“What were you girls thinking?” Elijah stared at Dinah and Sadie with disappointment. “And you, Claude, you should have known better. You’re literally two-hundred years old!”

“I have no excuse, sir.” Claude bowed his head in apology.

“Get out of my house,” Elijah pointed towards the front door. “I don’t want to see you for a whole month.”

Claude gave Elijah a curt nod and briskly exited the house as Dinah protested. “Dad! You can’t just ban him from the house!”

“Yes, I can Dinah. Do you know why? Because this is my house.” Elijah grasped the back of a dining chair as he glared at Dinah.

Dinah and Sadies stared down at their laps as Kacey shifted uncomfortably. Delilah avoided eye contact, her arms folded across her chest protectively.

“Honestly, I’d expected this from Dinah, but not you Sadie. So tell me, why?” Elijah directed his attention to Sadie.

“We weren’t going to stay long-“

“Dinah was passed out drunk,” Elijah interrupted.

“We wanted to go,” Kacey announced quietly. Elijah turned his glare towards Kacey, her eyes darting back down to her lap. “Dinah, Sadie and Claude were already going to go, and we didn’t want to get left behind. So, I told Dinah that if she didn’t take us, then I would tell on her.”

“We made sure they didn’t drink anything,” Dinah grumbled.

“That’s not the issue here, Dinah,” Elijah scolded, “the issue is you two went to a party without telling me, you took your sisters and Terra, who might I remind you are only fourteen-“

“Am I?” I interrupted quietly.

“-and then ended up being kidnapped as sacrifices on the neighbouring property. Do you see the problem yet?”

“Of course I do, the problem is the cult that was next door?” Dinah’s voice wavered with uncertainty.

Elijah sighed with exasperation. “Dinah, you’re going to be eighteen this year. You’ve graduated high school, you’re enrolled into university, you’re an adult now. But how can I treat you like an adult when you’re still sneaking off to parties like a kid?”

“Oh, because you would have said yes to me going to a party,” Dinah spat and folded her arms.

“Yes Dinah, I would have,” Elijah slapped a hand on the back of a chair, “do you know why? Because I trust you to make the right choices, because you’re an adult now, you’re capable of making your own decisions and if you want to go to a party, you should be able to go.”

Dinah’s brow furrowed as her eyes levelled with her fathers. “Really? You would have just let me and Sadie go?”

“Yes,” Elijah sighed in exasperation, “I would have dropped you off, and picked you up when you were ready so I didn’t have to worry about where you were, or if you were driving home drunk.”

Dinah’s eyes flickered away around the room. After a moment she settled for looking back at her lap.

“Look, I’m trying my best here girls, but you gotta start talking to me about these things if you want me to trust you.” Elijah ran a hand through his dark hair, he looked exhausted from stress. “You’re all grounded for a week. Sadie, take Delilah and yourself home and pack your things. You’re staying here until school goes back so I can keep an eye on you.”

“Are you going to tell our parents about this?” Delilah’s voice sounded small.

Elijah opened his mouth and then thought better of it. He folded his arms over the top of the chair and leaned forward while he considered Delilah’s words.

“It doesn’t matter, they never answer the phone anyway,” Sadie muttered as her eyes flared with anger. “If they ever come home, they will probably have forgotten about it, so what does it matter.”

“Sades,” Elijah said softly as she got up out of her chair, Delilah following suit. Elijah tried to think of something to say, but Sadie and Delilah left the house like they couldn’t get out fast enough.

“Can we go now?” Dinah asked rubbing her forehead.

“What about cult?” I asked Elijah.

“The police are dealing with it. The people that own the property are just people, so we leave it to the people police, alright?” Elijah gave me a stern nod.

“They were sacrificing people around a bonfire. Are you sure they were people?”

Elijah sighed and clasped his hands together. “Look, I know what happened last night was, terrifying. I get that you want to know that something will be done about them. However, school is starting soon and getting prepared for that is your main priority right now. Just leave the cultist to the professionals to deal with.”

Dinah groaned as she got up from her chair and wandered into the kitchen. Elijah tried to stifle a smile, knowing that Dinah was suffering from a well earned hangover.

“Why were they sacrificing people?” I asked Elijah, hoping he might be able to shed some light on the matter.

“Uh,” Elijah sighed, “there could be a lot of reasons. Maybe they wanted a good harvest this year, or they were trying to appease a rain god. Honestly, any reason you could think of. People believe you can draw power from sacrifices, like for a spell, or an enchantment.”

“Could it have something to do with the fairy who sent those women to kidnap me?” I pressed on.

“I don’t know Terra, could be, or could be something else entirely.”

“Do you think they would have sacrificed all of us?” Kacey asked quietly.

“I don’t know, Kace,” Elijah replied softly. “I’m just glad you’re all home and safe.”

“Is it always like this here?” I ask looking between Kacey and Elijah.

Kacey shakes her head as Elijah hesitates. “Uh, not specifically. There is always something going on, but usually it stays away from you younger kids.”

“Is it like this everywhere?”

“More so Australia, America too. One fifth of the Australian population are descendants from the convicts, who were the undesirables back then. England and its allies thought they could get rid of their non-human populations by sending them here. They didn’t realise they were inadvertently creating a haven for non-humans. Years later, all the supernatural immigrants who are seeking asylum from hunters started arriving and never stopped. It’s a bit of a mess here.” Elijah frowned and stared at his hands.

“I guess it’s still a mess in America too, since Lila and Sadies parents aren’t back yet,” Kacey said.

“Well, that’s what you get for murdering a bunch of natives and building your country on a network of burial grounds. The American settlers were practically begging to be cursed.” Elijah tapped the back of the chair as he stood and wandered into the kitchen.

Kacey and I slipped out from our chairs, I followed Elijah into the kitchen.

“Did the Aborigines curse the Australian settlers?” Kacey asked curiously.

“Australian settlers?” I parroted curiously.

“Yea, England sent a bunch of people to set up colonies here,” Kacey informed.

“That is not something you need to worry about. Our family has a relatively good standing with most elders.” Elijah put the Panadol back into the cupboard.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Kacey said narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

“We’ll talk more about monsters, magic and curses when you’re older. For now, you two need to get ready for school. Especially you Terra, I still haven’t enrolled you.” Elijah poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Ooo, can we go stationary shopping, please? It’s the only fun part about going back to school.” Kacey pleaded, Elijah tried to stifle a smile.

“You’re grounded, remember?”

“Yea from fun activities, preparing for school isn’t fun though,” Kacey bartered.

Elijah smirked as he levelled with Kacey. “I suppose it isn’t, but I’m still mad you went with your sister to the party.”

“Yes sir!” Kacey saluted her dad mockingly, making me smile in amusement.

Elijah patted Kacey on the head affectionately as he wandered past her. “Once I’ve had my coffee I’ll take you girls to Officeworks and you can buy whatever you need.”

“Which would be everything,” Kacey grinned mischievously.

“For Terra, not for you Kace. You’ve still got stuff from last year that you haven’t even used.”

Kacey pouted as her dad disappeared down the hall, I gently bumped her shoulder with mine.

School…?