Evangeline slowly opened the dusty wood chest and a shiver flooded down her spine.

She sat back on her feet. Kneeling in front of it, her hands shot back to her sides as if she had touched something hot.

A small stack of letters lay in front of her in the chest.

Still in shock she lifted the first one, and then the second. Only to confirm they were all addressed to the same person…

‘To my darling Eevee’

Her face went white and an endless train of thoughts ran quickly through her mind. She couldn’t make sense of them.

She knew who these were from. Only one person had ever called her ‘Eevee’ her entire life, and that was her father.

…Before he had abandoned their family.

These letters being here changed everything.

These letters meant her mother, whom she trusted more than anyone, had lied to her.

Deeply unsettled by what was unfolding in front of her, she cautiously slid a nail across the worn letters crease and it opened.

She pulled the paper from its threadbare wrapping and only to read the first line before the tears came streaming down her freckled cheeks.

‘My darling Eevee,

I would’ve never left you this way if I could’ve helped it. ‘

She wiped her nose on her sleeve as it had began to run and continued reading.

‘There is a lot I need to tell you, I planned on doing so when you were older… but I’ve been forced back home to help our people’

Home? Our people? What the hell was he talking about?

‘I’m so sorry I can’t say this to you in person, I’m not sure how long I’ll need to be away so I’m left with no other choice…

My sweet girl, you are one member of ancient magical bloodline. A bloodline that has existed for thousands of years… considerable power runs through your veins and others just like you. It is that legacy.. that bloodline… I have left to protect.’

She couldn’t think straight and yet a memory slowly unraveled…

She thought back to that night at uni, when she had been walking back to her dorm after a late lecture and that man had tried to grab her on the street. He was thrown back without her even laying a finger on him. She had been so scared that night, she felt her mind had been unreliable… blamed it on the adrenaline. she must’ve pushed him. But now… she wasn’t sure.

And that time she was a child and she had fallen in the River while fishing with her father. She had struggled for only a second before she had been lifted by some unseen force to the bank….

She was so young, she had assumed it was the current that had pushed her. She hadn’t learnt to swim yet but she escaped the rushing waters completely unscathed. The whole event seemed so unnatural all of a sudden.

And her father… the look on his face. The memory filled her mind. He didn’t look scared or even surprised… it… was like he knew she would be fine.

No. She stopped the memory abruptly. She was beginning to feel mad. This was insane. It was all too much…. She needed answers, she needed to speak to her mother now…

Only a few lines remained so she decided to finish reading what was left of the letter.

“I only have a little time but will write to you again when I can.

When it is safe, I will come back for you.

Your loving father”

He had left 20 years ago…

She needed to get out of this attic. She needed some air. Her breaths were becoming short and quick, her blood felt like it was racing.

She dropped the letter back into the box and stood. Beginning to pace.

Was it all a lie? Is that why her mother had hid these letters? Was her father just some mad man… We’re these the ramblings of someone deeply unwell? Maybe she had kept these away to protect her….

But then why keep them at all? Could she not have just thrown them away if he was a danger to her?

Evangeline paused her steps and took one deep breath, only to fixate on the box once again…

Tears still threatening to fill her eyes she couldn’t help but wish she had never opened that chest to begin with…