"She finally gasped for air and coughed out the water that had filled her lungs. We were stupid living so close to the only mortal thing able to kill us - water.
"I looked up to see that my long time friend, Jameson, was now helping his father to double team Desmond.
"Desmond had been beaten badly and was struggling to stay in his changed formation in his weakened state. As he flickered from his human form to his panther form, I raced to defend him, sending a shock of explosion directed at Jameson.
"It sent him flying backwards onto the ground. I watched as he crackled to dust. Thomas turned his attention from Desmond to me. He was enraged that his son had been killed by my hands. He took a step toward me and looked over at Ayla, who was still knelt down in front of the mindless creation she had just made.
"Thomas started running toward them, and I leapt in front of him, blocking his path to my sister. He put his head down and plowed into my abdomen. I could feel my bones crack for the first time in my life. Each breath was suddenly painful. I threw out an explosive force, and this time he didn't get up right away.
"He slowly steadied himself back to his feet, but he was wounded as he clutched his stomach. He tried to attack me again, but now he was too weak for a blunt charge. I fought him as hard as I could hand to hand. He was fast and strong, but he was also weaker, and we were more evenly matched. I threw him to the ground, finally, and put my hands directly on his head. I delivered the last fatal blow of the day as my most powerful explosion rattled the ground.
"My dad got there moments later. The only one we hadn't been close to, Alice, was the only one who had been on our side. The others had killed her for her betrayal, as well as the other witches who were there to help protect my mother. They had been like family. I swore to never trust any magical being again if I couldn't tell which side they were on."
The heavy air weighed down on us both. It was a lot to absorb.
"Well that definitely explains why you don't like McKee." I learned more than I had anticipated, but I was so glad that he had entrusted me with such personal information.
"No. That's just why I don't trust McKee. I don't like him because of the way he stares at you. I don't like the way he keeps trying to weasel in - like this morning."
His tone was lighter now as he made it sound like a joke. Then he turned serious again. "I'm probably just paranoid, due to my personal experience, but it seems that the mortal witches who have been drained of their essence had been entrusted to a bodyguard during that time."
I swallowed hard. That doesn't mean they're traitors though. Sometimes it's out of someone's control. Bad things happen and no one's to blame. I needed that to be the truth. It was hard enough to grasp magic as reality, but to add in possible traitors just terrified me.
"Do you think Chris is bad?" I hadn't been worried about my sister's safety until that moment.
He shook his head before responding. "No. He's one of the bodyguards I do trust. He's your sister's soul mate. Her light shines brightly. Since the great divide in magic - Allora and Dramus - no soul mates can be on opposing sides. I may not can see his intentions directly, but I can see his soul mate's bright light with absolute clarity."
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Then another twinge of worry spread through me. "Do you think any of our bodyguards are bad?"
I moved in closer as my worry turned to fear.
He patted me comfortingly while speaking softly. "Like I said, I'm probably just paranoid. Your family has a prophecy about an unseen child coming. She'll be even more powerful than Isis was.
"Your mother almost died when she was a child. Isis cast a spell preventing her most powerful descendent from ever being seen by seers. However, the spell took on a life of its own, preventing random ones from being seen. Magic made it even more of a guessing game to keep the unseen a mystery.
"Jaslene is a seer who cannot be seen. Graven hunts the unseen ones down because he knows the story from someone. He hunted down your mother who had wandered off from a bodyguard. Allaysia saved her, took her home, placed her at the gate, and used her power to force a mortal to take the girl to the door.
"She couldn't enter without being escorted by someone within the coven, but a true mortal could. She wasn't too badly wounded, but Jaslene still needed a healer, and we didn’t have one.
"Once they realized that Jaslene had suffered, they began hunting for the one who had been responsible. They didn't know he was already dead. My mom had someone wash her trail, and she returned home with haste. She prayed that her scent wasn't on Jaslene. That's when she started giving us the symbolta potion. She didn't want us to be discovered. It wouldn't work on her because of the strong ties she has to the blood. She was the direct daughter of Dramus - it's hard to mask that much blood."
I could see there was something he was holding back. "There’s more, isn't there?" I asked, prompting him to continue.
"We haven't been able to save all the witches we've found. We've hunted these monsters for so long, and we've seen some pretty horrific sights. We've been searching for pennants, I guess, for our family sins. We wanted to be cleared of all the evil things Dramus had done. It was hard not being able to save them all.
"Sable, your mom's sister, had a daughter named Erica. We found her in the woods - her essence and her life were completely missing. We secretly carried the body to Iris's house so she could be given a proper burial and her parents could have closure. It was a hard time for your family. Her whereabouts were supposed to be secret, but somehow the dark followers still managed to find her. I can't help but feel as if they have inside information."
His head bowed solemnly. I moved into his strong arms that welcomed me.
"I'm glad Chris is one of the few guards you trust. Who else is there?"
I felt his smile without seeing it. "For some reason, I trust Everett. I guess it's because of how hard he worked to mask you at the coffee shop. He had to have exerted some incredible power to cover you so effectively. He's also never made any bad comments to me or any of the rest of my family. It doesn't hurt that he seems immune to your bewitching beauty as well."
I rolled my eyes. "The one guard I don't trust is the one guard you do."
He laughed. "I said I trusted Chris, too. You just don't like the fact there's one guy who isn't falling all over himself to be close to you."
I slapped him playfully, but it hurt me worse than it did him.