Chapter Text
River watched the casket lower into the ground. He hugged Stephanie, and she sobbed into his arm. He wished he could cry too, but he was just empty now. He had used all of his years the last three days. His dad, Patrick Horwell, was gone. It had been seven years since Mom left. Dad tried his best, though he was often distant. He would yell sometimes, get irrationally angry. But he tried, and he loved River and Stephanie, very much. Life was good. Until the week before. They didn't expect this. Nobody ever expects it. Cultists aren't something people like to think about, and nobody ever thinks it could ever happen to them. But it did. And Alcorian cults can be nasty. Dad hadn't come home that night, and the news told him why. They caught the cult, but not before it was too late. He'd been killed and sacrificed.
With Dad gone, and Mom who-knows-where, they could either go live with Aunt Dianna and Uncle William, all the way in the Californian Archipelago, or go into the foster system. He only had two more years before he turned 18, but Stephanie was barely 8 years old. She needed him and he needed her.
He scooped up the sobbing little girl, and set her in the car. The weather was too nice. It was bright and warm, and it made River mad. How could the world act like everything was perfect, when everything was very very wrong?
Their stuff was already packed and loaded into River's truck, and the two siblings headed off for the airport. River thought he was someone behind them, a dark figure out of the corner of his eye. He looked again, but there was nothing there. Hopefully he could get some sleep on the plane. They both needed it.
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River and Stephanie arrived at their relatives' house, around eleven at night. It was nice, with a basement and an attic, a large backyard, and they even had an extra car River could use. Stephanie was tired, and not much help, so he sent her up to the guest bedroom, that was now hers. He'd get the attic. He brought her stuff up and tucked her in before getting his new room set up. Aunt Dianna was already asleep when they got there, and Uncle William stayed around just long enough to make sure they got in alright. River supposed they could talk tomorrow. He never knew them very well. Patrick and William used to be inseparable, before they just stopped talking. River was about four when that happened. Maybe now he would know why. To be honest he didn't really care anymore. Nothing really mattered. Just that Stephanie was safe. He saw the figure again. He was so sleep deprived he was seeing things. River sighed, then turned over and tried to sleep.
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Aunt Dianna was strange. She seemed on edge and over confident at the same time. She would jump at loud noises but explain away the rhythmic banging that would sound every hour or so. She said it was just bad plumbing, but River wasn't so sure. He didn't think much of it though. Dianna also had vanilla candles everywhere, there was always at least one burning somewhere. She seemed somewhat superstitious. And Uncle William wasn't around much, but when he was, he was usually reading some scientific magazine and drinking coffee. That's all he did. Stephanie was adjusting pretty well. She played outside in the garden lot, and couldn't wait to start her new school.
River, in the other hand, was bored, and didn't have the energy to do much anyway. Usually he painted. He was rather good at that. He would paint places, like a dark wood with a tree beast, or an old cabin in a forest. Right now he was painting an ornate mansion, with a big N on the gate. For reasons he could never explain, these places he painted always felt so familiar, yet so foreign. They reminded him of summer breezes, of old candy and water balloon fights. He finished, and set glanced out the window. It was rather bright, meaning it was probably around noon. He'd been painting for hours. Maybe he would take Stephanie out on a picnic today. She would like that, and he needed a distraction.
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Stephanie did indeed love the picnic. He took her out by the small stream that ran through the park in the middle of town. It wasn't too far away from Dianna and William's place, so he let her go ahead while he finished cleaning up. He turned around, and dropped everything.
"River Horwell, is it...?"