Crystal Hearts • Book 2 Of The Crystal Trilogy • ⏸

-| 5 / perfect illusion |-

Scott opened his eyes in his old room, on his old bed, in his old house. He had no memory of what had happened outside the dream Lux had trapped him in, believing that this was his real life; perfect and carefree.

His father wasn't a drunk. Instead, he worked for King Daniel, the only prince (and later king) that ever existed in the kingdom. He had grown up an only child, gotten married to the woman he loved, a servant witch named Cheryl, and they'd had three kids together. Their eldest, Agnes Cornel, was to be queen someday, though she'd rather do anything but that. Their second child and Agnes' twin brother, Grayson, was quite the rebel. He always snuck out and caused trouble outside the palace, getting himself grounded. Their last child, Riley, was a toddler, so she did the exact same thing her brother did, only inside the palace.

Scott also had a newborn brother, Cyrus. His mother was completely healthy. Phoebe had the normal life she deserved. Despite not being able to remember what was going on outside that dream and not even realising it was a dream in the first place, he kept feeling that something was wrong.

First of all, he felt an unjustified fear whenever he saw his father. He got nervous and started panicking, though he didn't know why. Then there was the fact that he got crushed by emotion whenever he saw his mother, as if he was surprised to see her alive.

And the worst feeling was one of loss. He felt like something was missing, but he couldn't quite out his finger on it. Everything changed though, when his father got promoted and the entire household had to move in to the palace.

“Do we have to go?”, Phoebe asked. “There's this really cute girl I've been flirting with and everything will go to waste if we leave now...”, she frowned at her father.

“Sorry, sweetie. This promotion needs me at the palace at all times, just in case of an emergency. I won't be seeing much of you if I go alone and you're bound to be in constant danger because of my position.”, he explained to her. “You're going to love the palace, though! And I'm pretty sure you'll find plenty of cute girls there too.”, he reassured her.

“Dad! It's not that simple! I really like her...”, she pouted. “But fine... If you say so...”, she grumbled after getting a stern look from her mother.

“Now, then, go pack your bags. We have to leave tomorrow if we want to be to the palace on time.”, Diana Harrow crossed her arms.

“But dad just got here! We didn't even get the chance to talk about this! Aren't we making this decision a little too rashly?”, Scott asked, despite feeling pulled towards the palace. He felt that the thing he thought was missing would be there and that the palace would have the answers to the uneasy feeling he had that something was wrong.

“I know, but we don't have a choice here. If your father doesn't accept this promotion, he might get demoted instead. Besides, the suggestion of the promotion itself came up on short notice. There wasn't much he could do.”, Diana supported her husband.

“Now go pack your bags and get some sleep, we're going to get up early and be on the road for a few days.”, Carter smiled reassuringly.

“What about Cyrus? He's a baby. This type of trip is going to tire him.”, Phoebe said in hopes of escaping moving out of her beloved home.

“That's something for me and your father to worry about. Cyprus will be fine, it's just a trip. A long one, but still a trip.”, Diana crossed her arms.

“Phoebes, you heard mom. Time to pack.”, Scott told his sister, trying to conceal his disappointment about leaving.

“Since when do you call me Phoebes?”, she raised an eyebrow..