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Cover by: @xSugarLilyx love your interpretation!

Transgression: to violate a law, command, moral code, etc.; offend; sin.

"Impossible odds set the stage for amazing miracles."

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Acacia/Ciarán - Age 8

A light breeze billows the pink curtains of my bedroom window.

Laughter fills the hallway, my bedroom door wide open while I lay on my back on my bed. I'm reading my favorite book, listening as Ciarán runs closer followed by the sound of multiple footsteps behind him. Their talking becomes louder the closer they draw toward my room, and I briefly tilt my head back just as one of his friends runs past the open door frame.

"Come on!" One of the boys yells at the others, including my brother. I recognize him along with the rest of Ciarán's friends; boys belonging to my family's coven, Aohdan's and those who are friends with Delaney. There are a few our age while most are just a couple of years older.

"Where are you going?" I ask as soon as I see Ciarán cross by. I hear him come to a halt and walk back toward the door while the rest of the boys run behind him to join up where they are all meeting.

Ciarán shrugs his shoulders once he's standing in the door frame and says, "Nowhere."

He doesn't want me to come play.

He never does anymore.

I roll onto my stomach so I'm no longer looking at him upside down, placing the book in front of me on the bed covers and ask, "Why can't I come and play?"

Ciarán looks off to the right briefly before his intense reddish-orange eyes meet with mine and he states, "You'll just get hurt. Mama and our dads will get upset and I'll get in trouble."

"I won't get hurt," I smile and sit up while swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, "you'll be there to protect me."

"Uh, no, I don't want to babysit my sister when I want to have fun with my friends," Ciarán corrects me and rolls his eyes. After crossing his arms in front of his chest he huffs, "You'll just get in the way."

Just as I part my lips to speak, Mercury backtracks and asks, "Ciarán, what's the holdup?" Just as he questions my brother, Mercury's ebony hair conceals one of his malachite eyes as he shifts them to lock onto me. He's the eldest of Ciarán's friends, seven years older than the two of us and currently attending Meliorist Sanctum, the high school for any being to coexist alongside those who aren't normally within our circles.

I don't know what I did, but half the time he's either overly nice to me where the other half it looks like he wants to drink my blood and hurt me. There are a few boys from school that are friends of Mercury's and they tend to hang around every now and then when brought to my parents' castle. Lately, a lot of different vampires come and go, some I recognize while others are foreign to me.

"My sister," Ciarán shoves his hands into his pockets while Mercury continues to hold my gaze.

A few moments later, Mercury says, "I'll catch up in a moment. Why don't you go on ahead with the others?"

Furrowing my brows, Ciarán can't wait to leave the space he's been standing on. In the blink of an eye, he's gone and Mercury is left standing before me. He glances around the room and finally asks, "Can I come in?"

"Aren't you going to miss out?" It makes my heart flutter at the thought of someone wanting to hang out with me, but at the cost of being left behind by the rest of his friends, I wouldn't want Mercury to feel that.

He shakes his head and chuckles, "No, we have all afternoon," he pauses a moment and I offer him a slight nod before he walks into my room. He crosses the space between us until he glances down at the book I'm reading.

"Romeo and Juliet huh?" He asks while taking a seat beside me on the bed, causing it to dip down when he sits. When I quietly nod back he says, "That's a hard book to read especially for someone your age."

Arching a brow a funny look crosses my face and I say, "I'm smarter than the average bear."

Mercury laughs lightly and I ask, "What?"

"You scrunch your nose to the side when you're all riled up," he chuckles and I tilt my head to the side, continuing to stare at him. When he's done laughing he notes, "No, but seriously, Ciarán can hardly get through Charlotte's Web."

I gasp and ask, "How do you know that?!" Ciarán hates how my reading skills are already at high school level while he's struggling to get through our grade three reading list. He makes a point of trying to hide it from his friends because he doesn't want to be seen as uncool or uneducated.

Mercury's eyes twinkle for a moment before he nudges me, "Can you keep a secret?"

"I guess," there's no one for me to really talk to...oh! Except for when I get to spend a few months with grandpa Keir! I get along much better with the werewolf kids, they're a lot more down to earth and relatable than some of the vampires and hybrids here.

"I help him with his homework," Mercury admits.

"Help him how?" Is he teaching him how to read better?

"Well, I don't necessarily help him actually," Mercury stands to his feet after placing his hands on his knees to hoist himself up. He turns to look down at me and brushes one of his fingers under my chin before saying, "I do it for him."

That's why Ciarán's passing...

I shift my head to the side to knock away his hand and Mercury chuckles before walking toward the door. I release a breath before saying, "It's like a puzzle."

Mercury places his hand on the door frame and turns around while asking, "Excuse me?"

"Romeo and Juliet," I close the book on my lap and stare into his eyes, "It's like a puzzle, the way they speak and once you figure out the rhyme and reason..." I stand from my bed and set the book down on my side table next to the glass chess set daddy gave me for my birthday a few months ago. Glancing away and back to Mercury I finish, "...it's as easy as reading Goodnight Moon."

Mercury narrows his eyes briefly at the obvious insult thrown at my brother, keeping my own temper under control after finding out how my brother has been passing through our class.

Mercury's harsh features fade and he muses, "I think your brother's right."

"About what?" I ask, standing next to my side table.

"You'll just get in the way," he taunts me once more before leaving the open door frame and heading out into the hallway. I hear him run off, my own footsteps carrying me into the hallway, standing in the middle of it as I watch him run out of sight around the corner. Tears gather in my eyes while threatening to fall with just a simple push.

"Acacia?" My daddy's voice sounds his presence behind me and I quickly brush away the single tear that had escaped down my cheek.

When I turn around to face him I ask, "Yes daddy?"

"What's wrong?" His eyes search my own, kneeling down before me when I try and glance away.

"Nothing," I reply, but he quickly grips my chin lightly and brings my gaze back to his.

A few seconds later he asks, "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," I return and he searches my eyes once again, that scanning gaze of his ability to pick apart a lot of people, including my mama. I'm learning how to fault him in the wrong direction however, I'm too upset to even want to try this time.

I just want to spend time with my brother and play with his friends.

"Acacia," my daddy's tone is sharp this time and I release a small sigh, admitting my defeat.

"I want to play with Ciarán and the others," my daddy releases his hold of my chin and I lower my gaze to the ground, "but I'll just get in the way. I can't keep up with them because they won't slow down to allow me to play."

My daddy is quiet for a good few minutes before he asks, "Did you want me to see if you can spend some time with some of your friends at grandpa Keir's pack?"

I'd love that, but I don't want to have to leave for extended periods of time just to hang out with friends.

Why don't others here want to hang out with me?

"It's because I'm human, isn't it?" I say the words and realize a second too late that I'd spoken them instead of them remaining a thought. My eyes widen as I look up to see my daddy staring at me hard, an untraceable expression fading in and out while his silence remains eerie around us.

"No baby girl, don't think so little of yourself your race has nothing to do with any of this," my daddy finally releases a sigh and says, "it's just him being a boy and not wanting his sister to hang around him."

"What's the commotion about?" My other daddy, Dante, walks down the hallway after my daddy explains to me why Ciarán is acting the way he is.

My daddy rises to his feet and tells Dante, "Ciarán."

"Ah, I see," Dante shifts his gaze from my daddy to me and he sighs, "an immature boy being a boy, you're much smarter than him Acacia so use that to your advantage."

Now I have to figure out how to get Ciarán to spend time with me.

"Alright..." I nod and my daddy kisses my forehead, Dante nodding in the direction of the hallway he'd come from. I might as well go get some fresh air to figure out what I'm going to do.

Walking out onto the castle grounds, I near the few trees separated closer to the castle, a treehouse built into it thanks to my daddies and mama. I grasp the rope of the swing, sitting down into it before I kick off the ground and swing back and forth lightly.

The sun shines down on my face, looking up and closing my eyes as I feel the warmth against my skin. I swing back and forth, trying to figure out a way for Ciarán to play with me instead of always running off with his friends.

If it's not because I'm human, it has to be because I'm a girl.

I gasp, a shrill scream echoing in the distance as I come to a halt, kicking the toes of my shoes against the grass as I stop the swinging motion. It sounds just like my brother, and I feel that fear deep within our connection.

I spring from my swing and run in the direction I heard the scream come from. Just as I near the forest, my footsteps edge slower, my heart racing fast as the many fears I have begun to play and trick my mind. The tree trunks look taller, the forest darker even though it's bright outside. Even though my hands are shaking slightly, I hear one more scream before I cautiously proceed into the forest, glancing around everywhere to see where the screaming is coming from.

I hate the forest, but my mama says if I allow it, it can protect me.

I've never seen it that way...ever. I've only been in our forest once and it was hardly a foot or two off the grounds.

As I draw closer, I finally see him. Ciarán is hanging onto a branch of a tree while his body dangles over the sheer drop of a cliff. The tree he's holding onto has a slope, allowing to climb it easily at an angle.

Hang on Ciarán!

I quickly run up the slanting tree trunk, swallowing my fears as I edge out toward the branch. He screams but he then laughs, "I can't."

"It's not that cold!" Mercury yells up at him and it's only when I'm out on the branch then I notice he's dangling over a lake in his underwear.

The drop is taller than the full height of our parents' castle.

My muscles freeze with terror as I clutch onto the branch harder.

"Acacia?" Just as Ciarán notices what's happening, he's already letting go of the branch a second before our eyes meet. His breath is almost gone as he plummets down into the lake, crashing through the water while I remain frozen in place.

I feel like a fool that I thought he was in trouble...

...now I'm the one in trouble.

Ciarán comes up for air and shakes his head, water flying from his hair as he gasps, the other boys laughing and joking with him. His eyes aren't in the joking mood though, looking straight up at me and yelling, "Go home, Acacia!"

One of the others laughs, "She'll get hurt if she falls from this height."

I try to move backward, but I can't, missing my footing once and I clutch the branch, snapping my eyes shut and crying, "I-I can't! C-Ciarán h-help me!"

"Why do I always-" he cuts himself off while hitting his fist against the water, the water splashing away as if he'd cannonballed into the lake. He grumbles and calls up, "Hold on."

While Ciarán swims away to the side near a built-in ladder to the cliff face, the other boys swim and roughhouse. Mercury stares up at me while he stands in the water, a look lingering on his face as I glance away and press my cheek against the bark of the branch.

I breathe in and out slowly, calming myself out of my anxiety and fears. I hear everything around me, including Ciarán making his way closer to the base of the tree trunk. When I open my eyes, I feel like they are somewhat foggy, but it's just my fear clouding my judgment.

Glancing around, I begin to notice the silken spider web strands scattered throughout the nearby trees and leaves. The strands don't necessarily build a web but stand-alone strongly, and I swear I can see a purplish hue move in and out of focus, kind of like when you have black spots in front of your eyes after rubbing them.

The strands move in the wind...or so I think so.

"I'm coming Acacia, just hold on," Ciarán moves closer to me, feeling the slight shake of the tree as he climbs up the slope side.

My eyes widen when I see a flicker, an image perhaps and I call out, "Daddy?" I swear I see him motioning for me off in the distance between a few trees, the look of complete shock lingering on both of our features...but in the next second, he vanishes.

💫--To Be Continued--💫

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