Note:
Just a heads up, I'm going to be juggling around with the POVs so instead of alternating from Chase to Phoebe, there might be a few doubles like in this chapter, it's still Phoebe's perspective
Phoebe POV
"Catherine was the only person that had insight. She was there when that thing in my room attacked me. She was always there. And when Felix was around, she would disappear. After everything, Catherine had always wanted the power. Remember how she fought with Chase, Nick? She'd always complain to me about being second. Not having the throne or anything." I explain to them.
"But then something got me stumped. Vampire royals can't cross the borders during sunset or sunrise. So how did Catherine manage to seep through when the sun was coming up?" I question. They all sit there, focused and fixated on every word I say. Felix's jaw twitches while Lupus stands rigid. Nick looks like he's trying to piece everything together.
"Now that just messes everything up." Lupus announces. Felix nods his head, his eyes driving down to his hands. I could practically hear the clocks turning in his head. "We need answers, not accusations. What if our suspicions are wrong?" I then raise up. Nick then stands up abruptly and reaches into his back pocket. He pulls out car keys. They look old and rusty, like it's been forgotten over the years. Felix's head tilts to the right and he gives Nick a questioning look.
"We want answers, right? Well that's exactly what we're gonna do."
════ *.·:·. ☽ ✧ ✦ ✧ ☾ .·:·.* ════
Chase's car is odd. I'm so used to the long limousine he drives, any other car he steps foot in is just odd. This one isn't as bad though. It's a black SUV that holds a lot of space. When the car stops, I look out the window to see a dense forest with a hidden hut beneath the trees. "Nick, where are we?" Lupus asks from beside me. Nick scoffs. "It's for me to know and for you to find out." He replies. My eyes wander around to the atmosphere around us.
The hut is old and dull, made of some sort of brown material that holds it up just barely. "We're at a seer." I announce, suddenly realising. "How'd you know?" Felix chimes in. "In the West Wing, I never had much to do so I just stayed in the library most of the time. I read about it in a book." I explain. Felix slowly nods then looks out the window. I guess he prefers not to bring that up, the fact I spent most of my life abandoned. It must be hard for him too.
Nick seizes the tension in the car but clasping his hands together. "Alright, Phoebe. This seer is really old and kind of, well, retarded." He suddenly says. I shriek. "Nick!" I yell while hitting his side. He laughs then backs off. "She is! Well, she's kind of delusional and doesn't exactly like men so you'll have to go by yourself." He explains to me while leaning over my seat and opening my door. "Your majesty," he then mini bows, mimicking my position. I scoff back at him. "Just be glad I'm not terminating you for kidnapping me." And with that, I step out of the car and march towards the seer's hut.
The door is quite loosely placed in front of the hut, barely stable and slowly coming off. I contemplate between knocking or simply just yelling 'hello'. I choose to ditch the knock and go for the speech. This door will most probably just break off if I whack my knuckles against it. Just when a small whimper leaves my mouth, the door swings open and a tall woman stands on the other side. Her hair is brought up into a messy bun that lays on top top of her head. Her glasses are at the very brink of her nose bridge, threatening to fall off. Her hands are full with a tray of baked cookies.
When her eyes land on me, her mouth tugs up into a small smile and her head tilts to the side. "Why hello dear, we don't get much visitors up here. I assume you're from Mount Verona?" She speaks. I nod and try to put my warmest smile on. "Umm, are you perhaps a seer?" I ask very quietly. She chuckles and puts the tray to the side. She then steps backwards, motioning for me to step inside. "Oh no, darling. I'm Violet. The seer you seek for is my mother, Raven." She explains as I step inside. The house is quite small and cozy. It almost looks like the hut that Chase and Nick took me to for that spell.
"If you go straight in there, she'll just be inside that room. She'll love you, darling." Violet tells me. I'm quite shocked that Violet isn't the seeker. She looks strangely very old, maybe in her fifties. "Make sure you come back out here for some cookies, they're fresh." She sings before leaving me and stepping into the opposite room that I assume is the kitchen. Slowly pacing forward, I walk over to the room Violet pointed to. When I knocked on the door, (that was capable of the pressure my knuckles give) it creaked open. "Yes, Violet?" A weak voice murmurs. I open the door fully to make my presence visible. When the old woman lays her eyes on me, she smiles and her eyes glow. "You're not Violet." She then says, all giddy and happy. I return her smile and step into her room.
The room is painted blue and the scent around us smells like lavenders. "I assume you're seeking me?" She smiles and motions towards her bed. I take a seat on the very end and watch her as she lowers her hand down to the handle of her wheelchair so she can drive herself forward. "These legs aren't exactly the best, honey." She laughs. She leans forward in her chair and takes my hand in hers. "Now tell me dear, what is it you must see?" She asks. "I need to know Catherine Ashgray's past and if she'd have anything to do with the current attacks or, umm," I contemplate on what to tell her. I mean, only the royals are allowed insight onto what happened between Felix and the vampires. "Darling, I know exactly why you are asking. Do not fear to speak to me. After all, I know everything." Raven smirks.
I let out a giggle before asking, "So could you tell me if she'd have anything to do with it?" She looks at me very sternly before explaining. "Catherine had an obsession with Chase's power. She'd watch him for hours taming it and using it around the castle. She envied him for it. Deep down, she was destined to poetry the evil side of her and she wanted to use it to take over the throne and Mount Verona." Raven tells me. "Over time, she'd grown to have a strong hatred for her brother's intentions for peace. She wanted to devour kingdoms with him." She stops speaking and lets go of my hands. Her palm grazes her wheel and she steers her chair to a small desk in the very corner of her room. She opens the drawer attached to it and pulls at a small notebook.
"Then Catherine found this. When she read through it, her entire life changed. This sparked her intentions to go to the black witches and start this war in the first place." She tells me, setting the notebook in my hands. "But that makes no sense. The black witches hate vampires or anyone not of their kind." I defend but Raven only smirks. "Catherine found out about you and her plan slowly started to come together. Catherine would use you and your brother to ruin Mount Verona. She gave you those muffins that contained dark magic from the black witches that gave ehr control of Felix's mind. She used that to get to Chase so he could devour you. With you out of the picture, Chase would eventually kill himself for the loss of his mate. But Felix was too strong for her power and he fought back, giving a small chance for Chase to escape the control of her."
"Wow. Thank you, Raven." I thanked her, grateful for the information she'd fed me. "My darling, it is my honor." She says. "I'm going to give this to my brother and my omegas. I'll be back for the rest, okay?" I tell her, slowly getting up from my seat. She nods and gives a warm smile. "Wait, Phoebe." I turn back and see her sitting on her wheelchair. I step forward and she wraps her arms around my torso. Because of her short level from her seat, her head lays on my stomach and I caress her hair. "You look so much like your mother, stay safe, darling." She whispers before untangling herself from me and letting me walk right out of their home. I bite back the urge to ask her how she knew my mother.
"Oh honey you're out already?" Violet's voice erupts in my ear. She's beside the sink, soaking down dishes. "Oh no, I'll be back. I'm just gonna give this to my friends outside." I explain to her, pointing out the window to the black car that's parked outside the house. Violet steps onto her tip-toes and looks out the window. "Oh okay dear. There are still cookies here. Bring some for your friends when you come back." She says before I step out of the hut.
When I stepped outside, I slowly started to pace towards the car. Felix and Nick could be seen from here, they're both seated in the front seat. When I opened the car door, Lupus had sprawled across the backseat, laying down and raising his legs up to the car roof. "Oh god Lupus." I mutter before pushing him aside. "You're back already?" Nick's head turns to me. "I'm gonna go back for the future but I thought I'd give you this first. Mother Raven told me that this changed Catherine's entire life." I repeat and hand them the notebook. It's old and brown with a few pages starting to tear off. Nick grasps it with both hands and Felix and him start to examine it.
I'm half inside the car and half out. My legs hang out of the door while my stomach lays on the leather seats. "Okay, I'm gonna go back inside. There are cookies, want some?" But I'm already stepping out. They all start to look through the notebook but not exactly reading it just yet. I look back at the hut and watch as Violet's mouth starts to sing along to whatever music she's playing. The smoke from their chimney creates a sort of line effect in the sky. But before I could shut the car door, the sound of engines roaring rings in my ear. I look out to see several black vehicles come storming into the valley, tearing down trees and heading straight towards the hut.
Nick senses the movement and immediately starts the car engine and zooms the car backwards. Half of me was still inside the car so I ended up flying mid-air. I hold back a scream and pull myself into the car. Nick keeps driving backwards, hiding us behind a bunch of trees. "Nick! What the hell?" I scream. He gives me a stern look. "This woman doesn't get visitors. She's one of the most special yet forgotten seers in the entire universe. Abandoned into this forest years ago with her daughter. Black SUVs from the castle don't just appear at her doorstep." He whispers.
He motions for us to duck down as Lupus and I peer through the gap between the two front seats. They walk up to the front door and barge in. Violet comes screaming and running outside, both her hands blocking the door as she screams for them to get out. The guards push her aside and she falls down to the ground as another man lets his foot step on top of her, keeping her down.
Three more guards come back outside the house with Mother Raven in their hands. Her feet motionless, scraping against the ground as the guards lift her up by her arms. She yells in pain and pleads for them to put her down. "We need to help them!" I hiss but Felix only pulls me close to him, clasping his palm over my mouth. But then a familiar figure steps into view. Catherine stands with two guards beside her. She steps right in front of Violet and Raven and speaks to them. She looks cross with their answers and she flicks her hair, strutting back into one of the cars. She orders the guards to do something as she steps back inside the car. "What the hell is happening?" I ask them. Nick answers, "I have no fucking idea." But then I could hear, loud and clearly as Violet started to scream. "No! Please don't hurt my mother! I'll do anythi-"
Then two, loud, gunshots.
I lunge forward but then Felix's grip around my waist tightens, stopping the scream from escaping my throat. "We have to do something!" I beg then but Lupus shakes his head. "My Princess, I'm sorry but we must not." He replies. "I am the queen! I will do anything!" I fight back. "Not here you can't. This is out of Mount Verona's borders. Anything that happens here is anyone's game." Nick tells me. My head turns back towards Mother Raven as she lets out a cry. Violet, her own daughter, laying beside her, lifeless.
The second guard then raises his hand, bringing a handgun right to the side of Mother Raven's head before pulling the trigger, and setting off the gun. "What have we done?" I choke on my tears. Felix caresses my hair, "Little sis, you didn't do anything wrong." He tells me. I nod and gulp, suddenly realising something. I turn to face them with wide eyes.
"And we didn't even get to know the future."