[ 19 ] 2013 

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"Is it because you actually love her, or could it be that maybe you see me in her?"

-

"Right, grandmum." Calum snorted. "You're a known liar, even Mirror Boy wouldn't fall for that one."

But Claire shook her head, her face completely serious. "This isn't a lie. I was involved with Bobby. The poor kid was so in love with me, and I took him from his stupid girlfriend Hayley so easily. Of course, I was prettier than her." She remembered pridefully. "But Con was the only man I ever truly loved. And when I found out I was pregnant with Arthur...Con made me give him up to an orphanage. He took him from me and said he wasn't going to take care of another man's son. He only allowed me to name him...Arthur, like the king of Camelot because he was a lovely princely-looking little booger. Even more beautiful than the kids I had with Con, he was perfect. Then he sent my baby off with some strangers and I never saw him again." Though both Ashton and Calum knew the kind of person she was, they both saw it on her face how sincere she was being. And they were even more surprised when they saw her choke up.

"You're fucking disgusting." Calum shot up from his seat at the desk. He had gotten up so abruptly that the chair he was sitting on fell back. "Couldn't you keep your legs closed for once in your life?"

"Calum! I'm your grandmother, you will respect me." She glared at him in a scolding way. Though in her ghostly apparition, she didn't look to be too much older than him. It was evident that she had either died young, or altered her appearance in her vanity.

Shaking his head, the raven haired boy responded, "How can I respect someone who didn't even respect themselves?"

"Hey," Ashton stepped in. "She's your grandmother. Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with her and owe her some respect." In the name of the love he once had for her, he thought he owed her enough to defend her honor. Though when he really thought about it, he knew she didn't deserve it. He saw Claire bite her lip nervously at his words and he cocked an eyebrow at her. There were more things she was hiding, things she didn't want to let out, more likely out of convenience than anything. Ashton needed to get the full truth out of her.

Claire seemed to quickly get over the fact that Calum was angry at her and gushed happily, "Oh! I knew I liked that girl, she's my beautiful granddaughter. She looks just like me, doesn't she?" She looked both at Ashton and Calum, whose expressions were still in a state of shock, and Calum's in a state of horror and outrage. She looks nothing like you, Calum wanted to shout at her, but he stopped himself. Crinkling up her nose, she added, "But she also faintly reminds me of a bitch I hated back in the sixties..."

"Really?" Calum asked, feinging interest. "Who else's boyfriend did you take, slag?"

Claire's mouth gaped open at the way Calum was speaking to her and Ashton decided to intervene once again. "You also have a grandson named Michael." Ashton informed her, hoping to change the subject.

The blonde haired apparition grinned at the news, completely forgetting her current argument with Calum. "Is he handsome? What am I asking? If he's related to me...of course he's handsome! And my Arthur!" She gushed with an excitement Ashton had never seen in her before. When he knew Claire she had always been so posh and sophisticated. The few times he saw her geniunely smile were when she was around Con. "I wonder when I can meet him-"

"Never." Calum told her.

"No one knows where he is." Ashton added.

The boy with raven black hair let out a sigh. "Can the two of you go away, I need to concentrate. No matter what she," he gestured to Claire, "did, I still need to find a way to help Harley."

Ashton nodded, "Alright. I'll return and help you search, but I need to speak to your grandmum alone." He grabbed Claire by her wrist and vanished into thin air, leaving Calum alone with nothing else but his thoughts and the old books that filled the family library.

He picked the chair up, which had fallen when he had his sudden outburst against Claire, and he plopped himself down on it. His elbows rested on the smooth wood of the desk in front of him and he looked out at the palms of his hands. "Cousins..." He sighed. "So..." He concluded to himself, "The only one who was actually have a chance with her is Mirror Boy." His hand balled up into a fist and collided with the desk in anger. "There has to be some fucking mistake. Grandmum's lying. I need proof that this isn't some lie she'a making up."

In another part of the house, Ashton materialized, still grabbing Claire's wrist tightly. He needed some answers and could not allow her to escape.

"Something isn't adding up, Claire. So talk." He ordered.

"Ow!" She complained. "You're hurting me, Ashton! What happened to the boy who loved me and showered me with compliments? The boy who used to call me kitten. Remember that, Ash? You were such an oldie back then."

But he wasn't ready to follow her down memory lane. Instead, he replied with, "He's dead, killed by his girlfriend, and his best friend."

"Oh, get over it." She huffed. "That was fifty years ago!"

"I didn't get to do so many things because of what you did, and all you have to say is 'get over it'? How about an apology, at the very least?" He said to her.

Trying to wrench herself out of his grip and struggling, she said, "I didn't get to live too long either. But I wasn't moaning about it. When you die, you die. It was your turn to go and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Are you going to tell me what you're hiding?" He asked, changing the subject.

"I'm not hiding anything!" She swore. But he could see it in her eyes. There was something she wasn't telling them. "Stop pestering me!"

The boy with golden curls shook his head at her. "I can't just let this go when it could affect Harley because I love her. I'm not certain you know what love really is, but I would do anything for her, even if it lessened the chances of me being with her." And it was true. If Ashton had to be honest, he didn't expect her to willingly be in a relationship with him. Especially not when she had Calum, who was actually alive. If Claire was lying, or there was more to the story than she would let on, Ashton felt both Calum and Harley had the right to know.

Claire raised an eyebrow at him. "You're in love with my granddaughter? Is it because you actually love her, or could it be that maybe you see me in her?"

"Of course not!" Ashton shook his head. "She looks nothing like you. And..." He added matter-of-factly, "I forgave you and forgot you decades ago."

She snorted at that, rolling her eyes at him. "Right. You were so in love with me back then, I doubt you forgot about me so easily."

"You made it easy." He told her.

"You're fooling yourself if you think you don't love me anymore." Said Claire.

Ashton looked at her one last time and saw the smirk on her face. She was genuinely convinced that he still loved her and that she could manipulate him as easily as she did before if she wanted to. But he wasn't the same boy who loved her beyond everything and anything. He had experienced the ultimate betrayal at the hands of the two people he most trusted.

And the place in his heart that he once had for her was now occupied by someone else.

"I'm going to return to the library to help Calum." He informed her. "But this isn't the last of our conversation. I will find out what the missing bit of this story is." He assured.

"Well goodluck cause there's nothing to find." She smirked.

Ashton disappeared out of the room and went to the place where Calum was searching for a solution. But his mind was thinking back to the sixties. Maybe if he replayed all the memories in his mind, he would find his answer.

-

i have to get to work in five minutes. but i finished the chapter, so here it is! i think this should hold you all for a few days cause i'm super busy. so i hoped you like it and i honestly don't have much to say cause i posted something earlier.

question of the day: what is your school's mascot? mine is the godess athena because she is the godess of wisdom and my school focuses a lot on wisdom and women's rights. so comment below, guys! since the story is kinda turning out to be longer than i expected, if i haven't finished the planned plot by chapter 50, i might add a last book into the series. but that's a pending thought. 

thank you for reading and supporting.

i love you.

-clary xx