by M.C. Moore
Chapter 25…
For the first time in eight years, they were in the same room as their mom. Doreen was urging them to cut into the cake so that they could start serving it. Taggart numbly took the knife made a slice and handed Doreen the knife to begin serving the guests. The triplets made their way through the crowd accepting congratulations as they went, but never taking their eyes off their mom. Kellan’s breathing had accelerated the moment she had spotted their mother. She was getting angry, which could spell trouble if she was unable to control her powers.
Their mother smiled at them as they approached her. Meckenzie still couldn’t believe she was really there. Their father had followed them to the back of the room and was the first to speak.
“Diedra you don’t seem to have aged a day, you are lovelier than I remember.” He was mesmerized by her smile. “Maybe we should go somewhere more private.”
“I think that would be best.” She led them out of the room and headed for the stairs. Bowen was standing outside the ballroom and led the way up the stairs. He seemed to be aware of their mother’s desire for privacy and he led them to Lawrence’s study.
Everyone took seats and Bowen closed the door as he stepped back outside to guard it.
“You girls look beautiful. I do believe those are my old dresses. I can’t say that I ever looked as lovely in them as you do.” The smile that played across their mom’s face was enchanting.
Kellan was not enchanted. She was angry.
“You just waltz back in here and think that everything is going to be okay because you showed up for our eighteenth birthday party. What about the seven you missed? What about the Christmases and the school plays? What about everything else? You run off and then you expect us to jump for joy and come with you. So you have showed up to fetch us have you?” Kellan was sobbing, her body trembling with anger.
“I’m sorry Kellan. I really am. Life doesn’t always go the way you want it to. Sometimes when all you want in the whole world is to be a mom, you have to be the Queen instead.” Their mother’s face was filled with sorrow.
“You didn’t have to go back. You could have stayed. You didn’t have to leave us.”
“Yes Kellan, I had to leave. I had thousands of people depending on me to lead them. I needed to be there to protect them. I needed to be there in order to protect you.”
“But it didn’t protect us did it. They came here and attacked us. They burned me, and if Taggart wasn’t a healer what would have happened? I’d be in a hospital right now, or dead.” Kellan was visibly turning red in the face. Meckenzie was afraid that she would do her she-hulk routine right here in the middle of the study.
“Kellan calm down. You’re going to change into your larger self if you don’t.” Taggart placed his hand on her back trying to relax her. It had the opposite effect. Kellan jumped to her feet.
“I’m not going to sit here with her. You guys can do what you want; I’m going back to the party.” With that she stormed out of the study.
“Do you two feel the same way she does?” Diedra asked them. The smile was gone from her eyes; it had been replaced with eight years of pain and distance.
“I’m not going to say I completely understand how you left, but I do understand why.” Taggart’s level headedness was one of his best features.
“I could say the same thing as Taggart. I’m happy you are here though and I am happy that you cared enough to come back.” Meckenzie stood up and went to hug her mother for the first time in eight years.
Diedra held on tight. There were all those years to make up for. Taggart joined them and they had a good family hug.
“Well, there is much to discuss, but I think it can wait till after the party. If you don’t mind I would like to talk to your father alone and I think someone should go find Kellan and make sure she is okay.”
Meckenzie and Taggart left their mother and father in the study. Meckenzie was curious if they were discussing where their father would be spending the next few years. It really involved all of them, so she was a little frustrated that they had not been asked to join the conversation. She toyed with the idea of eavesdropping with her mental gifts on the private conversation, but decided it was probably more important to take care of Kellan.
Bowen was positioned outside the door still. He must be guarding the Queen. Meckenzie thought he had probably seen which way Kellan had gone.
“Did you see Kellan leave?”
“Yes, she went up to her room, I think.” Bowen smiled knowing Kellan’s temper.
Meckenzie turned to Taggart, “I’ll go get her. You go to the party and make sure that people don’t start wondering where we all have run off to.”
There wasn’t much that Meckenzie could say to Kellan that would ease her anger. This was a suicide mission and Meckenzie knew she was going to have to take the fall and be the bad guy to get Kellan back to the party. She knocked on Kellan’s door, but there was no response.
“Kellan, its Meckenzie. Can I come in?” There was still no response. “Kellan I’m coming in.”
Meckenzie opened the door, but the room was dark. As she flipped on the light switch she noticed that the room looked like someone had riffled through all of Kellan’s clothes and belongings. Stuff was scattered all over the room and some of Kellan’s things were missing. The photo of the family that she kept beside her bed was missing. Kellan’s laptop was gone as well, the cords hanging all over her desk.
Meckenzie walked over to the desk. Set against the speakers was an envelope addressed to Meckenzie and Taggart. Just as she was sliding her finger in the envelope to tear it open, her body started buzzing. It was just as Bowen had described it, an electrical fence without the pain. The magical alarm was going off.
Meckenzie took the envelope and ran down the stairs. As she hit the second floor her mother, father and Bowen were coming out of the study. They all moved towards the stairs, someone was in the house but they didn’t know where.
“Did you find Kellan?” Bowen was taking the stairs two at a time as he yelled back to her.
“No, she wasn’t there. There was this note.” Meckenzie held up the envelope so everyone could see it.
Meckenzie’s father had put himself in front of their mother and was headed cautiously down the stairs. Meckenzie fished the potions out of her purse and prepared to paralyze anyone who might be coming up behind them.
There were so many things happening at once, that Meckenzie didn’t know where they should go, but Bowen obviously had a plan. When they reached the landing of the first floor, he was headed to the front door to check with the guard. Unfortunately, the guard was not there and there were no signs of anyone forcing their way in. The sounds of the party still going echoed up the stair way into the foyer. The DJ was encouraging people to dance as he started playing Party Rock by LMFAO. Meckenzie couldn’t help but think of how much Kellan loved this song, which made her hope that Kellan was downstairs safe right now.
“I think we should get the Queen to the gym, we can protect her better down there. Meckenzie try and find Kellan and Taggart.”
The magical alarm was still rattling through Meckenzie’s body as they started down the stairs. They met Taggart, Ardan and Isabel at the foot of the stairs. Kellan wasn’t with them, which meant she was still missing. Meckenzie pulled the letter out of her bag and tore into it.
Dear brother and sister,
I know that you think we should run off and fight this war. I know that you have forgiven mom, but I have not. I am going to run away. I have saved up a lot of money and have a friend that is going to let me stay with her. I won’t come back until this war is over. Don’t try and find me. I will just run again if you do.
Tell dad I’m sorry. I really didn’t want to leave him, but I had to choose myself this time. Stay safe.
Love
Kellan
Meckenzie was shock
ed. Where had she gone? She needed to tell everyone.
As they started to discuss what to do next, Meckenzie yelled it out. “Kellan’s run away.”
Everyone stopped and looked at Meckenzie. She held out the letter she had just read. Her father took it from her hands and read it aloud for everyone to hear. Now they had two problems, there was someone in the house who wanted to hurt them. And Kellan wasn’t in the house anymore. At that moment the magical alarm stopped buzzing Meckenzie bones. Everyone noticed it at the same time.
“Whoever was here is gone.” Ardan stated. “We should try to find Kellan.”
“Let’s go to the gym first and look at the tapes. We need to know when and how Kellan left. Plus we might be able to see who was here.” Bowen led them downstairs to his room, the makeshift security room. Their father excused himself to find Doreen so he could end the party.
Meckenzie realized she hadn’t even gotten a piece of her own birthday cake. It seemed like such a trivial thought considering her sister had just run away and someone had broken into their house. They say just before you go crazy, your mind starts to think of mundane things. Meckenzie thought maybe she was going crazy.