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This story is not about magic. It's not about what happened in the past or what might happen in the future. It’s not about vengeance or justice, nor is it about hatred or love. It’s not even about family… This story is about individuality and the right to self. Let’s start with Irwin.

-- two months after the death of Katherine Wood.--

Irwin Demahy De Chevenelles is the youngest of his household. He left his family after an internal disagreement. Irwin abandoned his family and country to go to the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, located on the upper west side of New York City. 

Irwin is a very talented musician and composer, but most importantly, he's a very powerful Magus. He didn't use his powers as a Magus since he left his family. He chose to live as a normal human and go through the rest of his life without the aid of magic. Irwin was about to get his master's degree and was working very hard to get it. However, he decided to take a weekend off before his final exam, to relax and enjoy himself with a few friends. His best friend, Mark Roosevelt, has a family beach house in the Hamptons, so he and his other friends decided to go there for a weekend and have fun. 

The day before their departure, Irwin and Mark met for lunch for a final check of the list of things to bring with them for their weekend trip. Irwin was waiting for Mark at his favorite restaurant. He was listening to one of his creations on his smartphone while looking at the menu. When the waitress came to take his order, he noticed a hooded man entering the restaurant, someone he knew very well but it wasn’t his friend Mark. 

Whoever Irwin saw, the mere sight of that person immediately irritated him. So much so that Irwin got up instantly and furiously walked to the restrooms. The hooded man followed Irwin with a nervous look on his face. When he entered the men’s restroom, Irwin wasn’t there anymore. He knew Irwin was using some type of concealing spell to hide. The hooded man stopped to focus on Irwin's presence when he perceived Mark's arrival and saw him slowly looking around, trying to find Irwin. 

Out in the restaurant's dining room, Mark recognized Irwin’s bag at a table and naturally sat down in the chair next to it. The hooded man understood that Irwin had been waiting for someone and decided to leave and wait outside. A couple of minutes later, Irwin resurfaced and exited the restrooms. 

Mark was delighted to finally see his friend, they greeted each other like normal friends would and started talking about their trip to the Hamptons. The hooded man was watching them from a distance, waiting for the right moment to approach Irwin. 

Irwin was aware of the hooded man's presence. He took his sweet time with Mark and even went as far as ordering a full meal with dessert. The hooded man knew Irwin would do that and chuckled. He was intent on waiting as long as needed because unfortunately for Irwin, he was here to speak about an important matter.

About an hour later, Mark had to leave for one last class before returning to his apartment. As he was leaving, Irwin saw his stalker sitting on a bench across the street from the restaurant. The only way to get rid of the guy was to talk to him and figure out what was going on. Irwin slowly crossed the street, reluctantly made his way to his visitor, and sat right next to him.

“Why are you here?” started Irwin with a sullen tone.

“What? Aren’t you happy to see your favorite cousin?”

Irritated, Irwin stood up, put his heavy bag on his back, and started walking away.

“Wait! I’m here because of a serious matter, Irwin!”

“If it’s about me returning, you can forget about it and leave this country now! It should be easy for you.”

“You can’t still be mad at the family! It’s been like what? Five years?! C’mon man! They have forgiven you, you know that right? “

“Forgive me?!! My brother died! Your cousin, Ricardo! He died at the hands of our fathers! When I asked questions, all I got from the elders of our family was: “It’s not of your concern!” My big brother, Ricardo! And they treated me like a criminal for wanting an answer! If they want me back, they better kill me first because I'm not going back any other way.”

Full of anger, Irwin turned his back to Ricardo and kept walking away.

“Aurélia sent me to get you.”

At the sound of his sister’s name, Irwin stopped in his tracks. 

“What does she want with me?”

“She needs you at her side. Your father is about to retire from his seat on the Committee. You know our family has a permanent seat there. The committee needs someone else from our bloodline to take his place…”

“And, Aurélia has been chosen… “ Irwin finished, stunned by the news.

“Well, she doesn’t want to leave the family grounds just yet. Especially when another family elder could easily replace your dad.”

“I agree. Why did they take this decision? And why doesn’t she want to leave the family grounds? Also, why is my dad retiring from his seat so soon? And what the fuck can I do?”

“I don’t have answers to that Irwin. Aurélia didn’t say anything but that she needs you to support her. We, the children, are all supporting her.”

“Not everyone, I’m sure.” Added Irwin.

“You don’t have to answer now. I know you have a trip planned with your friend Mark and an important exam after that. So you can take a couple of weeks to finish up things here and come back with me to France. In the meantime, since it's summer, I’ll just have fun and party the American way.”

“Next time…” Irwin was very annoyed “Don’t use magic to spy on me. I trust you understand, Ricardo.”

Irwin left his cousin, thinking about what he just learned. The idea of returning to his family troubled him. Seeing his father again after five years of hating him made him shake at his very core. But he couldn’t stop thinking that he had to go back for his sister Aurélia, the eldest of his siblings. She was there when the elders of their family mistreated him for wanting to know the reasons behind their brother’s murder. She had done nothing to support him, she just stood back and watched what was happening. But Irwin could never hate his sister. He knew that she loved their brother as much as he did and would have done anything to prevent it if she could have. Still, Irwin always thought that he was missing some crucial information about this entire ordeal. His father would have never killed his son, no matter what he could have done. Irwin was certain of it. So, he decided to take that opportunity to secretly investigate what happened when he gets home.

The next morning, Irwin got a call from Mark who was on his way to pick him up. He was almost ready to leave. He went through his things to see if he hadn’t forgotten anything. That’s when Ricardo appeared in his kitchen out of thin air. Of course, Irwin was not happy about it.

“What do you want Ricardo?! You can’t just appear like that in people’s homes. What if I had company?!”

“You mean your girlfriend? Don’t worry, I scanned the place before I popped in.”

“I forgot how annoying you being a teleporter and clairvoyant could be.” Ricardo picked up one of the sandwiches Irwin had bought “And can you please stop eating my sandwiches! I didn’t buy them for you, it’s for the road!” 

“I can’t help but notice…” Ricardo stopped in his train of thought, looking around Irwin’s place with wide eyes. “I can’t sense any magic in here. There hasn't been any magic going on here for quite a while for what I can tell.” Ricardo seemed deep in thought.

“Yes, I stopped using it years ago.”

“What?” Ricardo screamed in shock.

“Can you stop screaming? I have neighbors!”

“But magic is your birthright! Why would you not use it?”

“Besides not wanting people to take me for a monster and ending up on a laboratory table?” answered Irwin dripping in sarcasm.

“You know what I mean! This is your place, you can use it in here all you want!”

Ricardo understood then that Irwin lived like a regular human by looking around the apartment. There were no magical items or other items magic practitioners kept hidden around their place.

“Aurélia asked me to make sure that your powers are stronger than the last time she saw you. But seeing this, I’m sure she will be disappointed.” Said Ricardo with a smirk.

Then, Irwin looked deep into Ricardo’s eyes. With his mind, he lifted him from the ground, magically grabbed him by the neck, and prevented him from teleporting away. Ricardo was about to lose consciousness from suffocation when Irwin let him down. Ricardo took a couple of seconds to catch his breath…

“Let it be clear Ricardo, no matter how weak you think I’ve become, I will always be more powerful than you. You got that?” Irwin now gave a dark look to his cousin. “Now leave, Mark will be here any minute.”

“I see.” Said Ricardo with an upset face. “You didn’t even use your hands. Aurélia will be pleased. She may need that new strength.” 

“Why are you supporting her anyway? Your side of the family always was jealous of mine.”

“You mean my dad has always been jealous of yours.” Ricardo didn’t seem happy about that fact. “Their issues have nothing to with us children. My sisters and I don’t care about what he thinks.” 

“But you do everything he says! Now that I think about it, why doesn’t he take my father’s place on the International Committee? It's the perfect opportunity for him.”

“I wish I knew.” Ricardo sighed, a bit confused about it too.

“You are clairvoyant for god’s sake!”

“But I’m not psychic, damn it!” Ricardo always had to remind people of the difference, even his own family. “I see or sense things that are happening at the moment! I can’t read minds or see things that already happened, or will happen for that matter! Would you people please stop annoying me with this?”

“You're useless!” Joked Irwin.

“Listen, I know our fathers are hiding something big. I’ve tried monitoring my dad and yours when I could but I think they've cast a spell that prevents me from seeing whatever there are doing or talking about.”

That’s when Mark knocked on the front door. Ricardo could see him dialing Irwin’s phone number, no doubt to let him know he was at the front door. Suddenly, Ricardo ran to open the door! 

“Hi...” Mark began, confused to see Ricardo instead of Irwin. “Is Irwin here?”

“Yeah, I’m here!” Interrupted Irwin.

“Come on in” added Ricardo.

“Who’s he?” Asked Mark. “Haven’t I seen him somewhere before?” He was remembering when he arrived at Chili’s the day before.

“My cousin. And he is leaving right now.” He said as he was pushing Ricardo out.

Ricardo did as Irwin asked and vanished once the door was closing. There was nothing more to do. He had given his message to Irwin. 

A few minutes later, Mark was helping Irwin load his car with additional supplies they would need for the weekend at the beach house.