Overwhelmed *Elentari POV*

Everything had been so overwhelming. Each minute it seemed there was something new to learn. I took in the sights and sounds. The castle is huge. I've never seen a building so big. The vivid colors and picturesque scenery has me enchanted. Stacie starts asking me about my drawings and I realize she's right. I did draw this place. It felt like home. Like it was calling out to me and knew me.

"Welcome home!" Serenity pulls me into the Zone. "You've finally made it! We're all here again!" She's so bubbly, I almost can't stand it.

"Fully energized, eh, Serenity?" Arashi has a smug look on her face. "She's always like this when we return after being gone for so long. I can't remember how long it's been."

"Four hundred fifty years, eight months, two weeks, and three days," Lucinda replies dryly.

"And that was for a very short time." Silk takes her turn to speak. "If our task is no longer viable with the physical body we possess, we return to Selene. But the four of us are always with each other and always part of your maternal bloodline."

I take this all in. Still in a daze, walking into the castle I feel the stares of the guards. I am the perfect combination of my mother and father. They seem quite surprised but say nothing, only their eyes giving their emotion away. The gates are opened and we enter a grand foyer. It is magnificent. An ancient looking crystal chandelier hangs from the highly vaulted ceilings.

About this time I see a thick blue line appear in front of my human dad. He hadn't had one before so it makes me extremely curious. Belle smiles at me. She explains what the line means and what it means for the line to be thicker. She also warns me not to reveal it unless asked. That douses my excitement but only a little. My dad has a soul mate! What's even better, they are close by

We walk up a staircase and an adorable flying woman starts relaying all sorts of information to my parents. When Belle introduces all of us it feels so weird to be presented as a princess. I give an awkward smile that looks like a grimace, I suppose. Tanz, that's her name, starts to fly off down the hallway at Belle's command, taking us to where we'll be staying. She continues with her chattering, explaining who is in all the paintings, the decorations, and history of the building. We stop in front of a set of four doors, as I start walking towards the one with my formal name on it, Tanz flies in front of me and stops me.

"Not yet, Princess. We need to settle a few things before we open that door. No one has been able to open it in its 18 years of existence. I assume only you can open it, but we don't know what the consequences of doing so will be." She guides me back to the room that says "Dutchess" on it. "You and Stacie will be staying here while you two gentlemen will be across the hall." There was a room labeled "Duke" and "Young Duke". "If you need me, you only have to call my name and I will be with you momentarily."

The three of them opened their doors, Tanz and I following behind Stacie. The room was large and decorated in a very chic, modern style. Nothing like the pretty princess pink room. "This is SO much better than the old house." Stacie let out a breath of wonder. The bed was a queen sized bed with captains bed frame in a dark cherry with matching bedroom set that included a nightstand, dresser, entertainment hutch, and a desk. The walk-in closet was filled to the brim with clothes. Most of them were what would be considered business woman wear while there were also a lot of tank tops and yoga pants. Nothing like the preppy things I saw her wearing previously.

"So this is the real you, huh?" I ask her. This seems so much more tolerable to me than what she presented as before. So much more put together.

"Yes, this is me. Mom tried to mold me into the popular girl and picked out everything for me. Even my friends. I hated it, but I had no choice," she confided, "This house knows me better than my own mother." she added softly.

"She wasn't a good mom. I hope your stepmom is much better to you than she was." I cover my hands and my eyes go wide, "I wasn't supposed to say that…" I admit.

"Wait, how do you know I'll have a stepmom?" She asks with a cautious look.

"Well remember when Belle was telling me about the lines and what they meant?" I asked her and she nodded. "The reason it came up is suddenly dad had one, a very thick one, which means his soulmate is close by. He has a fated." I smiled softly. Stacie smiled too.

"Dad deserves a good woman. I hope she's worthy of him." her face was a bit sad. "I'm scared she'll be just like mom though. What if she is?" Worry was evident on her face.

"Do you think Belle and Alaric would let an evil being in this house right under their nose?" I asked her, "Unless they were in the prison of course." I add quickly.

"You're right. I need to relax. We have a few hours before dinner, what should we do?" Stacie started looking around the room. There was a T.V. in the hutch as well as a couple of video game consoles. The desk had a desktop computer and next to it a laptop computer. She smiled. It was her laptop from home. There were posters that dealt with women empowerment all over the place and coexist bits. A rainbow flag I had never seen before was on the door. Her smile grew with each thing she saw.

"Where did you keep all this stuff?" I asked her. This was so not the boy crazy girl I knew. My entire perception of her was changing, and quickly.

"I hid them. Mom never would have let me be me. Now I can be. This is absolutely amazing." Her mood had lifted and her voice was brighter. Now this was a girl I could get along with, even though we are polar opposites.

"I like this you." I admitted to her. "The real you."

Her expression turned to absolute shock, "You do? I mean, I'm so different from you, I never thought you'd actually like me. Maybe tolerate me some day, but not like me."

"This is you. This is genuine you. Not the fake you that tried so hard to fit in and I could tell was being fake as fuck. I have a knack for that, you know. Telling when people are being fake."

She turned away, almost embarrassed. She walked up and touched the flag on her door. She almost looked sad. "I don't have to hide any more. I really can be me."

I decided at this point to explore a bit more and let her have her time reconnecting with herself. "I'm going to look around a bit more, and see what the room added for me so I can take a nap, if that's okay."

"Yea, you do you girl. I'm just gonna… " I don't hear the rest of her sentence as I already know what she's going to be doing. I look inside the humongous bathroom. There's a giant mirror that's five feet wide but a single sink at the far left side. The counter is lined with makeup and skincare products. I drool over the sight. Maybe I'll have something like that too, but then I remember I didn't have much at home. I'll just have to get more.