I could tell you that your siblings could be the most annoying individuals in your life, but you already knew that. After all, spending years with someone could do that to people. Bijou's case was no different.

He knew Maëlle like the back of his hand, and he knew something was off.

She was still cheerful and sweet, but her eyes glazed differently and her smile was strange in its crookedness.

Or maybe he was just paranoid because his father was the one acting differently.

Master Legrand had always been distant and prone to losing temper, carrying himself with cool air, though he never meant harm to his children. But on that day, just out of his study, Bijou almost topple back in surprise. He swore he did not dream it.

He saw their father playing with her in the backyard.

His locks caked with dirt, sleeves folded and wrinkled. His boisterous laugh reached his son's ears and clenched at his heart. He had not seen that look on his face for a long time. Not since Mama's passing away.

Bijou winced. He remembered playing pretend with both his parents; those sweet years so far away from reach, now laid right in front of him like a red carpet for her.

What's the issue, then?

He couldn't scrape the worry that gnawed on his mind. Something was wrong--very wrong. It was a weird pull that pulsed in his instinct. As if he was nine again, watching a beautiful danger reach out to him and fearing his doom.

And he would find out soon.

*******

"Brother, look!" She opened her palms for him to see. "I found some old coins. Do you want one?"

He didn't remember scavenging old coins around the house. That thing looked ancient and written in a language he could not understand, shining under the sun's wink like coppery gold. Pretty as it might be, he was well aware of the threat lurking in old things.

"No, it's fine." He pushed her hand gently. "That thing could be haunted. You can't just go around touching old things, you know?"

"But I touched it and I'm fine." She pouted. "I want to share with you."

"Aw," he cooed, ruffling her hair. Suspicious or not, he couldn't antagonize that adorable face of hers. "It's alright. You can make a whole collection of it. Like a pirate treasure."

"I'll leave it here, then!"

She left them on the floor, dumped at her feet in a circle and walked off with a little skip. Bijou felt something strange about them; almost trailing with an air of allure. He shuddered, choosing to shrug off the suspicion and go on to his room.

Now, his original plan was to pick up on his work and stupid assignment. But sprawled on the chair, his eyes caught glimpse of the bulk of a book on his desk, almost as large as the stack of papers beside it, decorated with sprinkles of leaves from the night he didn't bother to clean.

He had been feeling uneasy all day. A little slacking would be fine.

Flipping through the stain-colored pages of old, Bijou was reminded back when he was first given the book by his mother. She made it herself from her passion and love. She would tuck him to bed every night with it, filling his night with stories of danger and beauty. Of vampires, mysterious folks. Knights and dames. 

Bijou Legrand was a child blessed with wonder.

And he aimed to do the same for his sister.

Skimming past the parables, his attention latched towards a particular picture. It was a beautifully painted illustration of creatures called the Fae--things from his past. Sure enough, they were portrayed as handsome and shrouded with flair. 

And there were coins in one of their hands.

He squinted, shifting his position. He swore, those coins were exactly like the ones Maëlle showed him.

Never talk to the Fae.

He reread the story of a mother and her child. In a house surrounded by the woods, as the child broke the rules her mother set. One by one, starting with staying out at dawn. And ending with being whisked into a distant and, lost forever.

It can't be.

He barged through his door, greeted by Maëlle, and a stash of things gathered at his door. She put out pieces of flowers in her cupped hands, grinning with entirely too many teeth for a five-year-old.

"Brother, do you want one?"

His heart dropped, his knees flailed, clutching to the door. He couldn't believe it. Seven years. Seven years since he escaped from the spells of the Fae.

And they were back to haunt him.

Ooooh **cue dramatic music** Bijou figured out that there's a monster in his house! But what will he do next? His father had already fallen under the creature's sly spells, it seems. 

I will publish a separate chapter that tells the rules of the Fae one day (hahahaaa if my procrastinating arse can even do it). By the way, can anyone tell the significance of 7 years with a certain fae fairytale ;) ?

Next up, it's either Bijou takes action or the Fae does. The plot's kickstarter! Let's go!