Ariella sighed softly, glancing around her room with petulance. How did she ever let it get to be so messy? Books and old candy wrappers lay strew carelessly around her desk, crumpled sheets of paper making small mountains here and there. Her clothes lay unfolded near the closet door and only God knew where all her socks had run off too.

With another sigh, she sat on the edge of her bed. Bad temperedly she kicked at geometry text book that had been left open, “I really hate cleaning.”

“Well you know, it’s not going to clean it’s self.”

Ariella bit back the urge to retort as she saw her mother poke her head into the room. Evelyn’s eyes roamed the mussed room with disapproval.

“Mom…”

“Ariella, how long have you been sitting in this room moping about?”

“Two hours.”

“How long ago were you supposed to go to the riding trail with Lauren?”

“Er…half an hour ago.”

“Exactly! Is it really worth just sitting here and not getting anything done?”

Ariella moaned piteously, having heard her mother use this phrase over a thousand times, “It is when you hate cleaning as much as I do. I’m going to be such a bad wife one day. And you know what? I don’t even care. I’ll just hire a maid or something…”

Evelyn pursed her lips, “Our family doesn’t need hired help. We’re not lazy lay-abouts.”

“Maybe YOU’RE not, but I am.” Ariella countered, crossing her arms, “Besides, it’s not like I’ll be here forever. You won’t have to deal with my maid.”

Evelyn shook her head crossly in reply, “Just get it done, Ariella. Please? I’ll make your favorite for dinner if you have it done in the next hour.”

“You don’t have to bribe me, Mama. I’ll have it done, I promise.” Ariella sighed, feeling a twinge of guilt for having stressed her mother with her messes, “You and Daddy can relax.”

“That’s my girl.” Evelyn swooped down and kissed her forehead before closing the door behind her, leaving Ariella alone with her clutter.

“Where to start?” She muttered, eyeing the mountains of debris. Ariella was something of a pack rat. She hated to throw anything away that held any bit of sentimental value.

‘I should just take up scrapbooking and throw everything out.’ She thought and quickly admonished the thought; her room would only become more cluttered with all the things needed for scrapbooking.

She dove under the bed with oomph, pulling out stuffed animals, books and various knick knacks. She flinched back when her hand banged against something hard.

“Hello…what’s this?” She asked aloud, wiggling a basic porcelain jewelry box decorated with butterflies free from the wreckage that was under her bed.

“I don’t remember loosing you.” She mused to herself, flipping open the lid and ignoring her smarting hand. A twinkling melody began to emit from the box. The trinkets within seemed to wink back at her in the light, happy to be free from their dusty prison.

Ariella fingered each piece of jewelry with care. All of it had been from when she was younger. Held inside was her first pair of earrings, small diamond studs, a silver anklet with a horse charm and a peculiar ruby ring. She peered at the ring closely. Etched into the gemstone were the initials Q.A.

How odd. Where had she gotten this ring? She turned it over in her fingers, trying immersing herself in old memories. Q.A. She knew she had heard of someone with these initial before.

Q.A.

She jolted somewhat as realization dawned upon her. Q.A! Of course she remembered! She was floored by the clarity of the memories that now surged through her brain. The flood gates had been opened.

Quinlan Ashe was the woman she had met at her eighth birthday. The enigmatic words she had spoken were now worming their way back into Ariella’s mind.

“A very special little girl…” She repeated slowly. After all these years she was still vexed.

Things had taken on a dream-like quality as Ariella rose from her sitting position. Eight years ago, she would have pushed the words aside. Ariella was no longer a child but instead a budding young woman. One who had noticed a single thing that had been bothering her for the last four years. One thing that everyone else seemed to have, except she. Now, she wanted answers.

She slid the ring on to her pinky. It was a tight squeeze, but it still fit. It was to give her confidence when she went to ask her parents.

Down the stairs she stole quietly, into the living room where her mother and father lay curled up on the sofa together. Their faces were lit up eerily by the electronic glow of the set. No doubt they were watching their favorite program. A twinge of discomfort made Ariella freeze; they looked so peaceful there.

Her discomfort gave way to a burning inquisitiveness. Finally she cleared her throat, stepping out of the hallway, “Mama? Dad?”

Evelyn rested her cheek against her spouses shoulder, fighting the urge to yawn, “Have you finished?”

“No. I have to ask you something though.”

Ariella’s mother sat up straighter and grabbed the remote to turn off the television. The living room was now dark and silent. Ariella allowed for a pregnant pause before her father spoke.

“What is it that you’d like to talk about?” He inquired in a questioning tone, exchanging a bewildered look with his wife. Usually Ariella was very up front with her questions and never indicated hesitation in asking them. Now she looked shifty and nervous.

“I found this ring while I was cleaning out under my bed.” She held it out to her mother for examination.

Evelyn frowned, tracing the Q.A carvings with her fingertips. Something prickled at the back of her mind, “I don’t recall ever buying you something like this.”

“Because you haven’t bought me this ring, Mama.” Ariella said, biting back the exasperation that she so wanted to include, “Do you know a woman by the name of Quinlan Ashe?”

Evelyn blanched, all the color leaving her face. Of course she knew the name. It was on every one of those damned envelopes that she still received to this day.

“What do you know about this woman, Ariella?”

Ariella was shocked by the reproach she heard in her mother’s voice. It was rare she ever yell and even rarer that she spoke with such obvious dislike.

“She and I met a very long time ago, at my eighth birthday party. I made Matilda and Lauren promise to not to tell you. She told me that there was something special about me and that a lot of people knew it.” A frown creased her face, “Why am I special, Mama? Was she lying?”

Evelyn seethed inwardly. How dare this woman show up at her daughter’s birthday party unannounced at the tender age of eight? How dare she fill her head with questions! It was her job alone to tell her daughter of her curse, not this pushy woman she knew nothing about. She would have told her eventually. Wouldn’t she? Evelyn released her breath in a sigh; unbeknown to her she had been holding it for the last thirty seconds.

“No. She wasn’t lying, Ariella. Come and sit…” She scooted over and patted the empty cushion space between them, “I will do my best to explain. I’m sorry you had to find out this way. We wanted to be the ones to bring it up one day.”

Ariella folded her hands on to her lap, waiting patiently, “Mama, I always knew something was wrong with me, even since preschool. I mean, not wrong. Just different, I suppose. Everyone had a best friend that never moved away, or ones they never fought with but I never had that. Then, in eighth grade when we learned how everyone had a soul mate, I wondered where was mine? Is that what this is about?”

Evelyn gave a barely noticeable nod, seeing the pain in her daughter’s eyes. Of course, Ariella thought. She had sneaking suspicions ever since all of her friends had begun courting several years ago and she had not. They all reassured her that she too would find her equal. It never happened. As her friends fell more and more in love, Ariella was left wondering where her soul mate was. Why hadn’t she met hers at a young age like everyone else? She had never given up hope though; even now she was convinced there had to be someone. Unfortunately, this hope was to become unraveled.

“Ariella…When you were born, a man came visit me. He told me that you were to never have a mate. You would live your life alone. It’s a very rare thing for souls to have to endure…but honey, baby…you are special. You’ll always have us.”

Ariella looked at her mother in horror, shaking her head, “Mama…Mother, no! You know it’s not the same! To not have a mate at all…is to not even be a soul.” She felt a flood of tears well up behind her eyes, “How can I not have anyone?”

Evelyn embraced her daughter, unsure of what to say. It was a mother’s nightmare to have to tell their child something as painful as this.

Ariella accepted the hug, murmuring into her mothers shoulder, “What does Quinlan have to do with this though?”

“I don’t know. Mr. Wray only said to avoid mail addressed to me by people I did not know. That happens to be that woman.”

“She seemed nice to me.” Ariella said softly, “I wonder why he told you that. She said she’d answer any questions if I had any.”

“Did she now? I’m not so sure if that’s a good idea…”

“Mama, what harm can it do?”

Evelyn gnawed her lip, “What do you think, Al?”

Mr. Salvador raised his eyebrows, “Let her find her answers, Ev. We owe her

that. She owes herself that, don’t you think? If I was in her shoes, I’d want to know why too. Obviously Mr. Wray didn’t provide us with much information to work off of and this Quinlan must know something he doesn’t want us to.”

Evelyn laid back into the sofa cushions, “That’s true, but wouldn’t it be for good reason?”

“Just call her, Ariella. See what she knows.”

Ariella was up in an instant, pulling down a dusty volume of the yellow-pages from a bookshelf on the far end of the sitting room. She quickly flipped to the A’s and quickly found Quinlan’s name.

She grabbed for the phone and punched in the numbers, twirling a strand of hair nervously as the phone rang. Once, twice and three times it rang before finally the other line picked up.

A cool voice issued forth from the ear piece, “This is the Ashe residence, to whom am I speaking?”

“This is Ariella Salvador. I think you remember who I am.”

The voice responded a note happier and tinged with surprise, “Ariella! I’ve been waiting for this call for quite some time.”

“Yes, well, I can’t say I’m exactly thrilled to have found out what I did but do you know more about my situation?”

“I think it would be best if we met somewhere to discuss this. You never know who’s tapping my lines.”

Ariella blinked in astonish. This woman had just said the phrase “tapping my lines” as if such a thing happened often. “Er…Sure. Is having someone tap your line an every day occurrence?”

“I’ve gone and made myself look odd again, haven’t I? No, I assure you they only do it once and a while but they don’t give me enough credit. I don’t usually use this line for that reason. Do you have a pen near by?”

“There should be one around here somewhere.” She quickly mimed to her father what she needed and he hurried back with a pad and a pencil, “Alright, I’m ready.”

Ariella scribbled down an address and a separate phone number, as well as an e-mail address. The phone conversation only lasted another two minutes before Quinlan rushed a goodbye and left the line dead. Ariella placed the phone back into it’s receiver.

Evelyn wrung her hands, looking at the notepad, “Well? What did she tell you?”

“She wants to meet me at the Lautner’s Café on Dowling Way for a face to face conference tomorrow.”

“You’re going to go then? There’s nothing I can do to stop you?”

Ariella took her mothers hands, “Mama, I need to do this. I want to know. She doesn’t seem dangerous, just a little eccentric. I’ll tell you everything when I get back home.” Ariella continued on after her mother made a face of displeasure, “If I’m not back within an hour of the time I tell you I will be, just call the police. It’s not like she can really get far with me. The last time I saw her, I was nearly her size.”

She let her mothers hands drop as she gave her a hug, “I better get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow will be a very enlightening experience.”

Evelyn watched as her daughter ran back up the stairs and into her room, the door closing nosily behind her.

“This will be the last time I ask her to clean her room.” Evelyn muttered, “You send your daughter to get rid of clutter and then this.” She emphasized the last word by throwing her hands up.

Al wearily placed his arm around her shoulders, “Let’s just go to bed. I don’t think those soap operas will hold any appeal for us tonight.”

The pair dissolved into faint laughter as they climbed the stairs after Ariella, hoping to make light of the situation. Evelyn knew that at last her daughter’s carefree days and innocence were over. Silently, she mourned for the loss. No amount of preparation would ever completely vanquish the hurt.