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I didn't stop until we were through the door.
Our house was deep enough in the woods that it was easily hidden and there were protections put on it, long before any of us were born.
We stumbled through the door and Artie wrenched himself away from me and crawled for the doorframe. I thought he was going to make a run for it but instead, he grabbed a small, sharp letter opener and nicked his thumb. The blood welled up and he muttered something in Latin. I couldn’t hear him but I knew that he was putting some kind of protection on the doorframes in the windows. It should be enough to keep anyone or anything else out, I knew.
I watched as the doorframe lit up for a brief second and then it was just a normal door frame.
The letter opener fell from his hand and he turned to meet my eyes for the first time.
"They think it's you," I accused.
To his credit, Artie did not look away. "There can be a lot of teachers, I realized. Azolata can be a teacher. Lou’s own mom can be a teacher. But, if we lose him, then it's over. There's nothing left to fight for. The Ascendancy will take us and Dante, and every single person in this town and they’ll cut us open and try to figure out what it is that made the magic live in us. Lou can learn from just about anyone. But there is no one else that can take that magic," Artie said.
"That's a lie. There is no one else that can do what you do. You were mentioned specifically. You have to live," I said and my voice trembled.
From his spot on the floor, Dante looked up at us. When I glanced down, I couldn’t help but notice that his eyes were terribly blank. I couldn’t imagine what he was thinking. I knew that this was probably the first time he had seen someone die so violently. And by the hands of his own best friend, at that.
"You have to live. You have to live, and you have to be our legacy to this world. The three of us, we are it. We are the last ones from that immortal pack. And maybe Celia won't make it through the night. Maybe I won't see you graduate. You, you don't have a choice. You have to keep going, you have to carry our line forward," I babbled.
Artie looked up at me and he seemed regretful for a brief second. Then he shook it off. "It is as it should be. If they take me –"
"Over my dead body. And I mean that literally. They will not take you, because I will kill every single one of them with my bare hands.”
I could see something in his eyes that told me that he didn’t believe me. Or maybe that was wrong. Maybe he did believe me, but what I tried to do to protect him didn’t matter.
I took a deep breath and tried again. “It isn't just about the magic, Artie. It's you. You're my brother and for us, for mom and dad, for all the ones they've killed, you have to keep going. It's you. I would give my life up for you, but you don't ever give your life up for me. Do you get it?"
Artie shook his head. "No. If you and Celia die, then what's the point? What's the point of me being here? If you to die, my entire family is dead. If that happens, they have won and even if it kills me, I will go after them with everything I have."
I turned him towards me. "You weren't listening to me. Artie, they need you. I have been lucky enough to have you all these years. But when it comes down to it, and it will, I need you to run. You have to save yourself, save Dante, find Lou. The world is a shitty place, and if it has to suffer through losing you, none of them will survive."
I wrapped my little brother up in my arms and tried to wipe my face at the same time. After a moment Artie wrapped his arms around me too.
"But you weren't hearing me either,” he whispered. “You don't get to die. Neither does Celia. This isn't the end. This is just a very bloody, horrible beginning."