NOVA
The wait was the worst part of this whole ordeal for someone like me, a neurotic and impatient over-analyzer, because not only did I feel helpless in this situation but I also felt incompetent.
Incompetent as an Heir and a friend.
Amethyst was keeping Atlas in a magik induced coma to keep his brain from swelling too much and because of that, we aren't able to wake him up until he hits at least ten days of healing.
It's only been three days.
Kassian has been quieter than normal, more subdued than I've ever seen him before, and definitely more contemplative about the situation as a whole.
And don't even get me started on Nix.
Because while he did check in on us here and there, like he said he would, those messages were despondent, vague, and very unPhoenix like of him.
"That should be enough Healing for today" Amethyst said, interrupting my thoughts, those violet eyes of hers fading back to brown as she pulled back her Magik from Atlas "Sometimes too much healing could do more harm than good."
"How so?"
"If you use Magik too frequently on the same person, within a consecutive timeframe, it could alter the genetic make-up of that person."
My eyes widened "How?"
"I've never experienced it personally" she said with a shrug "I just know that when I was still in my Coven, our elders told us to be careful about who and how often we healed someone."
"So does that mean that all Witches can Heal?" I asked after the conversation lulled for a second.
I mean, might as well make the most out of this situation and learn something since we'll be stuck down here for another week at least.
She sat back on her chair and smiled at me "Are you really curious or are you just trying to pass the time?"
"I'm genuinely curious" I said, cocking my head at her words "As you know, I didn't grow up here so I don't know anything about any faction, let alone the Witches."
"Then how about we play a little game?" she smiled "A question for question. I'll ask one and then you ask, and so on and so forth."
I looked at her wearily "What if I don't want to answer one?"
"Then the game stops" she reached forward and squeezed my hand once before letting go "This will be fun. I promise I won't ask anything that makes you uncomfortable. That's not the point of the game."
"Okay" I nodded "Let's play."
"Excellent!" She clapped excitedly, her brown eyes sparkling in delight "First question. How has your experience been at Crescent Academy?"
My nose scrunched on its own accord "That's your first question?"
She nodded.
"It's been fine I guess?" I thought back to my first couple of months and then paused "Scratch that. Sometimes it's been a shit show of a disaster but that's mainly because of one person."
She shot me a knowing smile "Okay, your turn."
"Are all Witches Healers?"
"No" She said, her eyes getting that faraway distant look "There are different types of Witches within the Covens but we all derive from some kind of Elemental power. Healers usually draw their powers from the element of Water because water represents healing and the essence of life."
My eyes widened "What do the other elements represent?"
"Nah ah ah" She sang "That's two questions and it's my turn."
My lips twitched as I raised my hand in a 'go on' gesture.
"What do you think of the boys?"
My eyes widened at her abrupt question "What?" I asked with a laugh.
"I've known the boys since they were born" She giggled "Well, since Kassian was born. I was just a regular Academy Healer until Kassian's parents hired me to be their live in Au pair while they went on their research excavations."
"No way" I grinned at her "So you must have exciting stories about these three."
She snorted "The stories I could tell you..."
I glanced at Atlas with a fond smile on my face before peaking over my shoulder to where Kassian was reading a textbook, a pink highlighter tucked snuggly behind his ear "I'll definitely want to hear all about them later on."
"So I guess that smile means you think highly of the boys?" she smiled coyly at me "Do you have a favorite?"
"That's two questions" I remarked which had her grinning at me "And I think it's my turn."
"Technically, it's still my turn since you never answered" she said "But I'll let it slide considering that no one can fake that look or smile."
I blushed deeply, at a loss for words.
~~~~~~~~
Phoenix
I blinked as the sun's harsh beams nearly burned my retina's, my lungs taking in the fresh air for the first time in nearly seven days.
"Remind me again why you decided to pull me from my bunker?" I asked Rune, my Beta and close confidant for almost two decades, with a scowl "Considering that everyone else is still safely tucked away in theirs?"
"I apologize Alpha" Rune bowed his head slightly, a frown marring his face "But we thought it best that you see this before anyone else."
"We?"
"Yes we" Two pairs of footsteps sounded from behind me, making me tense as Atlas' psycho twins stopped at my side "Considering we found it first and decided to take it to your cantankerous Beta instead of our own."
"Cantankerous?" My brow raised "What the fuck do you Lobo's do in your spare time over there? Read dictionaries? Play Vocabulary games with Friends?"
The nicer twin grinned "Why do you think our Pack is a hundred percent smarter than yours?"
Rune snorts which has my lips tilting up in a smirk.
"Are you going to show me what you supposedly found or are we going to keep chatting like your grandmas on bingo night?" I asked "Because if it's the second option then I'll cut my loses now."
"Right this way your majesty" The one on the right, the slightly more insane one, said "We hid it about twenty feet from here."
I raised an eyebrow, turning towards my Beta "It?"
He shook his head "It's better if you see it for yourself."
The walk on the way over was comfortably quiet up until one of the twins decided to open his big fucking mouth
"How's Nova?" The psychotic twin asked casually, which had me narrowing my eyes at him.
"Why do you even care?"
"Don't be such a Viking Dick" He sneered at me which had me pausing and Rune growling at him "I care about her safety and wellbeing. I do have emotions after all."
"Since when?!" I looked at him in mock surprise "Because the last time I checked, someone with emotions doesn't chop up bodies for a living...Wearing fucking grins on their faces while they do it, might I add...experience the same emotions that sane people do."
"Just because I express my emotions differently than you do doesn't mean that I don't have them."
He shrugged.
"It means that you're certifiable." Rune said, looking at him like he was a Lunatic.
"Great, just what we need" I turned to my Beta "A psycho who goes to therapy."
"We care about Nova" The nicer twin, said softly "She's the daughter of our father's Alpha and the man we once considered as an Uncle. Plus, she's different then the rest of you."
I narrowed my eyes at him "Different how?"
"Don't get your panties in a bunch Fenrir" The more murderous twin said with a roll of his eyes "She's beautiful and all but we don't see her like that."
"How do you see her then?"
"We were there the day Uncle Wolff announced that he was expecting a child" Téo, the slightly nicer twin explained softly, which had my head snapping sharply to him "And we were the only ones that knew that she was going to be a she."
My mouth dropped open in surprise "You knew all about the Lupine Heir and decided to say nothing?"
"We were children you asshole" the other one sneered "What did you want us to do? Call up the Penta and set up a meeting discussing our faux Uncle's gender reveal party?"
"If you would have said something sooner, or if your father would have mentioned that little tidbit when he was interviewed by the Penta after Heir Lupine's death, we might have found her sooner. We could have brought her home. She could have grown up with us and not only learned about her Heritage and history but also about her dad too."
I wasn't just upset...I was fucking pissed.
Because while the logical and rational part of my brain understood why they never said anything, especially being the outcasted children of a Beta that everyone feared, the other part of my brain just didn't want to hear it.
It was that part of my brain that kept thinking how different things could have been if she grew up with us.
How different all three of us would have turned out if she was by our side this entire time.
"Alpha," Rune's voice abruptly pulled me from my thoughts "You should see this."
My gaze pivoted from him, to the twins, and then down to the green camouflage tarp concealing something between two large and untamed shrubs.
"Remove the tarp."