Chapter 2

Perhaps now is a good time to really introduce the Loonakids' siblings.

Gabby Coyote had just recently turned 6. She was getting smarter daily and looked a lot like her mom. She had the same fur color, same green eyes…different powers, though.

TJ was a lot like his dad. Same fur, same hazel-tinted green eyes…different powers again. He was very smart, too, but easily excited or scared, so Buddy tended to pull pranks on him (I'll get to Buddy in a second).

Polly was the only coyote who had fur and hair, being a blonde with her dad's same fur color. She had her mom's eyes, though, and she was very powerful and strong-willed for her age.

Buddy Bunny was going to be 6 in a few months, but was only 5-and-three-quarters at the moment. He had the same silver and white fur as his brothers and father and same emerald eyes as his mom, but still different powers. He was a bit of a practical joker. The one thing that will set him off is if someone takes his hat. He was always wearing his dad's old baseball cap, backwards so that his ears point down, and he didn't like it when anybody besides his dad and himself messed with it.

Penny had her mom's fur (only slightly darker) and her dad's sapphire eyes. She was slightly taller than Buddy for some reason and loved to take his cap off and put it in places he couldn't reach so that their mom had to come along and give it back. She had a ribbon (just like her mom's except lavender instead of green) wrapped around her ears, but she wore it not only so that it held her ears slightly tilted to the left but also in a bow instead of a knot.

Oliver did have the same fur and eyes as his dad, but he had the same kind of attitude as his mom. He liked hanging out with his family and friends and enjoyed their company, but he wasn't so happy when his two eldest sisters and oldest brother had to leave to go on some crazy mission.

Virginia will never let go of her inner child. She loved to draw and paint and such and she had a power to make her work move, but she didn't get to really use the fun ones anymore, because her power would sometimes cause bad things to happen. She had the same fur and eyes as her mom and really enjoyed hanging out with Penny, the two sisters being very close, but she was the shortest of all of the kids and didn't really get to have much fun with Buddy like Penny did.

Dakota Duck wasn't much like her brother and father. She wasn't shallow and self-absorbed. She was more like her mother, with a short temper and an attitude of getting what she wanted. She was still a duck with black feathers, but she had her mother's eyes and her mother's blonde hair.

Last, but not least (I'm not certain who is least), was Rebekka Runner. She had light blue feathers, like her dad's mom, and violet eyes, and no one knew where she got them from. She had shoulder-length brown hair, like her mom (except her mom's hair reached down to her elbows, not her shoulders) and was very hyper half the time, like her dad, except not as fast and high-energy.

Anyway, Ryan was curious as to where Kelly was and went out to look for her. He eventually came to the place where Austin had disappeared three years before. Maybe…no, why would she wait until now? Then again…what did she see this morning? Ryan snuck in. He went down a hall and found a small door. He went through it and looked around. He saw something. It was blocked by a bunch of trees. He went to the trees and pushed back a couple branches. No way… Kelly and Austin were kissing and her vision had come true. Ryan ran back home.

Kelly pulled away. "Wait, we can't. I had a vision that someone might see us."

"And you waited until now to tell me?" Austin asked.

"Sorry, I was caught up in having you back and I—Oh, forget this." She kissed him again.

Later…

Kelly came into the living room to find the rest of the group assembled there. "Is this something about me?"

"No, no…yeah," Sophie said.

"Alright, what happened now?" Kelly asked, sitting down next to her dad.

"We know you brought Austin back," Daniella answered.

"Who followed me?"

"It was Ryan!" Sarah and Michael both answered without hesitation, pointing at their brother.

"What happened to 'one for all'?" Ryan demanded.

"And all for one," Sarah corrected.

"Look, the problem is not me, it's the fact that our sister is harboring a vicious killer!" Kelly gave her brother a look. "I…forgot that you were there?"

"Nice try, it's not working," Kelly sneered.

"Well, you gotta admit he has a point," Lucy said, "Last time he was around here, he tried to kill us all!"

"Which I am never gonna let happen again!" Kelly stood up. "He's better now."

"Better for how long exactly?" Jack stood up, too. "Did you think about that?"

"What is this, some sort of intervention?" Kelly asked.

"Well, that was what we were going for, but—" Wendy started.

"Look, I was going to tell you as soon as I got back this morning, but I was afraid of how you were gonna take it and decided to wait—"

"Until what?" Duck stood up this time. "Until he goes all psycho again and actually succeeds in killing someone next time you give him a happy?"

Sophie covered Gabby and TJ's ears. "You want to keep the death talk away from the children?"

"Look, I was wrong, OK?" Kelly practically yelled, "Do you want it in writing?"

"Well…" Jack started.

"That's it, I'm out of here." Kelly started to walk to the hall.

Sarah got up and followed her sister. "Look, I think that when it comes to Austin you can't see straight, so this time we intend to help as much as we can to—"

"Austin was cured when I killed him, OK?!" Kelly yelled. And everyone went into shock. Kelly just turned her back on them and went over to the hall.

"Aha!" Archer, the family beagle, jumped onto the table. "Even you knew he couldn't be good!"

Kelly whipped around, now in Vampire form. "Back off!"

Archer jumped into Sophie's lap. "OK!"

Kelly turned back around, reverted to normal, and left.

"The spell worked?" Sarah asked after a moment of stunned silence. She turned back to her family. "How come she didn't tell us?"

Tech didn't wait for an answer. He got up and followed his eldest daughter.

"OK, am I out of the loop here or something?" Sophie asked, "Is this some sort of father-daughter thing?"

"Or respect of privacy?" Nadine suggested. Everyone looked at her. "No, that's not it."

In her room, Kelly kicked her bed. "Ow!" She started jumping up and down, holding onto her foot.

Tech came in. "Is this a private thing?"

Kelly looked at him. "I just…" She put her foot down. "I missed him."

"I know." Tech closed the door and sat down. Kelly sat down next to him. "I know I never liked him but if you're willing to take a risk like that, I guess I'll have to get used to it."

Kelly smiled. "I…he changed."

"Huh?"

"He was changed when he fell to the demon realm. At first, he was just different in that…he was dark and monstrous and…but it's still him. He's still back. And he can't lose his soul now. And since this didn't come about at the beginning of his changes, we don't have to worry about the full moon cycle thing like I had to."

"What are you talking about?"

She looked at him, still smiling but now tearing up as well. "I saw him. Walking through sunlight. He didn't burst, it was more…more like me. He's a Halfling now."

Tech blinked in shock. That was news he hadn't expected. "Well…how do we know the spell's gonna hold up?"

"It's not a spell, it's…it's him. He's…like me now. Wolfe is out of him, he got rid of him somehow."

"We don't know that. If he came back as dark as you say, who's to say nothing else has changed?"

Even later…

Kelly and Austin fell on the bed in the old building.

"You sure this is safe?" Austin asked her.

"I don't know, but just trust me on this." Kelly kissed him.