And Kellan knew it all too well, that a scheme was forming in his mother’s mind. That she would mention his father and let him cling on to the hope and dream of some sort of familial bond he used to crave.

‘Don’t guilt me into this. I’m staying here. Good luck with finding the twins.’

He hung up.

chapter twenty-nine

chapter twenty-nine

bethan kore

dana’s short brown hair was tossed aside as she helped Bethan clean up her toy dolls. Bethan followed her big sister everywhere around their old cottage home. At five years old, Dana was the coolest person Bethan had ever seen. Everything she did, Bethan had to do. They used the back garden where the vines would grow and scale on their home as the setting for their castle . . . Dana enchanted the wiry vines to make a crown for Bethan to play the princess. Dana always opted to be an evil witch who kidnapped the princess and kept her hidden in a dark stoned castle.

She did it only for Bethan to relive her favourite fairy tale, where the princess would escape and slay the old witch to free a handsome prince.

Dana would always agreed to play that game if Bethan promised to play pirates with her.

‘I am the most powerful witch in all the lands,’ Dana said. ‘I will keep you and your prince captive until the day I die. You will never be free, and you will always be separated.’

‘You can’t do that,’ Little Bethan screamed.

‘I can and will.’ Dana roared the most evil, maniacal laugh.

Bethan giggled so much she forgot her part. The crown made of vines too big for her small head fell apart.

Bethan’s bottom lip quivered, and her throat bobbed. She felt her eyes line with tears, and she let out her cry at the sight of her broken crown.

‘I can fix it,’ Dana said in a calming tone.

Bethan threw the vines off her and ran inside her cubby house. Her father had built it with his bare hands and even added shelves for Bethan’s books.

She sobbed, wrapping herself inside a woolly blanket her mother had knitted. She could hear Dana calling out to her. Dana eventually went silent, and she heard the back door slam. It seemed her sister had enough of her antics and stormed off when she grew tired of looking for Bethan.

She sat inside awhile and composed herself when she heard the sound of long nails scratching on wood.

‘Stop it, Dana,’ she yelled childishly.

Perhaps her sister only slammed the back door to trick her into thinking she gave up coercing Bethan out of hiding.

The scratching never stopped. It wasn’t until she heard a soft mewl. She realised it was an animal.

She swung open the cubby house door and saw nothing until she felt something soft and furry touch her toes.