Chapter 20: Chapter 20

I feel like I was a little over my head when I decided to take on the burden of living a double life. I mean, it didn’t bother me before, but now that the whole Kellar issue is involved, I don’t think that I even have the time to rest any more.

I barely managed to finish King Nate’s commission to secure his engagement surprise to Jen. I already given it to him earlier, and it seems like he loved it. He even commissioned me again to help him with the surprise.

What a bother. I’m happy for them, believe me, but it now seems like my weekend is also going to be full.

I just finished my human classes and was about to head to my room so I could prepare for my etiquette class when I stumbled upon Arcie’s room. I wouldn’t have stopped if I had not heard the shriek coming from my sister. She suddenly left the room, her eyes ablaze with panic.

“Rose?” I made the mistake of calling for her attention, especially when she has those bat-shit crazy eyes. “Stella!”

Oh, boy. I know what it means.

Even though she was literally standing in front of me, I pretended not to notice her and turned the other way around. Too late, the beast already had me in her grasp when she forcefully made me turn to face her. How can this woman be so strong!?

“STELLA!”

“Alright, alright. I heard you the first time.” I moved a step away from her so we could talk properly - and possibly give me a small space to escape if I had to. “I know that I am going to regret asking this, but what is it?”

“Arcie, she’s at that stage!” She looks so frantic and unfocused. Her gaze keeps on changing between me and the room to her left.

“At the stage of what?”

“Imaginary friends!” She grabbed my shoulders and shook me back and forth when she yelled the words. “I know that every child goes through that phase, but at Arcie’s age, she should be over it. I don’t know what is happening, but it seems like she has gone worse!”

“What are you even talking about? Do you have a fever? Should I call Ace?”

Rose lets out a dramatic gasp before pointing an accusing finger at me. “You think I am crazy, don’t you?” Her crazy eyes were now back, and I once again feared for my life. I didn’t even have the time to fight her off when she grabs my wrist and dragged me along with her in the children’s playroom.

Once we were in, she pointed at her own child in a fearful manner. “Look at her!” She wisphers at me. “Don’t you think that it's weird?”

Arcie noticed us looking at her. She smiled and waved at us cheerfully. “Aunt Stella! Hello!”

“Hey, Arcie!” I greeted her back. Arcie is such a cute girl, which makes me give my sister a dirty look for making it sound like her kid was weird. “Rose, I know that you can be weird at times, but as Arcie’s aunt, I am going to have to tell you to stop.”

Rose wasn’t paying attention to me. Instead, she was looking at her daughter. “Look.” She whispers, shivering like she has just seen a ghost.

I turned my attention back to my niece and saw what my sister was talking about. I have seen kids at a certain age talking to their imaginary friend, so let me tell you the difference why I started to feel what my sister felt at the moment.

Normal kids usually pause midsentence to think of what their imaginary friend would say, since the imaginary friend is just a figment of their imagination. But when it comes to Arcie, she’s talking to the air like she’s really having a conversation with a real person continuously. What’s creepier is she’s even laughing like she heard a joke.

“Was mother really that crazy? What did she and the twins do to that before?” She giggles.

“Holy shit.” I whispered. I clung to my sister while covering my mouth with one hand.

“See? SEE! I told you so! You did not believe me.”

“I am so sorry for doubting you. This is so crazy. I even got goosebumps and I am a winter fairy!” I rub my arm to calm myself down. I rarely get goosebumps and seeing as how I am getting them because of my niece, it is kind of freaking me out!

“What are we going to do?” My sister whispers to me.

“You’re asking me?” I looked at her with a disapproving gaze. “I should be asking you that! She’s your child. You do something about it. She came from your uterus!”

“I don’t know! Arcie is not a normal child because…you know. She’s a hybrid supernatural kid!”

I let out a breath and shook my head. “Rose, you’re a tamer. Can’t you just go and ask Custard to…I don’t know, check if there’s a ghost?” I suggested.

“That’s a good idea.” She nods at me in approval. “Why don’t you stay here and watch over Arcie while I go and look for Custard? He should be playing with Klaus and Ace.” She gives me a strong pat on the shoulder before heading for the door.

“Oh no, you don’t!” I pulled her back by grabbing the back of her dress. “I know that you know that you can simply reach through your connection with Custard to call him. Don’t lie to me, sis. I know that you’re trying to ditch me here with your daughter and her potential ghost friend!” I turned back to the said daughter only to see her ducking her head, the way that she does when someone pats her head. I sucked in my breath out of fear.

I keep forgetting that despite how my sister looks and acts, she’s also a trained fighter. Every weekend morning, she would train with her husband as their form of bonding time. It’s so early in the morning that I rarely see them practicing.

She easily broke my hold on her by doing some sort of move that I made a mental note to have her teach me one of these days.

“Rose!” I could only hiss and watch helplessly when she finally managed to reach the door.

“I’ll be back, Stella. Watch over my daughter for me while I get her father and Custard, okay? Love you. Byeeee!” She drags on the last word before she finally closes the door behind her.

That’s it. I will never have kids. And if anyone asks me why, I will just point to my sister so she can do the explanation for me.

“Aunt Stella?” My scream got caught in my throat, making me cough and fly towards the doorknob before looking at her.

“H-Hey there, Arcie.” Get a grip, Stella! You’re the older one in the room. You have to act mature! “How’s it going? What sort of game are you playing right now? Do you want to head out and say…look for your mom?” My voice shook a little as I suggested.

Arcie shakes her head, to my dismay, and looks back like she was listening to someone behind her.

If I could curse and scream, I would, but I don’t think that Rose or Ace would appreciate it if I accidentally taught their daughter a bad word.

“No. That’s okay. I am talking to Lu. He says hi, by the way.”

“H-h-hi, Lu.” I think that my armpits are starting to sweat. Thankfully, I am wearing a white shirt, so it is not that noticeable.

Arcie giggles like she heard something funny. “Uncle Lu says that he’s happy that you have grown into a beautiful lady.” That made me pause while I stared at Arcie as she continues, “Uncle Lu wants to tell you that he is proud of what you have accomplished. Oh, and he wants to thank you for the flowers that you left the other day.”

Fear left my system, but I am still feeling numb while I stare at an empty space where Arcie kept on looking before turning my attention back to my niece. “Arcie, what’s Lu’s real name? Can you ask him?”

Arcie looks back at the spirit behind her before she responds. “He says it’s Luke.”

I slowly melted to the ground. I did not even realize that I was kneeling until my hands touched the carpeted floor. My vision started to get blurry and I was sobbing before I knew it.

“Aunt Stella?” Arcie runs towards me and gives me a hug as I continued to cry. “I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?”

I let out a shaky breath and hugged her small frame close to me. “No, Arcie.” I sniffed and tried to clear the tears from my eyes, but they just can’t seem to stop. “I…I know Lu. He’s a very important man who helped me a long time ago. He’s also the man who saved your mother and I. If he’s still here, can you tell him that I love and miss him?”

Arcie moved back a bit, so she was looking at me with a raised brow. “He’s here, aunt Stella. Whatever you want to say, he can hear you.” She pouts and starts to wipe my tears with her small and soft hands. “He’s getting upset when he sees you cry.”

“Of course he is.” I giggled and covered my eyes with my hands until the tears stopped falling like waterfalls.

“Aunt Stella, Lu says that he wants to tell you something. It’s about your friend Kellar.” I look up at her. It seemed like my bafflement made my tears stop as I wanted for her to continue. I watch her, paying close attention to the space beside her. She nods her head multiple times before she turns to me. “Lu says that your friend is sick. He has something that he has lost, a part of his soul of some sort.”

“I don’t understand. Can you clarify?”

“Your friend has divided his soul, just like what happened to Lu?” Arcie looks confused when she says it. I can’t blame her. She doesn’t know the whole story about the late King Luke’s connection with the past rogue king. “He wants to tell you that the separation of his two souls was incomplete, making one grow weak. If the two do not combine soon, he will die.”

“Where? Does he know where the other soul of Kellar is? Please, uncle Luke, if you can hear me, give me something!”

I watched with cold and trembling hands while Arcie seemed to be communicating with Uncle Luke. “In the human realm. Uncle Luke says that his other soul is in the human realm, living his life as a normal student.”