Enjoy!

Eddie awoke with a start, breathing heavily. He didn't know if he could take much more of this. A nightmare every night. He leaned back into his pillows, unable to go back to sleep. It was nearly dawn. He had only gotten an hour or two of sleep at least. But he thought back to the dream he had.

He could have sworn it wasn't a nightmare. He would never tell someone this, but it seemed more like a memory than a nightmare; something that was reminding him of what had happened before he was a prince, before he had been brought into the family.

"Hey, mate, you alright?" Jerome asked, walking into the room.

Eddie let out a slow sigh. "Um, Jerry, do you know anything about my family? My real family?"

Jerome nearly winced at the emphasis that he wasn't his real family. "No, not really. I remember my dad getting some information from a baker. He said that your parents and your sister died in a boating accident. It was like, her turn to go out on their boat or something like that. I don't know—" he froze when Eddie was suddenly standing in front of him, holding his shoulders tightly.

"Sister?"

"You don't remember a lot about your family, do you?" Jerome shook his head in amazement.

"I don't remember anything about them. I keep dreaming about the day they died and I was brought here, but…" he walked away from him, pushing the window open so he could breathe in the calming ocean breeze.

"A doctor once said that you had blocked everything out because you were so upset about it. You just blacked out your life before."

"So, I had a sister?"

"Yeah, she was a year younger than you or something…I can't remember." He shrugged. "You could ask my dad, I bet he remembers."

"Thanks," he mumbled and hurriedly changed into a white tunic, pulling an orange cloak over his shoulders as he left the room.

"Hey, J, how's it going?" Mara greeted, hopping up next to him and entwining their fingers.

"I'm fine, just a little confused. Eddie is suddenly really curious about his family. He's asking all these questions and he's going to go talk to my dad about things." He turned to her. "Do you think he's trying to find out more about his family so he can get out of the marriage?"

Mara shook her head. "He wouldn't do that. He knows that he has a duty as a prince."

"But why did our parents want us to get married? Why do Eddie and Amber have to get married?"

"I don't know." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "But I know it's weird and you don't really believe me. But I still feel like something's not right."

"What do you think that something could be?"

"I have no idea, but it's going to affect us and life as we know it."

"Mysterious."

"But serious." She corrected, pointing a finger at him. Any humor that had been in the hallway immediately vanished and Jerome realized that she was completely serious.

"I believe you." he said sincerely.

Alfie cautiously made his way toward Willow. She was sitting on a bale of hay, her eyes closed. She seemed to be talking, but whom she was talking to, he didn't know. He didn't see anyone. When he got closer, he could hear what she was saying.

"Wow, the balance of the universe is way off. What do you think it could be that's out of place? Is something living; is something dead; are the seasons changing at the wrong time? What could it be?" she moaned dramatically and her eyes shot open, immediately landing on Alfie. "Hi, Alfie, how are you?"

"Fine," he chuckled unsurely.

"Did you know that the universal balance has tipped? It's awful! I think it's tipped toward the evil side of the universe."

"Wait, what?" he jumped forward and grabbed her shoulders, suddenly very interested in whatever she was talking about.

"See, the universe has two sides; the good side and the evil side. The universe is constantly in balance so that nothing goes wrong, but sometimes the balance does tip too much to the good or evil sides. Lately, it's been tipping more to the evil side. But I'm sure it's nothing; I would know if some great evil has been awakened or something – I am a Wiccan after all."

"Uncle," Eddie acknowledged as John was walking down the hallway.

He dipped his head in greeting and let his nephew continue speaking.

"I need to know anything that you can remember about my family, me at a young age, the day that I was brought here – anything. Please, sir?"

"Why?" John wondered, pushing the door of his study open and beckoning him into the room.

"I'm a little curious, that's all." he shrugged. "I've just been having this reoccurring dream of the day that I was brought here. It just got me thinking and I wanted to know a little more about them, if it's possible."

"Yes, it's possible," John replied with a smile. "But I'm afraid Peter and Clarissa would have my head if I let you see those records though. They want to keep up a sense of normalcy, so that you'd always feel as if you're really at home, even though you were from the village."

"But that's the thing, I never feel like I'm at home here." Eddie mumbled guiltily.

"I know that, Eddie," he laid a hand on his shoulder. "I haven't looked at the records for all the families under M in a while. It's probably not even on the shelf anymore."

There was a knock at the door and John led Eddie out. A butler stood there, waiting for his permission to speak and John nodded, winking at the prince quickly as he followed the man down the hall.

Eddie shook his head; his uncle was awesome. He pushed the door open until he could poke his head in and look around. Silence. He slid in carefully and shut the door behind him, rushing to the bookshelf that had records of families in Legayn. He searched for the log that would include his family, but the book was missing from its place. John was right. So if it wasn't there, where would it be? He turned to the desk and check under papers and other books, but nothing.

He was about to continue his search by the window, but he heard someone beyond the door. The knob jiggled as someone turned it and he dashed for the closet behind the desk. He closed the door and shrunk back into the darkness. He would never be able to explain why he was in there, especially after he heard the first visitor's voice.

"John, there's a reason why we do everything; we're too much like our father." Peter grumbled.

"Except I'm usually the one that's being nice; you're the schemer." Came John's reply.

"When are the other heirs arriving?"

Eddie's eyebrows furrowed. He felt the back of his head hit a shelf and he froze, taking a tiny step forward. He continued listening to their conversation as he reached up and took the book form the shelf; an extravagant M painted on the cover of the thick green book. He chuckled silently and tucked the book under his arm safely before inching closer to the door, cracking it open so he could see his uncle and his father.

"They'll be here in time for Eddie and Amber's wedding." John answered.

Eddie winced at the word wedding.

"Do you really believe this is going to work?" he sighed deeply, sorting some of the papers on his desk. "We could have sign peace treaties instead of betrothing all our children."

"You didn't betroth Poppy. You would never do that. But it surprises me that you had done that to Jerome." Peter smirked.

Eddie's concentrated on his father. What was that supposed to mean?

John apparently knew; he stood up abruptly from his chair and turned to his brother sharply. "Do not judge me for betrothing my son when you've done the same thing. Joan and I hated to do that to him, but at least it worked out. You and I both know that it'll never work out for Eddie and Amber; they'll never be happy."

"That's not the reason we're doing this—" Peter reminded.

"We're doing this to keep the people happy, safe, and peaceful. You can't do that if the heirs don't get along."

"You can't do it if you have no army."

Eddie stepped away from the door once he saw Peter and John practically nose to nose. They fell silent after that and soon they left the room separately. Eddie snuck out of the room, the log book under his arm as he rushed to his bedroom.

Review?

How's school going for you guys so far?

I've been having major issues with writing. I'm a horrible writer...I've come to grips with that. I need a lot of teaching and practicing to be good.

"Don't you try to hide with those angel eyes (If you let me inside, I won't hold back this time). Such a deep disguise; the devil's right inside (More than paralyzed. Oh, it's the chase you like)."

Anyone know that song? :)

-Rachel