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The second they’re all gone, Gabe lets out a deafening breath and slumps onto his chair. “I love our kids to death, but sometimes dealing with the six of them can be overwhelming,” he murmurs, causing Emaline to smile, but her smile falters when she looks at me, worry taking over her face.
“I’m so sorry about this.” She gets up and sits down beside me. “I’m sure you’re probably beyond confused at this point.”
I give a nod. “A little bit, but that’s okay.”
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nbsp; She smiles at me. “You’re a very understanding girl.”
“You think that, even though I took off tonight?” I wonder skeptically.
“If I overheard what you did, I would’ve done the exact same thing when I was your age,” she tells me. “But I probably wouldn’t have taken the time to text my mom and tell her I took off. Thank you for doing that, by the way. I just hope that, the next time you get scared like that, you’ll stay and talk to me instead of running off.”
I nod, even though nervousness pulsates through me. Next time? Just how many times am I going to get scared?
As if reading the worry on my face, she says, “We need to explain this merging enchantment to you, and I need you to try not to panic, okay? Because it might be the best choice in this situation, even if it seems a bit extreme.”
I nod again, but holy hell am I freaking out. “Okay, I can do that.”
“Good.” She looks at Gabe then returns her attention back to me. “Our family has a lot of secrets—important secrets—which I’m sure you’ve figured out by now. And it’s important that the hunters don’t find out. And not just about our secrets, but about Foster. Because, if they do find out about him—find out he’s an elemental enchanter—they will try to use his power for terrible things.”
“Which is why, a long time ago, we put a merging enchantment on all our boys.” Gabe slides forward in his chair and rests his arms on his knees. “So we can protect, not only Foster, but all of them from the harshness of this world and of other worlds.”
“Okay.” I anxiously bite my lip. “So, what exactly is a merging enchantment?”
Emaline glances at Gabe again before looking back at me. “It’s a spell that links them with each other, so they’re all very in tune with one another.” Emaline explains. “It bonds them so they can feel when one of them is in trouble, when they need help—stuff like that, And it swears them to secrecy so they all have to keep each other’s secrets.”
“The enchantment is permanent, though,” Gabe stresses. “You need to understand that. If all of you choose to do it, you’ll forever be linked to each other.”
I gulp. “That’s …” Well, there are no words.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Emaline agrees, making me wonder if I said my thoughts aloud. “And there are other ways to protect you …” She trails off, and I sense a but.
“But,” Gabe finishes for her, “a merging enchantment would be the most discreet and best way to not only protect you but protect our boys.”
“I don’t want to scare you,” Emaline says warily, “but being an elemental enchanter can be very dangerous. And if a hunter has already contacted you …” She shakes her head, sadness masking her expression.
I’m still not fully sure I understand what a merging enchantment is in the literal sense, but I understand enough to get the basic gist of it—that it’ll protect me and protect the Everettsons, and that it’ll also make me connected to them forever.
“It’s not like I have to be around them all the time, is it?” I double-check. “I mean, I can go places by myself …? And eventually, when I get older, I can go on and live my life? I’ll just sense them sometimes if there’s a problem.”
Emaline hesitantly nods. “But you’ll always feel that connection to them.”
“How strong of a connection?” I wonder.
“It’s not extremely intense.” Max appears in the doorway with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “But it’s noticeable and can get kind of obnoxious when Easton is being a drama queen and thinks he needs help with everything.”
“Bro, that’s so not me.” Easton steps up beside him and rolls his eyes. “I’m as chill as a vampire.”
Vampire? My eyes widen, but no one seems to notice, as if this is all normal. But it probably is to them.
Max shakes his head. “You’re about as chill as a goddamn pixie jacked up on faerie dust.”
Easton’s lips part with a comeback, but he trails off when Holden pushes past him, Hunter, Foster, and Porter following. All of them glance at me, yet their expressions are unreadable. Instead of sitting on the sofas, they form a small circle around the room then trade an undecipherable look with each other. No one says anything, though, and finally Easton rolls his eyes.
“Fine, I guess I’ll be the spokesperson.” He steps forward and dramatically clears his throat. “We discussed things and decided that, while it’s going to be a little weird having a girl in our inner circle, it’s probably best if we do the merging enchantment.” His lips spread into a smirk as he looks directly at me. “Just as long as she doesn’t send an emergency signal through the link every time she sees a mouse or gets a pimple or stupid girlie shit like that.”
My lips twitch. “Oh, fuck off. I’m sure you’re probably just saying that because you do that crap all the time.”
