At hearing her son’s call, Goddess Ariadne materialized inside the magic circle Cian created. Seeing the serious, troubled expression on his face, Ariadne frowned in concern. “What is it, Cian? What is troubling you?”

“Aurora,” Cian said simply.

“Ah, I think I see,” said Ariadne. She didn’t dance around a subject or play ignorant. Ariadne believed in getting right to the heart of the matter. “Aurora has told you about her burgeoning magical abilities.”

“Yes, Mother, and the poor girl is confused and rather troubled, I daresay. With all that has been happening, she’s had a lot on her mind. This is a lot for her to have to deal with, you know.” Cian looked his mother in the eye and sighed. “Just what does all this entail and what does it mean for her? She’s been through enough, don’t you think?”

Ariadne produced her own sigh and met Cian’s gaze without blinking. She put a reassuring hand on her son’s shoulder, but her expression was somber. “Cian, I understand where you are coming from and how much you love her. I do not think I need to tell you that Aurora is made of strong stock.” Cian shook his head in agreement with her statement. “You already know that Aurora’s destiny is a very important one. You have told her this yourself.”

“Mother, just how much does she have to endure? Someone so young should never look this haunted,” Cian replied.

“Normally I would agree, but there is no way around it. Even I cannot go against the Watcher’s plans.”

“The Watcher,” Cian muttered. “Just who is this Watcher to put all this on such a young girl?”

Ariadne sighed heavily. “Darling, you have asked me this first question time and again, and I still cannot reveal anymore than i have already told you. The Watcher is who gave me my power, the one responsible for the creation of the deities and really of all of us. As to Aurora, you must believe me and have faith that no more than what Aurora can handle will be thrust upon her. She will persevere and even be a much stronger person, not that she is weak now. Aurora will thrive.”

Cian blew out a frustrated sigh. “I’m just worried, Mother, and so is Tyrone. That man has been through a living nightmare, a nightmare I cannot even imagine.”

“I know, darling.” Ariadne’s response was soft, her expression troubled. “What happened to Lenora…and Tyrone’s grief…it should never have occurred. There is much damage to repair.”

“Yes, Mother, I know. I just–” He trailed off and shook his head in frustration. “I feel so helpless and just don’t know what to do for any of them. I need you to tell me how to help, Mother, because I am at a total loss.”

Ariadne ran a loving hand over her son’s cheek. “Sweetheart, you are helping more than you know. What Aurora needed from you, which you gave in abundance, is a listening ear, affection, and belief and confidence in her. That is all you can do for the time being.”

“I wish I could do more.”

Ariadne gave her son a warm and approving smile. “I know you do, my son. You want to have that active role of fixing everything. The time will come when Aurora will need all your skill to help her.”

Cian’s breath caught and tendrils of ice ran down his spine. “Mother, what are you saying?”

“Only what I have already said, dearheart. That is all I am allowed to tell you.” Ariadne watched as Cian’s expression grew stormy. This was one of those times she fervently wished she could reveal more. “Sweetheart, do you remember when Aurora was around eight years old? She was watching an episode of that medical show that was popular some decades ago.”

‘Yes. It was called ER. There was an episode early on in the first season where a young woman died in childbirth due to a series of missteps and bad luck. It saddened Aurora greatly, and I had to explain to her that it was just play acting.”

“And do you remember what she asked you, Cian?”

Cian’s eyes misted over, and the corners of his mouth rose in a nostalgic smile. “She wrapped her little arms around my neck and said, ‘Uncle Cian, if I got really sick, would you fix me?'” A lump rose to his throat and he had to swallow hard.

“And you said?” Ariadne encouraged gently.

“I told her I loved her more than all the stars in the sky and that I would do everything in my power to fix her.” Cian swallowed hard again, the constriction in his throat paining him while he talked. “She kissed my cheek, said she loved me, and told me I must be the best doctor in the whole universe. Ah, Mother, she was always such a darling little thing. She has this way that makes you just want to squeeze her.”

“Aurora has great faith in you and for very good reason,” said Ariadne.

Cian chuckled. “There were times I think I scared the poor kid to death. You know how intense I can be.”

“Ah, but she knows your heart, Cian. She would not have confided in you otherwise.”

Cian nodded, recognizing the wisdom in his mother’s statement. He was silent for a time as the sound of Aurora’s playing and singing settled over him. The beautiful chords and Aurora’s magically enhanced voice started to unwind Cian’s taut nerves. “She’s so beautiful and brave…someone to be greatly admired.”

“That she is, my son. That she certainly is.” Ariadne kissed her son’s cheek before bidding him farewell and vanishing.

Time seemed to stand still while Aurora, Theresa, and Leo worked. Leo sat at the piano while Theresa wrote the appropriate musical notations and lyrics they all settled on. “Okay, I want to hear how this sounds with the changes.” Leo pointed to a piece in the score and asked Aurora to sing the series of notes as though they were a lament from the depths of her soul.

Aurora took a quick sip of water, readied herself, and began.

“Aaaaaah aaaaaahhhhhh, my Romeo!
What have you done? How could you leave me?”

Aurora pretended to pluck a vial out of her true love’s hand, then made a throwing gesture. The music escalated to a stormy, staccato mood.

“Poison! Alas! Vile poison has ended his life.
Poison has stopped my Rome’s heart
And broken mine forever!
Poison! But none for me!
No, none for me.”

the music shifted to a hopeful flavor.

“I will kiss your lips!
Perhaps there is enough to send me
To send me to you.”

Once again, the music became devastatingly mournful.

“Your mouth is warm
As if just in sleep.
Oh, my love!
My sweet Romeo!
Could you feel me?
Could you feel my kiss?
Alas, how still you are!
Still and silent
Still…so still…as death
So still…in death…”

Aurora pretended to pick up a dagger as music the switched to a foreshadowing minor key, sounding of immanent doom.

“I cannot live!
Cannot live in a world,
A world without my Romeo.
I pray the gods forgive me.
Forgive me for what I do.”

Aurora pretended to stab herself while Leo played an agonizing sustained chord.

“Romeo…I…come!
Wait…for me!
Wait…for me…
In our castle…
Our…castle…of…marble.
It…is…done! I die.
I die! Romeo…I…come.”

Aurora sang as though mortally wounded, short breaths coming in between every few words. As the music exploded, signaling the sad and fateful end of the lovers, Aurora grabbed her stomach and fell to the floor as if landing next to her beloved and dying beside him.

A few seconds later, Aurora got to her feet, dusted herself off, and grinned a little sheepishly. Neither Leo nor her aunt had asked her to act out the scene, but she just couldn’t help herself.

“Beautiful, Aurora! Just beautiful,” Leo said, wiping sweat off his brow and standing up. “Holy hell, that was amazing, actually.”

Aurora’s grin widened, and she flushed with pleasure. “Yeah?”

“Definitely,” Theresa agreed.

Then, Aurora heard and saw the most amazing thing. Leo and Theresa exchanged a look, Leo cleared his throat, and spoke. “Aurora, this may be a rather strange question, but I want to ask it anyway.”

“Shoot,” Aurora said. I wonder if he’s figured me out. Does he suspect I have magic? Gosh, how do I explain that to someone who hasn’t been around me all my life?

“Theresa tells me you have aspiration of being a singer and actress,” Leo started.

Aurora nodded emphatically and waited for Leo to continue.

“Would you like to audition for this role, Aurora?” Leo asked. “Your cousin is right. This music…this score…well, it’s perfect for you. I think you’d be a shoe-in, and I’m sure your aunt agrees.”

“I do, sweetie. I think this may be the break you’ve been waiting for,” Theresa said.

“Huh?” Aurora squeaked, unable to believe what she’d just heard.

Theresa chuckled and repeated Leo’s question.

Aurora gaped for what seemed like an hour. “You mean…you mean to tell me…?” Then, a dreamy expression crossed her features as the words began to sink in. Leo and Aunt Theresa wanted Aurora…her…to audition for Juliet. A small, little smile touched her lips. “Yes…oh, yes. I would love that so, so much…but don’t they already have the part cast? I mean, wasn’t Marissa Lockwood supposed to be Juliet?” Marissa was a beautiful young actress who’d made a name for herself starring in similar movies.

“It turned out that Marissa is unavailable for the role,” Theresa explained. “She’d recently finished shooting on location in Sunlit Tides for her previous role but then became seriously ill soon after arriving home.”

“Oh, Auntie, that’s awful! Is she going to be all right?”

“She should make a full recovery in time, but she’s clearly too ill to take on this role. There aren’t many who can compare to her, so the studio has been scrambling,” Theresa said. “Things were looking very bleak…until now. Anyway, I think we can get an audition set up as early as Monday morning. I’m not a proponent of having you miss classes, but this is most definitely a special opportunity. I’m sure we could have you back in time for your second period.”

“Oh, I just have Study Hall first thing Monday,” Aurora said.

“Fine! Leo and I will work out magic and get it set up. As long as it’s okay with your father, we should be in business,” Theresa said, her eyes twinkling.

Aurora giggled. “I don’t think I’ll have to twist his arm much.” She bounced on the balls of her feet and gave her aunt a long, tight hug. Then, she bounded over to Leo, threw herself into his arms, and gave him a noisy kiss on his cheek. “Oh gosh! I can’t tell you what this means to me, Leo! Do you know how amazing you are? I mean, you’re a wonderful human being! Oh, I’m so happy I could kiss you again.” And that is what Aurora did, giving Leo another noisy kiss on the cheek.

Leo laughed, returned the hug, and patted Aurora’s back affectionately. “At least you didn’t faint on me,” he teased.

Aurora laughed uproariously and executed some joyful ballet jumps. “I’m too keyed up to faint. If I do get the part, you’ll hear some serious shrieking though.” A moment later, her expression turned serious. “Crap! What if they hate me?”

Leo smiled a soft encouraging smile at Aurora. “Oh, honey, they won’t. Just go in there, have fun, and do the best you can. All they can say is no, right? You won’t be any worse off. And besides,” he lowered his voice, a gleam in his eye, “I have a good feeling about this, a very good feeling.”

Aurora took five minutes to bask in the praise and contemplate what this could mean for her life. It’s about time some happiness came my way, she thought to herself. Maybe this is the start of things turning around for this family.

Theresa clapped her hands sharply, bringing Aurora out of her thoughts. “Right. Back to work. The rest of this music isn’t gonna write itself, and we need to play this through and see how it all fits.”

They decided to run through the entire tomb scene with Theresa now at the piano and Leo singing Romeo’s part opposite Aurora’s Juliet. Since Aurora would be auditioning for Juliet, Theresa suggested that Leo and Aurora act it out. Aurora had been doing that anyway, and Leo wanted to offer Aurora some encouragement and coaching. “Now, this is going to be tricky, Aurora. Just lying there being dead isn’t as easy as it looks. You have to try not to blink and you can’t offer any help when Romeo lifts you in his arms. You’re dead weight.”

“Ouch! Romeo’s poor back.” Aurora mock winced at Leo, teasing him lightly.

Both Leo and Theresa laughed. “As long as you don’t go gaining fifty pounds in the next six months, David will be able to lift you with one hand.” David Martin was the talented young actor and singer already signed on to play Romeo. All the girls, including Grace, proclaimed to be madly in love with him.

Aurora giggled. “Touché.”

“Okay. Here we go? You ready?” Leo asked.

“Hit it, Maestro.” Aurora grinned at her aunt, got into position for when Romeo comes to the tomb, not realizing that Juliet is only under a sleep spell.

Leo sang Romeo’s part flawlessly, adding all the appropriate emotions that Romeo would feel. Aurora soon lost herself, falling into the lovely but harsh world these two lovers inhabited. A grief-stricken Romeo sang of his everlasting love for his lady, his eyes cast solely upon her still face. Romeo bent over Juliet to stroke her hair and her cheek, then tenderly brought his lips to hers in a kiss of goodbye. As Romeo sang the line, “Come rest in my arms, my love,” he lifted Juliet to cradle her against his chest. Aurora, as Juliet, kept her body as limp as she could possibly make it, lying totally relaxed in Romeo’s arms. Then, Romeo drank the deadly poison and sank to the floor, Juliet still held fast to him, her head falling to Romeo’s chest.

When Juliet was to awaken, Aurora slowly sat up and looked around, her expression dazed. “Where is my Romeo?” she sang, realizing that something was amiss. “Oh!” A gasp at seeing his prone body.

Juliet bent over Romeo, frantically singing for him to revive. Realizing Romeo was truly dead, Juliet began the final mournful piece, putting all her love for Romeo and her grief at losing him into it. Juliet looked upon her beloved, stroked his face and studied him as though to commit his features to eternal memory, kissed him, committed her final act, then came to rest beside her lover, her fingers entwined with his, and uttered her dying breath.

However, when Aurora came back to herself after the final chords, to her horror, she’d forgotten herself and her magic had taken over. She realized that as she became lost in Romeo and Juliet’s world, reality shifted for them all, and they, too, were a part of Aurora’s creation.

Leo sat down hard on the sofa, shaking his head and looking bewildered. Aurora sat up and leaned against the wall, wiping a hand tiredly over her brow. Theresa just sat at the piano, a small smile on her face. //You forgot to scale back, sweetie,// Theresa said telepathically to her niece.

//I…I guess  I did. Oh gosh, Auntie! Leo felt it too, I know it. I…um…think it’s time for honesty. I think he needs to understand about us…about me…so he knows what he’s in for.//

//Yes,// Theresa agreed.

Aurora turned her attention to Leo and sat down beside him. Placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, she began talking softly. “Just take a few deep breaths, Leo. You’ll feel normal in a minute.”

Leo did as instructed, the first couple sounding shaky, unsteady. “Wh…what the hell was that? I thought I must’ve dozed off and was dreaming.”

Aurora hesitated a few seconds before speaking, her expression a little troubled and uncertain. “Leo…there are a few things you should know about our family…about me. There are certain abilities–” She trailed off, looking for adequate words to say without freaking the poor man out.

When Leo just kept looking at her expectantly, Aurora continued. “We…our family…me, included…well, let’s just say we’re of the supernatural sort. You see, things you may think of that go bump in the night…well, they do exist…and we…well, we kinda go bump in the night but we’re the good guys.”

Leo shrugged, still looking confused. “I don’t get it.”

“Okay, this is gonna take a while. First of all, don’t freak out, okay? We’re still people, too, but with extra talents.” Aurora reached for Leo’s hand, hoping the physical contact might help. She smiled at Leo when he didn’t resist her touch. “So, here’s the thing, Leo. This is who and what we are.”

For the next forty-five minutes, Aurora started from the beginning and spilled everything to Leo, telling him about witches and wizards, werewolves, fairies, and of her own abilities. She told Leo about how her mother was thought to have been dead but is now known by them to be alive but missing. When Aurora couldn’t hold back the tears for Lenora, Leo didn’t hesitate to bring her into a tight, comforting hug.

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry! I knew her name sounded familiar. I know of your mother in name only, but my wife, Leela, is a reader and is definitely a fan. Leela said it saddened her when she heard about Lenora’s death on the news.” Leo’s father’s heart went out to Aurora, and as he’d done for his daughter, Blue so many times, he wiped Aurora’s tears.

“I’m so sorry, Leo. I didn’t mean to turn into a blubbering mess.” Aurora offered Leo a tremulous smile. “Thank Leela for me…for us. I think…I think when she comes back, she’ll be happy to send Leela an autographed copy of one of her books.”

“Leela would like that.” Leo wiped a final lone tear from Aurora’s cheek. “I don’t recall hearing that Lenora is missing instead of truly dead.”

“We felt it best to keep it that way. My cousin Robin – he’s a cop, see – says it shouldn’t get out, not yet. We don’t want to tip off the kidnappers and risk them running off and stashing her someplace else. Plus, we think there is magic somehow behind all this, and we don’t exactly want the entire world knowing about what we are,” Aurora explained.

“Yes, that makes sense,” Leo said.

Aurora gave Leo a rather watery slight grin. “Anyway, there you have it. That’s our crazy, weird family. We won’t blame you if you want to run for the hills.”

Leo smiled but still looked a little dazed. “I’m still here, aren’t I? If I was gonna run screaming, I’d have already done it. I’ll admit, this is a lot to take in, so sorry if I ask any dumb questions.”

“Ask anything you want, Leo. We figured that as closely together as we were going to be working, we’d have a lot of explaining to do at some point,” Theresa said, having left the room for more water and returning to pass it out.

“You sure you still want to hang with us?” Aurora asked.

In spite of the bombshell dropped at him, Leo grinned and shrugged. “Why not? I’ve hung out with worse.”

“Gee, thanks a lot.” Aurora laughed and poked Leo playfully on the arm. Her face relaxed in a relieved smile.

Leo returned Aurora’s smile. “I knew there was something special about you, Aurora. Your music is–” Leo broke off and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s beautiful, but that doesn’t do it justice. It’s unlike anything I’d ever heard before.”

Aurora gave him an apologetic look. “I know, Leo. I…sometimes forget myself, especially when I’m really into it, see. I forget to scale back sometimes so the magic takes over and alters reality. Like now, it made the world of Romeo and Juliet as my mind sees it. It’s cool, but it used to freak me out a bit, still does sometimes.”

“Yes, I can imagine,” Leo replied.

“My singing…the music…I’ll just say there’s a lot I can do with it,” Aurora said.

“What else can you do? I’d like to hear more,” Leo replied.

“Really? I’ll show you…if you really want me to.”

“Yep, I do.” Leo said. “You don’t have to scale back around me, Aurora. I can take it. You see, I’ve had my own experience quite some time ago, which I’ll tell you about one day. I don’t scare easily.”

“I’m so glad, Leo,” Aurora said softly but passionately. She hugged him again, holding onto it for a long stretch. She closed her eyes for a few moments, just enjoying the newfound feelings of kinship she felt for Leo. She had a great feeling that this was the start of a lovely lifelong friendship.

Author’s Note: Again, a special thank you goes to Kymber of Story Spinner for the opportunity to borrow Leo to make appearances in my story. He can be found in her story Noble Doubt and is the Generation 2 heir. True confessions – he was my all-time favorite character (we music people gotta stick together) and my Sim heartthrob. 😀 You can only imagine how thrilled I was (still am! I do my little chair dance every time he appears) to be able to have him visit my world. Thank you so much, Kymber! You are truly a dear friend and a generous soul. I hope I did him justice in this chapter. As always, I will do my utmost to give him the respect and care he certainly deserves.

From here on out, there will likely be some little spoilers when Leo makes his appearances., If you haven’t read Leo’s story, please do so and refer back to Noble Doubt as you need to. I do my absolute best to remain true to the original story, so I do apologize if, at any time, I accidentally make a continuity error.

The episode of ER mentioned is from the first season and is called Love’s Labor Lost. It’s a favorite but a devastating episode to be sure. To this day, it still chokes me up.

As always, thank you all so much for reading, liking, commenting, and subscribing. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.