"We have to go," she said, her voice barely louder than the wind. "It's the only way to keep the family safe."
The air was thick, heavy like rain that never falls.
Her hand reached for him, trembling. He pulled away.
"When it happens, they'll come looking for us. He can't know he must not know, at least not now."
He turned his back. His outline wavered, as if the world couldn't hold him still.
People? What people?
Dad… what are you talking about?
"We leave tomorrow."
His voice was lower now, almost a whisper inside the wind.
"It's time to start the project. In ten years, the world will change and we won't be here when it does."
They began to walk away, swallowed by the fog.
"Mom? Dad?! Where are you going? Wait take me with you!"
My voice cracked. The fog thickened. I tried to run, but my feet wouldn't move.
"No! Stop! Please… take me with you!"
Their figures faded.
"Ahhh-!"
"Young master."
I jolted upright. Sunlight poured through the curtains like water.
"What did I tell you about closing your blinds?" the maid said, already drawing them shut with a sharp tug.
"You'll be late for your first day of school."
My mouth was dry. My heart was still racing.
The dream clung to me like mist, refusing to lift.
Oh yeah. Another year at this stupid private school.
The thought alone made me want to crawl back under the sheets.
"I made your favorite breakfast," came the shout from downstairs, sharp and full of sass. "But if you don't get up and put that uniform on, I swear I'll feed it to the dogs then drag you out of bed myself!"
My eyes snapped open. I groaned and rolled out of bed.
"Okay, okay! I'm up!"
Ever since my parents left, Ruby the head maid had taken care of me. She's loud, terrifying, and always five steps ahead of me. But still…
I think of her as my mom.
Even if she never calls herself that.
"Looking good, aren't you!" Ruby beamed, grinning from ear to ear. "Another year, I get to be proud of my boy."
She paused, her smile faltering just for a second.
"If only your parents could see you…"
Her eyes dropped to the floor, silence lingered for a bit too long.
Then she clapped her hands. "Now, now eat! Eat!"
She reached for the remote and flicked on the TV. The morning news filled the room.
"Hello everyone, I'm Aritha," the anchor said, his voice steady. "You may think I'm crazy for what I'm about to say, but..."
Click. The screen went black.
Ruby set the remote down like nothing had happened. "You should really get going now."
I blinked.
What was that about?
Ruby never turns off the news during breakfast.
She always says, "Morning and night, stay informed, stay sharp."
So why now?
As I grabbed my bag and stepped toward the door, one of the other maids approached.
"Are you not taking the limousine today, young master?"
I shook my head. "Nah. School's close, I'll walk."
She bowed politely, then drifted away without another word.
To be honest, ever since my parents disappeared ten years ago, I haven't really felt connected to anyone except Ruby. She's the only one who stayed, the only one who made this giant house feel like something other than a cage.
And maybe that's why I dread going to school.
Because the moment I leave, I stop feeling like I belong anywhere at all.
Right in front of the school gates, I noticed them.
A girl and a guy, maybe twins, or just really similar. Their blonde hair shimmered strangely in the morning light. They stood still, eyes scanning the crowd like they were searching for someone.
I've never seen them around before, maybe they're looking for a loss Pat?
Or maybe not.
Either way, they didn't find who they were looking for.
I slipped past, unnoticed, and made my way through the usual morning routine locker, schedule, hallways buzzing with noise. Nothing out of place.
Eventually, I walked into my classroom and took my seat near the back.
"Oh my god, he's so hot," a girl whispered from the corner.
"I heard he's richer than your dad," another giggled, nudging her friend.
"I heard… his parents left him when he was only six," one of them said, her voice dropping.
The other girl went quiet, then bowed her head like she felt bad.
"What's his name again? Eli, right?"
Yeah, that's me.
I'm used to it by now the stares, the whispers, the rumors.
They always talk like I'm a story, not a person.
My parents were famous scientists before they disappeared ten years ago. Left everything behind, including me.
I don't remember anything from that day. Not really.
But sometimes…
Things come to me in dreams.
Flashes. Sounds. Fog. Voices.
And then nothing. Gone the second I open my eyes.
"Hey, hot stuff."
I looked up and there she was.
She sat right on my desk, staring straight at me like she already knew me. My face heated up immediately.
I was almost sure she was the same girl I saw outside the gate earlier.
"Hey, stop it!" a voice called.
A guy walked over and pinched her ear, pulling her off my desk. She winced and grumbled but didn't really fight him.
"Sorry for my sister's rude behavior," he said, brushing off his uniform. Then he looked at me and smirked.
"You seem to be the guy we're looking for."
I blinked. "I'm sorry, but… I don't know either of you. Who are you?"
"I'm Olsen, and that's Aqua my twin sister," he said politely.
"Yeah, and guess who's the older twin?" Aqua added with a smug grin.
"Every time," Olsen sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Every single time we introduce ourselves, you bring that up."
"Anyway," he said, turning serious again, "we only transferred to this school for one reason. To find you."
I stared at them, confused. "To… what?"
"We're here to recruit you," Aqua said like it was obvious.
I blinked again. "What?"
"Your parents were famous scientists, right?" Olsen asked, tilting his head. "How could you not know?"
Now he looked confused.
"Maybe we got the wrong guy," Aqua muttered.
"No, we didn't," Olsen said firmly. "He looks just like the picture."
"Let me see that," Aqua said, snatching something from him. She looked at the photo. "Yeah… that's him."
"Well, the Chief wouldn't send us here for nothing," Olsen added, frowning thoughtfully.
"So what you're saying is… another dead end?" Aqua asked, already inspecting her nails like she was bored.
"No. There has to be a reason," Olsen insisted.
"You say that every time something goes wrong..."
And just like that, the two of them started bickering right in front of me, louder and louder, like I wasn't even there.
"Uh hello?" I said, waving a hand. "I'm literally right here."
"Okay, well… do you know anything?" Aqua asked, arms crossed, her voice dripping with sass.
"Anything like what?"
"Oh, you know… just the easy stuff." She started ticking off her fingers.
"The Abarice Clan, the Collision, blood prints…"
She rattled off a bunch of strange terms like they were common knowledge. Like I was supposed to just nod and go oh, of course.
"Aqua," Olsen cut in quickly, clearly grateful for an excuse to shut her up. "Let's skip to the..."
"I don't, though," I interrupted. My voice was calm, but the confusion was real.
"I don't know any of that."
"What?!" they said in perfect sync, both of their faces frozen in shock.
"How do you not know the basics?!" Olsen gasped.
"We're screwed! We're actually screwed!"
He looked like someone had just unplugged his brain. His whole body tensed, and his face went ghost-white.
"The Chief said he'd send him a letter explaining everything!" he stammered, pacing and grasping at thin air like trying to catch lost thoughts.
"He said. he promised."
"Olsen. Olsen, calm down," Aqua said firmly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let's just explain the basics."
She turned back to me.
"Your parents wrote a book, right? Earth to Magic? A 'scientific theory' kind of book?"
I nodded slowly.
"Well… it wasn't just theory," she said. "Magic is real. It's just been gone from Earth for a long time."
"Wait. wait." I cut in. "My parents' book was just a what-if. Speculative. Magic doesn't exist."
"No," she said. "Your parents knew exactly what they were writing. And in that book, they predicted something would happen ten years from when they vanished."
"Huh? What's 'that'?"
I raised an eyebrow, trying to keep up.
"The whole world will change," Olsen said, finally composed again. "Magic will return to every corner of the Earth. And when it does, the Abarice Clan will be ready. We've been waiting for this day for generations."
Clan? That word stopped me.
"Wait, clan?" I echoed.
"Yeah," Aqua said. "Thousands of years ago, magic flowed freely on Earth. But humans got greedy. They drained the planet's magic resources like oil."
"And the Abarice Clan," Olsen added, "was one of the few that stood against them. One of the strongest. One of the last."
The Abarice Clan…
The name hit me like a whisper through fog.
Familiar. Like something I'd heard in a dream I couldn't quite remember.
"I know it's the first day," the teacher said, arms crossed at the front of the room, "but I'm pretty sure the two of you aren't on my roster."
"I'm sure we can be," Aqua replied, her tone sharp with playful snark. "If you give us a chance."
"Your class. Now."
The teacher's voice dropped like a hammer.
"Okay, okay! We'll catch you later," Aqua said, grinning as she turned to me. "Be ready."
She winked, then strolled out of the room.
"Aqua, be kind to your elders!" Olsen hissed as they walked off.
"Why should I?"
"Well, because..."
And just like that, they were at it again, their bickering fading down the hallway like a badly tuned radio.
Those two must be crazy. Magic doesn't exist…
But the name still echoed in my head.
The Abarice Clan…
A memory or maybe a dream rushed in like a gust of cold air.
"What are we going to do?" a man's voice said. He was pacing across a room I didn't recognize, muttering, "We promised the Abarice Clan we'd give them the documents… the exact time, the signs…"
"Don't worry, honey," a woman replied gently. "They're trustworthy. But we can't talk about this now."
She picked up a set of keys from the desk. "I'll take Eli to daycare."
The door creaked open, light spilling into the room
"Eli!"
My eyes snapped open.
The teacher loomed over my desk, clearly not amused.
"It's the first day of school, and this is how you choose to spend your time?"
She smacked her hand on the desk. I jumped.
"You're lucky it's the first day," she muttered. "If this were any other time, I'd be assigning you extra homework."
She turned and walked away, heels clicking sharply.
I rubbed my eyes, trying to hold onto the dream but it was already slipping away.
They were talking about the Abarice Clan. I know they were.
And if I've heard of them before, maybe… maybe it's in the Mentions Library. The restricted wing.
I'll check it out after school.
Whatever this is it's not over, no far from it.
All the morning classes were over, and it was finally time for lunch.
I stepped into the cafeteria, holding my tray and scanning for an open seat when a cheerful voice called out.
"Hey! Come sit over here!"
A girl with bright red hair was waving at me from across the room, flashing a hopeful smile.
I barely had time to react before...
"Nope. Eli has other plans," Aqua said, suddenly clinging to my arm like she'd always been there.
Tray wobbling in my hand, I blinked at her. "Uh. what?"
"Come on," she said, tugging me toward a table in the back corner. "We have to finish what we were talking about."
I barely managed to keep my food from spilling as she dragged me away.
Across the room, I heard the redhead scoff loudly. "How did she already get his attention? That ugly blonde Barbie…"
Her voice carried through the cafeteria, clearly meant to be heard.
Aqua stopped mid-step. She slowly turned her head, a calm fire behind her eyes.
"Excuse me?" she said, letting go of my arm and stepping forward. "Who were you talking about? Because it definitely can't be me."
The redhead stood up, flipping her hair. "Yeah. I was talking about you."
Aqua walked right up to her, fists clenched like she was one second away from smacking her across the face.
"Hey! No fighting," Olsen interrupted, stepping between them just in time. "Aqua, we've got something to take care of."
She locked eyes with him. For a moment, she looked like she might ignore him but then she sighed and backed off.
"Fine. But only because I want to get out of this preppy school."
She turned sharply and walked away, brushing past the redhead without another glance.
The redhead girl smirked like she'd won something.
But from where I stood, it felt more like she'd just dodged a storm.
"Aqua, you've got to get your anger in check," Olsen said, turning to her with a rare sharpness in his voice. "We can't afford any more detours."
She rolled her eyes but didn't argue. "Okay, okay. The sooner we finish this, the better."
I noticed the red-haired girl still glaring at us from across the cafeteria. Her eyes hadn't moved since Aqua backed off. I could feel the heat of her jealousy even from here.
Olsen sat down and pulled a thick folder from his bag definitely not schoolwork.
"These," he said, sliding the papers toward me, "are the documents your parents gave to our clan ten years ago."
I picked up the first page.
The title read: "The Collision."
"The Collision?" I echoed, the words catching in my throat.
Olsen nodded. "It's the reason magic is coming back to Earth. Your parents didn't give us the exact date, but they said it would happen within ten years."
The Collision… ten years…
Something about it pulled at me like I'd heard it before.
In a dream?
A memory?
"We came here hoping you could tell us the exact day," Aqua added. "But you don't seem to know anything."
I stayed silent, guilt creeping up my spine.
"Maybe they left something in your mansion?" Olsen suggested.
"Huh? The mansion?" I asked, surprised.
"I was actually planning to check the library after school," I said slowly. "To see if the Abarice Clan showed up in any records."
Their eyes lit up with hope.
"Yes, yes, that's perfect!" Aqua said. "Can we come with you?"
I hesitated. Should I trust them?
Then, like a faint echo from a fading dream, a phrase drifted back into my mind:
"They're trustworthy."
The voice was calm. Familiar. It felt… safe.
I looked at them and nodded. "Okay. You two can come with me. We'll meet after school."
They both smiled grateful, relieved.
But still… something in me said to be careful.
I don't think they'd hurt me, they seem like good people. But just in case…
I wouldn't show them the hidden mansion library.
Not yet.