Wow, I can't believe I got so much positive feedback on this. You guys are awesome; I don't feel as depressed as I've been lately, thanks. Not to mention, Track conditioning has officially started for me and it was an emotional day. Anyway, gonna shut up so you can read the story.
Professor Crumbs raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean, Max."
Max took another deep breath and replied, "Justin wasn't the only one to use bad curses. Mine wasn't forbidden, but I very nearly used it anyway. Here's what happened in the stone chamber just after the maze…"
(Scene switches to a flashback)
Alex and Max were neck and neck, catching up to Justin. Max was right behind Justin and decided that a vicious curse should make his older brother lose the lead. As Max waved his wand and began murmuring the words, his wand tip glowed bright red and the color caught Alex's eye.
Her eyes widened in fear and she quickly dropped down to the ground, kicking Justin's legs from under him and causing him to fall. Max's spell missed him by a few inches and smashed into the wall in front of them. Max tripped over Justin and toppled on top of him as Alex got to her feet and brushed herself off. She held out a hand to help Max up and pulled him behind her as Justin stood as well.
"Alex!" Justin shouted angrily. "Why did you trip me? I was almost to the end of the tunnel!"
"Justin, I did it to protect you." Alex countered.
"No you didn't; you did it to stop me from becoming the family wizard."
Alex crossed her arms in her angry stance. "Actually, Max was about to hit you with a spell that would have definitely made you lose the magic anyway!"
Justin's eyes narrowed furiously. "How can you blame Max for this?" he shouted, moving to stand in front of her. "He's not the evil one in the family, you are!"
Alex's eyes widened in shock. "I'm not evil!" she screamed, moving so that they were only centimeters apart. "I proved that with Stevie and you know it. I was trying to protect you!"
"No you weren't! You just wanted to see me fall on my face again. Watch me crash and burn. You're always pulling stunts like this so I'm not surprised. I am surprised that it didn't happen sooner in the competition."
Alex scoffed in offense and shoved against Justin's chest. "You are unbelievable, you know that? You make it seem like you're this great guy and everyone should look up to you. Newsflash Justin, you mess up too and yours are much worse than mine! I'm not the one that dated a werewolf mutt and nearly made myself a werewolf forever. I'm not the one that nearly gave Professor Evilini all the power in the world. And I'm certainly not the one that nearly turned the world to evil. You are! I helped protect you and the world from that just like I was trying to protect you from a spell that might have injured you or caused you to fly into the wall or something."
Justin's eyes flashed angrily and he waved his wand at Alex in an intricate pattern. As soon as he finished the wand movements, he took off for the end of the tunnel. Max was about to follow him when a scream filled his ears. He turned in time to see Alex's clothes fall away in strips as though they were shredded. Cuts and gashes opened up all over her body and blood began spurting in all directions.
"Justin!" Alex shrieked, agonized.
Max approached her as she began choking and a spray of blood splattered all over him. Alex screamed again, but more blood cut it off into a gurgle. Max watched in horror as blood poured from her ears, her nose, her mouth, even from her eyelids. His arms shot out to catch Alex as she began falling toward the stone ground. Alex clutched at his arms as more blood dribbled from her mouth and her terror-filled brown eyes looked up at him pleadingly. "H-help me!" she begged.
Max nodded frantically and tried casting healing charms on the cuts and gashes, but nothing seemed to be working and Alex was getting weaker. He had to get Justin.
(Scene switch to normal time)
Max looked back at Alex and sighed. "Alex deserves the magic, not me and definitely not Justin." Alex blinked at her brother, her eyes shining with tears. Her fingers twitched slightly and Juliet smiled at the sign that the blood was finishing up.
Professor Crumbs nodded and put a hand on Max's shoulder. "Are you sure, Max?" he asked softly and Max nodded to him, his eyes both saddened and determined. The older wizard nodded and made his way over to Alex.
"Then, I hereby announce Alex Russo the Russo family wizard." Professor Crumbs touched his wand to the top of Alex's head and everyone watched the magic flow into her. Alex blinked up at her headmaster in thanks and he smiled down at her. Teresa leaned down and kissed her daughter's cheek happily and Justin slowly made his way forward. When Alex caught sight of him, she began shaking despite her paralysis.
Justin simply knelt next to her and sighed. "I'm sorry, Alex. For what I did to you, I mean. Forgive me, please?" Alex merely stared at him, terrified. Her neck twitched and her head slowly moved back and forth. Justin's eyes saddened and he nodded.
He stood and strode over to Professor Crumbs. "Do I go to wizard prison?" Justin asked quietly.
Professor Crumbs sighed and shook his head. "Had you tried it any time before the competition then yes, you would go to prison and would be banned from participating. But since, you did it during the competition, you have no powers either way and therefore cannot go to wizard prison. For now, you are off the hook."
Justin nodded and turned away, back to where Mason had just come in with ice cream for Alex. He watched as his sister slowly began moving her head again and looked around her. Their eyes met for a moment and Justin could see the pain in the brown eyes, the pain he had caused. Now that he looked at her, Alex did still seem a bit pale and her eyes were still partially hooded. She looked at her mother and her hand twitched, as though she wanted to comfort her. Juliet leaned down and whispered something into her ear and Alex shook her head slowly. Juliet nodded and slowly sat her up, taking the spoon Mason offered and bringing it to Alex's lips. Alex's lips slowly parted and she took the spoon in her mouth, her eyes snapping shut for a moment at how cold it was.
After a few moments of helping Alex eat her ice cream, Jerry looked up at Professor Crumbs. "Could you transport us back home?" he asked slowly. "You know, cause Alex is in no position to do anything even mortal related?"
Professor Crumbs nodded and waved his hand at the family and their friends. Everyone held tight to each other as they were flashed back to the wizard lair. Juliet stood with Alex in her arms and everyone moved to the substation and up to the apartment. Juliet took Alex to her room and gazed down at the immobile girl. Alex had fallen to sleep from exhaustion and Juliet couldn't help but watch the girl sleep. The gentle rise and fall of her chest, the way the light from the open curtains illuminated the tanned skin, how Alex's eyes weren't shut tight, but enough to block out feeble light. Juliet sighed and pressed a chaste kiss to Alex's cheek before exiting the room as quietly as she could.
Heading to the living room of the loft apartment, Juliet found the entire family plus Zeke, Mason and Harper, glaring at Justin as he sat on the couch. "A forbidden curse, Justin?" Teresa was saying. "A forbidden curse? On your sister? You know better than that!"
"You know that the Wizard council could have sent you to wizprison." Jerry scolded.
"You could have killed my best friend!" Harper added. "You could have-."
"You're all acting like she's really hurt!" Justin interjected, trying to get some defensive ground.
"Because she is!" Juliet snarled, storming into the room and picking Justin up by his shirt. "You didn't see her the way I did, Justin. She was broken on every level. When time began moving forward again, her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at me. I don't think I've really ever seen Alex cry and all of a sudden, on her deathbed, she begins bawling. When she was shaking while you were talking to her, it wasn't just shaking; it was the trembling that prey does when they know the predator has them cornered and they can't get away. She had her heart in her mouth, I should know. She'll probably never see you the same way ever again and, if I can speak honestly, I don't think I'll see you the same either."
Juliet glared at Justin and simply flipped her hair over her shoulder before disappearing up the stairs and back to Alex's room. The Latina was slowly stirring, her eyes twitching beneath her lids. Juliet gently stroked her back and Alex's eyes opened. She opened her mouth to speak, but found that she couldn't speak.
"You're inner body is still paralyzed, Alex." Juliet told her. Alex nodded and looked out the window.
"Do you need some fresh air?" Juliet asked tenderly, to which Alex nodded once more.
Juliet slid the window up and moved the curtains aside so that a soft breeze could reach Alex on the bed. Alex's arms slowly moved and, with Juliet's help, the young wizard managed to prop herself against the headboard. Juliet could still taste the fear in the air coming from Alex and sat down next to Alex; the Latina looked at her expectantly and Juliet cocked her head to the side. Alex shook her head and looked down at her hands; her movements were coming faster than before and Juliet let herself smile at that. Alex would be good as new soon.
Just then, there was a knock on the door and Justin's head poked in. The reaction was instantaneous. Alex's mouth opened in a silent scream as she tried to jump for the window. She was still partially paralyzed, so when she jumped off the bed, her legs tangled and she fell to the floor. As she began trying to crawl for the window, Juliet strode over to her and picked her up. Alex buried her face in Juliet's shirt while the other girl faced Justin.
"Yes?" she asked, her tone polite, but slightly edged.
"I was wondering if we could talk?" Justin murmured, looking down at his feet.
Juliet cocked her head at him for a moment before nodding and gently setting Alex on the bed. "I'll be back. Just call if you need help with anything." Alex nodded and stole a quick fearful glance at Justin before quickly averting her gaze. Juliet followed Justin to the lair and leaned against the wall, gazing at him levelly.
"I-I was wondering if what you said back there in the chamber was true?" Juliet raised an eyebrow in confusion and Justin elaborated. "About Alex being your mate?" Juliet nodded.
"She is my mate. I chose her before I met you. But you had asked me out on a date and I didn't know whether or not you knew about my family being vampires."
"So you chose Alex, but you dated me because…?"
"I didn't want to turn you down. You were a good cover so that I could learn more about Alex. I do have feelings for you, just not the boyfriend/girlfriend feelings. I'm sorry Justin."
Justin lowered his head sadly and nodded. "Yeah, I guess since Alex discovered you first, she was the one that got you."
Taking a deep breath, Justin slowly stood and swallowed his pride. Putting a hand on Juliet's shoulder, he sighed. "Well, um, I want you to be happy and if Alex makes you happy then I-I'm happy that you're happy, Juliet."
Juliet looked up at Justin with a wide smile. "Really?"
Justin took a breath and forced a small smile onto his face. "Yes, I am happy for you."
Juliet smiled and hugged Justin happily. "Oh, and Justin?"
"Yes Juliet?"
"If you ever attack her again, I'll have to drain you of blood and rip your body to pieces."
"Understood."
Alright, another chapter finished. Now, I'm going to double the cost. Four reviews for chapter three. Thanks for the support guys. It makes me happy.