“Mama, would you stop?!” One of her daughters called out from the other room. “It’s not like that!”
“Well I don’t know!” Raven yelled with a defiant tone as she pouted. “I just want to be prepared!”
I ignored the two as I opened the door only to see the front yard of her home. The evening sky was setting in and I could hear the screams from the TV where the rest were glued to the games.
“What happened?” Raven asked as Cynthia groaned impatiently.
“Reginald!?” She croaked. “Get me to the Underground, now!”
“Oh now you want my help when it concerns our child!” He barked back.
I closed the front door again, waited then opened it again but it was the same. Raven poked her head out from underneath my arm but that’s when I noticed her small purse draped over her shoulder. I could see the Glock sitting on top of everything in the bag.
“That can’t be taken to the Underground,” I stated. “That is why the door isn’t working.”
She looked up at me with an incredulous stare before looking down as if she hadn’t noticed. Had she been with Trevor, he would have found a way as he’s always carrying a gun with him undetected. I didn’t care for it as it brought unnecessary attention to us, but he never cared for the Underground in general and rarely visits outside of work. Had I not gotten toknow Trevor Coleman, I would not have noticed the growing number of people who see the Underground as an “other worldly” place that was either dangerous or just not a place anyone would want to settle for too long. I couldn’t imagine life without it. Trevor says it’s not realistic but for people like me with my bodily limits, it was perfect.
“But I take this everywhere with me–––”
“Mama, I know you didn’t bring Rudy with you!” Bree yelled.
“I don’t go anywhere without my Rudy Pete!”
“You and Ms. Norwood can find a way to get to the Underground. I am going to go ahead–––”
“Wait!” She blurted out before taking the gun out to plop on the table with a grumble of words no one could hear but her. “I’m ready.”
With a single nod in confirmation, I waited for another moment before shoving the door back open. The two quickly came behind me as we stepped into a dimly lit hallway filled with cold air and the faint smell of citrus. I could hear a woman talking in the distance and see the light at the very end of the hall coming from a room but to my knowledge, this wasn’t the dome. We weren’t even outside.
“Are we in somebody’s house?” Raven whispered, but I quickly motioned for her to stay silent as I looked around the somewhat prestigious hall. That’s when we heard the voices.
“This is unacceptable, Joy!” A woman shrieked from down the hall. “It’s ridiculous that it’s even coming to this!”
“You said all I had to do was play the role of a dean! Not be responsible for death of hundreds of–––”
“YOU DO AS YOU’RE TOLD! You belong to my family! Under my name! Your mother would be–––”
“My mother would be what?! She was a slave to your family and familiar slavery have long been outlawed in the Underground since the 80s! I didn’t sign up for this! They are all going to die in that arena at this school! I am the face of this school and you’re going to make me take the fall!? You wanted Maggie Grey gone; I did that for you. What more do you want from me?!”
We heard something like furniture clashing. A woman rushed out of the office with her belongings and looked startled at the sight of us standing in the hall. A petite woman with a short hairstyle. She wore jeans and a school t-shirt, but the feline features were not hard to miss on her face. She was attempting to shift but nothing could stop Cynthia. She darted in her direction with a single step of being here behind me one moment, and in the woman’s face in the next as pictures on the wall tilted in her direction. She wasted no time as the woman attempted to scream before pinning her down to the floor by the neck while the second woman came out. Her eyes bolted out of her head before she ran back into the office with us coming in right behind her. She slid across the large desk to grab what looked like a silver wand of some sort before yelling into it.
“THE FIRST FAMILY IS ON THE GROUNDS! I REPEAT! THE FIRST FAMILY IS ON–––”
Raven darted towards her as she caught the woman in her neck with her own nails, gripping into the skin as blood splattered out. The woman attempted to try and yell before she clamped down on her vocal cords. I dug into her desk to see who this belonged to. Just from the smell matching that of Marvin Holmes, I knew this used to be his office. The woman’s body dropped to the floor as Raven continued to feed aggressively on the neck with a jolt and shake of her head. I began going throughpaperwork, seeing different spells, different charts about lineage and Southern Five families before zoning in on one particular name that belonged to the sixth witch family that was said to be extinct.
Closing my eyes briefly, I felt the pinching pain along my spine as if someone was standing behind me with my wings twisted in their grip. When it stopped, I released a shaky breath and continued to search as I pulled out a small wooden stick, no bigger than a pill capsule before watching it expand to the length of my arm. Hand made from the finest wood in the Woodlands with petals engrained from a nightshade plant that only bloomed once a year, and bits of crystals shaved within the wood. It was my very own wand given to me as a Mother’s Day present from my team. Vanessa thought it was amusing that witches use a wand but Audrey being our only human and self-taught witch, showed just how useful it can be.
“What’s wrong?”
I looked up at Raven came in, helping her sister drag the limp body of the dean back into the office. The blood smeared along the fine rug until her head fell with a thud back to the floor.
“Close the door,” I commanded. “Another door will appear shortly. We need to be ready.”
“What’s wrong?” Raven asked again with her hand on her hip. The blood covered most of her chin when she slid the chair closer to the desk and climbed on top to peer at the papers and files.
“Trevor is calling for me,” I said as I inhaled another hit of pinching pain along my spine. Using the wand, I gently tapped the side of my pointed ear and heard the connection instantly as if a call was placed on speaker. “Audrey, can you hear me?”
“Yes ma’am,” she greeted. I heard my daughter babbling in the back which meant Vanessa must have dropped her off. “I’m packing everything for Mississippi now. Nessa just dropped Dawn off like a freaking bag of clothes and went back. I’m told Maggie is now there along with the friends, but something is wrong.”
