Aunt Anastacia was still shaking her head. She glanced out the open doorway onto the porch. The sun seemed to slant a bit, catching her eyes and reflecting against them. That was where Emily saw her aunt’s age on her face. Her battles. Her worries. Everything that was hidden under the guise of youth was revealed in her eyes in that moment. The woman couldn’t hide how weary she really was.
“It’s a bad idea,” Aunt Anastacia reiterated. “An idea only to be used when all hope is lost.”
“That’s where we are,” Emily pointed out. “We can’t defeat them. If they break through—when they break through the barrier, they’ll kill dad and arrest you, me, and Michael. Their mother will finish you off while their father skins me alive, and they’ll use Michael—however he intends to use Michael—to perform the ritual.”
Emily waved her hands for emphasis. “The whole world will fall, and the Alfreds will establish a new order. It’s going to be hell on earth.”
Emily paused to suck air through her teeth. It didn’t help her anxiety attack. “I say we’re pretty much at the point where all hope is lost.”
Aunt Anastacia smiled. “You have your mother’s tenacity.”
The statement threw Emily off balance. She was angry because Aunt Anastacia wasn’t taking her concerns seriously. But then again, she was happy that she and her mother had something in common. The way things had been between her and her mother still hurt and haunted her. And the fact that there was a chance for her to see her mother one more time—to tell her how sorry she was—was something she still grappled with.
Aunt Anastacia folded her arms across her chest. “But no, not all hope is lost. Our current predicament does not justify the requirements to cast a tunnel through the land of the dead.”
“Why?”
“Because we can escape from this house and still end up screwed at the end of the day.” Aunt Anastacia sighed. “How will that justify the death—”
“Wait, what death?” Emily interrupted.
“It’s called the tunnel through the land of the dead for a reason.” Aunt Anastacia pinched the bridge of her nose. “Performing the spell requires a blood sacrifice. And I’m not just talking about a few drops spilled here and there. I’m talking about draining a body to death.”
The silence that followed daunted Emily.
“Yeah, it’s a last resort.” Aunt Anastacia bobbed her head up and down. “Because, for one, there’s not a single living thing in the house, except us humans. And even if one of us decided to lay down one of our lives for the rest of us to escape, it still doesn’t solve our problem.
“Rina and Joanna are still in captivity. The town is still ensnared. The Alfreds are still out to get you and Michael. We’ll still be at square one. And what’s the guarantee that if we went after your friends or tried to break the snare on the town that we won’t just be walking into another trap?”
Emily had no response to that, but she had an inkling of where her aunt was going with all this. “The Adoption?”
A look of triumph swept over Anastacia’s face, only to vanish as swiftly as it came. “It’s the only way we’re going to win this. If you are Adopted by your Owl, your personalities will merge, and you will be unstoppable.”
“It’s the only way the Alfreds will win as well!” Emily replied, her whole body tensed up.
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
“Well, I’m not sure I’m willing to take that risk, considering the fact that I’m the one going through the ritual, and I’m the one more likely to get killed,” Emily retorted with a slight wave of her hand.
“We’ll all be dead within the week if we just sit on our asses and do nothing.”
“We are not going to do nothing,” Emily retorted. “We’re going to fight.”
“How?” Aunt Anastacia let her jaw fall slack with a mocking look on her face. “You’re barely up to full strength, and even if you were, you have barely scratched the surface of what you’re truly capable of. Your brother, Michael, is in the other room struggling with performing a simple confundus spell. Yeah, we’re going to fight and lose in the first few seconds.”
“You have so little faith in us, Aunty?” Emily was more disappointed than offended. She expected that after all they’d been through, after all she’d done, that her aunt would be more appreciative of her. After all, the swarm of bats was meant to break the outer barrier and then the Alfreds the inner one. Based on that plan, they should all be in captivity now because the Alfreds would have been in the house already.
However, Emily foiled that plan. She rescued them all—gave them a new lease on life, even if it was only for an additional twelve hours. Aunt Anastacia should be grateful. But no, she was whining about the Adoption.
It may very well be our only hope, Selena said quietly.
Emily was even more incensed by hearing Selena take Aunt Anastacia’s side.
It’s not about taking sides, Emily, Selena hissed. It’s about what works. It’s about winning this. And the only way is the Adoption.
The Adoption may cost your life, Emily pointed out. Aren’t you the least bit concerned about that?
Not really—I mean, I’ve not really thought about that. And then Selena was quiet. She was thinking about precisely that.
Emily sighed.
“Look, I don’t presume to know what you’re going through or what’s going through your mind.” Aunt Anastacia spoke again, her voice somewhat softer now. “I don’t expect you to trust me even. Nevertheless, I do have your best interest at heart. I’m positive the Adoption will go smoothly.
“Your grandfather—my father—didn’t have as much integration as you do, and he became Adopted. He didn’t even have a
