A scream cut through the peaceful summer evening.
The first scream of a newborn baby.
Inside the big mansion a woman layed on the big, beautiful canopy bed, tired from the birth of her child.
"It's a healthy girl.", said the midwife, wearing a white uniform.
She was holding a small baby, wrapped into a warm, light-green blanket.
Now, she passed the child to the woman, who sat up in her bed.
In that moment the door of the room opend and a man, together with three small children, two boys and a girl, entered the room.
The woman smiled as she saw them coming towards her bed.
"Hello, my cute daughter. I'm your father.", said the man with a smile, while carefully brushing over the baby's head.
The small girl that had followed the man tiptoed to see the baby.
"I also want to see my little sister!", she said.
The older one of the two boys picked her up and held her up so that she could see the baby.
The woman smiled and said:"This is your little sister. Her name is Thalia. Be nice to her."
All three children nodded happily.
In that moment the baby opend it's eyes which were of a deep green color and looked at them.
Then she grapped the older girls hand.
In that moment it was over for the three older siblings.
"I swear that I will always protect you, my baby sister.", said the second oldest boy and the other two children nodded vehemently befor swearing the same thing.
They parents looked at each other, hardly holding back theier laughter but also happy about the fact, that theier four children already were this close.
From that moment on, the family had a new member, who was theier small princess.
9 years later, 2016, Birling Gap
She pushed aside the velvet curtains, which had a light-pink color, and looked outside the window.
Her gaze wandered over the big garden of the mansion, there everywhere green trees and meadows, as well as blooming flowers could be seen.
Gray gravel paths cut the garden into geometric forms.
On the right side, was a fountain, which blew water in the air, while the middle was a gravel path leading to a great wrought iron gate.
In the not so far distance, she could see a small forest.
Then she opend the window to see more outside, a warm wind blew around her nose and let her white nightgown flutter around her legs.
In this moment, someone knocked at the door.
"Come in!", she called.
A maid wearing a long-sleeved, calf-lengthen black uniform with a white apron above it entered the room.
Her blond hair was tied to a knot with a small white serving hood hiding it inside.
"Young Miss, it's time to get ready for the day. Your family awaits you for breakfast in the dining room. Also, today is an important business lunch, to which your family was invited.", she said.
After she had ended, the young girl, who had looked outside the window the whole time turned around and smiled at the maid.
"Alright, I will come right away, Maisie.", she answered.
The stern face of the maid, Maisie, melted into a warm smile.
Then she left the room to get some things, while the girl went on towards the bathroom, after a last look outside the window.
Half an hour later she sat freshly bathed infront of a nice dressing table inside her room.
Maisie had blown her long brown-golden hair dry and was brushing it carefully now.
She sang a song the girl, who was listening quietly, really liked.
They always did it this way.
The girl sat still as long as her beloved maid, who was also her nanny, sang that song.
"It's finished, Miss Thalia.", Maisie said that moment after ending the song and straighten the dark-green hair ribbon,which was tied into a bow, one last time.
Thalia jumped down from the padded stool and turned around in her long-sleeved, knee-long, deep-green dress embroidered with golden and violet flowers and leaves.
Her green ballet flats and the white tights completed her outfit.
"How do I look,Maisie?", she asked.
The maid answered with a warm smile:"Beautiful, Milady. The most beautiful girl in all of East Sussex."
The girls smile became even brighter and she answered:"And you're the best maid in all of East Sussex."
Then, both of them bursted into laughter.
Only a while later had they calmed down enough to leave the room and go through the big mansion, passing by old paintings of landscapes and humans.
After going down an old wooden staircase, they reached the door to the dining room.
The girl pushed it open and entered the room behind.
It was a very big room, the middle of it being taken up by a beautiful, rather old, wooden table.
Around it, sat four people.
The other members of Thalias, the Greenflowers, family.
Her father Reynold sat at the head of the table, to his right side her mother Rinka.
Her oldest brother Brandon sat to his left and her younger big brother Norman next to him.
The spot right next to her mother was still empty but one stair further sat her older sister Rose.
The free spot was Thalias.
Then she entered, three pair of green eyes and one pair of black eyes looked at her, befor her family smiled at her happily and her father said loudly:"There is my baby princess.".
„Good morning!", the girl said.
She then went to him right away and gave him a big good morning hug, in return for which she got a kiss on the cheek.
Then her mother also hugged her.
"Don't I also get a hug?", asked Brandon.
"No, it's my turn first.", answered Rose him.
Thalia smiled and ignored theier squabble.
She instead first went to Norman and hugged him.
Both her other siblings looked shocked, befor staring at him angrily.
Afterwards Thalia hugged Rose and Brandon as well.
Only after she had calmed down the waves this way, could she sit down on her seat and start eating her breakfast, which composed of red beans, a fried egg, toast with strawberry jam, two sausages and a glass of freshly pressesd orange juice, that already stood on the table infront of her.
Being the youngest isn't easy, she thought.
Her father cleared his throat.
"I hope all of you have already heard that today we are invited for lunch to the Prescott family.", he asked.
All members, except Thalia, said yes.
She only nodded, her mouth filled with beans.
"Chew and swallow your food first.", her mother said while brushing away some sauce from the girls mouth using a napkin.
Thalia gulped down her food and smiled.
"Yes", she said to her father.
Even if Maisie hadn't told her, she could have seen right away that it was an important day, since all of her family members were dressed up.
Her father and her older brothers were wearing men's suits, while her sister, mother and she herself wore beautiful dresses.
Normans suit was black, and her fathers and Brandon's were dark-grey.
Her mothers dress, was light-green, adored with embroidery of dark-violet and light-pink peonies.
Her sisters was a dark-green one with red and pink roses.
Then she answered, her siblings smiled, holding back theier laughter over her cute reaction.
"Then, befor we leave at eleven'o'clock we will practice magic in the garden for a bit. You all can show your mother what you learned this week.", her father said, smiling.
The children nodded.
After breakfast,they went into the backwardness, which was as beautiful as the front garden but even bigger.
Also, since it ended right at the Birling Gap cliff no one could come to close to it or see exactly what happened there.
Just to be completely sure, they still went to a part were high bushes and trees blocked the view from outside.
They sat down together with theier mother on a bench standing infront of some rhododendron bushes.
They still weren't blooming and there also was a bit of space between some of them.
Then, Brandon stepped forward, reached out his hand and, after a sign from theier father, he started saying the spell:" Crescere et florere, seminibus terram."
Once the last word left his lips, the earth started breaking apart and a beautiful rhododendron bush grew in the span of a minute.
Then, buds grew and started blooming into beautiful violet flowers.
Soon, the whole bush was in full bloom.
Again, Brandon started talking:"Surge tu et dare haec flos."
Suddenly, one of the twigs of the bush full with flowers, grew, stretched towards Thalia and dropped some of his flowers into her hands.
Her green eyes started glowing happily.
"Beautiful.", she said with a wide smile on her lips.
In that moment, her mother took the flowers out of her hands and put them into her hair.
Using the ribbon decorating the girls hair, she fixated them, so that they wouldn't fall.
"Now, our little princess has a flower decoration.", the mother said smiling.
Her siblings also complimented her on how cute she looked and Thalias smile grew brighter and brighter.
Then,her father stepped to them.
"It would be bad if the flowers quickly went bad, don't you think?", he said with a mischievous smile, befor continuing in Latin:" Mane et Flore."
A spell left a faint green glowing light around the flowers for a moment, befor it disappeared.
"Now, they will stay fresh all week. This way, you can decorate your hair with them for a while longer.", her father explained.
Thalia was incredibly happy.
Afterwards, it was Normans and Rose turn to practice magic.
Both made rhododendrons grow and let some flowers appear, but while Normans was the same size as Brandon's bush, Rose's was a bit smaller and they still weren't able to activate the second spell, that Brandon used.
Thought Norman was able to form two of the twigs into a heart shape.
At long last, it was Thalias turn.
She spoke the spell carefully while reaching out her hand:" Crescere et florere, seminibus terram."
She was only able to make a very small rhododendron grow but unlike her older siblings she was able to make it fully bloom.
Theier father praised all of them.
Controlling and growing plants was magic that the children of the Greenflower family only learned later, then they had gotten a lot better at controlling earth itself.
Still, all of them were very happy, and after Thalia had made the flowers bloom she plucked some for her mother and some for her older sister as well.
They also decorated theier hair with it.
Rose hair was just like Thalias, theier fathers and Brandon's brown while her mother and Normans hair was black.
Her father then casted the preservation spell on them as well.
For a moment, her brothers had complained about not getting flowers from theier baby sister, but theier parents had forbidden them, two already quiet grown boys, from wearing flowers in theier hair while attending an important business lunch, so they were forced to give up.
Rose laughed and smirked at them, while hugging Thalia, because in the secret contest of the older siblings about who the young girl loved most, she had just won another round.
Thalia could almost see, how her older brothers grew green with envy, similar to the plants around them.
Even thought I'm younger then them, they are more childish then me, Thalia thought while one after the other hugged her, each trying to have the most ones.
Theier parents just watched them, smiling about theier children.
In that moment, Sebastian, the old butler of the family, came to them, to tell the family, that it was time to leave now.
The car had already been readied for them to sit down in, and then the driver, Luke, started the car, Thalia looked outside the window.
I just hope, that the meal won't be to boring, she thought to herself as the mansion disappeared into the distance with them driving away from it.