Arran spent most of Sunday in his room avoiding his mother. All the progress that he had made over the last month vanished. No matter what he did he felt a pressure in his stomach and he felt shaky all over. He desperately wanted to talk to someone about it who wasn't his mother. If he was being honest with himself, he was desperate to talk to Cree. He missed being able to talk to someone who understood.

Arran got out his phone and found the massive Facebook group that he was a part of hilariously entitled 'Young Immortals – Europe'. Nearly every vampire in Europe under thirty and a handful of more open minded werewolves was in the group that largely consisted of people stating that they were visiting certain countries and asking who was around. He scrolled through a couple of those posts and ignored a massive political debate sparked by Gavrail Valentinov, the group's resident antagonist. Arran frowned at his screen, Gavrail lived in America these days, he technically shouldn't even be in the group.

Arran couldn't find anyone visiting the UK who didn't already live there. He wasn't seriously looking for someone to meet up with anyway, there was hardly anyone in the group that he could talk to about how he felt. Except for Cree. Yet somehow calling Cree now would be an act of failure, she had left him and he was alone. He couldn't bring himself to let her know that.

He'd been enjoying himself before this weekend. He really liked hanging out with James and Naomi and even school was more interesting. He just needed to get a grip and move on with his life. Arran made a decision and sent a text to James, asking to help him throw a party for his birthday. He was determined not to let himself stew in his own loneliness.

---

Thursday morning came and with it Arran's birthday, he woke early to a collection of texts and messages. He worked his way through responding to each, most just generic wishes on Facebook. One notification caught his eye, he'd been tagged in a post on the young immortals page by Gavrail, this probably wasn't good.

'Congratulations to the baby of the Redfern coven! Arran is finally 18 so it's time for a wild one...which in his case is probably just a night in with Cree- oh wait, maybe not. A night in alone, eh Redfern?'

Irritating, but not the kind of thing Arran usually rose to. Gavrail was a prick, but he had no power as long as no one paid him any attention. It was a shame then, that Arran's ex-girlfriend was giving him just what he wanted. Arran winced as he read through Cree's angry comments telling Gavrail that he was a 'no good little shit stirrer with nothing going on in his own life'. He actually found himself agreeing with Gavrail's reply that she 'wasn't acting very Queenly.'

He couldn't let it look like his ex was fighting his battles for him, but he didn't know what to say. He settled on a screenshot of the event page for his party, including the number of people who were attending and added 'yeah just a quiet weekend alone'. He hoped that was funny enough that it came off as uncaring but enough to show that he wasn't doing nothing. 

---

Celyn was cooking when he reached the kitchen, he liked mornings when she was home. Eating pancakes with his mother before school made him feel like they had some semblance of a normal life. She wished him happy birthday and suggested he get started on the cards and presents left for him on the counter.

She'd given him some clothes, a pair of expensive headphones and a large collection of drinks for his party. She confirmed that there was no car waiting for him with an offer to drive him to the station. He moved on to the rest of his gifts, thinking that if he could find a cheap enough vehicle he could probably afford one himself given that Lex, Alessi and Rhona had all opted for minimal messages and cash. In fact his oldest sister hadn't even written a card, her money came in Alessi's envelope with her name and greeting hastily signed at the bottom. 

Most exciting was a card from his sister Celeste, she never usually made contact. The card was a watercolour that Arran presumed she'd done herself. He had to admit it was good, he'd never had much cause or chance to admire her work but the detailed cityscape over large abstract patches of red paint was very well done. The message inside was less impressive.

"'Things aren't always as bad as they seem', what is that supposed to mean?" he asked his mother, showing her the card.

Celyn looked at it briefly and then went back to plating up their breakfasts. "It means that your sister loves you, even if she doesn't know how to show it."

"How about 'Happy Birthday'? Even Rhona managed that. This is just ominous."

"It's not ominous." She sat down on the stool next to him and handed him his breakfast. "It's just a little strange, you know what she's like."

"I actually have no idea what she's like seeing as I hardly ever speak to her because she hides herself away in strange places while she fiddles around with magic and gazes into the future."

Celyn had no answer to that.

He took out his phone and sent a few thank you messages to each of his siblings before checking his notifications.

Amongst a few more well-wishes, Gavrail had commented on his photo of the event.

'Looks like I was wrong about you Arran, I'll see you there and I'll bring some friends.'

Arran groaned and showed his mother, explaining that it had not meant to be an invitation. Celyn was largely unperturbed, stating that she did not think many people would trek all the way to Lancashire on such short notice or be stupid enough to risk exposure to a house full of humans.

Even so, Arran felt uneasy.

"You've missed a present," she said, changing the subject and pointing at a small package wrapped in black crepe paper. "I think it came with Celeste's card."

Arran opened the packet and found a black leather braided bracelet with several gemstones held in place between the cords. It was very attractive, definitely the sort of thing he could see himself wearing, but his sister's experiments with witchcraft left him wary. "What is this?"

"Huh." She picked up the bracelet and peered at it. "It's definitely got a spell on it. I don't know what though."

"Fantastic, so I have a question: did she come out of the womb all ethereal and weird? Like did you name her Celeste because of it? Or did you decide that to match her name she needed to be turned into a strange hermit that is permitted to break the law by practicing magic because she's basically omniscient and no one would dare arrest her?"

Celyn smiled and held the bracelet up to the light. "When I was pregnant with her I could see the future," she said as she studied it.

"Really?"

"Not as well as Celeste can but I had a decent handle on it. Isaac and his friends found it very useful to win bets and such. They started calling me Celestine, half a comment on my abilities and half laziness to try to properly pronounce Celyn and it just stuck when she was born."

Arran hadn't known that his mother used to be able to see into the future. He himself had done it three times, each time had given him an awful headache and been completely useless. That was a power he had completely given up on ever mastering. It actually gave him comfort to know that Celyn hadn't perfected it either.

"Can you figure out what's on that for me?" He said, gesturing to the bracelet. "I'm not wearing it without knowing what it does."

"It's almost definitely a good thing."

"It's witchcraft it can't be that good. That's one thing I totally agree with the council about, magic should be left to witches."

"Oh I don't know," she replied, lifting the bracelet to the light again. "I always find it quite fun."