It had been a week since River’s life took a complete turn and brought him to Astera’s Embrace. Exhaustion had dragged him into a two day slumber, filled with nightmares and horrors he couldn’t outrun, chased by hulking black shadows and Cerys’ screams, and when he finally woke, he found himself in a new home.

Clementine’s verdant cottage was nestled in the woodland near the lake by Astera’s gate, surrounded by flourishing gardens of colourful blooms. Ivy clad the brick walls of the cottage, climbing vines reached over the moss-covered roof and foliaged cascaded over the sides of the wooden awning.

Although small, the inside was a cosy nest, the living and dining room separated by a staircase. Tucked away by the dining room was a quaint kitchen, a large bay window overseeing the gardens.

When River first woke inside the cottage, he came downstairs and found Cerys leaning against the kitchen sink, lost in a daze outside. He had no idea how fond of flowers she was, not until she took every chance to gaze upon them.

Despite the house now being theirs, Clementine even insisting on it being called the ‘Augustine Cottage’, River could not seem to accept it as a home. Fear clung onto him, claws deep with the foreboding thought of it all being taken away. He’d be discarded, either back on the streets working a job he hated with a mother who was gone all but physically, or caught by the Everlasting Servants and used to torture Cerys.

The anxiety haunted him, in his dreams, in his waking moments…

River sat at the round dining room table, zoned out as he ate a sandwich until the clack of Cerys’ heels snapped his attention. He took another bite and glanced over towards the stairs, a half wall revealing when Cerys reached the bottom steps.

“I need you to leave,” she said and River nearly choked. She walked past him into the kitchen, opening an overhead cabinet for a glass. “Cas has wards on this place, I’m sure you already know, but… Well, they’re weak. So I need to weave a new set and it'll take some time and you’ll…”

River swallowed and then said, “die?”

“You’re still recovering and I see you scratching all the time, which Cas said not to do by the way!” Cerys held an accusatory finger at River, but he rolled his eyes and scratched at his hands.

His wounds were healing well, the rashes fading, raised hives and pain gone, but the itching persisted.

“You guys try enduring this without scratching,” River replied and defiantly scratched harder, though much to his own detriment. He hissed as the itch grew worse. “The wards aren’t painful anymore, but it does make the itchiness worse. Can you just… Not ward us?”

“Rivs,” Cerys exhaled a breath and shook her head.

“You said we’d be safe inside the wards of Astera’s Embrace! Why the fuck does everyone have wards up in their own houses?” River argued and finished the last bite of his sandwich.

“It’s an added precaution but you need to prepare for every worse scenario. Warding our home is Plan B.”

“Well, Plan B sucks,” River muttered.

“You handled the wards at your own place, you hardly noticed them,” Cerys pointedly said. “If they continue to disturb you, we’ll revise, but… Truthfully, River, regardless of the oath made, I don’t still don’t trust the three Heads.”

That made two of them. River sighed and propped his chin up on the palm of his hand, tapping his fingers along his cheek.

“It can’t wait?” he asked.

“I wanted to change them the moment we got here, but you were suffering and my magic was depleted,” Cerys chuckled but stopped when River only stared at her. “I’m being selfish here, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, a bit,” River replied and smiled reassuringly at Cerys. “But you’re just worried for us, so… Go ahead, put up your wards.”

“Ugh, thank you!” Cerys beamed at him. “You’ll have to leave though, in case my magic comes for your head again.”

“Now?” River groaned.

“You need some fresh air anyway. Go find Clem, she’d be delighted to hang out with you. Or go annoy Atreus, he works at a bookstore in town so he might be there.” Cerys walked over and pulled his seat out. He sighed but stood.

“I don’t think Atreus wants to be friends with us,” River said.

“Not with me, but he seems soft on you,” she replied, returning back to the kitchen. She glanced outside the window, a soft smile on her face as sunlight shined in. “I’ve never seen him be friends with anyone outside of Clementine and her family… So you’ll be famous if you get along with him.”

“He has no friends?” River furrowed his brow, curious about that. “He’s the Heir of a coven. That automatically makes him a person to kiss up to.”

“Maybe that’s why,” Cerys pondered and met River’s gaze again. “Maybe no one has been true to him. Besides, you could do with a friend here too.”

“I have a friend.”

“Clem doesn’t count, she’s everyone’s friend,” Cerys smirked. “But before you go, I got something for you.”

River frowned at her comment but intrigue stopped him from quipping back at her. She rounded the counter and opposed him at the table, her hands held out. Light flashed and a heavy thud hit the table, River’s duffle bag now on the table. River gasped and dragged it over to himself, smiling down at what he thought he had lost during the scuffle at his mother’s care home.

“How do you have this?” He asked, unzipping the bag to ensure nothing was lost. “When did you get it?”

“I took it when I left to follow after you and Clem, but sent it to my storage unit so I didn’t have to lug it around,” Cerys explained. “It’s not charmed like my belongings are so I couldn’t just summon it, like I can my bike or jacket.”

“I really envied that ability of yours, to just grab your things from another room without going there,” River said, a small smile on his face as he recalled old, bygone days from when he and Cerys were together, along with his parents. “I usually don’t care about not having magic, but man… Do you know how lazy I’d be? I’d never get up.”

Cerys laughed. “You say that, but I know not one Mythic who can sit still. Alright, well, get out of here, already.”

River pulled out his phone and notebook, relieved as he flipped through the pages. His mother’s words still scrawled across many pages.

“Charge this for me, and I have some clothes I need washed in here,” River said, and tossed his phone to his sister. She caught it but frowned.

“I’m not your servant, River.”

“You owe me, you know?” River smirked and took his notebook with him as he left the dining room to the front door, Cerys sorting through his bag, her face scrunched up. “Oh and, we’re safe, right?”

“Once my wards are up, yes,” she said without looking at him.

“So we can talk soon?” River asked and Cerys froze. “You promised once we were safe, inside Astera’s Embrace—”

“I know,” she said and a heavy breath left her, her shoulders rising up. She looked over her shoulder at him, a nervous smile on her lips. “We’ll talk.”

“Cool! I’ll see you later then,” River said and took his pendant and denim jacket off the hook by the front. Careful, he slipped his head through the necklace and then swung his jacket on, leaving the house.

Once the door closed behind him, he grinned madly, too overjoyed by the prospect of living with family again. It was a small tiny comfort he’d never take for granted, even if he couldn’t get used to their new home.

The stone paths led River through the gardens and weathered gate outside the cottage, to a narrow dirt path where Cerys’ had parked her bike. River knew she controlled when it came to life, but he still narrowed his eyes at it, suspicious of it being haunted like the car in a horror movie he saw once. 

He put his notebook in his jacket’s inner pocket, and then trekked along the dirt road out of the woods and towards the inner town.

Clementine had explained that a lot of people lived closer to the town, but she and family preferred the outskirts by the forest, close to both the lake and Astera’s Gate. Unfortunately for River, they have had the benefit of Aether Jumping, able to traverse through the entirety of Astera’s Embrace in an instant. River, on the other hand, had to make a twenty-minute trek through the woods until he reached the town hub.

His dirt path turned to cobblestone as he arrived, chickens bawking and running amuck by his feet, nearly tripping him. He hopped and spun before he caught himself, shooing them away as they ran off clucking. Carefully maintained climbing vines covered most buildings, with planters of colourful blossoms decorating their windows. The chickens guided River into the town square when small children laughed as they ran by him to scare the small creatures. Escaping from the squawking chaos, River expected the residents of Astera’s Embrace to treat him much like Atreus had, but instead they all welcomed him with smiles. He returned the gesture and carried on to the centre of the square. A grand three tiered water fountain glimmered with a cool essence, calming with its gentle trickle.

In this breath of calmness, River felt the intrigue of his notebook pull at him. Settling down on the ledge of the water fountain, he checked his surroundings before finally taking out his notebook. He flicked open the page, bookmarked by his pen, and traced a finger down his rushed scrawls of his mother’s words. It had lingered in the back of his mind, along with the crossword he saw the night everything changed.

“Fate awaits,” River muttered aloud and glanced up, curious of what was fated and why Atreus’ name was involved. Did his mother mean Atreus? Or was it merely a coincidence?

He had no choice but to investigate, reminded of what Cerys had mentioned earlier. He looked around the town square, the central hub for all sorts of stores, Clementine had told him. He closed his book with a clap and hopped off the fountain, beelining to the nearest store. He peeked his head in and tripped the door’s chime, a head popping out from behind a counter of baked goods.

“Uh, hi,” River waved and paused for a moment, the shopkeeper about to speak when he immediately dashed out. “Not books,” he exhaled and moved to the next store, peering through the windows instead of barging straight in. No books were in sight, despite the numerous stores he stumbled upon and peeked inside of, majority specialising in some form of food goods and the others in apothecary, plants and small livestock.

Helpless, he wandered further from the town square, down streets he hadn’t ventured through before, and continued his brief glances at stores. Crystals and gems, rugs and furnishings, wooden carvings and toys, lightning and plumbing—but no books. He gazed down the street, the paths narrowing down a subtle decline with hanging signs with names that told him very little of what they sold.

He sighed tiredly and wondered why there wasn’t a sign stating ‘Atreus’ Bookstore’. He ventured further down, mindlessly glancing back and forth at passing stores, and as if Astera’s Embrace heard his wish, his eyes landed on a sign a few shops down.

On top of an open book in swirls of golden calligraphy, the sign displayed, The Keeper’s Nook.