The Aldean Chronicles: Hidden

My parents are waiting for me as I pull into the driveway. They envelop me in a big hug as soon as I get down from the car. I'm really happy they're awake, it's 4 am here.

"Cassie." My mom sniffs. "How were you gone for so long? You've grown taller, she's taller, isn't she?"

I laugh. "I was only gone for two months, Mom, relax."

"Then why did it feel so much longer." She breaks away and looks at me. "There's a problem." I freeze. "I might not let you go back in a week, I missed you too much."

"Can we just go inside?" I laugh. "Thank you for the ride, Dave," I say to the driver when he drops my suitcase on the curb. He nods before getting back in his car and driving off.

"Let me help you with that." My dad picks up my bag. "There we go." The house looks the same as when I left. My dad drops my suitcase in my room while Mom and I go to the kitchen.

"I made your favorite." She sings. "Chicken lasagna and chocolate cake. You have to tell me what they're feeding you in your school and about your friends and everything that ever happened to you."

"I told you all this over the phone," I argue. "Do I have to say it again?"

"Yes, but oh. Wait for your father." She opens the fridge. "I miscalculated the time you were arriving and the lasagna is still frozen. Till then, fill up on cupcakes." I look around and don't see any. She laughs. "Again, miscalculated, haven't baked them yet. You'll just have to settle for store-bought." She moves to the pantry and produces a box of cupcakes. "Taste just the same."

I take the box and select a cupcake with green frosting. "It's good," I say as dad walks into the kitchen.

"You can start now." My mom says. "Give us the full Brimstone experience."

"Um, okay, I got to school, made friends, sucked at my classes then got better."

"Break it down, how did you get better?" My dad is standing next to my mom.

"There was history, Seb hooked me up with some books. And fire 101, he also got me a tutor. He's really good, best in his class." I pick up another green Cupcake.

My dad nods. "That's good, Sebastian sounds really helpful. Great to hear." He says this in an insincere tone.

My mom walks up to me and gives me a side hug. "Tell us how is Fire 101, look at you. My little fire flame. You can be lighting candles for me." She laughs.

I'm appalled, I like to think I'm better than that. "Want to see a trick," I ask. My mom nods eagerly. I stretch my hands and face my palms up. I let the flames linger for a second before tossing it from one hand to the other like a tiny ball.

"Careful honey." My mom looks scared.

"It's alright mom, I'm like, basically indestructible to fire," I say modestly. "Watch this." I do a quick scan for anything flammable. I see a candle in a cabinet and aim for it. I use my finger to light it and my mom jumps.

"Okay, I'm starting to see why one of your school's rules is no magic outside class. Please don't burn down my house." She removes the candle from the cabinet and before she can blow it out, I extinguish it from my seat at the kitchen island. "Cheeky, don't burn down my house."

"I promise not to," I say as she puts the lasagna in the oven.

"So tell me, how are Katya and Greyson?" She asks happily. "Still haven't met those two."

"They're good, just stuck doing boring royal events this break," I say. "Sucks to be them."

My mom sighs. "Powers I can get behind, but you being a princess. That's very hard to swallow."

I laugh. "I feel the same, nobody even knows who I am so I can't imagine life like that either."

My dad's laugh is jittery. "Do you like it though, the powers, the expensive school, Illyria?"

I think about that. At first, I just wanted the five years to go by as quickly as possible so I can leave. But now I actually kind of like it. "I do, I love it. It's amazing, the school has state-of-the-art infrastructures and it's competitive. The students are all like me but worse, my roommate Sara is so smart. Speaking of Sara, I should call her and ask if she's almost home. And I'm supposed to text Sebastian when I got here, and Kat and..." I look up at them. "Excuse me, please."

I go to the living room, I'm already drafting a text to Sebastian. I also send one to Kat then call Sara. "Got home not too long ago," I tell her.

"Still on the road, why did I have to go to a school four hours away from home?" She moans.

"Because you know it's good," I say. "Anyway, I have to get back to my parents. Say hi to your dad for me. Bye."

"Bye." She drags into the phone. "Say hi to your parents." She then cuts the call.

I go back to the kitchen. "Sara says hi," I tell them. I get a notification on my phone, then a call. "Another minute, it's Sebastian." Before they can say anything, I take the call and go to the living room.

"You got my text, I wasn't sure you were going to see it now. You're always busy."

"I just got out of a meeting. I thought I should reply before my next. How is your mum?" He asks.

"She's good, she says hi." She didn't say it specifically but I'm sure she wants to.

"That's good to hear." I hear a muffled conversation on his side. "I'll call you back, I need to take care of something. I'm looking forward to your weekend here."

"I am too, can't wait." I want to see Illyria before school starts.

"I should get going, goodbye." He hangs up. I go back to the kitchen, my parents halt their conversation when they see me.

"Sebastian says hi," I tell them. "Is the lasagna almost ready? I didn't have any lunch today." We eat lunch/breakfast in the kitchen and my parents tell me what they've been up to. My dad's bowling alley has been doing well since I left. His main customers have been high school students.

"Your friends told their entire class that the snack bar has really good food. I used your tiny, almost nonexistent college fund to expand it and now kids hang out there after school, it's amazing." He says.

"And I'm doing pretty good too, I'm up for a bonus at the end of the year," Mom says happily. She's the head of HR in a finance company in the city. It's nice to know they're both doing well.

Later that night, my dad comes to my room. "Hey Cassie, can we talk?" He sits on the edge of my bed. I take my earphones out to listen to him. He rubs his hands together. "How do I say this?" He laughs awkwardly. "I know I may not be your biological dad. May not be able to give you a fancy boarding school, or a literal kingdom. But um...I do love you, so much and I want you to always remember that."

"Okay," I say slowly. "I know all that."

He nods. "I'm happy for you, I'm happy that you have friends and that you love your new school. I really am."

"I never said you aren't. Dad, what's all this about?"

"Nothing, it's just with Sebastian in the picture, it's been awkward lately. I just want you to know that I always want the best for you."

"I know you do, no matter what, Sebastian isn't going to replace you. You know that, don't you?"

He sighs. "I know, sweetie, goodnight." He kisses my forehead and stands up to leave.

"Dad." I stop him. "I love you too." He smiles before leaving the room. I struggle to go to sleep, it's hard adjusting to a new sleep schedule. I fall asleep around eight AM and wake up in the afternoon.

After having brunch and taking a shower, I go over to Eliza's house. Her mom answers the door. "Cassandra, you're here." She's shocked. She's changed her hair, it's a lighter brown now. Like Eliza's. "I wasn't expecting you, this is a surprise."

"Eliza didn't tell you I was coming?" I ask. "I called her yesterday and told her. Then again, it must have been two am here."

She smiles. "Maybe that's why, Eliza has been busy lately. She and Sophie are closer than ever, always having sleepovers so they can study. They're together most nights, Eliza even went over to her place last night."

"That's...good for those two." Nope. "Is Eliza in?"

"She is, she's up in her room." She moves out of the doorway to let me through. I jog up to Eliza's room, I knock on the door and don't get a response. I open the door and see a figure buried under a thick purple blanket.

"Eliza," I call, she groans. "Are you alright?" There's no answer so I throw the covers away. Eliza grunts and reaches for the blanket desperately.

"Get out of my room." She says sleepily. "Who even is that?" She finally opens her eyes and sees me. "Cassandra?" She asks. "Am I still drunk or are you really here?"

"I'm here, remember, I called you and told you I was coming."

"So that's what you said, for a second I thought I dreamt that." She yawns. "Can you come back another time, I'm tired now."

"You're not tired Eliza, you're hungover." I rip her blanket off. "You need to get up, open the windows, clean your room."

She sits up and scoffs. "Who do you think you are? You can't just leave for months and come back like everything's the same. You're acting like I have a problem."

"Oh really, you go out drinking all night and you're hanging out with Sophie. We hate Sophie."

"No, you hate Sophie, I don't, I think she's nice. She was here for me after you left, you moved across the world and stopped texting me." She accuses. "Who does that?"

"I thought you were fine." I defend. "And I had my own problems."

"Whatever just...I don't know." She sighs and pushes her brown hair behind her neck. "I'm not in the mood, come back later."

I scoff. "Eliza, you're not all right. Who even are you?"

"Screw you, Cassandra." She whispers.

"You're lying to your parents. In fact, why don't I go downstairs and tell your mom right now what you do all night." I threaten.

She rolls her eyes. "Sophie was right, you are a buzzkill. You were the reason we never had any other friends, you're a loser and I pitied you with my friendship. Why don't you go back to your fancy school and stop bothering me?"

I bite my lip and stare at her, she looks so frail and her eyes are sunken. "I'm going home." I can't bring myself to say anything else. I leave her room and rush out of the house. I don't even say goodbye to her mom. I get on my bike and ride to my house.

"You're back early." My dad calls from the living room affter I slam the front door shut. "How's Eliza?"

"I have no friends here," I walk into the living room. "Eliza hates me and I don't know what to do. Is our friendship over?"

"Of course not, you just need to spend some more time with her. What about Rachel, you're still friends with her?" He asks.

I shrug. "I am but she was closer with Eliza. We barely hung out alone." I take a deep breath. "Should I call her?" Then I add immediately. "I'll call her." I whip out my phone and search for her name. I dial her number. An automated voice informs me that the number is no longer available.

"Did she pick up?" My dad asks.

"Nope, she changed her number." I sigh. "This is going to be a boring week."

"I'm just going to ignore that." My dad says, slightly offended. The week is boring, I stay at home watching tv with my parents. On Thursday, my mom asks me to take a checkbook to my dad at work. After giving it to him, I go to the snack bar to get a smoothie.

"Cassandra?" A male voice calls as I'm sitting at the bar mid-sip. "Is that really you?"

I turn back to see who it is. "Colton?" I ask.

He laughs. "I almost didn't recognize you." He looks me up and down. "I haven't seen you since middle school graduation. You've changed so much in the past six months."

My face is tight. "Thanks, you've changed so much too." He hasn't, he has the same blonde hair and light blue eyes. He looks an inch taller though.

"Yeah, so, um. What are you doing here? I heard you were in some European country or something."

"Yes, I was, still am. Just here for a little break. Going back tomorrow actually, was here a week."

He frowns. "You flew all the way here for a week?"

I laugh. "Yeah, I thought, why not." I look around uncomfortably. "Anyway, I should get going, with packing and everything."

He looks back at his group of friends, they're playing a game on one of the aisles. "Well actually this guy, Toby, you don't know him. He's new, his parents are out of town, he's having a party tonight. You should come."

"Oh, I don't know, I'm not a party person." I decline.

"Yeah, that's what your friend, Eliza said. Now she's the life of all of them, she's so cool. I wish we were friends in middle school." He places his hands on the stool beside me. "Why didn't we talk more?"

Because you were dating the bane of my existence, Sophia Rodriguez. The girl who made my life miserable. "It's a mystery." I shrug.

He nods. "But you should come, let me text you the address. I don't have your number though."

I find a napkin and produce a pen from behind the counter. "You can write it here." He glances at the pen and paper. "I changed my number, different dialing codes, rates." I lie weakly.

He picks up the pen and writes the address of the party. "Looking forward to seeing you, I'm sure you have lots of parties at your school and you wouldn't be interested in this one. Still try to make it, alright." He goes back to his friends.

I leave the alley and go back home. I'm silent all through dinner, I'm thinking about Colton, the party and most especially, Eliza. "Why are you so quiet, already missing us?" My mom asks with a sad smile.

I snap out of my thoughts. "What, no, not that. It's Eliza, I'm really worried about her."

"Oh," Mom says. "Well, why are you worried about her?"

I stop myself. "Nothing, it's just we haven't spoken or hung out much this week."

"Sorry, maybe you can go by her house later." My dad offers.

"I can't, she's at this party tonight. She doesn't go often, just that this is an important one. I even got invited, it's nothing really." I quickly add.

My mom frowns. "On a school night. That doesn't sound responsible."

"It's nothing major, just a little get together. Completely safe."

My dad laughs. "The way you're talking, it seems like you're building up to something. Do you want to go to the party?"

I don't, I really don't. Parties are loud, dark and stuffed. At least in the movies, I've never been to a real high school party before. I want to say no but my heart feels tight. I need to know if Eliza is okay and see if I can help. We've been best friends since the first grade and I'm not going to give up on her. "Yes, I do."