Pulling herself out of her sad memories, she felt a keen sense of loss. She had a small Christmas tree, decorated with red and gold balls, just as her childhood Christmas trees had looked. She knew a large lavish tree waited at the castle, but her little tree was far more special in her eyes because of how similar it was to the ones her mother had decorated. She'd avoided going to her father's world for several years, but she just couldn't do that her sisters again. Regretfully she'd taken an extra week's vacation to "travel" for the holidays. As she never took time off her accrued bank of vacation hours sat bursting at the seams. Her boss seemed genuinely relieved that she was finally taking a little time off.

Out of the entire year Christmas was the time she missed her mother most. Hannah, her mother, loved Christmas, and she had instilled her sense of wonder and joy over the magic of the season in her eldest child. After her mother died, Tessa felt a sense of responsibility to her little sisters. Her mother would bake and sing while dancing in the kitchen. They'd been close, she and her mother. After she was gone all the giggling and laughing had ended. No one sang in the kitchen at the castle. Victor had hired and assortment of creatures to nanny and tutor his daughters. Having nannies who gave you nightmares didn't exactly help in developing a close bond. She'd decided that she was all that her sisters could rely on. She owed it to her mother to keep them human.

She seldom saw her father, and when she did it was because she was to be reprimanded. At such a young age, the weight of it changed her and made her quiet and serious. Tessa, intense to a fault, was nothing like her wild sisters, and she had only accepted training in her powers so that they wouldn't overwhelm her. Her mother had ignored the burgeoning abilities, but Victor pushed her tutors manically to make her powerful. When she wanted to play imaginary games with her sisters or the few children he allowed her to know she'd be pulled away and locked away indoors to train.