"Have me back? What is she talking about?" Eli looked between Otto and Lenora.
Otto looked up at his wife and took her hand, "VVell...zere's no point in hiding it now, Zaubermaus."
Tears welled in Lenora's eyes as she nodded and looked down at Eli, "Eli...Maranda wasn't your mother...I-I am. She..."
"She kidnaped me," Eli said bluntly, "She kidnaped me and said she would take me away forever if you didn't do what she said."
Lenora shook her head, tears spilling over, "She didn't kidnap you. I-I gave you to her."
Otto furrowed his eyebrows and lowered his voice, "You did not. Lenora, VVe have talked about zis. You never gave Elijah to Maranda. You left him zere to keep him safe. She refused to give him back."
Eli dashed forward and clung to his mother, "I knew it! I knew you didn't just give me up! I knew it! Didn't I say so, Steve!"
Steve gave his best friend a thumbs up, "Yeah you did, Pepperbudy!"
"But, zere is somezing I vvant to know," Otto looked down at Eli, hand on his shoulder, "How did you know vvhat Maranda said? About making sure VVe never saw you again?"
"I heard her," Eli turnedhis head to face him but kept his cheek pressed against Lenora's chest, "You came to ask if I could stay over. She mocked the way you talk. Your accent."
Otto chuckled but Lenora frowned.
"You didn't tell me that part."
Otto kissed Eli's forehead, "It vvasn't important."
"Wait," Mary stepped forward, "Does this mean that Eli gets to come home?"
"And stay this time?" Toby added.
Lenora couldn't speak. She smiled and nodded. Toby and Mary cheered and tackled their brother.
Humans began to creep out of their hiding places. The Trollhunters looked around with growing anxiety.
"III think I have a few phone calls to make," Walt pulled Barbara and Jim closer.
Morgana bit her lip and waved her hand. A shattered window repaired itself. Karl and Lawrence exchanged a look before approaching Bular and Arrrgh. Students began pushing threw the growing crowd to their teachers and classmates.
"TB!" Darcy hugged her boyfriend and gave him a quick kiss.
Seamus Johnson broke away from his father and lifted Mary into a hug, "Holy shit! You're alive! I thought that wave killed you!"
Mary blinked.
Seamus dropped her and lept back, "I mean...glad you're not dead..."
He scrambled away to the laughter of people gathered.
"Did I miss something?" Lenora asked her daughter.
"I don't think so..."Mary shrugged.
"You all should head home," Walt looked over his family, "I'm going to stay here and clear some things up."
Barbara shook her head, "I have to get back to the hospital. I just came here to make sure everything was alright. Jim, sweety-"
"I'm going to take the cradelstone home and make the team something to eat. I can fly in the sunlight so I'll go around and drop it off."
"I'm going to see if zere are any recourses left at ze old Janis Order," Otto said, hands on his hips, "Lenora and I found ze computers still running yesterday."
"I'll stay here aand help the Trollmarketeres get reoriented and decide what to do tonight," Lenora added.
"The Creepslayerz are at your service," Eli and Steve stepped forward, bowing together.
"You can come with us!" Claire offered, "The rest of us are going to make care packages while Jim makes food."
Walt smiled a fanged smile, "Alright, recap. Lenora and I will stay here and answer questions. Barbara is going back to the hospital, Otto to the Janis Order, and the kids to the house. Young Trollhunters and Creepslayerz, while Jim goes to deliver the meals I want you to go to 'Omnireach'. You can set up a distribution station there rather then at the house. And...Mum-"
"I'm going to go around the town and fix what I can right now," Morgana said, "There's a lot to get done and a little magic will go a long way."
Jim waved the rest of the kids along and they made thier way back to the house.
Eli looked at his brother and sister, "I take it you two already know about me, huh?"
"Yeah," Toby shrugged.
"When did you find out?" Eli looked around, "Why did they tell you when they couldn't tell me?"
"It was kinda an accident," Mary explained, "We didn't realy give them much of a choice. Remember how TB and I left your tenth birthday party early?"
*Flaaashbaaack!*
"I'm sure Mom has something for your 'stomach ache'," Eli pleaded, "You don't have to go. I'll play inside with you!"
"We realy have to go," Toby played with his fingers as he spoke, "You know the rules."
"I'm sorry, Eli," Mary hung her head, "I'm not allowed to."
Eli nodded slightly, "I know..."
He looked back at the party while his mother set up the sprinklers in the yard. The cousins hugged eachother tightly.
"I'll come overse tomorrow," Eli promised, "Even if I have to sneak out."
Toby and Mary nodded and continued down the street.
"Why does she do that?" Mary whispered, "She knows I can't get wet."
"She's just a bitch, Mary," Toby crossed his arms.
"Toby! Mama and Papa don't want using words like that," Mary scolded.
"Well, it's true," he held tthe door for her.
"Yeah...yeah it is."
"Let's just go to my room and play a game," Toby insisted, "You can pi-"
"Sh!"
Mary slamed a hand over his mouth.
"He was just so tiny I thought he woould break if I touched him."
Their mother's voice drifted down the hall. Together the children crept down to the bedroom door.
"I can't believe you did all zat alone," Otto whispered.
Toby and Mary turned to eachother and shrugged.
"I was to scarred to call Maranda. I couldn't risk him finding out. And then when Eli came so early...I couldn't stop crying," It sounded like she had started crying again.
Mary and Toby barely managed to stifle their gasps.
"I started taking the pictures when he was a day old just out of fear that, one day, I would get there to see him and...and he would be..."
Toby and Mary considered walking in at that moment.
"Hey, zere's no need to cry, Zaubermaus," Otto whispered before they could move, "Eli is strong und healzy now. He's so strong zat he is helping Jim viz his flying und he can keep up vviz Steve."
They could hear pages turning. Them, silence.
"Bärchen? Princessin? How long have you two been standing zere?"
The children winced and walked in. For a moment nobody knew what to say.
"Is...IsEliooubrrother?" Toby blurted out.
Lenora and Otto turned to eachother.
"Zey're old enough to know," Otto reasoned.
Lenora nodded sadly, "They deserve to know."
"Know what?" Mary insisted, "Why do we deserve to know but Eli doesn't?!"
"He deserves to know just as much as you two do," Lenora scooted closer to her husband, "Come here and I'll explain."
Toby and Mary crawled into thee bed and looked down at the Photo album.
Lenora took a deap breath and started her story over again, "First things first, you two can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Not even Eli."
They nodded.
"Alright. Yes, Eli is my son. That does make him your brother. But his father was a very, very bad man. I had only just found out I was pregnant when I found out what he was doing. I left that day and started making my way back to Arcadia Oaks," she sighed and tapped the hospital bracelet in the book before continuing, "I only made it to New Jersey before Eli was born early. I brought him to Arcadia as soon as he could leave the hospital but the damage had been done.
"So, I gave him to Tanta Maranda to look after while I went back to Jersey City to get rid of anything saying a baby had been born to a 'Lorraine Pepperjack' or that we had ever been there at all. I even changed my name to keep him from finding us. When I finaly got back home, my sister had foraged the paperwork to say my baby was her baby. He would never suspect a baby born to my sister as his, she had reasoned."
"But why wont she let us spend more time with him?" Mary interrupted, "She put out sprinklers at the party even thought she knows I can't get wet."
Lenora sighed, "Because, if Eli found out, he might accidentaly tell someone. The fewer people who, know the better."
"Zat and, if vve tell him, Tanta Maranda vvill take him avay," Otto explained.
"Can she do that?!" Toby sat up, terrified.
"The only people in the world who know the truth are all in this room," Lenora reminded, putting a hand on her younger son's head.
"So...if she took him...we wouldn't be able to do anything about it..." Toby hung his head, "But that's not fair!"
"You gave up everything to protect him!" Mary agreed, "And she barely lets you see him!"
Otto put an arm around his daughter, "Zat's right. It is unfair. Zat's vvhy Mama und I are doing everyzing vve can to try and make it so Eli can come home. Until zat day, I vvant you two to help him und be ze best cousins you can be for him."
"We're trying," Mary insisted, "But...he's started asking about his dad. What do we tell him?"
"Let Tanta Maranda deal with it for now. I'll tell him the truth when I can."
The children nodded and turned thier attention back to their mother's book.
"He's so tiny" Mary squealed, pointing at the picture of Lenora with tiny baby Eli on her chest, "I bet the babydoll Papa brought me from Germany is bigger!"
"Haha!" Lenora laughed and rest her head on top of Toby's, "I think it is."
*PRESENT!*
"I guess that makes sense," Eli accepted, "I guess this means she's going to want to talk to me about it all soon, huh."
"Most likely," Mary agreed.
"As soon as this all blows over," Toby nodded.
Eli rolled his eyes and put an arm around each of his siblings, "Thanks, guys. I don't know how I would have stayed sane without you two. Andd the not so subtle hints you've been giving me the past few years."