, I had grown accustomed to the way Phillipe worked and had expected Cecelia to be like him.

Where Phillipe put his all into acting as he was suppose to, Cecelia would often space out, cause problems, or disappear all together, and after searching for a while I would always find her doing something that she was not suppose to.

After the third time that she; (in her words) went exploring, I started growing annoyed. Could you blame me? I knew the work that I had asked them to do was not something they were accustomed to, but I knew it wasn’t impossible! Phillipe was able to do it with no problems, and I had done much more as a child to help my mother, yet this work seemed to bore Cecelia and was impossible for her to do.



It took me only thirty minutes to realize that I needed to keep Cecelia away from Phillipe; whom she bothered relentlessly, and have her stay with me.

I would have handed the problem I mean Cecelia, over to Jasper, but all I needed was for her to cause him to drop one of the windows he was replacing.

I had to admit Jasper was very useful; the greenhouse was not in the best of shape. Three windows, two doors, and all of the doorknobs needed to be replaced. Which in turn was something I was happily able to hand over to Jasper.

I sighed deeply as I hung my large thermometer upon one of the old walls. Looking down I gazed into Cecelia’s purple eyes as they watched me with boredom.

“When are we going to be done?” Cecelia whined as she gave me a pout.

“Cecelia, I told you once we finish all of the work that needs to be done, then we can go do something else.” I replied frowning at the little girl as I handed her a small pot to place on a bottom shelf.

I was unable to control the small glare I sent her way as I heard the sound of the pot hitting the floor and shattering. I let out a deep sigh as her shrill ‘oops’ filled the now annoyance filled quiet.

“It’s okay, I’ll go get a broom, wait here, I’ll be right back.” I said giving her a scolding look as I went to grab the broom out of the storage closet.

I did not want to bring her into that room in fear she would knock something else over and create a bigger mess, I should have guessed that when I returned she would be no where to be found.

“Phillipe where did Cecelia go?” I asked running my fingers through my hair in annoyance as I called out to the small boy across the room.

“She said she was going to the bathroom.” He answered as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Crud,” I huffed out in annoyance. I quickly placed the broom against the wall and started walking out of the greenhouse at a quickened pace only slowing to call over my shoulder to Phillipe.

“Phillipe, can I trust you to not leave this room until I get back?” I asked not waiting for the answer as I rushed out of the room and down the gravel path that lead from the greenhouse, to the garage and in turn to the house; the whole time calling out Cecelia’s name.



I could not help but stomp up the drive ripping the front door open with anger. I had asked her not to run off and what does she do? Did she not realize that she couldn’t do things like that? There are rules for a reason! If something happened to her, Jasper would never forgive me, and I was not sure if I could forgive myself. I should not have to watch her every second to make sure she does not run away and get herself hurt. Perhaps I should have realized that this was something that she did often by how we met, but really, I had to wonder what Jasper was teaching her if she could not even stay in one place for more than a few seconds?

I let out a sigh of relief as I heard the sound of an all to familiar voice chirping about how cute Cecelia was.

Walking briskly into the living room I took note of Mikey, who was crouching over a smiling Cecelia.

“You are just too cute! Where did you come from? Oh-my-gosh, I just wanna’ take you home in a little pink bow! How cute!” Mikey gushed as he patted Cecelia upon her head.

“Cecelia, you’re in so much trouble right now! You are going to be in timeout for the rest of the afternoon if you run off one more time!” I screeched out anger filling my face, and voice. The girl was a nuisance; really, how could someone so adorable be so much trouble?

“Hi, Emmy, so she’s with you?” Mikey asked smiling at me, as if he just missed my outburst and everything was fine and dandy!

“Yes, I am watching her for someone,” I replied quickly grabbing Cecelia’s hand, pulling her away from Mikey and towards me.

“Emmy and Cecelia, there you guys are,” Jasper exclaimed happily as Phillipe and he walked into the room.

“Jasper, what are you guys doing in here?” I asked nervously. I had to wonder if he had heard the tone I had used with Cecelia.

“Phillipe and I just finished the last of the work that needed to be done,” he replied happily. Obviously he had not heard the venom in my voice as I had addressed the troublesome girl.

“That’s great, but I still need to pick up the pot that fell,” I added slightly bitter; my eyes brushing over Cecelia lightly before snapping back to Jasper’s face.

“Phillipe and I cleaned that up before we came up here,” he stated smiling.

“Thanks; so what are we going to do now?” I asked shuffling from my left to my right.

“I actually have a surprise, if you guys make lunch I’ll go set it up,” Jasper added smirking at some unknown knowledge that he seemed to possess.

Perhaps I should have been weary but I could not help but smile at the excitement exhibited on Cecelia and Phillipe’s face. I had a feeling the surprise was more inclined to them rather than I, but I was no less happy.

I nodded to Jasper quickly before grasping Cecelia and Phillipe’s hand.

“Come on you guys let’s go.” I stated pulling them into the kitchen hoping to avoid any more questions from Mikey.

Looking into the cabinets and fridge, I realized that Chloe had indeed put everything away already. Smiling I pulled out a hodgepodge of fruit, a loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly, a bag of chips, and four capri-suns.

“Fruit is gross, almost as icky as vegetables!” Cecelia complained as she climbed up the cabinets by use of the handles and plopped herself down upon the top of it. I could see dirt prints on the silver knobs. Chloe was not going to be happy about that. sighing I took a rag and wiped off the prints before continuing the process of washing and cutting the fruit.

“Cecelia, fruit is good for you, and is way better tasting than that sugar crap.” I replied rolling my eyes at her as I got a large blue bowl out of the cabinet to place the fresh fruit-salad in.

“I won’t eat it!” She stated defiantly.

“You’ll get fat if you only eat sweets and chips and stuff like that!” Phillipe added with a frown.

“Will not!” She bellowed out.
“Will too.” He replied angrily.
“Will not!” She said again her voice raising a few notches.
“Will too” He argued out not letting the subject drop.
“Will not, will not, will not!” She screamed kicking the cabinets below her with her feet, causing the contents to bang around.

“Alright, both of you stop right now, or nether of you will get ice cream after lunch, and Cecelia if you do not eat what I make, you definitely won’t be getting any ice cream.” I replied rubbing my head, those two were giving me a headache.

They both were silent for a moment, their eyes wandering to each other the same questioning and shock filled look upon their faces. Would she really do that? seemed to be the silent question they sent to each other. Obviously I had broken some unknown evil territory, taking away ice cream being the ultimate penalty.

“Can I at least have crunchy peanut butter?” Cecelia asked giving me puppy dog eyes. Sighing I patted her lightly upon the head. It was impossible not to be won over by those cute purple eyes.

“Sure you can; what about you Phillipe?” I asked bending down to his eye level.

“I don’t like peanut butter, can I just have jelly?” he asked a questioning look on his face as if he wondered if this would cause his ice cream to be taken away.

“Okay; what type of jelly?” I asked looking at the five different types we had bought. Really, does anyone need five types of jelly? I mean grape and strawberry is rational but blueberry, apricot, raspberry? Okay, scratch that raspberry, is amazing but still…

“Oh, Oh, Oh! I want all of them!” Phillipe exclaimed as he looked excitingly at the jellies. Okay, I stand corrected; the jellies were a good idea. The boy was odd though; he hated peanut butter, but wanted five different types of jellies on his sandwich? Not right I tell you, it was just not right!

Cecelia on the other hand, did not want any jelly on her’s because we did not have peach jelly. My question is, who actually eats peach jelly? She also did not want her capri-sun she wanted milk, which being a healthy choice I was not going to deny her request.

I stored the sandwiches, fruit salad, and the rest of our lunch in a picnic basket I found in the cabinet that Chloe had labeled baskets. I wonder if I was the only one in the house that was slightly amused about the fact that we had a cabinet dedicated to baskets?

Either way, all I could do was smile at Chloe’s OCD and pack our lunch. Cecelia and Phillipe as it turns out both wanted to carry the basket. I was not sure why though, what was the big deal about carrying a basket? Yet, to them it was a huge deal. I was cautious about handing over all of our food to a set of clumsy six year olds. The basket was heavy, and held glass. So smiling I pulled out the plastic silverware container, and the plastic plates and handed each one an item to hold. It seemed to appease them, at least they were not complaining too much.

Walking outside I placed the blanket that had originally been in the basket on the dark green grass. Folding my legs under me I showed Cecelia and Phillipe just how to set up a lunch. The process of setting up, and filling plates kept the two very busy until Jasper arrived.

I was so consumed with keeping those two occupied that I did not even notice as he approached. I only took notice when I saw his shadow-stretching overhead.

“So, what’s the surprise?” I asked not even bothering to look back at him as I placed a spoonful of fruit salad on Cecelia’s plate.

“If I told you I would have to kill you!” Jasper exclaimed laughing as Cecelia added the needed duh duh duh dum to the conversation.

“I was just joking, wipe that long look off your face Phillipe. No, but really, I’ll show you guys after we eat, it’s in the backyard,” Jasper added smiling his usual interesting smile. A small smile formed on my face as I looked at Phillipe. He apparently still did not really like Jasper after he made Cecelia cry on Monday. I found it humorous, seeing as Phillipe had just made Cecelia angry, yet at the same time held a grudge against Jasper for making her cry. Which all in all, was not really Jasper’s fault to begin with; perhaps Cecelia should learn not to run off?

Shaking my head I handed Jasper his plate after he took a seat to my left, sitting in between Cecelia and I.

A warm breeze caused my hair to tickle my face, as at the same time as the sun warmed it with its pleasant rays.

“It’s really warm out today, don’t you think?” I asked smiling at Jasper as I plopped a small piece of cantaloupe into my mouth crushing its soft florescent orange body with my tongue. Swallowing the piece I pulled a piece of my blackish-brown hair behind my ear.

“It’s 91’degrees out today,” He added nodding to me in agreement as he took a bite out of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“I don’t like it.” Phillipe added pouting his lips as he did so. He did look really hot; sweat was accumulating off the end of his nose, and I soon realized that he was burning. Looking over quickly to Cecelia I noticed she was not. That was when it hit me.

I was hurting Phillipe, I had not taken into account that he had been a Vampire before he died. Which meant that the same rules applied. Even a Born-Vampire avoided the sun, or at least put on a special sunscreen when they were going to be out in it for long periods of time. The sunburn that he was getting at the moment would be very painful to him latter on tonight. Even as a Ghost, his body still followed the same rules as it had when he was alive; he still would need blood, once a week in his caseand he would still need to avoid sunlight. If not he would most definitely still get sick.

It was very stupid for me to overlook such key aspects in his wellbeing. Even being out in the sun for a short period of time, like thirty minutes, was causing him far too much pain.

"Sorry, Phillipe, I forgot, let's go inside and get you all fixed up," I said sweetly, as I helped the sunbaked Vampire up from the ground.

"Crap; how could we forget this?" Jasper asked as he bit his lip nervously.

"It's fine, i'm sure Rose has the things needed to fix him up; her dad did invent the 'Vampire-Care-Kit' " I added pulling Phillipe out of the sunlight that was doing him so much harm.

"If you say so Emmy, I'll stay with Cecelia and I'll go a head and take her to the backyard for the surprise, when you get him fixed up, go a head and meet us back there." Jasper added nonchalantly as he slid a small round purple grape off of his fork and through his enticing and coy pink lips.

I nodded smiling slightly before grasping Phillipe's hand and pulling him up the porch and into the house.

As Phillipe and I walked, I could not help but see how sick he really was. He was a god-awful pink color. His face was scrunched up in a sickly frown. His eyes were quickly filling with tears.

"Sweetheart, it's okay, Rose will fix you right up." I said as I squeezed his hand lightly, in truth though I was not sure what Rose could do, if she was even here in the first place that is.

"I just have something in my eyes. Princes do not cry, even if they feel icky or if their skin feels like it is falling off. Is my skin going to fall off? And if so, will I fall apart, I don't want to fall apart. Doesn't the skin keep the inside stuff inside? If my skin falls off will my insides become my outsides? E-M-M-Y!" Phillipe added now crying hysterically.

"Phillipe, your skin is not going to fall off." I pipped up, walking up the stairs to the upstairs living room as quickly as I could now. It was not that I believed that his skin would fall off. I mean, I have heard of Vampires staying out far longer than thirty minutes; even without sunscreen and not having them liquefied. Yet, I had never really paid attention to Child Vampire Statistics.

My mind settled down a bit as the sound of violin music drifted down the hall to greet Phillipe and I as we came closer to my room.

The violin music only verified that Rose was in the room. Thank god for that.

"Rose I need your help." I screeched out as we entered my bedroom.

I watched as Rose's eyes bulged at our appearance, her most prized possession her violin, fell haphazardly to the ground.

"What did you do to Phillipe?" Rose exclaimed jumping to her feet, stumbling slightly she curtsied quickly to Phillipe before running to her chest placed behind her bed.

"What was the curtsy for?" I asked bringing Phillipe over to her side.

"That's what you do in the presence of royalty," Rose stated shaking her head as she rummaged in her chest for some unknown item.

"The bigger question should be how you acquired such royalty today." Rose said giving me an odd look before continuing to rummage through her trunk, before throwing what looked like a small makeup bag at me.

"I'm watching him for Fredrick, and what's this?" I asked opening the bag to see a water bottle, a vile of white powder, and a glass jar of off-white cream.

"The cream is sunscreen for him, and by the looks of it he is going to need the vile which is water soluble. He is already sun damaged this should help clear that up, so he will be good to go." She added as she took the water and vile out of my hands, mixing the two together before handing it to Phillipe.

I watched as Phillipe scrunched up his face, obviously he did not enjoy the taste of the potion.

"Sorry about the taste we are currently developing flavors, all I have right now is the regular. Soon we will have kiwi, cherry, strawberry, and orange flavors." Rose added happily as she smiled radiantly to Phillipe.

"It's okay, thank you Rose," Phillipe added shaking his head, acting very charming.

"Emmy you need to be more thoughtful, children who are Vampires, even if they are currently Ghosts are far more susceptible to sunlight than adult Vampires are. It's not a good idea for you to let him out so unprotected. Apply a quarter of this jar now and then another quarter in two hours if needed." Rose said nodding to both of us.

I had a feeling that this was her way of telling us to leave, after dropping the now empty water bottle in the waste-basket Phillipe and I headed out to the backyard to see what Jasper had in store for us.



I should first say that when Phillipe and I entered the front yard I was definitely shocked by the fact that I could hear Cecelia's high-pitched shrieks from all the way in the front. That made me nervous.

I was not prepared for the noise. What ever was happening in the backyard was not good. So Phillipe and I of course hurried to the back, shock registering on my face as I was suddenly hosed down with freezing cold water.

Eyes wide I stared shocked at a snickering Jasper, whom held the hose. son of a bitch. "What is wrong with you? Are you crazy?" I screamed at him. How dare he do that? I had not asked for him to get me wet! And now I was cold.

Anger pooling in my eyes I looked around the backyard to see Cecelia in a small purple one piece swimsuit, she was sitting in a small kiddie-pool a smile placed on her lips as she laughed hiding her face behind her hands as Jasper sprayed her with the hose again.

"You, looked hot Emmy, I thought I would cool you down." He replied snickering at me. I noticed that Jasper himself was dressed in a pair of swim trunks and a white undershirt.

"Where did you guys get the swimsuits?" I asked suddenly realizing that they most certainly were not wearing them before.

"I got them at Wal-mart today. Cecelia helped me pick them out, you would not imagine how hard it was for her to keep it a secret, I got one for Phillipe as well, I just assumed you would have one." Jasper replied laughing yet again.

Speaking of Phillipe I realized he had not said anything about what was going on. Looking down my eyes widened. Something was not right with Phillipe.

He was breathing quick haggard breaths, his eyes were wide as he stared at the water in front of him. Tears were streaming down his face as he stared at the pool. His fingers were digging into the material of my jeans. The second I looked down at him, he exploded.

Literally, the boy had a complete meltdown. I could only watch as he flung himself to my body, grasping rather roughly at any part of me he could get a hold of. As he did this, tears and cries of panic filled his throat. He wanted nothing to do with the water. It was like at the sight of that pool he became something else entirely. He was no longer the calm and quite child he once was but now was very needy and kind of scary.

I quickly grabbed his waist and lifted him so that he was on my hip. I tried to comfort him, but all he did was bury his head in my neck, cry, and scratch at my exposed skin, as if it held some unknown secret of comfort.

The longer I stood there trying to comfort him the worse he was getting. This was not good. I had a terrified Vampire practically attached to my neck.

What was even worse, was now not only was Phillipe crying but now Cecelia was upset because she was scared at what was going on. Jasper was not looking good either.

"I'm going to take him inside; maybe if I get him away from the water he will calm down, sorry." I replied hastily as I walked quickly to the front yard and into my house.

Getting him into the house seemed to work a little, he calmed down a bit. Yet, he still kept up all of the same actions as he did before, except less ferocious.

My shoulders now hurt from his claw like fingers, which were digging into my skin. I hoped that eventually he would tire himself out preferably before he bit me.

I was not in denial. The boy was going through a shock, I could not help but keep that in mind.

It was a possibility. A very likely possibility. That was why I wanted to get him calmed down quickly before anything would happen. I was not sure what to do. How do you calm down a Vampire? I guess I should have been wondering why he was so scared of the water, but at the moment I was more worried about my neck, literally.

"Phillipe, you are hurting me." I said trying to devoid all emotion out of my comment as I could as I rounded the corner to my room. Sadly I could not hear any violin music so Rose was out of the picture. Walking into my room I realized I was all alone.

Sighing, I took a deep breath trying to calm myself. I would not be helping anyone if I was as upset as he was.

"Phillipe, you really need to calm down, you are hurting me." I cried out, unable to hold in my pain, I could tell that I was now bleeding.

"He is going to bite you." Rang out an unmistakable voice from the door.

"No shi- I mean crap, Vincent; what do you want." I growled anger apparent on my voice. I was not in the mood to deal with him.

"Water? I'm guessing, that's the only thing that gets him worked up like this. Hand him to me." Vincent stated walking forward trying to grab Phillipe from my arms, when I resisted he paused to run his fingers through his long red hair before continuing.
"He is going to want blood, he will get it either way; do you want him to bite you because right now he is going to." Vincent said rolling his eyes at me before practically dragging Phillipe from my body.

Phillipe was not happy in the least since about this. I could not help but jump back when I saw that his normally baby-blue eyes were now a deep scarlet-red, and his canines were elongated into two perfectly formed fangs.

I could only watch as Vincent set Phillipe down on the floor sitting next to him he offered the Vampiric child his wrist, not even wincing as the child snatched it and dug his animalistic fangs deep into the older Vampire's veins.

I watched as Vincent rubbed Phillipe's head with his free arm before speaking to me.
"I'm surprised that Fredrick left Phillipe in anyone besides his own hands." Vincent said giving me an odd look.

"If you were going to be here, I am not sure why he left him with me as well." I added. Blood is thicker than water. Why had Fredrick left Phillipe in my care, and why had he not told me about his fear of water?

"Fredrick does not like leaving me with Phillipe, nor does he like leaving Phillipe with Albrecht." Vincent said thoughtfully.

"Who is Albrecht?" I asked confused. was it me or were there too many damn people to remember at this school?

"Albrecht was the first Bloodlett, he was made before Fredrick. There are three of us, Albrecht, Fredrick, and then I. Although, Albrecht is now married to some orange haired goddess of a Demon. She is a Vampire too, but that's another story all together. Anyways This always happens, when Phillipe is around large bodies of water, like a pool, or bathtub, and such." Vincent said shaking his head.

"Why?" I asked looking down at the now passed out Phillipe who after having his fill had fallen asleep, becoming the calmest he had since he saw that damnable pool in the first place.

"That's how Phillipe died." Vincent said shaking his head sadly.
"He drowned?" I asked confused.

"No, not exactly, see when Phillipe was little we, the Vampiric Court, where having trouble with humans; Vampire Hunters in fact actually. Although we screened our servants before we allowed them in the building one slipped through. The girl was a Lovkinja; if we had known that at the time, we would have never let her in. The name Lovkinja alone means 'Huntress' in Hungarian, they are a large family of Vampire Hunters, last time I checked the family is operating in Chicago Illinois in the Americas now if I am not mistaken. She had gone by some simple name, and had applied for a chambermaid job, she had gotten it easily. She tended to Phillipe especially, and one night when she was alone, she drowned him in the bathtub. She had thought that was the end of him, but he came back a few day's after we held the funeral." Vincent said picking Phillipe up, before walking to the door.

"I will take Phillipe for the rest of the day." Vincent said holding the sleeping child in his arms.

"What happened to the girl?" I asked with worry clearly showing in my voice.

"The same thing that happens to everyone who pisses with any 'Court', she was executed. Oh, and Emmy, you have mail in your mailbox downstairs." Vincent added before leaving me standing alone in my room, blood dripping from the scratch marks on my shoulders.

Sighing I walked over to my chest and pulled out a jar of ointment that would help stop the bleeding, consisting of lemon, hamamelis, and mullien. Applying it I walked downstairs as I put the bandage cloth over the wound.

Going into the front hallway I went to the mailboxes that were just a stack of boxes, with separate cubicles for different people. I noticed that I had two letters in mine, which surprised me. One of the letters was from my mother, the other was in the same fashion as the letter that I had received asking me to come to this school.

Taking my mother's letter out first I scanned it over quickly. It was not very long, as letters go anyways. My mother had only asked the simple questions that would be expectant, the usual 'how are you?' 'how is school?' 'have you made any friends?' type. I mussed over what I would tell her as I opened the more interesting one. I wondered if I would be able to tell her about all of the things that had happened, and if I should tell her about Jasper. I had to wonder if she would think that I was rushing things, going out twice with a guy I hardly knew. Yet, I had to remind myself she had hardly known my father when she started to date him.

I decided I would tell her about Jasper, as well as everything. I could not help but wonder what she would think about the truth I had never been that forthcoming with her in the past, I wondered how she would take me laying everything out for her.

We had been so brief with each other, I could not help but know that this would shock her, she would be expecting a paragraph or two, but I knew that I was going to give her pages. I was going to tell her everything, starting with Vincent. I had waited long enough to tell her the truth. I was over four hours away, so there was little chance that she could uphold any punishment.

Sighing with this realization of what I was going to need to do, I quickly scanned the letter I had gotten from Pandora, shock registered upon my face. Pandora wanted me to come have tea with her tomorrow at three p.m. sharp. Finally I would be able to meet the mysterious woman behind the school.

Taking a deep breath, I went upstairs to start writing my long, and winded letter back to my mother. A letter that was far overdue.