The Lost Girl (Complete)

Chapter Thirty - The Broken House

With her hands still shaking, Celestia wasn't exactly surprised to pull into her driveway and find a variety of different vehicles blocking her preferred parking spot.

She wasn't sure if the cousins or uncles had organised the invasion but knowing that they were all waiting for her inside gave her the peace she needed to calm down. The meeting with Derrick had gone as horribly as expected but even she hadn't predicted how upset the conversation about her mother would make her.

"Damn," she whispered, hitting the steering wheel gently before she unclipped and slid out. Celestia knew that no one was expecting her to walk in with a smile but she also wasn't prepared to burst into tears the moment that she opened the door either.

"Anyone home?" She called as the screen slammed shut behind her, the dim interior of the hallway making her feel just the tiniest bit relieved. Her home may be broken and brittle but it was still home and from the smells of cologne, perfume and cookies drifting around, her horde was currently taking up every little bit of space in the kitchen.

"Lesa," Alexander slipped out of the doorway, hands immediately reaching for her handbag and the art supplies bag that she had had stored on the back seat of her car. "You're home earlier than what we expected."

She laughed, "Did I make it home before you emptied my cupboards and fridge again?"

"More like we emptied the shelves at the nearby convenience store. Will your friend be here again tonight?" His voice sounded casual, the tone pitched to be perfectly calm.

"I haven't heard from him yet but probably. I think something might have happened at home."

"Doesn't he have anywhere else to go?" Alexander threw up his hands, "Don't look at me like that. He's your friend and you want to help him out but he's interfering with our cousin bonding time."

"Almost sounds like you're pouting there, little brother," one of the triplets called out as they squished themselves into the chairs around the dining table. "Yo, chicken little. It's been a while."

Shaking her head when she realised that every one of them was there except for Sebastian and Avery, Celestia accepted the cup of tea that Mason was holding out with a sigh, "You were here a week ago."

"Too long," another triplet grunted, biting into a sandwich with unnecessary gusto. "Wolverine and the Marine have been working our asses off. Today was the only day that we could take off but all the other offspring decided to crash as well."

Sofia flicked back her hair, "Don't eat and talk at the same time. It's disgusting, Mikael. And, Celestia isn't yours, you idiots, she belongs to all of us and we wanted to spend time here as much as you do."

Remaining quiet, Celestia couldn't help but feel like she was the newest family pet that they all wanted to monopolise. Not an overly bad thing but she did wonder if after a while they would begin to get tired of spending time in her small, broken house.

"Where did those other two scurry off to? I can't hear them fighting," Elias interrupted, his hunger obviously satisfied as he pushed an empty plate towards the middle of the table.

"Other two?" She asked, picking at the leftover ingredients that they had prepared for their lunch.

"Sebastian and Avery. They said that they wanted to look at something upstairs but that was about half an hour ago. That little shit better have not climbed out onto the roof or anything again."

Feeling her pulse jump at the thought, Celestia set aside the teacup and moved to the doorway where Alex had set her bags, "I'll check on them after I put my stuff away."

Elias nodded, "Just yell if you need any help."

Smiling as they all started chattering, she plodded up the staircase, her whole wincing as they creaked with every step. After a conversation with her Uncle North, she knew that the possibility of an easy fix for some parts of the house were impossible – continual water damage after a severe storm when she was younger had seen parts of the roof beginning to rot not to mention problems with plumbing and wiring.

It's pretty much a loss, he'd told her solemnly. He'd even tried to call Owen and Victor about financing a total rebuild but luckily she'd been able to snatch and hide his mobile until he'd been talked around from doing anything too extreme.

Dropping the bags onto her bed, she quickly made her way down the hall to where she could Avery's quiet voice. Since the cousins had started staying over, Sang's former room had changed quite a lot with a set of bunk beds replacing the old single – there were now odds and ends scattered around, some belonging to a number of the triplets and others still left their by Riley before the two of them had rushed out that morning.

Sitting on the bottom bunk, Avery's attention was on the open door of the small attic space which had originally led Celestia to finding this crazy, intrusive, amazing family.

"What on earth are you two doing?" She asked, covering her smiling lips when Avery let out a surprised yip. "I was sent up here by Elias to make sure that Sebastian hadn't climbed onto the roof."

"I didn't," the boy in question called out, his voice muffled by the wall that separated them. "I just wanted to check this place out."

Walking over, she crouched down, her eyes widening when she realised that he had managed to find the switch for the lights that her Uncle North had apparently put in there when Sang had still occupied the room. "They still work?"

"Yeah," Sebastian waved at her from the slightly raised platform as she started the slow crawl in, her whole body tense as she noticed how fragile the floor seemed to be underneath her hands and knees.

"I don't think that there's anything else in here now. I cleaned it out," a sharp crack had her breath whistling between her teeth. She hadn't noticed it before since she hadn't known about the lights but it was obvious from the large stains on the carpet that water had found its way into the space at least once in the past and her uncle's warning about rotting wood was suddenly ringing in her ears.

"Seb, it's time to get out here, I think, before your brothers come up and find you exploring," tenseness threaded through every word, she carefully stayed in place over a section where the carpet had wide rips as more cracking sounded from beneath her.

"Yeah, I suppose so," he replied with a slightly bored expression, obviously missing what had her heart pounding. "You going out first?"

She shook her head slowly, "It'll be easier if you get out first since I have to turn around." She also wanted to make sure that he was able to get out.

A mistake which proved deadly the second that Sebastian's weight joined her own over that section of the floor. The earth itself seemed to move as the bare wood beneath her buckled, snapping and giving way within seconds as she just reacted. Using all of her strength, she pushed on Sebastian's bottom, his forward flight almost comical as a short scream left her mouth. Shredded wood, vertigo, the feel of nothing, her stomach flipped as sounds rushed by.

And then there was pain, an agony so complete that she couldn't even draw breath before darkness filled her vision, her last conscious thought being relief that he hadn't gone through with her.