Our Last Dance

Chapter 1: The End of Peace *

"You need to focus or you'll burn your hand," Rafe reminds Emma as she struggles with a basic fire spell. The blue flame burns bright and wild in her hand as she glares at it in frustration. This is the third time that she has attempted to cast this spell without burning herself or a nearby object accidentally.

"I'm trying! The stupid thing just won't calm down," Emma snaps. First Kate managed to get this spell easily, then Michael figured it out earlier that day, all while Emma hasn't even gotten close to keeping the fire in her hand safely. At least Michael couldn't figure it out before the hem of his shirt caught fire, she thought smugly to herself. She at least hasn't had to deal with that embarrassment yet.

Before they could continue trying to calm both Emma and the fire, Kate walked outside, making sure to stand far away from where Emma was practicing. "Mom and Dad just called, they said that their flight has been delayed due to a snowstorm back in Alaska. They won't be back for a few more days. How's practice going?" Kate asked, looking calm as ever despite the barely controlled fire in her sister's hand.

"She's improving, but I think she might need a break," Rafe smiled, turning his attention to Kate. Emma huffed and ended the spell, feeling a small measure of pride that this time that the flames didn't burn anything. She found that while illusion and ice spells were the most natural for her, she loved flame spells the most. Maybe tonight I'll try it again and make some s'mores, she smirked to herself, practically tasting the perfectly browned marshmallows already. Better make sure that everyone's asleep first, although Rafe will probably be distracted again by Kate after dinner. How her sister could love the man who had done all of those things to everyone in his attempt to find the books, including kidnap her, is something she is not sure she will ever understand. The past year of him living with them has helped Emma and Michael see that Rafe is not the same as he was when he was the Dire Magnus, but they both still had a hard time being around him.

I guess he's not that bad, especially since he's teaching us magic.

Regardless, if Kate is willing to trust him, she'll do the same, even if she is still tempted to leave her bedroom door locked just in case he was fooling them. She wasn't about to get kidnapped twice if she could help it.

By the time she finished this train of thought, she looked up and saw that Rafe and Kate were already back inside the house. She went to follow them, putting down the sword she was carrying in her hand in its spot in the living room. Even though Rafe kept trying to get her to practice her magic before practicing wielding her sword, she insisted on using the sword first. She even got Kate to start practicing with her after a month of living with Rafe in the house. She was surprisingly good at it, using a sword that Rafe one day brought home with him after going to visit Jake and Beetles while they were going treasure hunting in Spain. He told Kate that if she was going to start using a sword that she should use a good one, especially while sparring with Emma, who was using Gabriel's sword that was much stronger than the practice blade.

Inside she found Michael reading a book on elven culture, one so thick that she was certain it could kill someone if it fell off the shelf. He recently took to reading about elven culture due to Wilamena and their time in Antarctica, saying that he thought it would be good to know more about them. He was still obsessed with dwarven culture though, now having an entire shelf dedicated to studying everything from architecture to mining techniques. Emma preferred fighting over reading, but she will admit that she liked some of the dwarven swords she saw the last time they went to visit some of their friends.

As she walked past Michael and out of the living room, she heard a knock on the door, then Kate running down the stairs to answer it. When the door was opened, there were five people wearing strange clothes on the other side. They each had serious expressions on their faces and strange golden necklaces around their necks. The flame pendants drew Emma's eye, almost mesmerizing in their appearance, before she was distracted by the sound of something falling, followed quickly by Michael shouting.

It was probably that book.

Emma went to move into the kitchen, finding that the strangers made her feel uncomfortable but still wanting to see what was going on. She couldn't hear very well from where she was, but she could see that Kate was becoming distressed over what they were saying. When she went to go to her, Kate suddenly had her armed grabbed by one of the strangers, one with an intricate braid going down her back. Emma then rushed to Kate, pushing away the woman before getting grabbed herself by a man with a large scar going down his face. She tried to loosen his grip on her, hearing the sound of running feet from the living room and the staircase. As Kate was being grabbed again by the woman with the braid and another of the strangers, Michael went to try to stop them, before getting hit on the head and falling to the ground. Emma suddenly felt furious, and without meaning to froze the hand of the man that had grabbed her. He screamed in pain and let go of her, allowing her to run to Kate. Rafe ran out the door and used magic on the woman with the braid, causing her to fall to the ground screaming while holding her head tightly.

I probably don't want to know what spell he just used, do I?

As she stared at Rafe and the woman in shock, she once again was grabbed by one of the strangers, this time feeling them put an arm around her neck. She suddenly felt fear instead of the fury she felt when she saw them hit Michael, not being able to break free of the grip they had on her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kate shot lightning at two of the attackers, then Rafe using a spell to cause another to fall to the ground. The woman with the braid ran up behind Kate and grabs her, pulling Kate in front of her like a shield and dragging her towards where Emma was being held. Rafe, who looked as terrifying as he did when he was the Dire Magnus, stood there watching both the man that currently had his arm around Emma, and the woman who held Kate in front of herself, one hand summoning a spell that stopped Rafe in his tracks. Emma was certain that she has never seen him hesitate like this before, yet there he was looking afraid of whatever spell the woman was threatening to use on Kate.

Never mind, THAT's probably the spell that I don't want to know.

"Let us leave with them or we'll make sure that she goes with us as a corpse," the woman yelled to Rafe, the spell in her hand glowing brighter as she said it. Behind them, she saw Michael moving to stand up out of the view of the strangers that were still alive. As the woman started making demands of Rafe, all of which Emma ignored in favor of quietly watching Michael, Kate stomped hard on the woman's foot. As the woman let go of Kate in pain, the spell accidentally touched Kate, causing Emma to hear a scream that she hoped she would never hear. Before Kate fell to the ground, Rafe both caught her and used magic to send the woman flying into the fall. While this occurred, the man holding Emma suddenly went limp. Michael stood there with a knock-out spell in his hand, one of his favorites for when they started studying combat magic.

Turning back towards Kate and Rafe, Emma saw Kate stand up, Rafe holding out his arms to make sure that she wouldn't fall back over again. Emma rushed to hug her, with Michael following her lead. Rafe went to check the strangers as the siblings made sure they were all okay, grabbing the strange necklaces that Emma noticed when they were talking to Kate at the door. Putting them away for now, he also checked their pockets and found a letter with each person. Each letter was identical, stating:

"Dear loyal followers,

You have been found to be among the most effective of your group to track down and find whoever we send you to retrieve. This time, I request that you find three new targets: Kate, Michael, and Emma Wibberly. They are to be brought back as unharmed as possible. You are to take this and wear it at all times so you can find them. Good luck.

Sincerely,

The Keeper"