In the Heavens

Chapter Sixty-One

Isadora woke with a start, her hands gripping the white and blue fabrics of her duvet as she heaved for breath. The thin fabric of her nightgown stuck to her like a second skin, along with the stray curls that escaped from her braid, laying down on her temple with a thin sheen of sweat. 

She'd heard the name Caspian before, she knew that much. The only issue that she had was recalling where. So, with a great amount of force, Isadora pushed herself up off of her bed, ignoring the wave of dizziness that washed over her as she began searching through her belongings. 

The first thing that she went through were her drawers, where she kept minute notes or doodles that she'd scribbled down out of boredom. She pilfered through her belongings with a reckless abandon, throwing papers off to the side and slamming the drawers closed when she came up empty handed. 

Isadora moved onto her nightstand, where small journals and books were kept. These were moved with a delicate precision, carefully flipping through each page with a newfound tenderness. 

It made no sense, she thought. In her almost two years of living in Magix, of learning about her family and her history, not once did anyone mention Caspian, or his fiancee, Lady Naomi—let alone her father's apparent fiancee and the absolute scandal that he and her mother had become embroiled in. 

Angelina never even mentioned their father ever having a brother. And for a fleeting second, Isadora found herself wondering if Angelina actually knew of Caspian. 

If he killed King Leonard, their grandfather, and took over the throne in a carefully planned coup, it only made sense for Alastor to try and erase all knowledge of Caspian even existing, regardless of their familial ties. 

No royal would want that sort of blot on their records. 

When she realized that her books held no answers as to where she'd heard the name 'Caspian' before, Isadora moved on to the large dresser at the front of her room. It was where she kept her spell book, personalized letters, and smaller chronicles that were easy for her to lose. 

Finally, she stumbled upon an aged leather-back journal, with faded lettering across the front. It was the book that explained how to take care of Hyphelion's egg. And at the very first page was a handwritten entry of Prince Caspian. 

But the gentle, almost child-like tone that he spoke with was nowhere near as cruel as his tone when he was admonishing and scorning Alastor and Iliyana. How much of the story was she not shown? 

Before she could continue to spiral any further into her mind, Musa, Stella, and Aisha barged into her bedroom, a look of shock plain as day on their faces. "Why in the name of Magix are you moving around right now?!" Musa exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed as the shock quickly turned into disapproval. 

Isadora went to respond, only for Stella to cut her off with a raised hand. "We will not hear any of your excuses, especially after what happened earlier." 

She sighed, squeezing her temple in an attempt to prevent the impending headache that she already felt pressing against the front of her head. "I'll explain later, I promise. But did you ever figure out what happened with the pixies?" 

Aisha sighed. "We left them with Headmistress Faragonda. She has to perform a few tests to try and figure that out." 

Well, while the outcome wasn't ideal, Isadora figured that it was better than where they were before. She nodded her head in understanding before closing Caspian's personal journal and setting it aside in her dresser. 

Just then, the shrill sound of Musa's melodious ringtone sounded, startling each of the girls as individual rounds of magic shot from their hands. Musa quickly picked up the phone, sharing a brief conversation with whoever was on the other end, and hanging up.