The Wishbornes And The Fallen Star

Chapter 13

I woke up in my bed again. This time Helena was sitting on my coach drinking tea and Theo was staring out of the window. I tried to sit up but my head left like a million ton. Helena then noticed me.
    "Theo", she said as she put her tea cup down and got up for the coach. Theo then turned around looking very worried as he followed Helena.
    "How are you feeling Lieftje?", she said as she sat on my bed and reached for my hand, but I pulled it away and tried to sit up again.
    "Fine", I said and tried my best to hide the fact that my brain felt like it was put into a blender and turned it into this sludgy mixture.
    "You gave us quite a fright there Darling", said Theo and put his hands in his pockets. I just looked at them as I tried to remember everything that happened. "Where's Raynard and Irene?", I finally asked.
    Theo and Helena looked at each other, then back at me. Oh hell! Did something else happen?
    "Where's my brother and sister?!", I asked in a sharper tone.
    "Irene is fine Bell. But... Raynard also fainted a few seconds after you."
    "What! Where is he now?", I asked as I tried to get out of bed, but nearly blacked out again at the sudden movement.
    "Easy Darling", Theo said as he rushed over to me and put a hand on my shoulder,"The doctor said you and Raynard should get plenty of rest. Your brother is in his room now, sleeping".
    "And what does this mysterious doctor say about all of this?"
    "He thinks it's due to the big change in your life. That your subconscious is still struggling to except the idea that you have a family now and that life is better now".
    What a load of crap.
They are definitely hiding something, because I know I'm not crazy. There was a doll house on the other side of that hedge. How they got rid of it I don't know, but whatever they are hiding I will find out. One way or another.
    So I just put on my best fake smile and said," That might be it. Would you mind bringing me some of that tea? Seems to be the only thing that helps". Helena gave me a smile, then said, "Sure. We'll leave you to rest then". She then got up from my bed, gave me a kiss on the forehead, then they both left.
    I waited till the foot steps vanished and slowly tried to get out of bed. Every step I took towards my brothers bed room made my head ache, begging me to go back to bed.
I slowly pushed open the door and saw my brother sleeping in his bed. I glanced back into the hallway just to check that no one is coming and quietly slipped into his room, not closing his door all the way.
    "Bell?", he said as he woke up.
    "Shhh" I said as I sat on his bed, then whispered, "I don't want anyone to know I'm in here".
He groaned and rubbed his face, "My head. It feels like I've been hit by a car", he stopped rubbing his face then looked at me. "What exactly happened?".
"I was hoping you could tell me?".
"Well all I can remember is you trying to chop your way through those hedges and Theo trying to stop you. I tired to stop him but my head started pounding like crazy and before I knew it the whole world went black."
    "Theo told me you fainted a few seconds after I fainted".
    "You fainted again?", he asked concerned and tried to sit up straight.
    "No, don't sit up. It makes it worse", I said and put my hand on his legs.
    "What made you faint?", he asked as he slid down in his bed.
    "I don't know exactly, but it's definitely connected to these headaches. And I don't believe any of the crap this doctor says it is."
    "What about the doll house? Did you find it?".
    "No. There was nothing there. Only grass and forest. Like the doll house just grew legs and walked off. There wasn't even any signs of a doll house ever being there. No dead grass patches. No tire tracks. Nothing. Just plain healthy grass. Unless they used like some magical soil to make the grass grow in two days"
    "Well Angus does have some weird green finger thing going on. You should have seen him when we were pruning the roses."
    "Pruning?"
    "Yes Clarabell. Pruning. I also know big words and complicated terms".
    "No, I mean why were you pruning the roses? It's almost the end of summer. It's way to late to prune roses. They supposed to be pruned in early spring?".
    Raynard looked at me confused, then just shrugged his shoulders. I just shook my head and whispered, "Then definitely hiding something".
    "Glad you came to your senses", whispered Raynard with a smirk. I just rolled my eyes. "We have to find out what they hiding" .
    "And how are we going to do that?". Foots steps then came from down the hall.
    "First I want to start with that special tea that Helena keeps on giving us. I have some botany books in my room so I'll do a bit more research about all the ingredients in it, because I know the taste of honey, and that special honey ain't no honey" I quickly moved towards the door, "made it is actually a poison or something".
    "Look at you. Being all Sherlock Homes and stuff". I flipped him off as I reached for the door. "We can figure out the rest later", I said as I left.
***
I was walking through the isles in the library. For two weeks now I've been snooping around in here and the book store, searching for some kind of book on herbs and stuff that might smell similar to honey. I've even tried looking in chemistry books if there is someway you can create a compound that mimics the smell of honey. But I couldn't find anything. Morgan and Lily were also helping me, but they also couldn't find anything.
Raynard was on a mission snooping around the manor, trying to find just about anything that looked suspicious, but so far all he could find was that there were no portraits or paints any where, except for the ones I recently painted. He even tried listening in on one of their meetings, but he said he couldn't hear anything, like the room was made sound proof. But why would owners of a fabric company need sound proof meeting rooms or offices?
I was going through the last isle of books when a book title caught my eye.  How to use Mage Petals. Mage Petals? I haven't heard of that type of plant before. As I took the book a sudden brush of wind swept against my legs. I looked down but there was nothing. I looked at the window but it was closed. That's strange? Maybe it came from the front door or something.
I went to the table in the middle of the library, which had all the books I collected stacked on top of it. I put the book down and poured myself a cup of tea - which I brewed myself - and just as I wanted to sit down I heard footstep rushing down the stairs, then they slowed down and Claudia entered the library.
"Morning Bell", she said with a sweet smile as she walked over to me.
"Morning", I said and smiled back at her. I quickly took a few other books and packed it on top of How to use Mage Petals. Although I had this strange feeling that I can trust Claudia, I didn't want to take any chances.
"You've got quite the collection here", she said as she scanned through all the books on the table, "Looking for something specific?".
"No I'm just browsing". Claudia then stopped in front of the table and picked up the book on top of the pile in front of me.
"Aromatic Chemistry?"
"It's a project I'm working on for school"
"I didn't know you were interested in chemistry?", she said as she put the book down and I got a glimpse of her bracelet. A sudden flash appeared of a young girl sitting in a chair, laughing, and the bracelet sparkling in the sun. Then it was gone.
"Bell?".
I blinked twice then looked at her. What the hell was that?
"Uh, yeah sorry, yes I love chemistry". I sat down on the chair, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy.
"Are you okay?", she asked concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine, maybe just some low blood sugar".
"I'll ask Miss Marry to bring you something sugary", said Claudia and started walking towards the door.
"No don't!". She stopped and turned back, looking confused.
"I mean, I'll go get something myself. Miss Marry and all the other staff seemed rather busy earlier". Claudia rolled her eyes and walked back over to me. "That's because Clodovea is arriving today". What?!. Claudia saw the question on my face.
"We mentioned it at dinner last night?". They did? I was so focused on looking for that special ingredient I didn't even notice it. "I must have forgotten. Why is everyone so on edge about her arrival?". Claudia sighed, then smiled, "Clodovea is. Well, is a bit different. She might seem very cold in the beginning, but somewhere deep deep deep down is a caring and loving person".
"Theo and Helena don't really talk about her much?"
"That's because they don't want to scare you off, I mean they want you to get to know her yourself. Just be prepared to maybe meet the most stubborn person ever. And she doesn't really have a filter, but don't take to much offensive of what she says.
"She sounds terrible"
"No... She has... her good side as well. She is definitely the most loyal person I have ever met and if you are in her good books she'll take a bullet for you. And believe it or not she is a natural leader. I think that's what might make her so cold sometimes. She believes emotion makes you weak and clouds your judgment. But you can make your own judgement when you meet her." She then looked around at all the books. "I'll leave you then to continue that assignment". She looked at Aromatic Chemistry then back at me and smiled, then left.
I watch her as she left. Still trying that shake that weird vision thing or whatever it was. The young girl almost looked like Claudia.
I took all the other books off the bottom book, but it wasn't the How to use Mage Petals book. I looked back at the pile of books but the How to use Mage Petals book wasn't in it. What the hell? I scanned through all the other books on the table but couldn't find it. I even looked on the floor to see if it might have fallen, but there was nothing. I leaned back in my chair scanning the table one more time. Then the thought hit me. Claudia.
But she was standing in front of me the whole time? There's no way she could have taken the book without me seeing it? But since I can't find it she must have taken it some how. But why?
I got up from the chair and walked in the direction she vanished in, but as I stepped out of the library, into the foyer, the front door swung open, and a girl with blond hair, brown eyes and a face that awfully looked a lot like Irenes walked in.
We both stopped dead in our tracks, just staring a each other.
My head started pounding fiercely. And a vision of a younger Irene and I playing dress up, flashed before me, then vanished again.
"Since you not saying anything and have that weird look on your face, I'll go first", said the girl, but didn't move an inch and had no emotion in her face.
"You must be Clarabell, judging by your awful posture and lack of greeting manners". She then walked towards me with such grace and sturdiness it made me feel extremely uncomfortable.
She then extended a hand and said, "My name is Clodovea, nice to finally meet you".