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SYBIL BLYTHE

Age: 20

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“I just don’t know,” Callie sighed, shovelling a spoonful of mint chocolate chip ice cream into her mouth. It took a second for the cold to kick in and she winced, pressing her fingers to her temples. “Aah! Brain freeze!”

“I told you to stop worrying about it,” Melissa laughed. “If it’s meant to be, it will be.”

“But if I wasn’t good enough for a TV show, how can I be good enough for Mila? She’s the Mila O’Kaine.”

“And you’re the Callie Hemswood.”

Callie smiled at that, shovelled another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and got another brain freeze. “I know worrying won’t change anything, but I can’t help the anxiety. I really want this.”

“Good things come to those who wait,” Kevin told her. “You’ve got this, Cals. Believe in yourself.”

She sighed and glared at her phone.

“Is something wrong?” I asked tentatively. “You haven’t said a thing about the Solar Gold Festival all day.”

“About that…” she paused, and pursed her lips. “I might sit it out this year. As you said, I can watch it on the TV.”

We all stared at her. It was hard to believe that Callie, who had been hell bent on convincing me to go to the festival, had suddenly lost all interest.

Melissa pointed her spoon at her. “Okay, what happened?”

Callie gave us a weak smile. “Dem’s not going to the festival with me anymore.”

“Oh my gosh,” Melissa groaned into her cup of butter pecan. “Please tell me that Demetri isn’t the reason you’re not going.”

“I won’t tell you,” Callie pouted. “You’ll hate him even more.”

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

Callie rolled her eyes. “It’s whatever.”

“So? What’s his grand excuse this time?”

“He’s visiting his brother.”

“He has a brother?” I asked.

“Yeah, his name’s Malik or Malachi or something.” She shrugged. “Anyways, he said he told me about it last week. I must have forgotten.”

“I think you would have remembered if he did tell you,” Melissa countered. “It’s the gaslighting for me.”

“He is not gaslighting me. Hey, I’m human too. I forget things all the time, Mel,” she said with a flip of her hair. But she didn’t seem too convinced of that either.

“I want to re-arrange his face,” Kevin scowled.

“Moving on,” Callie sniffed, “I’ll just go to the next one.”

“The next one’s in twelve years,” I protested. “Forget Demetri, come with us.”

“You have to come and take your brothers,” Melissa convinced. “We’ll make sure it’s every bit of fun you want it to be.”

Callie thought about it for a moment, and our hopeful expressions won her over. “Okay, fine,” she caved with a laugh. “I’ll hold you to that.”

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The excited laughter of children mingled with festive music and surrounded us as we walked through the crowded festival area. It seemed as if the entire Crysauralia came out to celebrate the festivities together.

The sweet aroma of candy and other foods wafted to my nose and made my mouth water. I’d never been to a festival like this one before. Ashton turned to me, his blue eyes sparkling like a thousand diamonds under the golden sky.

“This is what you call fun?”

Way to ruin the mood. I rolled my eyes at him.

“He’s just grumpy because he wanted to have you all to himself,” Kevin teased.

“Shut up,” Ashton sulked.

We were at the festival with the guys and Diana. Bianca wasn’t feeling up to it, and Beau was staying at home with her. That left Jackson to watch over the more trouble prone members of the group. Poor Jackson. Without Beau he was like a stressed single mom who now had to keep an eye on the troublesome trio.

Jun had already managed to slip away and Kristof and Diana were hunting him down. Raúl was meeting Thalia here too, and he didn’t want Jackson meddling.

Melissa and Trey were in front of us, playing some kind of game with a horseshoe. Callie and her brothers, Liam and Lucas were a little further off doing something else.

Yasmine was overjoyed to finally meet Kevin, which was funny because she suddenly got so tongue-tied around him.

I sighed. Noah wasn’t here. I’d really hoped he would come. After all, he would be leaving for GreenMont soon and I didn’t know when I’d get to see him again. I wanted to spend more time with him. But I knew it would only hurt him to see me with Ashton.

Just then, something red caught my eye and I dragged Ashton through the crowd. I bounced excitedly at the sight of the candy apples at the booth. Even those had to put Ashton in a good mood.

“What is this?” he asked as I handed him the goodness on a stick.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never had a candy apple.”

He frowned at the glossy red apple. “Are you addicted to diabetes?”

“Just try it. By the way, how did Jun end up coming? I thought the king wouldn’t agree to it.”

“The king rewards bad behavior,” he shrugged, taking a bite. “Something about the little stunt Jun pulled amused him. I think that was his intention all along, to get the king’s attention.”

“Huh.”

I wasn’t amused. Jun had apologized for his recklessness, but I could tell there was more to it than that. And he wouldn’t talk about the mysterious man who’d showed up either.

I decided to shake it off. In the end, everybody got what they wanted. To go to the festival. Micah and Armani would be here, but I doubt I’d even get to see them. If Armani sensed any of the guys, he would be staying as far away as possible.

“How did you like the candy apple?”

“Eh.”

I narrowed my eyes at his lack of enthusiasm. “Well, you’re definitely not a man of culture.”

“Hey, it’s not that good.”

“Don’t disrespect the great candy apple,” I huffed, covering my ears.

He rolled his eyes with a laugh and I grabbed his hand and towed him through the crowd.

“Where are we going?” he asked as we weaved through the throng of people.

“We’re going to find the perfect treat for you.”

“That’s really not necessary…”

“Yes, it is. Now come on! There are so many different things to try.”

We toured the festival, looking for something he would like, but he was indifferent to almost everything.

“Did you only decide to come to the festival just so I wouldn’t hang out with Noah?” I asked crossly after our food tasting tour produced no positive results.

“What? No,” he denied. But I caught the devious hint of a smirk behind his words.

“Ashton.”

“Okay, maybe. But is that so wrong? I just want to spend some time with you,” he sighed. “Who does he think he is, wanting to spend the night with my betrothed?”

“We’d be studying,” I reminded him with a laugh.

“He pisses me off.”

“Oh? Is someone being jealous?” I teased.

“If you take one more step, I will call down all the curses of Zeus on you and your descendants!”

Huh?

We looked up to see a girl staring down at us from atop an arched balcony wall. Her warm beige face glowed eerily under the festival lights and was framed by charcoal hair that was styled in a pixie cut. Her eyes gleamed brightly with a sort of ancient understanding that seemed to hold all the secrets of the universe.

She nimbly leapt down beside us, then bent down and picked something up from where we were just about to walk.

“Hmm,” she sighed, examining the clover between her fingers. “No good. It only has three leaves.”

With another sigh, she turned to us, apparently remembering that we were there. “Who are you?”

“That’s what we should be asking you. What was that whole ‘raining curses down’ bit about?”

“Oh yeah, that. Curses on your descendants, dishonor on your cow, yada yada. Don’t mind me. I thought you were going to trample all over this field of clovers. Anyways, hiya! I’m Blythe. Sybil Blythe.”

“I’m Beth. Elizabeth,” I laughed, shaking the hand that she’d stretched out to me.

She regarded Ashton with a raised eyebrow as she waited for an introduction.

“Ashton,” he grumbled.

Her eyes lit up immediately and she clasped her hands below her chin in wonder. “Are you the prince?”

“What kind of question is that?” he frowned. He was obviously taken by surprise at her direct question.

“The prince. Are you Prince Ashton DeLorentes?”

“Why would the prince even be here?” he scoffed.

“Why wouldn’t he?” she challenged.

I decided to step in and switch the topic before she could ask any more questions.

“What were you looking for, Sybil?” I asked as inconspicuously as I could.

No-one was supposed to know that the prince was here. And they definitely should not find out that the guy wandering around was indeed the crown prince.

“Oh,” she turned to me with a grin. “I’m looking for a four leaf clover.”

“A four leaf clover?” I inquired.

“Yep. I want to give it to someone special.” Her eyes lit up excitedly. “Do you want to help me find one? It would be much faster with the three of us.”

“I don’t think so,” Ashton interjected with a frown, but Sybil waved him off.

“I was asking Beth Elizabeth.”

“Umm,” I hesitated.

“Please,” she pleaded. “I don’t have any friends. Everyone at my school thinks I’m a weirdo.”

“Well, are you?”

“Only on Thursdays,” she grinned. “Just be my friend for tonight. Clover hunting is fun, I promise.”

I turned to Ashton with a smile and he stared at me in disbelief.

“Please tell me we’re not going to spend the evening hunting clovers.”

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” I persuaded him with a nudge.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and then sighed. “Fine.”

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