"Lucy?" I slowly sat down on the bed next to her and ran my hand through her hair.
"Mhm." She murmured into her pillow and opened her eyes.
"I need to go somewhere and I'll be back late so you'll stay with Aunt Luna today. Don't forget you have class today." I leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Did you understand a single word that came out of my mouth?"
"Yes." She rubbed her tired eyes with her hands. "Aunt Luna will be watching over me today because you're going to work."
Not to work, but that's okay.
"And you have classes." I laughed. "Get some more sleep." I ran my hand through her hair and stood up. "I'll be back as soon as possible."
I stopped by Odin who was lying by the door guarding her. I stroked him and whispered to him to watch her.
"Dad." I turned at the door when I heard her.
"Yes, princess?" I raised an eyebrow.
Lucy smiled and blew me an air kiss, which I caught in my hand and held to my heart. "I love you."
"I love you more." I walked out of her room with a smile and closed the door behind me.
I don't know what I would do if I didn't have her.
*****
When I got off the plane five hours later, I got in my car and headed downtown to the store.
I stopped by Lily's, which is a flower shop.
I walked in and the bell rang above the door, causing the elderly woman behind the counter to turn to me from the flowers.
Her gray hair was tied up in a high bun, but small strands of hair fell in her face. She was wearing a brown apron with the name of the flower shop written on it.
"Welcome to Lily's, how can I help you?" She smiled at me.
"I have flowers ordered here for the name Acker." I walked closer to her.
"Oh yes. Stephen, can you come help us?" As soon as she said that, a guy who looked like he could be her son started approaching us. "Those three bouquets in the back. Could you bring them, I can't pick them up."
"Of course." He smiled and went somewhere behind her.
"I have to say, I've never made a bouquet like yours. And you ordered three of them." She laughed.
"I'm sure they are beautiful." I took my wallet out of my back pocket and pulled out a hundred. I dropped it in a glass jar as a tip.
"Oh my god, thank you." The woman clutched her chest. "That's really generous."
"It was my pleasure." When I said that, the same guy who was here, came back with three huge bouquets.
"Stephen, help him load them into the car."
"Thank you." I smiled at her and walked over to the door which I opened for him to walk through.
We got to the car and he carefully put them in the trunk. "You're not from here, are you?" He laughed.
"Is it that obvious?" I closed the trunk.
"Well, first of all, nobody around here has such an expensive car, and secondly, only people from big cities buy bouquets of such a high price."
"Thanks for help." I nodded my head at him before getting in and starting up.
I headed to a place I had visited several times in the last year.
With bouquets already in hand, I walked through the cemetery gate and walked past the graves until I came upon a familiar name.
Laurent.
Joseph and Sophie Laurent. Beloved parents.
They had a common grave, on which I placed a bouquet and threw the old one on the ground, which I will throw away on the way back.
Lukas Laurent. Beloved son and brother.
It was a simple black grave that also had the inscription, Saying goodbye doesn't mean forgetting.
And finally, Lyssa Laurent. Beloved daughter and sister.
It was a simple grave that had been standing here for over ten years. It was built with all the others, and with the same dates of death.
It took me a few months to find her family. It was erased from existence, which I probably owe to the white snakes.
I bent down to her grave, threw off the old flowers and everything that fell from them, and replaced them with fresh ones.
With three bouquets at the bottom of Lyssa's grave, I stood there for a while looking at her tombstone.
Always loved. Never forgotten.
I hate going to her grave in New York. She didn't want it there. She wanted to be here. With her family.
"I thought it was you again." I heard a woman's voice behind me.
When I turned around, I saw an elderly woman walking towards me with a bouquet in her hand.
"I already saw you here last month. I've been thinking for a long time about who leaves bouquets here."
"That'll be me."
"They are beautiful." She stood next to me and looked at the graves I was standing in front of. "I suppose you knew them."
"Only Lyssa." I swallowed the stone in my throat.
"She was a sweet child." She smiled sadly.
"Did you know her?"
"Of course. I knew everyone. My daughter...my daughter taught little Lyssa. Maria was with them the day they all died. It was a tragedy."
"I am sorry for your loss."
"She's in a better place." She nodded. "They all are."
"I really hope so." I said quietly. "Are there times when you don't miss your daughter?"
"You'd think that after eighteen years the loss would hurt less, but some days it's even worse."
"So it never stops." I acknowledged.
"The first years were the worst, but then... wait." She stopped mid sentence and looked at me. "You're not from here, you couldn't know her when she was little. How could you..."
I looked up at her with tears in my eyes.
"Oh my god, she survived." I didn't answer her, I just wiped my eyes. "But if you're here..." She looked at the bouquet on her grave. "I'm sorry." I felt her hand on my shoulder.
"That's fine."
"If you don't mind me asking, but when..." She didn't finish, but I knew what she wanted to ask.
"It's been almost a year now."
"I'm terribly sorry." She squeezed my shoulder.
"She would like to be buried with her family, so I come here as much as possible."
"I'm sure she's grateful you're here."
"But that won't bring her back, will it?"
"I wished many times that my Maria would come back. I prayed that he would give her back to me." She wiped the tears from her cheek. "I would give anything to see her again. Anything."
"But neither of them will come back."
"And yet we both hope." She smiled sadly.
And it's killing us.
*****
When I returned home, I expected to find Lucy with Emery, but that didn't happen.
I found only Luna, who when she heard that I had arrived, immediately came to me.
"Where's Lucy?"
"You should talk to her. She crossed her arms over her chest and exhaled heavily. "She had a rough day."
"What do you mean?" I frowned.
"She started screaming at Emery and then ran to her room. She doesn't want to talk to anyone. I spoke to Emery to find out what happened and she said she just started screaming out of nowhere. Mattias said the same thing."
"All right." I breathed heavily. "Anything else I should know?"
"I have something on our serial killer so I'll be back late again tomorrow."
"Be careful. I'll see you later." I walked past her and headed straight for Lucy. I knocked on her door. "Lucy, it's me. Can I come in?" She didn't say anything. "I'm going in." I walked in to find her on the bed with Odin by her side, his head at her feet. "What happened?"
"I don't like her." She said about Emery.
"Lucy, you can't reject all the teachers just because you don't want to learn."
"That's not the reason and you know it!"
"Watch your tone, Lucy." I warned her.
"No!" She jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom. "I want Lyssa back! I want my mommy!" She slammed the door behind her with all her might.
I let out a heavy breath before walking over to the door and trying to open it, but it was locked. "Lucy, unlock the door. Please."
I heard her sobs and wanted to hug her and hold her until we both fell asleep.
"And what now?" I asked Odin who was standing next to me looking at the door.
I leaned against the door and slid down to the floor, Odin next to me.
"I miss her too." I started. "And I understand you want her back, but I can't arrange that, Lucy. I can't bring her back."
More sobs from the other side of the door. I hate it when she cries. And especially when I can't do anything about it.
"I'm sorry I can't do it. But you have to understand that chasing the teachers away won't bring her back."
"You're forgetting about her when you bring them here." I heard her disappointed voice.
"What?" I frowned. "Is that what you think I'm doing? That I'm trying to forget her?"
"You're going to forget mom, and then me. You're going to move on with one of them."
"Lucy, that's not true. I would never do that."
Does she really think I'm capable of doing something like that? Does she see me like that?
"Then why don't you talk about her?"
"Because it hurts Lucy." My voice broke. "It hurts me to think about her. And I tried to give you everything so you wouldn't feel that way."
"But if we don't talk about her, we'll forget her."
"That will never happen, Lucy. I promise you that."
There was silence for a while. I backed away from the door when I heard her unlocking it and opening it.
I was still sitting with my back to her when she closed the door and slid to the ground next to me, between Odin and me.
I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.
"I don't want to forget her." She sobbed.
"No one will forget her, Lucy. Not you. Not me."
"But what if..."
"We will not forget." I cut her off. "We won't forget her." Whether we want to or not.
*****
I spent the whole night at Lucy's. I couldn't leave her alone. Not after what went wrong.
She needed someone, and so did I.
Early in the morning, when Emery arrived, Lucy apologized to her and they went to study together. I went to check on them every half hour, just to be sure.
After Emery left, I left Lucy with Kai. He liked to spend time with her, and especially in the kitchen. They like to cook together. It's their thing.
Luna left early in the morning and still hasn't returned. It's almost eight o'clock in the evening, and she hasn't even answered her phone.
Lucy was already in bed when I returned to the study to find Luna pacing up and down the entire study.
"Luna?" I caught her attention.
"I know what binds the victims together." I didn't like her expression. She looked scared.
"Okay, why don't you sit down and..."
"No. I..." She cut me off. "Killian, those victims were white snakes."
I paused for a moment trying to take in the information she had just given me.
"Every woman was a white snake. Someone is killing the survivors."
After the main building was destroyed, they were left with nothing. Every white snake crawled into the deepest hole. Some of them have started a normal life, some have taken it, and some are waiting for their beloved management to return.
That will never happen. After Frederik's death, no one claimed his place. The rest of the management stayed in the shadows and tried to survive.
We found two. Angelina Laurier and Elijah Caddel. During the transport, they got into an accident in which they succumbed to their injuries. Truly tragic.
We were all extremely sad about it.
So much so that we opened champagne.
We tried to find the others as well, but so far no trace. Wherever they are, I hope they are suffering.
"But that doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone do that?"
"I don't know, Killian. And I don't really care why someone is killing them. What matters is that someone is after the white snakes. And guess who used to be a white snake?" She pointed to herself. "Those men whose bodies were found weren't white snakes. That means they were in the way. That killer doesn't care who they kill. And if they decide to go after me, what are the chances they won't go straight for Theo?"
"Luna, you need to calm down." I walked closer to her.
"I can't!" She screamed. "I can't calm down, because everything is going to shit again!"
"Luna!" I screamed and she finally stopped. I exhaled heavily and walked closer to her. I hugged her tightly and spoke again. "It'll be fine. I'll call Theo right away and he'll be back."
"I can't lose him, Killian. Not him too."
"You won't lose him." I ran my hand through her hair like I do with Lucy when I try to calm her down. "I promise."
*****
Another chapter because why not. ;)
I love the relationship that Luna and Killian have built between them.
Hope you enjoyed. <3