Losing The Light Of The Moon

The Little Game Changer, Part II

Chapter 36: The Little Game Changer, Part II

TATIANA

The rapid flashes of the forthcoming attack came so quickly they blinded me for a moment as I mentally sent out my urgent message, giving Frieda the millisecond she needed to thrust her long arms through the bars to grasp my necklace hard within her restrained grasp, yanking me forward to barbarically thrash my forehead against the metal poles that confined her as her mouth widened in an evil grin. 

The force of the blow knocked me backwards, breaking my necklace. The large heavy crystals scattered all over the ground and into Frieda’s cell as Nimue’s younger sister Prue—who had changed dramatically, obviously hardened by the many years of hate and spite—appeared to my far right with the same smirk as she spat, “I have waited a long time for this, Tatiana!”

Thanks to my fortuitous vision, however, my instincts kicked in, my powers instantly released, and I was ready to defend myself against both Frieda’s misguided choice and Prue’s magic—not that I had any plans of allowing her to use it...

Throwing my right arm out as I attempted to regain my balance, my searing bolt of green light slammed into Prue, sending her airborne—her long grey hair covering her deeply wrinkled face as it blew straight forward from the mighty impact and her aged body involuntarily flailing in response—as planned, before Prue had a chance to make her first move. 

I felt the moist blood seeping out from the top of my forehead just before a drop of it fell in front of my eyes towards the floor, ignoring it as I fiercely thrust my left arm forward. Another vigorous blast pummeled into Prue, ramming her against the rock wall behind her in a lethal hit before my stream of green wrapped around her, heaving her whole body forward with a force so powerful that I felt the vibration of her fall to the ground viciously rattle beneath my feet before she went still in the dirt—her neck instantly broken.

It was then that the surprising flash from my vision occurred—two wolves—one black and one black and white—Nicholas and Beast—streaked past me, a visual blur in my periphery before they pounced on top of Prue with the rest of the guards barreling towards me. While their growls and snarls reverberated loudly in my ears, there was another sound that broke through—the loud cracks of breaking bones as Beast ripped Prue’s head off her neck, sending a pool of blood streaming towards Frieda’s feet as she screamed out, “NOOOOOOO!”

In an instant, my two cherished Crescent Moon wolves were on either side of me, stabilizing my slightly teetering small frame between their massive muscular shoulders as I shakily stated, “I have a better quote, Frieda...revenge can be its own executioner.”

Using their wide girth for support, I slowly lowered myself to the ground before placing my fingertips up to my forehead while my other hand wrapped around my sore neck. Nicholas and Beast quickly shifted, crouching down on either side of me, Beast’s mammoth arm immediately around my body as Nicholas worriedly looked at my forehead, “Are you alright?”

“Fine, just give me a moment,” I weakly replied, an illuminating healing green glow flowing across my open wound, “Though you two and I had agreements—and I had this handled. Prue was already dead thanks to Frieda.”

“Thanks to you!” Frieda furiously screamed out, “You killed her! And we had an agreement as well, Tati! I will tell you nothing now!”

Beast’s eyes filled with rage as he whipped his head around, bellowing out in a deafening growl, “Auntie defended herself!”

Nicholas looked over his shoulder, ordering his guards, “Get some towels and water!” Immediately bringing his attention back to me, his tone softened dramatically as Nicholas murmured, “The information doesn’t matter. Family comes first.”

“Family!” Frieda maniacally laughed out, “Tatiana is no more your family than she is your Auntie, Alpha Nicholas! Leader of The Council or not—not even you can change that fact!”

Nicholas bolted straight up, his eyes frenzied with fury as he fiercely roared out, “SHE IS MY FAMILY, Freida, who I love and adore! SHE IS A CRESCENT MOON! Always has been and ALWAYS WILL BE!”

Bending down, Frieda picked up my potion bottle pendant that had fallen at her feet before snapping herself back upright, thrusting it out in front of us—the word BELIEVE in the center of the bottle pointing straight at us—before raising it high in the air, bellowing out with pride, “I BELIEVE IN OUR STAND!”

A satisfied grin crossed my face, my voice strong once more as I slowly replied, “AND I BELIEVE IN MINE!”

Frieda’s eyes went wide as her loud gasp echoed throughout the cell before she fell into a dazed stupor, frozen in place. Nicholas and Beast’s heads turned back towards me, both bewildered as Nicholas shockingly asked, “Did you just cast a spell on her?”

“Mmmmhmmm,” I hummed out before slyly smirking, “I most certainly did—though I didn’t anticipate all the drama prior to Frieda holding that pendant and spouting off her favorite chant. Originally, I was supposed to be far back enough to only have a broken necklace and a slightly sore neck. Regardless, I believe it’s time to get the information we came for. If my dear Beast will help me up, please.”

Beast laughed under his breath as he stood back up before they gingerly helped me back to my feet. Nicholas kissed me on the cheek, chuckling afterwards, “Never underestimate my Auntie!”

My grin widened into a bright smile, I slowly drawled out, “Never, my darling!”

As they protectively turned their bodies towards me, I kindly encouraged, “Alright, Frieda. Tell me who the witch is.”

With no expression on her face, Frieda muttered, “Amelia.”

At first, I was caught speechless by her unexpected revelation, having to force out my next words as I breathlessly pressed, “Amelia? Are you sure?”

Immediately, Frieda mumbled out, “Yes. You and Julian killed her mother. She wants to torture and kill Jace. I want her to succeed.”

I let out a long, exhaustive sigh before quietly murmuring, “Nicholas?”

“It’s impossible, Auntie,” Nicholas disbelievingly replied, “We threw her off a cliff.  She never emerged from the water.”

“We killed her,” Beast confusingly reiterated.

“If no body was found,” I desperately returned, “I’m afraid she has only allowed you to think she was dead. Frieda is telling the truth, which means Amelia is indeed alive and working with the rogue Blood Horizons to satisfy all their desires for revenge.”

**********

My sweet Beast continued his fierce safeguarding of me, framing his hulking body around mine as we sat outside the entrance to Frieda’s underground prison. Nicholas was kneeling in front of me, assisting in my clean-up efforts as he dipped a towel in some water.

“While I love you both dearly, your Auntie is not pleased with either of you—you have no doubt left my Tink even more anxious and had Raven momentarily outsmart me. So, I have two questions for you gentlemen,” I admonishingly stated, “One—how long were you here and two—did you grant my wish of not telling everyone of Prue’s arrival?”

Wiping some blood from my forehead, Nicholas kindly admitted, “We were here the whole time, and no one knows about what happened yet. You were right about that—it’s best explained at home instead of panic here. And why don’t we agree to disagree about being here? As Alpha, I stand by my decision and my decision for Beast to join me, so you can’t be mad at him.”

Looking up at my gentle giant whose kind eyes were filled with concern, I winked at him, bringing my hand up to his stubbly dark bearded cheek, assuring him, “I’m rather glad I had a member of Auntie’s Army present and one of my very favorite ones at that! A secret to stay between us, of course!” As usual, my sweet Beast melted my heart with his brilliant smile, silently nodding in return. 

Adding another dose of green aura to my forehead, I affectionately smiled at Nicholas, “And I will admit—I’m glad my favorite Alpha was there as well. Your protectiveness of me and passionately spoken words earlier mean a great deal to me, Nicholas...thank you. Now, if I can get this down to a simple, slightly discolored knot and headache soon—we can finally go home.”  

Taking in a deep breath, I hesitantly continued, “And I’m sorry you both had to endure my conversation with Frieda, though I suspect the long version of our story is being told as we speak.”

Nicholas shook his head before taking my hands in his, admiringly telling me, “No thanks are needed, I meant every word—and I already know everything, Auntie. I’m the Leader of The Council remember? I had Lorenzo and Soren tell me, though it was a generalized version. I have no doubt Madeline will fill in some blanks and Beast here will know soon enough from Tink, as I suspect the same as you.”

Smiling at me brightly, Nicholas endearingly continued, “But just for the record—one, I’m glad Lorenzo never got to claim you as a Spirit Walker, which he is still bitter about, by the way. And two, you were the victim, not the reason. You are one of the most amazing women I have ever known and valiantly fought to remain true to who you really are—selfless and inspiring with one of the most beautiful hearts, if I may add. What you did only makes me admire, love, and adore you more.”

“You’re a badass,” Beast grinned, carefully pulling me closer, “Then and now.”

Laughing softly, I tenderly replied, “So many sweet words for your dear old Auntie—I do love and adore you both so very much.”

“We love you too,” Beast softly replied, leaning down to kiss my cheek.

“We most certainly do,” Nicholas adoringly said as he maneuvered himself to sit close to me on the other side, “But if your hands are any indication, you are freezing to death right now. I’m not waiting much longer to take you home.”

Home—there was a lot of explaining to do there—including the news about Amelia and that worried me—especially telling Jace. But there was one thing I was sure of—there was darkness before light and Amelia was going to pay for her role in taking my family away from me all those years ago. She would no longer torture, much less kill my son or any of my family—no matter what it took—even if I had to divert her revenge by restoring her memories of the past. Taking in a deep breath, I staunchly began, “Nicholas, about Amelia, I think—”

Taking my hands in his again, Nicholas adamantly informed me, “We will make sure Amelia doesn’t hurt our family again, Auntie—or anyone else for that matter—and we will do it together.”

************

JACE

Staring at one of Mother’s opened paper fairies in my hand, I couldn’t help but smile. My fingers glistening from the fallen glitter on her beautiful note, I thought back to when I was eight years old...and realized how fortunate I was to have the luxury of freedom from worry and care-free thoughts...

Like I had often thought with our Rogue Eight girls, I admired what Mother was able to do at such a young age. But while they had each other to lean on, she faced it alone—I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her. The more I learned, the more I appreciated my mother, while at the same time, my heart continued to break for her as my aunts continued to disappoint me...

After the initial shock wore off, my aunts begged Mother to come to them. She refused, telling them that it wasn’t time—because they wouldn’t believe her. When asked about what, Mother told them about her new ability—her visions. She also told them what she saw—Frieda and The Chosen were behind everything.  What my aunts said next surprised and infuriated me—as Mother expected, they didn’t believe her.

“While we knew Tati was gifted, to have visions that young—it was completely inconceivable,” Aunt Persephone stated in wonderment, “She was only eight years old! Even in the strongest of lineages, no witch had ever acquired that ability until their late teens! We told her it was impossible and to just trust us and come home. She never replied—again, we had failed her miserably.”

“And unfortunately, Tati’s initial visit didn’t deter our anger or our purpose, something I’m ashamed to say Tati saw because I continued to be blind,” Aunt Persephone reluctantly admitted, “I still blamed Nigel for everything and wanted him to pay—dearly. Of course, we did as Tati asked. Frieda had no idea of our contact with her then—or ever.”

My aunts continued to receive fairy messages from Mother once a week and they both kept every single one, hiding them from Frieda. Each note had the same quotes and message on the bottom and each time one appeared, Mother whispered the same words about darkness and light—but would say nothing else no matter how hard my aunts tried to convince her otherwise—until two months later, when she instructed them to recite her quotes and message out loud. Continuing to fear their only connection to her would disappear if they didn’t comply, they did as Mother wished. 

Aunt Reina earnestly said, “We couldn’t see it then, but she was reminding us of who we were inside and who we should have believed in all along—our family—our Tatiana. The power of three will set us free.”

As time went on, The Chosen five continued to take notice of my aunts’ growing darkness, deciding they could be brought in closer, to the point that they were invited one evening to a private meeting—a discussion that they were informed needed to be kept from the rest of their coven, and it was then that Mother’s tactics appeared to begin working...

Aunt Persephone unevenly breathed out, “The light finally peeked through the darkness that night. One of her sources informed Frieda that an alliance demonstration was to be held at Howling Wind. She received a vision—a plan to kill Nigel in front of not only his army, but The Council’s armies—by his own son, Soren, who would be killed before he could explain. The Chosen could devastate and destroy Howling Winds completely and put The Council in utter turmoil with no trace of our involvement. She said it provided the perfect scenario for Nigel to pay for killing our parents and being the main cause of Tatiana’s disappearance.”

All our stunned eyes were on Soren then, who was darkly glaring down at the table, his jaw locked hard and his cheeks rapidly turning crimson—his whole expression changing as he became justifiably enraged listening to my aunt’s words.   

After the meeting, the more my aunts thought about the fact that not just Nigel, but Soren and the entire Howling Wind pack would devastatingly suffer in the fallout of Frieda’s plan, the more they began to have second thoughts about the whole thing, including second-guessing their own revenge against the Howling Wind Alpha—finally realizing the darkness that had consumed their lives. 

They also saw cracks in their leaders’ guises as they attended several more meetings and began questioning if this was truly the right road to take as so many innocent people would be affected by the fallout—to which The Chosen five furiously reminded them that their parents were innocents and Nigel had no second thoughts about killing them, reminding them of the false truth, leaving them conflicted and torn.

As the day drew closer, however, the single daily delivery of fairy notes became a silent whirlwind of messages. The day before, my aunts woke up to find themselves covered in them. But on the day of the demonstration—there was nothing. However, each of my aunts found themselves drawn to their fairy boxes—and as it had become a habit now and though neither knew at the time, they each pulled a fairy out...and re-read my mother’s quotes and message out loud...

Aunt Persephone dreamily recalled, “It wasn’t until it was time for us to go—Tati’s voice softly whispered in our heads, ‘In spite of everything, I still believe—choose wisely today—we are the Power of Three—believe in us and set us free’.”

My aunts were struggling when they arrived in the forest behind Soren’s training fields. Looking out at the large gathering, the light finally broke through their darkness as they realized they couldn’t do it—they no longer wanted to exact the revenge they had been seeking—they couldn’t hurt so many innocent people— at that moment, they chose wisely, but like Mother, it came at a cost...

They told The Chosen five they no longer wanted to take part in the plan and again pleaded with them to reconsider, infuriating the five witches instantly. Frieda immediately began berating my aunts and made a rare misstep—in her fury, she revealed the truth my aunts had refused to see all along—Frieda told them that they were a disappointment, and she should have listened to Nimue—They should have killed the entire family and taken my mother the day she was born...

Following her outburst, my aunts saw The Chosen five’s darkness in its full glory—especially in their eyes—as Frieda and the others immediately went on the attack—against my aunts, who themselves were incensed, but outnumbered. However, that didn’t stop their resolve to ferociously fight The Chosen five to the end...

The whole forest lit up with seven different colors of light—all of them throwing out fully charged blasts of power towards one another as my aunts took cover behind some trees—bringing attention to the inner-war of The Chosen to Soloman...

“My father had fallen seriously ill in the few months before that day,” Lorenzo calmly reminisced, “While he had recovered, it had taken a toll on him, leading him to pass on his Alpha legacy to me. He wasn’t supposed to be at the demonstration, but at the last minute decided to make an appearance, saying he felt drawn to be there. Father was the first to notice what was happening in the forest—alerting all of us that there was trouble.”

His tone changed to one of awe as Lorenzo’s dark hazel eyes went distant, profoundly stating, “And that’s when we saw it—an explosion of emerald green that covered the entire forest—as I heard my father mutter under his breath...Tatiana!”