CURSED: The Last of Five Kingdoms.

Episode8-Finding him. A tale about Lucas and Harry.

"You have been on that card for as long as I can remember. I think it has gotten the attention it needs." Mr. Vandisia keeps working wonders on the stove.

“Well, I want everything perfect on Mael’s birthday.”

Mr. Vandisia groans when he gets distracted and the bacon he has been preparing gets burnt.

“What?” Mrs. Vandisia snaps from the dining table. She has been in a shabby mood herself and isn't thinking straight.

“Nothing, nothing . . .” Mr. Vandisia sharply replies. With the fact that he is her husband, he is still scared of her angry mood.

Mael’s birthday — always special to her. She takes this day of the year, every year, too seriously. She has filled the table in the kitchen with presents. On top and beneath the table are flooded with presents but not just for Mael. Harry gets some too. A lot of things that hopefully they will use and like.

Putting away the final present, "Mum?" Harry's voice calls out.

"What?" Placing the present underneath the table with others, "you know better not to call me from afar. It is either you bring yourself down here or never mind."

For a full second everywhere goes quiet. We take it that Harry is also afraid of his mother's tantrums just like Lucas his father is.

It took only a few moments later for him to come racing down the stairs, followed by Mael who looks as if he has been woken up by Harry's unceasingly noise.

****************

After breakfast, they begin to tear open their presents. It is a tradition in the Vandisia's family for presents to be opened before noon, despite the occasion. As weird as it sounds, they believe that keeping a present for so long brings ill luck. Of circuit that is all Mrs. Vandisia's theory.

The presents look endless. From video games, video cameras, drones, designer sneakers, basketballs, writing pads to the gold necklace, designer clothes, motorbikes and racing bikes. Everything came in pairs, one for Mael and the other for Harry. Even though it is Mael's birthday, Harry equally got the same presents as him. The same is also done on Harry's birthdays. Maybe this is how their parents have been able to establish a bond between them and making them understand that they are both equal.

For once, their parents have never chosen a favourite son or made one feel less. They got equal punishment, scolding and appreciation when they do the wrong or right thing. The house chores are evenly divided amongst the both of them and worked together where one's energy cannot carry a task. The only separate things they got is their bedrooms. Although they had to stay together the first two years that Mael was adopted until they stood there that both of them could no longer share one room. After proper assessment and discussion, their parents agreed to heed the request. Nothing has pretty much changed since then, in terms of Mael and Harry's relationship.

"Mom?" Holding a pink barbie doll up, " what are we? Five?" Tossing it aside in disgust, "we are not girls." Mael whined.

Mr. and Mrs. Vandisia let out a full belly laugh, their prank has gotten the attention of the boys.

"Why would you guy even buy something like that. I mean, isn't it meant for girls?" Harry backs Marl up.

"I know. I know. But the expression on your faces is priceless." Mrs. Vandisia said.

Mr. Vandisia put the plates of egg and pancakes with coffee on the table. Before the kids came down he has already finished with breakfast and is just making coffee.

Everything is in place and ready, "breakfast is served. Let us eat before it gets cold." Pouring his wife's cup of coffee, "have you boys brushed?"

"Dad?" Both Mael and Harry roars.

"You both keep treating us like boys." Having a rethink of what he just said, "well, we are still boys considering that we are under your roof but we have less than a week to become men and find our path in college. Soon. Very soon, we both will become the sons that you'll be proud of." Grabbing, his plate of pancake and eggs, "so, yes, dad, we have brushed our teeth." Harry begins to dig into his breakfast earning a deadly glare from his mother because he ate like one who has not seen food in days."

"Remember, boys, be back before nine because we have to celebrate Mael's birthday. You have gotten your presents but we still have dinner and recitation."

At the mention of recitation, Mrs. Vandisia earned a hiss and deep growl from her sons. That is the worst part of their existence in the house. Recitation.

Ignoring their response, "Mael darling, you seem quiet this morning. What could be the problem?" She asks Mael, sipping her hot chocolate coffee in a white mug with 'Best Wife and Mum,' written in white colour.

"He's nervous about meeting his lifelong crush at the Prom after-party." Munching his pancake, " somebody is scared."

"Stop it, Harrison Vandisia. You need to be there for your brother at all times rather than to tease him." Turning to Mael, " Is that true, Mael?"

Slowly sipping his coffee, "not really, mum. Since the stroke of midnight, I've not felt good. At first, I had some weird dream about a man and woman chanting while someone that looks like you held me but I was a baby in the dream." Huffing, "I think I am going insane. Right? How can you still be you from what looks like a long period? From then till now you would have aged. Secondly," setting down his cup, " I think or I imagined my birthmark glowed and I tore down the cabinet in my room. It was so crazy. At first, I went to get my Prom dress then I got angry and with super strength from nowhere, my cabinet came flying down."

Everyone is staring at him like he is crazy. The look they give him says 'what you are saying doesn't make actual sense."

"Sorry. Sorry. I sound insane but those are the weird things I've experienced from midnight till now."

"No, baby. You are not insane." Setting her mug down and grabbing his hands in hers, "remember what I taught you about the more you look the less you see?"

"Yes?"

"There is a lot that you are yet to find out. It is only a matter of time before what you are seeking comes to you. Your birthday is the key."

With mouth open and jaw drop, "mum, you keep speaking in parables. I didn't understand a word you just said."

"Okay. Okay. Beautiful wife and children, enough of the talk. Let's eat our breakfast, get you both a nice haircut and dress you up for your Prom. You wouldn't want to be late. Or, would you?"

"Not at all." Both Mael and Harry echoed.

******************

“Lucas,” Amara is saying in a quivering voice, “they found out where he is — how could they possibly know where he is? Do you think they’ve been watching us? Him?”

“Watching — spying — all these years?," mutters Lucas. "Why have they been silent and didn't make a move?"

“But what should we do, Lucas?"

"How did they even find out? How sure are you about this?"

"Hundred per cent. I saw a witch at the bakery, a vampire was tailing me and wolf almost bit my neck until I fought off."

"We'll ignore this threat since Mael and Harry would be leaving in a few days to a more protected. We swore to keep him safe and that is exactly what we'll do."

Lucas, Amara's husband, is very much an ordinary man with no super strength or whatsoever. But the moment he fell in love with Amara, she revealed her world to him. Many would say it is a very risky move considering she let him in on a thousand years old secrets of a very powerful kingdom but he has never proven to be a threat. What sealed their love affair is the birth of Harry. When Amara conceived, she knew at that moment that the laws of nature has been broken. Lucas has been a great help in the quest of keeping Mael safe. He is even the one that came up with the idea of adopting him so he could be kept under their scrutiny. Lucas not having super strength or unusual powers doesn't make him irrelevant. He has super brains. All the brainstorming and brain work that has been done over the years, has been done by him. Suggestions of how to keep Mael safe, what to do and how to do it has all been on him.

On the other hand, Harry born by Amara and Lucas is very much like his Father. He doesn't have the supernatural abilities of his mother. He is mortal and fragile. It took several years of testing and trying to prove this theory from both his parents. They subdued him to all kinds of tests. From making him jump a cliff at a very tender age just to check his survival instinct, to cutting his skin open to see if he would heal fast and trying to see if he craved for blood. It is a good thing that his mother was able to compel him to forget about all that, if not he would have grown up to be a traumatised, unhappy and dreadful bully. No child is supposed to be exposed to such a harsh test. But, what could they have done? When two desperate parents are trying to prove a point, they do the unimaginable.

Amara sits on the nearby chair, heaving a sigh, "why now? Why must everything become so complicated?"

"Honey, do not forget that was foretold. It is only proper for you to prepare your mind for what is about to happen. It will get uglier than it is but, we have to fight through. For the same of Mael, his parents, me, your son and your people at large." Dragging an empty chair that is opposite where she sits, "I'll be there for you every step of the way," he says, sitting on the chair.