(79 days prior to present day)
I sat up. The light was bright again. The window in our room looked to be facing northeast. It was brighter in the morning than at night, but without much direct sunlight at all.
I sighed.
I guess that really depended on where we were though.
There wasn’t much to go off of, but it wasn’t like I’d looked out the window from the height that it was at.
I turned to look at my parents.
My dad grimaced as he tried to sit up, his face pale, quickly contorting into pain. He settled for leaning back on his elbows, his breath short. There was blood on his shirt. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t life-threatening… yet.
Mom reached over for me and I crawled closer, my body aching, and I sat by them.
“Are you alright?”
I nodded twice.
Mostly.
Kind of?
I guess…
Shrugging at her concerned gaze, I gingerly touched the back of my head.
“Just… I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck… to the back of my head.”
I turned so she could look from where she was, her hand ruffling the hair near it a bit. I sucked in a breath when her fingers grazed the spot.
Yeah, that spot hurts.
Ow.
When I looked at her again, she was wincing.
And, on the floor were a few flecks of something. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it was dried blood. My dried blood.
Fantastic.
I’d been hit in the head hard enough, hadn’t I?
She shook her head sadly.
“I’m so sorry. This wasn’t how our trip was supposed to go.”
I grabbed her hand in mine, both of ours were cold. There wasn’t much heat in here either, was there?
“It’s alright, Mom. We just need to get out of here.”
She agreed with me before turning to dad.
“Jacob…”
He smiled at her faintly.
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine.” He sighed, his gaze falling from us. “Though I wish she’d been just a bit clearer about this whole ‘getting caught up in it’ thing.”
Huh?
We both paused at his mumbled words.
Dad?
“Jacob, what are you talking about?”
“Ashena.”
Like, Aunt Ashena? The witch?
He shook his head.
“She…” His sigh was heavy, his next words harder to hear. “She told me something was going to happen, I just–”
He paused, gritting his teeth, a trembling hand flying to his front, pressing where his wound was.
Dad–
“Take it easy.”
Mom pulled him onto her lap, letting him lay back against her instead of trying to hold himself up.
I opened my mouth to speak but he held up his hand, his eyes meeting mine.
“Lee, I didn’t… I didn’t think it would be like this.”
“What? Dad, it’s okay, just rest.”
He could tell us when he got better. Not now. He didn’t need to say it all now.
Shaking his head, he extended his hand to me. I took it without hesitation. Whatever he wanted to say, he wanted me to know right this second, despite what he must be feeling.
But it wasn’t like… he knew, right?
He didn’t know.
He couldn’t.
Blackstone…
I could still hear the man’s voice in my head, like some kind of ominous whisper trying to doom everyone I loved.
“She told me not to change our plans despite the warning. She… said we’d get caught up in something related to…” His voice trailed off ominously.
I saw my mother tense. Their eyes met and I suddenly didn’t have a clue as to what they were thinking. Something related to what? Why were they looking like that?
What was Jane caught up in?
Blackstones?
Something to do with their family?
Or–
“How long have you known?” Her voice cracked as she asked him, “When did she tell you?”
“…That day.”
She made a noise in her throat.
What – what day were they talking about?
“What day?”
They both turned to look at me.
Why were they surprised?
I didn’t know a thing about this.
“You know how we go to those reunions at the cabin?”
I nodded.
This had to do with that? How? That was decades ago…
“Your father was a part of the group who… stormed the castle to free twins.”
“I know.”
I still didn’t get it. I knew that part already.
Something that was finished and accomplished that long ago? Years. Before I was even born. How was it connected to this? To Jane and I?
“Well, that’s not the end of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“We were told… that there were others. With different plans. We didn’t get much information. No name. No places.”
They’d been searching for something, I knew. It was why they sometimes took over the study at the cabin during the reunions, making sure the kids couldn’t enter. But they’d been looking for someone who was still plotting against them?
That was…
That was over twenty years ago that they’d fought the previous Alpha Norcell to abolish the twin law.
Twenty years.
I stared between their faces.
And this person… was connected to what was happening now? As much as they were connected to what happened then?
Or was it… that they were connected to a person? Like… grandfather?
The…
The triplets.
He mentioned triplets in his sleep once. I never asked. But, I told myself, there were more than just a set of triplets. I had plenty of unknown relatives. It could be anyone.
“Explain.”
He nodded to my mother, for her to speak.
“Do you remember the stories? About how Jane’s parents, and Katherine’s parents met?”
I nodded.
I did.
There had been someone chasing their mothers, since they were twins. One woman had tried to kill Kat’s mother, Karen, prompting Jane’s mother and Karen’s twin sister, Kelly, to find Alpha Kain – her true mate. Then, it was quickly discovered that Kelly was the true mate of Kain’s Beta, Jack.
Kelly got kidnapped, and Jack, along with a group of people, went to rescue her, and he almost died in the process.
“The woman who tried to kill Karen, and the man who nearly killed Jack… we found out that they were related.”
I froze.
Eh?
Related… like?
Siblings?
With the same goal?
What would’ve been their objective?
They both tried to kill…
“They were…”
My mother paused, her eyes darting off to the side.
“They were what?”
I tried to prompt her to continue, but ended up looking at my dad in confusion, who squeezed her hand comfortingly.
Don’t say it.
Please don’t say it.
“They’re my half-siblings. We had the same father. And they were two in a set of three.”
Two in a set of three?
Like–
“Triplets?” I asked him.
He nodded.
I was right, then, not that I had any desire to be.
So, they were trying to find the third. Because, obviously, they knew something about the first two and knew the third was going to cause trouble. And they were connected to my grandfather, the parent they shared with my father… the monster who tried to make the world burn… in a literal way. He was dead, though.
Okay…
So, following that, I still wasn’t sure how that was connected with Jane, except through her mother.
And father.
Kind of.
I drifted off into my thoughts.
I recalled Cian’s face. One of the people who’d been in that group who stopped the Alpha. He was a twin, with an ability to see the future.
He’d given me a strange look once.
I’d not thought much of it at the time, because he was always staring off, seeing things, being cryptic…
But he’d met my eyes once.
And it was like the wind had taken the breath from his lungs. His shoulders had slumped down, almost in defeat.
Sadness…
It wasn’t quite that.
Pensive despondency.
He’d looked longer, his brow furrowing.
“I…”
He’d paused.
“Please take good care of your parents, Lee. They’ll need you.”
His words had been cryptic, but I hadn’t put much thought into it. After all, I’d been twelve. There wasn’t much for me to think too deeply about because I agreed with him.
“Yes, sir Cian! I’ll do a good job!”
His face had crumbled. He nodded as tears came into his eyes.
And we hadn’t spoken since then.
He’d known too, then?
About this.
Maybe he’d tell Jane?
On second thought, no. He’d be cryptic about that too. She’d have no clue what he was talking about.
I had to rely on myself to get us all out. Who the heck cared about finding out why they were doing this? It wasn’t necessary in escaping. I could think about it later.
She hadn’t responded to my call, but she might be sleeping. It was hard to talk when you were unconscious. It was fine.
I’d try again later.
It was all about the timing.
I just had to find the right time to talk to her.
I looked down at my parents’ joined hands.
“I’m sorry…”
“It’s alright, Jacob. I just didn’t realize you’d been holding on to that all alone. I would’ve… I could’ve tried to ease your mind.”
They smiled gently at each other.
And that was when I heard the creaking noise.
We all turned to see the door open, our kidnapper’s face in the daylight.
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