Years have passed for Ethereal and Amaranth, and their life after facing the trials The Company placed before them is perfect. That is what their third son, Coal, believes the first ten years of his life were anyway. His parents' marriage is peaceful, he and his family have a large house to live in, they have lots of money, and all of the family friends live right nearby where their children are his own circle of friends. There is also always something interesting going too. With a household as full as his, there was no way it could be any other way. Wisp is his oldest brother, who is about to enter his final year of high school. Then there's the fraternal twins- the albino brother Prism and the red and green sister Desire. Coal came after them, and that leaves the little toddler sister Cerise to finish up the pack.
Once a month, the family piles into the car to meet the rest of the extended family at the city park to enjoy their time together. Coal thinks it's interesting how his Uncle Eden married a woman also named Eden. Hunter is his oldest cousin, although Uncle Eden had him with Allium's mother, Rose. Next after him is Malachite and Rosemary, the two children Eden and Eden, usually called Deny, adopted. Purity and Sap, who had married, also adopted a son, Cyclone, as well. They had then had their own son, Azure. Both Rosemary and Azure are a third of Coal's group of friends. The other two thirds are made up by Midas, Frost and Sunflower's only son and child, and Hollyhock, known as Holly, and Mimosa, the identical twins and younger daughters of Allium and his wife, Dahlia.
Coal remarks that back in those days there were only three things that disturbed his seemingly perfect life- his parents' general frugalness despite their wealth, Prism's incessant brotherly teasing, and Mimosa's eternal over-affection for him. The adults tell him that it's hard for Mimosa to help herself, as the mental illness she was born with sends her emotions all over the place. Her constant hugs, wishes to hold hands, and generally clinginess tends to irritate him, but Coal still enjoys her company as a close friend regardless. That day at the park, he and Mimosa and a few of his friends have a skeeball competition where Coal comes out on top. Amaranth doesn't think his score is too impressive though, and Coal turns his father's teasing that he can do way better into a bet. Amaranth has to beat the top score within one round, or else he'll have to buy Coal a motorcycle when he's older. So confident, Amaranth doesn't even request a payment from Coal is he's successful. Coal's hopes soon sink when it becomes clear Amaranth will indeed be successful. That's why he and Azure playfully interrupt to mess with Amaranth's game. Fun tricks back and forth are had for retaliation, and the day continues on like normal.
The truth of how horrible that day would turn out to be only starts to reveal itself the following day. Amaranth had left the previous afternoon to get ice cream, but even as the sun set he did not return. Coal wakes up the next morning to find police officers in his house admitting the strong evidence of his father's abduction- most likely at the hand of remnant members of The Company. No one knows yet if he's alive or dead, and all that can be done is wait. This proves especially frustrating for Ethereal as she reveals that she's pregnant, and she had meant to tell Amaranth when he returned from the store. Unfortunately, days go by. No body turns up. No demands are made. Ethereal's intense morning sickness hospitalizes her, and it's there where Coal overhears the reality during Ethereal's conversation with Blaze that his father was sneaking around illegally for mysterious reasons. The stress of this news and his father's disappearance changes Coal's behavior from never wanting to be home to never wanting to leave his room. When forced to spend time at the park with his friends, unsympathetic comments from Holly burst forth from him his anger at how none of them have tried to understand his feelings and merely expect him to act as he's always acted. The result- Coal runs off towards the place of Amaranth's abduction desperate to find clues. He finds nothing in that regards, but his friends follow to make amends and give Coal the chance to release the emotions he has been hiding.
The truth of how horrible that day would turn out to be only starts to reveal itself the following day. Amaranth had left the previous afternoon to get ice cream, but even as the sun set he did not return. Coal wakes up the next morning to find police officers in his house admitting the strong evidence of his father's abduction- most likely at the hand of remnant members of The Company. No one knows yet if he's alive or dead, and all that can be done is wait. This proves especially frustrating for Ethereal as she reveals that she's pregnant, and she had meant to tell Amaranth when he returned from the store. Unfortunately, days go by. No body turns up. No demands are made. Ethereal's intense morning sickness hospitalizes her, and it's there where Coal overhears the reality during Ethereal's conversation with Blaze that his father was sneaking around illegally for mysterious reasons. The stress of this news and his father's disappearance changes Coal's behavior from never wanting to be home to never wanting to leave his room. When forced to spend time at the park with his friends, unsympathetic comments from Holly burst forth from him his anger at how none of them have tried to understand his feelings and merely expect him to act as he's always acted. The result- Coal runs off towards the place of Amaranth's abduction desperate to find clues. He finds nothing in that regards, but his friends follow to make amends and give Coal the chance to release the emotions he has been hiding.
Concerned about Coal's depression, Sap, Purity, Frost, and Sunflower take him and his friends to Tropic Luna, a sea-side resort to lift the mood. It is there where Coal catches some relief, but it is also where more heartbreak comes to surface. Rosemary, desperate to get a wish, explains to him while they sit under the stars that through complicated circumstances her birth father is now seeking custody. A trial to determine who will keep her will eventually occur, and Rosemary fears being taken away. Coal promises he'll do his best to support her. A shooting star sparkles across the heavens, and the two make wishes on it. The group returns home the next day, and now being right back into the thick of the stress it breaks Coal to where he has to tell the truth. He admits to his mother what he heard, how he can't understand why she won't tell the proper authorities about the extra information she has, and his anger about her secrecy. Ethereal gives her reasons, yet Coal can't accept them. He pushes an exhausted Ethereal to the point where she yells at him in rebuke. Prism tells his younger brother after Ethereal demands him upstairs that Ethereal always turns into 'mom-zilla' once her pregnancies get far enough along. Coal isn't sure what to think, but Blaze helps mother and son make up while also making Coal vow to forget what he can about what he heard.
Complacency slowly overcomes the household. More weeks go by. Birthdays go by. School starts, and everyone accepts that answers about Amaranth won't be coming with haste. The focus turns to other matters, such as the custody case for Rosemary and Malachite's increasingly bad behavior. He gets in trouble bringing alcohol to school, gives Coal a concussion by tripping him by the pool, and constantly sneaks off. Coal and Rosemary catch him wandering about the city when he isn't supposed to be, and following him drags them into a terrifying situation. Getting into an argument with boys of an even worse variety than himself gets a gun pointed at Malachite's head. Coal leaps into the situation to help his cousin not knowing the gun was nothing more than an intimidation factor. A fight breaks out that Rosemary is swept up into, and the threat of her being hurt sends Malachite into a fury that has him beating up and scaring off the other boys. He chastises Coal for jumping in, but Rosemary yells at him that he's the one who's worse. His bad behavior is fuel for her biological father's lawyer to use to make Eden look incompetent. If he is the reason why she's taken away, she'll never forgive him. Malachite accepts Coal's suggestion that it's time for him to start thinking about growing up after Rosemary runs off to leave the two alone. Coal then goes after her and swears he'll come with her to the courthouse on the day of the trial. Unfortunately, a strong cold prevents him from keeping that promise. Blaze reveals later in the day that Eden and Deny lost the custody case, but when Rosemary's biological father saw how badly this upset her he understood he couldn't force himself into her life. He gave up his rights to her, Rosemary was allowed to stay with her proper family, and the two agreed that Rosemary would allow him in her life on her own terms.
Coal is relieved by the news. Of course though, more bad news follows. Ethereal comes down with a terrible case of pneumonia, which threatens both her and the baby. The decision is made to schedule a c-section a month early into order to prevent the worst. So, a green daughter, Glade, is born on Valentine's Day, which now means she shares her birthday with big brother Wisp. Ethereal and Glade pull through the stressful ordeal thanks to several weeks of recovery, and the days continue to move on.
Six years pass. Coal detests the fact that he has already grown up so much with his father there, but everyone has long since grown accustomed to Amaranth's disappearance. Other matters come to the forefront, and none is more prominent than the one Coal faces with Mimosa. Still not over her intense affection for him, Coal reluctantly agrees to go on one date with her just to make sure that there really are no romantic feelings he has for her in return. The two enjoy their time together. That is, however, until the end where it is confirmed to him that Coal simply doesn't feel anything for anyone at this point in time. Mimosa rushes off upset while Coal hopes that now the two can just work on their friendship once she has time to heal from the rejection. Holly warns him Mimosa isn't one to give up so easily, but Coal believes he's gotten his message through for good.
It does appear afterwards that Mimosa is backing off. Unfortunately, Coal begins to think that there are steps forward being taken by two certain people that irritates him greatly. Ethereal and Coal's old elementary teacher, Spruce Trail, are seen wandering about the city by Coal and Azure. Their behavior seems much more than mere friendliness. Bothered by the idea of his mother falling in love with another man, him and his friends also seeing Spruce kiss a supposedly married woman heightens Coal's determination to find out the truth. He follows Spruce and his mother around the city the next time they meet up until Ethereal catches him in the act. An alibi is given for him by a classmate, Candy, who says they are hanging out. After his mother and old teacher leave, Candy admits she saw him sneaking around, prompting Coal to tell her the truth. The two choose to hang out for the rest of the afternoon to make Candy's lie more real, and Coal starts to realize his heart races faster around his friend. He still manages to get in trouble upon returning home though as Ethereal wasn't fooled. She reveals there was a brief time where she and Spruce contemplated if they liked each other, but the time was brief indeed. The woman Coal saw Spruce kissing is actually Spruce's fiancee, and Ethereal was simply helping Spruce scout out good places for the wedding and reception- merely as his friend.
Who don't remain friends are Coal and Candy. The two steadily become closer as they realize their mutual attraction, and a promise to meet up on the weekend results in a first kiss. Though it's obvious to them and everyone else that they're dating, they don't state it specifically as they feel there's no need. The relationship grows and grows from there. Summer break comes along, and with some help with Prism and Desire Coal is able to get free of an assignment Ethereal gave him so he could meet Candy at the beach instead. The rest of the others meant to join them all bail, leaving the couple to draw extra close. An extra big step is taken later that afternoon when Candy invites Coal home to her empty apartment. The two decide to go all the way. This only heightens the strength of their relationship...for a time. Coal begins to see as more weeks pass that he isn't feeling as strong about Candy as he once used to. Confused and nervous, he avoids her using as many reasonable excuses as possible. Blaze talks with him to help him accept that he had a typical, short-lived and fleeting high school romance, yet Coal doesn't want that to be the truth. Unfortunately, Candy can no longer take his constant avoidance and breaks the relationship off. She is able to start forgiving him after some time, but the two will be more to be friends again.
And that time passes. Now twenty-years-old, Coal remains at home having never been able to figure out what he wants to do with his life. He has a part-time job working at the bookstore Amaranth used to work out, he babysits his niece, Wisp's daughter, Tangerine, and he visits a constantly sick Ethereal in the hospital. She begs him to try harder to do something meaningful as she fears he'll soon start to regret his inaction and face the feeling of being left behind. Coal laughs her off despite his severe loneliness of all his friends having gone off to college. He finally gets advice from Malachite on how to meet more people. The social meetup group Coal creates appears to be working brilliantly at the beginning, but when the first two meetings go horribly with next to no one showing up and Coal wasting the majority of his money he gives up. Ethereal agrees to let him get a dog in order to help cheer him up, and so puppy Doodle is added to the family. Prism, however, doesn't agree with Coal giving up, and so he uses his influence to throw a wildly successful party at the beach where many people show up and Coal finds some more friends. This injects life into Coal's meetup group, and further activities go off without a hitch.
It's at this point where Coal feels that things are looking up. He is able to spend more time with both his old friends and new friends, and after helping out an acquaintance from his group with someone who was trying to hurt he determines that he wants to become a police officer. The incident also scares Holly into realizing she has feelings for Coal. The two becomes a couple, much to Mimosa's chagrin. It is nearing Cerise's birthday where Coal goes to pick up his two younger siblings from school after visiting his older, and now pregnant, sister. The day instantly goes from a normal day into an unforgettable one when they walk in the door and Amaranth is standing there. A grand reunion is had, and Amaranth explains that The Company took him, held him hostage for ten years, and had recently chosen to release him without ever explaining why they abducted him in the first place. However, Coal knows a large portion of his father's words are a lie, but he is once again instructed to forget as much as he can when Blaze admits to Amaranth that Coal knows more than most.
As usual with the family though, things can never remain happy for long. A distraught Ethereal divulges the fact that she has lung cancer, and her chance at living for more than five years isn't good. The family barely begins to cope with that when Coal takes the wrong flash drive from Amaranth's computer that contains all of his secret research. An angry and terrified Amaranth explains that his main captor, Buckeye, is watching the house while Amaranth deletes those files, meaning that Coal taking the flash drive to a different computer and opening the research now has him in Buckeye's sights. The threat of this increases Coal's paranoia to high levels, which has a worried Holly throwing a party for him. The fun does bolster him somewhat, yet Coal overhears when he returns home a phone call made from Desire that has him believing Ethereal has died. Running off in distress puts him right in the hands of Buckeye, who knocks him out and takes him away.
Now trapped in the place Amaranth had been held hostage all those years, Coal faces harsh abuse at the hands of his violent captor. Buckeye cares little that Coal has next to nothing to do with his father's actions as Buckeye holds his family responsible for the death of his father, a Company employee who was thrown in jail and eventually killed by the in-mates. Buckeye switched over to this other secret organization that has actually been behind both of the abductions and the supposed murder of Amaranth's parents. Coal is forced to work in their warehouse while Buckeye beats him senseless nearly everyday. The intensity of his injuries frightens Coal that he will be killed soon either on accident or on purpose. He runs into an employee high up on the ladder that makes him realize Buckeye is acting without authorization in regards to him, but he's not sure who to trust. In the end, a cruel trick by Buckeye to make Coal think he can escape has Coal hiding in his room out of fear thinking his life will indeed end soon.
It is not Buckeye, however, who comes to collect him. The woman from before, Challah, comes to get him. She is the secretary for the CEOs of the organization, and the two, who have shown up for a surprise inspection of the facility, are interested in finding out the cause of the chaos going on. Coal meets with the CEOs, a husband and wife named Cinder and Heart. Finding Cinder feels familiar somehow, Coal is more of a wise-ass than he means to be and nearly angers him far too much. He eventually honestly tells what he knows, and Cinder and Heart say they don't believe their organization was responsible for the deaths of the original Coal and Desire. They also explain how The Company was not evil as Coal and his family believes. They did terrible things, but they also did amazing things, such as creating a vaccine that saved the world from a new disease that would have killed hundreds of thousands. The discussion of black and white and gray moral areas goes on between the three of them until Coal mentions his father's name. Cinder and Heart react weirdly, which finally has Coal understanding they are using aliases. He also understands that Amaranth was wrong. Coal and Desire did not die. They faked their deaths.
Upon realizing grandparents and grandchild have now met, the two tell Coal the truth. Their family lines have been involved in this secret organization for generations, and it has led to a great number of murders from rivals. They pretended to die to keep Blaze and Amaranth out of the web. Coal and Desire are aghast to hear one of their employees stole their son and kept him imprisoned and thus promise to get Coal home before the day is out. Before they do, they divulge that remnants of The Company do still remain. They still want revenge. Coal and Desire promise to help however they can. Buckeye, on the other hand, he can't sit still when he finds out Coal is being released. He attacks both Coal I and Coal II, injuring the younger severely by breaking his ribs, brutally stabbing his right eye, and trying to do the same with his left. Coal wakes up hours later at the hospital near his home with Amaranth by his side. Amaranth explains that Ethereal didn't die. Coal merely overheard his sister crying about her boyfriend, Jasper, breaking up with her. It is also revealed to Coal that he will be blind in his right eye, and Coal hates that mostly because of the fact that it will disqualify him from being accepted as a police officer. In a lot of pain and frustrated, he tells his father what he can of what happened to him- knowing there's no way he can ever tell him his parents live.
Naturally, Coal struggles immensely from the consequences of Buckeye's actions. His half-blindness causes all sorts of problems while he has to accept that eventually taking over the bookstore from the children of the owner who no longer want to run it is his new path in life. Things are made worse by Mimosa, who has stopped taking her medicine for some time. She is over-emotional, consistently tries to grope him, and even attacked him in the hospital. After a depressing afternoon, Coal goes home with Holly who does her best to comfort him about all the things he has to deal with. She also lets him know she's ready and wanting to take the next step with him. Coal is hesitant as he doesn't feeling the best because he had been drinking, but he wants to do something right for someone and is fine with Holly's request. It is early the next morning when it is shown taking that step was the wrong choice. Coal hadn't slept with Holly. He slept with Mimosa who had been pretending to be Holly. Her plan was to have Coal marry him by proving Coal could like having sex with her and also by getting pregnant, as she poked holes in the condom he used. Everyone is furious with her, and the one who holds the most fury is Holly. Her rage, however, is not merely limited to her sister. She blames Coal for not being able to tell the difference between them despite them having known each other all their lives. Coal, desperate to not have everything in his life fall apart, refuses to accept Holly's words when she says she's breaking up with him as he will not believe that's what she truly wants until she says it again when she has calmed down.
In the weeks that follow, Mimosa continues to get what she wants while no good luck comes Coal's way. Mimosa becomes pregnant, and Holly remains bitter and angry. Emotions overflow when Mimosa keeps doing everything she can to be physical close with him. Coal strikes her and storms off to hide out with Raze, the member of his social group he helped previously. His silence towards everyone else the rest of the day flames to life the still too near fear and worry of what it had been like when he had been missing, prompting Holly to finally admit when she manages to get a call through to him later that night that he had been right. The situation still has her being upset, but she doesn't truly want to break up with him. They plan to possibly talk the following morning when Coal visits the Charm household to sort out the incident with her sister. When he gets there though, Mimosa throws everything more into chaos when Coal doesn't feel sorry for slapping her and still refuses to marry her. She threatens to abort the baby- the only way she'll be convinced to keep it is if Coal does indeed marry her.
In retaliation, Coal lawyers up and plans to charge Mimosa with rape and assault in order to hopefully convince the judge that he has a right to his child. That's when the waiting game begins. The court is pushed through at a rapid pace due to the time-sensitive nature of the situation, but the weeks passing by give Mimosa free time to cease the pregnancy without restraint. She does not do so as she is confident Coal will come around. Malachite discusses with Coal that he should be willing to at least string Mimosa along with a fake engagement to ensure his child's survival if he's truly serious about wanting it and not just pushing the case for the sake of his pride. Coal relents that if left with no other choice he would try such a thing, although naturally he worries about Holly's reaction. The two have talked and made up, but he isn't sure their relationship can handle such a thing at the moment. Malachite and Coal continue to chat until their is an interruption by way of Eden receiving visitors. Mantis, Eden's old friend from childhood, and his wife, Beryl, have come to catch up as they have not seen each other since they were young. Fate is also a reason for their appearance, although none of them know it until Malachite steps into their view. The reality that everyone had thought they had known about Malachite, how his abusive father had nearly beaten him to death and given him a permanent case of amnesia, was almost entirely false. Malachite's supposed father wasn't his father. He had been the man who kidnapped him from his real parents, Mantis and Beryl. The family is reunited in this stunning turn of events as they piece the information they have together, which gives Coal a hint of hope that the first ruling in the case happening the following day will go well.
Unfortunately, that hope doesn't lend him strength. A total nervous wreck in the morning, it takes all of Coal's energy to survive the time in the courthouse. The judge gives a temporary ruling that Mimosa cannot get an abortion until the true, final ruling a week later. Coal doesn't have much faith that it'll go in his favor. Holly even states she has no problem with him stringing Mimosa along with a fake engagement if it'll give him what he deserves, but there are also voices like commentors on articles about the trial that mark Coal as the villain instead that brutally dash his confidence. Moping about at the park later in the week terrified of what's to come, he manages to overhear something that once again sends his days on a totally different path. Yet, this time, the news is good. Mimosa sits talking to a woman who listens as, depressed, she reveals the heartbreak she's placed on everyone by her actions. It has finally sunk in, thanks to Holly getting on her knees and begging her twin to keep her child, how awful she has been. However, Mimosa is worried it is too late to make amends. The woman, after recounting mistakes in her own past, encourages her that if she truly repents and gives becoming a better person her all that people will begin to come around.
Mimosa eventually notices Coal's presence, and when she requests to talk to him he agrees. Mimosa is taking her medicine again, she apologizes for what's she done, she'll keep the child, and she'll plead guilty at the ruling...all of it she places before Coal for his consideration. Stating she's done too much for him to forgive her right away, Coal does promise if she sticks to making things right then one day in the future they'll find their relationship fixed. Mimosa vows even harder to become a person that he can call his friend, and the two split ways for the day finding their hearts lifted. Coal spreads the good news to his friends and sleeps well for the first time in months.
Years later, Wisp comes to collect the young children having a playdate at his house. With him already are Lightning, the son of Malachite and his girlfriend, and Melrose, the daughter of Desire and Jasper, who have gotten back together. He collects Tangerine and Ember, Coal and Mimosa's daughter, from Coal and reveals he and his wife are going to have a second child only to be told two other pregnancy announcements have been made that day by Hunter and Prism. Holly and Mimosa laugh over the crazy timing of all the news, and Wisp is glad to see how happy everyone is.
Complacency slowly overcomes the household. More weeks go by. Birthdays go by. School starts, and everyone accepts that answers about Amaranth won't be coming with haste. The focus turns to other matters, such as the custody case for Rosemary and Malachite's increasingly bad behavior. He gets in trouble bringing alcohol to school, gives Coal a concussion by tripping him by the pool, and constantly sneaks off. Coal and Rosemary catch him wandering about the city when he isn't supposed to be, and following him drags them into a terrifying situation. Getting into an argument with boys of an even worse variety than himself gets a gun pointed at Malachite's head. Coal leaps into the situation to help his cousin not knowing the gun was nothing more than an intimidation factor. A fight breaks out that Rosemary is swept up into, and the threat of her being hurt sends Malachite into a fury that has him beating up and scaring off the other boys. He chastises Coal for jumping in, but Rosemary yells at him that he's the one who's worse. His bad behavior is fuel for her biological father's lawyer to use to make Eden look incompetent. If he is the reason why she's taken away, she'll never forgive him. Malachite accepts Coal's suggestion that it's time for him to start thinking about growing up after Rosemary runs off to leave the two alone. Coal then goes after her and swears he'll come with her to the courthouse on the day of the trial. Unfortunately, a strong cold prevents him from keeping that promise. Blaze reveals later in the day that Eden and Deny lost the custody case, but when Rosemary's biological father saw how badly this upset her he understood he couldn't force himself into her life. He gave up his rights to her, Rosemary was allowed to stay with her proper family, and the two agreed that Rosemary would allow him in her life on her own terms.
Coal is relieved by the news. Of course though, more bad news follows. Ethereal comes down with a terrible case of pneumonia, which threatens both her and the baby. The decision is made to schedule a c-section a month early into order to prevent the worst. So, a green daughter, Glade, is born on Valentine's Day, which now means she shares her birthday with big brother Wisp. Ethereal and Glade pull through the stressful ordeal thanks to several weeks of recovery, and the days continue to move on.
Six years pass. Coal detests the fact that he has already grown up so much with his father there, but everyone has long since grown accustomed to Amaranth's disappearance. Other matters come to the forefront, and none is more prominent than the one Coal faces with Mimosa. Still not over her intense affection for him, Coal reluctantly agrees to go on one date with her just to make sure that there really are no romantic feelings he has for her in return. The two enjoy their time together. That is, however, until the end where it is confirmed to him that Coal simply doesn't feel anything for anyone at this point in time. Mimosa rushes off upset while Coal hopes that now the two can just work on their friendship once she has time to heal from the rejection. Holly warns him Mimosa isn't one to give up so easily, but Coal believes he's gotten his message through for good.
It does appear afterwards that Mimosa is backing off. Unfortunately, Coal begins to think that there are steps forward being taken by two certain people that irritates him greatly. Ethereal and Coal's old elementary teacher, Spruce Trail, are seen wandering about the city by Coal and Azure. Their behavior seems much more than mere friendliness. Bothered by the idea of his mother falling in love with another man, him and his friends also seeing Spruce kiss a supposedly married woman heightens Coal's determination to find out the truth. He follows Spruce and his mother around the city the next time they meet up until Ethereal catches him in the act. An alibi is given for him by a classmate, Candy, who says they are hanging out. After his mother and old teacher leave, Candy admits she saw him sneaking around, prompting Coal to tell her the truth. The two choose to hang out for the rest of the afternoon to make Candy's lie more real, and Coal starts to realize his heart races faster around his friend. He still manages to get in trouble upon returning home though as Ethereal wasn't fooled. She reveals there was a brief time where she and Spruce contemplated if they liked each other, but the time was brief indeed. The woman Coal saw Spruce kissing is actually Spruce's fiancee, and Ethereal was simply helping Spruce scout out good places for the wedding and reception- merely as his friend.
Who don't remain friends are Coal and Candy. The two steadily become closer as they realize their mutual attraction, and a promise to meet up on the weekend results in a first kiss. Though it's obvious to them and everyone else that they're dating, they don't state it specifically as they feel there's no need. The relationship grows and grows from there. Summer break comes along, and with some help with Prism and Desire Coal is able to get free of an assignment Ethereal gave him so he could meet Candy at the beach instead. The rest of the others meant to join them all bail, leaving the couple to draw extra close. An extra big step is taken later that afternoon when Candy invites Coal home to her empty apartment. The two decide to go all the way. This only heightens the strength of their relationship...for a time. Coal begins to see as more weeks pass that he isn't feeling as strong about Candy as he once used to. Confused and nervous, he avoids her using as many reasonable excuses as possible. Blaze talks with him to help him accept that he had a typical, short-lived and fleeting high school romance, yet Coal doesn't want that to be the truth. Unfortunately, Candy can no longer take his constant avoidance and breaks the relationship off. She is able to start forgiving him after some time, but the two will be more to be friends again.
And that time passes. Now twenty-years-old, Coal remains at home having never been able to figure out what he wants to do with his life. He has a part-time job working at the bookstore Amaranth used to work out, he babysits his niece, Wisp's daughter, Tangerine, and he visits a constantly sick Ethereal in the hospital. She begs him to try harder to do something meaningful as she fears he'll soon start to regret his inaction and face the feeling of being left behind. Coal laughs her off despite his severe loneliness of all his friends having gone off to college. He finally gets advice from Malachite on how to meet more people. The social meetup group Coal creates appears to be working brilliantly at the beginning, but when the first two meetings go horribly with next to no one showing up and Coal wasting the majority of his money he gives up. Ethereal agrees to let him get a dog in order to help cheer him up, and so puppy Doodle is added to the family. Prism, however, doesn't agree with Coal giving up, and so he uses his influence to throw a wildly successful party at the beach where many people show up and Coal finds some more friends. This injects life into Coal's meetup group, and further activities go off without a hitch.
It's at this point where Coal feels that things are looking up. He is able to spend more time with both his old friends and new friends, and after helping out an acquaintance from his group with someone who was trying to hurt he determines that he wants to become a police officer. The incident also scares Holly into realizing she has feelings for Coal. The two becomes a couple, much to Mimosa's chagrin. It is nearing Cerise's birthday where Coal goes to pick up his two younger siblings from school after visiting his older, and now pregnant, sister. The day instantly goes from a normal day into an unforgettable one when they walk in the door and Amaranth is standing there. A grand reunion is had, and Amaranth explains that The Company took him, held him hostage for ten years, and had recently chosen to release him without ever explaining why they abducted him in the first place. However, Coal knows a large portion of his father's words are a lie, but he is once again instructed to forget as much as he can when Blaze admits to Amaranth that Coal knows more than most.
As usual with the family though, things can never remain happy for long. A distraught Ethereal divulges the fact that she has lung cancer, and her chance at living for more than five years isn't good. The family barely begins to cope with that when Coal takes the wrong flash drive from Amaranth's computer that contains all of his secret research. An angry and terrified Amaranth explains that his main captor, Buckeye, is watching the house while Amaranth deletes those files, meaning that Coal taking the flash drive to a different computer and opening the research now has him in Buckeye's sights. The threat of this increases Coal's paranoia to high levels, which has a worried Holly throwing a party for him. The fun does bolster him somewhat, yet Coal overhears when he returns home a phone call made from Desire that has him believing Ethereal has died. Running off in distress puts him right in the hands of Buckeye, who knocks him out and takes him away.
Now trapped in the place Amaranth had been held hostage all those years, Coal faces harsh abuse at the hands of his violent captor. Buckeye cares little that Coal has next to nothing to do with his father's actions as Buckeye holds his family responsible for the death of his father, a Company employee who was thrown in jail and eventually killed by the in-mates. Buckeye switched over to this other secret organization that has actually been behind both of the abductions and the supposed murder of Amaranth's parents. Coal is forced to work in their warehouse while Buckeye beats him senseless nearly everyday. The intensity of his injuries frightens Coal that he will be killed soon either on accident or on purpose. He runs into an employee high up on the ladder that makes him realize Buckeye is acting without authorization in regards to him, but he's not sure who to trust. In the end, a cruel trick by Buckeye to make Coal think he can escape has Coal hiding in his room out of fear thinking his life will indeed end soon.
It is not Buckeye, however, who comes to collect him. The woman from before, Challah, comes to get him. She is the secretary for the CEOs of the organization, and the two, who have shown up for a surprise inspection of the facility, are interested in finding out the cause of the chaos going on. Coal meets with the CEOs, a husband and wife named Cinder and Heart. Finding Cinder feels familiar somehow, Coal is more of a wise-ass than he means to be and nearly angers him far too much. He eventually honestly tells what he knows, and Cinder and Heart say they don't believe their organization was responsible for the deaths of the original Coal and Desire. They also explain how The Company was not evil as Coal and his family believes. They did terrible things, but they also did amazing things, such as creating a vaccine that saved the world from a new disease that would have killed hundreds of thousands. The discussion of black and white and gray moral areas goes on between the three of them until Coal mentions his father's name. Cinder and Heart react weirdly, which finally has Coal understanding they are using aliases. He also understands that Amaranth was wrong. Coal and Desire did not die. They faked their deaths.
Upon realizing grandparents and grandchild have now met, the two tell Coal the truth. Their family lines have been involved in this secret organization for generations, and it has led to a great number of murders from rivals. They pretended to die to keep Blaze and Amaranth out of the web. Coal and Desire are aghast to hear one of their employees stole their son and kept him imprisoned and thus promise to get Coal home before the day is out. Before they do, they divulge that remnants of The Company do still remain. They still want revenge. Coal and Desire promise to help however they can. Buckeye, on the other hand, he can't sit still when he finds out Coal is being released. He attacks both Coal I and Coal II, injuring the younger severely by breaking his ribs, brutally stabbing his right eye, and trying to do the same with his left. Coal wakes up hours later at the hospital near his home with Amaranth by his side. Amaranth explains that Ethereal didn't die. Coal merely overheard his sister crying about her boyfriend, Jasper, breaking up with her. It is also revealed to Coal that he will be blind in his right eye, and Coal hates that mostly because of the fact that it will disqualify him from being accepted as a police officer. In a lot of pain and frustrated, he tells his father what he can of what happened to him- knowing there's no way he can ever tell him his parents live.
Naturally, Coal struggles immensely from the consequences of Buckeye's actions. His half-blindness causes all sorts of problems while he has to accept that eventually taking over the bookstore from the children of the owner who no longer want to run it is his new path in life. Things are made worse by Mimosa, who has stopped taking her medicine for some time. She is over-emotional, consistently tries to grope him, and even attacked him in the hospital. After a depressing afternoon, Coal goes home with Holly who does her best to comfort him about all the things he has to deal with. She also lets him know she's ready and wanting to take the next step with him. Coal is hesitant as he doesn't feeling the best because he had been drinking, but he wants to do something right for someone and is fine with Holly's request. It is early the next morning when it is shown taking that step was the wrong choice. Coal hadn't slept with Holly. He slept with Mimosa who had been pretending to be Holly. Her plan was to have Coal marry him by proving Coal could like having sex with her and also by getting pregnant, as she poked holes in the condom he used. Everyone is furious with her, and the one who holds the most fury is Holly. Her rage, however, is not merely limited to her sister. She blames Coal for not being able to tell the difference between them despite them having known each other all their lives. Coal, desperate to not have everything in his life fall apart, refuses to accept Holly's words when she says she's breaking up with him as he will not believe that's what she truly wants until she says it again when she has calmed down.
In the weeks that follow, Mimosa continues to get what she wants while no good luck comes Coal's way. Mimosa becomes pregnant, and Holly remains bitter and angry. Emotions overflow when Mimosa keeps doing everything she can to be physical close with him. Coal strikes her and storms off to hide out with Raze, the member of his social group he helped previously. His silence towards everyone else the rest of the day flames to life the still too near fear and worry of what it had been like when he had been missing, prompting Holly to finally admit when she manages to get a call through to him later that night that he had been right. The situation still has her being upset, but she doesn't truly want to break up with him. They plan to possibly talk the following morning when Coal visits the Charm household to sort out the incident with her sister. When he gets there though, Mimosa throws everything more into chaos when Coal doesn't feel sorry for slapping her and still refuses to marry her. She threatens to abort the baby- the only way she'll be convinced to keep it is if Coal does indeed marry her.
In retaliation, Coal lawyers up and plans to charge Mimosa with rape and assault in order to hopefully convince the judge that he has a right to his child. That's when the waiting game begins. The court is pushed through at a rapid pace due to the time-sensitive nature of the situation, but the weeks passing by give Mimosa free time to cease the pregnancy without restraint. She does not do so as she is confident Coal will come around. Malachite discusses with Coal that he should be willing to at least string Mimosa along with a fake engagement to ensure his child's survival if he's truly serious about wanting it and not just pushing the case for the sake of his pride. Coal relents that if left with no other choice he would try such a thing, although naturally he worries about Holly's reaction. The two have talked and made up, but he isn't sure their relationship can handle such a thing at the moment. Malachite and Coal continue to chat until their is an interruption by way of Eden receiving visitors. Mantis, Eden's old friend from childhood, and his wife, Beryl, have come to catch up as they have not seen each other since they were young. Fate is also a reason for their appearance, although none of them know it until Malachite steps into their view. The reality that everyone had thought they had known about Malachite, how his abusive father had nearly beaten him to death and given him a permanent case of amnesia, was almost entirely false. Malachite's supposed father wasn't his father. He had been the man who kidnapped him from his real parents, Mantis and Beryl. The family is reunited in this stunning turn of events as they piece the information they have together, which gives Coal a hint of hope that the first ruling in the case happening the following day will go well.
Unfortunately, that hope doesn't lend him strength. A total nervous wreck in the morning, it takes all of Coal's energy to survive the time in the courthouse. The judge gives a temporary ruling that Mimosa cannot get an abortion until the true, final ruling a week later. Coal doesn't have much faith that it'll go in his favor. Holly even states she has no problem with him stringing Mimosa along with a fake engagement if it'll give him what he deserves, but there are also voices like commentors on articles about the trial that mark Coal as the villain instead that brutally dash his confidence. Moping about at the park later in the week terrified of what's to come, he manages to overhear something that once again sends his days on a totally different path. Yet, this time, the news is good. Mimosa sits talking to a woman who listens as, depressed, she reveals the heartbreak she's placed on everyone by her actions. It has finally sunk in, thanks to Holly getting on her knees and begging her twin to keep her child, how awful she has been. However, Mimosa is worried it is too late to make amends. The woman, after recounting mistakes in her own past, encourages her that if she truly repents and gives becoming a better person her all that people will begin to come around.
Mimosa eventually notices Coal's presence, and when she requests to talk to him he agrees. Mimosa is taking her medicine again, she apologizes for what's she done, she'll keep the child, and she'll plead guilty at the ruling...all of it she places before Coal for his consideration. Stating she's done too much for him to forgive her right away, Coal does promise if she sticks to making things right then one day in the future they'll find their relationship fixed. Mimosa vows even harder to become a person that he can call his friend, and the two split ways for the day finding their hearts lifted. Coal spreads the good news to his friends and sleeps well for the first time in months.
Years later, Wisp comes to collect the young children having a playdate at his house. With him already are Lightning, the son of Malachite and his girlfriend, and Melrose, the daughter of Desire and Jasper, who have gotten back together. He collects Tangerine and Ember, Coal and Mimosa's daughter, from Coal and reveals he and his wife are going to have a second child only to be told two other pregnancy announcements have been made that day by Hunter and Prism. Holly and Mimosa laugh over the crazy timing of all the news, and Wisp is glad to see how happy everyone is.
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