Eternal Symphony

13. Blood on the Water

Once the holiday recess ended, marking the new 2023 year, Alice trudged through the grogginess of wanting to return to school. When Emil and Sophie-Anne returned from Marseille, they made every effort to teasingly frighten Alice after learning she knew of their secret. During Digital Art, while she was distracted with her drawing, Emil and Sophie-Anne crept up from behind, emitting ghastly sound effects that made her skin crawl with goosebumps.

"Please don't do that," she said as she shuddered over her desk.

Emil gave her a toothy grin. "Now you know our secret."

Sophie-Anne curled her fingers, mimicking having claws, and hissed. "Beware of the creatures from the dark."

"I've known your secret for a while, and you're not funny." Still, Alice vigilantly watched the two as they continued taunting her in eerie voices. Twins with way too much time on their hands are like demons. "Must you talk like that?"

Emil and Sophie-Anne snickered. "Oh, take care; we're only teasing," they said in unison and waved their hands, dismissing her. "Classic human paranoia."

Alice relaxed, and once she found the humor, she asked, "How long have you two been waiting to joke with me?"

They looked down shamefully before smiling at each other. "Longer than we'd like to admit."

Not long after the new year was Lia's birthday on the twelfth. When she finally turned twenty-one, she left to join her friends to celebrate after sharing dinner with the family, only to return home hungover at sunrise the following day. Though her overindulgence was expected, James and Lily were still irritated by her capriciousness and compulsive behavior.

I hope I don't act that way when I reach her age, Alice thought, the dreary reminder that her birthday was not far behind.

While she and Elijah were finishing homework at the library on campus, her phone chimed, and she saw a text from Lia: "Mom and Dad wanted to know what you wanted to do for your birthday." Alice groaned because it wasn't until the fifth of February. She wasn't looking forward to celebrating another year. We can just go to a restaurant and be done with it.

Noticing her distress, Elijah asked, "Is something wrong?"

"What?" She tore her attention away from the phone screen and shook her head. "It's nothing, but my sister asked if I had any birthday plans."

Intrigued, Elijah tilted his head. "Happy early birthday, then. When is it?"

"I'll be nineteen on the fifth of February. It's a little early for her to ask me this." She mumbled.

"It's coming up quickly." Still, Elijah paused, thinking deeply. "That gives me an idea: why don't we all get together that weekend and go to the beach? Us and the twins—the weather would be perfect, and we could celebrate your birthday."

She raised a brow. "It might be cloudy that weekend."

"That's what makes it perfect." Elijah flashed her a smile, striking her dumb. "We have an oceanfront villa in the Sea Cliff area with a spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge. How about we leave there that Friday and return Sunday morning?" He remained on the edge of his seat, anxiously awaiting her answer.

However, Alice was too deep in thought to pay attention, as she heavily considered his proposition. She hadn't been to a beach in a while, and it sounded like a great idea. "I might like to go. I do like the ocean—it's beautiful. It would be nice."

Elijah's grin reached ear to ear. "All right, that's where we'll go."

Yet she didn't realize how anxious the idea made her until she came home and told her parents of her plans for the Friday before her birthday. I'll be spending a weekend with Elijah Tonnerre.