❖𝒩𝑜𝓇𝒶 𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓃𝑒❖

It's been two days since everything has happened. I had layed low as Vera suggested while she dealt with the Sons of Prometheus. That, I have been told, turned into a total shit show. Something about this guy who wanted magic for the masses and something like that. He now had all our stuff and was also Midnight, which was just great.

Vera was busier than ever, it seemed, so she allowed Chole, Jason, and I to come into the reliquary and look at the books she had there. We searched and searched for ways to get Mavis and Lilith back, but we weren't finding much. Chole slammed her book shut, a growl on her lips. "There's nothing here!"

"Do all wolves have such short tempers or is it just you, dear?" Jason teased, looking to Chole from where he sat. Chole snarled his way, eyes shining silver.
"I'll rip your tongue out if you keep talking." Jason merely smiled.

"Please try." Before Chole could descend upon Jason, I stepped in front of her.

"How about you two go get some rest." Chole went to argue, but I cut her off. "Eat something, grab a drink." Jason shut his book and stood. "You're thirteen, Jason. No." The teen rolled his eyes. Chole brushed me off, going to the bookshelf again.

"I'll eat once Mavis is out of hell." I pushed the book she had grabbed back into its place. Chole growled up at me. "Hey!"

"I'm tired," Vera grumbled, slamming the book she had been reading shut. "I think it's about both of your bedtimes, hum?" Vera said, eyebrows raised as she looked between Mavis and Jason. Chole stared daggers Vera's way while Jason rolled his eyes.

"Funny." He said, swinging his bag over his shoulder. I had no clue what the contents of said bag was but never said a word. "I'm going to the pub." He said, walking out of the reliquary. Chole huffed loudly.

"I'm coming back tomorrow." I nodded my head before she followed after Jason.

"That one's charming," Vera said once Chole and Jason were out of earshot.

"Chole's always been hot-headed. Mavis is the only one I know who can calm her down." I sighed, flopping down in one of the chairs before Vera's desk. She said nothing as she sighed her name on some paperwork. I closed my exhausted eyes for a moment.

"You're wolfy friends have officially joined the Order." Just as I knew they would. They might hate it with every fiber of their being but they knew joining the Order would only benefit them with their search for Lilith. "You have nothing to say to that? You were so adamant about them not joining yesterday." I slowly opened my eyes, finding Vera still hard at work.

"They want Lilith back. To do that they need The Order's resources. Once they have Lilith back, they'll find a way out of your deal."

"That is if they want out." Vera turned her stone-like eyes on me. "That blond, Hamish, has taken a rather interesting liking to The Order--very committed. And Jack is--he has potential."

"The Order goes against everything Hamish stands for. He fights bad magic--not joins it."

"Who said he'd be using what he learns here for bad?" I paused. He had never expressed his dislike for magic outright. Not like Lilith or Chole. I guess I had just--assumed. Magic had killed Cassie--bad magic. Now that I think about it, were those practitioners even a part of The Order? "The Order isn't innately evil, Nora. There have been some bad seeds--bad factions such as the Silent Sisters. I'm trying to bring us back to what we once were." Vera leaned back in her seat, watching me.

"And that would be?"

"Protectors of humanity." I scoffed. "Rogwan was just the tip of the iceberg, Nora. The Order has been holding him back since World War Two. We've been holding a lot of this back--things that could get out if we don't get our stuff back. I will agree that as of late, our mission has been a bit--muddled, but I plan on bringing a stop to that."

"How?"

"There is no one way, but I need help. People who I can trust. People who will help me." Vera hesitated. "I would like you to help me--you and your Knights." Out of all the things I thought she would have said, that was not one of them. I was not expecting her to ask that. To even suggest my help. But already felt myself pulling back from her offer. From an offer that would no doubt bring us closer together.

"I would only cause you trouble." Vera pinched her lips together.

"I see what you're doing. What you've always done." Tried keeping my demeanor light.

"I'm not doing anything--"

"I'm your sister, Nora. Like it or not I know you. The real you." I said nothing because I had nothing to say to that. "Just because you've hurt people in the past doesn't mean shit for the future., and it most definitely doesn't mean shit to me."

"Vera--" She held a hand up, stopping me.

"We don't need to keep talking about this. Just promise me you'll think it over." I nodded and Vera gave a deep sigh. "Well, I don't know about you, but I could use a stiff drink and crappy tv show."

"Agreed." Vera packed up her things and extinguished the fire in the fireplace before we were walking through the Temple and out into the cool night air. A few students were walking around, probably heading in for the night.

Belgrave was beautiful. Old architecture and amazing landscape. It definitely beat D.C. in the sense that it was quiet and there wasn't a constant heavy, foul-smelling odor in the air. And the woods. An endless amount of them to run through.

"Nora." I looked at my sister. "I was thinking, when we get Brianna back, you could stay here." I nearly stopped in my tracks. First, she wants me to help her with The Order, and now--now she wants me to stay here. I didn't know what to say--what to think even. "Believe it or not, I want to be in your life--both your lives. You're my little sister and I will always be there for you." That feeling of withdrawment filling me again. Too close--she was trying to get too close and I'd hurt her. But another part of me wished with all my heart to be in her life too. Because she is my sister and no matter our pasts, I cared about her.

"I think I m--" Delta stirred under my skin. Danger. There was danger nearby. Vera must have felt it too because she stopped, slowly turning around. She had a single, wide-eyed moment before flames engulfed her. A strangled scream left my lips as I watched my sister struggle with the growing fire.

A spell--I needed to help her. God damn it, I needed a spell! Footsteps had me turning to find a deranged man making his way over, a small dagger in hand. He'd done this. A roar ripped from my throat as I shifted. I'd kill him, hopefully stopping the spell slowly killing Vera.

I rushed at the man, teeth and claw ready to tear him to pieces. I was inches away from the man before a spell spilled from his lips. Pain shot through my brain, blinding me. I couldn't see and I couldn't think past the white-hot knife that seemed to be lodged in my skull. I was defenseless--an open target.

Suddenly, I caught air for a few, tense seconds before my body slammed hard into something. A tree, maybe? A lamp post? I didn't know and it didn't matter, because the pain of it all was slowly shutting my body down. I tried to fight it off--tried to regain myself, but it didn't happen. I couldn't stop the peaceful darkness that consumed me.

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Death seemed to elude me once more as I woke, seemingly moments later, to the sound of sirens blaring nearby. My brain bounded and pain laced its way numbly up my back and in my rips. But my pain became secondary as I remembered what had happened. Vera.

With what little energy I had left, I shoved myself up, finding a small group of students standing there. They were looking towards the red and blue lights heading our way. Gritting my teeth, I shoved myself to my feet. "Whoa! Are you alright?" A girl with dried tears on her rosy cheeks asked, gaining the other kid's attention. I ignored her, finding a charred body lying still not too far away. God no...

I pushed past the kids still trying to get me to sit down and walked over to my sister. My knees hit the cement next to her. "Vera--" I rasped out, not sure what to do. Would a healing spell even save her at this point? Was she alive? Leaning down close, I listened for breathing--waited for air to crease my cheek. Tears stung at my eyes. No--no she couldn't be dead. She--

"We--can't---be here." I nearly let a sob escape my lips as I looked back down at her hardly recognizable face. She grunted, trying to form words, but I understood. We couldn't be here when the cops showed up. Vera would be fine, but no hospital would do. As gently as I could, I picked my sister up in my arms.

"Hey--you can't--uh--the ambulance is almost here." The girl called again. Her friends made to come over, but a snarl and a flash of silver eyes had them freezing in their spots. Just as they had said, an ambulance pulled up in the courtyard a few feet away, cops hot on their tail. I took off, running as hard and as fast as I could. Whoever that man had been, he was powerful. Powerful enough to leave me feeling the effects of his spell.

Soon, I had made it to Vera's house and was placing her on her white couch in moments. Slowly, I pulled her purse, which had all but melted into her skin, off her arm and threw it to the ground. I tried to block the pain-filled sounds Vera let flow. Tried to ignore the tears rolling down the charred black flesh that was once her cheeks. A spell--a healing spell. But which one? And where would I start?

"Reparetur," I spoke, placing a hand over her heart. A golden glow illuminated my hand as her skin began to repair itself. Pink muscle, white skin. It slowly spread, stopping once a perfect handprint of unmarred skin lay there. 

It was a weak spell. Only good enough for small wounds, but I didn't know any big healing spells. I'd never needed them. If you were injured mortally as a Silent Sister, you looked down upon. You were weak and useless and you were no longer needed. And Vera had used up the rest of her energy telling me to run. So, I set to work. It was going to be a long night.