ii. A New Direction
CELIA SAT IN HER ROOM, her cheeks stained with tears. Normally she wasn't one to cry, she was sure she had lost the ability to cry when she was twelve. It was the first time she had seen her mother be so insane, that's why she cried.
Now it was different. The agency had presumed Constatine Finch was missing instead of dead. Celia knew why they had done that, it was all to cure the reputation of the agency. They told the public she was making her trips over to Europe, like she always intended.
But Celia knew that wasn't true, she knew what had happened and now it was spooking her mind.
A knock on the door pulled her out of the mind trance she was in. She turned around, looking at the door as Xander was the one who stepped in it. He looked much better than before, he looked cleaner and his hair wasn't dusty. He had probably showered.
And even though he looked better, and seemed better. The look on his face was still the same. "Hey." He spoke, clearing the air before it got too tense.
Celia gave a weak smile, it wasn't his fault her sister was dead so she couldn't be angry at him. "Hey, are you okay?" Celia asked, she was trying to be as strong as possible. She had always admired how Constantine could keep it together, even if she was basically being crushed on the inside.
Xander let out a chuckle. "I think I should ask you if you're okay." Xander spoke, placing himself on her bed as he played with his fingers. Celia shrugged, she wasn't actually sure how she was. "hanging in there, I guess." She answered, she wasn't sure if she really was like that but nothing could change it.
the silence between them spoke louder than words, like no one had to say anything to know that they were both not okay. "Natalie and I are planning on running away." Xander broke that silence by announcing it.
It made Celia look at him, like actually look at him and for the first time she could see that he was being eaten alive to be here. It was obvious now why they wanted to do that, every corner he turned in the agency was a reminder of Constantine.
Celia nodded her head, feeling like there was something more to it. "Natalie wants you to come with us to London," He spoke before quickly adding. "I'd like that too." He said, his voice was laced with truthness. Like he really meant it.
Celia shook her head, her life was here. Her life was with the agency, she had no other home. She never actually had a home because the only thing she can clearly remember is the agency, she was in there since she had been eight. "I can't." Celia spoke.
But Xander didn't take no for an answer, he knew that she felt the same. "I know you feel it too, I know every time you walk into your room, you're reminded of Constantine." He spoke, the air felt thicker now.
If it hadn't before, it definitely was now. "You'll be miserable here." Xander commented, he spoke exactly what Celia was afraid of. He knew what he was talking about as everything he said was correct.
Every corner she turned, she was reminded that Constantine wasn't there anymore. Every page she opened on her phone showed that Constantine was on her trip to Europe, it was also people claiming they had seen it.
She was going to be miserable, but she had no place there. She had no purpose there. "I have no place in London." Celia spoke, turning around as her eyes watched out the window again.
She could see the forest where the haunted asylum was located. "You do." Xander spoke, meeting Celia's eyes as she turned to him."Oh, really? Tell me what my place is."Celia spoke, being sure that she knew her place.
My place is in the agency, with my father." Celia spoke surely. Her place was here, whether she liked it or not, she was here for her life. She would only leave if that was her death, she saw it happen to Constantine.
Xander shook his head, pushing himself up from the bed. "Your father who put his own investigators up for failure?" xander questioned, the sentence rang high in Celia's mind. She shook her head. "What are you talking about?" Celia asked.
There was no way her own father would have done that, there was no one he lied to about what the place really was.
Xander stepped forward, his eyes staring at her deeply. "Do you even know why they presumed your sister is missing instead of dead?" He asked, his head tilted as his black curls hit his face.
It was getting long. Normally he would grab a haircut by Constantine, as she was the hairstylist in the agency, but now he couldn't do that anymore. "No..." Celia trailed off, she didn't know why, but there was no way her father would do that.
He was angry about Constantine leaving but he had to see it coming. She had been talking about traveling for years now so it was obvious she was going to do it. "Because your father was the one who made the call to send us there." Xander spoke. And for Celia, the world went quiet.
He had actually done it. He had probably messed up the documents and that's why they were there. " It would scar the agency if the public knew that it's own founder had set his own investigators up for failure." Xander spoke, although his voice was harsh- it was true.
Celia looked at him, like actually looked at him to see that he wasn't lying. That this wasn't some weird scheme that would make her join them, but it wasn't. She could tell it on his face, when he lies or when he tells the truth. And now, he was telling the truth.
Celia nodded her head, clearing her throat as her eyes studied his. "What is there in London?" Celia asked, she wasn't going to join someone if she didn't know what they were going to do.
Xander smiled, it was obvious to Celia that he was happy she had changed her mind. Happy that she was joining them. "lots of information, a way to help your sister." Xander spoke, he nodded his head. The sureness of his voice made it show that he had done his research.
Celia frowned. "How? She's dead. I can't help her anymore." She said, the truth came on harder than she had wanted it to but it was true. She was dead whether they were covering it up or not, she was dead and nothing could change that.
She had lost all hope in helping her sister. "She was ghost locked, not dead. It's a possibility that she made it out when we left." Xander spoke, He was always the one who had faith in those things.
Constantine was an amazing ghost hunter, her sight was one of the best which was also why she was so good. Maybe there was a possibility that she got out of the ghost lock, maybe she had made it out alive. "A low possibility." Celia reminded Xander and even herself.
She couldn't help but get slightly excited over the thought of her sister maybe being alive, the thought would give her motivation to keep going. "yeah but still, there is a chance." Xander shrugged.
It was obvious he believed in it, which made Celia believe in it too. "Okay, I'll go with you. To London." Celia nodded her head, Now being absolutely sure she was going with them. She needed this information, maybe there was a way.
Xander gave her a short smile."Pack your bags, we're leaving tonight." He said, before leaving the room. Celia guessed it was probably to pack his own bag.
And she had to admit that the thought of leaving the agency was thrilling, she was happy that she was leaving it. Even if it stabbed her on the inside to admit that.
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THE TRAIN RODE SMOOTHLY OVER THE TRACKS, which calmed Celia's heart by a few miles. She had realised how much she hated trains, it was basically just a car on tracks which was frightening to her.
Maybe also the feeling that she was leaving everything behind scared her as well, the agency was her home and now she didn't have that anymore. It would never feel like home without Constantine, constantine was what made it feel like home.
And now she was gone, gone as in dead or gone as in away from the agency. Whatever the answer was, she wasn't coming back. And the thought of that scared Celia, she couldn't sleep. She noticed when she tried to sleep in the station, and on the train.
But her mind circled back to that night, it showed her the sacrifice and the way Constantine stood there. The way she was lifted in the air and then dropped down, the way her eyes weren't those golden brown eyes.
She was tearing up just thinking about it, so she cleared her throat before speaking. "Are we far from where we were supposed to be?" Celia asked, her eyes clearing up as she thought about something else.
She thought about London, all the things that excited her from it. Natalie had made jokes that there were cute boys in London, and maybe that was true but Celia wasn't thinking about that.
She was, however, thinking about all the ghost opportunities she was going to have. London was known for its haunted places, its haunted grounds. So she knew there must be some agency's who were willing to employ them, or at least help them.
"We're almost there. We actually have a mission." Xander spoke while smiling, it made Natalie sigh as she shook her head. "I thought we weren't going to go on a mission when we were here." Natalie spoke.
It was clear she was promised something else instead of hunting more ghosts, maybe that's why Natalie wanted to leave. things got intense, she had the sight but that was it. She had to rely on instinct and what she saw, she couldn't hear them or see their memories. She wasn't like them.
Xander gave her a half smile. "I know, but this is big. We have to go there." Xander explained. Celia could understand it though, xander had also only known about fighting ghost so it was normal that he didn't know what else to do.
Celia wondered if Natalie thought this would be a vacation, that they would go in hiding and never go back. That they would leave the ghost hunting in their past. Celia didn't even want to do that, she would have found a way to ghost hunt anyway.
It was what kept her memory of her sister alive, like her sister was right by her side. Giving her corrections on her form, or alerting her if there's a ghost. It was like her sister gave Celia her power.
Which was totally weird to think about, that her own sister had given her a power she didn't deserve. She ran away with Natalie like a coward, she was never going to make that mistake again.
"What's it about?"Celia asked, shutting up Natalie and Xander, who were starting to argue. Xander liked his lips before looking down at his papers. It clicked in Celia's mind that the papers about the place were what he was reading.
He was probably getting intel on it, trying to get a case like that is hard. "A house, haunted of course. There's apparently a lot more to it than just some haunting." Xander spoke, smiling as the case gave him some type of excitement. "indicating a type two." Celia spoke.
Xander nodded his head. "Exactly." He said with the same excitement on his face.
Celia realised how different Natalie and Xander were. All these years, her focus was on how similar they were. They thought alike, they even fought the same way. But one big event can show you a lot. They were so different.
Natalie hated ghost hunting, she did it to help. She didn't like the idea of finding the ghost, she wasn't going to stumble inside a house full of ghosts without genuinely looking into the place. She wasn't one for risks, she was sure of her moves.
Xander was different. He lived for the thrill of ghosts, adventure and danger. He was a seeker to it, he was looking for ghosts instead of looking into it first. His moves were calculated, but they were risks. They weren't moves you could do without experience, and xander had a lot of that.
It had never been so clear before. The two people who a week ago were one whole, were now two different people. It scared Celia, had she always been this distracted.
She would have never found out of the differences if that asylum didn't happen, everything was going to change. And now it was even clearer than before, it was never going to be the way it used to be. Before everything.
Xander cleared his throat, pulling Celia out of the mind loop she was. She was glad he did, as she was about to freak out about it. It was the only thing that made sense. Natalie and Xander. Xander and Natalie. The only thing that couldn't change, but it did.
Celia pulled herself out of it now, realising how much she was snapping in and out of it. "Plus if we get discovered by one of those big agency's, we can stay there." Xander spoke so nonchalantly, like he had the whole plan thought through.
But in reality he didn't, Celia could see it on his face. And so did Natalie. "That's your plan?" She asked, she had the right to have her doubts. Especially since it's the first time they were hearing about this plan of his.
He hadn't said anything about it, so why should they trust him. "I always have a back up plan if this one doesn't, Nat. I'm not stupid." Xander spoke, he rolled his eyes as he had already thought about a different plan if that one didn't work.
"Sometimes you are." Natalie spoke, crossing her arms as she admitted it. Celia laughed, leaning back in her seat as she also crossed her arms. Although they were almost there, it was definitely still going to feel like a while.
Xander scoffed. "Shut up, like you aren't." He spoke.
And that sentence set off a row of insults made by Natalie, but Celia didn't listen to it. Instead she looked outside the window to see the view of London. Although it was only a one hour train ride, it felt like forever.
London even felt different, a lot different than Brighton. A small part of Celia knew she was going to like it there, whether she was going to do ghost hunting or not.
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