Blackthorn Vale, Northumberland, England
December 18th–22th, 1980
At seven minutes past eight on the morning of December 18th, Lucian Blackthorn discovered that there were very few things in the world more irritating than being awake before he wanted to be.
At seven minutes past eight, he was already sitting at the kitchen table of Blackthorn Manor with a cup of tea in one hand and an expression of deep personal betrayal upon his face.
Across from him, Dorian was reading.
Not eating.
Not speaking.
Reading.
The book was open beside his plate, and somehow Dorian had already managed to turn three pages while eating toast.
Lucian stared at him.
Dorian did not look up.
“You know,” Lucian said, “most people wake up and experience several stages of consciousness before deciding to read.”
Dorian turned another page.
“I am conscious.”
“That wasn’t my point.”
“I know.”
Lucian sighed.
At the other end of the enormous breakfast table, Evangeline was attempting to convince Lysandra that the small green creature sitting inside the pocket of her coat was not going to bite anyone.
“It doesn’t bite people,” Evangeline insisted.
“It has teeth.”
“Lots of things have teeth.”
“That is not reassuring.”
“It only has little teeth.”
Lysandra leaned farther away.
“That makes it worse.”
Evangeline smiled brightly.
The creature poked its head out of her pocket.
It resembled a small, furry mammal with enormous ears, bright black eyes, and tiny claws.
Dorian finally looked up from his book.
“What is that?”
“My responsibility.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s a woodland creature.”
“We have a woodland outside.”
“I know.”
“So why is it here?”
Evangeline looked offended.
“Because it was cold.”
Lucian took a sip of tea.
“Of course it was.”
Dorian stared at the creature for several seconds.
“Is it magical?”
Evangeline hesitated.
“Technically.”
Lysandra immediately pointed at her.
“You said it wasn’t.”
“I said it wasn’t dangerous.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“It’s perfectly safe.”
The creature suddenly reached across the table and stole a piece of toast from Dorian’s plate.
Dorian looked down.
Then he looked at Evangeline.
Then at the creature.
Evangeline smiled.
“See?”
Dorian slowly closed his book.
“It has excellent judgment.”
Lucian laughed.
For a moment, the enormous Blackthorn Manor seemed almost completely ordinary.
Almost.
Outside, snow covered the lawns in a thin white layer.
The ancient trees stood silently beneath the winter sky, their branches bending beneath frost.
Beyond the estate walls, Blackthorn Vale was beginning another December morning.
And that was precisely where the four siblings intended to go.
They were leaving the manor.
Not for a magical gathering.
Not for an ancient family ceremony.
Not to investigate a mysterious creature.
Not even because their parents had asked them to do anything important.
They were going into the village.
To eat.
To shop.
To see friends.
To waste an afternoon.
In other words, they were going to do something entirely normal.
And that, for the Blackthorn children, was often more complicated than magic.
By nine o’clock, the four siblings were ready.
Lucian wore a dark wool coat over an ordinary shirt and trousers, looking exactly like what he was attempting to appear to be: a university student from a wealthy family who had absolutely no interest in discussing his personal life.
Dorian was dressed more simply.
He carried a book under one arm.
Lysandra had a scarf wrapped around her neck and a leather satchel hanging from her shoulder.
Evangeline wore a green coat.
She had also somehow convinced everyone that the strange creature from breakfast needed to accompany them.
“It is staying in my pocket,” she announced.
“No,” Lucian said.
“It likes me.”
“That isn’t the problem.”
“It won’t bother anyone.”
“The last time you said that, a plant followed us home.”
“It was lonely.”
“It was a carnivorous plant.”
“It was misunderstood.”
Dorian glanced at her.
“That plant ate three of Edwin’s gloves.”
“It apologized.”
Lucian stared at his sister.
“How?”
“It stopped.”
“That isn’t an apology.”
“It was a very sincere stopping.”
Lysandra laughed.
“You two are impossible.”
Lucian opened the front door.
Cold air swept through the entrance hall.
“Come on.”
The four stepped outside.
For several seconds, they simply stood together.
The enormous manor rose behind them.
Ancient.
Imposing.
Silent.
The Blackthorn crest watched over the entrance.
But none of the four looked back for long.
They had learned something their family valued deeply.
The world beyond the estate did not need to know everything about them.
And they did not need to become different people simply because they had crossed the boundary.
They drove into Blackthorn Vale in an old family car.
Lucian was driving.
Dorian sat beside him.
Evangeline and Lysandra were in the back.
For nearly ten minutes, there was silence.
Then Lysandra spoke.
“You’re driving too slowly.”
Lucian looked at her in the mirror.
“We’re in a village.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you complaining?”
“Because you’re driving like Grandfather.”
Dorian smiled faintly.
Lucian looked offended.
“I do not drive like Grandfather.”
“You do.”
“I drive responsibly.”
“You drive like an eighty-two-year-old man.”
“Grandfather drives extremely well.”
“Exactly.”
Evangeline leaned against the window.
“I like the way Lucian drives.”
Lucian smiled.
“Thank you.”
“He doesn’t make me sick.”
Lysandra frowned.
“You got sick last week.”
“That was the cake.”
“It was not the cake.”
“It was definitely the cake.”
Dorian looked at them.
“Can we have one afternoon without an argument?”
“No,” all three answered.
Dorian sighed.
The village came into view.
Blackthorn Vale was not particularly large.
There were rows of houses, a post office, a small grocery shop, a bakery, a butcher, a pub, a chemist, a bookshop, a café, and several small businesses clustered along the main street.
To an outsider, it was an ordinary English village.
That was exactly how the Blackthorns liked it.
Their family name carried history.
Their wealth carried influence.
Their manor carried secrets.
But in the village, the children were simply Blackthorn children.
And most people knew them.
They parked near the café.
Evangeline immediately looked through the window.
“Oh.”
Lucian followed her gaze.
“What?”
“The cake.”
Lysandra laughed.
“We haven’t even gone inside.”
“I can see it.”
“You’re impossible.”
Evangeline opened the door.
“I know.”
The café was warm.
The windows were fogged from the difference between the cold outside and the heat inside.
Several people were already eating breakfast.
A young woman behind the counter looked up.
Her face immediately brightened.
“Blackthorns!”
Lucian smiled.
“Morning, Margaret.”
“You four together?”
“Apparently.”
Margaret laughed.
“I haven’t seen all four of you in here for ages.”
Dorian nodded politely.
“University.”
“School,” Lysandra added.
“Animals,” Evangeline said.
Margaret looked at her.
“Animals?”
“Plants too.”
“Of course.”
Lucian took off his coat.
“We’ll sit near the back.”
“You know the table is reserved for you.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
Margaret laughed.
“Go on.”
They took their usual table.
It was a small corner near the window.
Ordinary wooden chairs.
Ordinary cups.
Ordinary plates.
No enchantments.
No ancient family symbols.
No magical artifacts.
Just breakfast.
And somehow Lucian preferred it.
Dorian looked at the menu.
“What are you having?”
“Eggs.”
“That’s it?”
“Eggs are reliable.”
Lysandra looked at him.
“You say that as though you’re preparing for war.”
“You never know.”
Evangeline looked at the cakes.
“I’m having that.”
Lysandra followed her gaze.
“That’s not breakfast.”
“It is today.”
Lucian leaned back.
“I’ll have bacon and eggs.”
Dorian nodded.
“Same.”
Lysandra smiled.
“I’ll have pancakes.”
Evangeline raised her hand.
“And cake.”
Margaret called from the counter.
“I heard that.”
Evangeline smiled.
“Good.”
They were halfway through breakfast when two ordinary young people approached their table.
The first was a boy named Thomas.
He was eighteen.
He had known Dorian since childhood.
Beside him was a girl named Rebecca, seventeen, who had been friends with Evangeline and Lysandra for several years.
Thomas looked at Lucian.
“You actually came.”
Lucian raised an eyebrow.
“Apparently.”
“You said you were busy.”
“I was.”
“Doing what?”
“Nothing.”
Thomas laughed.
“You’re terrible.”
“I know.”
Rebecca sat beside Evangeline.
“You disappeared.”
“I’ve been at the manor.”
“Doing what?”
Evangeline shrugged.
“Walking.”
“Every day?”
“Mostly.”
“Don’t you ever get bored?”
Evangeline considered the question seriously.
“No.”
Rebecca smiled.
“I wish I had your house.”
Lysandra immediately laughed.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because the doors move.”
Rebecca stopped.
“What?”
Lysandra quickly corrected herself.
“I mean, they’re very old.”
Rebecca narrowed her eyes.
“Right.”
“Subtle.”
“I panicked.”
“You should have said the hinges were broken.”
“That would have been worse.”
Lucian shook his head.
“You are all terrible at lying.”
Dorian looked at him.
“You’re not exactly helping.”
“I don’t need to.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t say anything.”
Thomas laughed.
“That’s actually true.”
Lucian looked at him.
“You see?
People appreciate silence.”
“Nobody appreciates your silence.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
The conversation eventually moved away from the Blackthorn family and toward ordinary matters.
University.
School.
Christmas.
Music.
Clothes.
Food.
The weather.
Who had failed a mathematics test.
Who had embarrassed themselves at a dance.
Who was dating whom.
The kinds of conversations that happened everywhere.
And the Blackthorn siblings participated naturally.
Lucian complained about university.
Dorian quietly listened.
Lysandra talked far more than she realized.
Evangeline became distracted whenever someone mentioned animals.
At one point, Thomas asked Dorian, “Are you still thinking about university next year?”
Dorian nodded.
“I think so.”
“What are you studying?”
“History.”
Thomas smiled.
“That sounds like you.”
Dorian frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“You like old things.”
Lucian nearly choked on his tea.
Dorian stared at him.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were going to.”
“I was thinking.”
“That is worse.”
Rebecca laughed.
“You’re all strange.”
Lysandra smiled.
“We’ve been told.”
There was something comforting about hearing those words.
Not magical.
Not aristocratic.
Not complicated.
Just strange.
The same way any group of siblings might be strange.
After breakfast, they walked through the village.
The four siblings separated naturally.
Lucian and Dorian walked together.
Evangeline and Lysandra followed with Rebecca.
Thomas stayed beside them.
They stopped at the bookshop.
Dorian immediately disappeared between the shelves.
Lucian followed.
“You have enough books.”
Dorian looked at him.
“No.”
“You haven’t read half of them.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“When I’m dead.”
Lucian smiled.
“That sounds efficient.”
Dorian pulled a book from the shelf.
Lucian glanced at the cover.
“What is that?”
“Military history.”
“You are aware that normal eighteen-year-olds read novels?”
“I read novels.”
“When?”
Dorian considered this.
“Occasionally.”
“Name one.”
Dorian hesitated.
Lucian grinned.
“Exactly.”
A few feet away, Evangeline was looking through a shelf about animals.
She found a book about British wildlife.
Her expression immediately brightened.
Rebecca watched her.
“You really love animals, don’t you?”
Evangeline nodded.
“Very much.”
“Do you want to work with them?”
“Yes.”
“What kind?”
“All of them.”
“Even dangerous ones?”
Evangeline smiled.
“Especially dangerous ones.”
Rebecca laughed.
“You scare me sometimes.”
“I’m harmless.”
Lysandra looked up from another shelf.
“Don’t believe her.”
Evangeline gasped.
“I am harmless.”
“You brought a creature with teeth into breakfast.”
“It was hungry.”
“Exactly.”
By lunchtime, they had wandered farther from the village center.
They found themselves outside a small restaurant that had recently opened.
It wasn’t fancy.
That was the point.
The restaurant had six tables, wooden floors, white curtains, and a handwritten menu displayed near the entrance.
Lucian looked inside.
“Here?”
Dorian shrugged.
“Why not?”
Evangeline smiled.
“I like it.”
Lysandra opened the door.
“Then we’re going in.”
The owner greeted them.
They were seated near the window.
For the first few minutes, everything was peaceful.
Then Lysandra discovered that the table was slightly uneven.
She stared at it.
Lucian noticed.
“No.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking about fixing it.”
“I could fix it.”
“You could also leave it alone.”
“It bothers me.”
“It’s a table.”
“It’s crooked.”
“It’s supposed to be.”
“Why?”
“Because tables sometimes are.”
Lysandra frowned.
Dorian quietly put his hand on the table.
“Leave it.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because we’re outside.”
She understood.
Not because she was frightened.
Not because magic was forbidden.
But because the four siblings had learned that ordinary people deserved to live without unexplained supernatural events happening around them.
Lysandra slowly withdrew her hand.
“Fine.”
Lucian smiled.
“Growth.”
“Shut up.”
Lunch was surprisingly good.
They ordered soup, bread, roast meat, potatoes, and vegetables.
Evangeline stole food from Lysandra’s plate.
Lysandra protested.
“You have your own.”
“Yours tastes better.”
“You ordered the same thing.”
“I know.”
Dorian quietly pushed part of his bread toward Evangeline.
She smiled.
“Thank you.”
Lucian noticed.
“You know she can ask for more.”
“I know.”
“Then why give her yours?”
Dorian shrugged.
“She looked hungry.”
Evangeline smiled.
“You see?
Dorian understands me.”
Lucian shook his head.
“You’ve trained him.”
Dorian looked serious.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lysandra laughed.
“You absolutely do.”
For a few minutes, the four simply ate.
They were not heirs.
They were not descendants of an ancient magical bloodline.
They were not children of one of Britain’s most powerful magical families.
They were siblings.
That was all.
And perhaps that was the most important thing.
Later that afternoon, they went to the park.
The snow had begun falling again.
Children were playing near the fountain.
Teenagers stood in groups.
Parents watched from benches.
Evangeline sat beneath a tree with Rebecca.
Lysandra and Thomas were arguing about music.
Lucian stood nearby with his hands in his coat pockets.
Dorian sat on a bench reading.
Thomas eventually walked over.
“You really don’t talk much, do you?”
Dorian looked up.
“I talk.”
“Not much.”
“I don’t always have something to say.”
Thomas considered this.
“I wish more people were like that.”
Dorian smiled slightly.
“Why?”
“Because most people talk too much.”
Dorian glanced toward Lucian.
“You’re saying that while standing next to him?”
Thomas laughed.
“Fair.”
Lucian looked over.
“I heard that.”
“Good.”
Lucian smiled.
Dorian returned to his book.
After a moment, Thomas asked quietly, “Do you ever get tired of being a Blackthorn?”
Dorian stopped reading.
It was an innocent question.
But it carried weight.
He looked toward the manor, barely visible beyond the distant trees.
“Sometimes.”
Thomas waited.
Dorian continued.
“But not because of my family.”
“Then why?”
“Because people expect things from us.”
Thomas nodded.
“I understand.”
Dorian looked at him.
“Do you?”
“Not completely.”
“That’s fair.”
Thomas smiled.
“But I know you’re still my friend.”
Dorian looked at him for several seconds.
Then he nodded.
“That’s enough.”
As evening approached, the siblings began walking back toward the car.
Evangeline was carrying a small box.
Lysandra noticed.
“What did you buy?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s obviously something.”
“It’s a surprise.”
“For who?”
Evangeline smiled.
“For Mother.”
Lysandra softened.
“What is it?”
“A little ornament.”
“What kind?”
“A bird.”
Lysandra smiled.
“She’ll like it.”
Evangeline nodded.
“She likes things we bring home.”
Lucian looked back at her.
“She likes everything we bring home.”
“Not everything.”
“She liked your carnivorous plant.”
“Eventually.”
“It ate her roses.”
“It was confused.”
“You keep using that word.”
“What word?”
“Confused.”
Evangeline smiled.
“It explains a lot.”
They reached the car.
Before getting inside, Lucian looked at his siblings.
“Everyone accounted for?”
Dorian nodded.
Lysandra raised her hand.
“Yes.”
Evangeline nodded.
Lucian smiled.
“Good.”
Dorian looked at him.
“You sound like Father.”
Lucian immediately frowned.
“Don’t say that.”
“You do.”
“I do not.”
“You do.”
Lysandra laughed.
“He really does.”
Lucian opened the driver’s door.
“I hate all of you.”
“No, you don’t,” Evangeline said.
Lucian paused.
She smiled.
He looked away.
“No.”
He climbed into the car.
“No, I don’t.”
The journey back to Blackthorn Manor was quieter.
The day had exhausted them.
Evangeline eventually fell asleep against the window.
Lysandra was reading.
Dorian was staring outside.
Lucian drove.
The village disappeared behind them.
The road became narrower.
Trees surrounded the car.
Then the gates appeared.
The ancient iron gates opened.
The car passed through.
Blackthorn Manor waited beyond.
Lights glowed in the windows.
Smoke rose from the chimneys.
Somewhere inside, their family was waiting.
Not because they had been monitoring them.
Not because anyone had demanded an explanation.
Simply because that was what families did.
They waited for each other to come home.
When they entered the manor, Seraphina was sitting in the drawing room.
Her pregnancy had become unmistakable now.
She looked up immediately.
“There you are.”
Evangeline hurried toward her.
“Mother.”
Seraphina smiled.
“Did you have a good day?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone get into trouble?”
All four siblings became suspiciously quiet.
Seraphina raised an eyebrow.
“That bad?”
Lucian answered.
“No.”
Lysandra added quickly.
“Nothing happened.”
Dorian looked at them.
“Nothing important.”
Seraphina laughed.
“That is the answer of someone who has absolutely done something.”
“We didn’t,” Lucian said.
Seraphina smiled.
“Then sit down.”
They gathered around her.
Evangeline remembered the box.
“Oh!”
She quickly retrieved it.
“I bought this for you.”
Seraphina opened it.
Inside was a small carved wooden bird.
She stared at it.
Her expression softened.
“It’s beautiful.”
Evangeline smiled.
“I thought you’d like it.”
Seraphina kissed her forehead.
“I do.”
Lucian watched quietly.
Then Seraphina looked at all four of them.
“You know,” she said softly, “you don’t have to spend every day at home.”
Lysandra looked surprised.
“We don’t?”
“No.”
Dorian raised an eyebrow.
“Father might disagree.”
Seraphina laughed.
“Your father worries.”
Lucian smiled.
“Grandfather worries too.”
“Your grandfather worries differently.”
“How?”
“He pretends he doesn’t.”
The four siblings laughed.
Seraphina looked toward the window.
Beyond the glass was the vast estate.
Ancient trees.
Snow.
The hidden magical world of the Blackthorns.
Then she looked back at her children.
“I want you to have friends outside this house.”
Lucian’s expression became thoughtful.
“We do.”
“I know.”
“Normal friends.”
Seraphina smiled.
“Yes.”
Lysandra looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because the world is larger than this family.”
Dorian listened carefully.
Seraphina continued.
“And I never want any of you to believe that you must live entirely inside the world that was built for us.”
Silence settled over the room.
Evangeline looked toward the window.
Lucian leaned back.
Dorian closed his book.
Lysandra smiled.
“We like going out.”
“I know.”
Lucian smiled.
“And we like coming home.”
Seraphina’s expression softened.
“That is exactly what I wanted to hear.”
Later that evening, the four siblings gathered in Lucian’s room.
There was no particular reason.
They simply did.
It happened often.
Sometimes they talked.
Sometimes they argued.
Sometimes they did absolutely nothing.
Tonight, Dorian was reading.
Lysandra was drawing a complicated design.
Evangeline was telling them about an animal she wanted to study.
Lucian was lying across his bed.
“You know,” Lysandra said, “we should do this more often.”
Lucian looked at her.
“Do what?”
“Go out.”
Dorian nodded.
“I agree.”
Evangeline smiled.
“With our friends.”
“Yes.”
Lucian considered it.
“Fine.”
Lysandra looked surprised.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“You’re agreeing?”
“Don’t make me regret it.”
Dorian smiled.
Evangeline leaned back.
“I like ordinary places.”
Lucian looked at her.
“Why?”
She thought about it.
“Because nobody expects anything.”
Dorian nodded slowly.
“That’s true.”
Lysandra added, “Nobody cares who our grandfather is.”
Lucian smiled.
“Nobody knows.”
“And that’s nice.”
There was a pause.
Then Dorian said quietly, “Do you think we could ever tell them?”
Lucian looked at him.
“Tell them what?”
“Everything.”
No one answered immediately.
Outside, snow continued falling.
The manor remained silent.
The four siblings knew that their family possessed secrets older than most nations.
They knew that their bloodline carried things even other magical families did not understand.
They knew that their lives could never be completely ordinary.
But they also knew something else.
They did not need to tell everyone everything.
Friendship did not require complete disclosure.
Trust could exist without revealing every secret.
Thomas did not need to know why Dorian was unusually strong.
Rebecca did not need to know why Evangeline could understand creatures that should not exist.
Their university friends did not need to know why Lucian’s shadow sometimes moved differently from his body.
Their schoolmates did not need to know why Lysandra sometimes stared at old objects as though she could see something hidden inside them.
They were friends because they liked one another.
That was enough.
Lucian finally answered.
“Maybe someday.”
Dorian nodded.
“Maybe.”
Lysandra looked at them.
“I think people should know us first.”
Evangeline smiled.
“Not the Blackthorns.”
Lucian looked around the room.
“Just us.”
The four siblings fell silent.
For once, nobody made a joke.
Because they all understood.
At eleven thirty that night, the manor began settling.
Doors closed.
Footsteps faded.
The staff retired to their rooms.
The family slowly disappeared upstairs.
But the four siblings remained awake a little longer.
They stood together at the corridor window.
Snow covered Blackthorn Vale.
Far away, a few lights remained visible in the village.
Ordinary lights.
Ordinary houses.
Ordinary lives.
Lucian watched them.
“Tomorrow?”
Dorian looked at him.
“Tomorrow what?”
“We go back.”
Lysandra smiled.
“To the village?”
“Yes.”
Evangeline nodded.
“Can we go to the bakery?”
Lucian laughed.
“Of course.”
Dorian closed his book.
“Then I’m coming.”
Lysandra smiled.
“Me too.”
For all the power contained within the Blackthorn bloodline, for all the secrets sleeping beneath their ancestral home, for all the strange creatures hidden among the trees and all the ancient magic woven into the estate, there was something deeply important about four siblings choosing to spend an ordinary afternoon together.
They could have remained inside the manor.
They could have spent their lives surrounded only by magical families.
They could have allowed their heritage to become a wall between themselves and everyone else.
But they didn’t.
They went into town.
They ate ordinary food.
They laughed with ordinary friends.
They complained about school.
They argued about books.
They talked about music.
They bought presents.
They walked through snow.
They sat in cafés.
They went home.
And perhaps that was the quietest rebellion the Blackthorns had ever made.
Not against magic.
Not against tradition.
But against the belief that magic should separate people from the rest of the world.
Lucian looked once more toward the distant village.
Then he turned away.
“Come on.”
The four siblings walked down the corridor together.
Behind them, the manor settled into darkness.
Ahead of them waited another morning.
Another ordinary day.
Another chance to step outside the walls of Blackthorn Manor and simply be themselves.
Not four heirs.
Not four magical children.
Not descendants of an ancient bloodline.
Just Lucian, Dorian, Evangeline, and Lysandra.
Four siblings.
And for now, that was enough.