Alexa watched Kaleth dissolve another flimsy shield spell Patrick had managed to conjure. They had been practising for months with no obvious improvement. It didn't help that Patrick's magic was so unpredictable. It was like losing Ramona had left an imbalance. Whenever he wanted to use magic or needed it it backfired, but when he wasn't even trying he busted down doors and exploded light bulbs, electronics and windows. Kaleth had him try again with a similar result. Alexa looked down at Pitch soaking up the sun. It seemed like he never got too warm, in either cat or human form. Alexa heard Kaleth tear through Patrick's shield spell again. The sound was almost like tearing tissue paper as opposed to the earth shattering crash when he busted hers. Patrick snarled in frustration and stalked back towards the house. As he passed the garage the outside light fixture exploded. Pitch climbed lazily to his feet, did a stretch and a yawn before slowly padding after Patrick.
It has been six months since they ended Alistar. Patrick had taken some adjusting, and seemed to be taking things well, aside from his messed up magic. Their parents were taking a bit of time off to deal with their grandmother's death and the "emotional trauma" Alexa and Patrick had suffered. They didn't know the actual story, with Alistar, Ramona, and the murders. The time they took to just be around did help. They had to go back to work soon and were looking at traveling a little with their new business. That left Alexa to look after Patrick. She could handle looking after her little brother and she was probably the only one in the family who could help him with his magical issues, but both at once had her a bit stressed out. But then again it wasn't like she had school or a job to keep her busy. She had been studying everything she could about magic, but they were running low on books in the lair and even though her grandma visited in her ghostly form quite often, she didn't have a lot of magical advice to pass on either. She waited for Kaleth to come with her before heading inside to try to comfort her brother.
The exploding light bulbs and electronics seemed to follow him, especially when he was upset. It didn't take long for Alexa to find him. The lights outside the laundry room were flickering like they were shorting out. As she approached she noticed Pitch in the shadow of a doorway. He was amazing at blending in but she was slowly getting better at spotting him. He was now in human form, or what he passed as human. He couldn't seem to get past the ears and tail. He also tended to chase things, and make cat like movements.
Alexa stopped as she realized he was eating something. She stared and he glanced up at her, the tip of a mouses tail disappeared into his mouth as his wide blue eyes peered at her. She tried not to cringe, it seems old habits died hard and after spending thirty years as a cat and feeding himself, he couldn't seem to stop now. Alexa chose to pretend she hadn't seen him eating.
"He say anything?" she asked. She had left Pitch in charge of tailing her brother because he could melt into the shadows if Patrick didn't want him around and he seemed to understand Patrick better than any of them. That left Alexa with a slightly less prickly Kaleth since Alistar's death. Pitch shook his head silently. Sometimes her brother vented to him, but not always. Alexa sighed and headed into the laundry room.
Patrick was sitting on the washing machine. He didn't look up as she entered but continued to stare at his phone. After the third replacement in the past six months their parents had told him they wouldn't buy him another. They thought he'd been dropping them or something when in reality his powers shorted out everything electronic near him.... and his phone tended to remain on his person. A new one would last until the next time he got upset and their parents assumed threw his phone or something. His phone's screen was blank and dead. He was afraid to go near his game system lest he get upset and break that too. They needed to do something to solve this, nothing they had tried seemed to have made a difference. She sat down on the dryer next to him, hoping he'd say something first.
"Why do I bother practicing, it doesn't make a difference." he pouted. Alexa frowned.
"We will try to figure something else out." she said. Patrick just rolled his eyes.
"I followed everything Alistar told me, what if this is what I get?" he asked.
"Alistar had you under a spell, loosing Ramona is what did this, you are out of balance and we just need to find a way to balance you out." she reassured him. Patrick sighed and shook his head. Obviously not as confident in the way things would turn out as Alexa.
They sat silently for a few minutes before leaving the laundry room. As the entered the foyer there was a sudden knock a the door. Alexa looked at Patrick, and Patrick looked at Alexa. Neither had any friends that would be knocking and their parents had driven to the city, they wouldn't be back until late in the evening. Alexa motioned for Patrick to get the door, he shook his head and backed away, nudging her forward. Neither one wanted to sacrifice themselves to a random ax murderer in order to save their sibling. Finally Alexa gave in and walked to the door. Kaleth materialized beside her as she reached for the handle and nodded seriously for her to open the door.
Since Alistar's passing he was not quiet and grumpy but far more protective of her. Usually he let her answer doors on her own but he must have sensed something about the threat their guest could pose. She was surprised to notice Pitch had followed them as well. Obviously what or who ever was on the other side of the door could pose a considerable threat if both her familiars felt the need to come protect her. She silently wondered if it was a friend of Alistar's or someone of equal depravity. She braced herself for the worst as she heaved the massive front door open a crack wide enough for him to see her but not her brother or familiars.
To her surprise the guy at the door couldn't have been much older than Alexa. He did not look terribly threatening. He was a few inches taller than Alexa. He was of medium build, not terribly stocky but not bean pole thin either. His hair was a sandy blonde and hung into his eyes which were somewhere between blue and green. He was dressed casually in a superhero t shirt on and shorts. His held out his hand for her to shake.
