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If I kept fainting like this, I would have to start carrying a pillow around with me.
When I opened my eyes, Artie was laying down on a hardwood floor, a book propped open in front of him and the TV playing some kind of singing contest show in the background.
“Did you take calculus?” He asked as he stared down at his book. “Ask me to create a protection rune for a tattoo on the fly, sure, okay. Implicit differentiation? That can go die in a fire.”
“Go back to your derivatives,” Eli said from somewhere else.
Artie let his head drop to the book. “I want to go back to second grade. Multiplication tables. That’s where I ruled over everyone else.”
“Yeah because dad had you memorizing spells since you four. You didn’t have to work at your memory in second grade,” Eli said and came in from the hall. He had a sandwich and soda in his hands and set them down in front of Artie.
“Thank you,” Artie mumbled from his book.
“You’re welcome. Lou? You hungry?” He asked.
I didn’t realize he knew I was awake.
“I don’t know. Let me get back to you on that,” I said.
Eli came and sat down next to my legs and lifted up my shirt. He tugged at the gauze and peered underneath. “Looks all done.”
“Was there was more to it?” I asked.
"No. It looks all healed up," he said and pulled the gauze off completely. I noticed spots of blood on it when he tossed it over to Artie. With a snap of his fingers, he lit it on fire and let it burn in mid-air until it was nothing but ashes.
“Couldn’t have thrown it in the trash?”
“It had your blood on it. Even the smallest amount can be used against you,” Artie explained. Eli helped me sit up. He was right, there was no pain but I could certainly still remember it.
"So tell me again, why the tattoo was necessary?" I said. It didn't hurt anymore, but the memory was still too fresh for me to want to move from my spot on the couch.
"There are certain symbols throughout our history that can help a magic user. Different symbols can be used for lots of different things. You can use them to call up the elements, to direct your energy, stuff like that. In your case, I created a simple rune to help your magic stabilize," Artie said.
"If I was destined for all this magic, and if my family is supposed to come from a bunch of incredible witches and warlocks, then why is it hitting me like this?" I asked. I slowly sat up, wincing at all the sore muscles that I could feel now.
"Well, think of it like this: I grew up knowing that I would one day be able to do all these things with magic. So from day one, I was given a little bit of magic at a time. My magic grew with me. It's like drinking alcohol. Slowly, your tolerance gets higher and higher. Since I was born, I was given a little bit from a shot glass every day. But you, instead of drinking a glass every day –"
"He's drinking from a keg?" Eli asked.
Artie shook his head. "No. It's like he's trying to drink from a waterfall."
I nodded. That's what it felt like. Whenever I thought that the magic would be too much, I could only think of drowning.
"So the tattoo does what?"
"It suppresses the worst of the side effects. The headache, dizziness, the hunger, the anger. It should curb that until you can control it all on your own," Artie said.
“But the tattoo is permanent,” I pointed out.
“It is. Later on, when you learn about runes and everything, you can alter it to help you.”
“How?”
Artie shrugged. “Depends on what you like. I prefer working with wind and earth but you might prefer earth and fire. It’s up to you. You should be able to work with all four, from what I have read.”
He closed his calculus book and picked up his sandwich. It was so strange looking at this kid, and asking him all these questions, and him coming up with the answers so easily. I couldn't help but envy the easy knowledge that he had of this world. I felt a spike of resentment towards my mother for having never told me about our family line and what could possibly happen to me.
"And if this tattoo doesn't work?" I asked.
Artie chewed on his sandwich thoughtfully. His eyes went to the window behind Eli and I and he took another bite of his sandwich before he finally answered. "I'm not sure, actually. We would probably have to consult with Azolata on that one and it would have to be fairly serious."
We all heard the rumbling of Celia's motor as she and Dante finally returned.
"Where were they?" I asked.
"There is a lot more to tell you about our world than witches and vampires and mermaids and fae. That's a lot more than magic and tattoos and anything else that could come to your mind. It isn’t always fun and games," Eli said. He stood up and went to the door.
"Really. You could have fooled me," I said.
Eli glared at me from the doorway as he opened it and Dante and Celia came through.
For the first time, I really looked around at my surroundings. I could only guess that we were in the Ortega household. The floors were dark hardwood, polished to a shine. The couches were leather and very comfortable, broken in just right. Family pictures and awards adorned the walls and the TV took up a big chunk of room in the corner. There were a fireplace and books along one wall. It had that feeling of being lived in, being a home for a very long time. There were colorful throw rugs on the floor, giving it enough colors to make the room more lively, but not overpowering. I guessed that we were pretty far into the woods, with the way that the trees seemed to gather close around the house. I couldn't see much else, other than a staircase that led upstairs and a hallway that led to the kitchen.
In a town as small as ours, it was common knowledge that people had a general knowledge of where everyone lived. But even as I thought about it, I had no idea where the Ortegas lived. Which was strange, Glenwood Lock was not that big.
Celia and Dante came in and fell to the bright pink boxes from Fried and Frosted in his hands.
"Doughnuts!" Artie said. He shoved the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and followed Dante into the kitchen.
I watched him go and had to remind myself that even though he might be my teacher, or as close as I could get to one, he was still a 16-year-old kid.
Celia was staring at me from the hallway. Eli left us alone in the living room.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
"I'm sore. But fine, I guess," I said.
She nodded and gestured towards the kitchen. "Come on, we have some things to talk about."
We gathered around the table, with plates in front of us and a gallon of milk in the center of the table, next to the eight boxes of doughnuts. I wanted to question why eight was needed, but once I saw the way that Dante was shoveling food into his mouth, and how Artie wasn't much far behind him, I realized why.
"Dude, slow down. You're going to choke," I said.
Dante had the decency to look abashed.
“Sorry," he said.
Celia waved him off. "It's fine. You should've seen Eli when he hit a growth spurt during a full moon. Our cupboards were bare."
It was Eli's turn to look bashful now. "When you shift, you use up a lot of calories. When you're a teenager going through a growth spurt, you use up even more calories. I think I was hungry non-stop for five years."
I snorted. But the thought of a teenage Eli eating everything within reach was kind of adorable.
"So about what Eli was telling me, that all this we got pulled into isn't all unicorns and cupcakes?" I asked. I was used to talking for both me and Dante and that seemed to be one of the few things that hadn't changed in the past few days.
"I didn't –" Eli started and turned to Celia. "I didn't say that."
Celia patted his hand and smiled. "Well, there are unicorns, but they are more likely to tear out your intestines than they are to sprinkle your cupcake."
I raise my eyebrows. I had a new respect for Celia.
"But, I know that you do have questions about everything that's been happening lately. And believe me, more has been happening in the past few days than usual. We can put it down to whatever happened when Dante got bit and you both changed or we can look at the facts," she said.
Leadership was a good look on Celia. She wore it easily, like a comfortable pair of jeans. She knew that her brothers would listen to her orders and they, in turn, trusted her to keep them safe.
"Let's start at the beginning. Well, let's start at our beginning," she said.
Eli leaned back in his chair, suddenly uninterested in his maple and bacon doughnut in front of him. Artie even put his own strawberry frosted concoction down and had to drink some milk to swallow it all down. They both seemed to know that this was coming but neither one looked eager to tackle the subject.
I searched my mind for something that would make them lose their appetites and give them such grim expressions. Only one thing came to mind.
Sebastian and Teresa Ortega.
The only thing that I knew for sure was that the Ortega parents died in a terrible car crash when they were out of town. Their bodies were not suitable for a wake and they were buried quietly in a cemetery on the outskirts of town.
"Your parents didn't die in a car crash, did they?" I said slowly and looked over to Dante. He stopped eating as well and was studying the siblings with intense interest.
Celia shook her head. "No, they didn't."
"The Ascendancy, they had something to do with it."
Celia nodded.
"They were the ones that killed our parents. They were the ones that ordered their deaths," Eli said.
"And it was all because of me," Artie whispered.
The information wasn't a revelation. If I had been given enough time, then maybe I would've put it together myself. But the part that was a revelation, was seeing Artie blame himself for his parent's death. I turned to look to Celia and she was already shaking her head.
"It's not your fault. I'll tell you a thousand times every day for the rest of your life, it's not your fault."
For the first time since I had known him, Artie didn't have a thoughtful reply or even a witty remark. He only shook his head and continued to stare out the window.
"I was twenty years old when it happened. Eight years ago. My mother and father didn't know which one of us would be the next alpha of our family," Celia said and looked to Eli. "So, we were both raised as though we might be the next head of our line. We learned everything that we could from our mother, who was the alpha at the time. Eli was eighteen. Artie was eight years old."
I wanted a glass of water. I also didn't want to hear how the story ended.
"Artie's birth was kind of a big deal in our community. There hadn't been a witch or a warlock born to the Ortega line in 500 years or so. It had been werewolf after werewolf after werewolf in that time. No one knew why the magic, that kind of magic, faded out. But it happened. Ours wasn't the only werewolf line to lose that kind of magic,” Eli explained.
“But, there was a prophecy that we learned about, shortly before our mom got pregnant with Artie. It foretold of his birth and said that he would grow up to not only be a very powerful magic user but that he would also be the mentor to one so powerful that it would create a whole new generation of magic users in our community," Celia picked up.
Everyone turned and stared at me. I stared back at them and then let out a bark of laughter. I stood up and went to the cupboards and began opening them at random.
"Next to the fridge," Dante said. I found the glasses and pulled a pitcher of water out of the fridge. I poured a glass full and drank it down. I could still feel everyone's eyes on me, or maybe that was the tattoo. Either way, I finished the glass and poured another. The second glass in hand, I sat down.
"Whole new generation, you say?" I asked and Celia winced when my voice cracked in the middle of the sentence.
Celia nodded. “The prophecy wasn't kept quiet. We don't know how or who, but the information was leaked from our line, our community, to someone in the Ascendancy. They aren't big fans of prophecies and when they heard about this one and how it would affect the community of people that they tried to police, they wanted it shut down."
I expected Eli to pick up the story but he remained silent and stared down at his doughnut.
"The summer I was born, they went around killing newborns and pregnant women. It was very swift and it was without prejudice. Any newborn in a werewolf family, whether they had the gene for magic or not, was killed. Any pregnant woman that was set to give birth that summer was also killed. We try not to think about it too much, but we don't ever forget it," Artie said quietly.
"How did they not hear about you?" Dante asked.
"Mom kept her pregnancy hidden fairly well. And when she gave birth, she gave birth at home with her sister, me, and dad here. No one knew about Artie’s birth until we thought we were in the clear. He didn't get a birth certificate until last year," Celia said.
Eli was looking down at his hands, clasped together on the table. "The summer after high school graduation, I was in my room, reading a book. There was a loud banging on the door. The last time I saw my mom, she walked by my door and looked at me. She told me, ‘Get your brother and go to your sister's house. Go out the back door. Run.’"
"I had just gotten to my apartment when Eli showed up with Artie in his arms. I didn't have to ask him what happened, because there was only ever one reason why he would be at my apartment without driving or my parents with Artie in his arms," Celia murmured.
Everyone fell silent around the table. I could tell by the look on Dante’s face that he didn’t want to know what happened next. I didn’t either. No one else seemed to want to even continue the story.
Celia took a deep breath. "They called us to the center of town. We left Artie with Azolata and told him that we would be right back. He cried and asked for mom and dad. I didn't know what to tell him. I didn't know myself, right then, if they were even alive still. So we left. We left him with Azolata and we walked to the center of town. My parents were there and they were tied to two stakes in the center of town. Savannah's grandfather was there, him and a bunch of other guys, with guns. Regular bullets can hurt us, but they won't kill us. ”
I couldn’t help but picture the two of them walking through the woods and then through town. Their fear and uncertainty would have been overwhelming and practically crippling. I couldn’t imagine the amount of courage it took for them to leave Artie somewhere they knew was safe and go confront the people that had taken their parents.
“But leave it to the Ascendancy to figure that particular problem out. There’s something that the Ascendancy makes. They call it cinder. They coat their knives and they pack their bullets with it. It's slow and it's painful and there's no way out of it, even if you do get the bullet out," Artie said quietly.
"We could smell it as soon as we approached. Mom was there and she looked at us and she saw that we didn't have Artie with and she was so grateful. I could see it in her eyes. I wanted to kill all of them, but I knew I couldn't, I knew that if I went after them, they would kill both me and Celia and there wouldn't be anyone left for Artie. So I stood there while they waived their guns around and made their threats and I kept my eyes on my parents," Eli said.
"Savannah's grandfather said that if we would give up the child, then our parents could go free-”
"Wait," I said and held up a hand. I looked at Dante. "Savannah? Like, from school?”
Dante nodded. We both thought of that single date they had gone on and I didn’t need to be a mind reader to know that he was hurting from this revelation.
“Wow. Of course. Okay. Sorry, go on,” I said.
Celia looked grim when I confirmed her identity. “All we had to do was tell them where Artie was and they would go get him and we wouldn't have to see anything at all. Savannah’s grandfather said we could pretend that nothing at all happened. I told him that there was no child, that they knew from our family lineage that Eli was the second born and the youngest in our family. He lost it. He started screaming and yelling and ordered one of the guards to kill our dad. The last thing I heard my father say was that he was proud of us," Celia said. The last few words ended on a whisper.
I stared at my water. I didn’t want to see the tears on her face. It was too much.
It was like I was feeling all three of their hearts break wide open and I wanted to ask her to stop where she was. I wanted to ask her if there was anything I could do to fix it. But after living with my own father's death, I knew there wasn't anything to fix. I knew that they had to tell us and I knew that once they started they wouldn't stop, not until it was all over. Not until it was laid out for us to see so that we can see how ugly the heartbreak was for them.
So that we could understand.
"Our father died tied to a stake in the middle of town. And we couldn't stop them. Savannah’s grandfather gave us another chance. He said that if we told them where Artie was, then we could have our father's body back and our mother would be set free. Our alpha could go home with us. But I told him the same thing. I told him that there was no child, that it was just me and Eli," Celia said
Eli looked away. "After they killed our mom, they took both of their bodies. We don't know what happened to them or where they might be buried. But we knew that they would rather die than give up any of their children. They told us that a dozen times over. We knew that Artie would be the one with the magic and all we had to do was keep him alive until he could control it. He just had to learn how to use it and he had to find a teacher who could at least help him along the way."
"They didn't find out about me until last year," Artie said. “When they did, they came to our door and demanded that I go with them. But I had worked too hard and too long to follow them like a lamb to the slaughter."
"What did you do?" I asked.
Artie looked down at his doughnut and smirked. He shook his head. "All those nights when your mom said she was going to bridge club, she wasn't. She and Azolata were working with me, teaching me everything I needed to know so that I could learn to control my own magic and test its limits. I can do things that I probably shouldn't. And Azolata and your mom have told me so many times that I need to be careful."
"What happened?" Dante asked and looked to Celia and Eli.
They remained silent and I couldn't tell from the looks on their faces if they were disapproving or not.
"It was Savannah's uncle that came in demanding that I go with them. Eli was at work and so was Celia. I was all alone in the forest without anyone to protect me. I did what I had to do to protect myself," Artie said. He stood up and took his plate to the sink and left.
We all listened to him go up the stairs and heard him close his bedroom door.
"When we came home, there were bodies everywhere. Fifteen, twenty bodies. It was hard to tell because most of them weren't even –" Eli started. He swallowed hard.
"He tore them apart. There were limbs scattered everywhere. He had torn Savannah's uncle open and made sure that he died slowly. We knew he was powerful, we knew that from the prophecy. But it was another thing seeing your little brother casually mass murder more than a dozen people and leave the evidence strewn all over your front yard. He sent a message though, and it wasn't subtle at all," Celia said.
I sat back in my chair. I didn't know what to say or even where to look. Dante seemed to have much the same reaction.
“That’s a lot for one kid,” I finally muttered. This was turning out to be the longest day of my life.
“And he’s your teacher,” Dante pointed out.
“Hey! He’s done a really good job so far. Look at me, all not-exploded,” I said.
“And getting ready to lead in the next generation of magic users.”
“Nothing gets past you.”
“You’re a terrible teacher.”
“Fuck you.”
“Remember that time you tried to teach me how to drive and I ended up taking out the garage?”
“Okay, but who got the brake and gas pedals mixed up? What if you are a terrible student?”
"I was on the honor roll!"
“Once! In fourth grade!”
Celia cleared her throat. We both turned to her.
“Sorry,” Dante said.
“It’s a thing we do when things get...” I looked around. “Actually, we have never had to deal with anything like this. Do you mind if we leave?” I paused and realized what my words sounded like. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I think it would be better for all of us to take a minute and think about what’s happening.”
Celia smiled. “I’m not holding you hostage, Lou. You guys can come and go as you want.”
I nodded. We helped clean up and on the way out, I spotted Artie at the top of the stairs. I waved. “Your sister has my phone number. I’m done with school so text me if you are in the mood for teaching stuff or think I might explode soon. Or if you want to hang out with a non-werewolf magic person.”
He gave me the ghost of a smile but it was better than nothing.
As we left, I paused at the doorway and turned around. “If we go through the woods, will anything eat us? Again?”
“No. The forest knows you belong to it now. I would actually feel bad for anything that tried to come for you,” Eli said. He raised an eyebrow. “I can drive you home though?”
“No. It’s okay. We’ll walk,” I said.