Aunt Anastacia heaved a sigh of relief as she put a little of her weight on Emily. She smelled of ethanol and blood. There was none on her body, but still, the smell oozed from her. Emily wondered if it was because of the surgery she’d just performed with her magic.
“The spell I used to heal your brother and mend his body—” Aunt Anastacia sighed. “It works by exchanging life force.”
“So you gave him your life!?”
“Not really. More like I fed his body from my life force. Like I just said. Learn to listen, Girl!”
What she’d said didn’t sound any different from what Emily had said, but Emily decided not to push it.
“So it made me look and feel older.” Aunt Anastacia’s shoulders drooped. “The effects are reversible, though. All I need is a few days of rest, and I’ll be back to full strength.”
Emily glanced at the Land Rover again. They were less than a minute away. “We don’t have a few days. Can our defenses hold them out?”
Aunt Anastacia shrugged. “It depends on who’s in that Land Rover.”
Emily told her what she’d seen. “Marion, a younger girl, and a slightly older boy. Marion told the class he had siblings. I guess it’s them. There are just three kids in the family.”
“Hmmm,” Aunt Anastacia mumbled. “Interesting.”
“What is?” asked Emily.
“And you’re sure you don’t see Gregory or Marie?”
“No, I see no one else in the car,” Emily replied confidently. “Who’s Marie, though?”
“Gregory’s even more evil wife.”
Great. That was reassuring.
“Do you think we can defeat them?” Emily almost didn’t want to hear the answer. “Can you fight in your state?”
Aunt Anastacia shook her head. “Basic simple spells. If I do any strong spell, I might pass out, or the strain might kill me. Can you transform?”
“Nope.”
“So we’re screwed, right?” Dad blurted. He’d been standing silently on Aunt Anastacia’s other side.
“Not necessarily,” the woman countered. “The defenses are still in place. Since the fire demon took out the horde, they’ll need to work through the defenses. If they’re smart and powerful, they can break through in a couple hours. If not, they’ll be fried.”
“And if they make it past the defenses?” Emily raised both her eyebrows in anticipation.
“I have a contingency plan,” Aunt Anastacia assured them. “But it’s an absolute last resort. I don’t want to think or talk about it.”
Okaaay then.
“But if they get fried and return home?” Emily kept pushing.
“That might be worse, because their parents would just come, and they’ll surely break through the defenses,” Aunt Anastacia pointed out. “We’ll need to resort to the contingency plan, which, like I said, is just as bad if not worse.”
Then why even bring it up? Really now. “So either way, we’re doomed?” Emily’s face fell.
Aunt Anastacia flashed a tight-lipped smile. “That appears to be the case.”
8
The car turned and stopped ten yards away from the house and parked right there on the dirt path. The black cloud had already spread to cover the cottage. Every now and then, the whole place would light up as the lightning spread across the black cloud.
There was no sound. No booms of thunder save the silent rumbling of the Land Rover cranking like a scooter. The scene was just so surreal. Lightning flashed across the skies every five seconds or so, showering them all in a ghostly whitish sheen. And then darkness.
No one spoke; not Aunt Anastacia, not Dad, not even Emily. They all watched as the vehicle idled ten yards out.
Emily’s wary eyes retracted to her aunt’s car, which was just there by the house. A small town car that had a similar build to a Beetle, except it had a more pronounced trunk.
She hoped the car was within the protective sphere of the exterior defense system. If it wasn’t, then Aunt Anastacia’s car could be damaged. Emily knew her aunt wouldn’t like that very much.
“What are they doing just staring at us there?” asked Dad. His hands had tightened around his assault sniper rifle. They were already turning a sickly white from the stunted flow of blood into his fingers. Dad was antsy. Very.
“They have all the time in the world,” Aunt Anastacia mused. “And they know it. They aren’t in a hurry, so they’re playing the long haul. Or rather, they’re ready to play the long haul if need be.”
“Which is what exactly?” asked Dad in his worried voice.
“They’re going to wear us down,” Anastacia groaned. “They’re going to play mind games. If we’re not careful, they could drive us mad. Only the strong-willed and strong-minded can survive.”
Dramatic much?
“Well, I don’t have a problem with being strong-minded.” Dad looked over at Emily and furrowed his brow in concern. “I don’t know about Emily.”
“And how are you stronger than she is?” Aunt Anastacia sounded defensive. “She’s a magical being who repels magic. The Alfreds’ spells aren’t going to get past her skin. It’s you and me we should be worried about. They can get to me easily in my weakened state, and you . . . they will peel apart like a tangerine.”
Dad’s cheeks reddened with embarrassment. He opened his mouth to speak, but Aunt Anastacia flashed him a glare, and he shut his mouth.
“So what do we do?” asked Emily, bringing the topic back to the issue at hand. “They’re right in front of our house, and we obviously can’t win a standoff.”
“We rest up first,” Anastacia reasoned. “Even with a constant barrage from the powerful roves, it’ll take at least twelve hours to bring down the external defense. Another twelve hours to bring down the internal ones.”
“We have a full day before we need to face them?” Emily’s face visibly relaxed.
“So what do we do in that time?” Dad asked. “Arm up? Call for help?”
Aunt Anastacia patted Dad on the shoulder. She was so old-looking that she resembled someone who could easily have been Dad’s grandmother. And the way she’d patted him
