18 Chapter 18

The next morning the weather was nice and sunny yet the children were all wrapped in thick and warm coats.

"Remember to eat well and study well." Francisco handed a file to Heredith who will accompany his children to academy to take care of formal stuff.

"Dad! You too! You need to eat well and remember to sleep, don't stay up all night." Celestina hugged Francisco and whispered it to him.

Mellisa and Matthew stood behind her and watched them with a slight smile. Louise too watch the little family with a grin. 'What a strange harmony...'

Francisco then looked at his twin and said "Remember to write letters."

Mellisa and Matthew nodded at the same time and held Celestina hand.

Before they climbed to the carriage, Matthew ran back to his father and hugged him awkwardly. "I will write to you." He muttered looking super embarrassed.

"Alright." Francisco ruffled his son's hair and watched as his kids went away. Louise who watched from the side couldn't help but feel sad and happy at the same time. 'They finally hugged,'

The journey to Atkinsons was shorter than the journey from capital. They moved for 5 days and stayed at 4 different inns along the way. Mellisa was obviously uncomfortable in the not-so-dirty inns while Matthew was ecstatic that he got to go on an 'adventure' outside of Ashdown and the capital.

At the same time, Ambrose and Dr Henry along with George and Helia entered the Atkinsons land.

George and Helia who never travelled outside of the capital looked out with awe and kept asking Henry about the mist surrounding the land.

"Why are there so much mist?"

"This is awesome"

Ambrose, on the other hand, was calmer and looked stoic even though his heart was beating out of his body.

"Shhhh, someone's coming." Helia then quiet down and sat properly while pulling George with her.

"Pass?" A guard knocked on their carriage and ask for the pass. Dr Henry went out and handed the pass to him and waited while the guard looked inside to inspect.

"Well, it's all in accordance, welcome to Atkinson." The guard finally let them in and greeted them with a smile in contrast to his stiff face from just now.

"Thank you." Henry boarded the carriage and headed to their inns. They needed to wait for the academy to open before registering the three children to the academy.

"I'm sure you're all hungry and tired. I will ask the inn keeper to send your food to your rooms. Go and take a bath." Henry came to them after checking in to the inn and ordered some easy to digest food to their rooms. He handed them the keys to their rooms and continued,

"George and Ambrose will share a room, I will stay with Helia, I hope you don't mind, I can't let you sleep alone but there's no one to accompany you." Henry made sure the children were okay with his arrangement before leading them to their rooms.

"Now go and take a bath and wait for your food before sleeping, I know you are tired, but you can't sleep without food." Henry reminded them once more before letting them go inside their rooms and went down stairs to do his own 'stuff'.

"I am so tired... Do you want to bath first?" George laid down on the comfortable bed and asked Ambrose. Ambrose nodded and quickly went to bath and changed his clothes.

"Hey Ambrose, what do you think we'll do in the academy?" George felt excited when Henry invited him to go with them but now after he arrived, fear and nervousness started to came.

"Study?" Ambrose didn't know how to answer his question, isn't it obvious that we'll go to the academy to study?

"No... what I means is... Will be be okay? I am not used to this." George said almost whispering. Ambrose sighed and opened his mouth when a knock was heard.

"I think the food is here, I'll go open the door. Let's call Helia to come eat with us too." Ambrose went to call Helia and brought her food with him and wrote a note for Dr Henry incase he came in and saw no one.

"Do you think we'll meet Celestina there?" Helia asked Ambrose. Ambrose felt his heart beat rose at the mention of Celestina and said "Yes, of course" with a bright smile.

Influenced by his smile, George and Helia too followed smiling. Helia missed her sister, ever since 2 months ago, they never meet her anymore, but thankfully Ambrose could read so he will always read them the letters from Celestina and they will all get things that Celestina send from Ashdown.

Helia even cried the first time Ambrose read Celestina's letter to them and she hugged the rabbit doll that Celestina sent every night when she sleeps. Maybe she felt the presence of Celestina from this doll.

She didn't know why Celestina must separate from them but she thought of it as adoption that Ms Vivi used to do to other kids, but other kids never sent letters and they never got to hear from the kids. She was worried that Celestina will also disappear but thankfully, Celestina sounded happy in the letters and they were all happy too.

When Dr Henry told them if they study well and pass his exam then they got to follow him and Ambrose to Atkinson Academy and meet Celestina, Helia studied every night and learned to read and write as well as some basic counting. With that, she got perfect score in Dr Henry's test and followed them to the academy.

George too, studied every day and night to accompany Helia and meet Celestina. After the three of them were done eating, Ambrose collected their dishes and placed them outside of the room, the inn keeper told him they will collect the dishes after 2 hours.

Ambrose brought Helia back to her room and didn't find Dr Henry there so he reminded her to not open the door to strangers and to not go out unless necessary.

He found George fast asleep when he went back to his room, after making sure everything was well, he locked the door and fell asleep as soon as his back hit the bed and he probably has a sweet dream as he was smiling throughout his sleep.