The Secret of the Stone
Chapter 23

When I arrived back in my room it was night, I immediately went out the door and to my mom’s room. I slowly opened the door and found she was asleep peacefully. I figured it would be better to explain to my mom the whole story in the morning. I closed the door and crept back to my room but Cloud was nowhere in sight. I looked under the bed and around the room but I couldn’t replace Cloud anywhere.

“Where is that rabbit?” I said aloud. I noticed the clock that sat on my night stand. The clock had the same date on it as the day I had left. “That’s strange.” I said. “Something must be wrong with the clock.” I picked it up and shook it and examined it, but it seemed to be working fine. I got into bed and waited for Cloud. I didn’t notice that I was drifting off to sleep.

The next morning when I woke up, I searched around my room for Cloud.

“Cloud! Cloud.” I called but he still was nowhere to be found. “What is going on here?” I thought.

“Violet! Violet!” I heard my mother coming up the stairs. “Aren’t you coming down to eat breakfast before school?” I ran to the top of the stairs and I saw my mom standing on the staircase. “Mom!” I ran to hug her so tight that she almost fell down the stairs.

“Hi!” she said. “What is the matter with you?”

“You didn’t know I was gone?” I blurted out. She gave me a vague look.

“Violet, did you sneak out of the house last night?” She asked. I could see the TV from the stairs and the news man confirmed it was the day after I left.

“I , uh, no, of course not!” I stuttered. She looked at me with her hands on her hips. “I have to finish getting dressed.” I walked slowly back up the stairs trying to make sense of what had happened. It must have been a dream, I thought. No it couldn’t have. I was gone for weeks. A sad feeling came over me.

“Cloud! Cloud!” I begin to search for him again. Tears began to well up inside me.

“Violet!” My mom called again.

“Coming,” I replied. I wiped the tears from my face and slowly finished getting dressed and went down the stairs.

“That rabbit of yours sure does have some appetite,” my mom remarked.

“Rabbit?” I repeated. My stomach began to flutter. I ran into the kitchen.

“Cloud!” There he was in his smaller state, sitting in the corner of the kitchen with his paws around a giant carrot nibbling. When he saw me, he abandoned the carrot, ran towards me and jumped into my arms. “Oh Cloud!” I hugged him.

I hadn’t noticed that there was someone else in the room. “Hello Violet.” I turned around to see Enos as plain as day sitting at our kitchen table. I stared at him in disbelief.

“Violet, you didn’t say good bye when you left Nevele?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked him. I looked at my mom who had a concerned look on her face. I didn’t know what to say. I picked up Cloud and headed towards the stairs.

“Violet, wait!” He stood from the table. “Let me explain.”

“Violet, please,” said my mom. I turned around slowly debating whether to face them or run. I felt so betrayed. I returned to the table with Cloud in my arms. I sat down quietly. Enos was also quiet. I could tell that he was trying to figure out what to say.

“What is going on?” I said finally. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth when I arrived in Enos?” my voice became louder with each sentence. “Are you my father? Why did you abandon us and take Celest?”

“Violet!” my mom began. “That is not the way it happened.” I could barely look at my mom who all of a sudden seemed like a stranger.

“I guess I should start from the beginning,” Enos said. “You see when you were very young, the Yar king the father of Jailan and Julian sought to kidnap you to take over Enos. In order to do this he aligned himself with a very powerful, alien emperor but the emperor betrayed the Yar king. He knew that there was a great power in Enos and if he could control the four parts of the Amethyst of Enos he would control all of Trea. When the Yar King found out about his treachery, he joined forces with us and we were able to defeat him. The emperor vowed vengeance. He swore that he would take you, all of you and he tried many times. In his last attempt he almost succeeded. That’s when we decided to separate you. We could never allow him to get his hands on the true power of Enos and without all four of you that could never happen.

“Wait a minute. Did you say four of us?” Enos and my mom looked at each other.

“Yes Violet,” she said.“You have two older sisters. Their names are Peoria and Lilia.” My chest tightened to the point that I was unable to move.

“Your mother took you being the youngest here to Earth and I kept Celestia. Your uncle and aunt took the others and have been keeping them in hiding.” I could not believe what I was hearing. Not only had Celestia and I been separated but I had two more sisters out there somewhere that I never knew about. Tears welled up at the corners of my eyes. “My whole life had been a lie.” I stood up from the table.

“Violet, you have to understand we did what we had to do to protect you,” said my mom. “Violet I know this is very confusing but please don’t be angry with us. We had no choice.”

“I am going to be late for school,” was all I could say. I headed for the door picking up my book bag on my way out. Cloud followed behind me. I shut the door behind me and walked briskly towards the school. Cloud hopped along beside me.

“Violet,” said Cloud. “You almost got me with that door.”

“I am sorry Cloud.” I said between tears.

“Violet, don’t cry. I know things seem overwhelming right now. But things are not so bad.”

“Not so bad!” I stopped to face him. “How can things be any worse?” I wiped the tears from my eyes as I approached the school. Then I suddenly remembered Madison and Mimi but they were nowhere to be found. And then as if they had heard my thoughts. I heard someone calling me.

“Hey! Violet, wait!” I stopped in my tracks. I turned around slowly expecting to see Madison standing behind me but too my surprise it was Tem and Josili without wings. They were carrying book bags and running towards me.

“Oh, no! Not those two,” complained Cloud.

I glanced over and saw Madison and her friends also heading in our direction a few meters behind Tem and Josili. “Oh! Great!” I thought. I didn’t want Tem and Josili to know what a dork I was. I grimaced. Madison and her friends looked at us curiously but they didn’t stop. They continued on their way into the building as Tem and Josili approached us.

“Surprise,” said Josili.

“What are you doing here?” I was pleasantly surprised.

“Well, after your sister gave us a small fortune,” smiled Tem. “…we figured we could take a break from hustling and come and visit our old pal Violet.”

“Plus after we became famous everyone knew who we were …and where we were,” added Josili Tem nudged her.

“You owe someone some money don’t you?” frowned Cloud.

“And, you decided to hide out here.” I added.

“Slight misunderstanding, I’m sure it will all be cleared up shortly,” he explained. The bell rung and we entered the school.