“Hey, guys!” Michael greeted them.
Maddy threw her arms around Michael’s neck. “We missed you, Uncle Michael!” she exclaimed.
“I missed you both, too,” Michael expressed. “What have you been up to while Uncle Damien and I were gone?”
Max shrugged. “Stuff.”
“Stuff? Care to elaborate?” Michael asked.
“Nope,” Max replied, plopping onto the chair next to Michael.
“Max, that’s no way to speak to an adult,” Avery corrected.
“It’s okay,” Michael answered, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Something wrong, buddy?”
Max let his chin rest in his palms, not responding. “We’ve been searching for Aunt Celine,” Maddy admitted. “But we haven’t had any luck.”
“Ah,” Michael answered, realization dawning on him. He gave Avery a knowing glance. The two children, in an effort to help, tried to find Celine. Besides the upset they sensed in the household from Celine’s disappearance, having not found her added to Max’s dejection.
“Max, you’re just a child,” Avery replied. “You don’t have to solve adult problems.”
“I’m not a child!” Max argued. “I’m going to be eleven in a few months!”
Michael wrapped his arm around Max. “Wow! You’re getting old!”
“It’s not funny. I’m being serious! I want to help find Aunt Celine.”
“I’m sure you do,” Michael answered. “We all do. But we have to work together because it’s a big project. There are lots of things to investigate.”
“I’ve been trying to investigate, but I can’t find any clues!”
“Oh? What have you investigated so far?”
“Well,” Max pondered a moment, then began naming places, ticking them off on his fingers as he went. “We tried the closed off wing, the basement, and a few of the sheds on the property.”
“Nothing in any of them?”
“No! No sign of her!”
“Hmm,” Michael mumbled. “I have an idea.”
“What is it?” Maddy asked.
“Well, you may not find Aunt Celine this way, but it would be a real big help for everyone. I’m only going to tell you if you really, truly want to help.”
“We do want to help!” Max exclaimed.
“You mean it? Pinky swear?” Michael asked.
“Pinky swear!” Maddy promised, locking pinkies with Michael.
“How about you, Max?” Michael asked.
“Scouts honor!” he replied, holding up three fingers, a trick he had learned from Uncle Damien.
“Okay. It would really help if you both spent some time finding pictures of Aunt Celine.”
“Pictures of Aunt Celine? Why?” Max questioned.
“Because everyone misses Aunt Celine. And everyone would like to be reminded of her. So, it would help if you found some pictures. Perhaps made a card saying how much we miss her. Then everyone can remember her until she’s back. Do you think you can do that?”
“We can do that!” Maddy answered.
“Yeah! And we’ll even make cards to welcome her home, too! We’ll start today,” Max promised.
“That sounds like a great idea,” Michael agreed. “Take your time, look through all the pictures. Make sure you pick the best ones, okay?”
“We will!” Max replied, standing from the chair. “Come on, Maddy. We have a lot of work to do!”
The children left the room. “They missed you. You’re so good with them,” Avery mentioned after they left.
“I missed them, too. They’re good kids,” Michael admitted. “They miss Celine, too. They need to express that. It must be hard for them to process, not fully understanding the circumstances. Hell, I fully understand the circumstances and it’s hard for me.”
“You get used to it,” Avery responded, taking Michael’s hand in hers.
“Thanks,” he answered. “You make it look effortless.”
Michael smiled at Avery as Damien entered the room. “Hey, good morning,” Michael greeted him.
“Morning,” Damien mumbled, helping himself to breakfast.
“I’ll let you two talk,” Avery said, excusing herself.
“Get any sleep?” Michael asked, sipping his coffee.
“Some,” Damien replied. “Not much after that…”
“Experience?” Michael filled in.
“Yeah.” Damien paused, stifling a yawn. “Hey, thanks for not calling it a dream. It didn’t feel like a dream.”
“No problem. What do you think it was?”
Damien shrugged, rolling his eyes. “Probably a stupid dream, like Gray said. He never believes me.”
“I don’t understand why,” Michael answered. “We live in a world with witches, warlocks, vampires, doppelgängers from the mirror world, time travel, adjudicators and at least a half a dozen more things we don’t know about yet and he can’t believe you saw Celine last night?”
Damien chuckled. “Nope. That’s where he draws the line, apparently.”
“Well, his loss. What’s our plan?”
Damien shook his head. “I have no idea. For once, I have no plan. Not even an inkling of a plan.”
“That’s okay. We’ll come up with something.”
“What? Where do we even start? Wander around the estate and continue to find nothing? Pester Celeste when the sun sets?”
Michael didn’t respond. “Let’s check around some of the other buildings nearby. The houses on the outskirts of the estate. Oh, hey, that reminds me. I asked Avery about the caretaker’s cottage. She said it’s still there. Want to check it out with me?”
“Sure. Then you can leave, too, and I’ll be alone here,” Damien complained.
“I’m not going anywhere while Celine is gone,” Michael promised. “But we still can look.”
“Okay. Sorry, I’m just… tired.”
“Yeah, I know,” Michael answered, clapping Damien on the back. “It’s fine. We’ll take it slow.”
Damien finished his breakfast, downing a second cup of coffee before they began their journey. They spent the morning hours searching the properties on the fringes of the estate. Their last stop before lunch was the caretaker’s cottage. They found it in decent shape. With a good cleaning and some minor maintenance, Michael and Damien surmised it would be a functional house for Michael. Again, Michael assured him he would not move until Celine was found.
They returned to the house for lunch. After lunch, Damien opted to lie down, stating exhaustion from his sleepless night was catching up to him. He strolled through the foyer. His eyes slid upwards to the portrait above the massive fireplace. Celine’s portrait. He stopped, staring up at it. The lifelike portrait seemed to stare back, her bright blue eyes captivating even on canvas.
Damien smiled at the painting, recalling it held a piece of Celine’s soul. A part
