~x~ Chapter 39 ~x~

The house looked just as I had remembered it. Calling it a house wasn't quite right. It was more of a cottage than anything else. Faded red bricks; dark tiled roof; white framed windows; bright yellow door that looked as out of place as ever; and the white picket fence made up the home that I remembered.

Leaning closer to the fence, I could still make out the scribbles that I'd etched onto the painted wood as a child to make my mark on the place. The wooden post that I used to train with still stood proudly just past the fence. I could still see the parts of the post that lost a little of its shape because I had hit it so many times. Then there were the monkey bars. Now those were pure evil. I remembered falling and injuring myself so many times. This irritating contraption sent me to Rosette far more times than anything else did because every time I fell, I always managed to land on something at an odd angle.

A smile spread across my face when my eyes landed on the wood stump we used to use to chop wood. It was a weekly event for my father and I. We would spend at least an hour chopping wood and it helped develop my upper body strength, stance and sense of balance. There was a strange art to wood chopping and I made a mental note to try it again some time to revive that old habit. I remember it being one of the most therapeutic and stress relieving things I ever did. It was almost damage free and certainly left no bruises on my body.

Ali simply watched as I slowly relived the life I had six years ago. Disregarding the earlier panic I had, I was surprisingly calmer than I'd thought I would be. The memories weren't nearly as fear inducing as I'd anticipated and it was certainly nice to be able to recall my parents and my old life without falling into some kind of a fit. I mustered all the courage and emotional strength I had within me and headed for the front door. I paused, hand enclosed around the round door handle.

Could I really do this? Was I ready for this? I thought fearfully.

I jumped with I felt warmth on my lower back and tilting my head up and to the side, I saw Ali smiling reassuringly at me.

Yes… I can get through it if he's with me.

I let out a deep breath and turned the handle before swinging the door wide open. The first thing I struck me was the scent of air freshener and cleaning detergents. They weren't kidding when they told me that once in a while they would come in and clean dust the place.

Then the pictures followed. My parents loved taking pictures almost above all else and there were pictures everywhere. Pictures of us three together, pictures of our strange family unit, pictures of Rosette and Martin caught in a couple-like situation, pictures of Ali and I messing around as little kids, pictures of me, pictures of my parents, there were pictures scattered all over the walls. That was our wallpaper, the memories that we'd build up together in those ten years since I was born and my parents decided to build the cottage here in the academy where they'd met and fell in love.

I grinned when I remembered the story of how my parents met. Mum was a star pupil as a guardian with the most promising prospects. Dad was a well-known charmer at Court and was pretty much irresistible. He didn't used to attend St. Vlads. Apparently he was originally in Russia but had decided that he wanted to be in the States instead because of the rumours of how amazing Mum was. In other words, Dad was the boy who flew across the world to stalk her. Mum wasn't impressed with his charming antics at first, but over the years up until graduation, she was charmed by his sincerity and discovered that he wasn't just a playboy and charmer, that he was more serious at heart.

I never did find out how the two became a spirit bound couple, but I did know that it happened about a year after their graduation. There was a rumoured attack at Court and supposedly in protecting Dad, she'd given up her life, not just as a guardian, but simply as a woman who didn't want to watch her loved on die. But that was just a story Ali once told me and neither of us really knew if that was really true or not. After all, an attack at Court sounded pretty ridiculous. It wasn't impossible, but it was certainly rare, much rarer than an attack on an Academy due to the high security.

For a while, I simply stood awkwardly in the doorway, not sure where I wanted to go. The cottage brought back so many memories, and no matter which room I went into, there would always be amusing moments to be remembered. In the end, I settled for going into one room at a time.

Ali was patient with me, never saying anything while he followed me into one room after another as I worked my way through the house. In the back of my mind, I couldn't help think jokingly that he was somewhat like a stalker trailing behind me like a shadow but I knew that it was a good thing he was here. I wasn't entirely sure that I would've been able to cope with the rush of memories without someone important to me being there.

My room was just as I remembered it. Dark colour scheme with glow in the dark stars littered all over the walls. I was obsessed with them as a child and I did still love anything to do with stars. My fingers reached out and poked at a few that were threatening to fall and I couldn't help but smile.

"You know, it was definitely your fault that my room was decorated like this." I commented with a grin.

"How so?"

"I can't recall which one, but you told me a story about stars one day when I was about five and I remember begging Mum and Dad to buy bags of these things so that I could remodel my room and make it look like an observatory."

Ali stared at me for a moment before chuckling. "Ah, that might be true."

"Might be?"

"Okay, is," he retorted in defeat, ruffling my hair in exasperation.

"How can this place look exactly the same after so many years?"

"Because none of us dared to move a thing." Ali told me simply. "We were all wishing in the back of our minds without saying anything out loud that one day you would come home, Kalster."

"We didn't want to think that you were dead and clung onto the small speck of hope that you would come home," a voice laced with pain came from the doorway.

I whirled around in surprise to see Joe leaning casually against the doorframe. My face contorted into an apologetic expression and I stepped over to hug him tightly. His arms instantly went around me, wrapping me in a secure embrace.

"You guys never left my mind either, not for a day." I told him.

"Glad to hear it, Kalani." Rosette spoke with a warm smile. "Let's head downstairs."

I blinked in surprise. "Downstairs? Why?"

"Enough with the questions, just come down." Joe scoffed with a roll of his eyes. He didn't wait for me to reply and simply tugged me along with him as he walked down the hallway and down the stairs. Ali followed closely behind us and he sent me a reassuring smile. Hopefully I wasn't about to be slaughtered by my family for causing them so much grief and concern.

I prepared myself for the worst, but whatever I had been anticipating, it wasn't this. I squealed in alarm when a popper went off behind me after I'd entered the kitchen. There was food strewn on the counter tops and small decoration of cut out stars hug from the cupboards and ceiling.

"Wh- what?" I stammered in shock. "How did I not hear this going on?"

"You were a rather preoccupied with your recollection of your life here to hear it." Aunty Jules told me with a grin.

"So you didn't notice that we were here at all?" Martin asked curiously.

"Not one bit."

"Well then it seems there is a time and place when you're not being a total uptight guardian after all." Ali laughed, smacking my back in a playful gesture.

"I'm not a total uptight guardian." I pouted indignantly.

"Kai, you managed to sense that we'd arrived when we were outside the Academy at the football pitch. No normal guardian would've been able to do that." Ali scoffed.

"You might be a trainee, but that doesn't make you any less capable of being just as good if not even better than fully pledged guardians." Aunty Jules told me seriously. "I hear that you thoroughly impressed Lady Drozdov. She came to me, asking why you weren't bumped up a couple of years or just given the Guardian Exam straight away."

"You're kidding…" I stared at her in shock. From the completely serious but proud expression she sent me, I knew she wasn't. "Okay, maybe you're not… But seriously? I know that I'm good, but I didn't really think I was that good. I mean, I didn't really think of it in that way until Ali mentioned earlier that in a year's time people will be tripping over themselves to request me as a guardian."

"Skylar, I know that you don't want to be reminded of graduation from what Joseph's already told me, but you need to be careful. If you attract any more attention than you already have, the King's going to notice and want to request you to join his entourage of guardians." Maria warned me.

I froze and just stared at her for several moments and my jaw fell into a gape. "But- but… I'm not even doing this on purpose! I'm just, you know, living life the way I feel I should! I don't mean to be kicking everybody's asses so easily."

"We know you don't." Aunty Jules sighed, shooting Maria an exasperated glare. "Honestly, Maria, did you have to say that to her now of all times just when she was about to loosen up? She was uptight enough to begin with, now she's going to be tighter than a clam."

"These types of things are best addressed as soon as possible and since we were already on the topic of guardian requests, I thought I should give her a heads up. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, but there is a time and place for it and this isn't the time."

"Then when would be the time? When the King actually hears about her and demands an audience? Oh that will go down well, he'll know who she is straight away!"

"Guys!" I squealed, slamming my hands on the table to catch their attention. "I know you're both concerned about me, but seriously do we have to do this now?"

Aunty Jules and Maria glanced at each other briefly before wry smiles spread across their faces. "Did she just obscurely and politely tell us to shut up?" Maria asked, amusement laced in her tones.

"I think she did." Aunty Jules agreed before breaking into a laugh. "No doubt about it, you've inherited Raymond's politeness."

"If you'd taken after Amelie, you would've just told us to shut it straight away without any hesitation." Maria added.

"Yes but Mum was absolutely fearless and ruthless with her words. Her brutal honesty was one of the things that made her legendary after all. I don't think anyone else could get away with her level brutal honesty."

"You don't seem to have that kind of mind set when it comes to Nick O'Connor." Martin commented.

"That's because he's a jerk and doesn't deserve my polite consideration. Skirting around the truth with him just means that he'll get the wrong idea." I stated bluntly.

"Oh little sky, you were so small when you left us!" Joe suddenly exclaimed and we all turned to him, wondering why he said something so incredibly off topic.

My face heated when I saw what caught his attention. On one of the pillars around the island table we had in the kitchen were horizontal markings with a date next to each of them. They were markings of my height every half a year and glancing at it now, I realised that I really was tiny when I left six years ago.

On another pillar, there were little notes of encouragement from my parents each year telling me that things were going to be more amazing in the year to come. My eyes lingered and watered at the sight of the last message they left on the pillar. It was a note saying that we were going to have a family trip to England together. We never did go. The attack came just two weeks before we were supposed to leave for England.

My hands reached out and my fingers trailed over the light indents the pen made on the wood. "Just two weeks…"

"Joseph!" Maria smacked him in the shoulder and he yelped.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"No." I told him with a firm voice. "It's alright now."

"Kai?"

"Everything's fine now." I smiled at my family, feeling a strength that was lost to me since my parents' death envelope me like a warm, comforting blanket.

I knew that they were confused about what I'd meant. The confusion was as clear as day on all their expressions but one by one it faded and they seemed to just accept it. It didn't matter whether they understood or not, what mattered was that I really was fine now. I wasn't an emotional mess, something fragile, in danger of shattering into a million pieces at the first hurdle I came across.

I glanced at the food and gave a grin. "So, let me guess? Maria made all of this?"

"Not just Maria." Rosette protested. "Just so you know, your parents were the only people incapable of cooking properly without creating some kind of a strange dish that's got the potential to send people to the infirmary."

I laughed and gave Rosette a tight hug. "Well then, it's just as well that I didn't manage to inherit that trait from them."

"I'm really surprised that you can cook as well as you do." Maria commented.

"Well, I did grow up eating really nice food so I was accustomed to knowing what tasted right and what didn't. When I started cooking, I already instinctively knew what was edible and what wasn't so it wasn't too hard. Besides, I remember watching you a few times back then."

"Whenever you weren't off gallivanting with Alistair, causing mayhem to whomever you didn't like you mean?" she teased.

I blushed again and threw a small cookie at her. Ali merely chuckled and ruffled my hair in response to her comment.

"You have to admit, Kalster, those you damn good times."

"Of course they were, I wouldn't have put up with your craziness if it wasn't fun." I scoffed. "Thanks to you, I turned out just as crazy as you are."

"I'm not crazy."

"Yeah, you really are sometimes." I told him bluntly.

"And just moments ago you were saying that you didn't inherit your mother's brutality with words." He sniffed dramatically, pretending to be hurt by my words when I know that he didn't really mean it.

I smirked. "I don't recall saying that I didn't. I simply said that no one else was likely to get away with it."

He gaped at me and I burst into laughter.

Aunty Jules sighed, turning to Martin. "We really are going to have our hands full, aren't we?"

"We already do." Martin grunted. "Lord and Lady Badica have requested her attendance to one of their dinners."

Aunty Jules arched her brows. "As in, one of their monthly dinners with some of the royal families?"

"That's the one."

They all just stared at me and I couldn't help but feel like a small child under their intense stares. Maria clapped her hands together and cheered; Rosette gave me a proud smile; Aunty Jules clapped me on the back as did Joe and Ali. I felt like a bruise was going to form from the amount of smacks I was getting from them.

"Really? Did you have to mention that?" I groaned in annoyance, glaring at Martin.

"Well I don't see why not? I'd much rather have you glare at me than have them all try and kill me for not telling them sooner."

"We have to find you a dress!" Rosette and Maria yelled in perfect synchronicity.

I paled at the thought of going shopping for clothes again. Oh boy… I might like shopping on a general scale, especially when it came to stationary and strange little trinkets and food, but shopping for clothes was definitely not one of my favourite things.

"No!"

"Yes, Kalani. You are not going to one of their dinners in tacky clothes. You have a reputation to uphold as a child prodigy!"

"I'm not going!"

"Skylar, are you freaking out by any chance?"

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't be? I've been invited to a dinner with four of the most important royal families! Tell me why I shouldn't be freaking out."

"Hm, let us think. Maybe it's because you're a royal too?" Ali pondered mockingly.

"This isn't something to joke about! It's dinner, with the parents' of the four royal prodigies at this school. It's completely ridiculous! Why the hell do I have to go have dinner with them?" I screamed, borderline hysterically. "And now you're telling me that we've got to go shopping? You've got to be kidding me!"

"Little sky, relax!" Joe snapped, barely raising his voice to get through to me in my hysteria. "Just breathe and think of it as a normal formal dinner."

"It's not normal, Joey. It's a dinner with the royals."

"But you're a royal too, this is normal for you. They might not know it, and you might not have had to have formal dinners with royals yet, but this is normal. Besides, you won't be alone. The four boys will be there too and you get along with them perfectly so it'll be fine. They'll help you if you panic." Joe reminded me.

I took several deep breaths and stared at him with a sheepish grin. "My bad… I kind of lost it a little there. I mean, meeting the Badicas I could handle since it wasn't in a formal situation but I guess you're right. It is just a dinner. Nothing more, nothing less."

"There we go." Maria said, sighing with relief.

"Why do you oppose shopping so much? Amelie loved it and would dress up whenever the occasion arose."

"Yes, but that's Mum, not me. I mean, sure there are times when I'll dress a little differently than my usual joggers and jumper but dressing up isn't really my thing at all."

"You'll have to, it may just be a dinner, but it's a formal dinner."

"I know, I've realised that by now."

"So we will have to go shopping."

"Yeah, I see that. I definitely don't have anything in my wardrobe suitable."

"So we'll come with you to make sure you do pick something appropriate."

"I'm not wearing a dress, guys. No way." I shot them down flatly.

"But Kalani- " Rosette tried to reason.

"No means no. These royals want to meet me. Not some chick who wants to dress pretty and suck up to them. I'll be formal, I promise, but on my terms. If I wear something I'm not comfortable with, I won't be comfortable the whole evening and that'll just make things worse than they need to be. I'd much rather have one less thing to be concerned about."

Maria stared at me in dismay. "You're not going to budge, are you?"

"Nope. Not on something like this."

"Then at least let us pick out some jewellery."

"Now you're just coming up with excuses to spend money." I scoffed. "But fine, but nothing ostentatious. I refuse to stick out like a sore thumb."

"You won't be. The Dragomirs are well known for wearing ostentatious clothes and accessories no matter now casual the event is."

"Well, they're well established royals so it doesn't matter if they stick out like a sore thumb, they would naturally anyway."

"So would you, Kai. You're the only one at this academy on par and can surpass the four royal prodigies, not to mention you're a girl. It doesn't get more infamous than that."

"If you put it that way, of course I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb!" I protested.

"But that's what you are, Kalster, it's about time you started embracing that reputation."

"I don't want to. I didn't work so hard to have that kind of attention grabbing attention here." I pouted immaturely.

They all stopped and stared at me once more before they all broke into laughter. I watched them worriedly for a moment, not sure how to react to their laughing. I didn't know why they were laughing, and the fact that they were all laughing so hysterically worried me even more. Martin and Aunty Jules had the most control over their emotions out of my family unit and for them to be laughing like that as well seriously worried me.

"Um… am I missing something?" I asked innocently, clueless to why they'd all been reduced into hysterics.

Eventually they managed to calm down and Maria wiped away what looked suspiciously like tears from her eyes. "Not at all," she wheezed.

"When's the dinner?" Rosette asked, directing the question at Martin rather than me. It was just as well because I had been more preoccupied about the fact that I was having dinner with royal families to take note of the date.

"It's in a week's time. A few days before the annual trip." Martin informed her.

My attention and excitement perked at his reply. "Annual trip?"