𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐲; 𝐚. 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

××

Nero did exactly what Alice said not to do. Instead of going back to find and talk to more, she ended up trying to ignore the pixie and every thought she had surrounding her. Even though it hurt.

Alice didn't take it to heart, although the pull was still there, she knew Nero wouldn't want to talk to her. Well, she saw. Alice did wait around for a couple of more years, but still no sign of Nero showing up, but another vision had pulled her in her mind and she had a new destination set.

Yes, it had been a couple of years, more or so a decade or two, that Nero had not made contact with Alice at all. Deciding on keeping the girl in the back of her mind but with her constant scent, she was at peace. However on the day that Alice left, Nero knew immediately and was questioning herself. Maybe she should've talked to Alice? Maybe she should've gave the girl a chance?

Those were the illogical questions that she asked herself and the more logical ones were more like statements; She must've left due to humans noticing her false change in appearance, or, She must've had something else that she was supposed to tend to. Those statements were hung over her head rather than the questions, so Nero didn't dwell on it too much.

Although her heart pained sometimes, missing the scent of her 'soulmate', Nero still pushed through everything and was not affected, or tried not to show, one bit. Closing in on the twenty-first century, the Latin Coven had changed places once more.

And with a change of new technology, the older generation had more to get used to, it was simplistic yet diverse. The introduction of advance cellular technology and an introduction from landlines to cellphones was a complete change. When, Nero held a phone in her hand for the first time, she was rather confused, but she assumed she knew the basics based on the landlines that had had in their previous homes.

"Aulus, where are we going now?" The man laughed softly at Caroline's whining, to be fair, they had been travelling longer than they expected, but that was understandable since they had just left France. That was one thing the Latin Coven did, each member being able to choose a new place to live in a rotation. "Well, I know you guys are all about secluded areas and I actually found one in America."

The plane ride was insanely quiet, so Aulus had lowered his voice immensely when some eyes had turned to them after Caroline's complaining. "Oh, great. Back with the Americans. I never did like our stay in Mississippi or Arkansas." Cesare complained, his inner Roman coming out as he exposed his distaste towards certain country specifics. "Shut up, you're just mad we had to leave France."

Cesare didn't need to respond to prove Aulus' statement. They all actually liked being in France, but they were there for a little too long and due to obvious situations, Italy had been taken off of their list entirely. "I wish we could go to Rome."

"I do too, but the Volturi, I'd rather not risk it." Nero spoke up this time, intervening any arguments that were to happen. "Where is this place, anyways?"

"One of the northwestern states, I think?" Did they read the tickets? The simple answer; no, they did not. All except Aulus, who had booked the flight in the first place. Nero rolled her eyes, before glancing at her plane ticket, "Bordeaux to... Seattle Tacoma International. Washington." Nero furrowed her eyebrows, surely her friend knew that Seattle wasn't the best place, right?

"It's not Seattle, it's actually called... uh," There was a pause as Aulus was attempting to wrack his brain of the name of the town. "Forks! Named after silverware." The blond's grin was wide as he shot them a happy look. "You are really excited..." Vesta stated, suspicion rising in his voice as he eyed his coven member.

"I was gonna wait till we got there, but, I actually applied for us to go to school! Well, some of us..." Nero's eyes widened, the one thing they always did to avoid humans, was to not participate in social standings, so going to a school, filled with humans, was completely against that pace they kept. "Why?"

"Well, we always do the same thing every time we move. I'd just thought we could change it up, plus we can wear color contacts, it's not that big of a deal. I just wanted to have some fun, living this long is boring..." Aulus trailed off, putting his head down slightly when he noticed the glares, but at his excitement, each of the coven's expressions softened.

Even though Nero was the youngest, she had the maturity and experience over the others and it proved when Aulus had tended to show childish antics even if he was twenty. "Alright, we have no need to go to school, but sure." The blond man nearly jumped in his seat, but held himself and only gave Nero a happy smile.

"Wait, what's the story?" Vesta asked, he was still off about going to school, but he was still curious on how it would work. "It'll be me, you and Nero going. Because Cesare and Caroline look too old for high school. We'll be siblings, different mothers, same father and after their tragic death, our eldest brother, Cesare, is our caretaker with his wife, Caroline." Surprised at his well devised plan, Nero nodded her head in understanding while the other's looked on with shock.

"Well done, Aulus. Well done."

××

Arriving in the airport was uncomfortable, the many humans walking around casually, unknowing of their existence, but they were lucky due to the sun being far from rise. The planning from France to America had worked out well for them to be out of the city faster than it usually would take for them.

Driving into Forks was a whole change in pace, though.

When passing through the town, they noticed the sun was rising, the hours being far past, but the clouds above them had blocked it consistently. Much like being back in Mississippi, Nero had that uncomfortable feeling in her stomach once again and a familiar scent passed through her nose as the windows were rolled down.

This forced Nero into forcing them to close their windows, making an excuse that the harsh winds were bothering her ears. They others took the lie and rolled the windows, allowing Nero a sense of slight comfort when the scent slowly faded away.

The girl remembers that scent and she only understood now that it was Alice from way back when. It was something she had convinced her mind to forget about and it was something that she truly laid to rest, not expecting the scent to ever come back again.

Even though the ride took hours, finally arriving in the new home felt like centuries, ironically, and although they had no use towards a bed, they still found it in themselves to buy them due to needing to feel any kind of comfort. The bed was a luxury they original four had never wanted to give up as during their human years, they weren't allowed any form of bed that was as comfortable as a mattress.

Before, they were to even decide to getting ready for the morning, Nero had hosted a coven meeting. They had briefly went over the plan while they were on the plane, but to avoid prying ears, they decided to drop it until they were there.

"You realize that us going to school is making our stay here decrease significantly, right?" Aulus nodded, he just wanted to experience high school and wanted to know if the movies were real, and what better place than a completely off the charts town in Washington? It was a perfect spot to test the idea.

"Well aware, my dear emperor." Nero rolled her eyes and smacked the back of his head and turning back to the conversation. "What do we need?" Aulus smiled once again, almost as wide as it was on the plane and ran to his room where he pulled out three empty backpacks for himself, Nero and Vesta. "We're all the same age, finishing senior year. Sound good? Good. Now we have about two hours till we should be there and we should be fine."

There was no arguing with the man and the other nodded and walked away, simply ending the meeting. But the school was going to be the last thing on Nero's mind when she first entered.

××

had to update this book again, i actually really love where this is going. hope you do too!