Chapter 1 (Rewritten)
ONE WEEK EARLIER, WEDNESDAY
The side of Adeline's head throbbed with the steady tik tik tik of the clock. Blue bled across its crystal face and dripped down the wall, paint frozen inches from the baseboard. As a young girl, she had wondered what made the clock so sad it cried; these days, she just wanted to know whose stupid idea it had been.
Steam drifted from the mug cradled in her hands, carried away by the soft breath of the air conditioner. Who knew the day would come when she'd be drinking coffee, of all things.
She glanced out the window at the skyscrapers in the distance and sighed. Was it her imagination or were the gaps between each tik growing longer? Shaking her head, she braved a sip of her drink and grimaced at its bitter bite.
Maybe she'd bring her easel in here and paint. Something about the emptiness, filled only by sunlight and echoed breaths, made her fingers itch for a brush. But today it just felt...hollow.
Pushing the mug away, Adeline sighed again and flipped on the TV.
"Finally, the day everyone's been waiting for is only a little over a week away! The movie critics say sees Rhys Craybon at his absolute best will be hitting theaters nationwide next Friday!" the over-enthusiastic news anchor raved behind her.
She twisted around in time to catch a clip of a muscular man vaulting a rusted metal fence while explosions rippled across the brooding horizon.
"I've got to say, Keith," the co-host gushed. "I've not been this excited for a movie in quite a while."
Like she didn't say that just last month.
"Ew, please. You're making this coffee even worse." Adeline made a face and switched channels. Another ad for the Dragon's Ladder—of course.
Maybe silence was the superior option.
Her phone buzzed and she flipped it over, fingers crossed it was Sebastian and not someone who'd spent countless hours digging in dark corners of the internet for her phone number. The text messages wouldn't load fast enough.
Please tell me you're not still asleep.
As if. The ticking of clocks and creaking of the stairs always crept under her door to wake her just before the sunlight soaked through the curtains.
No we've had this discussion before
Obnoxiously upbeat music thumped from the TV speakers, over-saturated colors exploding across the screen. A girl swore some random detergent changed her life and offered everything short of immortality and a cure for cancer. Shaking her head, Adeline typed another reply.
Can you pick me up early or did you oversleep?
There's nothing to do here
"Fortune favors the strong," a deep voice narrated after a beat of silence. "And they used to have it all. Power... influence... wealth... popularity..."
What was it with these over-the-top documentaries?
idk...depends on Ivy
"It seemed like fate would only carry them higher." Ascending piano chords played over cheers and shouts, and Adeline glanced up.
A woman twirled across the stage, her fouettes blending seamlessly from one into the next. The music rose, various lights flicking on and off as she danced, running away into the shadows.
"But that was to change in an instant."
Rapid cuts of sprawling facilities, rising up like metal giants with sharp, sleek sides, blurred before Adeline's eyes. Everything was too fast, dizzying in the intensity of memories fighting their way to the top.
The pressure in her skull grew, eyes burning. Her insides twisted with the horror of the things she knew would come, but she couldn't tear herself away, couldn't find the remote. Trembling fingers clutched the back of her chair as headlines like Couldn't Handle Fame and Guilty or Framed: The Truth flashed across the screen with searing, too-bright colors.
No! This can't...it's not...
Those familiar faces couldn't be... Her lungs screamed for air but she couldn't breathe, the walls closing in and threatening to crush her as she fumbled for the remote. A woman in a plum dress appeared, saying words Adeline quoted in her nightmares, each one burying the knife in her chest deeper and deeper.
"It has been confirmed that Charles Killingsworth passed away last night before his emergency surgery. His wife, Annabelle, remains in critical condition with the full extent of her injuries still unknown."
Black consumed the screen and her words echoed in the silence that followed.
"The Killingsworth Tragedies— a deeper search into the rise and fall of Cerulle's most powerful families."
"Want to know the best place for summer vaca—"
Adeline stabbed the power button on the TV remote and slammed it down, a splinter of plastic skittering across the table and dropping to the floor. Yellow splotches crowded her vision and a freezing numbness raced through her body.
"Addy, are you..."
Even though it was soft, the voice made her ears ache.
"Jacob, what is that?" she rasped, unable to escape the blank stare of the screen.
"I'm so sorry."
Sorry? What did he have to be sorry for?
Sucking in a deep breath, Adeline finally tore her eyes away. "Did you see?"
She hated how fragile she sounded, voice barely a whisper that threatened to crack and break. And the way pain filled her brother's eyes and stooped his shoulders—she hated that, too.
He nodded. The fourteen feet between them stretched into fourteen miles and, for once, the quiet of the room overwhelmed her. There was nothing but this bar table and the clock, and neither soothed the echo of memories tearing through her heart.
"They...they asked me several times if we would do interviews." Jacob ran a hand down his face. "I said no because I didn't want to dig up old demons."
Tik.
"I should have told you."
Tik.
"I'm so sorry."
Tik.
"Addy, please say something." He took a step, pausing before taking another.
Slipping out of the chair, Adeline stumbled towards him, cold seeping from her toes and up her legs. Jacob wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face in his shoulder, inhaling the familiar woodsy scent of his cologne.
After a heavy exhale, he began stroking her hair. "Do you want to talk about it? I can take the day off and we can do something."
She shook her head. It had always been this way, ever since the incident, with Jacob. So careful of her emotions, as though the wrong word would shatter her into a thousand little pieces. It had made that first year bearable, knowing that there was always a shoulder to cry on or someone to hold her when she had no words.
But now it had been three years. He shouldn't still be expected to drop everything at the slightest turn of her emotions.
Selfish.
Adeline pulled away. "It caught me off guard."
"I'm sorry," he whispered, refusing to meet her gaze.
"Stop saying that. It's not your fault."
"I know, but I..." He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand as though it would erase the dark circles and weariness written there.
She forced a laugh. "How bad can it really be?"
Jacob's hand dropped to his side.
"Ancient astrophysicists believe that birds are, in fact, holograms," she mimicked with over-exaggerated intonation.
"Please stop." He shook his head.
"Listen, Jacob. It's been three years." Adeline prayed he wouldn't catch the waver in her voice. "I don't like people digging into my life and speculating on things they don't know anything about and could ever understand." She swallowed. "But you don't need to worry about me. I'm okay."
He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.
"I promise I'll let you know if I need someone. You're going to be late for work." Her eyes burned, though from the glare of the sun on the stark walls or from unshed tears, she didn't know. "Seriously, I'm fine!"
At first, he didn't move. The curtains rustled with the air's touch and somewhere below, the murmur of voices rose and fell and a door slammed.
"Okay," he said, gaze skipping around the room before resting on her face. "I guess I'll see you tonight then."
She nodded. "I'll be hanging with friends."
There was nothing more to say. A moment passed before Jacob adjusted his suit, turned, and left without another word.
Adeline's phone vibrated, causing her to jump. Shuffling over to the table, she sat down, letting her forehead rest on her folded arms. Her skin felt cold.
Only when the phone buzzed a second time did she check it.
On the way.
Okay great, she typed, staring at the message for a second longer before hitting send. Tucking the phone in her pocket, she headed for the door. Adeline hesitated before walking down the hallway, welcoming its dimness and leaving her coffee mug and bitter memories behind.
###
"Who's after you this time?"
Adeline jumped, eyes darting to the young man leaning against one of the porch pillars.
"No one." She shot another glance over her shoulder. "This time. And we talked about you coming up on the porch."
"Still too embarrassed of me to let me meet your family?"
"Sebastian, shut up!" Even though she was 5'10 in heels, she had to tilt her head back to glare at him.
"Wow, okay, okay." He threw up his hands, shaking his head.
"Maybe if you scheduled a salon appointment to get your roots done, I would consider being seen with you in public." She strode past him, pausing on the third step. "But probably not."
"Oh, haha." Sebastian rolled his eyes and tugged at the obsidian arrowhead hanging on a chain around his neck. "My hair is completely natural, which you can tell because my eyebrows match, Adeline."
Their banter was part of an old argument centering around his hair, a deep burnt orange reminding Adeline of crisp fall leaves. Golden freckles spread across his fairer skin, stretching over his nose and cheekbones. Paired with his wide, golden-brown eyes, round face, and soft features, he gave off an innocent child-like vibe she knew better than to trust.
Maybe he was part Irish like he claimed. She had asked about his parents many times in the four years they'd been friends, but he'd never answered so she had stopped asking.
Her shoes tapped rhythmically against the concrete, the sun warm on her face as she walked towards the armored SUV. The straps of her backpack cut into her shoulder but she ignored it.
"That proves nothing. Eyebrow dye exists, you know."
Sebastian laughed and opened the door for her. Ducking in, she scooted to the far side and he slid in after her.
"Good morning," Ivy greeted her, putting the vehicle in drive.
"Good morning!" Adeline's skin prickled at the frigid air blasting from the vents and she shut the ones within reach. Fastening her seatbelt as Ivy pulled away from the mansion, she set the backpack beside her and glanced at Sebastian. Why was he so quiet today?
Sebastian chewed his lip, head titled and eyes scrunched up as he studied her. The wrinkles between his eyebrows seemed out of place, but it was the way he sat, completely still with his hands in his lap, that made Adeline squirm.
"You doing okay?" he finally asked.
She had known it was coming, but his question still caught her by surprise. Words tumbled out of her mouth before she could think.
"Doing better than ever. Why?"
Sebastian swallowed, staring at something behind her. "Have you seen the documentary? Like, the trailer or whatever, I mean."
"Yeah." She shrugged. She should say something about how dumb it was or how it didn't bother her, anything to make him not worry, but it all got stuck in her throat.
"So, if you want to watch it, and you like, don't want to watch it alone, or whatever..." He fiddled with the hem of his shirt.
Unsure of how to answer, Adeline rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "Uh, thanks."
"Are you ready for the big deal today?" Ivy cut in, meeting Adeline's eyes in the rearview mirror.
Thank you, Ivy.
"Of course I'm ready," she said, grinning.
Sebastian smiled wickedly. "We'll see."