⊰10⊱

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

💫

Acacia/Ciarán - Age 9

I felt sick to my stomach the next morning.

Though the bite mark was no more, I was so dizzy from the blood loss that I fell asleep and didn't dream. It was like an empty pit, and I felt like I was suffocating, unsure of whether or not it was me sleeping.

Ciarán came in to check on me when I saw the clock read nine in the morning. I remember shaking my head and pulling the covers up to my chin, though I was extremely warm. I also remember Ciarán yelling from my room for our parents...

"Acacia?" Daddy kneels down beside my bed while I blink my eyelids open a couple of times. I see mama while Dante stands with Ciarán as he looks distraught at the end of my bed.

I shake my head and try to pull the covers over it. Daddy stops me while I feel mama's cool touch to my forehead. It's only when she says, "She has a fever," that I'm reminded that I'm the only one who gets sick in this family.

"I'll have Niles bring her some medication to bring down the fever," Dante says while Ciarán edges around the other side of the bed.

"Little love, do you need anything?" Daddy asks me, and I shake my head again, chills raking through my body a moment later. Mama and daddy look at each other, and a few seconds after, I feel them sitting on the bed on either side of me.

I glance up and see mama's eyes looking worried down at me. My vision is a little hazy, and I know time has passed by when I open my eyes again, and mama has me cradled in her arms.

She's humming, rocking me gently as I feel something against my lips. When I look, I see a spoon with purple liquid on it, and I shake my head, moving closer to mama.

Niles says, "Come on Acacia, your fever is high."

"Daddy!" I cry and push the spoon away.

"Leave it here, Niles," daddy tells him, and he rubs my back gently. Tears fall down my cheeks, and I fall asleep again to mama's humming.

I wake up again when I hear Ciarán giggling, blinking my eyelids open to see daddy has my chess set he got for me set up on my bed. I see him playing with Ciarán and then going back and forth about something.

Mama's cool fingertips touch beneath my chin, and she brings my eyes to meet with hers. Her irises are golden, and I wonder how long her wolf has been here as she helps bring the spoon to my lips.

I grimace, "It's gross."

"It'll make you better," she smiles down at me, and I finally take all the strength I have left to part my lips for the yucky liquid to slide down my throat. She kisses my forehead and whispers, "I'm so sorry...I love you so much."

Ciarán stops giggling and is staring at me while my cheek falls against mama's tummy. I breathe out and in, my heartbeat very slow as I yawn. Mama rubs my back while Ciarán gets off the bed and comes to the side.

Ciarán's eyes stare into mine and something knots in my stomach, crying out sharply while his eyes widen. He says, "Mama, she's not okay...Acacia is NOT okay!"

Maybe a second later, it feels like my whole body is shaking and my eyes quickly roll back into my head before I don't remember anything else. When I wake up, I'm in the medical wing of the castle, my eyes in slits as I see the room around me, gradually opening my eyelids.

I look down, and an arm is resting and holding me across my chest, the hand grasping my upper arm. When I look closer, Ciarán is laying next to me, holding me as his head rests near my head.

There is a needle in my arm, looking up to see a bag attached to the tube. When I shift slightly, a small cry leaves my lips, Ciarán's eyelids snap open, his eyes staring at me as he exhales sharply.

"Acacia..." his voice holds so much worry, and I hear footsteps before I see mama and daddies with Niles.

When I see their faces, I feel some relief and Niles goes on to explain, "You had a febrile seizure, though your temperature is coming down now."

"You stopped breathing," Ciarán is almost in tears as he sits up beside me, "you wouldn't stop shaking."

"You'll be fine," Niles reassures not only myself but Ciarán. Mama comes closer and wraps her arms around me, pulling me to her. Daddy kisses my forehead a few times after mama lets go and also pulls me close to him.

Daddy whispers, "Don't scare me like that...I can't lose you, little love," I hear his voice break. My heart beats fast as I lift my arms and wrap them around daddy's shoulders. He kisses my cheek and says, "I love you...I love you so much...I'm sorry..."

Dante rubs my forehead as he sits next to me once Ciarán steps down off the bed. He gently asks, "Why are you trying to scare us?" A weak smile is on his lips as he stares down at me, seeing that his irises are also golden.

Tears are in my eyes, and he quickly hugs me and says, "Oh little one, it's okay. You'll feel better soon enough."

After he pulls away, I nod, and I hear mama say, "Let's let Acacia get some rest."

"I don't want to..." Ciarán seems upset, and he stomps his foot angrily when mama tries to move him from his spot.

"Ciarán," Dante says gently, "I know you want to protect your sister, but she needs rest now."

I'm very sleepy, and I don't hear the rest of their conversation before I'm slowly drifting off to sleep again.

I wake up, and I see the sun is shining in from the windows. After blinking my eyelids open a few times, I gradually sit up, scooting back against the recline of the bed.

Daddy is sitting in a chair next to my bed; his own eyes closed as he appears to be sleeping. When I furrow my brows, I ask, "Daddy?"

Daddy's eyes are open a moment later, searching me over very quickly before he breathes a sigh of relief. He reaches out to me and touches my forehead with the back of his hand, another relaxed exhale as he smiles at me.

"Are you hungry?" He asks me gently. My tummy answers for him and he chuckles before saying, "I'll let your mother know."

Niles comes to check on me just as mama brings in some warm chicken noodle soup. He checks me, and I'm allowed to have the needle removed from my arm. He stops next to me though and says, "Your blood pressure was low when I checked your physical health..." his voice trails off and I see daddy and mama become interested when he notes, "...so I took a blood sample to check your levels, and they were low."

"Niles?" Mama asks while confused with why he's even bringing this up.

"I'm not going into this further," Niles shakes his head and states, "this is a private family matter because I can rule out one thing, she didn't give blood due to the level being much lower than a normal donation." After he says this, my skin breaks out in goosebumps and Niles walks away after giving me a hard look.

Daddy and mama glance at one another and when they both look at me, tears form in my eyes again. Mama asks, "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I reply, watching as daddy's eyes hold mine.

My heart beats fast at the way he looks at me, and I know I don't stand a chance to get by him right now. Though, I'm entirely surprised when he says, "When you're ready, please tell us."

He doesn't push me, a look lingering in his eyes as he nods at mama and me hands me the soup. I set it on my lap and begin eating, though I know they must be talking about me while not speaking out loud because the silence is deafening. There's just something a bit different in the way they're approaching me, and I don't know whether or not it's because of what happened a couple of days ago.

Mama finally smiles at me and says, "If you're up for it, do you want to go to the beach tomorrow?"

My eyes widen, and I ask, "All of us?"

Daddy nods and says, "All of us."

--💫--

I am feeling much better, and now I'm just excited to spend time with my family. Dante is driving while mama is sitting in the front seat next to him. Daddy sits next to me while he as his arm resting along the joined seats Ciarán and I are sitting beside one another. Ciarán and I are playing a memory game, and each time he picks a card, he doesn't get it right.

He throws down the recent one and pouts, "It's too hard."

I shake my head and say, "No it isn't...let me show you a trick," I smile at him while he furrows his brows with confusion. The card Ciarán had been trying to make a match to is the angel in the center though he's seen the matching one just a few turns ago but keeps forgetting.

Ciarán nods and says, "Okay," his eyes searching the turned down cards while I pick up the one in the corner. Sure enough, it's the matching angel to the center, and he stares at me while stating, "How do you remember? You weren't even looking for those cards."

Smiling, I tell him, "Angel...angle...corner," I repeat the little chime I'd put together when I first saw the card flipped by him and then the center one a turn or so ago. I didn't want to pick it, because I knew he was trying hard and wanted to give him a chance.

Maybe this is what he feels like when he pulls his strength back for me?

Ciarán admires, "Whoa...okay, you need to teach me those little songs of yours," he laughs while I hand him the cards, my daddy squeezing my shoulder gently where I glance up to see his eyes. He smiles at me and nods toward the window before I take a look and see the beach coming into view.

Dante chuckles and says, "That's very clever of you, Acacia...how'd you come up with that?"

"Daddy..." my voice trails off when I glance up at him, "...use weakness to your advantage. I'm not always good with memory and found a way to make it stick, so yeah!"

Mama glances back at daddy and daddy says, "Look, she's going to be at the top of her class come to high school," I watch as mama smiles at his words while she also nods. I do wonder what going to school with other kids is like as we aren't allowed to go to public school until we can attend Dante's school. I don't know their reasoning why, but I am already ahead of what my grade would be as I can keep moving forward with what I want to learn.

When Dante parks the car, we all get out where mama gets blankets and lays them on the warm sandy beach. I can feel the sand squish between my toes as I look out across the waves, the water beautiful under the suns rays. Mama looks a little tired, so she sits on the blanket and watches as Ciarán runs up to me and shows me the Frisbee.

Ciarán grins and says, "Come on!"

I run with him down the beach, stopping when he moves just further up ahead before he turns around and throws it to me. Watching it, I run forward just a little bit and catch it before it hits the ground. He grins at me, and I excitedly jump up and down with it, hearing Dante behind me laugh and say, "Toss it here."

"Okay!" I turn around and throw it to him. We go back and forth for awhile, daddy getting out sandwiches; however, he gets an evil eye from mama.

"What?" He asks, and I also look confused as we all sit on the blankets and munch on the ham and turkey.

Dante freezes, and he says, "Uh-oh..."

"Don't even tell me...not this sh-" daddy cuts himself short while Ciarán and I stare at one another. He chomps on a bite of his sandwich while I stuff my mouth as well, both of us edging closer to one another.

"Rose...we aren't near a pizza-" Dante starts, but she laughs hard.

"I was just kidding!" Mama laughs, and I see daddies both look at one another before releasing a sigh of relief.

What in the world was that about?

After we eat lunch, we get changed in our bathing suits, Dante and daddy going into the water to play with Ciarán. I stand from the blanket and take a few steps away before mama says, "Acacia."

"Yes, mama?" I turn around, and I see her standing behind me, her head tilted to the side with a small smile on her face.

"What did you want to do?" She asks me before coming closer to where I stand. I first stare off at daddies and my brother before I look down the beach.

After a bit, I ask her, "Can we collect shells? I'd like to bring some back to my room." At her words, she takes a small bag from one of the containers that they brought to the beach.

"Of course we can sweetie," she smiles before I slowly lift up my hand and she takes it into hers. I always feel that the strength my mama has and the warmth her touch gives me, I smile up at her as we walk down the beach a bit further away from the others. We come to a little cove area, and we kneel down in the sand.

Mama finds a beautiful shell that sounds like the ocean when I put it up next to my ear. My eyes widen when I find a starfish, and she laughs when I poke it. We see a couple of sand dollars with lots of little shells.

There are a few she gathers and says, "We can make a necklace at home out of these if you like."

"I'd love that!" We both giggle when a sand crab comes from beneath one of the rocks, moving across the sand sideways.

When we walk back, I hold her hand while she carries the shells in a small bag. I catch Ciarán splashing daddy and then swimming off farther into the waves. He's so strong...the water pull seems like it doesn't affect him at all.

"Mama?" I ask, and just as we get to the blankets, she glances down at me, setting the bag of shells down.

"Yes?" She asks me, and I look out to the ocean.

"Can I go play with Ciarán and daddies?" The water is scary though the sound it makes is soothing. If they are all in the water, then I know I'll be safe.

Mama stares at me for a bit and nods, "Just stay with everyone," I'm excited as she sits down and watches me run off to the water's edge.

When I get close enough, daddy catches sight of me and asks, "You want to come out and swim?"

"Yes, daddy," I grin when he quickly runs to me and scoops me up into his arms. He takes me into the water, and we go out a bit while he sits me on his shoulders. I stare out across the waves as they come in, Dante helping Ciarán onto his shoulders and we sit next to each other.

The waves hit us as I laugh, hitting the water and splashing Ciarán. Water sprays in my face, and we both go into a giggle fit. Daddies walk us closer to the shore before taking us off their shoulders. Dante leaves us with daddy while he goes back out further into the waves.

"Ciarán?" Dante asks him first, and I see my brother excitedly waiting. I feel the water move around my waist as daddy lifts Ciarán under the arms before he throws him out into the waves near Dante.

He's quick to surface and laughs while he crawls onto Dante's back. Daddy looks at me and asks, "Do you want me to throw you?"

I know Dante won't let anything happen to me, so I quickly look at daddy and nod. He scoops me into his arms, his eyes meeting mine as he smiles saying, "Get ready."

He turns me around, and I watch as Ciarán is waving at me and a few seconds later I feel myself falling while flying in the air. I scream and laugh before I hit the water's surface, swimming up to the surface before I find Dante and hold his waist. He pats my upper back and chuckles, all of us swimming back toward the shore.

After we put on shorts and shirts, daddies leave us to build a sand castle, sitting with mama as they talk about something, more than likely the new baby.

Ciarán puts a flag on one of the towers and asks, "What do you think the baby is?"

I pause a moment while building a small bridge for the moat around the castle. Tilting my head to the side, I smile saying, "I don't care as long as they are just as fun as you."

Ciarán grins and then splashed water at me. I exclaim, "Hey!" Before he gets up and runs to the sea. I laugh, getting up and chasing him.

"Not too far," mama calls as Ciarán runs down the beach while I chase after him. He stays just out of reach, teasing me as I try and run a little faster.

Ciarán sees this and calls, "Stop running flat-footed, use the balls of your feet."

Hmm...

I try and feel the difference, and we round the corner to the tide pools. It's nice though...

...Ciarán lets me catch him, and I tackle him to the sand.

He laughs at me as we roll around, laughing and playing as he says, "You got me."

I grin when I'm on top of him triumphantly, flexing my muscles as he laughs back. He quickly tickles me, and I shriek, crawling off of him and getting away from the tickle monster.

I hear daddy calling, "We're leaving soon, come on back."

Ciarán looks at me, and he smiles, "We going to race back?"

"Yes!" I exclaim.

"You two are so funny," we both hear a voice and freeze. Turning our gazes to one of the low rocks in the tide pools, my heart skips a beat at how beautiful she is...

It's a mermaid.

She looks about our age, sea foam green hair and opalescent eyes stare back at us, her tail a mint green as she lays on her stomach. She props her chin on her hands and smiles at us, Ciarán gasping while we both look at one another quickly.

"Hi!" She waves and introduces herself, "I'm Sinéad Tempest."

It clicks a second later, and I ask, "Is Aspen, your mama?"

She nods and asks, "Are you the Valentine twins?" She eyes Ciarán and she exclaims, "You are the true born hybrid mother talks about after meetings."

"Twins!" Dante calls, and we both turn to one another again.

"Mama! Daddies!" I call, and Sinéad turns on her side before sitting up, her fin touching the water of the tide pool.

They all three are here in the blink of an eye, their gazes landing on the mermaid before mama greets her, "Hello."

Sinéad's eyes are wide as she bows her head and replies, "Hybrid Queen."

Mama looks to daddies and smiles, "What's your name sweetie?"

"Sinéad Tempest," she smiles shyly.

Daddy nods and responds with, "Aspen's daughter?"

She nods and then looks out to the sea. Sinéad glances back before she says, "Mother is calling me...it was nice to meet you though."

We all wave goodbye to her, walking back toward our blankets. While mama and daddies begin to load the car, I stand on the beach and gaze out toward the setting sun, watching the beautiful colors of pink, orange and purple swirl with the clouds.

It was a beautiful day...something I wish we had more time to do when mama and daddies aren't always so busy overseeing the world and those that call them. I can hear the sound, something in the air as I release a sigh at the way it surrounds me.

It's so angelic, something pulling me as I don't realize I've crossed the sand toward where the tide is rolling in.

Dante calls, "Acacia, we're almost ready, let's go."

The light wind raises my hair from my shoulders, and that sound surrounds me further. Everything else is blocked out and before I realize it...I feel cold and numb. My eyelids blink open hard as I feel the rush of the undertow, the water tearing me down and out.

When my head surfaces, I scream loud, "Mama!" My eyes are catching sight as daddies and mama are already in the water, though just far away. I cough and choke on the water, scared a moment later when I feel like I'm being pulled down further. I try and swim, but it holds me, and I gasp, inhaling more water when I feel teeth scrap my skin before a tug on my shirt.

It feels like I'm being hurled to the surface, gasping for air as my head breaks through the water. Mama and daddies are just a bit closer now, though I look and see a small white wolf gripping my shirt and guiding me back toward them.

It's a bit weird though, mama and daddies move back to the sand while I'm

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net