#evret

Maple Copse Cemetry

James Evret Fitzgerald

This book was alright. I didn’t love or hate it, it was kinda meh for me. I mean, I think it was well written, but I, personally, wasn’t that interested in it. 

This is a novella from the Cinder series that follow Levana’s backstory. We learn how she ended up with her first husband, Evret and how she came to be Winters step mother. We go in depth with the story of how she got her burn scars, and learn about her evil sister in the process. We also see the process that happened in her mind as she decided and attempted to take Cinder’s life.

I liked getting to know Levana better. I now understand her tragic past and seen first hand all the hurt she’s been through...but, that still doesn’t make up for the evil she does and my view of her ultimately stays the same.

I dislike how it seems like the story wants us to pity and start to like Levana. She is still a monster who has done terrible things and makes evil decisions on her own will. 

This book did not have any chapters, so the pace was just pieces of her backstory with time between.

I still dislike Levana, she’s evil and selfish. Yes, I do understand that she was tortured emotionally and physically scarred, but she still made the decisions and I stand firm in my dislike of her. She does evil things even when she isn’t trying. 

I honestly didn't have any characters I particularly liked.

A Month Of Kaider Just some fairly long daily drabbles for the life of AU Cinder and Kai… A Kaider tale. Enjoy!

Cinder drums her practically non-existent nails on the bus window.

Unlike most days, she doesn’t see Kai walking back because he’s had to stay behind and help the girl who wants to enroll with them.

Without even knowing her name, Cinder despises her with a burning passion. But she can’t exactly explain that to the Principal, and she can’t stop Kai from doing his prefect responsibilities.

“Are you ready to tell them now?” Winter whispers, pulling her from her thoughts.

Cinder nods, having talked to both Kai and Winter about this. “Yeah.”

Winter smiles. “Good. I knew you were brave enough to do it.”

The two of them travel in silence until they get home, then Winter links her arm through Cinder’s and the two of them walk inside, ready to unveil their secret.

Cinder stops in her tracks when she sees both Evret and Solstice waiting for them in the living room, solemn looks on their faces.

At the same time, Winter freezes, her elegant composure melting as she sees the look on her parents’ faces.

“We have something important to discuss with you,” Evret tells them.

“What’s happened?” Winter asks, Cinder unable to speak because of the fear burning inside her heart.

“It’s about Cinder.” Solstice gestures for them to sit down.

“Mum? Dad? What is it?”

Solstice sighs. “Before Cha- Cinder’s parents passed away, they signed some documents.”

“About what?” Cinder asks quietly.

“About who would look after you if they were ever no longer able to,” Solstice replies.

Cinder’s face pales, but Winter frowns. “What are you saying?”

“Cinder’s adoptive parents have been in contact,” Evret says.

Winter shuts her eyes, gasping, and looks for Cinder’s hand to clasp.

“And they want me to-” Cinder stops, trying to breathe.

“They’ve requested that you go live with them,” Solstice says, her voice cracking.

Cinder’s knees buckle and she stumbles, falling onto Winter, who guides them both to the sofa.

“How can you just let this happen? We’re family!” Winter shakes her head angrily.

“There’s nothing we can do. They’re not fostering her, they’ve got adoption papers and that overrides our authority.” Evret explains. “And, as I’m sure Cinder knows, they are technically related to her already.”

Cinder shakes her head, groaning.

“Already related?” Winter asks.

“Cinder has a step-mother and twostep-sisters,” Solstice says, confirming Cinder’s thoughts.

“You’re not serious?” Winter fumes.

“I’m afraid we are,” Solstice intones. “You have about a week left with us.”

“No,” Cinder mutters, getting up and ignoring their worried looks.

She runs.

She runs out of the door, she runs down the street, she runs through the park, she runs past the strangers giving her odd looks, she runs until her lungs ache and then she runs some more.

She ends up crashing near the forest, sliding down under a tree and bringing her knees up to her chest, hiding her head in her arms.

Her heavy breathing fades into huge gulps that lead to panicked gasps.

She can’t see the trees, she doesn’t know where the sky is and she can’t tell what time it is, the birds too loud, the ground too hard, the smell of wild flowers too strong.

She can’t breathe.

Just when she thinks her lungs are going to collapse, someone kneels beside her.

They kneel to one side of her, pacing two of her fingers on their wrist so she can feel their pulse. Their other arm wraps itself around her shoulders, pulling her close and providing warmth.

Just by the warmth and solidarity of their embrace, she can tell who it is. Even before that, she could recognise their soft, familiar hands.

Of course it would be him.

Who else would leave everything to find her? Who else would risk getting lost to get to her? Who else would give up their time to stay with her?

“Come on, Cinder, breathe with me, match my pulse, you’re okay, I’m here…”

The person incessantly murmurs the words, not stopping until she can breathe in time with him.

“Kai…” she breathes, going limp against him.

He kisses her forehead. “It’s okay, just breathe with me.”

Cinder knows that she’s shaking but she can’t feel anything except the hum of Kai’s voice telling her that everything will be okay.

It takes her a good half hour to calm down, at which point she looks up at Kai.

He’s smiling at her, his copper eyes shining with concern and reassurance.

“Th- they s- said that… said that I- I have t- to… to g- go live w- with th- them…” Cinder stops, flinching at the sound of her own voice.

Kai doesn’t let go of her, running his hands through her hair slowly, soothingly. “I know.”

Cinder nods, immensely thankful that she doesn’t have to explain. She’s never felt so lost, so unable to function, that she can’t even form a single sentence.

Kai laced their fingers together. “Hey, I’m here for you, you’ll be okay.”

Cinder shakes her head. “I- I’ve met… m- met them o- once b- before a- and they’re… they’re not g- good.”

Kai’s hand stills for a second before carrying on. “What do you mean?”

Cinder shakes her head, curling up into Kai as much as possible. “Ev- Evret and S- Solstice d- don’t kn- know…”

Kai kisses her hair softly. “It’s okay, I understand.”

“N- no you, you d- don’t…” Cinder gasps. “Y- you have a… a perfect l- life…”

Kai flinches so hard that a heavy guilt settles in Cinder’s stomach despite how upset she is.

He swallows. “Right. A perfect life,” he echoes, his voice surprisingly flat.

“Kai?” Cinder asks, getting no reply for a good five minutes.

“Sorry. How about we get you back home?” Kai suggests gently. “You’ll probably catch a cold if you remain here.”

Cinder nods, letting Kai pull her up. The two of them walk all the way back, Cinder leaning on Kai right up until he knocks on her door.

Winter’s the one who throws the door open, visibly sagging with relief as she catches sight of Cinder, soon joined by Evret and Solstice, who share the same look.

Cinder smiles as best as she can, which is, admittedly, terrible.

“Thank you, Kai.” Evret claps a hand on Kai’s shoulder, nodding to him.

Kai smiles. “It’s no trouble.”

Winter sends Kai a questioning glance but he shakes his head, clearing answering a question Cinder hadn’t noticed Winter asking.

He squeezes her hand as a goodbye, murmuring his ‘I love you’ quietly enough that only she hears it before turning.

Cinder smiles as she watches him go, thanking the stars that she’s met him at all.

A Month Of Kaider Just some fairly long daily drabbles for the life of AU Cinder and Kai… A Kaider tale. Enjoy! 

Cinder yells in frustration.

She slides down so she’s sitting in the middle of the room, cross-legged.

“Cinder, it’s okay…” Winter whispers, kneeling beside her.

“No. No, it’s not. It’s not okay.”

“He’ll be okay,” Winter soothes.

Cinder looks up, shaking her head. “You didn’t see him. We have to get him back.”

“This is insane, we’re students!” Scarlet exclaims. “We shouldn’t have to do this.”

“So you’re not going to help?” Cinder asks incredulously.

Scarlet scoffs, “What do you take me for? Of course I’m helping! But we’re not doing this without a plan.”

“Hey, Cinder, you said he had a droid, right?” Cress asks.

Cinder’s eyes widen. “Oh my stars, Cress, you’re a genius.”

Cidner jumps up, rooting around for Winter’s notebook.

Scarlet, Cress and Winter just stare at her until she finds it and flicks through the worn pages.

“Got it. Kai and I made Nainsi an accessible email account… Cress, can you send a message to this?”

“Oh, come on, is the sky blue?”

Winter looks out of the window. “No?”

Cress elbows her. “You know what I mean.”

“How can we be sure that Nainsi is with Kai though?” Scarlet asks.

Cinder curses under her breath but then shakes her head. “She will be, she’s usually kept hidden in the basement anyway…”

“We should wait until the boys get back anyway,” Winter says.

“We are back,” Jacin announces, laughing.

Wolf kisses Scarlet before turning to face everyone else. “We can’t get into the basement from the outside.”

“Tell me there’s more to this?” Cinder asks hopefully.

Thorne nods. “Of course, my fellow detention buddy. We can get in through the storage room at the back, it’s totally empty.”

“Then we just have to find the basement. It seems like it’s near that.” Jacin puts one arm around Winter as he speaks. “It shouldn’t be hard to avoid those two.”

Cinder nods. “We’re also going to try and email him.”

“Are you sure? What if Rikan sees?” Jacin frowns.

“No way would Kai keep Nainsi out in the open anyway,” Cinder replies.

The seven of them start to make a quick plan, deciding who’s on lookout and who’s going to go inside to find Kai.

In the end, it’s decided that Cinder has to go in, as well as Thorne and Wolf. Cress will stay at Winter’s house so she and Winter can communicate with all of them. Jacin and Scarlet are in charge of making sure Rikan and Simone are preoccupied elsewhere, or they’ll create a diversion if needed.

“Hold on, we should probably take a break to eat,” Winter suggests. “It’s pasta night too!”

Cinder smiles, her stomach already rumbling at the thought. Nobody is against the idea of food so the seven of them head downstairs.

“Hey guys, want to grab your plates?” Evret asks, already familiar with the whole group.

“Sure, Dad. Where’s Mum?” Winter asks as she pulls the plates out of the cupboard.

“She should be on her way, I guess there’s just traffic,” Evret replies, smiling.

Winter nods and grabs some glasses, handing a few to Cinder and Scarlet as well. Once the table’s ready, Evret sighs, “I better call your Mum and ask her if she’s going to make it in time to eat.”

Cinder and Winter both smile as the doorbell rings, Evret shaking his head. “Maybe she’s here already.”

He gets up to open the door, leaving the seven of them at the table.

They hear him talking to someone who clearly isn’t Solstice and, when Evret doesn’t return after five minutes, get up to see what the problem is.

“Oh no,” Cinder breathes as she sees the flashing red and blue lights outside.

“Mum got arrested?” Winter asks, frowning.

Scarlet’s face softens. “Oh, honey… I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Then what-?” Winter trails off as she pales, running forwards.

Evret turns to them, startled, and holds up a hand.

“I’m awfully sorry,” The woman says again, her face full of pity.

“No…” Cinder shakes her head, hoping that they’ve all got the wrong idea and this is just a misunderstanding.

“Would you like me to accompany you now or would you like to make your own way to the hospital?”

Evret makes a choked sound before nodding. “How many can you permit?”

“Three,” The woman replies.

He nods again. “Could you give us five minutes, please?”

The woman nods and Evret thanks her before shutting the door.

He turns to them with a solemn expression. “I’m sorry, you’re going to have to head home.”

“We understand,” Wolf says kindly, turning.

Scarlet heads with him but Jacin kisses Winter and envelops her in a tight hug before leaving, murmuring a soft ‘I love you’ that makes her smile. Thorne ebows Cinder silently and she nods to him but Cress doesn’t accept that, hugging her before Thorne pulls her away too.

The pasta lies, forgotten, on the table, never to be eaten.

“Dad?” Winter asks, her voice small.

“Oh, Winter, I’m sorry,” Evret mumbles. “Cinder, come here.”

He pulls them both into a hug, sniffling. “Are you girls ready to go?”

Winter wipes her eyes. “Will Mum be okay?”

“I don’t know,” Evret answers truthfully.

“What happened?” Cinder inquires.

“A car accident,” Evret tells them. “The other driver was killed instantly and Solstice is in critical condition.”

Winter clutches Cinder’s hand. “Cinder…”

“I know, I know…” she murmurs back, guiding Winter to the policewoman’s car.

The car journey is uneventful, Winter’s quiet sobs filling the vehicle’s silence. Cinder notes that Evret is silently crying too and her heart lurches.

She wishes she had Kai with her to help.

She can’t bring herself to cry but there’s a part of her that hopes it was all a mistake and Solstice is perfectly healthy, waiting for them with her warm smiles. There’s a part of her that suspects otherwise but she shuts those thoughts out.

She has to physically pull Winter out of the car, letting her cousin cling onto her as they follow the policewoman. Evret glances at them every few seconds, as if to make sure they’re not going to get injured as well.

“I hate to do this but I need to ask you a few questions first…” the receptionist says sadly.

Cinder blanks out the for rest of it, only registering white floors, Solstice’s pale face, loud beeping, Winter’s tearful face, a policewoman talking about paperwork and an unfamiliar car before she’s back in her bed at Winter’s place.

She shuts her eyes, hoping for any kind of escape from the day.