Adopted by The Owl: The Owl Shifter Chronicles Book One

by Qatarina Wanders

  For instance, the vigilantes armed themselves differently when going up against vampires from when they went up against the djinn. They underwent special training to equip them against supernaturals of all kinds.

  Nowadays, New Haven was quiet. But some weeks, they had to fight off invasions from a pack of werewolves or shifters trying to sneak into the town.

  And then there was that super-messy zombie invasion a few years earlier. That sucked.

  No one knew how many vigilantes there were. Mr. Winter ran a very tight ship. Very disciplined. His paramilitary organization would give the national military a run for its money. And from the looks of the cool gadgets Emily saw as security led them through the facility, they were well funded.

  Joanna fumed the entire time. It was, after all, her dad’s money that kept the vigilantes alive. Rina looked a bit calmer. Maybe all she needed was more sleep. Maybe she wasn’t under any spell. This gave Emily more courage in their chosen course of action.

  Mr. Winter’s office was a spacious room in the corner of the building’s top floor. It overlooked the lake and had a view of a stretch of beautiful trees. His table was equally large and stood in the corner where he could look over his shoulder to see the lake. There was a couch and a table and tea set to the right and a small shelf by the wall.

  Mr. Winter looked up when they walked in. And smiled.

  Emily didn’t see what was worth smiling over. His son was missing, for Christ’s sake.

  “Emily. Joanna. Rina.” With a nod to each, Mr. Winter called their names as though he knew them well. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” He motioned for them to take the two seats in front of his desk, then he pointed at the couch for the third person.

  Rina peeled away from them and went to the couch while Emily and Joanna took the leather seats.

  Emily got straight to the point. “We’re looking for Michael. He’s been absent from school for a few days.”

  Mr. Winter flashed a big grin. “Oh, that can’t be true. He’s been hanging out with Rina. Plus, he’s never missed school. I’m sure of it.”

  Emily and Joanna shared a curious look.

  “And how are you sure of this, Mr. Winter?” asked Joanna.

  “Because I drove him to school personally,” Mr. Winter said in a heartbeat.

  “But you just said he’s been hanging out with Rina.”

  Mr. Winter frowned, and for a moment Emily thought he would sense how off his explanation sounded. Then he smiled and said, “Oh, Joanna and Emily. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  Emily felt her heart sink. Mr. Winter was definitely under the rove’s spell, too.

  35

  They tried for the next ten minutes to get answers about Michael’s whereabouts. Mr. Winter kept talking in circles. Whenever they attempted to breach that circle, he’d just reset as though he was just seeing them for the first time. It got to a point where Emily literally growled in frustration.

  “I told you,” Rina muttered. “Ask him about Michael’s birth and let’s get out of here. Don’t poke at the warlock’s spell, or he might come looking.”

  Emily sighed. “Uhm, Mr. Winter, I have a question for you, and I need you to answer me very carefully.”

  Mr. Winter had been smiling, but now he looked serious.

  “It’s about Michael,” Emily said. “I know he’s my brother.”

  For the first time since they came into the office, Mr. Winter seemed to be truly himself. He sighed and rose to his feet. “She told you, didn’t she?” He turned and gazed out the window. “I knew this day was going to come.”

  Joanna frowned at Emily. She mouthed: Who?

  Emily mouthed back: No idea.

  “I told Anastacia to give me an extra month,” Mr. Winter said. “She called me, you see. After you went to drop your dad with her. She sounded surprised that I hadn’t told you about your half brother—”

  “And why didn’t you tell me?” Emily cut him off.

  Mr. Winter turned around. “Because I didn’t know how to face your dad afterward.”

  Emily felt like she had been slapped across the face. “You banged her while she was married to my dad?” Emily gasped. It wasn’t particularly a courteous thing to say, but Emily was so angry she could barely keep herself together.

  Mr. Winter didn’t reply directly. He did, however, bob his head in a way that could have been construed as affirmation. He sat in his chair and continued talking.

  “It wasn’t something I was proud of,” Mr. Winter said. “And it wasn’t all that long after you came along. You are older by less than a year.”

  Emily shuddered. This was disgusting! “How did you hide this from my dad?”

  “We faked a stillbirth.” Mr. Winter looked away as he spoke. “I took the baby out of town for a few months. I returned with him and explained to my wife that he was my brother’s kid that I adopted. I already talked everything over with my brother. Your mother never told your father the baby wasn’t his.”

  Mr. Winter looked downright ashamed of himself now, but he went on. “My wife was gracious enough to accept my decision, and we raised him like he was our son. He is my son. And I love him.”

  “If so, where is he at the moment?” asked Joanna.

  Mr. Winter did that thing again where he reset. It took the standard three seconds before he grinned broadly at them. “Emily. Joanna. Rina. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  Emily smacked her palm to her forehead. She tried once more to no avail before they left the facility. She didn’t really know how to feel. She was sure Michael hated her, and she didn’t particularly like him. But still, he was her brother. Her little brother. Her instincts told her to protect him.

  But perhaps, the most disturbing truth was that he was a rove. Even if they survived this warlock, how would they survive his being a rove? How would he take it? Being the Boy Scout type, how would he take to being the very evil he swore to defend the town against?

  “We need to go see your Aunt Anastacia,” said Joanna. “She’s the only one who seems to know what the heck is going on in this town.”

  “Right,” grumbled Rina. Whatever it was that affected Rina, it was wearing out, because she was returning to her usual depressed demeanor.

  “Geez, I still can’t believe he’s my brother,” Emily muttered. “Like . . . what the heck?”

  “I think the most concerning problem is that he’s a rove and doesn’t know it,” Joanna said.

  “Oh, I think he does,” Rina interjected. “Remember, he had the vision.”

  Right, that’s the problem, Emily thought. Michael sees a vision and suddenly decides he knows everything he needs to know.

  “Let’s just focus on getting him out of the Alfreds’,” Emily went on. “First, we’ve got to get my aunt to come clean. Although that might be difficult since she’s hidden under our very noses for decades.”

  No one said anything else for the rest of their journey.

  By the time they came to Aunt Anastacia’s cottage it was well after dusk. The cottage was the only human-made structure for as far as the eye could see in every direction. It stood like a neon sign in the dark. All its lights were on and blazed in the night.

  They drove silently down the dirt path until they came to the side of the house where Joanna parked the car. This time Aunt Anastacia didn’t come to welcome her because she didn’t know anyone was coming.

  Emily had purposely not mentioned it. She expected to face less resistance if she confronted Aunt Anastacia from her blind side.

  “Shouldn’t we at least knock?” asked Joanna as Emily softly took the front door’s knob and twisted it.

  “Why? Are you scared of my aunt?” asked Emily in a slightly mocking tone.

  Rina answered matter-of-factly, “If she’s a rove, we have everything to be scared of.”

  Emily ignored them and pushed into the house. The door gave way in silence, admitting them into the living room.

  A cold wind whipped into exist
ence from somewhere in the corridor and whistled across the house lightly before blasting into them. What started as a gentle breeze from nowhere instantly turned into a wind demon. It shot around them, forming invisible chains and latching around their wrists.

  They didn’t even have time to scream before being yanked back into the wall.

  “Who dares sneak into my home?” thundered a voice from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

  Emily, for the first time, was terrified of her aunt. She recognized Anastacia’s voice. Only it had a lot of authority in it this time. It sounded similar to the voice she’d used on Emily the first time she’d left Dad with her—but way scarier.

  “Who?” thundered the voice again, the wind edging into cyclone proportions. “Speak your name!”

  By now Joanna and Rina were screaming and thrashing against the relentless winds. Emily remained still.

  “Emily Davies!” It was more of an annoyed retort than it was a scared proclamation.

  For a moment, the winds continued unabated. The voice did not respond. Right there, in the midst of the corridor, a dark mist rose up from the floorboards and wafted into the living room. It began to swirl in the middle of the living room, unaffected by the mini hurricanes holding them bound to the wall.

  More black mist rose out of the floorboards in the corridor and came to join the swirling in the living room. The swirling mass of mist thickened continually until it turned into a tall, proud woman.

  Aunt Anastacia. She stood akimbo with a dangerous frown on her face.

  “Didn’t my sister teach you to knock before entering a house?” Aunt Anastacia looked from Emily to Joanna to Rina.

  She squeezed both her hands together and then brought them up to her lips. She muttered a few unintelligible words and then threw her fingers out and blew against her open palms.

  The winds ceased all of a sudden, and the young woman dropped to the ground without warning. Rina yelped as her ankle bent in an unnatural position. Joanna immediately went to her aid while Emily picked herself up from the ground and faced her aunt.

  “So you’re a rove,” Emily stated rather than asked.

  “We don’t have a lot of time, Emily,” Anastacia said. “Ask relevant questions. Questions you don’t already know the answer to.” She turned and walked into the corridor, leaving Emily stunned.

  36

  Joanna had helped Rina to her feet as Emily observed that Rina’s right ankle was already turning a deep shade of purple.

  “Are you okay?” asked Emily.

  Rina shook her head. Her face was contorted in a frown. “It’s bad.”

  “Maybe she can heal it?” Joanna suggested, her eyes wide and hopeful.

  “Bring her this way,” boomed a voice from the library.

  Rina and Joanna both looked to Emily for permission. This was Emily’s show now. Emily gave a simple nod and scooted over to Rina’s other side to help carry her through the corridor into the library.

  Aunt Anastacia was looking through the books on one particular shelf when they came in. She stopped abruptly when they entered, and she motioned toward the armchairs. “Sit.”

  Emily noticed her dad was also in the library. He was in his wheelchair, set close to a throne-like chair in the corner. This was near the shelf on which Aunt Anastacia was looking for a book.

  Emily said nothing. She and Joanna helped Rina, who was in obvious pain, into one of the armchairs. After this, they settled into their own armchairs.

  “It’s a spell,” Emily blurted.

  Aunt Anastacia stopped what she was doing, turned, and flashed a questioning gaze at Emily. It was then that Emily noticed there was something special about Aunt Anastacia’s outfit. It was a special red gown with calligraphic golden embroidery. It looked like an ancient robe, something that would belong to a wizard.

  “Dad. It’s a spell.” Emily noticed the impatience on Aunt Anastacia’s face when she turned to listen to Emily.

  “I know,” she said, returning to her search. “I’m going to break it. And you will help me.”

  On hearing that, Emily’s heart leaped to her chest. She glanced at Joanna, who didn’t look impressed.

  “So you’re just going to give up your secret?” spat Joanna.

  “Yes, Joanna Russo, yes,” replied Aunt Anastacia without turning back. “If you don’t already know, the entire town is under the warlock’s spell. If we’re going to defeat him, we need help.”

  “Dad?” Emily understood what Aunt Anastacia was doing. Dad was the only person who’d seen the warlock and lived. Except, of course, Michael, although they weren’t certain he was still alive.

  “Yes,” Anastacia went on. “The spell the warlock put on him is a very rudimentary one. I don’t think he was counting on anyone figuring out your dad was cursed at all, let alone trying to break the spell.”

  “You said there were two genes in our family,” Emily said as Anastacia brought a large, dusty, green book to the table. The woman ignored their curious looks as she leafed through the book.

  “The Owl gene and the warlock and witch gene,” Emily said. “I—”

  “Yes, Michael is your brother,” Aunt Anastacia interrupted. “Look, Emily, we simply don’t have time to go over every little piece of information you’ve been able to garner for yourself.”

  Folding her arms, Emily scowled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It wasn’t my place.” Aunt Anastacia waved her hand. “And you didn’t trust me enough to tell me you had inherited your mother’s Owl. What’s her name?”

  “Who?” Emily asked, puzzled.

  “The Owl,” replied Aunt Anastacia.

  “Selena.”

  Aunt Anastacia’s face lit up with a smile. “Ah, so you got the fire demon.”

  “Fire demon?” Emily frowned. What on Earth was her aunt talking about now!?

  Aunt Anastacia found what she was looking for. “I need a strand of your hair.” She stretched forth her right hand.

  Emily plucked a strand of her hair and gave it to her. Anastacia kept her eyes on the book and muttered a few phrases. The strand of hair glowed a bright golden color and then disintegrated into dust.

  The rove lady went to Dad and blew the dust in his face. The result was instant. Dad retched. He began to convulse in his wheelchair. Emily instinctively shot to her feet in a bid to go help him, but Aunt Anastacia put a hand out to stop her.

  “Watch,” was all she said.

  Emily saw an orange mist waft out of Dad’s chest as he thrashed. The mist vanished in midair, but kept seeping out for a while. Although Dad stopped thrashing after a minute.

  Anastacia motioned for Emily to return to her seat. She said the process of breaking the spell was going to take some time. How much time, she didn’t know.

  “I don’t understand.” Emily grabbed handfuls of her hair in anxiousness. “Why can’t you just go after this warlock?”

  Her aunt was now rubbing some sort of healing balm on Rina’s sprained ankle. The young journalist’s face no longer contorted in anguish.

  “Because I don’t know who he is, and I don’t know how powerful he is.” Aunt Anastacia bit her lip. “His purpose is clear, though. He intends to bring Nadarog Maragog.”

  Emily stiffened as the panic erupted in her heart. Selena might have been quiet for some time, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t listening.

  “He needs Emily and Michael,” Rina said. “He already has Michael. If he gets his hands on Emily, he’ll have all he needs. We don’t have to face him. We just have to get Emily far away from him.”

  Aunt Anastacia shook her head. “He’s a rove. Distance means nothing to him. The only way we get out of this is to fight him.”

  “Or we get Michael back,” said Joanna. “We get Michael back, break this spell over the town, set the vigilantes on the rove, and we help the vigilantes from the shadows. For once, let them work in our favor.”

  “That’s too risky.” Anastacia shook her head.

&
nbsp; “What do you suggest?” Emily conceded, knowing the elder woman had already thought through their predicament.

  “The Adoption,” said Aunt Anastacia. “I have all the ingredients we need. Including your dad.”

  “It could kill me!” Emily leaned back, horrified that her own precious aunty would consider such a reckless procedure.

  “He would kill you,” Aunt Anastacia pointed out.

  “No, absolutely not,” Joanna said. “I mean, you don’t care about her. Don’t act like you do!” Joanna was full-steam angry now.

  “Where were you when her mom got murdered?” asked Joanna. “Where were you when Mr. Winter led his team of vigilantes to abduct your sister and gut her open! Huh?”

  Aunt Anastacia turned and looked at Joanna. “Mr. Winter didn’t kill Bernice.” Her voice was breaking. “She . . .” Aunt Anastacia turned away.

  Ask her what happened that night, Selena said, vocally nudging Emily a bit.

  Emily did as she was told.

  Aunt Anastacia took some time to compose herself. In spite of that, when she started talking, her eyes watered, and her voice became thick with emotion.

  “He goes for the warlock first. He always goes for the warlock first.” The woman’s voice caught in her throat. “He uses the warlock to bait The Owl and then he sacrifices both of them unless The Owl . . .”

  “Kills himself,” Emily finished, suddenly realizing a pattern in all the information she’d gathered so far. She shuddered in fear.

  “That’s what happened with our father. His warlock brother was already a captive of the warlock. So he had to have himself killed to prevent the apocalypse.

  “When Daddy died, his brother warlock became useless. This rove needs two siblings. So he turned to Bernice and me. He took his time. He needed us amid the active use of our powers. When he came for me, I was no match for him. He defeated me soundly and abducted me.”

  Aunt Anastacia looked at Emily. “Your mother tried everything she could. She called in every favor. She even told Mr. Winter, who was shocked to find out she was an Owl shifter but was willing to betray his principles to save the woman he loved.