Page 18 of Celestia, Year Four

"Bibooooo!" she squealed and wiggled in my lap before she returned to the bowl of grapes and began to nitpick on which ones she wanted.

"You're spoiling her," Odion said quietly, and Esme laughed.

"From the one who spoils Momo more than any creature in all the realms."

Odion blushed and fidgeted with his hands. "Hmph."

"Aww. Now he's all pouty," Esme teased. I watched the two of them as Esme continued to bother Odion who remained silent.

What did she say before I fell asleep? Argh, coffee will help.

I reached out for the mug of coffee and picked it up, bringing it up to my nose to get a better whiff of the freshly brewed masterpiece.

"Thank you, Esme." I gave her a big smile and took a tentative sip of the light brown liquid.

Once the taste hit my tongue, assuring me my three sugars and cream was evident, I focused my attention on drinking it, knowing in the back of my mind I'd need to be fully awake for the approaching conversation.

There was a lot that needed to be discussed, and that would go in the general order of knowing what the Dark World was, what had happened to me while I was unconscious, why only Odion, his familiar Momo, and Esme stay, and hopefully by then, I'd recall what was said before I'd fallen asleep.

I also need to know if the others are okay.

When I finished my cup of coffee, I began to nibble on the plate of food with various selections of bread, dairy, and fruit.

I didn't feel very hungry, but if I'd been unconscious for so long, I didn't want to deal with hunger pains in the middle of our conversation.

I glanced at Odion, who somewhere during the expanse of time I was drinking my coffee, had gotten his fidget spinner and was staring at it with a blank expression.

Esme had moved from where she previously stood to the wall right next to the window.

She wore another black dress, but it had hints of white which included the buttons that ran down the middle of the bottom half.

Glancing down at my clothes, I now noticed I wore just a black t-shirt and shorts. I had no idea where they’d come from, but they fit me perfectly, which was a little intriguing.

Momo continued to sing when she wasn't nibbling on grapes, and after I fed her a piece of marble cheese, she began to take bits of my cheese.

I could tell that Momo wasn't a fully developed familiar. She was still a child, which left me curious as to why.

If she'd been here before Odion,Momo would be 27 years old, or even older if you counted the time before she landed in the Dark World.

She'd act more like Arielle, even in her familiar form. Just because she looked like a rag doll, didn't mean she'd always have a kid-like mentality, and that's what left me curious.

After a few more servings of cheese, I stopped and relaxed against the pillow Esme had repositioned for me when I was feeding Momo.

"Is that enough food?" Odion asked.

"Yup. I'm not very hungry. This is perfectly fine for now," I assured him. "Thank you for taking care of me."

"Charlotte raised you well." Esme looked impressed with me, which left me more confused as to who she was.

She appeared older, definitely older than Miona and even my mom, but her skin was still smooth with no wrinkles, making it impossible for me to figure out her age.

Shifters survived a lot longer than the average human lifespan; some could live for many centuries like how theyportrayed vampires as being immortal, but my gut was telling me a few centuries was too little in Esme's case.

"How do you know about my mom? Actually, let's start this from the beginning. What is the Dark World and why did it take me two weeks to wake up? I kinda remember what happened. I mean… bits of it. I had to do my Awakening Ceremony, and I remember us being at the entrance of the waterfall… then blank… blank… I felt really cold… then hot… hmm. I think I had wings? That could be my imagination though," I elaborated.

"You did have wings," Odion clarified. "When you gained the rest of your power, you had really bright rainbow wings."

"Rainbow… wings? What does that mean?" I questioned hesitantly, noticing the hint of apprehensiveness in Odion's facial expression.

---