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It was late afternoon and the sun was almost completely gone from the sky. I was sitting in the kitchen, considering making something to eat. Dante and Artie were going to leave in just a few hours. I was arguing with myself if I should make them something big to eat or something smaller and send snacks with them.
That's when I heard it.
It was Celia. She was calling out to us, but not to come to her. There was no mistaking what that roar meant.
She was telling us to run.
All thoughts of food left my head and I jerked to my feet. It was impossible to ignore her and I heard Artie and Dante coming as well.
I met them in the front hall, right by the door.
I threw Dante his backpack. It had all of their documents, more money than was probably necessary, and a copy of the instructions that would take them to Miami, then to Europe, then to Brazil. I knew it wasn't much, it could never replace their families, but it was all I could offer them for now.
When Artie came downstairs, I approached him with his backpack. He had entirely different things in it.
A few books from my own stash, my favorites. Our mother's wedding ring, Celia's journal, a few of our father's books, and as many family pictures of us as I could find. It was precious in a completely different way.
"You have to go out the back way. Keep to the forest for as long as you can. I have instructions waiting for you at LAX. Don't stop until you get there. Not to sleep, not to eat, nothing." I looked between Dante and Artie.
Dante nodded but Artie seemed to harden his stance about going.
Good thing I was prepared for this too.
"Let me stay and fight with you. Please. I know I’m just your little brother –" he started.
"No. You're not just my little brother. You're so much more. That's why you're going to do as I say, for once, and go."
All three of us turned to the front when we heard the squeal of brakes on our gravel driveway.
I let myself shift, just a little bit. Just enough for some fangs and claws and a little bit of muscle. The bigger shift could come later when I was closer to Celia.
"Find Lou. Tell him –" I was interrupted by loud banging at the front door and I shook my head. "I don't even know what to tell him."
"I'll tell him," Dante said quietly.
I looked over at him and realized that of everyone here in town, he had lost the most. I nodded at him.
From what I could tell, they were getting a battering ram ready for the front door. If they broke the door frame, it would break the runes and anyone and everything could come through multiple entry points in the house.
"Go."
Artie shook his head and stood his ground.
They were setting up the battering ram. I could hear them talking to each other outside. I looked over Artie’s head and met Dante's eyes. He nodded. He would do as I asked. At least there was one person here that would do that.
I watched as the door splintered and cracked.
"It's time to go, Artie," I whispered.
I stepped forward and pulled him in close, one last time. I remembered holding him as a baby, his downy soft hair, kissing his forehead gently because he was so tiny and breakable. I did the same thing now, kissed his forehead and leaned into his ear.
“Be good.”
With those last words, I shoved him backward, hard, into Dante.
Dante reached down and wrapped one arm around Artie's waist and lifted him off his feet.
Just like I told him to expect, Artie lashed out with any magic he pulled at himself instinctively.
But I knew, from that first time in the forest when Dante had been able to push through Artie's wall, that Dante could push through this too. That's why he was here. That's why he was perfect for this. Artie was defenseless against him.
And I hated myself for using that against him.
Artie screamed at the indignity of being carried out like a petulant child, but Dante ignored him. The door flew open in pieces and I saw the door frame crack. There were no defenses now, nothing between Artie and Dante and the guards, but me.
I looked back one last time to see Artie struggling in Dante's big arms, screaming for me, through sobs and anger and magic, before I turned my back on them and lashed out with my own kind of strength.