REACHING FOR the door handle of the tavern, I pulled the door open. The rapid movement caused the wind to swirl around me as I walked in.

As I walked down the stairs to the tavern's main floor, I sighed in exhaustion.

As I reached the final stage, Arius' voice greeted me, "Welcome back."

"How did it go?" August inquired as he approached him from behind.

I reached into my vest's pocket and cautiously took out the fragile piece of paper without saying a word. They grinned and their eyes glowed with wonder.

"What does it say?" Leland asked. I moved to the side to see Evander and him sitting at a table in chairs.

I nearly told them, but something held me back, and I could not understand why. I almost told them.

"We shall worry about that in the morning." I said instead, "We have endured a long trip to get here. Let's spend the rest of the night relaxing. We can worry about the clue tomorrow."

Although I saw protests in the gazes of the boys, they nodded eventually.

"Arley, Arley!" I hollered. He looked at me with an eyebrow raised behind the bar island, "We'll need some rooms."

He nodded and reached into a cabinet behind him. I got to the bar and he turned and placed five sets of keys in front of me. "Here you are." He said.

"Thank you, sir." I thanked him and saluted him with two fingers.

"Welcome, Ma'am." He answered, returning my gesture.

I turned around and grabbed the keys with my right hand. "These are the keys to your rooms tonight," I said as I handed each boy a pair of keys. "If you return up the stairs we came down, you will notice another set of stairs to the right. It's a little hidden, but you'll find it. Then you can just go from there to find your rooms."

They nodded and placed the keys I gave them in a secure place. When I turned around, there was a slam behind me, and Arley had a smirk on his face and tall beer glass in his hand. The top of the caramel liquid was foaming.

I shook my head at him, "I can't. I'm working."

He shrugged, "Exactly." He winked at me and walked away, leaving me with the glass to attend to the other customers who were calling his name.

I shook my head with a wide smile and wrapped my hand around the clear glass. Goosebumps lined my arms at the touch of the cold glass. I brought the glass to my lips and drank the caramel-colored alcohol. I felt my body relax as the familiar taste swiped against my tongue.

I turned back around, resting my back against the bar. I let my eyes sweep across the floor, taking notice of the smiling faces. I couldn't help but take notice of the boy's carefree smiles. They all laughed freely. They looked..happy, and free of any responsibility. It was probably the first time I've seen a genuine smile on Evander's face as he conversed with the people around him; people he had never met before, who had no expectations of him.

Arius and August were both beaming, and Leland leaned back against his chair, a slow, genuine smile arose, and he watched everyone interact. His glowing emerald eyes clashed with my sea blue as he moved his gaze to mine. When our gazes met, he smiled a little wider, almost as if he was sending a message. I couldn't help but return a small smile. I returned the cup to my lips as he returned his gaze to the group.

I felt my smile drop. Everyone else was having a good time, and I was too, but I couldn't shake the feeling of dread that was rising in my stomach like bile. I wasn't sure of what it was, but I didn't want to dwell on it. I wanted to lock up all of my negative thoughts and memories about this place in a chest and throw it into the sea, but it wasn't that simple. There's a reason that I left this island and swore never to come back.

"How does it feel?" a hoarse voice cracked next to me. I shifted my gaze slightly to see Old Man Kady, the voice who had suggested Evander say his prayers earlier. Everyone knew who he was, and he knew who everyone was. He was the type of person who kept to himself and observed people from a safe distance. He's been on this island for a longer time than I have. 'I was born here, and I swear I'll die here!' He always states. All of the kids adore him, and vice versa. When we were younger, we would spend hours talking to Old Man Kady.

Old Man Kady was a six-foot-tall gentleman. He was in his late sixties, and the signs of his age were visible on his face. His white beard grew down and peaked against his stomach. He also wore heavy clothing regardless of the weather or season. He always wore gloves and a heavy, thick-lined coat.

"Hmm?" I hummed, giving him my full attention.

He brought his beer glass to his lips, the foam collecting in the hairs of his mustache. When he placed it on the wooden bar, he licked the foam from his mustache and said, "Being back home. How does it feel to be back home?"

My jaw clenched, and my first thought was to lash out at him for asking such a personal question, but instead, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. I reminded myself that he was someone I could rely on. When I opened my eyes, he just stared at me with a fatherly gaze that calmed me down.

"Everything has happened so quickly that I haven't had time to take it all in. On the way over, I braced myself for the familiar faces and nostalgia, but now that everything is slowing down, it's all coming back to me." I sighed and looked away from the old man.

"You need to go back." He stated with care.

I raised an eyebrow, "Go back?"

He nodded, "Back to your old neighborhood. That is where everything happened. You require closure not only for your physical health but also for your mental health. Such experiences gradually eat away at you." he said knowingly.

"But I've come to terms with it-" I argued

"Have you thought about it?" He cut me off. He reached out and took my hand in his two aged hands, encasing it. "It is critical that you remember the difficult times you are going through. We learn from our mistakes and the wrongs done to us."

He was right. I knew he was right. I had told my disciples the same thing a million times. "If your mistakes don't kill you, learn from them and do better next time." When I thought back on the last 3 years of my life, I could count on one hand the number of times I had thought about that night. Whenever I thought of my family it was always when they were still alive and we were all happy, before I started going on missions and making enemies. I had been too naive. I forgot that my actions came with consequences.

I didn't take note of my enemies and it cost my loved ones their lives.

When I left I blocked out the memories of that night. Whenever they came up, I found myself broken out in a cold sweat and trembling uncontrollably. My mind would go blank and I would find myself gasping for breath with my heart racing. At first, it was manageable, but the last couple of times it had knocked me flat on my back. If Leland hadn't found me the last time it happened, I may have still been out in the garden in a daze come dawn.

I finally realized how dangerous that was. If I wasn't on top of my game, I was in danger, no matter where I was or who I was with. I was back on the island, but it didn't feel like home anymore. It felt surreal like I was watching the world around me through someone else's eyes. I needed to face my past if I wanted to not be a hypocrite. I needed to go home, no matter what was waiting for me there.

"Thank you Old Man Kady." I smiled sincerely.

In return, he gave me a warm smile and said, "Any time, Grasshopper."

I walked away, leaving the cup on the bar. I knew what I had to do as I approached the tavern's steps. I could feel the tension rising in my face.

"Are you going somewhere?" A voice shouts. I looked down from the top of the stairs and saw four pairs of eyes on me.

"Nowhere. Continue to enjoy yourselves. I'll be back." I stated. With that, I walked out into the dead streets of Calflam.

The streets weren't dead, but the sidewalks in this town roll up when the sun goes down except for the few regulars at the Tavern so the winding roads were mostly desolate. I trudged along the winding streets heading toward the outskirts of the township. The closer I came to the streets I was raised on, my feet grew heavier with each step I took. By the time I approached the end of my road they were so heavy I almost couldn't move them.

My heart told me to turn tail and run. That told my head that I needed to push forward. I could only become stronger if I wasn't held back by the past.

I took a deep breath and focused on moving my feet. First, the right, then the left, right again, left again, until I found myself standing at the gate of an abandoned two-story cottage. Even though it was obvious that the house had been uninhabited for years, the yard was still in good repair.

In Calflalm, when someone died, their house was still considered theirs. If their children weren't living in it, nobody did. It was left alone, but oftentimes neighbors would keep the yard in trim so if the owner decided to come home one day, they could.

The door hung loosely from its hinges. The stone walls were covered in moss and lichen. Ivy vines climbed the walls and clung to the windows. I opened the gate and pushed myself forward to the door, step by step. I made it to the dark old wooden door and stared at the faded brass handle. I felt my heart pound in my chest, and I felt like I was going to vomit. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then another, then another, and another, until my heart calmed a bit.

I opened my eyes and felt my vision blur. I pushed through the haze and grasped the door handle. I pushed on the door and it gave out with a groan.

I stood there in the open doorway, evaluating the scene before me in the light of the full moon that was slowly sinking behind me. It looked the same as it had on that night. The kitchen table was overturned, a frayed rope hanging from the crossbeam above it. The chairs were thrown around the room accompanied by the broken remains of lanterns and dinnerware.

My breath came in ragged gasps. The dusty shelves were strung with cobwebs and the floor was stained with rust-colored stains- blood that had never been cleaned up.

I walked through the kitchen at a snail's pace and stood at the start of the hallway. At the far end was a staircase leading to the bedrooms upstairs. The sitting room sat off to my right and the left was my father's study. I inched forward and peered through the open door, leaning on the frame for support. Cobwebs filled the dusty fireplace in front of me and the ancient desk that sat in the corner to my right. I veered left and examined the wall-to-wall bookshelf.

The volumes were covered in a thick layer of dust, but every one of them was in its place. I ran my hand along the spines as I circled the room. I stopped in front of the fireplace and examined the trinkets on the mantle. The figurine of a ship encased in glass was covered with a film of grime obstructing it from my view.

I continued my circle around the room and came to the back of my father's chair. I rested my hands on its dusty velvet. Suddenly my legs told me they would endure no more. I stepped around the chair and lowered myself carefully onto the seat. A cloud of dust billowed up around me and I waved it out of my face. I stared at my father's desk. Every paper, pen, and notebook was in place. My father was meticulous about his desk.

Dust covered every surface. Even the drawer handles were colored tan instead of black by the layer of grime that covered them. All of them except for one that was. The top drawer on the right had a clean black handle. That's odd.

I reached out and my hand trembled as I grasped the knob in my fist. I pulled on the drawer and it glided open. That drawer used to stick. Father kept it empty for that reason. The drawer was no longer empty. It was occupied by a single sheet of fresh white paper folded in thirds with a red wax seal holding it together. I hesitantly lifted the paper out of the drawer and turned it over in my hands.

"AISLIN" was written in bold letters across the backside of the paper. I gasped and jumped with a start. It was all I could do to not drop it.

"What's up with that face?" a playful voice yanked me from my trance and brought me back to my senses.

I looked up to see a smiling August peek his head around the doorframe. He strode into the room and was followed by Arius, Leland, and lastly Evander, who looked like he was brought here against his will.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded. "I told you all to stay put."

"So obviously we couldn't just do that while you were off on some adventure, so we followed you." Arius chimed in. I looked past the two boys and glared at Leland who met my glare with a shrug and a feigned look of innocence. Evander just rolled his eyes.

"What's that in your hand?" August asked, pointing. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I don't know. I haven't had the nerve to open it yet." I answered. Arius and August met my response with quizzical looks on their faces. Evander looked bored.

"This is the house I grew up in. The last time I was here was the day my entire family was killed as revenge against me. It hasn't been touched since. It's tradition here. It's considered disrespectful to occupy a house owned by a deceased warrior unless you are a parent or child of that warrior." I explained. "I just found this in the drawer. It's brand new."

"What does that mean?" Arius asked with fright.

"It means we need back up." I smirked.

×××××××××××××

Author Note!

Hi everyone, Mickey here! CHAPTER 25!

THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF PART ONE!!!

PART TWO IS GOING TO BE UP AND UPDATING IN A FEW WEEKS TRUST ME!!

Till then, please share my book and help it grow! the more of you guys i have to please, the more excited i get to write for you! ❤️❤️

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QOTD: You got pets?

I have pets.

I have too many.