Book 1: Chapter 67

I woke with a start when someone in the house screamed. Jumping up, I opened the door, greeted by Maggie who was pulling on a robe across from me. Her peppered grey hair in a long braid down the side. Nate had also poked his head out of the door down the hall. Walking to the only other occupied bedroom, I opened the door.

My heart sunk immediately. Noah was standing against the back wall, completely frozen. Finn was on the bed, leaning over Aelia, doing compressions on her chest. I couldn’t see it, but I smelled blood. Nate started to walk in but I grabbed him, pulling his back to my chest as I wrapped my arms around him. His eyes finally took in what was happening, but my arms caged him in from being able to move or shift. His fur was beginning to sprout but Nate was shaking as the sobs started.

Finn was crying, trying to do the chest compressions but he was struggling. “Noah!”

Noah finally moved from where it looked like he had stumbled back. He was leaning over the side of the bed and took over for Finn. His compressions were less erratic and desperate. Finn was sitting back on his knees, his hands covering his mouth as he chocked out sobs. Tears were falling down my cheeks and I looked over at Maggie who had her hand over her mouth as well. Tears were shinning in her eyes as we all watched Noah continue to try and resuscitate Aelia. None of us hearing her heart beat.

It had only been hours that were were all sitting around the table, chatting and laughing. Hours since I had seen the smile on Aelia’s face as she told stories and chimed in after Maggie’s anecdotes. Hours since I felt like I was at peace for the first time in a while, like my family was together as it should have been for all these years. Now, it was getting stripped away right in front of my eyes. Nate’s hands came up and held onto my arms tight, his nails digging in painfully but I didn’t say anything. This was his mate, his first love, and not just my sister.

After a few minutes, Noah growled so loudly that even Nate winced. Noah turned Aelia on her side.

“Damn it, Sol. Not now. Don’t you dare!”

He slammed his fist into her back as she was on her side. Noah did it one more time when we all heard the sound of wrenching as she threw up liquid before gasping for breaths. Finn cried out, burying his face completely in his hands. Maggie came forward and rubbed his back, her own face completely wet with tears. Nate sagged against me, his legs giving out but I held him up. Out of all of us, Noah seemed to be doing the worst. There weren’t any tears but he looked like he was going to crumble where he was as he forced Aelia to breathe slowly.

She coughed a few times and Noah swiftly picked her up. Holding her to his chest, he rocked slightly, clutching her for dear life. Weakly, her hand came up and touched Noah’s back. He shook his head, trying to control the shaking.

“You saved me again.” Her voice was raspy.

“I can’t…Sol…I can’t take this. I can’t.” Noah’s confession was muffled by her hair as he burrowed his face in her neck. “I can’t lose you. We can’t lose you.”

The lump in my throat only grew and I tried to calm down while holding Nate. She reached out and touched Finn’s hand. He clutched hers, holding it to his face as his tears poured down his face.

“You’re not fat, Finn. I promise.”

He choked out a cough. “I am. But it doesn’t matter.”

She chuckled. “I just didn’t want it to be the last thing I said to you.”

His sobs only got worse and he placed his head in her lap. “Never, Sol. I won’t let you go if that happens.”

“Good.” She leaned back a bit and our eyes met. “Sorry to scare you.”

Shaking my head, the tears finally fell from my own eyes. I didn’t sob or shake, they just slipped out. Her smile was small and sad. Nate was shaking in my arms. I was not longer him holding back shifting but instead he just cried.

“Nate…”

His head popped up at her voice.

“Come here.”

Nate climbed onto the bed next to Finn and snaked his arms around her body, above Finn’s head and below Noah’s hold under her arms. He leaned against her back, his face buried in the back of her shirt. Normally, this would never happen. All three looked like they belonged with her. They all loved her more than anything and she was enough that all three of them could without even an ounce of anger or jealousy. Not right now anyways. If anything, they were holding each other up too. Maggie turned to me and I walked forward, holding her to my side.

“I need…there is a mess…” Aelia looked around the bed.

“We will take care of it, A. Don’t worry. Just catch your breath.” I smiled at her, my tears that had finally stopped threatened to come back. Her worrying about the blood all over. That was the last thing any of us wanted to hear. “Do you need anything? Water? Tea? A bath?”

She nodded. “A bath would feel good I think. Maybe some tea, something herbal?”

“I’ll make you some tea, sweetheart. Have the boys help you into the bath.” Maggie nodded and I knew the feeling. She needed to do something, to help in some way. Squeezing my arm, I looked down. “I have some extra sheets and blankets in the hall. I can show you where they are while they help get her cleaned up.”

Nodding, she obviously knew I needed something to do as well. I gave Aelia once last glance as Nate had gotten up to start the bath and the other two were stripping her down before heading after Maggie. I was behind her as I watched her sway and reach out to the railing of the banister. Reaching out as well, I held Maggie up just a little. Her eyes met mine and she smiled.

“Thank you, dear. Sorry, these old bones don’t always work like they used to.”

Shaking my head, I sighed. “I think we can keep it between us.”

Nodding, she squeezed my arm but found the strength to continue to the a closet that was down the hall. It was filled with linens and I held out my arms as she pulled new bedding for them. At one point, her hands fell on a blanket and I watched her shoulders start to shake.

“She’s like a daughter to me, Silas. When she showed up at my door, I thought I was seeing a ghost. She was so thin and hollow but the look in her eyes was even scarier. But I knew who she was immediately. I knew she was my little Aelia who used to steal my bath towels to be a superhero in the backyard.” Maggie looked up at me, tears shinning in her eyes. “We didn’t find out about her condition until last Christmas. She threw up blood in the middle of dinner. I honestly don’t think she would have told any of us at all if it hadn’t happened. Instead, she was forced to and I thought…I thought this poor girl. She’s been through hell, Silas. When she would visit when she was younger she would have nightmares. Her screams would break your soul. It took a while but I got her to talk about it, even if she was half asleep and didn’t remember telling me.”

Maggie was shaking but my hands were full of sheets, pillow cases, and blankets. I just tried to hold myself together as well.

“This is too much. She doesn’t deserve any of this. She should be free. Once she was out of that place, she should have been free. Aelia has never tasted freedom. She’s always been shackled either by what happened or when she finally accepted that aspect of her life, she was told that she wouldn’t be able to live long enough to actually be free. Everything in her life, she’s been chained.”

I nodded. “Even as a kid, our father chained her to the house. Using her and her power for how he saw fit. I think the only time she was ever actually free was when she was with our mother. I remember, only small moments of when we were kids. When Aelia could barely walk and we would take picnics out in the sun with Mom. The memory is fuzzy and I honestly can’t remember her face anymore but it was before Aelia understood she had a gift. It was before everything happened….before everything changed.”

“Take care of her, Silas. In these final days. She…she’s told me a lot about the future.” I opened my mouth but Maggie put up a finger and shook her head. “No, I’m not going to tell you either. I know things will be revealed in time but I will not be the one to do it. Aelia needed someone to confide in, someone to understand what she was doing and why she was doing it. To keep her down this path because as excruciating as it is, she’s doing it for you.”

“I wish she wouldn’t.”

Maggie chuckled and placed a soft blanket on my arms. “It’s not in her. She loves you and Nate both. She’s wanted to protect you from the beginning. All she wants is for you to be happy and for you to be able to live how she hasn’t been able to…freely.”

I stared down at the blanket in my arms. “I just…we just got her back Maggie.”

Maggie patted my arm as she moved around me but didn’t say anything. It wouldn’t matter. Nothing wouldn’t make this situation any better. Turning back down the hall, I slipped into the room. Noah was stripping the sheets down and I could see the look on his face that he wasn’t even present in what he was doing.

“I brought the extra sheets and blankets.”

Noah’s head rocketed up to look at me, realizing I was there for the first time. “Yeah, put it on the bed. I’ll…um….it needs…”

“How about I take everything that is dirty? There are towels in there to clean the floor if it needs it.”

Noah nodded absently and moved robotically through the room. He picked up the piled he had made and handed it to me. Grabbing a towel, he kneeled down and started to scrub the floor.

“Noah.”

His head popped up from the bed.

“You did good.”

Tears filled his eyes and he shook his head. “Delaying the inevitable isn’t doing good, Silas. Sometimes…I feel like…I should just let her go…” He started to shake and I gave him a sad smile.

“I don’t think she was ready yet. You did do good. She would have haunted us if the last thing she said was Finn was fat.”

Noah coughed out a snort but his head dipped back down as he cleaned the floor. I turned and headed out of the room, passing Maggie with her mug of fresh tea.

“Put that in the laundry room, Silas. I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”

“Yes ma’am.”