-HIATUS- ᴏɴᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇᴍ - ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴀᴡᴛʜᴏʀɴᴇ ʟᴇɢᴀᴄʏ (ꜱᴇQᴜᴇʟ ᴛᴏ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ɢʀᴀᴍʙꜱ?) -HIATUS-

Chapter 40

This time I am not trapped in Xander's laboratory, this time! Oh, but this time! They are cruel. They handcuffed me. I thought they were kidding. They literally handcuffed me. Handcuffs! From Eli! Why did Eli agree to this?!

"I hate you all," I say through gritted teeth but they all smile and give me a nod. They know I don't hate them, they know that I am just saying that. "Handcuffs aren't going to do anything! I can still run away! Umm... not that I-I plan on doing so," I didn't persuade them. 

"It is only for a little bit, Amber," Avery says rolling her eyes as she puts a hand on my shoulder. We are headed for Nan. Do we tell her? That she is my Nan as well? There Nan is in the music room, sitting in a small wingback chair that looked out on the pool. I reach for my hair when no one is looking, pulling a hairpin out. I can unlock this.

"Don't just stand there. Help an old lady up" Nan says without looking at us. Walking into the room I looked at everything. So many instruments. Grayson offered Nan an arm but she looked at Avery. "You girl." Avery walked over and helped Nan out of her chair. Nan looked at Max and Rosie. "Who are they supposed to be?"

"That's my friend Max," Xander replied.

"Your friend Max?" Avery says looking surprised. I knew it, Max and Xander.

"I promised to build her a droid. We're very close now. But that's beside the point." Xander says cheerfully. We hadn't introduced Rosie yet.

"And this is my friend Rosie," I say and Nan looks at me, then down at my hands. "They think I am going to do something crazy and maybe even dangerous."

"We need your help, Nan," Grayson says getting to the point. We weren't here for introductions.

"You do, do you?" Nan snorted scowling, then she glanced at me and Avery. There was a slight hint of hope in her eyes. She knows we are looking for her Toby. But she doesn't know who I am, right? Do we tell her? I insert the hairpin into the lock and start to fiddle around.

"We found a message that your son-in-law left for Skye, right after Toby disappeared. We think the old man left a similar message for Zara and that together they might somehow lead us to Toby." Avery says. Message? Oh, the clues in the will.

"But to get what we need from Zara, we need to offer her something in return," Jameson says interrupting Avery.

"And what might that something be?" Nan asked narrowing her eyes, looking at each and every one of us. Everyone was silent.

"We need your daughter's wedding ring. To trade for your son-in-law's." I say and Jameson and Grayson give me an almost thankful look, but then they notice what I am doing. Jameson walks over and snatches the hairpin out of my hand and back into my hair. I roll my eyes and he stands next to me.

"Zara always was a strange, quiet little thing," Nan says.

"If feel a story coming on! Nan always tells the best stories!" Xander says cheerfully with a musical hint to his tone.

"Don't you try to butter me up, Alexander Hawthorne," Nan says poking at Xander with her cane. I almost laughed.

"Is that what I am doing?" Xander asked Nan with a tilt of the head, he sounded innocent. I want to laugh so bad right now. I shut my mouth tightly. Jameson sees it he was smiling as well, his head tilted upwards, and he was trying to hold in laughter. I would usually cover my mouth with my hand but, right now it is impossible to do so.

"Zara was a shy, bookish child. Not like my Alice, who loved the attention. I remember when Alice was pregnant with Zara, how giddy she was at the thought of having a little girl of her own to spoil. But Zara never took much to spoiling. It drove my Alice up the wall. I used to tell her that the girl was just sensitive, that all she needed was some toughening up. I told her Skye was the one to worry about. That child came out of the womb tap-dancing." Nan says her emphasis on certain words, her tone, everything. Xander was right, Nan told the best stories. I can't help but smile, she is my Nan as well.

"About that ring. The old man left Zara the same bequest in multiple wills: his wedding ring, may she loves as wholly and steadfastly as I loved her mother. That ring is a clue." Jameson says turning on the charm.

"Not much of one. Steadfastly? Wholly? Leaving his own daughter nothing but a damned wedding ring? Tobias never was as subtle as he liked to think." Nan grunts.

"Constantine is Zara's second husband. Twenty years ago, when Toby disappeared, Zara was married to someone else." Grayson says his tone... Oh, his tone... So... Get your mind out of the gutter, Amber.

"She was having an affair," Xander says, he knew for sure that this was true. He didn't ask it, he said it as a fact.

"I'll give you Alice's ring. When you give it to her, you tell Zara that she'll get no judgment from me. She's toughened up just fine, and we all do what we have to do to survive." Nan says. We all nod heading to leave. "Stop right there," she says and we all stop and turn around. "You girl," She says and points at me with her cane. I put my thumbs up to point at myself."Yes, you. I want a word."

"Well, see you later I guess. Don't give it to her without me. I have something for her as well," I say quietly and they all leave the room. I walk towards where Nan stands.

"Sit down," she says roughly and I sit, she sits beside me. Oh my god. It is too tight. This chair is only meant for one person. My breathing quickens. "Mrs. Laughlin told me about you. How close are you to finding my boy? Your father?"

"We're pretty close, I would say. It might take a few more days or a week," my voice sounding higher than usual. I don't want to worry her about Toby being missing... wait a second... she knows that he is my father.

"You bring my boy back to me," she nudges me with her cane a bit. I nod. "Nan, call me Nan," she says. Is she accepting me? Is she accepting me as her great-granddaughter?

"I will, Nan," I whisper and she puts an arm around me pulling my body towards her, Squeezing me, I feel like I can't breathe. I can't breathe. It is too tight. Is this what grandparents or great-grandparents do? She stops squeezing me and she observes me.

"You never looked like your sister," Nan says, that is exactly what Mrs. Laughlin said. She said that I never looked like my sister as well. "We don't want to keep the boys waiting now do we?" Nan says.

"Of course not," I say and stand up. "Thank you," I pause and she looks into my eyes. "Nan," with that I walk away and Nan sits there looking out of the window at the estate. I walk through the entrance of the music room to find Grayson standing there. "All good, now we better head to the others." Grayson holds a key in his hands. Oh! The key of the handcuffs. He holds it up and reaches for my hands. I don't know what to do, why was this so awkward? He holds my wrists. He holds them. His skin is warm against mine, gentle. I feel myself blush. He puts the key into the hole and unlocks the handcuffs. They fall to the floor. "Thank you," he shakes his head. Why isn't he talking? "Is everything okay?" I ask and he looks at me puzzled.

"Just fine. They're waiting just outside Zara's wing," He crouches to pick them up, but he doesn't make a sound. I made a sound getting keys, he didn't make a sound getting handcuffs. Is he god? turned and started walking, I am taking that as a follow me.

(1403 words)

(I have written way more in this book than in my previous one, and I am just a little bit over halfway through! Thanks for all the support!)