Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It has long since been posed that even birds dream of becoming something greater, something impactful. Of lizards morphing into fire-breathing dragons. No living organisms, to continue their existence, can endure living under conditions of an absolute reality. There was not a doubt that, for as much as man longed for more, other creatures so must too. Even homes, it has been said, the ones occupied and lived in, the ones where walls are the skin and it has a beating hard, long for more as occupants come and go. Living, dead, or even something in between, we were all thus bound by the ideals of something more.

Driftmark, not sane, stood alone atop a rocky cliff, holding darkness within. The bay below was the only thing that changed, lapping against the shore. The house itself endured unending, unflinching. It has stood so for hundreds of years before my family moved in, and it might stand for one hundred more. Within, walls stood upright, stone met neatly, and the floors were firm. Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Driftmark. And whatever walked there, walked alone.

THEN

Duxbury, Massachusetts

A scream. Followed by a piercing wail that echoed through the halls. Jacaerys immediately startled awake, peeled himself from his bed and rose to his feet, swaying from his exhaustion. He stumbled to the door and opened it, walking into the hall. He turned once, twice, briefly forgetting the way to the room - the house was too new to him. He turned his head to the side, seeing a bright blond head also exiting his room.

“It’s okay, Aegon. Go back to bed,” Jacaerys said through a yawn.

Aegon yawned himself. “Should I go wake our moms?” he asked.

Jacaerys shook his head. “I got it,” he denied.

“‘Kay, Jace,” Aegon said sleepily before turning back into his room and shutting his door again.

Jacaerys continued down the hall until he reached the twins’ room. He heard his sister crying just beyond. Sighing quietly, he pushed it open and entered. He walked over to his blonde sister and sat next to her on the bed, winding his arms around the young girl while she shook and leaned into him.

“You okay, Hel?” Jacaerys asked quietly. Helaena shook her head wildly. “You scared?” She glanced up at her older brother and then nodded. “That’s okay. I get scared too, sometimes.”

“Really?” Helaena asked, voice watery with tears both shed and unshed.

“Of course,” Jacaerys assured her. “Sometimes I get so scared. And when I was your age, Hel? Half the nights I spent hiding under my bed. You are so much braver than me.” She didn’t need to know why he did that. He just needed her to understand that she was okay - that she was here, with her family, and whatever dream she had was gone. “Listen, Hellie, you’re safe. You’ve got me and Luke. We’d never let anything happen to you. Right Luke?”

“Right,” Lucerys said firmly from the other bed in the room.

“But,” Helaena said, voice weak.

She cut off and looked over to their brother Lucerys on the other bed. He was sitting up now, fully awake and looked at Helaena concerned. The connection between the two almost-seven year olds was uncanny - as if twin connections had surpassed the boundaries of blood and solidly tethered them together despite being born to different families. They were family now, of course, but the connection even stunned Jacearys sometimes.

The bedroom door creaked as it opened further and Jacaerys looked up while Helaena flinched more into his arms. He relaxed when he saw that it was just one of their moms at the door. The platinum-haired woman came in and pressed a kiss to Jacaerys’s head.

“Go on back to bed, Jace. I got this,” Rhaenyra said warmly.

Jace hugged his sister a final time and stood. He walked over to Lucerys and ruffled his little brother’s hair too before walking towards the door. Even as he pulled it closed, he stayed there a moment. He was 12 now - almost 13 - so he’d never admit it, but he desperately missed the soothing way his mother spoke and told stories. He just wanted to, if only for a moment, hear it again.

“Why are you awake Lucerys?” Rhaenyra asked of Helaena’s not-twin-twin.

“‘Cause Hellie’s awake,” Lucerys said simply.

“Oh my sweet boy,” Rhaenyra said, chuckling lightly. She looked back to Helaena and ran a hand through her blonde daughter’s - her only daughter’s - hair. “What was it, sweet girl?”

Helaena’s lip trembled. “The Bent-Neck Lady,” she replied in a small voice.

Rhaenyra hummed and stood up. “Her again?” she asked. Helaena nodded. “Where was she?” She pointed to a dark corner. “Better take a look.” Rhaenyra walked over to the corner and started to dutifully search for any hidden ghosts and found none. “It looks like your big brother Jace must’ve scared her away.” She moved to sit on the edge of Helaena’s bed. “Big brothers are good like that.” She patted her daughter’s leg.

“What if she’s hiding?” Helaena asked, her little body trembling. Rhaenyra brought the young girl to her side and rubbed her shoulders soothingly, shushing her. “What if she’s still here? What if she’s just waiting until you leave and then she takes me?”

“She’s long gone,” Rhaenyra said warmly, assuring. She smiled between the pair. “Now, I guess everybody can go back to bed.” She winked. Lucerys immediately snuggled back down into his bed, staying on his side so he could look at Helaena. Reluctantly, Helaena started to settle herself back down too. “There we go.” After both were settled back down, she offered a big, dramatic sigh and held Helaena’s hand, looking between the two.. “Do you remember what we talked about before? About our dreams?”

Helaena nodded. “They can spill,” she said.

Rhaenyra smiled and nodded encouragingly. “Exactly. Just like a cup of water, they can spill sometimes,” she said seriously. “There are times where I wake up and I think I see something out of the corner of my eye, or I feel like I haven’t woken yet but I have. And your mom…she goes through it even more than I do.” Rhaenyra cleared her throat and dramatically shook her head. “But kids’ dreams? They’re special. They’re like…” She trailed off, waiting for an answer.

“An ocean,” Jacaerys whispered from outside of the door

At the same time, both Lucerys and Helaena repeated them from inside. “An ocean,” they chorused.

“That’s right,” Rhaenyra said, encouraging. “Like an ocean. So with dreams that powerful? With that much to them? Well, the big dreams can spill over sometimes. But that doesn’t mean that we can let them control us, make us experience so much fear.” She stood up and pressed a kiss to Helaena’s head and then Lucerys’s. “I know that the Bent-Neck Lady is really scary, Hellie. She sounds awful and I’m so sorry that you’re seeing her still. But the Bent-Neck Lady? That’s all she is, sweetheart, she’s just a little spill. She isn’t real, my love.”

The little girl leaned heavily into her blonde mom, blinking sleepily. “How long do we have to live here, mommy?” Helaena asked quietly, her question broken by a yawn.

Rhaenyra hummed, cocking her hip to the side. “Well that’s a good question,” she said, holding her hands in front of her while she looked down at the children. “Your mom and I…we have to finish fixing the house up. And then after that? Someone has to buy it.”

“Then we can go?” Lucerys asked.

“Then we can go,” Rhaenyra confirmed. “Just like the last house. I promise you both, should only be ‘til the end of the summer. Then we’ll be out of here. We’ll build our forever house. You just have to be patient.”

Jacaerys crept away from the door and back to his room, quietly shutting the door. He smiled at his mom’s words. Their forever house was coming soon. They’d all been waiting so long for it. And it meant so much to him and his siblings.

As Jacaerys crept to bed, Lucerys and Helaena proclaimed their love for their mom as she walked over towards the door. She smiled, bright and sweet. “Yes, yes, my loves,” she laughed. “I love you both. Very, very, very much. Now go back to sleep - the both of you. I don’t want to hear any screaming or crying tonight. Jacaerys and I chased the Bent-Neck Lady far away. You’re both safe.” She smiled at them, taking in the sight of the kids as they slept, her heart squeezing with her affection. She felt like she could burst. “I love you. Goodnight.”

Rhaenyra opened the door to exit quickly and then shut it quietly back behind her. Walking down the hall back to her bedroom, she decided to check on the rest of the kids. Joffrey and Daeron, the youngest at 4 and 5 respectively, were both dead to the world, the latter snoring softly. A peek into Jace’s room revealed that the boy was back in bed - not asleep yet, she figured, but at least where he was supposed to be. Proceeding on, she heard muttering behind one of the kid’s doors - Aemond’s room. She opened it quietly to see if the ten year old boy was awake.

No. He wasn't. He was talking in his sleep. Again. At least he wasn’t sleep walking this time, Rhaenyra figured. “Dancing in the Red Room…dancing in the Red Room…dancing in the Red Room…dancing in the Red Room,” he slurred while fully asleep. Rhaenyra’s brow furrowed. “The dragons aren’t dreaming.”

“Dragons, huh?” Rhaenyra asked quietly, amused.

“Seahorses eat dragons, dragons don’t eat seahorses,” he said. “The dragons are in danger. The seahorses are eating now. The dragons don’t know.”

“Noted,” Rhaenyra said, giving a half laugh.

She pulled the door to Aemond’s room closed behind her. She finished making her way down the hall and checked in on Aegon, 13. She found him sprawled in his bed like a starfish, practically suffocating himself with his head planted in his pillow. He had kicked off his blanket, leaving him shivering in only his boxers. Rhaenyra rolled her eyes, but smiled regardless, crept over and pulled his blanket back over him, tucking it gently around him so he’d not kick it off again. Aegon immediately stopped shivering and clutched his pillow tighter, sleep becoming smoother.

With the children all accounted for and resting, Rhaenyra finished walking down the hall. Re-entering her room, she was surprised to see Alicent awake in bed. She blinked in surprise, looking at her wife as she sat up, slightly.

“Why are you awake, my love?” Rhaenyra asked, brow furrowed. “Is it your head? Are you alright?”

Alicent shrugged, yawning. “My head’s fine, darling, don’t worry about me. Haven’t had anything since before we moved. I just wanted to wait for you. Everyone alive?” Alicent asked. Immediately, the other woman slumped back onto her pillow, too tired to stay awake.

“Helaena had a nightmare. Lucerys obviously was awake with her. Jacaerys went to check on them, and I sent him to bed. Joffrey and Daeron are both absolutely knocked out for the night, thank God. Aegon was freezing to death on his bed, so I had to cover him back up. And Aemond is sleep talking again,” she reported.

“Well, they’re all present and accounted for so that’s something. Was Aemond saying anything good this time?” Alicent asked, snuggling into Rhaenyra’s side as she got back into bed. She chuckled. “Anything like the time he talked about the rhinos chewing ice? Or the monkey petting the deer in the volcano?”

Rhaenyra chuckled, unable to help it. Her son’s sleeptalking did often lead to some of the funniest material that came out of the very serious young boy’s mouth. “Seahorses eat dragons, but dragons don’t eat them, Ali,” she reported, reciting a snippet of their son’s ramblings.

“Good to know,” Alicent laughed. She turned to look at Rhaenyra. “I know this will be good for us. It’s just…so quiet here. What did they call the last house, again?”

“King’s Landing,” Rhaenyra replied, playing with Alicent’s hair.

“Right. King’s Landing was so loud…bustling. God, even the Red Keep before that, Dragonstone before that…just so much life. Everywhere. Annoying and awful sometimes, but just…alive. And Driftmark is just…you can’t even hear the crickets at night,” she said through a laugh.

“Thick walls. Thick windows. The house was built to last,” Rhaenyra said in agreement. She watched as Alicent’s eyes drifted closed, the other woman ready to fall back into a deep sleep. “Helaena’s already ready to leave - Luke is too. God, even Aegon seems to hate it. But, when this house flips like I know it will? We’ll be able to build your forever house. No more moving.

“Mmmhm,” Alicent said faintly. A sound that morphed into more of a snore than a word by the end.

Rhaenyra smiled down at the woman she loved, and then put her head atop her own pillow. Sleep came easily enough after that, even with the sounds of the house settling about them.

NOW

Seattle, Washington

“I’m going to press record and just ask you to run through it with me again,” Jace said, voice low and soothing.

Jace settled on the couch and set up his phone to record, pressing the button until he saw red, and posed his pen atop his notebook. He looked up at the woman before him. She was wringing her hands in front of her, a distant look in her eyes - and then suddenly, it was like she was back with him. He gave her a tight smile. He knew this one would be painful already. For her because the recollection still stung. For him because he had to try and provide more comfort than he had any right to offer - it didn’t usually make him squeamish, but something about what this story was made it feel worse.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Jace said quietly.

“Robert was driving through the backroads during the storm - he always does to avoid traffic after work. Came so suddenly…it was so terrible. More like a monsoon than a storm, really. Washed everything out. Flooding lasted days in some places,” she said. “Top half of the west coast just pounded with rain. Do you remember?” She paused and shook her head before Jace could reply. “Oh, of course not, you were in LA…well, anyway, it was the worst one that I’d seen in years. My whole life, I think, sometimes.” Her lips turned down in a frown. “He made it barely fifteen minutes from work…the car slipped on an old bridge…should’ve been condemned by then…replaced. He, uh…he went down. Into the ravine underneath the bridge. That’s…that’s where he got stuck.”

Jace took a deep breath, glanced up from where he was writing rapid notes in shorthand. He looked up the rim of his glasses, gave her an encouraging nod, and another small smile. Still, she paused and leaned forward to take a tissue out of the box in front of her. Her hands were shaking. Jace absently wondered if he should pause the recording, pause the interview, really, and give her a minute. But, he ultimately decided against it when she took a deep breath.

“With how heavy the rain was…there was no chance they could’ve seen Robert’s car…they said you couldn’t even see the lights,” she said, sniffling. Her eyes closed and Jace saw this drawn horror and exhaustion on her face. “Took me an hour to even realize that he was late…three before anyone started to look for him. I just…I kept thinking that he’d stopped somewhere to wait for the storm to pass. I told myself that in a few hours it’d be over and he’d pull in like he always did.” She shook her head. “But he was stuck there for hours…hanging upside-down by his seatbelt.” She let out a sad laugh. “They said that he could press the horn, and could reach it real easy. But he couldn’t do it for long because the crash had broken one arm, and the other was…was crushed. Stuck. And so that’s how he died…upside-down, pressing that horn for as long as he could manage. Probably praying to God it’d go faster.”

Jace let the information sit for a moment. Let her take a breath, regain composure. “And when did it start?” Jace asked, looking up from his notebook again.

“The night after he died,” she said shortly. “It started with feeling these…these drops of water hit my face like rain. I’d be sleeping in bed and the feeling would wake me up - from the deepest sleep it would wake me. And at first…I’d wake up…there’d be nothing there. My face might feel a bit wet, my pillow…but…but then it got worse. I started to hear car horns in short bursts, they’d wake me up immediately even though they sounded far away.”

“And then?” Jace prompted, looking up at her over the rim of his glasses. She seemed reluctant so Jace gave her a more supportive smile. “Mrs. Tully, I understand how difficult this is. We can take a break if you need.”

“No,” she dismissed. “Right after the funeral…the night of the burial…I felt the water, I heard the car horn, and I opened my eyes.” Her voice choked off and she looked away from him. “And I looked up at the ceiling…and there he was. And he was just hanging there…upside-down, water dripping from his hair…and this face was a…a horrifying deep purple. Like all the blood had rushed down…and…and pooled in his cheeks.” She looked at Jace, her lips pulled in a frown, voice reedy and tired, stretched thin from old age.

Jace felt his heart thump in his chest at the words. Part of him understood that sight. Understood the horror. He’d never admit it. But he’d seen his own fair share of grotesque things. Not ghosts, but, the imagination had a wonderful ability to fill in the gaps where reality wouldn’t. His certainly did. Seemed to run in his adoptive family, thick and true, as if it were bound to the very blood in their veins, forging them into one family by blood and not just…circumstance.

“You…you think you’d scream at something like that. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I just stared…and he stared back…and then he opened his mouth to scream, but it was a car horn instead of a scream. I fell out of the bed, I was so startled, and when I hit the ground…that’s when I remembered that I could scream - that’s when I did start to scream.” She shuttered. “I got up to run…but when I looked back there was nothing there. Nothing at all. So I…I sat on the edge of the bed…and I cried. That…that was the last time that I slept in that room.”

Jace took off his glasses and pressed the record button again, stopping it. He looked up at her from his notes with a pleasantly professional smile on his face. “That’s an interesting story, Mrs. Tully,” he said.

“Lenora,” she said.

“Lenora,” he granted. He closed his notebook and looked at her. ”Now, I’d like to take a look around the house. Set up some of my equipment…and I’d also like to sleep in that room tonight.” She made a noise of concern and he dismissed it. “Oh, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” The look he gave her was more serious then. “I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to include your story in the book. But, it’s possible.”

“Of course,” she said, nodding.

“And I do thank you for sharing it with me,” Jace said kindly.

He accepted the offer for tea and took the opportunity to let his eyes move around the parlor room he found himself in. His eyes landed on the bookshelf and his brow furrowed. He rose to his feet and walked slowly over to inspect. Half of a shelf had titles very familiar to him. Titles with the last name Targaryen-Hightower embossed on the side. The Tullys were evidently fans of his. His lips fell into neutrality to keep the irritation from creeping up in him.

“Sorry, I should have told you that we were fans…I’m a fan,” Lenora said once she entered the room. He took the tea that she offered and merely shrugged. “I liked the first one best.” She pointed to The Haunting of Driftmark. Yeah - everyone liked that one best. “Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Driftmark. And whatever walked there, walked alone. A powerful story you told there.” She laughed. “I can’t imagine what it was like living there….in the most famous haunted house in America.”

Jace shook his head. “In all fairness, it wasn’t the most haunted when I lived there. Only after the family…after we left,” he said. He cleared his throat and gave her a tight smile. He felt the buzzing of his phone in his pocket. He saw the name Helaena Tyrell on the screen and, annoyed, ignored the call. He turned his eyes back to the woman before him. “And besides, Lenora, you’ve got me beat. If you actually saw your husband hanging upside-down from your ceiling, then you’ve seen more than I have.”

She looked stunned. “You’ve…” she trailed off.

“Never seen a ghost,” Jace confirmed.

“But your books,” she said.

“Not in Arlington, Danvers, Alcatraz,” he said, pointing to each book. “Not on the Queen Mary…or in Williamsburg.” Then, he plucked the first book off of the shelf and looked at it. “And not in Driftmark.” He looked up at her again and shrugged once more.

“The way you wrote I just assumed…” she said.

“I tell other people’s stories,” Jace said, waving a hand as he put the book back on her shelf. “People like you, Lenora. I just…give them the right voice. That’s all.”

She smiled. “I hope that can change for you today. Maybe Robert will be able to give you a story of your own to tell. Maybe…maybe that’s the reason for all of this,” she said, the last part more muttered than anything.

Jace almost winced. “One thing I can tell you about Driftmark that has never made it into the books?” he posed. She nodded eagerly. “All those years I spent trying to understand everything that happened in that house…what I never found? The…the only thing I never found was a reason.” She let out a sigh. “So don’t expect one. You’ll find yourself disappointed.”

Jace felt his phone ring again. Again, Helaena. Again, he ignored the call. That time, it seemed that Lenora had caught sight of the name. She looked at him peculiarly. He loathed what he knew would come next.

“How are your brothers and sister doing since…what happened? I wondered, you know, since the book. How are they doing these days?” she posed. “You know who I wish would write a book? Your mom. The stories I’m sure that man could tell about that house.” She let out a low whistle. Jace barely managed to conceal his wince that time.

THEN

Duxbury, Massachusetts

“Just for tonight,” Helaena reasoned.

Helaena sniffled as Alicent carried her and placed her down on the red velvet chaise lounge in the living room. Rhaenyra came in after she’d been placed down and put a blanket - her blanket - atop the frowning girl. Helaena gripped both of her mothers’ hands, bottom lip jutting out as she pouted. The women exchanged a look before giving their daughter a fond smile. Still, they couldn’t help their concern. They’d been in the house for not three days, and already Helaena’s sleep was disrupted. Already she was finding herself on a different floor than the rest of her family in pursuit of some peace they did not understand - she’d always been like that, but still, her mothers worried she’d find herself in some sort of trouble. Especially given that Driftmark was bigger, with more hidden nooks and crannies than they cared to think of. The girl could get lost in an instant.

“Won’t you miss your brother?” Rhaenyra asked. A fair question - ever since being adopted, the two children, miraculously born on the same day, almost at the same time to the minute, had not slept apart. Attached at the hip as if they were twins by blood and not twins by choice.

Helaena winced at the question. “I’d rather sleep here,” she said, shaking her head. “In case she comes back.” Her Lucerys, her Luke, would be safer if she did, and she would never risk him. That part remained unsaid, but based on her parents’ frowns, they knew what she meant.

“Alright, just tonight then,” Rhaenyra granted, leaning down to press a kiss to Helaena’s head.

“I’ll stay with her for a bit,” Alicent said, squeezing Rhaenyra’s hand briefly and then nodding towards the doorway. Rhaenyra looked at her by-all-accounts-wife and then nodded, understanding. She pressed a kiss to her wife’s knuckles and then walked towards the door.

“Okay then. Sleep well, Helaena. And stay warm,” Rhaenyra said. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, mama,” Helaena chirped back to Rhaenyra, settling into the chaise, and turning so she could look at Alicent, who sat on the ground next to her. Out of the bedroom, the young girl felt like she could relax a bit more, and with her mommy next to her, it became easier to begin drifting off to sleep.

NOW

Boston, Massachusetts

Aemond felt the buzzing of his phone in his pocket and his brow pinched briefly in annoyance as he took it out. He saw Helaena’s name, rolled his eyes in his mind, and rejected it. He made a mental note to call his sister back later and quickly turned his attention back to the people sitting before him.

“Are you saying that you don’t want to do the viewing then?” his wife Alys asked from beside him. Aemond looked at her and then back to the other pair in the room. “Because it was a part of your mother’s pre-need, so it’s already taken care of. You don't need to worry about it if that’s the case. And truly, Aemond does an incredibly good job in restoring likeness. Nothing to fear in terms of her not looking right.”

“No,” the woman said, wringing her hands in front of her, frown on her face. Aemond could tell the news hadn’t fully reached her brain yet, not something she’d accepted, but her eyes were still red from what he had no doubt was days of weeping. “It’s not that. We want to.” She took a deep breath. “It’s just…”

“It’s Jason,” the woman’s husband cut in. “I think he’s just…”

“A little nervous about it,” Aemond posed quietly.

“I’d say more like adamantly opposed,” the husband said, shaking his head.

“Hmmm,” Aemond said.

He patted his wife’s hand and then rose to his feet, moving over towards where the couple’s son sat on the couch, playing despondently with a switch. Alys kept talking to the parents, so Aemond focused on what he knew he could do much better. As he sat next to him, the kid, Jason, looked up at him for a moment. The poor thing was no older than six or seven and looked utterly exhausted - as a father himself, it broke Aemond’s heart.

“Hi Jason, I’m Aemond,” he said.

“Hi Aemond,” Jason greeted, mumbling. He looked down and paused his game.

“I know this is probably a little bit weird for you…uncomfortable,” Aemond said softly. “But, I promise you that it is all normal.” Jason looked skeptical - no, that was being generous. Jason looked utterly unconvinced, as if Aemond had said the sky was made of cotton candy. “The reason that mommy and daddy are here is because it’s very important to be able to say goodbye to your Grandma.” He looked, somehow, even more skeptical. “And a viewing is a way to do that. To see her one last time, tell her that you love her, and be able to say goodbye.”

Jason shook his head. “I don’t need to say goodbye,” he denied.

Aemond smiled, nodded in understanding. He let out a quiet, sympathetic hum. “A lot of people feel that way at first. But, they feel so much better when they do,” he said, leaning back into the couch a bit more. “I know how hard it can be…how overwhelming it feels. But that’s why I can tell you that it’s important to say goodbye.”

Jason looked at him curiously, taking in his face, his long hair, and then shrugged. “That’s what Mommy said too, but she’s wrong,” he said, face strangely serious for a child. “She’s not gone. Grammy keeps sitting on my bed at night…touching my hair.” He shook his head. “And her eyes must hurt.”

“Why?” Aemond asked, lips pulling into just the slightest hint of a frown.

Jason looked back into Aemond’s eyes. “Because she never blinks,” he said.

Aemond froze in his surprise at the word. Blinked himself to try and make sure he heard correctly. But then, as if he’s said nothing at all, he turned his attention back towards his switch, unpausing his game. He found himself reeling after that. He heard the parents agree to the viewing, which made him glad. And he would be there - offer support to the kid, just like someone had once done for him. Yeah, Aemond figured, the kid would be alright.

After the pair and their child left, Aemond fished his phone out of his pocket before Alys could start talking. Graciously, his wife took the hint. She just patted his shoulder. He saw that Helaena had left a message. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He cursed to himself as he hit it, letting the voicemail play. Alys went to answer the door as the bell rang, he nodded at her.

“It's Hel,” she said, her voice distant, stressed, but ever dreamy. The same since they were kids. “I…uh…I, um, I need you to call me.” She took a sharp breath in, and Aemond could hear her let out a quiet little whimpering cry. He shook his head. “It’s hard…it’s hard to understand. Everything has just…it’s so twisted. Everything is jumbled in…it’s out of order, it makes no sense. I can’t…it’s…it’s hard to explain. But.” She took a sharp breath in, and then her voice was measured, calm, serious. “I’m worried about Luke. Have you talked to him? Call me.” The message abruptly ended.

Well, that couldn’t be good. Other than the alarming words pouring out of her mouth, there was also the very way that she was saying them. She sounded worse than usual and she had been rough as of late. Understandably so for the most part, but even still, but this sounded a mite further than that. It sounded as though there was something true and heavy weighing on her. Whatever was hard to understand…whatever was twisted…hard to explain…it was eating away at his sister in a way that very few things in this life could.

Aemond looked at his phone and sighed as Alys came back into the room. She had a bright, warm smile on her face. “It’s here,” she said with a grin, wiggling the thin box in her hands. He watched as she peeled it open, dialing Helaena’s number and bringing the phone to her ear. Alys freed the picture frame from the box. “Oh, it looks great!”

“It’s great,” Aemond parroted, looking briefly at the picture.

“Hi, you’ve reached Helaena. Please leave a message,” his sister’s voice echoed from the phone.

He cursed again and hung up. He ran a hand down his face. Alys looked at him concerned. He shook his head. “I think you really nailed the choice with this picture, hun,” she said, still holding the picture. She walked over to her husband and leaned on the desk next to him, holding it so he could see. They stood before their home - the pair of them, and their two children - and, objectively, it was a perfect picture to promote a family-owned and focused business like theirs.

“It’s a good choice. I’m glad we went with it,” Aemond agreed, leaning his chin on his wife’s shoulder for a moment. “I think we should put it on the website too.”

Alys smiled and playfully tugged at a strand of his long platinum hair. “I think it’d look great in print, even,” she said.

“That is, if people still read print,” Aemond said, the grip on his heart loosening. Not much, but enough that - for the moment - he could focus on the next clients coming in instead of just on his sister going into crisis.

THEN

Duxbury, Massachusetts

Aemond jumped, hearing an aggressive pounding and then a series of curses in both male and female tones. He got up, brow furrowed, and followed the sound into one of the parlors in Driftmark. He saw his mom and the groundskeeper - Mr. Beesbury, if he recalled correctly - standing in the massive fireplace, covered in soot. He grinned a little bit at the sight.

“This flue is an absolute disaster,” Rhaenyra bemoaned. “This is supposed to be the easy part.”

“Nothing easy about this house,” Lyman Beesbury said through a laugh.

Aemond walked closer. “Are you okay, mama?” he asked.

Rhaenyra gave him a smile. “I’m alright, Aemond,” she assured him. “We’re just trying to fix the flue here. House doesn’t like it, I guess.” The groundskeeper chuckled at the words, and that seemed to spark something in Rhaenyra. “Oh! Mr. Beesbury found something for you!”

“Ah, yes, right,” Lyman said, rummaging through his pockets. “I don’t know if this is going to work for you, young man. And I’m going to need it back.” He brandished a larger skeleton key and offered it to the young boy. He grinned, taking it. “It’s a master key. This opens every room in the house. Or at least it should. Try your luck with this - odds are, you’ll get the door open, kid. Whichever one it is.”

“Thank you!” Aemond shouted, already running away, calling for Helaena upstairs. Helaena shouted in acknowledgment and he heard her feet running across the floor. He rose up the spiral staircase in the library and saw Helaena in the hall, in front of the massive red door, kneeling and trying to look through the keyhole. “I got it!”

“Open it!” Helaena encouraged.

Aemond knelt down and stuck the key into the hole. “Mr. Beesbury said that this is a master key. It’s supposed to open any door in the house.” The door rattled, not opening.

“He’s a weirdo and so is that lady,” Helaena said, nose wrinkling.

Aemond shrugged, still toying with the lock, trying to get it open. “Mama says they’ve been caring for this house for years and years,” he explained to his younger sister. “So if anyone would know where the key is, it’d be them.”

“What do you think is in there?” Helaena asked suddenly, a bright grin on her face. “A cotton candy machine? A tea party? A unicorn?”

“That’d be something. Not a unicorn,” he said. Helaena scowled. “They’re not real, Hellie. And even if they were, the door’s been locked for years and years.”

Helaena shook her head stubbornly. “I saw something moving,” she said. “And there was a shadow under the door!” She was insistent. Sure of it. Aemond brushed it off.

“If anything alive were in there, it’d be dead by now,” he said. He groaned. “This isn’t working. This one doesn’t work either.”

“Where’s the friggin’ key?” Helaena whined.

“Don’t say that,” Aemond reflexively said, his mother’s words practically flowing from his mouth.

Helaena glared. “You say it,” she pointed out. Aemond ignored that. She sighed dramatically. “The keys never work. Can’t you just use that big hammer?”

“No. We’ll find the key,” Aemond said, determined, smiling at his younger sister. He looked back at the door. “I want to see what’s in there too.” Aemond rose to his feet and offered his younger sister his hand. “Let’s go see if Mama has any more keys for us to try.”

Helaena took his hand and practically flung herself up and sprinted down the hall back towards the stairs. “Mama, mama, we need more keys!” she sang. “It’s an emergency!”

Aemond winced, watching as she ran so fast she nearly tripped down the stairs. He took the key out of the hole and held it in hand. He walked at a slower, more sedate pace back to the stairs. He heard a creak behind him but didn’t react - it was an old house, he knew, they settled. They’d been in enough of them that he’d grown used to the strange things about houses.

Still, if he would’ve turned, he would’ve seen a shadow underneath the door of the Red Room.

NOW

Seattle, Washington

Jace knelt at the edge of the bed that Lenora had led him to. The bay windows gave a perfect level of lighting to not need to turn the overheads on - a blessing for his tired eyes. He had his phone wedged between his shoulder and his ear, listening to his brother talking. At the same time, he played with the equipment he had, getting the settings where he needed them.

“Aem, I know you don’t need me to tell you this, but literally everything is an emergency with Hel,” Jace said, tired.

“I know,” Aemond replied, voice pinched in irritation. “But this is different. She sounded…she sounded rough, Jace.” Jace sighed. “Rougher than usual I mean. And she said it was about Luke.”

“Well then call Luke,” Jace said, not knowing what else to offer.

“I did,” Aemond said, voice practically dripping disdain for his brother’s idiocy. “And it went straight to voicemail.”

Jace hummed, unsurprised. He was almost disappointed at the news, but tried to be hopeful. “Well, then either he sold his phone for cash or he’s still in rehab. Which means we stay out of it. You know that, Aemond. Come on.”

“Forgive me for being worried about our family, Jace,” Aemond sneered.

Jace sighed. Aemond always did this. He cursed as one of his pieces almost fell from the bed where he’d precariously placed it. He slammed everything down on the bed and rose to his feet, his jaw clenched. He couldn’t explain the tension in his body, really, he couldn’t, but it was sudden and all-encompassing. He just wanted off the phone - out of the family too, but that just never was an option.

“Look, I can’t do this right now, Aemond. I’m working,” he said shortly.

“Yeah?” Aemond asked shortly, not even trying to conceal his anger. “You working, Jace?”

Jace didn’t back down, his own anger rising. “That’s right, Aem. Something else that you want to add?”

Aemond scoffed. “Fine,” he bit out. “I’ll just handle it, shall I? Like everything fucking else. That’s why everyone dumps their shit on me, right Jace? I am the oldest so it’s my job, right?” He let out a bitter laugh. “Oh wait - that’s you and Aegon. And well considering only one of you has a real job!”

“Fine,” Jace snapped, louder than he meant to, cutting off his brother. He was silently glad that he didn’t hear footsteps down the hall, didn’t see Lenora coming to see why he’d raised his voice. “I’ll handle -” He was cut off by the phone call abruptly ending. “Fucking shit.”

Jace shoved his phone back into his pocket and focused back in on his very real job, thank you very fucking much. He set up the equipment and Lenora came into the room, offering him another mug of tea. He took it with gratitude. She looked around with a healthy mixture of curiosity and skepticism.

“Does this stuff…you know…does it capture the supernatural?” she asked, squinting at it all.

Jace gave her a lazy smile. “Which side of the bed do you sleep on?” She pointed to the side closer to the window. He began aiming his equipment more firmly where he wanted it. “I don’t believe in that word - supernatural. There’s of course natural phenomena we understand, gravity, the laws of physics, rain, for example. And then, there’s the natural phenomena that we don’t understand - at least not yet.”

“Interesting way to look at things,” Lenora mused.

“Well, look at it this way,” he offered. “Humans used to die of fright during an eclipse because they didn’t know what it was. People thought that humans buried in iron were done so to keep them from rising as vampires because they didn’t know about graverobbing. And people used to say that they had too much bile in the blood when they really had things like cancer. People would blame the ever-watchful eyes of an angry god - any of them. They’d blame evil spirits. Whatever they could think of.” Jace shrugged. “But, once we understand it, once we know, well then it’s just natural.”

“Hmm,” she said, an indication she was following. Jace finished his adjustments and looked at her.

“I prefer the term preternatural. The natural phenomena that we don’t understand quite yet,” he said.

“Does it capture that then?” she asked. He furrowed his brow. She looked amused - the first real smile he’d seen on her face, one that lifted her face and took years off of her. “The equipment.”

“Oh,” Jace laughed. He nodded. “It can help.” After a bit longer conversing, Jace went out to his car to grab a few more things he needed for the investigation. As he did, he typed in a number that he’d come to know like the back of his hand. The pickup came on the second ring. “Yeah hi, this is Jacaerys Targaryen-Hightower. Is Lucerys Targaryen-Hightower there? Luke?”

“He isn’t currently available - would you like me to take a message to deliver to him?” the woman on the other end asked.

Jace wouldn’t admit it, but his shoulders fell in relief. “No, no message. I just wanted to see if he was still there,” he said through a breath. “Thanks again.” After another few minutes getting caught up on Luke’s progress, he hung up with the rehab. His shoulders felt significantly lighter, and he felt as if he could breathe deeper. Then, he tried Helaena. Immediately, it went to voicemail. He cursed, but still left a message. “Hey Hel, it’s Jace. I’m sorry that I missed your call. I, uh, I talked to Aemond. He said that you were worried about Luke. I called the rehab, they said he’s fine. He actually just got his 90 day chip, I guess, if you can believe it. So, don’t worry too much about him, Hel. If you’re…if you need to chat…I’ll be around tomorrow. I hope you’re doing okay, Hellie. I mean that.”

Once he hung up, distantly, he thought about checking in with his youngest siblings. Making sure that Joffrey and Daeron were doing okay. Ultimately, he decided that it could wait until the morning. He warred with himself for a few seconds then ultimately sent a text to Aegon - his only sibling that was older than him, even if Jace felt like the oldest most of the time from how disconnected Aegon was. He hoped that he’d at least get a call back at some point from the older man.

Boston, Massachusetts

Aegon, though, was not worried about texting his brother back - in fact, he had Jace’s number muted for texts anyways. He was in a club, sitting leaning against the bar, nursing a cocktail. His concern was much more aligned with making sure that he found someone to take home for the night. He would get what he needed, and move on. And, he knew that he was in the right place. His eyes flitted around left to right, smirking to himself. There were more than enough people that he could see himself taking home.

Without a care in his mind, Aegon didn’t feel particularly worried. That was until someone stepped a touch too close to him and he reflexively made sure that his gloves were still in place. He let out a tiny sigh of relief and looked around. No one had noticed the oddity, no one had glanced his way. He brushed his hair back from his face and took a drink. To one side, he saw a busty woman with dark hair eyeing him up. Quickly, he looked away.

But then, from across the bar, he saw a tall honey blond man staring at him. The other man smiled, noticing his attention, and looked away. Aegon grinned, target acquired. As the other man looked shyly away, Aegon moved determinedly across the floor. He watched, amused as the other man looked back to where he’s been sitting and frowned, disappointed.

“Hi,” Aegon said, voice deeper than it usually was. The man turned his head in his direction and smiled again. “Aegon.”

The other man looked back at him, grinning. “Trevyr…call me Trev,” the man replied over the din of music.

“Well Trev,” Aegon purred, taking a step closer under the guise of needing to hear better. He lowered his voice slightly. “Do you want to dance?”

Trevyr looked him up and down. Aegon would’ve had to be an idiot to not see the lust in his eyes. Yeah, he had this in the bag. Turning his head to the side while the other man considered the offer, Aegon deftly removed his gloves. One final test before he actually let himself take this guy home. Aegon offered the taller man his hand and smirked when he took it. He also let out a sigh of relief. It was fine - he was fine. It was…it was good actually. Warm, pleasant, clean.

He dragged the other man out to the dance floor. Pressed together, Aegon could almost feel his head turn off. The music was - as it always was - a balm that covered the noise in his mind. Covered the noise that feelings on his skin created in his head. It went from static to silence. The proverbial television was off entirely for once. It was, alone, intoxicating.

When Trevyr’s hands came in contact with his bare skin he didn’t feel disgusted, didn’t feel anything that threatened to cave his chest in. He in fact felt wanted and warm - far more than most of his previous partners managed to make him feel. So, yes, this was decidedly who Aegon was going to take home. Which was exactly what he did. And as they laid together after Aegon carefully took the man apart, Trevyr looked at him damn near with stars in his eyes. It was a nice stroke to Aegon’s ego to be sure. But, he was always sure to be a giving lover - especially after he grew out of the idiocy of his youth - so it wasn’t even a particularly big boost to his ego. Maybe that was the clawing under his skin returning, though. Aegon didn’t find himself wanting to dissect it.

“Fucking seven hells,” he laughed, breathless. “Where did you come from?”

Aegon chuckled and saw up. “Here and there,” he muttered. He put a blunt between his lips and lit it, inhaling deeply. He looked away from the other man and forced himself to remain calm, collected, and pleasant.

“What’s your story?” the other man asked.

Aegon raised an eyebrow as he inhaled another drag of smoke into his lungs. “What do you mean?” he asked coolly. He felt like he could crawl out of his skin again. He knew that if the other reached out and touched him, it would not end well right now.

Trevyr laughed. “Like who are you…where do you come from…why do you live in a funeral home?” he posed. Still facing away from the other man, Aegon allowed himself a ghost of a smile that quickly faded as he blew out a puff of smoke. “I’m here for a new position at UMass Boston. Sociology department. The program’s been fucking brutal to adjust to honestly. But I just love it here. Boston’s just got a good energy.”

Aegon hummed in acknowledgment. He pulled his gloves back on. The barrier it created between him and the world was enough that he felt a bit like he could breathe again. He glanced over his shoulder when he heard a noise of confusion.

“What’s that about?” Trevyr asked.

“Just kind…kind of a germaphobe,” Aegon said.

Trevyr shrugged. “I get it. No offense taken,” he said with a cheeky smile. “Look…that was really good.”

“Damn right it was,” Aegon said cockily. He never let himself be bad at anything. Except emotions. But especially not sex. It was one of the only ways he let himself connect with people, let himself express his emotions. He couldn’t be bad at his only outlet - he staunchly refused. Still, he cracked his neck. “I have to work tomorrow.”

Trevyr smiled easily and nodded, understanding. It almost made him feel bad for the cold, quick dismissal - the man was nice. He was bold and reached out, pressing a kiss to the top of Aegon’s head. Aegon almost shuddered, but it wasn’t quite in revulsion. Still, he hated it. He pulled on his clothes and walked to the door.

“Left my number on your nightstand. Call me if you feel like doing this again, killer,” he said. He tossed Aegon a grin. Between the easy smile and halo of golden hair, he looked like a fucking angel. Aegon kind of hated it. Kind of loved it. “Or even if you ever feel like going on an actual date. I get the feeling you’re not the relationship type…I think I could change that. Genuinely.” He gave a lopsided smirk. “So think about it. Actually think about it.”

He left before Aegon could reply.

He waited until he heard tires peel off and then rose to his feet. He pulled on pants and a jacket before going outside. He saw his brother sitting on the porch and walked up. “I know you normally prefer the company of cold stiffs,” he teased.

Aemond rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he dismissed.

Then he held up his hands. “But I brought beer,” Aegon continued, as if his brother hadn’t said a word.

“New friend there?” he asked. Aemond reached out and took it, scooting over so Aegon could sit next to him on the bench. Aegon shrugged. “He gonna come back?”

Aegon hummed noncommittally. “Who knows,” he muttered. “He was great but I just know there’s a pile of issues underneath.”

Aemond snorted. “Doubt you know much of anything about the guy from such a short encounter,” he said.

“Now you sound like Joffrey and Daeron,” he groaned. “Who said it was a short encounter? Short anything? I’ll have you know I’m a giver and his dick was like -” Aemond cut him off by elbowing him and Aegon laughed a little. “Come on don’t be like that, I know you love details of my escapades.”

Aemond rolled his eyes. “When Alys and I said you could move in, we didn’t expect the traveling dick circus is all,” he said, rolling his eyes. “And I don’t love getting details, Aeg, you just never shut up.”

Aegon clinked the necks of their bottles together. “And I never fucking will, little brother,” he cooed.

“Whatever,” Aemond muttered, rolling his eyes. He took a sip and looked at the bottle, steadfastly away from Aegon. “Hel called today.” Aegon stiffened, didn’t say anything. “She…she sounded pretty bad.”

“Yeah because it sucks to be Hel,” Aegon said shortly, taking a deep drink of his own.

“She call you?” Aemond asked, gauging both the answer and his response.

“She’d be more likely to call our dead mother than me at this point,” Aegon said dryly, eyes hard. He looked over at Aemond. “We haven’t talked since I got back. I told you that.”

“Aegon,” Aemond said through a sigh.

“Don’t,” Aegon said, standing immediately. “I’m just waiting for apologies. I’ve drawn boundaries and I’m fucking sticking to them with this family for once in my damn life. Something that you should do too.”

Aemond looked at his older brother, serious. “Sit,” he said. Aegon reluctantly did.

“What’s wrong with her anyways?” Aegon asked.

“I don’t know,” Aemond said honestly.

Aegon chuckled and tilted his bottle back, tipping the rest down his throat. “And you know as well as I do that you never really will,” he said. “Helaena has had one foot in crazy and the other on…a banana peel. Been that way her whole life.” He let out a breath, closed his eyes, staved off the sadness. “Boundaries.”

“I don’t know…something about it was off. She said it was about Luke. I don’t know why, but it scared me,” Aemond admitted.

“Luke will show up when he needs money,” Aegon said, slipping his eyes closed.

“What if he doesn’t? Or what if he does and it’s for the last time?” Aemond countered. “That’s all I can keep thinking about since the call today. I just can’t shake it.”

Aegon let out a weak laugh. “All of our siblings to worry about, and you choose them. Don’t,” Aegon advised. “Focus on…I don’t know…Daeron and Joffrey. The ones that are the most out of the loop - technically,” Aegon said. “Focus on them. They need us more. At least, they should.”

“They’re together. They have each other,” Aemond pointed out. “Always have. Just like Hel and Luke.”

“And like us. Again - boundaries,” Aegon repeated. He snorted, rising to his feet, walking back towards the guest house - his house, for all intents and purposes. “Maybe a brick wall, when it comes to Luke. You’ve been doing it this long, Aemond. Just keep it up. Not like he hasn’t earned the silence anyways with…fucking everything.”

Aegon ignored his brother’s sigh and walked away.

He did have to work early the next day.

Aemond watched as his other brother retreated, going inside of the house. He resolved to call Daeron and Joffrey in the morning - if Aegon was right about one thing, it was about the youngest of them needing more. He tried not to think of his mom - of either of them, actually - and the way that he could see them everywhere he turned these days. Tried not to think of Aegon somehow managing to perfectly encapsulate the worst of both of their personalities in an attempt to protect himself. Tried even harder to not think of the ways that all of their siblings did the same. Refused to acknowledge that he himself did the same.

Still, he forced himself to turn and go inside. He ignored the ever present visage of one of his mothers that lingered just out of the corner of his eye, ignored the other image on the other side. He looked straight forward. He walked up the stairs. He didn’t think of his mothers. He didn’t think of his siblings. He didn’t think of his wife or their children. He didn’t think of the cold guilt that gnawed at him. He thought only of bed.

Aemond was tired.

He had a body to prepare tomorrow.

Tampa, Florida

Try as he might to avoid thinking of his mother, Rhaenyra could not avoid thinking of her children. They constantly flooded her dreams, sleeping and awake. But, something rose on the back of her neck this night. It kept her tossing and turning in her sleep. Something wasn’t right, even asleep, even unaware, she knew it to be true. But, she was drawn back into consciousness by something.

An arm…no…a hand.

She felt a hand tracing up her waist, up her arm, until it landed on her face. Rhaenyra’s eyes popped open. She could see the hand clear as day on her face, even as it retreated. She forced herself to remain calm. She kept her face blank, even, as she turned around. Rhaenyra saw a face, shrouded in shadow, only the lips visible. The mouth curled into what started as a smile, but then fell open and let out a blood curdling scream. Rhaenyra jerked awake then, sitting up in her bed. She inhaled a deep breath and started to pick at the threads of the sheets to calm down - it didn’t work. Not until a voice told her that it was a terrible habit and she smiled briefly knowing it was true. Instead, she played with the two rings on her hand. The rings that she and Alicent had once exchanged when they’d entered their domestic civil union or whatever bullshit it was called. Rhaenyra just called the other woman her wife. Their kids did too.

The rings were all she had left.

As she calmed slightly, her phone rang, loudly, insistent. Rhaenyra’s heart thudded in her chest and she reached blindly over to pick it up. She looked at it and saw Helaena’s name on the screen. Suddenly her heart was in her throat, a bad feeling soaking to her very core. She answered it, cradling the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she sat up.

“Hel?” she questioned, wide awake.

“Mama,” Helaena greeted.

Her voice was sullen, sad, distant, and so tired. It reminded Rhaenyra so much of Alicent…of Alicent towards the end that she nearly shivered. Rhaenyra sat up straighter. She felt nothing but tension lining her being now. She found herself tearing at her nails as her wife used to. Couldn’t bring herself to stop, either.

“Do you remember the Bent-Neck Lady?” Helaena asked, voice low.

“Yes,” Rhaenyra replied immediately, heart skipping a beat.

“She’s back,” Hel said softly.

“Okay,” Rhaenyra said, immediately rising to her feet. “Okay…Hel…where are you?”

Helaena sighed, a quiet sort of sound, interrupted by a small sniffle. “I’m at home,” she said shortly. “I’m in bed.”

“I…I need you to go to Jace and Sara’s,” Rhaenyra said. “I’ll drive to the airport, hop on a flight. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Her hands were shaking now. She could imagine that her daughter’s were too. She felt panic gripping her chest now. She knew she wasn’t the only one. “You…Jace is the closest. You go to him. Okay? I’ll…I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll see you there.”

“Okay,” Helaena said, voice faint, absent and distant again. Rhaenyra bit back a curse. “I love you, Mama.

“Are you…are you okay, Hel?” Rhaenyra asked, her voice taking on a tone of desperation.

“I’m fine,” Helaena said. “I’m sorry to wake you. Goodnight, Mama.”

When Helaena ended the call before Rhaenyra could reply, she actually did let out a curse. She flew to her closet and started throwing things into her bag. The questions coming at her were loud and clear.

“I…I don’t know. She wouldn’t say…wouldn’t tell,” she huffed, throwing her phone charger in her bag and pulling on a jacket. “Yeah, I’m going.” She grabbed her car keys. “I’m going.”

THEN

Duxbury, Massachusetts

Jace usually didn’t dream. That night though, he was being tormented with the image of a twisted smile. With the image of decaying, grey skin. The image of a mirror shattering. The image of someone hanging, feet moving around as if dancing while they died. The kind of nightmare he couldn’t have imagined having before entering this house - at least that was how it felt sometimes, as if they couldn’t have existed before Driftmark. But maybe it was he who didn’t exist before Driftmark - the lines became blurry sometimes.

He wanted to wake up. Jace wanted it more than anything. But, the reality was that he felt trapped. Trapped in a dream. Trapped like a fly in a web, waiting for a spider lurking in his dreams - a spider just out of sight. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck raised, even while he was unconscious. Tonight, something was wrong.

He jolted awake when a hand touched him, quietly gasping for breath.

“Get up,” a voice urged.

“Mama?” he asked.

Jace had woken up to one of his mother’s shaking him. He looked blearily up at Rhaenyra, brow furrowed. His eyes hadn’t fully adjusted. It was as if he could see shadows of his dreams echoed around the room. It was disorienting. He didn’t know what was going on - not at all. But, something was off. Something was wrong. He felt a ball of lead in his stomach and a lump in his throat. The hair on the back of his neck really was standing.

“Get up, Jace. We’ve got to go,” she said softly. Quiet as she could be.

“What’s going on?” Jace asked, brow furrowed in confusion.

“Get up,” Rhaenyra repeated. “We have to get out of here right now.”

He shivered. “Why?” Jace asked, standing up.

She shushed him, glancing urgently back at the door. Rhaenyra wrapped him in a warm robe, and put slippers on his feet quickly. His mom’s hands were trembling. There were unshed tears in her eyes. Jace’s heart thudded painfully in his chest. His own hands started to tremble - reflecting his mother’s.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Shhh,” Rhaenyra insisted, pulling Jace close to her. “Quietly, quietly.”

Rhaenyra glanced out of the door and pulled her head back in. She softly shut the door and then turned the lock. At that action, something in Jace’s brain clicked. This was something serious. Even more than he realized. His breath escaped in a half-whimper. Rhaenyra glanced at her son and held a finger to his lips. Jace nodded, grabbing his mother’s other hand, suddenly afraid. Jace watched, a strange terror gripping his throat as the doorknob turned left, then right, then left again. Over and over.

When the doorknob stopped moving, Jace heard steps moving away - dragging, really - and watched as his mother slumped in relief. A few tears fell from both the mother’s and son’s eyes, but neither acknowledged it. They simply gripped each other’s hands for dear life. Rhaenyra waited a few more moments and took a massive deep breath. Centered herself. Jace took the cue from her. It was time to be brave. He was almost 13. He had to be.

“We’re going to run,” Rhaenyra said firmly to Jace.

“Mama, what’s going on?” Jace demanded.

“Quiet,” she insisted. “I’m going to carry you.”

Jace shook as his mom lifted her, tucking him into her side like she’d done when he was smaller. At this moment, both he and his mother were grateful that the young man hadn’t hit a growth spurt. That was the only thing that made this possible. Even so this remained dangerous - dangerous in a way that Rhaenyra despised and that Jace could not comprehend.

“Mama, I…what’s happening?” he asked.

“Jacaerys, listen to me. You keep your eyes closed. No matter what you hear. You don’t open them. Do you promise me?” Rhaenyra asked firmly. Jace stammered in confusion. “Do you promise me?”

“I promise,” Jace managed to say.

She nodded her head. Pressed a kiss to his forehead. “You keep your eyes closed, Jace. No matter what. You keep them closed,” she repeated. He nodded. “Okay.” Rhaenyra muttered this to herself as she turned the lock. She winced at how loud it was. “Okay.” She pulled the door open as quietly as she could. “Okay.” She ran. Jace held on. “Eyes closed.”

Jace heard doors slamming around him, but kept his eyes glued shut. He tucked his head into Rhaenyra’s neck even as he shook. For a brief moment, his eyes opened and he saw a woman in a nightgown - was that his other mother, he couldn’t tell - half-running, half-limping, but he glued them shut again. At the stairs, Rhaenyra put him down, grabbed his hand as they ran together down the stairs. Once they cleared the stairs, they bolted to the door.

“Get back in the car,” Rhaenyra shouted to Luke.

Luke was out of the car, trying to run towards the house. Rhaenyra stopped him. The rest of his siblings were in the car too. His heart was beating impossibly fast. Where was his mom? Where was mommy? Alicent wasn’t in the car but that couldn’t have been her upstairs.

“I saw Lyanna in the window! She was in the window!” Luke argued.

But, Rhaenyra picked him up and brought him back into the car. Jace whirled around as he heard the front door slam. Then Rhaenyra grabbed his arm and pulled him into the car too. Jace was overwhelmed - all of his siblings were crying. Aemond was holding Helaena, Daeron, and Joffrey. Aegon sat in the front, but had his arm extended back, holding Luke’s hand.

“What’s happening? Where’s mommy?” Aemond asked, voice wavering.

“I…don’t…did I? I thought I saw her upstairs?” Jace asked, confused.

“That’s not mom,” Rhaenyra said shortly.

She turned the engine on, started to turn so they could drive. When Jace looked up, he could see a figure in the window, tall, with his other mother’s hair. His brow furrowed and he whirled around.

“What about mom?” Jace demanded. She didn’t answer.

Rhaenyra was trembling as she drove. But, she focused on the road. Focused on getting them away. Focused on getting the kids safe. Like Alicent would want. Like the kids needed. Like she needed.

“Mama! We can’t leave her!” Jace shouted. Rhaenyra still didn’t answer. “Mama! Mama! Mom!”

Jace found himself with a lap full of his two youngest siblings. He held Joffrey and Daeron as they cried. He cried himself, shaking in a combination of rage and terror.

NOW

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

“Hey, Day, have you been able to get through to Hel yet?” Joffrey asked, holding his phone to his ear as he walked into the room. He yawned. A quick glance at their clock showed that it was approaching 1 o’clock in the morning. He grimaced when he saw his older brother - only by five months fuck you very much, Daeron - still typing away. “Are you kidding, Daeron? Holy shit you menace are you still working?”

“Can’t stop,” Daeron said shortly, red eyes focused on his computer. “I’m up tomorrow for my criminal law class and I don’t know the case well enough. Mormont is going to skin me if I fuck up and I want to get through law school with my skin.” He was slurring words, reaching a point of sleep deprived that made Joffrey cringe.

“Yeah, I’m going to have to cut you off, bro. We’re too old for this. You’re losing it,” Joffrey said cautiously. He peeked at his brother’s screen and saw that it was only a PDF that he had open. He pushed the laptop closed and Daeron turned his bloodshot eyes to him in betrayal, mouth falling open. “Don’t fucking argue. You’re barely even awake. I guarantee you don’t even remember what you just read. This isn’t going to help you. Fucking go to bed. You’re making my skin crawl.”

“Fuck you,” Daeron said, without heat. Still, he slumped and stared at the wall for a moment. “The coffee stopped working twelve hours ago. I don’t know if I am awake.” He blinked at Joffrey then, confused. “Did you ask me something?”

“Have you gotten through to Helaena yet?” Joffrey repeated.

Daeron’s brow furrowed. “Was I supposed to?” he asked, confused.

Joffrey rolled his eyes. “You’re fucking useless, you know that?” he asked through a laugh. He patted his brother’s shoulder. “She called both of us while we were at the gym today. Your phone was dead. You were supposed to call her back.”

“Fuck,” Daeron said through a sharp yawn that surprised him in how quickly it came. “I completely forgot. Shit. I have to call her back.” He scrambled and picked up his phone. He saw the missed call. Saw that she left a voicemail. Listened and heard no specifics. He pinched his nose and tried to call Helaena.

It rang…it rang…it rang. No answer. He got a pit in his stomach - called again. Immediately went to voicemail. Daeron, for some reason, felt his blood chill. He looked over at Joffrey who looked back, brow pinched in concern.

“What?” Joffrey asked insistently.

“She didn’t answer. The phone went straight to voicemail,” Daeron said. “That’s fucking weird, Joff. What the fuck?”

Joffrey bit his lip, looking perturbed by the news. “She didn’t…she didn’t sound right in the voicemail,” he admitted. “This is…odd. But, if she needed something she’d be answering. Hel knows that we of all fucking people are here for her.”

“You’re right,” Daeron said reluctantly.

Joffrey patted his brother’s shoulder. “Come on, champ, little future lawyers need to get some sleep if they want the case fairy to bring them good opening statements for their little mock trials this week,” he said mockingly. He ignored the swift punch to the gut that got him as best he could, only groaning in pain for a moment. “We can call her in the morning. I’m sure she’ll answer then. She’s probably just asleep now. Put her phone on airplane mode or something so she could rest.”

“God I fucking hope she’s taking her meds,” Daeron said, exhausted as he rose to his feet, yawning again.

“Hey, hey, hey. Stop,” Joffrey warned. “She’s fine. Hel wouldn’t want us to worry. Go to sleep, Daeron or I’ll knock your ass out myself.”

“The show must go on,” Daeron sarcastically drawled.

Still, he decided to acquiesce to his little brother’s - yes little brother fuck you very much, Joffrey - request. So, Daeron walked to his room like a zombie. He barely had the capacity to rip his shoes off and plug his phone in before he collapsed onto his bed. He did have to go to classes tomorrow. And then he had to go to the firm that he already worked at as a paralegal. Faintly, as he was starting to doze off, he thought that he should send his tuition bills to them - him going to law school was their idea after all. But, Daeron was asleep within a few minutes.

Joffrey, in the other bedroom of their apartment, did the same. He was right. They were too old for this. He should’ve been in bed at least an hour ago. Turned out that hitting 30 did cap his energy. He succumbed to the lull of sleep, swallowing his own silent worries for Helaena as he did. He was right. She wouldn’t want them to worry. So, sleep it was. He had work in the morning, after all.

Seattle, Washington

Jace glanced down at his phone and felt tempted to curse when he saw his mom’s name. He felt even worse after he picked it up and she started talking. He should’ve just let it go to voicemail.

“Mom,” Jace said, voice tight, “I already told you. There’s no reason that you and I need to talk.” He huffed. “You don’t get to just call me and tell me what to do!”

“You’re closest,” Rhaenyra insisted. “Your sister needs you. You have to get home. Stay with her. Keep an eye on her - don’t let her out of your sight. This is serious, Jacaerys - I mean it.”

“Mom,” Jace sighed. “I’m not even -”

“I’ll see you there. I’ll meet you there,” Rhaenyra said. A finality in her tone that Jace had long since come to loathe. Then, before he could say anything, Rhaenyra hung up.

He sighed. “Living at home right now,” he finished weakly. He cursed.

Jace sighed, putting the issue to bed for now. He threw his phone onto the bed and did the final adjustments to the equipment on the bed. Then, he sighed and laid down in the spot that Lenora once occupied. He stared at the ceiling then, blinking slowly until his eyes finally drifted closed. And if he were like others in his family, if he could’ve dreamt, could’ve seen, then it would’ve gone something like this.

Driftmark was a mess. The nearby ocean had slowly over time taken some of the color off of the brick of the house outside. The inside of Driftmark showed a different mark of the neglect of time. Walls did indeed stand upright. The stone still met neatly, and the floors remained firm. The wood and stone of Driftmark were perfectly intact. But vines like veins covered the floor, stairs and windows in a dense web. Driftmark was no less beautiful, somehow, even in its haunting decay. Still, it was not a place that a person should have been. That much was obvious.

If he could’ve seen, Jace would’ve seen his sister. Wearing a nightgown that looked strangely familiar, even in its somewhat tattered state. A gorgeous smile on her face, hands raised, as if dancing with someone. He would’ve seen a look of joy in her eyes, an ache that had been there for months melted now and gone. And Helaena twirled through the halls of Driftmark, silent and eerie, as if dancing to the most beautiful of music. The way she moved, twirled, offset the unnatural stillness of the statue garden she passed through. She didn’t even notice the cuts she was getting on the bottoms of her feet. Didn’t notice the practically pulsating energy around her. But, most importantly, if Jace could’ve seen…then he could’ve seen what had come next. It was, perhaps, for the best, though, that he could not. Because no, Jace couldn’t see. None of the Targaryen-Hightower siblings could, in truth. And Rhaenyra, their only living parent, was too far away, getting on a plane.

There was nothing that could be done.

At least, not until it was far too late.

And then, clock struck midnight for two of the Targaryen-Hightower siblings, Jace and Luke, both stuck on one side of the country - Jace in Seattle, Luke just outside of LA. And the clock struck two o’clock for two more of the siblings, Joffrey and Daeron, locked in another part of the country, in a dingy apartment in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And the clock struck three o’clock for the last three of the Targaryen-Hightower siblings, Aemond, Aegon, and Helaena, locked in yet another part of the country, the first two in Boston, the last in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

An anticipation of sorts was building in them, each as they slept, though they could not identify what it was for. The seconds that passed suddenly felt like hours, though none of them could’ve hoped to know that. To know what it meant. But, they were all trapped in a mixture of dreams and nightmares, tangled into a web like flies, waiting for spiders to come feast upon their fears and grief. The spider was coming. They just didn’t know it yet.

3:01

Luke started profusely sweating in his bed, a stress that wasn’t his own, taking him over. Even asleep, it almost felt like he was going through withdrawal. A feeling that he hadn’t been missing after 90 days clean.

Jace couldn’t bring himself to wake, even though a strange echo of a nightmare was reverberating in his mind. One that he did not understand.

Daeron felt his stomach turning in his sleep. Part of his mind warned that he might have to get up to vomit. The rest of him firmly stayed asleep. Even so, he’d just blame it on the excessive level of coffee.

Helaena began to rise up a gallant, spiraling staircase. The library was so vibrant, so warm, so full of love. Her face was lit up in a grin. For once…for the first time in a long time…things felt good. The joy was radiating out from her. A light in the sick, twisted dark of a rotting Driftmark.

3:02

Aemond dreamt of rope. He dreamt of a sickening sense of betrayal. The kind you feel deep in your gut and can’t let go of. He dreamt of falling.

Joffrey felt paralyzed in his sleep. Like the horrific sleep paralysis that Helaena had explained to him on a few occasions. Except he didn’t feel like he was trying to wake up or trying to move. It was almost worse in that he couldn’t. He was stuck in a dream. But, the dream was dark, nothing going on, nothing to see. It wasn’t a nightmare, not exactly, something just a shade off. But he couldn’t move. And he was terrified.

Aegon tossed and turned in his sleep, twitching. His brain kept telling him, even as he rested, that he was missing something big, something important. He tried to ignore the echoes, but they entered even his dreams, keeping haunting shadows just out of the corner of his eye, darkening even the most pleasant of dreams that he could have.

Helaena got the locket that her mom had always promised her. Her heart felt lighter than it had when she was a child in her mommy’s arms.

3:03

All at once it changed. Six of the Targaryen-Hightower siblings sat up at once from their separate beds across the country. They did so violently, suddenly. They grasped at their throats and gasped for breath. None reacted worse than Luke, who shook as he awoke, a cold sweeping over his bones all at once. But, none felt a stranger, stronger sense of trepidation than Jace, whose hands were trembling, and who picked at his nails like his long-dead mother once had.

“Hellie’s in the Red Room,” Aemond said loudly before he was aware words left his mouth.

But, while six of the Targaryen-Hightower siblings flew up, the final dipped down. The seventh Targaryen-Hightower dangled over a balcony in Driftmark. The walls practically whispered that the pain was gone and ended even though it had just started over anew. The body, only a body now, as the spirit had been…stuck elsewhere…added an extra element to the haunting ruins of Driftmark. Added another black tally to its red ledger. The life was lost. And, as if knowing this, as if appreciating it, the house shifted like it was settling, somehow breathing out a sigh.

The house was still hungry.

The house was oh so hungry.

Jace’s shaking hands stopped suddenly, he made himself breathe deeply for a few moments. He hadn’t felt like this since…well, he didn’t like to remember when. Hated thinking of that night. He’d done enough of it for a lifetime. He relaxed and saw the time on his own clock - 12:03 on this coast - and laid down. He closed his eyes and took a few measured breaths, willing himself to calm down. Willing himself to release the dark, foreboding feeling that had practically taken over his body. Right as he began to drift off, Jace felt a drop of water hit his forehead. His eyes flew open.

There was no ghost on the ceiling.

Another drop of water hit Jace’s head. His heart felt like it was in his throat. He rolled off the bed to his feet. He looked at the pillow and saw a few drops of water on it. To make sure he wasn’t going crazy himself, he reached over and touched the pillowcase. It was wet to the touch.

He then stood on the bed, stretching to look at the ceiling in the limited light provided by the street lamps beyond the curtainless bay windows. Closer to the ceiling, he could see a small hole in the ceiling - not large, but large enough he imagined. He reached out and waited.

Before a drop of water could hit his hand, an aggressive screeching followed by a wailing horn happened. He jumped, leaning into the wall. Then, he turned and saw two cars on the street just outside of the house. One stopped and drove past their stop sign. The other drove on, nearly getting hit. Jace’s heart hammered in his chest even harder.

He felt a drop of water again.

He watched as the cars drove away, tires screeching against wet pavement.Jace forced himself to take a breath. Forced himself to believe that the foreboding feeling in his chest was needless now.

All was well, he told himself.

All was well.

The next morning, he was determined to make Lenora see it as well. He brought her into the room and over to the window. He gestured out to the all way sign that was missing the actual stop sign. She looked out the window at the pole and then back to Jace. Clearly, she didn’t understand. Well, that was alright. He’d make sure she understood.

“There used to be a stop sign there, yes?” he asked. “There’s a pole there, but no sign.” He shrugged. “Kids love to steal them for their dorm rooms and things like that. I know that Joffrey and Daeron did when they first went to undergrad.” Jace turned his attention to the woman who looked puzzled. “It’s a pretty moderately trafficked area over here. Without a four-way stop, there’s bound to be some near misses.” She still looked confused. “You slept better with your husband in bed, Lenora. Didn’t you?”

“Of course,” she admitted.

Jace shrugged. “You’re probably just starting to notice the car horns now because of the trauma of losing your husband in such a…similar, terrible way. And because you’re not sleeping as well,” he said quietly. “These are the things you probably just slept through with him.” He sighed. “Or, it is possible that the sign was taken more recently. So this hadn’t been happening for very long.”

“The…the water,” she said.

Jace hummed. “I felt that too,” he said. “You said that there was a storm the night he died. Biggest one you’d seen in a long time.” She nodded. Jace immediately stood on the bed, anticipating this. He pointed to the hole he’d seen during the night - earlier in the morning. “There’s a leak in your roof. Didn’t notice because of all of the paneling. But, there’s water damage here. It was only drizzling last night and even I got a few drops.” He got off the bed and looked at her. “Take care of the water damage, Lenora. It’s no joke. Believe me. I’ve seen first hand how ugly it can get. Nobody wants to see mold growing in their house. Nightmare of all nightmares to get fully properly cleaned up.”

“But,” Lenora said, eyes whipping between the window, the ceiling and Jace. “But.”

It broke Jace’s heart that the woman seemed just about on the verge of tears. As much as he cared about the truth - about knowing exactly what was going on before he wrote about it - he never liked this part. Having to explain the logic in expressions of someone’s loss. It always made him feel horrible. Still, it had to be done. Especially in a situation like this where it could be a literal health hazard. Jace reached out and briefly squeezed her shoulder.

“It happens all the time, Lenora. Even happens to me,” he said briefly.

“And the man I saw hanging from my ceiling?” she asked, voice hot.

Jace understood. Understood the anger, he did. “The mind is an intensely powerful thing, ma’am. Especially the grieving mind,” he said.

“I know what I saw,” she snapped back in reply.

“I don’t doubt that,” he assured. “But, the water and car horns…you’d be picturing how he died, even if you didn’t want to. And when you push that down it comes up at night.” She looked flummoxed. “Look, Lenora, when I said that I’d never seen a ghost, it wasn’t strictly true.” He frowned. “I’ve seen a lot of ghosts, actually. Just not in the way you think.”

“What?” she asked.

“A ghost…it can be a lot of things,” he said. “A memory, a daydream, a secret.” He blew out a sigh. “Grief, anger, guilt, regret. Hell, it could be a reflection of your loneliness. For some people, seeing ghosts is a sign that they’re finally healing - that they can live with memories that were too painful before. Loss doesn’t take one shape, one flavor. It’s different for everyone.” He looked down to the floor. “In my experience, most of the time, ghosts are…they’re just what we want to see.”

Now, Lenora looked truly angry. Pissed in a way that only a woman could be at a man who said the wrong thing. Again, Jace understood. “And why would I want to see my Robert like that?” she asked.

“Because it’s better than never seeing him again,” Jace said plainly. Silence, painful and striking, lingered for a minute in the room afterward the words fell from his mouth. “There’s no shame in it. I…the way I have seen some of the proverbial ghosts of my past…I understand. Really. I do. It…it feels better than never seeing them. Especially at first. It’ll come up every so often. Remind you that they’re never really gone. The thing is, Lenora…most times, a ghost is a wish.”

After they’d talked together some more, Jace took the time to sign the collection of his books that Lenora had. “Thank you - you didn’t have to do that. Robert would’ve loved it,” she said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

She’d calmed down after crying it out some, and Jace dutifully listened to her. It was, admittedly, one of his least favorite parts of his job. But, he was good at it. And, it was necessary. Today especially, his chest was tight watching the weeping woman, so it wasn’t quite as painful as it usually was. Didn’t make his skin crawl as much as it sometimes did. Even so, he was eager to leave.

He gave her a half-smile. “My pleasure,” he said.

When Jace got to the last book - or, the first one rather, he frowned down at The Haunting Of Driftmark. He was unable to avoid recalling the nightmare that came when he’d first been published. It had been a truly hellish night when the news broke. Well, more when Aemond had actually read it. Back when he still lived on the East Coast in the clutches of his family - particularly of his willful younger brother. As dramatic as that was, it was exactly how he felt. It chilled him to think about the whole thing, about the words that they exchanged. The frigid ending of that particular conversation provided an easy excuse to talk to Aemond as little as possible without looking even worse than he knew he already did. That fucking book. That fucking house.

Jace sat on the couch while his brother paced before him. He wondered how long it would take before he snapped. It had already been five minutes since he’d arrived in a silent wave of fury. In total it took seven minutes and five seconds for him to speak. Short, simple and to the point. Jace could work with that.

“What the fuck, Jace?” Aemond snarled.

“You didn’t like it,” Jace said shortly.

“No,” Aemond sneered, “I didn’t like it. I want to burn the fucking monstrosity. I wanna fucking kill you. Is this a goddamn joke to you?”

Jace’s wife turned from the kitchen where she’d been making dinner and walked over towards them - hardly five paces in the tiny, cramped apartment. “What’s going on?” Sara asked hesitantly.

Aemond let out a bitter laugh and glared at Sara. The glare only landed on her for a few seconds before rotating back to Jace. Still, it was enough to put Jace’s teeth on edge. He was ready to move from defensive to offensive if Aemond had the audacity to say something to his wife.

“As if you don’t know, Sara. My brother just raped the family that’s what’s going on,” Aemond all but barked.

Jace stiffened. Both from the accusation and the tone his brother was taking with his wife. Don’t talk to my wife that way, Aemond. This is between you and me. And fucking hang on.”

“No,” Aemond said sharply, cutting him off before he could continue. “I get things haven’t been going well with your writing. I get that. And when you said you wanted to do a book about the house? I got it.” For a moment, Aemond’s tone shifted from anger to desperation and betrayal. It slipped back quickly - anger always came easier to his younger brother than anything else. “I understood. But this?” Aemond shook his head.

“I sent you the manuscript in case you have any objections,” Jace ground out, trying to be patient. He knew he was missing the mark entirely. “I didn’t have to do that.”

“I object, Jacaerys. Fuck, we all fucking object! Of course we object!” Aemond shouted.

“Let’s calm down,” Sara suggested warily.

“You be calm, Sara! It’s not your name being dragged through the mud by this ass,” Aemond snapped. “It’s not your name, it’s not your family.”

Sara and Jace both stiffened. “Don’t fucking talk to my wife that way,” Jace hissed rising to his feet.

Sara walked over and put her hand on his chest for a moment. He sat down and she turned her gaze back to Aemond. “It is my family,” she said shortly, her kindness reaching a very quick breaking point now.

Aemond scoffed and ran a hand through his strangely frazzled hair. “That’s not what I meant and you know it,” he said. “You weren’t there, Sara. You have no idea. And fuck, Jace. Helaena, Luke? Joffrey, Daeron? They were just kids.” He shook his head wildly as if trying to dislodge the book from his mind. “The things that they told you in confidence, Jace.”

“I make it clear that they were kids,” Jace countered.

“You make mom sound like a fucking lunatic! Both of them, actually, but especially mom,” he snapped. “As if it wasn’t bad enough that we lost her? She saved our lives, Jace. Took us out of the worst situations and gave us a home. A family. This is what you’re going to do? Now you want to drag her memory through the mud - like she was nothing more than fucking crazy?”

“Oh, mom wasn’t crazy?” Jace asked sarcastically.

“Oh fuck you,” Aemond said. “And the Beesburys? Our other fucking mother? Really, Jace? This is worse than any of the bullshit that the tabloids put out and you are the one writing it. Do you not…do you not see how fucked up this is? Are you really that blind? I get that you and mom aren’t really talking but that doesn’t mean you get to rip a fucking old wound open and watch to see how she goddamn bleeds!” He was bellowing now, only getting angrier. But so was Jace.

Jace scoffed now. “Mom had every opportunity to set the tabloids straight,” he stated. “What was I supposed to do? She was the one running around calling it a haunted house. She was the one acting like ghosts walked the halls like we did, Aemond. So tell me. What was I supposed to write? And yes, I know what you’re going to say. She was a wreck. She just lost her wife. But boo fucking hoo. We had just lost her too. We lost mom too. And has she said anything to you about that night either, Aemond? Told you anything?” Aemond remained stoically silent, glaring at his brother. “Because the only thing I have to go on? They’re these tabloid quotes. They’re all that I’ve got. She refuses to tell us anything else. So we lost both moms in one goddamn night and you expect me to sugarcoat that? Sugarcoat what they did wrong?” He shook his head. “They took us out of terrible homes, gave us a taste of family and then tore it away just as fucking quickly as we got it. So if you think that’s me ripping open a wound to watch if there is even blood in her veins…whatever, Aemond.”

“She believed it, Jace,” Aemond said simply. “When she said those things, she believed them. In the moment, at least. But you…you never did.”

“Neither did you!” Jace said.

“Yeah, but now you’re digging it back up! All of it! As if it wasn’t bad enough the first fucking time,” Aemond shouted. “For what?” He let out a bitter laugh. “For a little money? So you could stop living off of credit for a while?”

“A little money?” Jace asked darkly.

“Okay, okay, you’re both upset,” Sara said, laying a hand on Jace’s shoulder again. “But Aemond, he does have a right to write about this. You know it.”

“I already said that Sara. I was fine with him writing about the house. This? I’m not fucking fine with,” Aemond spat. “Ruining our living mom’s life, running our dead mom’s name through a fucking hellfire. Treating our siblings like some fucking side show of freaks for you to exploit. For nothing but a little fucking money.”

“A little money? Do you even understand how much money they’re offering on the advance?” he asked sharply. “We can buy a house! Move to LA! We can…” Jace trailed off, looking at Aemond’s face. Begging him, his younger brother, with his pregnant wife and put together life to try and understand. “I need to start a life, Aem. For my own family.” Aemond couldn’t conceal the hurt on his face. Jace immediately knew that he chose the wrong words. For such a fair writer, he was shitty at talking. At least to his own family.

“We’re your family, Jace,” Aemond pointed out. He shut his eyes, took a deep breath. “What you’re doing to mom.”

Jace clenched his fists. “Mom was mentally ill,” he snapped. He pointed at his younger brother, glowering. “That is a fact.” His chest heaved. “And somehow even without either of our mothers’ blood in our veins, I’ll be damned if the apple didn’t fall too far from the fucking tree!”

Aemond took a step back as though Jace swung at him.

And again, Jace fucked up - worse than he ever had, actually.

He knew that the damage was done. He knew he couldn’t take that back. He wished that he could - most of him, at least. This was one of those moments where his blood did him a disservice - when an anger that felt as foreign as his birth parents coursed through him. He’d had his fair share of incidents saying things he didn’t mean. Their Uncle Gwayne knew that well. Still - this was the worst, and that said something. He could see it on his brother’s face.

“I’m…fuck, Aemond…I’m sorry,” Jace said.

“Wow,” he said shortly.

“I’m sorry that wasn’t fair,” Jace said, voice practically strangled. “Not at all. There was no reason…no excuse to say.” He let out a short sigh. “I just…they’re not buying the novels, Aem. They’re not.” He said that like it changed something. “This book…it’s an opportunity I can’t pass on. I can’t. I would be a fucking idiot. I can’t afford to be an idiot, Aem.”

Jace said it like it solved everything.

To Aemond it solved nothing.

The younger brother steeled his face and walked towards the door. “You sent the book. You know what I think of it. And you know what publishing it will cost,” he said shortly. He pulled open the door. Looked back at Jace. His face was icy even if it was blank. “You know what it costs.”

Aemond walked out and slammed the door.

That marked the end of the good relationship between them.

Jace forced his mind to separate from his memory. He focused back on Lenora and offered her a small smile. “I’ll write your story,” he decided. “It’s a good story. I researched your house too. It was actually a half-way house during the Great Depression. And then it was a hospice briefly in the ‘60s too. Did you know?”

“I didn’t,” Lenora denied, shaking her head.

He offered another half, small smile. “I’ll have to talk to you some more. Learn more about your marriage. About Robert. Get a background on him. That’s what really matters - who you both were. The Tullys together. And separately. Who he was. Who you are. That’s what makes people care,” he said. He looked up at her, taking his glasses off his nose again, done signing the books. “I’ll have to take some liberties - I always do. But, I promise to be respectful. He was a fan, so I can do it in a way that he’d really like.”

“You really didn’t see anything,” Lenora said, a small frown on her face. Jace gave a polite half-smile.

THEN

Duxbury, Massachusetts

The conference room at the law firm was stuffy in a way that indicated it wasn’t used often. Silently Jace - and his brothers, most likely - wondered if that meant these lawyers weren’t very good. Still, they were able to sit in chairs and be with their mom. That was the part that they figured was important right now. Even if it meant they had to hear the anger that both their mother and her lawyer were throwing each other’s way.

“No, Greyjoy, my kids don’t take the stand. They didn’t fucking see anything,” Rhaenyra snarled at the lawyer across from them, pointing at him aggressively. Jace twiddled his thumbs, Aegon at one side stared at the ceiling, counting the holes in each tile, Aemond at the other, stared at the table, eyes tracing the wood grain.

“That isn’t the point Rhaenyra,” the lawyer said, exhausted.

“I had my eyes closed when we left,” Jace said quietly.

Rhaenyra reached over and brushed his hair back. “You don’t say anything, Jace,” she assured him. He leaned into the touch, sniffling before he looked down. Aemond reached out and took his hand, frowning, and even Aegon - wearing gloves - did too.

“Rhaenyra. No one else can corroborate this story,” he said. Rhaenyra scowled. “The judge is going to hear that you bundled seven kids into the car at three in the morning. The judge is going to ask why we aren’t hearing from those kids.” The lawyer sighed. “Look. The media’s already piling on. If we don’t give them someone else to write about, they’re going to just keep putting out more and more of this.”

The lawyer pointed to the pile of magazines and newspapers on the table. All of them had pictures of their family plastered across them. At least one of their mothers on every single one. And mean, scary words that Jace’s brain refused to register.

“It’s tabloids. Just tabloids,” Rhaenyra said coldly.

“It’s family court,” the lawyer said, exasperated. “This shit doesn’t help in the middle of a custody hearing, Rhaenyra! Be serious here!”

Rhaenyra’s jaw set. “They never filed a single charge against me. I was never placed under arrest. I did nothing wrong,” she said. She took a deep breath. Jace could see that his mother wanted to cry - angry or sad tears he didn’t know - but she didn’t let herself. “It was…it was suicide and they confirmed it.”

“Doesn’t matter. They got your statement off the police from that night,” the lawyer said. “That is what the tabloids are using. Your own words against you. It doesn’t matter what they confirmed when people have already formed their opinions. You can’t possibly think that any judge in their right mind would be impartial about this. They’re not fucking stupid.”

Rhaenyra gripped the table as she leaned on it, clearly thinking. Jace held his breath. Aegon and Aemond both squeezed his hands a little bit tighter. Nothing extremely terrible was being said yet. But they could all read through the lines. They all knew the threat. Knew what was at stake here.

“I wasn’t thinking clearly that night,” she pointed out. “We lean on that.”

“Can’t unring this bell,” the lawyer scoffed, tapping the top magazine with his finger. The one loudly proclaimed Rhaenyra as crazy and a potential murderer. Jace glared at it. Rhaenyra didn’t even look down. “Rhaenyra, please. I’m trying to help you keep the kids with you. The last thing that I want is for…”

Their mother glared. “That would never happen,” she snarled. “We have had other paperwork filed all along in case something happened to us.” Their mother sighed. As if she’d been expecting the words, but hated to hear them nonetheless. “Okay fine. They can take a bite out of me - as big a bite as they want. I don’t care. I can handle it.” She glanced over at the three boys. “But they don’t get to say anything, take anything from the kids. They’re off the fucking table, Greyjoy. That’s it.”

The lawyer shrugged. “Fine. But it’d go a long way if you just let the press near the house - they’d pay you for it. They’d pay you to walk around the grounds…take some pictures,” he suggested lightly. He knew how it would end - like it did every other time he brought it up.

“No,” Rhaenyra said immediately, voice like granite. “No one goes near the house. Just the police. No one else has to.”

“Then sell it,” the lawyer suggested. “You need the money, Rhaenyra.”

“No,” she denied again.

He looked stunned. “You want to keep the house your partner just died in?” he asked, incredulous. “Do you have any idea how that looks? Fuck, Rhaenyra.”

“I’m doing it for my wife,” she hissed back. “I want the gates and doors locked. At all times. And every goddamned day I want to know that it’s empty. No gardeners. No staff. Just the Beesburys - the Beesburys stay on.”

“This makes no sense,” he said dryly.

“The Beesburys stay on and it sits there and rots,” she insisted.

When the boys were back in the car with their mom, Aegon looked at Rhaenyra seriously from the passenger seat. Rhaenyra gripped the steering wheel tightly, as tight as she could with her arm still in a cast. She glanced over at her eldest son. His piercing gaze set something off in her chest, something that almost felt like a panic, but really was grief, and she forced herself to swallow it down.

Now wasn’t the time, now wasn’t the time, now wasn’t the time.

“I’m sorry you had to hear that,” Rhaenyra said seriously. Aegon looked away. She looked in the mirror to Jace and Aemond in the back. “I’m sorry all of you had to hear it.”

“What happens if you lose, mom?” Aegon asked, voice devoid of emotion.

“I won’t,” she said seriously.

“But if you do,” Aegon insisted, gaze turning more into a glare.

“Do we really have to go live with Uncle Gwayne?” Aemond asked, frowning, voice small.

Part of Aegon wanted to die - he hated it all so much - losing and leaving.

Jace stayed quiet. The anger in his chest kept him quiet. He knew how ugly words were when anger was what drove them. He didn’t want to say something mean. Even if he would’ve meant it. He was in some sort of denial and he knew it, but the anger was so much easier.

Aemond was lost and confused, reeling with all the sharp changes - his anger lurked under the surface.

Rhaenyra sighed, and looked back to the road. She didn’t answer the boys. All three of them knew what that meant. At that very moment, the three boys knew that they would probably end up with Uncle Gwayne. All of them would. Even if they didn’t like it. Even if they didn’t want to. It was just the world that they lived in as their mommy used to say. Only she was gone. And so was everything else they’d come to know. And they’d just have to get used to it.

NOW

Los Angeles, California - Interstate 5

Jace hated flying when he was this worried about things. Not that he’d admit worry was the feeling clawing at his chest. He’d much rather label it as irritation or exasperation. It felt neater. Cleaner, somehow. But, by the grace of God or whatever the fuck the universe wanted to claim, he landed safely in LAX. He got his car out of the airport parking lot and then started to drive home. He gave himself about five minutes of stalling on the road, fiddling with everything but his phone that automatically connected to his car.

He knew what he had to do. Jace had to make a call. Jace had to make a call to a woman who hated him. Who never wanted to talk to him as far as he knew. He did not want to make the call to his wife. He loved her so dearly, and every time he faced her anger, her ire, it felt like another band wound its way around his heart and squeezed. He couldn’t take many more bands before his heart burst. That much he was sure of.

Still, as much as he wanted to avoid it. He had to make the call. So, he dialed his wife before he lost his resolve. Still first in his favorites list - but he knew her number by heart anyways. Jace waited tensely for the phone to connect. It didn’t connect until the last ring before he would’ve gone to voicemail.

“Hello?” Sara asked dully.

He let out a quiet breath, holding the steering wheel tighter. Somehow the band around his heart both loosened and tightened at hearing her voice. Again, he wouldn’t identify it was stress that he felt - both beforehand and now. He wouldn’t identify that Sara made him feel safe. He couldn’t think that far. Couldn’t think much at all these days - since she left him, if he was being honest with himself. But even so, something in him settled at hearing her voice, the pit of worry gnawing at his stomach almost tolerable.

“Hey,” he said quietly.

“What do you want?” she asked bluntly.

“So, um, my…my sister. There’s something wrong with Hel,” he said.

“Is she okay?” Sara immediately asked, concerned.

Sara had always loved his only sister. Sara grew up with only an older brother. So the two had bonded over that immediately. They talked on the phone once a week at minimum still, as far as Jace knew. She had a right to know this. Even if Jace didn’t know exactly what this was. He felt a chill up his back, glanced in the rearview mirror, nearly flinched at the sight of headlights behind him, and just kept driving. Wait, right, Sara needed an answer - he’d almost forgotten.

“I don’t know. She hasn’t been answering. Her phone has been going straight to voicemail for all of us. I…we don’t know. We’re trying not to be worried. It’s Helaena. But, at the same time…” Jace trailed off.

“It’s Helaena,” Sara finished softly, understanding in a way that only she could.

Jace let out a shaky sigh. “She, um, she might show up at the house today,” he said. He wasn’t even sure that he said it loud enough she could have heard.

But of course Sara had heard. “My house?” Sara asked, sharply.

“Yeah. The house,” Jace confirmed, ignoring the way tears burned at the corners of his eyes.

“Why?” she asked. “Did you think that you could just sent Hel here and I’d let you back in?” She scoffed. “You’re fucking unbelievable Jace. I’ve already made it clear. Helaena is welcome here. If she comes then of course I’ll let her in. That does not mean that you are.”

Jace shook his head. “Sara, please. It wasn’t me. My mom told her to go to the house - go to me. I didn’t get a chance to tell her,” Jace said. He cut himself off. “Look, Sara. I’m sorry. But if she shows up…just point her to me.”

“Jesus…fuck, Jace. Do I have to call your mother and tell her? I need you to stop doing this to me,” she said sharply. Then, Sara sighed. “I’ll make sure that she’s okay. I’ll drive her to you myself if I have to. But if she was going to you…she probably already went to your place, it’s not like she doesn’t know.”

She paused. It seemed like, even without seeing her, Jace could tell there was something else she was considering saying. Evidently, she decided against it. Jace’s heart clenched at the thought, worried at what it could’ve been. That worry he’d openly admit to. That worry he’d accept over the ice that had frozen his marriage.

“Is that all?” she asked.

“Maybe I could come by if she ends up there. We could…we could talk,” he said shortly. ‘We…we need to talk about this more. Sara, please. I…you…we need to talk.”

There was a long pause. Jace hated himself a little more than usual at that moment, listening to the chasm of nothingness extending between him and his wife. Not that he could fairly call her that right now. Not really. He did. Legally they were. But in spirit? In the ways that it counted? They weren’t. And he only had himself to blame - and even his mother and older brothers would know that soon.

“You know what you’d have to say,” she said, sounding utterly exhausted. “You tell me.” She let out a short laugh. “Is there any point?”

THEN

Duxbury, Massachusetts

Jace sat at the rickety old wooden table in the kitchen. Daeron was at one of his sides, Joffrey on the other. He scarfed down his breakfast as if he’d never eaten before in his life. He watched as the housekeeper, Mrs. Beesbury, walked in. He hummed a greeting, but didn’t pause the shoveling of food into his mouth. But, curiosity took over as he noted a box in her hands.

“Hello young men,” Wylla greeted.

“Hi,” Joffrey replied, giving her a grin that displayed his two missing front teeth. “What are you doing?”

“Arranging some china and flatware so your mothers can sell them,” she replied, giving the three a small smile. “These are quite valuable.”

Daeron looked at the woman before them inquisitively. Jace just kept eating. “Mama says that you come with the house,” he said. “What does that mean?”

Wylla looked up at them. “Houses like this, the really big ones, the ones with a lot of land around them? They require staff to help take care of them,” she explained.

“Why don’t you live here, Mrs. Beesbury?” Joffrey asked.

Jace couldn’t help but notice how Wylla stiffened at the question. “We live close by. At the edge of the property. In the woods. Close to town,” she said.

“But there are so many rooms,” Jace said after swallowing.

Wylla shrugged. “Yes, but the staff hasn’t lived on the grounds since…oh, about 1950,” she said.

Joffrey’s brow furrowed. “So the people who lived before us,” he said slowly.

“The Velaryons,” Jace interjected.

“They lived alone? They were all alone?” he finished.

“Oh yes,” Wylla said seriously. She took the fourth seat at the kitchen table, and kept her work of arranging the flatware, even while she spoke to the kids. “No one would live nearer than town. No one would come any nearer than that. So yes, they lived alone. In the night. In the dark.”

Jace hummed. “Well they didn’t seem too scared, considering our mama found tarot cards and ouija boards all over the place in the parlor,” he said. He grinned over at his easily frightened little brothers, bumping both of them gently with his elbows. “So I don’t think they were too scared of the dark.”

“I see,” she said. “And do you know what those things do?”

“They’re parlor tricks, Mrs. Beesbury. People use them to have fun and scare themselves,” Jace dismissed.

Wylla gave a wry grin. “See…this is what’s wrong with schools these days. They teach you all about the…secular world. They smother you in science,” she said. She looked at Jace. “And science isn’t quite an exact science, young man.” She looked at all three of them. “The world is dark, my dear young men. And the only light we can find is from our Lord and Savior. We need His light in the night. In the dark. Do you know of the Gospels, boys?”

Alicent, from the door, cleared her throat. The boys perked up and looked over at their mother. She came over and smoothed back Joffrey’s hair. “I believe in God myself, Mrs. Beesbury. The Trinity. Whatever you want to say. I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church. Went through all of the sacraments from baptism to confirmation. I have a rosary in our car at all times. I say a novena every day, pray to St. Michael and the Blessed Mother every day right alongside the Trinity. I have Holy Water from the Vatican. I even have a statue of the Blessed Mother on my dresser. Faith is very important to me.”

“That is…that is good to know, ma’am,” Mrs. Beesbury said, nodding.

“So yes. They do know the Gospels,” Alicent said. “Rhaenyra and I…when we decided to start adopting, as…as single mothers who lived together…we knew well of the different types of people that the kids would encounter. They’d be exposed to so many different people, so many different lifestyles and ways of thinking. So, we decided we had to make them aware of them all - expose them to each and every one we could. Because that’s how you build tolerance. And we knew that there are people who would not be so tolerant. Who would throw judgment their way. For a host of reasons.” She pressed a kiss to Daeron’s head. “We wanted them to be prepared for it all. So they know more than just the Gospels - the Bible. They’ve read the Torah…the Quran, the Talmud…Vedic texts…the Gathas. Whatever we could get our hands on. Even little Joff.” She ruffled the youngest’s hair and then immediately fixed it.

“I’m sorry - I meant no offense,” Wylla said.

Alicent waved her hand dismissively. “I know. I understand. I just…I want my children to be able to pave their own way. Choose what can save them. Even if that means they choose something different to myself,” she said. “So they’ve read more than just the religious texts too. They've read Carl Sagan, Shakespeare. The works. And why is that, boys?”

“‘Because there are more things in Heaven and Earth Horatio,’” the three boys chorused.

“‘Than are dreamt of in your philosophy,’” Alicent finished, nodding at them.

“Very good, ma’am,” Wylla said, bowing her head briefly.

Alicent offered the other woman a smile. Then, she put her hands on her hips. “Now have any of you seen Luke?” she asked.

“Not recently,” Wylla denied.

“Have you checked the treehouse?” Jace asked through a big bite of food.

“Very funny, Jacaerys,” Alicent said. She pressed a kiss to his temple. “Swallow before you speak, will you? You’ll choke to death at this rate, honey.”

Then, Alicent left the room, still in search of Lucerys. Eventually, after finally finishing the rest of their food, Joffrey and Daeron strong armed Mrs. Beesbury into letting them help with the sorting of china and silverware. Personally, Jace wasn’t interested. So, he took it upon himself to go find Luke if their mothers couldn’t.

As expected, when Jace crawled up to the treehouse, there he was. Jace smiled seeing his younger brother sprawled out, crayons and all against the floor, drawing like his life depended on it. Across the walls already were different things Luke had drawn. It warmed Jace’s heart, really. His artistic little brother had such a particular way of seeing the world. Jace always loved to get a glimpse when he could.

“Mommy was looking for you,” he reported. “Trying every room and closet, I swear. Somehow never occurs to her to check the treehouse that mama built specifically for you.” Luke giggled. “You ready to go, little man? Or want to stay a bit longer.”

“Stay,” Luke said, not taking his eyes off of the picture he was drawing. Jace hummed, understanding. “I don’t like it inside.”

“No rush, my man,” Jace laughed, looking around. He looked down at Luke. “What are you making?”

“Card for Aegon,” Luke said, focusing. “He’s been sad since we got here. And cold. Maybe he’s sick. Want to help him feel better.”

Jace smiled at the words. “Real sweet of you, buddy,” he said. “He hasn’t been being mean to you has he? I’ll talk to him if you need.”

“No, Jacey,” Luke said, shaking his head. “He hasn’t been mean. I can just feel how sad he is. He doesn’t want to talk or play anymore since we got here. And he’s always complaining that the house isn’t warm enough even when he’s covered in blankets and sweaters.” Luke blinked up at his older brothers. “Not mean. I’m just worried. And he always likes when I give him my drawings.”

“It’s a good idea, you’re really smart, Luke. And don’t worry, buddy. If Aegon’s sick, our moms will help him feel better. He’s okay. So don’t worry. He’s just a teenager. They’re tired, moody and cold all the time,” Jace said. He knew the first two were right - his moms had explained he too would feel that way soon. He threw in the last just to soothe Luke. He looked down at a picture at his feet. He grinned and stooped down to take a closer look. “Hey, this the family?”

“Yes,” Luke said, not even looking up.

“And this?” Jace asked, pointing to a different picture.

Luke lifted his head. Jace pointed at one with a little girl half obscured by trees. He shrugged, as if it were insignificant to him. “I don’t know. Some girl I saw in the woods,” he said.

“Ah, I used to have imaginary friends too,” Jace said. “They go away when you get bigger.”

“Not imaginary,” Luke denied. Then he rose to his feet, proudly brandishing the card before him. Of all the words on the card, Aegon’s name was one of the only spelled correctly. That made it all the sweeter in Jace’s eyes. And he knew that even his older brother - only by six months, he constantly reminded him - would agree. “What do you think?”

“It’s great, Luke. He’s gonna love it,” Jace encouraged. Luke pouted. “What’s up buddy?”

“Aegon’s acting funny, Aemond keeps running around after Helaena.” He huffed as if this personally offended him - considering it took Helaena away from him, Jace had no doubt it did. “And Joff and Daeron are together. Will you hang out with me?”

“You want me to?” Jace asked, amused.

“Yeah!” Luke said. Jace nodded. “You can hang out all the time. Just Jacey and Luke.”

“The cool kids,” Jace agreed, teasing, ruffling his little brother’s hair.

NOW

Los Angeles, California

Jace looked both ways before crossing the street. Both hands juggled bags and he had his phone pressed to his cheek. His youngest brothers were talking together from Joffrey’s line - you know, the one he initially called.

“Hel still hasn’t answered us,” Joffrey stated.

“Her phone’s sending us straight to voicemail. I’m trying not to worry - kind of too busy to. But still. Getting to the point of being ready to go to LA just to beat her ass for worrying me like this,” Daeron muttered.

“It…she wouldn’t want us to worry. But yeah. She’s…she’s certainly making it difficult this time,” Joffrey agreed, sighing.

“Don’t worry. Mom told her to come to me,” Jace said shortly.

“You tell mom about you and Sara yet?” Joffrey asked blatantly. Jace heard a smacking sound on the other side of the line and Joffrey’s curse. Good, Daeron hit their brother for him.

“Fuck you and fuck off, Joff,” Jace said shortly. “Look, neither of you two need to worry. She should be good when she gets here. I’ll take care of it,” Jace said, sighing. “I’ll even have her call you once I get her settled in. For all we know, her phone just died on her way here. She’s never exactly kept on top of charging it. This isn’t even the longest we’ve gone without hearing from her. But, I’ll let you guys know if I need anything. It’s…it’s just Helaena. She’s fine. I’m sure of it.”

The three brothers weren’t quite convinced. Still, none of them voiced that. Something was itching just under their skin, ready to burst through, but not quite there. They all recognized it. Felt it. But, the Targaryen-Hightowers were experts at pretending otherwise by this point. If things weren’t spoken about, it was often much better. So, the brothers instead, rapidly switched the subject that they were discussing.

It was easier that way.

Safer too.

“Speaking of other weird things, I knew I’d get cold called today, but my sleep was so fucked up yesterday that I couldn’t focus in class - almost fucked up the case’s client’s name for fuck’s sake. Literally made myself look stupid. Mormont’s going to skin me,” Daeron complained. “I don’t know what the fuck was going on last night, but I woke up at like two or something and couldn’t get back to sleep after. Not for more than like twenty minutes - then I was having fucking nightmares. And I still just feel…off. Something’s wrong. I gotta sleep for a fucking year, this is ridiculous. I know they said law school was awful but like…holy shit.”

“You woke up too? It was awful,” Joffrey bemoaned. “Must’ve been something outside of the complex. Literally couldn’t sleep.”

“That sucks,” Jace said shortly. It didn’t even occur to him that it had happened to him too - it was just the water dripping, that was all. He’d forgotten he’d even woken before that.

“Let us know if you want us to come early. My last exam is Tuesday. So, if Hel needs an extra hand or…whatever…we can be there,” Daeron offered.

“I’m sure that’s not necessary. Thank you though,” Jace said, genuine.

“Seriously Jace. First sign of trouble just call us. You know Hel listens to us the most these days,” Joffrey muttered.

Fair enough.

Jace crossed the street quickly. He cursed into the phone when a speeding car nearly hit him - fucking LA. His brothers openly laughed at his cursing and the honking in the background. He ignored their good hearted taunts. It warmed his heart at least a little to know that these two still loved him enough to joke around with him.

“Look, I need my hands free, guys,” Jace said, struggling to get his keys out. “Just one of you send me your itinerary and flight schedules for next week. That way I can actually plan when to go get you idiots at the airport.”

“Oh I know you’re excited to see us,” Joffrey said.

“He better be or we’re gonna get on the plane again until he gives our triumphant return to LA the energy it deserves,” Daeron insisted.

“Yeah, yeah. Love you both. Bye,” Jace snorted. They called their own love back and Jace shoved his phone in his pocket, trading them for his keys. Once inside the building, he dropped his bags and checked his mailbox by the door. As he did so, he heard footsteps. Reflexively he looked up. He blinked, heart in his chest. “Hey, Luke.”

Luke blinked, as though he hadn’t expected to see his older brother. Probably hadn’t. He had some stuff that Jace immediately recognized as his own in his hands. He tried not to be disappointed, tried to stay above the frustration. But, he was only human. And he was so tired of Luke in active addiction. So tired. Especially when he was told yesterday that he had 90 days.

“H…hey, Jace,” Luke stuttered. He walked down the stairs slowly. “I know what…but this…it…it isn’t what this looks like.”

Luke looked - to put it kindly - like death warmed over. His whole body was shaking a little, as if it were impossible to get warm. His gait was stiff like the cold was locking up his bones and joints. Jace’s stomach pulled down in disappointment and fear - he attributed it only to the sight before him.

Nothing else.

“You cold?” he asked Luke.

Already, Jace was taking off the jacket he wore, seeing how Luke was shivering. He wrapped it around his little brother and then drew back to look at him. Was he in withdrawal already? Or was he about to overdose? A sick part of Jace didn’t care. That part was drowned out easily by the worry that clawed its way into his stomach making him nauseous.

“Y-yeah,” Luke said through a shiver. He took the jacket from his brother and wrapped it around himself. Still, he shivered. Yeah, definitely a rough comedown, then.

“How’d you know where to find me?” Jace asked. He raised his hand when Luke went to answer. “Fuck it. Never mind. Look.” He pulled out his wallet. “I have two hundred here. Take it.” He looked at what Luke had in his hands. He sighed. “Take the camera if you have to. But give me the iPad. I need it for work.” He sighed again. “It has to stay here.”

Luke held out his hand. Jace took the iPad, put the money in his brother’s hand instead. “I…I…Jace I’m fucking sorry,” Luke said, looking so lost.

“I know,” Jace said, eyes closed for a moment.

“It isn’t what it looks like,” Luke continued.

And hadn’t he heard that one before. Maybe this time it would be true. Probably not. But, maybe. Jace decided to go for a show of good will. At least outwardly.

“Good,” he said, bland.

Jace watched as Luke went out the door, pulling the jacket tighter still around himself. His heart broke for his little brother, but also squeezed in a rage that felt almost holy. In a rage that felt like he must have gotten it from their mother - from Alicent. He refused to acknowledge the biological innate root that he knew it had. He shook it away. He pocketed his mail, picked up his bags, sighed, and headed up the stairs.

The door to his apartment was broken. Unsurprising, given that Luke had gotten in. He sighed to himself and put his bags down in the front hall. Guess he could just be glad that the deadbolt would work until the superintendent came to handle it. He flicked the light on and jumped when he saw Helaena standing by the window.

“Holy fucking shit Hel,” he gasped, physically flinching back.

She whipped her blonde head and turned to look at him. There was a grave look on her face, lips turned down in a definitive frown. It was a look that was mostly rare on her beautiful face. It put a pit in Jace’s stomach. One he tried to ignore. She was weirdly quiet. He also ignored that.

Jace let out a nervous chuckle. “Fuck, I guess I needed a good scare. You definitely got me,” he said. Then, it registered with him. “Ah, fuck, Hel, are you the one who told Luke I was here? Sara would’ve had to give you the key! Fucking come on you let him in? When he looked like that? Hel, come on.” He groaned and shook his head. “Whatever, I can fix the stupid door.” She stayed quiet. “Super fucked up that you’d watch him rob me though. No matter how pissed you are, Hel.”

Helaena’s hands trembled. She opened her mouth and then closed it - her mouth didn’t…didn’t quite look right.

Jace ignored the hairs on the back of his neck standing up - he always did.

“Fine,” he said, running his hands down his face. “Alright, Hel. You hit everyone up, got Luke out when he was finally getting his shit straight, apparently. Got mom on a plane here. So sure, fine. You have us all listening.” He held his hands out. “What’s so fucking important? What do you want?”

Helaena made an aborted noise with her throat, choked off and pained. The sound made Jace’s heart skip a beat - he didn’t know why. It was the closest to speaking she’d come since he walked in - the closest thing he’d gotten so far to an explanation. Jace’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket. He looked down at his phone and sighed.

Mom.

“Ah fuck I forgot to give her the address,” he hissed, cursing himself. “Shit fuck goddamn it.” He turned towards his counter and leaned against it, answering. “Mom? Hey, I tried to tell you -”

“Jace?” his mom’s voice came from the phone, whispered and garbled. Weird - there was never static in his apartment like this, reception was always great. It was hard to understand what she was saying. Jace’s brow furrowed. “Jace!”

“Mom?” he said, uneasy. “Mom? I can’t hear you.”

“About Hel,” his mom said, voice coming through clearer. “Can you hear me? I said it’s about Hel.”

Jace nodded. “Yeah, I can hear you now,” he confirmed. “I know. I just walked in and -”

“She was lying,” Rhaenyra said, voice hushed, and, more than anything, sad.

“Shocker,” Jace drawled, raising an eyebrow.

He felt his heart beginning to race and he couldn’t explain why. He raised a hand absently to scratch at his chest as if that would do anything. It sounded like Hel was breathing heavily behind him. More than ever, his instincts were screaming to not turn around. The hair on the back of his neck, on his damn arms, was standing straight. His heart was in his throat and his stomach both and he gripped his phone harder to keep his hands steady.

“She wasn’t in LA. She was at the house, Jace. At the house,” Rhaenyra said.

“What?” Jace asked. He heard Helaena whimper.

She…she’s dead…she’s dead,” Rhaeynra said, the words audibly paining her to say. Jace’s breath caught in his throat. “Helaena’s dead, Jacaerys.”

No.

Helaena whimpered again.

No.

No.

No.

Jace’s heart was pounding as he slowly finished turning around. There right behind him was Helaena, looking as healthy as ever. Decidedly not dead. He opened his mouth to say so to his mother - to curse her out for having the audacity to joke about something like that. But then…then something changed. Helaena changed. Her lip trembled. Then, Jace watched while his sister’s eyes turned to stone, greyed out and over. The color of her face faded to a grey tone like a statue - or a corpse - and her mouth fell open. She began to scream.

The next thing Jace knew, he was on the ground.

“Jacaerys?” his mother asked, panicked.

He was breathing heavily.

“Jace!” she pressed.

Oh, oh, his phone. A voice.

“Jacaerys! Jace!” she said.

He gasped in a deep breath.

“Jace!” she exclaimed.

He looked around.

He was alone.

“Jacaerys! Jace! Are you there?” she begged.

Jace shuddered.