Emily sighed, shutting her eyes for a moment. She felt the stress of the past few hours. It weighed heavily on her. In the darkness of her closed eyelids, she could sense the magic all around her. She could sense the powerful magic being created by the Alfreds every time they chanted. She could sense the magic Michael gave off—it was a slow, unconscious stream. She perceived the magic in the house. It was ancient—probably a bit rusty.
Emily wished she could go back to the time when Mom was still alive and she was blissfully unaware of her family’s dangerous history. Or even the time when it was just Selena and Emily, and Selena was just The Owl to her and they didn’t have any interaction. Not because she hated Selena or didn’t enjoy interacting with her now, but because those were simpler times. Back then, her only problem was not getting found out, and she had devised a clever way to keep her secret.
Now her problems had escalated to affecting the entire world. Now she was dealing with matters of life and death for not only herself, but her family, her friends, and the people of New Haven. Possibly the world. Her biggest fear was no longer just her own disembowelment—even though that thought was no less terrifying.
“How long have you known?” Michael’s soft voice pulled Emily out of her subconscious resting phase.
As she opened her eyes, the effort it took her to do so made her realize just how tired she had become. “Hmmm . . . ?” she muttered.
“How long have you known we were siblings?” Michael reiterated.
“Not long,” Emily replied. “This weekend.”
“It’s hard to believe,” Michael muttered. “And it’s been like this down the lineage, right? Your—our—mom was an Owl, and Anastacia is the witch . . .”
Emily nodded ever so slightly.
“But why?” Michael asked with a little bit of vehemence. “Why us?”
Emily shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know that it’s us, and we have to do everything we can to stop them.”
“No, what we need to do is stop these guys.” Michael leaped to his feet and started marching for the dome without even glancing back to Emily.
Emily ran after him but stumbled against a loose board and crashed to the ground. She screamed for Michael not to, but he wasn’t listening to her. After quickly pushing herself to her feet, she ran after him. By this time, Alice had stopped chanting and silently stood there waiting for him. The young girl wore a welcoming smile on her face—a challenge to him to meet her there.
Emily managed to put herself between Michael and the dome before he had the chance to get within range.
“Get out of my way!” Michael raged.
“No! Are you out of your mind?”
“They’re the problem! I won’t sit here and wait for them to come in,” Michael retorted. He was screaming more from anger than from reason. That’s why he was acting like a complete and utter moron.
Of course, Emily couldn’t tell him that to keep him from overreacting. “We can’t fight them,” Emily replied coolly. “We’re too weak. You’re too weak!”
“Oh yeah?” snorted Michael. “I guess they didn’t tell you what I did to their dad.”
“Cheap shot!” Alice fired.
Emily frowned and paused. She looked over her shoulder. Her eyes went from Alice to Marion, who was standing in the background, his face grim as always.
“What did he do to your father?” Emily was curious. She wasn’t sure why she directed the question to Marion. Maybe it was because she felt he was the one person who wouldn’t lie to her—at least not outright.
“He knocked Father out,” Marion replied, his tone expressionless. “Hit him with an unconsciousness spell. Father wasn’t expecting it.”
“Father wasn’t expecting him!” Alice snorted. “He snuck into our mansion.” Then she turned her attention to Michael. “I must say, that was ingenious, by the way. You managed to elude all the guards and snuck right into my father’s room—”
Michael made a weird noise.
Emily glanced back at Michael. His face was turning red.
“And?” Emily quizzed.
“And it just so happened to be the time Father was enjoying—ahem—quality time with Mother,” Marion added.
Emily’s eyes widened. She instinctively let go of Michael. “You caught them having sex???”
Michael shuddered.
“That’s exactly what he did,” Alice replied, mocking Michael. “Caught them naked in bed, totally unassuming. Of course, he knocked them both out.”
“So how did you end up as their prisoner?” Emily asked her brother, astounded.
“They hit me with the exact same spell,” Michael replied. He was more subdued now. He wasn’t going to be making any rash decisions now.
“How is that possible?”
“Dad has a host of protective spells around him at all times.” Marion was the one to respond. “One of them is the reflection spell. It reflects an attack spell and sends it back to the sender. In other words—”
“If you try to knock him out, you end up knocking yourself out.” Emily finished the sentence.
“There was no way I could have known he had that spell around him,” Michael said in defense. “Besides, I didn’t go there to fight him. I only went there to explain. I didn’t even know I had magic! It just sorta . . . happened.”
“Right, and you felt the best place to explain yourself is in our parents’ personal room?” Alice shot back. “I would flay you alive if Dad didn’t need you!”
“I didn’t know that was the bedroom!” Michael defended. “It’s not like there was a map of the house lying around.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have been sneaking about the house in the first place,” Alice fired back.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be trying to kill us in the first place!” Michael spat.
Alice growled. Her eyes crackled with red fire. Her hand exploded with red
