Michael didn’t mind repeating himself. He said, “You know what scares me the most about all this?”
Emily thought long and hard about what could scare him the most about their situation. She didn’t want to blow it. She decided it was best not to give an answer. “Tell me,” she said instead.
“It’s that the adults haven’t challenged us for leaving the house,” said Michael. “We practically rebelled against them, and we got one of our own killed. Aunt Anastacia should be furious.”
Emily nodded. “It’s a miracle she hasn’t exploded yet. Maybe it’s still coming.”
Michael shook his head. “I don’t think so. But even if it does, we deserve it at this point.”
“Yup.”
There was silence.
“I’m sorry about everything, Michael,” Emily blurted. It was Michael’s turn to stiffen. He knew where she was going with this. Maybe he wasn’t ready to hear it now, but Emily didn’t know if she would have a better time to say it.
“I’m sorry about how I treated you in the past,” Emily continued. “I wish I could take it all back. I wish I could make it better. I don’t want there to be a rift between us. Even though I just learned you’re my brother, I really want a relationship with you.”
She paused, sensing Michael was beginning to relax. It was working, so she barreled on.
“I’m sorry my actions humiliated you at that party last summer. I’m sorry about how I reacted to you in the car,” Emily continued. “It was a moment of weakness. I’m usually not like that. I have a good control on my anger. I guess it had to do with the whole Marion business. I really thought he liked me; it turned out he didn’t, and he was just using me.
“I felt so bad, and I transferred that aggression to you, and it was really bad of me,” Emily continued. She was already tearing up because she was getting to the worst part. “And I’m sorry about Rina . . .” That was as far as she got before she broke down in tears.
Michael surprised her by wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a hug. She leaned in full on and wept for a while. Michael just held her.
“I’m sorry she died,” Emily said through her tears. “It was my fault. It’s—”
“Let me stop you right there, Emily.” Michael’s voice was stern. “It is not your fault she died. It’s Marion’s fault, and he’s going to pay with blood.”
Emily sniffed and pulled away from Michael. She looked at him intently. He had a serious look on his face, and there was fire in his eyes.
“I was the one who suggested we go out,” Emily said. “You and Rina were . . . well, doing whatever you were doing, and we interrupted—Joanna and I—we convinced you to go against Aunt Anastacia’s safer plan. I convinced you to trust the enemy. And it ended in Rina’s death.
“It’s all my fault, Michael. I killed her—”
“No!” Michael blurted, shaking his head. “Don’t do that to yourself. I don’t blame you. It’s not your fault.”
“But—”
“No buts, Sister,” Michael said. “The Alfreds are the ones who killed her.”
Emily sighed. She was somewhat glad that Michael didn’t blame her, but could she stop blaming herself?
“I’m sorry she died,” said Emily finally. “I wish she didn’t. I wish I could have done more.”
“You were in the same crash,” Michael reasoned. “I don’t see how you could have helped. When you came to, you were pinned. There was a raging battle going on around you. You don’t have magic. I don’t see how you could have helped.”
“Yeah, but . . .” Her voice faded. Michael was right. There was nothing she could have done. Rina died from the impact. It was a horrible way to go.
“One thing her death has made me realize is that we have only such a short amount of time to be angry at the people who should matter the most in our lives,” Michael philosophized. “I’ve held on to a grudge against you for too long. I don’t want that anymore.”
Emily blinked at him.
“We were deprived of a relationship by my dad’s and our mom’s decision. Yeah, but I don’t want us to be deprived of that same relationship by our actions from here on out.”
“I don’t want that either,” Emily whispered.
“So, I want to apologize as well,” Michael said, “for basically being an asshole all the time. I was just so angry with you even when you were nice to me. So many times I’ve spoken out of turn to you. I’ve been downright nasty, and never have I had an excuse for it. Not even now that Rina is gone.”
More blinking.
“You tried to bridge the gap between us, but I refused. Not anymore.” Michael looked into her eyes as he spoke. Emily wanted to avert her gaze, but she held it. She also fought back tears as her heart warmed.
“You’re my sister,” he reiterated. “We have the same mom. We share blood. I don’t want to lose you.”
“I don’t want to lose you either,” Emily choked the words out, a few drops of tears squeezing from her eyes, feeling like the girly highschool cheerleader she was.
Michael reached out with his right thumb and dabbed it away.
“I promise you that every last person responsible for Rina’s death will be brought to justice,” Emily said. “I don’t care what I have to do, but I will do it until your vendetta is satisfied, Little Brother.”
Michael frowned. “Okay, back up a little.”
Emily laughed. “Hey, I am older than you.”
“By less than a year,” he grumbled.
“That still makes you my little brother,” she said through her laughter.
“You and I have very different definitions for the word little.” Michael raised both eyebrows, finally joining her to laugh.
Emily snuggled into Michael, and he, in turn, wrapped his arm around her tighter. His warmth was caring and protective. This was what she’d wanted. A chance to have a relationship with her brother.
Tears came to her eyes. Thinking it weird that she would cry in his arms, she held it back. The good thing about it was that they were tears of joy. It didn’t mean that Rina’s death had been forgotten. It only meant that she was grateful for the fact that her death had brought them both together.
“You really don’t blame me for Rina’s death?” Emily asked him after a moment.
“Really. You didn’t force us to make the decision to come. You certainly didn’t ask her to come. She came because of me. But don’t make any mistakes about it. It was the Alfreds—Marion and his idiot brother Chandler—who did this.”
Emily then thought back to the mayhem. There was a lot of fog and smoke, both from the car wreck and from Aunt Anastacia’s powers. She hadn’t really seen much for the first few minutes of the battle. But then again, when she’d come to and had escaped being pinned to the wall of the building, she’d been aware enough.
She couldn’t remember seeing any of the Alfreds. Not Marion. Not Chandler. Why had they jumped to the conclusion that the attack was orchestrated by Marion? What if it was the rogue rove who’d magicked the light stream that cut the car in half?
To be sure, Emily wasn’t defending Marion. At this point, she didn’t care for Marion—not after he’d spurned her. Still, it stood to reason. It would suck a lot to go fight the Alfreds and destroy them only to find out that the attack at the safe house wasn’t sanctioned by them.
I don’t see how killing the Alfreds would be a bad thing anyway, Selena piped up. Isn’t that the mission? Get them out of the way?
Not by killing them, Emily replied. Killing a human being is a terrible thing to do. There’s no coming back from that. She paused for a moment. Then added, Besides, it’s not like we were planning on killing them. The mission was to take them out of the equation by stripping them of their powers.
Something that is no longer feasible, since you kids blew it up by going out of line, Selena retorted, her irritation evident.
Um, are you seriously going to act all Aunt Anastacia with me? Emily quipped.
/>
Well, someone has to.
I think you’re being unfair. If Marion refused me in front of faces he knew, faces that weren’t a threat to him, he wasn’t going to agree when he saw Aunt Anastacia, who is truly a loose cannon.
There’s nothing left then than to cleanse them with fire, Selena said. At least the Salem people got it right. Burn the witch at the stake, or pretty much anywhere, to ensure total destruction.
Emily silently sucked in a lungful of air and let it out slowly. That’s what we’re going to have to do, I suppose.
Honestly, Emily didn’t want to have to think about it. The imagery was disturbing. She’d watched enough movies to know that burning someone alive was a horrific thing to do to a person. Being burned alive was probably the nastiest way to go. And to do it to a whole family?
No matter how evil they were, no matter how terrible Alice had been to her, it still made Emily cringe thinking about what she’d have to do. Nevertheless, she was ready to do it. She’d made an oath to Michael, and she wasn’t about to break it. She simply hoped that her will remained strong even when the time came to unleash fire.
Emily just couldn’t get it out of her mind that Marion might not have been responsible for this attack. Why would he wait until they got to the safe house? If he wanted to harm them or to catch them, all he needed was to attack them there and then. He had all he needed for the ritual in front of him.
The answer to that question is quite simple, Selena said. He wants it all. The entire empire. He’s arrogant. He wants to capture the whole rebellion and make an example of them before sacrificing you and your baby brother on the altar.
Emily’s lips twitched with amusement. She was sure Michael would blow a gasket if he found out that Selena had called him a baby brother.
Her mind came back to Selena’s response, and she thought on it. If what Selena was saying was true, then why hadn’t Marion come by himself? Why had he come with his brother? If they really planned this attack, they would have thrown everything they had against the safe house. And it was not that they didn’t know that Aunt Anastacia was on their team.
Knowing The Owl could sense her thoughts, Emily waited for Selena to reply to that one. After one minute, Selena remained silent. She, too, thought it was weird.
Emily needed to get to the bottom of this before she did something she would regret later. She wanted Michael to know what she was thinking, but she didn’t want to approach it in a way that would make him think she was already chickening out or that she was choosing Marion over him. It would be a shame for them to turn on each other just minutes after making up.
She decided to tread carefully.
“Isn’t it curious?” Emily started.
“What?” Michael replied immediately as though he’d been waiting for her to strike up a conversation.
“That no strong roves came to attack the safe house?”
“Hmmmm . . .”
Seeing this as an opportunity to venture further with her theory, she went on, “I mean, if I were Gregory, and I knew where my enemies were, I wouldn’t send a few lame-asses and one weakling rove to hunt down people that have eluded even the best of my warriors.”
Michael didn’t reply.
Emily continued, “I would send my best and then some. In fact, I would come with them. Because this could be the break I was waiting for.”
“What are you trying to say?” Michael asked. There was a hint of anger in his voice, but only a hint.
Emily realized that whatever she said now would determine the course of the hint of anger, whether it would rise into a flame or whether it would die out and never sprout. She cautioned herself to tread more carefully. She didn’t want to have a fight with Michael—not now when he was still grieving. “All I’m saying is it doesn’t add up.”
Michael was silent for a long time. When he spoke next, it started with a small laugh. “It’s cute how you’re walking on eggshells so you don’t annoy me.”
Emily didn’t share in his amusement. She didn’t think of it as cute. She thought it was exhausting.
“Look, you don’t have to be afraid to have differing ideas,” Michael later said. “I have another sister. I don’t always agree with her. Hell, sometimes we have nasty fights. But I don’t stay mad at her for too long. And you know why?”
“Because she’s your sister?” Emily answered, while pulling out of his arms and turning to face him.
Michael nodded. “Yes, because she’s my sister.”
“Well, I suppose I can be plain with you.”
“Of course you can,” Michael said, now serious.
“I am not sure Marion caused this,” Emily said carefully. “And before you say that I’m compromised because of my feelings for him, let me stop you there. I’m not. Do I still care for him? I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel at this point. You were there, weren’t you? You saw how he refused to help. He’s a jerk.”
Michael nodded.
“So, I don’t know what’s going on there, but does that mean I can’t think clearly? No! However, it makes no sense that Marion would attack with a force as weak as the one that came after us.”
Emily leaned back on the couch. “If anything, I’d say it’s Chandler who went behind his back. For one, I don’t trust that Chandler guy, and he seems to be pretty dumb. But Marion? Come on. Marion is smart and strong and strategic.”
“Strategic,” parroted Michael. “What if this is all a strategy? What if there’s a second, more potent force waiting?”
“I would say that was the Alfreds’ MO,” Emily agreed. “They used it back at the cottage, when they sent that swarm of monster bats to attack and weaken us, while they came along right after.”
Michael continued to look at her expectantly, obviously wondering where she was going with this.
“But that swarm of creatures is way more powerful than the lame-ass excuse for an attack force they sent us. And also, where is the second attack? They should be here by now. We should be scurrying for our lives! Why allow us to rest up, hold a burial, recuperate, make up, and clean out before coming after us?”
“Yeah, well, that ‘lame-ass excuse for an attack force’ killed Rina,” Michael said bluntly.
“I’m sorry.” Emily’s face fell. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
Michael squeezed his eyes shut and looked away for a moment.
“But you see my point, don’t you?” said Emily. “What if there’s another faction at play? What if the Alfreds are divided?”
“I have thought about this, Emily,” Michael said. “I think you’re right. I don’t think you’re compromised, or that you’re defending Marion. Thing is, I don’t want us to make a mistake again. I’m tired of it. I don’t want us to lose another person.”
Emily said nothing.
“You heard Marion when he spoke to you,” Michael continued. “He’s delusional. He really believes in what he’s doing. He even knows you’re going to die, but somehow believes you can resurrect. And even if there was some truth in it, what about me? If he doesn’t give a crap about my life, why should I care about his?”
“I don’t—”
“But that’s beside the point. The point is this: We have to burn them all to ashes if we’re going to save the world. Seeing as how that’s the only option we have left now, I don’t see what difference it makes whether Marion sanctioned the attack or not.”
Emily saw Michael’s point as clear as day. In the end, it made little difference. If Marion refused to give them his blood, all that was left was to attack. To destroy the Alfreds and then face Astaroth properly.
“You’re right,” Emily agreed.
“I don’t want to be right,” Michael said in a warm voice. “I just want to be safe. If there’s anything Rina’s death has taught me, it’s that this shit is real. We can’t go about thinking this is a high school play. We’re teenagers, yet we’re dealing with very powerful, very cosmic forces. It’s terrifying as much as it is humb
ling.”
“Do you really think we’ll win?”
Michael shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. If what I saw when I saw you and me in the cave was truly a vision, then we’re fated to be sacrificed at that altar.”
“So you’re saying that eventually we fail?” asked Emily.
Michael cocked his head to the side. “I’m saying we’re on the wrong side of fate. Maybe this is when the world ends. I mean, every religion prophesied the end of the world. Even science proves that one day the world will end. So maybe this is it. Maybe this is when it all ends.”
“That’s bone-chilling,” Emily shuddered.
“It is what it is,” Michael said.
There was silence.
Emily shut her eyes for a second to relax them. Unbeknownst to her, she nodded off. The next time she opened her eyes, someone was tapping her shoulders.
She and Michael both grumbled awake at the disturbance. Standing before them was Joanna. She was beaming at them.
She’d changed into fresh clothes, and she looked ready to go. There was commotion behind her. Emily looked past her friend and saw the adults deliberating around the table.
“Aren’t you two snuggly?” Joanna said through her teeth.
Michael leaped to his feet, suddenly alert. “What happened?” he asked, his voice loud.
This cut short the adults’ discussion and brought their focus on the teenagers. Emily’s hands moved to fix her hair and check for drool on her cheek. She kept her gaze down since she didn’t know how her face looked. She wasn’t really a morning person. Yeah, she was pretty and all, but that was after she’d been awake for at least thirty minutes.
“You’ve been asleep for five hours,” said Anastacia, who sat at the head of the table next to the TV. Dad sat on the right, next to the entrance to the tunnel, while Kendrick and Everet and a newcomer sat on the left next to the doors.
“Uncle Simon,” Michael said, acknowledging the newcomer.
The man nodded. A thinly built man with rigid features and blond hair. He looked to be in his early forties, yet his frame was as sturdy as though he was in his early twenties. He wore an Army jacket, which had a walkie-talkie attached to its pocket.
Born to Raise Hell: The Owl Shifter Chronicles Book Three Page 13
