Lea runs his finger around the glass as he listens to Charlie's detailing of events that led Luke to such a dark time in his life.
"And you think getting a girlfriend is in his best interest?" Lea teased Charlie, taunting his decision making skills, "Cure him of his loneliness?"
"In a way, yeah," Charlie replied earnestly, "Once you arrived, I figured your master love skills could pull a victory for us."
Lea grinned back at him, "I'll help you for a price."
Charlie gulped, "What is it? Money?"
"No, no... That friend of yours... Geiney, is it? He intrigues me," Lea sips from his glass the black tea he had made himself, "Alex for starters. But he also carries this... aura about him."
"You think?" Charlie shrugged, not getting what Lea could be implying, "So you want me to introduce you guys?"
Lea smirked back at his new ally, 'That would be quite delectable," Smiling widely with a cheerful expression, Lea continued, "Now what is it about Ruby you wish to ask about? I know some things here and there about her, but you'd have a much easier time setting up my sis with the guy."
Charlie rolled his eyes, "She's the outdoorsy exercise type, right? Luke isn't much for tha-" Realizing he just name dropped his friend, Charlie cursed to himself under his breath, "Hey, forget I said anything, okay?"
"Much too late for that, my friend," Lea keeps the same smile on his lips, casually assessing the situation, "Ruby is quite physically inclined as well. Luke may want to adapt in either scenario."
"And what d-do you want with Geiney, huh?" Wanting to make up for his error, Charlie decided to push Lea back.
Lea placed his glass on the lunch table between them, "I will say that I am interested in him. Not necessarily romantically, if you intend to imply such things."
Charlie clicks his tongue, "That so? You're no stranger to me, Lea Inu. While Ruby is an enigma, you've been solved by our mutual acquaintances."
"Whatever they've told you is not true, or at least the full story. They don't know how... catty I can be," Lea swipes his hand at Charlie to amuse himself.
"What did I get myself into, exactly?" With a heavy sigh, Charlie accepts that he has indeed made a deal with what one might call a devil in his own right.
A girl walking through the school doesn't pay much attention to her surroundings as she opened the large double doors to the field, the sun beginning to set in the horizon. She was by all standards cute, a girl of average height, wavy brown hair that touched her shoulders, deep green eyes, a tight but not toned body and a hazy look in her eyes.
"Shera, what's up!?" Sherry immediately knocked her companion to the ground with a powerful jump and grab.
Ruby approached them from behind, shaking her head, "Displays of affection on school grounds are not permissible."
"Who died and made you student council president?" Sherry shot back at her friend with a smile, showing off her fangs once more.
Shera groaned under Sherry's weight, "You're too big... All this muscle hurts, you know. The wind gets ripped out from my lungs."
"Don't be so dramatic, sis," A guy appears from behind them, "I've certainly hit you harder."
The newcomer, a smirking quarterback who towers over the other girls with his cleft chin, bright blue eyes, wide smile, and uniform covered in grass stains, helped up Shera, who pushed him away once she could move her legs herself.
Sherry sighed, "Not a way to phrase that at all. Martial arts training doesn't have to sound like sibling abuse."
The guy laughed it off, "If you saw how she fights, it has to classify as that."
"Cain, what are you doing here?" Shera asked him with an angry tone, clearly displeased by his presence.
"Am I not allowed to haze my little sister and her friends?" Cain ruffled her hair forcefully, "That's like, the only perk of being a big brother."
Ruby growled at him under her breath, "Consider your perk removed. Get out of my sight."
Cain trampled the dirt underneath him as he approached the fearless girl, "Or what? Is the new girl going to talk back to the school all-star?"
"I'll do more than talk back, you ignoramus," With a quick grab, Ruby effortlessly flipped the cocky jock over her shoulder, crushing him against the ground.
As the scene played out with the girls leaving him behind, Charlie shaked his head in disapproval, "Okay, Luke's into that? Can this guy pick a normal girl to fall for?"
Lea chuckled, "Awe, that's no fun! Exciting dates make for exciting mates!"
"...What am I going to do with you?" Charlie asked in an exasperated tone.
"With me or to me?" Lea lingered on that line as he reveled in Charlie's confused and then concerned facial expressions.
Luke contemplated his plan over the day as he fed his painfully stupid orange cat and his resting bitch face Calico that, for all intents and purposes, would be Charlie's if his mom would allow it.
Stealing from Geiney could be bad; real bad. However, the growing rift between them hurt him innumerably more than anything else could. He'd been taking walks in the hopes of building up his strength and stamina to train with Geiney as he so often claimed he and his sisters were doing.
With great reluctance, he called Charlie. Charlie answered after a couple of rings, "Yeah?"
"A lacking greeting, huh?" Luke pointed out the obvious.
"I just had a trying time, okay? What is it?" Charlie cut straight to the point on this one.
Luke asked, "I have an idea to get Geiney to pay attention to us. Want to try it out the next time he's out?"
Charlie asked in a worried tone, "What are you doing?"
"A plan to get him to be around us again, that's all," Luke answered confidently. "I trust you have no problems with this."
"I... I guess not," Charlie thought about it for a few moments, "What are we doing?"
Luke smiled to himself, "A B and E."
Luz, Sara and Ailyn sat on the Couch together, facing the direction of the loveseat where their parents sat. No one spoke a word, no hospitalities were offered besides a seat on the couches. No one dared look at each other in the eyes. Ailyn was the only one who watched everyone, gauging their reactions. This was not the way she intended to meet Josh and Mia. How they found them, she didn't know. But she didn't even know what to say.
What could you say? Welcome back, my former employer? It's good to see you two again. How's the family business? I'm the one who shielded your kids from you. Your children are demon slaying machines thanks to you. No, this was not how she would've liked to have met her former employer. She sighed. She gave a quick glance around. No one still said a word. The awkward silence began feeling too heavy for her. If no one else was going to speak she might as well speak her mind.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Ailyn opened her mouth but was surprised to find that it wasn't her voice speaking. It was Sara. She held a deep intensity in her eyes.
Mia cleared her throat, "We came to find you."
"Find us?" Luz laughed and looked away. Another moment of awkward silence followed before she turned back to her parents. "Why did you come looking for us? We didn't want to be found."
Mia flinched and Ailyn snapped her heard towards Luz. She knew how Luz had felt about her parents, but for her to speak her mind to her parents was almost frightening.
"Sweetie, we—" Josh began but a cold glare from Sara stopped him in his tracks. He too cleared his throat and decided to start over, "Sara, Luz," Both sisters, too, turned their attention to their father, "We came because we needed to find you. Because we realized our children were afraid of us. We came because we didn't want to believe any of you died."
The girls turned away; they thought they wouldn't be affected by the words of their parents, but after so long, they almost believed their parents wouldn't come looking for them. If they ever had, it was to pick up their broken weapons; to try and 'fix' them. Luz turned back to her parents with some choice words.
"As you can see we're fine. We don't need you anymore," She snarled, her face belying the complicated feelings swirling in her head, "We are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves. We have no need of babysitters or sergeants. None of us are returning to your stupid training grounds of a manor or school or whatever the hell you used to call it." Luz crossed her arms, looking at the two older adults with disgust.
"The manor has been destroyed." Mia said.
The girls actually turned back to their mother, surprised. While they hated that school, they knew that the school was near impenetrable.
"Well, I'm sorry the manor's destroyed. I still don't see why you're here." Sara replied, unsympathetic to the situation.
"Because we forced our children to hate us…" Josh replied after a moment of silence.
"Fourteen years without our children made us realize how selfish we became. We found your diary shortly after you left." Mia turned to Sara who only looked away. She remembered that diary well. Inside, she wrote that she was defending her sister against two monsters, their mom and dad. Every night she would write about a spell she cast on themselves so that the monsters wouldn't hurt them. These monsters would summon demons to attack them and she would have to help her sister fight against them. She remembered it well.
"You called us the monsters who summoned demons to get you." Josh said.
Mia sniffled, "If we had known how bad we were scaring you, we wouldn't have done this to you. My god, we were the worst parents in the world. We... are so sorry." She could feel her strength fading. The sisters looked at each other, not knowing how to proceed.
Ailyn stepped up, "Mia, Josh... I'm sorry to ask at such a tense moment, but it needs asking. What could have destroyed the manor?"
"A band of demons who call themselves Demon Fists of Distant Hells." Ailyn flinched and Josh noticed it. "They attacked during a full lunar eclipse using weapons. But with all magic down for that short time, we had to defend against them with our weapons. We had just enough time to hold our positions before our students fled. We were only fifty against what appeared to be a couple hundred demons. Many were slaughtered, but they pushed us against a wall. After the eclipse, all our defenses, protections, traps, everything just ceased to function. Mia and myself cast one last spell with the Diamond of our ancestors. It somehow broke the crystal, but it wiped out the remaining attackers. But, by the time the spell finished... Our manor, our work, and our school was destroyed."
"We fled shortly after, lost and confused. With nothing left, we decided to look for the only thing we had that remained. That wasn't destroyed. Our children." Mia narrated for her husband.
Continuing on from where Mia left off, Josh continued, "We spent another ten years looking for you outside the manor. We found out you were here in California, so we came to find you. It was an uphill battle. But then last month, your cloak was lifted and we found you here nearby. It wasn't until today that we realized whose house this was." She lightly chuckled as she continued staring at her wonderful, sweet daughters. Her little girls who had somehow grown into beautiful women. "Who knew that our destinies would be to meet tonight?"
No one said a thing. Neither Luz or Sara shed a tear for their parents.
Luz was the first to speak, "Why did you make us go through all that training?"
"We thought it would make you stronger. We can see now that we were wrong." Josh tried to reason out it to them both.
Sara's voice broke, "Why… why did we have to go through with that?"
A moment of silence passed between them, Ailyn looked away, struggling to remain calm. Josh was unsure if he should continue. But the cold glare Sara was giving him meant that she wanted her answers. He sighed, "Because you three were supposed to become a triangle. A force not to be reckoned with. The triangle for witches means a strong unity, one that is hard to destroy. Just like a stool that has three legs, and can support a lot of weight, so does the triangle."
"So you never wanted children; you just wanted a weapon!" Sara retorted.
Mia's eyes watered. Josh looked away. They couldn't bear to look at their children anymore. But they couldn't blame their children either. Yes, they wanted a triangle in their family. Yes, they wanted them to be fit as a weapon. And yes, they were overzealous, training their children like the military.
"Yes, that was what we once thought. But, no more. You three mean so much to us. We were desperate to just get one, just ONE chance to see you again!" Mia cried out in apparent pain, "I... had to know you were alright. That, had I died in that manor attack, you would have been... okay..." Mia struggled as she smiled, tears running down her face. A smile Luz couldn't ever remember on her mother's face, like a painting out of place.
Sara yelled, "Why!? Because you care!? Or maybe you just wanted to know your tools worked when applied to a real life situation!"
Noticing her sister's outburst, Luz requested, "Please restrain your feelings, Sara. Nothing will be gained by screaming at them!"
"And bite my tongue for another decade or two!?" Sara lashes out, "You let them do that to us for how long!? You were supposed to be the mature one... So why didn't you speak up before we had to leave if you cared so much!?"
"What could I say!? They never listened to my complaints!" Luz replied in a distressed tone, "And you were stubborn as a kid, too! Something you've yet to grow out of!"
Sara gripped the side of her seat until her knuckles whitened, "What!?"
Luz fell back in her chair, "You choose to do things your own way and never let up, either. Geiney can't even spend time with his friends because of how often we drag him off to train. When did being a witch mean you can't be young? Because if our parents failed to understand that, you've learned nothing of balance, either."
"Girls, please, don't argue!" Mia stole their attention, "Please... If you must detest anyone, hate us. Not each other. If the only good thing..." Mia wipes her tears away, "If all we could give was your siblings... Please, don't fight..."
Sara felt her eyes sting, "You have no right to come into our lives like this!" She jumped up from her chair, "Just when I feel it won't hurt anymore, you tear those wounds fresh!"
Ailyn tried to speak up, "Sara... You..."
"I'm not a machine... I'm not heartless!" Sara turned on Luz, "You think it only hurts you to leave!? That you're the only one clinging to dead relationships!?"
Luz's heart stopped beating in that moment as her eyes flooded and she struggled to remain in the chair, no words coming out.
Sara faced Ailyn, "Why did you even suggest... talking to them!? It only hurts us, Ailyn! Is being a Whitelighter detaching you from how we feel!?"
"Calm yourself, Sara," Ailyn harshly cut her off, "Before you say something you can't undo."
Silence fell over the five as Sara restrained herself from saying more, practically collapsing back into her chair. A few minutes passed as they all regained their composure to some degree.
"Were not asking much. We don't want anything from you; just a second chance at a family is all." Josh spoke softly, breaking the tense silence. None of the girls said anything at all. They mulled it over in their minds, each girl running through a hundred scenarios.
A second chance? Luz thought about it. Could their parents be telling them the truth? After years of thinking of their parents as nothing but monsters, she didn't know how to respond. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to be with their parents just yet.
"I don't know… It'll take some time for us to get over what we think of you…" Luz admitted.
Sara didn't say anything. She only had her arms crossed over her chest, not looking at her parents. She looked rather thoughtful, but offered no words to express how she felt.
"That's okay. Take your time… We know forgiving takes time." Josh said.
"Forgiving? I don't know if I can." Sara admitted. This stopped everything that was going on in the room. Again, silence. The ticking of the clock seemed to endlessly tick away while the room seemed to freeze through time.
"Josh, Mia. The girls don't know how to react. All of this is happening at once, it may be best to leave them to think alone for a while." Ailyn put in, trying to dissipate the awkward silence in the air.
"Of course. If you ever want to talk to see us, we will be living under this address." Mia quickly wrote down their address and placed it on the table. Mia stood up, and when no one else stood up, Josh directed them to the front door. Once the door closed, the awkwardness seemed to melt away if only a little.
Meanwhile, in another room in the house, the awkward silence in the room was so thick it could be cut with a butter knife. Or at least that's what Geiney thought. The only thing they could hear besides the deafening silence was the ticking of the clock on the wall and the occasional clinking of a spoon in a cup. After the demonic vanquish, Geiney was forced to explain to Officer Robert who they were after witnessing him kill a demon. God, why him?
Geiney took Robert to the kitchen and made him some of his favorite tea and a cup for himself too. The last thing Robert had said to Geiney was a thank you, and then about five minutes of silence. Or was it an hour? Geiney couldn't tell anymore. He kept trying to talk to Robert but every time he locked eyes with the man, he turned away.
Robert never took his eyes off Geiney. They stared at him as if he were some specimen of sorts. In a way, Robert couldn't tell if Geiney was friend or foe. His heart told him he was while his mind said otherwise. His instincts told him he was dangerous, yet he couldn't think of what to do in this situation.
Geiney took a sip and swore the whole house could hear it. He saw Robert continue to stare with a deadpan expression and he turned away feeling a blush creeping on his cheeks. This was the most awkward it could get. This couldn't get any more awkward if he tried.
"So," Robert croaked, startling Geiney, "How the hell did you make that man disappear?"
Okay, so it's a good start… but why did it have to be him who was answering the questions? Oh yeah, he vanquished a demon in front of Robert… good punishment.
"I vanquished him."
"Vanquished?"
"Yes, when demons die, they are vanquished and sent to a spiritual place where it is believed they are to be reincarnated as humans. Or something like that."
"Uh huh…" Another too long for comfort pause, "What are you?"
"We're uh… um—witches sir. Real life witches."
Robert gave a small chuckle, "If you're a witch, then I'm a unicorn."
"No, if you were a unicorn you probably wouldn't be able to shapeshift into the human form you are. While Unicorns are pure magic, they retain their stallion like form. Only the leader can use its magic offensively to protect its herd and even then they can't shapeshift." His response was immediate, almost as if he were responding in second nature. He took a sip and paused once he saw Robert's eyes wide open like a saucer.
"I mean…" He trailed off, not knowing what to do or say now.
"So these demons, you called them?" Geiney nodded, "What are they? Are they human? What do they want?"
"Demons are agents of the underworld that want to bring chaos and destruction to the world. They too have magic and use it to spread evil everywhere we go. We, as witches, fight to stop this evil from spreading. We have magic to counter theirs and help bring peace to this world."
"And you vanquished this demon because he wanted to spread evil?"
Geiney began to answer, but he thought he noticed a pair of eyes through the kitchen window. Checking again, he didn't see anything.
"Kind of. We already vanquished him once a while ago. His name is Jeremy, and he made it a point to tell us that he wanted to kill us for our powers. He didn't do a good job the first time and even less the second time around."
"Your powers?"
"Oh right. Each one of us has unique powers. Mine is Aerokinesis, means that I can control wind. I can use wind balls offensively and my wind shield protects from me from certain demonic attacks. Luz has Telekinesis; she can move things with her mind. She uses her hands as a guide; otherwise this house is flipped upside down. And trust me I cleaned up that mess last time and it was not fun. Sara has Suggestion, which is like mind control. She can tell you something and you have to do it no matter how ridiculous it is. It comes in handy especially when we need information. More efficient than even truth serum that police use." He realized who he was talking to, "No offence, Robert." He added quickly and looked away taking a long and audible sip.
They didn't say anything else. They sat in somewhat calm, awkward silence. At least it wasn't as awkward as before. Geiney took several sips, until his cup was empty. Now what?
"Are you good or evil?"
"Good, Robert. We fight to protect the innocent. We don't use our powers for our personal gain. That's actually against the rules."
Another silence. Robert looked like he was thinking something over. Geiney didn't like the faces he made. It made his heart race as if he was about to be disowned.
"How can I trust you?"
"Robert. We are the same people you met all those years ago. We aren't two faced. We show you our true selves. I mean, now we show you our true selves, but that's not the point here. My point is... I'm still Geiney and my sisters are still Luz and Sara. The same people you talk to every other day. The only thing that's changed is you now know our family secret."
"What about Ailyn? You haven't talked about her yet."
"Oh yeah! She's our guardian angel. Literally! She's what we call a Whitelighter. They are meant to be guides and messengers for good witches. They help us, teach us, protect us, and heal us. Ailyn has many powers but her main ones are healing, orbing...Er, a fancy name for teleportation. And she can sense us. She can tell if we are in danger or are greatly distressed."
"Now there's a guardian angel?"
"Yep. She's healed me quite a few times. Do you remember when I fell off a tree? Sara said I fell on a bed of leaves we had just raked but I actually broke my leg. Ailyn healed me up in less than a minute. I was back to my old self in seconds!"
Robert groaned, "This is all too much. And no one thought to tell me?"
Geiney shrugged, "How could we? We were afraid of what you would do. Think about it. If my sisters told you they were witches would you have put them in a mental hospital?"
"Well… no."
"I would." That earned him a hard glare from Robert, "I was joking."
"Wait, do demons come after you?"
"Just recently they have been. After Luz lost her boyfriend we were cloaked by the Elders, Ailyn's bosses."
"So I could've been in danger this whole time?"
Geiney shrugged, "I thought you'd be used to it."
"Touché."
"What are you thinking?"
"I don't really know. I guess I just need some time."
Geiney nodded, "It is a lot to take in. But it's really cool to be a witch."
"And why is that?"
"We protect the innocent. Just like you. You protect those who can't protect themselves. And we protect the same people, only on a much bigger scale and of a bigger threat."
Robert thought on it and stayed silent. This time it was a more comfortable silence.
"Thank you."
Geiney was taken aback, "For what?"
"For telling me the truth." Robert stood up, "I must be going. I'll come again sometime soon."
Geiney felt a little put off by his reaction; it was almost emotionless and hard to read. He just hoped that Robert wouldn't tell anyone about their secret. He hoped that Robert understood and wouldn't shun them. Still, his fear lingered, not wanting to go away. But that was normal when you were a witch in the shadows. Right?
"So what were my parents like!?" Geiney asked; he had jumped on the couch and his body was slightly leaned forward. His eyes reflected his starstruck attitude, "Why were they here? What were they doing here? Did they see my vanquish?" He stopped his torrent of questions when Luz called out his name.
"Our parents were different, from the last time we saw them. They somehow changed," Her discouraged attitude went unbeknownst to Geiney who was almost vibrating with unexpected energy, "They were here because they were looking for us. They even gave us an address where they are now."
"Oh, my god! They were looking for us? I can't believe it!" Geiney, in his own world, failed to notice the frowns or disheartened looks his sisters wore.
Sara turned to her sister, and shook her head. They mentioned the grueling tutelage their parents had over the girls and sometimes told stories to Geiney of what it was like at their parent's home. Geiney never understood how their parents were to them. He never got to see them, and therefore his image of his parents were more cordial than his sisters.
"I wanna go see them! Where are they?" Geiney stood up rapidly and Sara stepped in and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Geiney, we're not going to see them." She said softly.
"Why not?" Geiney asked.
"Our parents were here because they thought there were innocent people in this house, and had no idea we were here. They came looking for us yes, but after what they did to us, we don't want to see them."
Geiney looked down at his feet, "But I want to see them." He said dejectedly. Ailyn looked away, as their Whitelighter felt his pain. He admired his parents, especially after hearing stories of some of their adventures, not tainted by the fact that they trained their children to be demon slayers. She turned back to Luz but she too was looking away. She didn't want Geiney to see their parents either.
Or perhaps more accurately, they weren't so sure if he should see their parents. Everything had happened so fast that even she didn't know what to do. But what could she do?
"I think the Tyke should see his parents." Ailyn finally said. Everyone stared at her.
"You can't be serious…" Luz said.
"I am. Look, believe what you want. But your parents came here to sincerely apologize to you two for what they did to you. They're not expecting you guys to become part of their family again this quickly. But you can't shut Geiney out just because you two have anger against your parents."
"So they could take Geiney away from us? Forget it, Ailyn. He's staying here." Luz replied bitterly.
"You can't decide that for me!" The boy argued.
"We can and we have!" Sara retorted, "Ailyn, this is our decision. Not yours. I don't care what they said! They have no right to come back into our lives after that. If you don't like that, then that's too bad. Geiney stays here end of story."
Geiney scoffed audibly and fled to his room.
"That wasn't right, girls." Ailyn spoke after watching Geiney ascend the stairs.
"Then you can leave. We're done here." Sara spoke harshly, surprising Luz and Ailyn. Ailyn rolled her eyes and orbed out with her arms crossed over her breasts.
"No, I'm sorry, Alice. I can't go right now." Geiney spoke over the phone.
"Why not?" She inquired.
"Let's just say something happened and I won't be able to go."
She sighed heavily on the phone and changed her approach, "Fine. Be that way. I wanted to invite you over to hang out, but I guess that's fine if you don't wanna hang out with your friends."
"It's not that. It's just—My parents found us and came to see us."
Hello! That is some good gossip! Alice sat up straight faster than one could blink. "Your parents? I thought they abandoned you guys. What makes them want to see you all right now?"
"I don't know, I was—" Geiney paused, trying to think of an excuse, "In my room at the time. I never heard them until I went downstairs and saw my parents leaving." It wasn't perfect but it was the only excuse he could think of.
"I see. So what did your parents say?"
"That's the thing. I only knew they were my parents after my sisters told me. I wanted to go see them but they told me I'm not allowed. Can you believe it? What makes them think they can stop me from wanting to meet my own parents?" He let his anger out and Alice held the phone protectively on the side of her face, as if she were giving her crush a hug.
"Then go. Find your parents. Let them know you want to meet them, to know who they are."
"That is not a—" He stopped mid sentence and smiled mischievously, "That is a great idea! Thank you, Alice! You are a great friend. I can't believe I didn't think about that before. I gotta go, I'll see you later!"
Alice bid him farewell before she twirled and jumped onto the bed. She loved it when she gave him great ideas. Her eyes opened wide; she had told Luke to bring Charlie over so they could hang out together, but now she would have to cancel.
She quickly scanned her contacts until she found his phone number and called his house number. On the eighth ring he finally picked up.
"Took you long enough." Alice berated him.
He rolled his eyes, "What is it?"
"I'm gonna have to cancel. Geiney is gonna be out of the house tonight. His parents are in town and he wanted to go see them." Luke's body suddenly filled with energy, as he realized he could enact his plan sooner rather than later, "I know you really wanted to hang out tonight."
"Oh, it's no issue. I have something else to do right now anyways. I wasn't sure if I was gonna make it or not." He lied, trying to control his breathing as his excitement was making his body twitch.
"Okay. I'm really sorry Luke, maybe next time."
"It's okay. I'll talk to you later."
She nodded, "Talk to you later. Bye."
Luke hung up the phone and raced to his computer, video calling Charlie. On the fourth chime Charlie picked up.
"Are we heading to Alice's house now?"
"No, she canceled because Geiney had to go see his parents."
"I thought he didn't have parents."
"That's not why I called you," His excitement was now completely showing, "It's time… for the B and E."
This was much more exciting that Geiney thought it was going to be. Not having done something like sneaking around before, his whole body tingled with mischievous excitement. He had dressed himself in completely black clothing, almost looking like a ninja. His sisters had just left for the kitchen; he made sure they were inside the kitchen before looking around.
His sisters had to have left the address somewhere in the living room where their meeting with his parents took place. He found the address on the glass TV console. He swiped it and snuck back to his hiding place; behind the couch next to the first entrance to the living room by the stairs.
"Do you think we did the right thing?" Luz asked her sister, starting a conversation in the kitchen.
"I think we did. Our parents wanted weapons for children. Weapons don't have emotions attached to their parents." Sara replied simply. Geiney rolled his eyes and snuck back towards the stairs. Halfway up the stairs he heard the conversation continue.
"Do you believe them? That they want to be a family again? I mean, why now? Why not all those years ago?" Luz continued.
"You heard them. They wanted a weapon. They didn't care about their children enough to actually love them." Sara replied rather harshly, "I don't know, Luz. I don't believe that's what they came here for. I just think they were here to see if they still had a weapon."
"But the look on their face though… Okay, so what if they did come here to be a family. What then?"
"Then they can spend ten more years without us."
There was a moment of silence. Geiney listened in; was that actually their parents? He knew only a little of their parents training. He knew it wasn't good but he didn't know it was that bad.
Luz and Sara told Geiney some of the terrors they faced and only gave Geiney a cliffnotes version of what they went through. Ailyn had insisted they they not tell Geiney of what their parents had done to them. When asked why, Ailyn wanted Geiney to have an unbiased opinion of their parents. While Luz and Sara argued with Ailyn about it, they finally gave in and followed Ailyn's instructions.
Geiney scoffed and finished sneaking up the rest of the stairway. With address in hand he had to find a way out of the house. He couldn't use the front door, and the back door might give his position away with the loud squeaky screen door. Out the window! He opened his window and looked around.
His escape was going to be a bit tricky. From the window pane he could hang by his arms and then kick off and reach for the wired fence separating the front yard and the backyard. If he could do that, he could climb down the rest of the way and find his lost parents.
Okay, maybe his plan was scarier than he thought it was going to be. He hung from the window pane, with his feet against the wall. He hesitated jumping as it seemed that the distance was getting longer and longer. He took a few deep breaths. He had to jump; there was no other way to safely reach the ground.
One… two… three! He jumped and reached the wire fence. He landed like a monkey, his arms grabbed the top of the fence and his feet caught on one of the openings. He sighed in relief as he started climbing down. Once he reached the bottom, he stayed silent, waiting for his sisters to come barging out the front door. When no one came out he gave a light chuckle and took the address out of his pocket. He realized that their house was just a few blocks away, and he could get there easily on foot.
He opened the gate and looked around. No one was watching him. He raced to the white colored vinyl fence and climbed over it. The sun had gone down and it was night out. The only lights were the light posts on his neighborhood every few houses and the lights illuminating from the neighborhood. He took the yards and hid in their shadows. He was going to meet his parents no matter what.
"I am one hundred percent sure Geiney is nowhere in this house!" Luz cried as they raced down the stairs and into the living room with Sara and Ailyn in tow.
"Where do you think he could've gone?" Sara asked.
"One guess. Our parents' house. He took the address." She said and pointed to an empty spot on the glass TV panel.
"He wouldn't!" Sara gasped.
"You guys did push him that far." Ailyn said, checking her fingernails.
"Ailyn, you're not helping!" Luz complained.
"I was. Until you sent him to his room."
Luz groaned. "Come on, let's go. We know where he is."
Geiney laughed. He had a soda secured in his hand and the other was covering his mouth. His parents had told him a funny story about Mia when she accidentally blew their kitchen up after mistaking a potion ingredient.
"That is why I always double check my potion ingredients now."
"That must have been awful." Geiney laughed.
"The cleanup was horrible!" She confirmed.
"She learned her lesson though." Josh lightly elbowed his wife who rolled her eyes.
"As if you were any better." She commented.
They heard a door open and turned to the hallway where three women showed up. Geiney all of a sudden felt small and looked away, embarrassed to have been caught.
"Geiney, let's go." Sara ordered.
"Now, girls." Josh said.
"No, Geiney disobeyed us. He is living with us. Not with you. And he snuck out," Luz turned to the boy, "You are so grounded when we get home."
"He came because he wanted to know who we are. He only ran away because you forced him to run away. Kind of like we forced you to run away." Josh replied sharply. Maybe the two parents deserved their scorn, but the hypocrisy with which they treated Geiney with made him livid. Perhaps he didn't want to see the mistakes he made replicated. The room suddenly went silent. It was as if the sisters were kicked in the gut. They realized it was the truth. The girls disobeyed their parents to run away from them because they didn't like being there. Now Geiney did the same thing.
"Girls," Mia started, speaking softly, almost in a motherly tone, "Don't make the same mistakes we made. Geiney told us how you didn't want him to see us. We don't blame you, but we're also not the same people we were all those years ago. Please believe us when we say we're sorry. We wanted to see our little boy too. And god, you all have grown up so much." Tears glistened in her eyes.
Ailyn leaned up against the wall. She didn't dare say anything. She watched the sisters and with a realization she realized what one of Wong's images meant. The perfectly cut polished diamond, broken in four pieces. One piece was bigger than the others, but the other three pieces were about the same size.
The image was talking about the Cuentas family. One piece bigger than the other meant Josh and Mia while the other three were their children. The three pieces of the diamond were the same size. This seemed to be true. So that's what it meant.' She thought to herself remembering another image of two people chasing after pieces of bright diamonds .
"We're sorry for being such horrible parents. We're sorry we were never there when you needed us. We're sorry we missed you grow up." Mia spoke so softly it was almost a whisper.
Luz wiped her eyes. Sara's tears had finally fallen. Josh stood behind Mia when she held her arms out. Geiney walked up to her and embraced her. Mia sobbed softly onto his head. The girls whimpered… Were these actually their parents?
Mia gave Geiney a big, strong hug, feeling Geiney's body for the first time since he was a baby. Josh's eyes glazed over as he tried hard not to cry. He would not dare show it. After Geiney was let go, he hugged his father. It didn't work; his tears trailed down.
Ailyn smiled when Luz hesitantly walked up to Mia and finally embraced her.
"Mom…" Mia whimpered. To hear her daughter call her mom was overwhelming. It had been so long since she heard that word. In their training they didn't refer to their parents as "mom and dad", but by "Sir and Ma'am".
"Dad…" Luz hugged her father. He too gave her a big embrace.
"My sweet little girl…" He shuddered, trying to keep himself from sobbing as he held his now grown daughter.
Sara let out a small sob, as she slowly walked up to her mom. Why was she going towards her? Wasn't she mad at her? And her father? Then why was she heading towards her mother's comforting arms… Comfort…
Her flushing body slid into her mother's arms nicely, as if she belonged there. Her mother radiated nothing but warmth and more tears were shed. She heard a wail but she didn't know if it had come from her or someone in the room. Comfort.
Sara didn't even know how long she stayed there but when she released her mother, her father beckoned her over. His tear-streaked, happy smile filled his features and she too embraced him with that same hunger… The need to be hugged by her parents. That feeling she didn't know she missed… Forgiveness…
When they had all calmed down, their parents couldn't stop embracing them. They too had missed their children greatly. Mia held Geiney's face in her hands telling him he had grown so handsome. Josh told Sara how much of a beautiful and strong woman she had become. Mia held Luz's hands and told her how beautiful she was, how she took after her grandmother.
"Ailyn, thank you for taking care of them," Mia walked up to her former messenger, "I know it must have been hard for you to do your Whitelighter duties and be a mother to these three. For that, I thank you. You seem to have raised three intelligent, handsome, brave, and courageous siblings." She clasped Ailyn on the shoulder and leaned in to embrace Ailyn.
Ailyn welcomed the embrace. She felt Mia shudder from crying. It was a wonderful feeling to have three lost children rejoin with their parents. This was the first step, but she knew that the girls were independent, only relying on themselves. It would be difficult to introduce their parents to that equation. But she would worry about it later. For now, she would join in the reunion with the siblings' parents and her former bosses.
She wanted to have the children tell their parents so far what they had been through, what they have seen and experienced. She directed them back to the couch and started to lead the conversation.
"Josh, Mia. Since they left, your children have succeeded in proving they can achieve anything they want. Luz, for example, has studied for a long time to become a nurse. She currently works in a doctor's office and is still trying to achieve her doctorate."
Mia turned to Luz, stunned at her achievement. She smiled at her, "You always did want to help other people." She reminded her.
"And Sara here has studied arts to become a film and photography editor at an advertisement company in town. The ambitious girl eventually wants to direct her own movie."
Sara turned away, slightly embarrassed at how childish Ailyn made it sound. Josh chuckled, grasping a memory of Sara. "She always did like to act and set up scenery in her room." Sara cleared her throat, becoming redder.
"And Geiney here is trying," She stressed, slightly glaring at him, "to learn computers. Except he doesn't read any of the books he buys."
He pouted, trying to defend himself, "I will someday!"
Mia watched her three grown children, hiding her regret with happiness. "You three make us so proud. I couldn't have asked for better." Mia said.
Josh turned to Ailyn, "I can guess you made full Whitelighter?"
Ailyn smiled, "Yes. Actually the Elders berated me for taking the children in. They thought it would interfere with my duties as a Whitelighter. But I think I proved them wrong. It was a hard road, one that at times I wanted to give up. But every time I wanted to, I saw the beauty that the children showed. Their ambitions, their hopes and dreams. And I knew that I couldn't stop. I had to keep going."
Mia slightly chuckled at a random memory that popped up in her head, "I remember the Elders told you to become more pacifistic. That was one of the reasons they sent you to work for us; for you to learn how to defend and never fight. How well did that go?"
Ailyn turned away, hiding her face and Luz laughed, "She vanquishes demons every other day. She's almost a better witch than a Whitelighter."
Ailyn glared, "I never was the type to just stand and watch someone get hurt, okay?" She defended herself.
"Oh, Mom, Dad! Let me tell how about how I got my powers!" Geiney exclaimed, he was always excited about telling the story to other witches.
"So I was five years old when I knew I could control wind. Me and my sisters were in the park with Ailyn…"
With Geiney telling the story, Ailyn sat back on the couch with her arms crossed over her breasts. It gave her a moment to think seeing as Geiney's stories ran rather long. Now that everything was under control her mind addressed the one question that kept bugging her; how did Jeremy become un-vanquished.
She knew that once a demon, or angel or other magical beings, when vanquished will be "recycled". In a way it's almost like reincarnation. According to the Elders, when a demon is vanquished they are reincarnated as humans, just regular people. It was meant to keep a balance of good and evil. To wipe the slate clean.
But was there a way to un-vanquish a demon once they're vanquished? If there was, it would have to be someone really powerful. Maybe the Source? Or maybe a king of hell? Or an ancient, a being so powerful they were kept imprisoned in the underworld, kind of like the Titans and Tartarus in Greek mythology.
But, then that question comes up; who un-vanquished Jeremy? And for what purpose? Nothing today made any sense to Ailyn. First Jeremy is un-vanquished, then Josh and Mia find them and THEN Officer Robert finds out who they truly were… Ailyn felt like screaming. Why did everything happen all at once?
All at once… This had to have been planned. Someone sent Jeremy to attack the siblings and in this case found Geiney alone. And Josh and Mia scried the map for demonic activity. Maybe it was a coincidence that they found their children. But how did Officer Robert fit into this? How did he know Geiney was in trouble? He burst through the front door knowing Geiney was in danger. But who told him?
Who… What… Why… How… These questions kept repeating over and over in her head. She jumped, a little startled when everyone laughed at Geiney's story. She would have to talk to Josh and Mia about this, but for now she would just let them talk with their children. Perhaps this was what the girls wanted in the first place. Just talking. And now that Geiney was able to meet his parents, the scene that played out felt just right. Ailyn let the questions ring out softly in the back of her mind. She didn't want to disrupt the scene playing out in front of her. She found her former bosses and the parents to the children she raised by herself. She felt as if her mission was complete… for now.
