I nodded. "I think your dad would be proud that you broke free of your grandfather. I think he'd be proud that you had the courage to ask to leave with us today. Heck, I barely even know you yet, and I'm proud of you."
Alex smiled, flushing a little. "Thank you."
Emily squeezed her shoulder. "I'm proud of you, too. Now, why don't you stay with us here a while until you can figure out what your next move is. I'm sure everyone would be glad to have you as our guest. And you can even have your own cabin all to yourself. In the evenings and overnight, anyway. We can set you up in our shared meeting cabin. It's where we have family dinners, and talks, and all hang out sometimes, and all that stuff; basically, it's kind of just a big living room. And it has a couch that pulls out into a bed, which doesn't sound very comfortable, but my husband Calvin made it himself, and he's a master woodworker, and it's actually very comfortable. We can all scrounge up some clothes for you, too. So what do you say? Will you stay as our guest for a while?"
Alex beamed, her pearly white teeth sparkling. "I'd love to. Thank you so much."
Emily smiled. "Great. And you're so welcome. This will be so fun. While you're here, Kyla and I can show you around my pottery studio, and we can even all make some pottery together if you want. Oh, and we could even all have a 'girls day' fishing down at the lake with you, me, Kyla, and our sisters-in-law, Jasmine and Sarah. The lake is so pretty this time of year; you just won't believe it. And, oh! We'll have an autumn bonfire sometime soon. If you've never been to a bonfire in the middle of the wilderness during October, you've never lived. They're kind of spooky, but good spooky. We all tell ghost stories, but none too scary. My husband's been warned about that before. Oh...this is all gonna be so much fun."
I cleared my throat. "Em. Aren't you forgetting something?"
She frowned, her light ginger-colored brows drawing together. "Am I?" She gasped. "Oh, of course! How could I forget your wedding?" She turned to Alex. "Kyla and Aaron are getting married in two weeks, and you can help us plan everything. We're going to decorate the meeting cabin in lavender and silver, Kyla's favorite colors, and we're making all the decorations ourselves. You can help if you want. The first thing we're going to make is a wall-hanging banner type thing that says-"
"No, Em. Not my wedding. You're forgetting something else. Something that might seriously interfere with all our plans for fun."
Emily frowned. "What?"
"You can't be serious."
"What is it?"
I stared at her in disbelief. Emily was somewhat notorious for having a very short-term memory, though I'd never experienced it this bad before.
"The sorcerer who wants to kill our entire family if we don't leave the wilds within a week. The sorcerer who hypnotized our brother-in-law and is holding him captive, planning to have him attack his own family. Victor, Em."
She gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. "Seth! Oh my gosh, Seth! Oh my word, I hope he's okay. I guess I just got so excited to have a visitor here that I completely forgot all about everything this morning. Completely forgot about the sorcerer that's going to command Seth to kill us all. Well, I definitely remember now." She winced, rubbing her stomach. "I just got a really bad stomachache all of a sudden."
I nodded. "Yeah, me, too. I've kind of had a little knot in my stomach all day that's never really disappeared."
"Oh! Emily, you're not the only one who's been forgetting important things all day." Alex looked at both me and Emily, wincing. "Guys, I meant to even say this in the car on the way out of Houghton, but I guess I was just so dazed with hunger, I just sort of forgot. And then same on the walk here, and then same when you guys started making the food. I meant to tell you all to not even worry about Victor."
Emily furrowed her brows. "Why not? What do you mean?"
"Well, he may be some sort of sorcerer or whatever, but I think I've got him covered. See, I've never told anyone this before, but...I think I'm some sort of a witch."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alex took a deep breath. "And in fact, I don't just think, I know. I'm some sort of a witch or something."
I set my mug of tea down, studying her. "What do you mean by that? Like, do you have supernatural powers or something? And how do you know for sure?"
"Well, I've always been able to do...weird things, I guess. And I don't know how to describe them any better than that. Just things like...once when my father told me to pick up my room when I was maybe ten, I sat on my bed wishing that all my dolls and toys would just magically fly themselves back onto the shelves. And then suddenly, they did. I didn't tell anyone, because even at that age, I knew how strange people would think it was. I knew people would probably think I was lying, and if I did it again and showed them, they'd probably think I was some sort of freak. So I never told anyone, but over the years, I continued moving and levitating objects with my mind, getting better and better and faster and faster at it. By the time I was thirteen, I could play Moonlight Sonata on the piano just by moving the keys with my mind."
Emily's gray eyes widened. "That's...."
Alex smiled. "A little freaky, I know. And things only got even freakier as the years went on. When I was in high school, a boy tried to attack me behind the bleachers once. He pushed me down and started ripping off my clothes, and I tried to push him off, but I just couldn't. He started trying to touch me, and I thought in my head that I wanted to try to claw his face to try to get him off of me, but I couldn't, because he had both of my hands pinned up in one of his hands above my head. But even though I'd only thought the thought of clawing his face in my head, all of a sudden, big gashes ran down his face, pouring blood. He ran away screaming. That's when I knew I had some serious supernatural powers of some kind. But I promised myself that I'd never use them unless I was being attacked or to prevent someone else from being attacked. Lately, I've been sending my grandfather's cane sailing across the room whenever he tries to hit me with it. Which has left him quite baffled a time or two about how a cane could suddenly fly in the air like that. And I've had thoughts a time or two about maybe giving him taste of his own medicine and giving him a bonk on his own head with it, but of course I never have. He is my grandfather, for better or worse, and I'd never want to actually hurt him. But I have discovered different little ways of defending myself lately. Once I made it so that his bedroom door stayed locked for a while so he couldn't come out and yell at me. And I did this just by willing it to stay locked with my mind and picturing it staying locked, no matter how hard he tried to turn the lock. Another time, he was throwing so many different things at me...dishes, cups, candlesticks...more things than I could deflect and levitate at once, so I pictured kind of like a glass bubble around him, and all of a sudden, everything he threw seemed to hit something and fall to the ground, like it was hitting some sort of invisible wall or something. That left him really puzzled. So, anyway, I know I have some serious supernatural skills that could maybe help you guys' family defeat Victor and get him to leave you all alone."
Emily glanced at me and then looked at Alex again. "This is so...awesome. I think you can definitely help us. Thank you."
Alex smiled. "I'm very glad to. You all seem like such wonderful people. I'm glad to help in any way I can. Although...." She suddenly frowned. "I know I'll need to really focus on my magic and really get my head in the zone before challenging Victor, though. Because sometimes...my magic things don't one hundred percent work. Like these past few days, when my grandfather padlocked the cupboards and refrigerator to punish me, I tried just unlocking the locks with my mind when I got really hungry. But for some reason, I just couldn't. I don't know if it was just a concentration thing or what. I was kind of dizzy with hunger at the time. And then there was another time a few years ago when my friend was being bitten by a dog, and I tried to mentally un-clamp the dog's jaws and levitate it away from her. But I just couldn't right away. And several agonizing seconds went by while my friend screamed before I could. So...I know I need to work on m
y mental focus a little more in terms of my magic before meeting up with Victor. But I think I can do it. I think I can practice a few things and work on my concentration this week and really get my skills up to snuff. I think I could really help you guys. And I really want to try. Maybe I can even un-hypnotize Seth or something if I really focus on it hard enough."
Emily gasped. "That's perfect! Then Victor has no power over us! Then he has nothing! If you can un-hypnotize Seth, then you won't even need to ever have a magical face-off with Victor. If you can un-hypnotize Seth, then Victor has no choice but to slink away, because then he'll have no means to kill us shifters and take over the land. And if he can't take over the land and deliver immortality to your grandfather, then your grandfather won't have any reason to legally sell Victor the land. And after that...well, something just tells me that our ten million dollar offer is going to start sounding pretty darn good to your grandfather. He'll probably be pretty eager to take us up on it right away. And then my whole family can live happily-ever-after in these wilds together, forever. Oh, this is perfect."
I had to agree. My heart nearly soared out of my chest. I couldn't believe how simple yet brilliant the plan was. If Alex could just bend her whole will on un-hypnotizing Seth, and if everyone could support her in this and help her make this happen, the battle would be won right there. I thought how maybe I would be able to have my mid-October wedding with Aaron in a couple weeks, as scheduled. I thought how if Alex could just do that one thing, reverse Victor's hypnotizing of Seth, everything in my life would be perfect once again.
I looked at Alex, smiling. "I know you can do this. And Emily and I and everyone else will do whatever we can to help you and support you."
She grinned. "Thank you. I've only been here a little over an hour, now, but I love it here already."
Soon I told her and Emily that we should probably go talk to Aaron and everyone else and fill them all in about everything, and they agreed.
Emily grinned at Alex. "Once everyone meets you and hears what you have to say, I think they're all going to be pretty glad that you decided to come visit us."
They were. Everyone, including Aaron, shared Emily's and my thinking that getting Alex to un-hypnotize Seth could be the key to solving everything.
Aaron looked at her across the big round meeting room table. "Whatever you need, whether that's total peace and quiet, or someone to talk things through with or help you visualize anything, or whatever else you need at all to help you do this thing...please just tell us."
Alex nodded. "Thank you, and I definitely will. I think my first order of business will just be clearing my mind before I even attempt to mentally un-hypnotize Seth. I've had some...just some serious negative issues with my grandfather lately that have really kind of clouded my brain up, I guess. I think maybe I'd just like to sit outside in nature for the rest of the day and just kind of get into a peaceful, quiet state."
Aaron said that was no problem at all, and to please let any of us know if she needed anything.
Alex spent the rest of the day swinging on the tree swing out back and sitting in the yard among several tall elms, sketching in a sketchbook I gave her. She took her dinner alone in the meeting cabin and went to bed early.
That night, while Aaron and I lay in bed, he asked me what my gut feeling about Alex was.
"And by that, I mean...do you trust her a hundred percent?"
Aaron and I had some issues with him not taking my gut feelings into enough consideration in the past, and I appreciated him asking me this question.
I thought for a second or two. "Yeah. I honestly do. I trust Alex a hundred percent. I don't think she's up to anything strange at all. I just have a gut feeling that we can completely trust her. And I don't even exactly know why. But I guess that's why gut feelings are just that."
Aaron nodded, his dark hair gleaming in a shaft of moonlight slanting in through the window closest to our bed. "I feel the same way. I think she's completely trustworthy. I believe she'll try her very best to un-hypnotize Seth."
"I do, too. But, Aaron? I don't want to think any negative thoughts, but what about if she can't for some reason? Can I carry my gun on me when Victor shows up here next Monday and try to shoot him if he commands Seth to attack us, or if he tries to attack us himself?"
Somewhat to my surprise, Aaron said yes. I guess I'd thought he might say something like he was going to ship me off to Timbuktu until everything was settled and all danger had passed, like he'd try to do once when Victor and his wolf brothers had attacked before. But maybe Aaron knew me a little better by now. Maybe he knew that I'd never agree to go somewhere far away while my family was under threat. And he also knew that I was a pretty good shot with my .38 special revolver and that I'd spent a lot of time over the summer shooting cans with it, perfecting my aim, just for fun.
"Yes. If Alex isn't able to un-hypnotize Seth for some reason, I'll definitely want you carrying your gun when Victor shows up here next Monday. I only wish that I could shoot one myself."
For some unknown reason, when Six Clouds had created Aaron and the other shifters, he'd made it so that using any man-made weapon would stun them, causing temporary paralysis, before they could even get an arrow off or pull a trigger. Maybe he'd figured shifters themselves were weapon enough; nobody knew. But that's just the way it was.
I lay quietly, thinking for a while, before speaking. "Aaron, do you think...." I sighed, trying to think of exactly what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it. "Do you think that if for whatever reason, Alex isn't able to un-hypnotize Seth, and if I'm able to get a shot off at Victor before he even gets a chance to try anything or hurt anyone, or make Seth hurt anyone, do you think that would be murder? I mean, would it be murder to kill someone if an attack is at least imminent? Would it be wrong?"
Aaron took his time in answering. "Given Victor's track record and his constant promises of violence, no, I don't think it'd be wrong, and I'd consider it more along the lines of self-defense and not murder. Now, if it were nearly anybody but him, if it were just an average person who was shot before making any clear initial overture of violence, then, yes, I'd think it would be murder. But as you know, Victor may be entirely human now, but he's no average person. We now know he even just recently killed all his own entirely-human brothers using magic. And when he next comes to meet us, you know it's not for tea and cookies. He's hell-bent on taking these wilds from us, and I know he won't hesitate to hurt whoever he can in an effort to accomplish his goal. So, no. If you shot him in cold blood even before he had a chance to lay a finger on any of us, I don't think it would be murder. But my only fear is that he'd somehow wrest the gun away from you using magic before you could even get a shot off. And then he'd try to hurt you. Which, I will never, ever allow to happen as long as I'm breathing, but it still gives me pause. I don't want there to be even a one-in-a-trillion chance he could hurt you."
"But what if I kind of hid myself? Like, remember when we first battled the wolves, and I shot Alexander from the trees right before you bit him in the heart and killed him? What if I did something like that again?"
"Well...maybe. But for now, let's just focus on one plan at a time. First, let's see if Alex is able to un-hypnotize Seth over the next couple of days. If she's not able to, then we'll go from there."
"Okay."
I rolled over and gave Aaron a kiss, which immediately led to another. And soon, all thoughts about the Victor situation floated right out of my head. Aaron gently rolled me back onto my back and propped himself up on his side beside me to kiss me with a little more intensity. It wasn't long before he slid a hand down the front of my underwear, and I had to bury my face in his shoulder to stifle a loud moan so as not to wake anybody up in the nearby cabins.
The next morning, Alex continued to try to completely calm and clear her mind by taking a leisurely stroll down to the lake. Emily, Calvin, and I followed some distance behind, far enough away to allow her to be alone with her thoughts, bu
t not so far that we couldn't keep an eye on her to make sure she was safe and didn't get lost. By the time we all arrived back at the cabins, she said she felt ready to make an attempt to mentally un-hypnotize Seth. She tried for about an hour, picturing herself waving a sort of white sheet over Seth that would erase all traces of magical spells from him. But she didn't have any success.
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