◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥

“So, enough with the shenanigans.” Started Aurélia. “We should address the elephant in the room. Irwin, Ricardo, put those ridiculous cigarettes away and come sit.” She ordered away as she walked towards the three sisters and sat in front of them. The two cousins bitterly joined in. “So, Ricardo, you still can’t see what our fathers are doing, I suppose?” Asked Aurélia

“No. That spell they are using to evade my power is extremely powerful”, answered Ricardo.

“But why would you want to know what they are doing?” Asked Rosalia to Aurélia.

“She wants to know the true reason behind the elders’ decision on sending her to the committee. They have no business doing so.  They could have easily chosen someone else, like our cousin Elvira or Uncle Nathaniel himself.” Quickly answered Irwin.

“No”, refuted Ricardo, “Elvira has gotten married into the Munashe family. Tradition says she can’t be considered a part of our family when it comes to official matters anymore. Besides, she was part of the second branch and didn’t have our family name, to begin with. No, father should have been chosen for the job.”

“Wait, wait!” Irwin got sidetracked by the sudden news. “Elvira got married into the Munashe family? When?”

“A few months after we lost Lithael.” Said Priscilla, hesitantly. “The elders felt that accelerating the wedding between her and Dzusso Munashe was the best thing to reunite everyone and show to the magical community that our family remained strong.”

“Magical mess!” Irwin got deeply annoyed, “Since when did our family drama become so political? I can’t believe we have been reduced to this!”

“Well, my loving and naïve little brother” began Aurélia “we, the Demahy De Chevenelles, are one of the great 13 families that control the world of witchcraft. Everything we do or say is taken with a political spin by everyone else. Getting one of us to marry into another great family, like the Munashes, is a great political move on our part. The elders surely realized that. After the tragedy that befell us, it was the only move to make.”

“Even if that tragedy is a lie!” Screamed Irwin.

“Irwin, not now!” Calmly, but firmly said Aurélia.

“What? Everyone here knows what happened! We just don’t know why, our fathers and the elders just won’t tell us. With everybody else thinking that Lithael died in a fiery explosion after a failed experiment with potions… That is just an insult to him!”

Irwin, enough!!” Aurélia was getting angry herself but quickly calmed down. “I wanted you all here because I wanted to tell you that I have been trying to resurrect Lithael.”

Irwin already knew this. And frankly, he wasn’t very surprised by the actions of his sister. For the others, however, it was unexpected.

“Are you crazy?” Asked Priscillia, dumbfounded. “You know it’s forbidden to perform a resurrection if you are not a necromancer, and for good reasons. Even a skilled necromancer has to be careful and needs special authorization from the committee! Are you even considering the repercussions of your actions? If the elders find out…”

“I know what I’m doing!” Aurélia wasn’t in the mood to be contradicted. “And father already knows this, even yours.”

“You must be kidding” Ricardo looked at Aurélia as if she had just told the wildest of lies.

“I’m not, I assure you. At first, I thought that was the only reason they wanted to ship me off to South Africa and keep me away from Lithael’s remains. But when I went looking at the mausoleum, I couldn’t find him. Father had his coffin moved. That’s when I confronted Father about it… accidentally telling him what I was trying to do.”

“So, you are not just crazy, “added Ricardo, “you are insane.”

“What did father say?” asked Irwin.

“He knew I would attempt such a foolish thing all along. And before he left on his last trip, he even hinted that my becoming the family representative at the committee wasn’t related to this.”

Irwin did not recognize his father in Aurélia’s words. Normally, their father would have had her punished by binding her powers or something of that caliber. Their father had always been about abiding by the laws of the magical community and setting good examples. Bluntly breaking those laws and even admitting to the infraction should have sent him over the edge. Especially an important law such as resurrecting the dead is prohibited. To Irwin, something was off about his father. Priscilla and Ricardo just did not know what to say after all this. 

“Aurélia, what do you want us to do? I still do not see how telling us was relevant.” Mea had finally spoken.

“I have abandoned the idea of resurrecting Lithael since I don’t even know where his remains are. But I still need you to summon his ghost.”

“All of us?” asked Priscilla.

“And why do you want to summon his ghost? What are you looking for exactly?” Asked Ricardo?

“I have questions for him,” Aurélia answered but everyone knew she was withholding something.

“The same questions we’ve been asking for the past five years I assume.” Added Irwin. ”Since the elders won’t tell us a thing, maybe we should go right to the source. But, why do you need all of us Aurélia? Wouldn’t the Book of Nephilim suffice? It would be more effective to draw power from our ancestors.”

Everyone was looking at Irwin as if he was stupid. But they quickly realized that he didn’t know that their Ancestral Book of Nephilim had been missing since the death of Lithael.

It was Mea who gave Irwin the news. “We don’t know where the Book of Nephilim is. It’s been missing since your brother’s funeral. But the elders are certain it hasn’t left the domain. Otherwise, we would have felt it.”

“It has been missing for that long? That’s very bad! Where is it then?” Did nobody bother looking around? Irwin was understandably panicked.

“Of course, we looked around dummy. We just haven’t found it.” Ricardo looked at his cousin with intensity. “We searched everywhere. Even I, with my power, can’t see it anywhere.”

“We searched everywhere... But his bedroom.” Aurélia said.

“Whose?” asked Irwin.

“Your brother’s. It has been magically sealed by him before he died. No one, even experts, has been able to break in.” Ricardo said.

“Sealed? Are you guys serious? And you are sure the book is in there?”

“We do not know for sure. But it is the only place we haven’t been able to get into and Ricardo can’t teleport inside. In any case, I need you all for the summoning ritual.”

Irwin was certain his sister was hiding something and he knew she didn’t want to go into details in front of their cousins. He would have to ask her later on. He also knew that he would have to tell her exactly why he came back now that he knew for sure that she didn’t have all the answers after all and that she was also actively trying to get them. Although, she might already have an idea. Though, even without the Book of Nephilim, asking for all of those people to help her summon her brother’s ghost was a bit of an overkill. Channeling all of their energy into the summoning ritual meant that she wanted Lithael’s ghost to remain in the world of the living for a long time. Which meant she had a lot of questions or she wanted him to do something. Priscilla had a lot of questions to ask Aurélia, a lot of doubts. But eventually, everyone agreed to help her. And they had until the end of the evening before Samael and Nathaniel came back to the domain.

After the meeting was over, Irwin went to speak with Aurélia in private. Ricardo kept on eyeing Irwin from a distance. No doubt trying to remind him about Mark who was alone inside the Rosemary Manor. Which he probably should talk about with Aurélia as well.

“Tell me, what exactly is going on Aurélia. You are not mentioning something about Lithael. I know it, you know it, and our cousins know it. What’s wrong? Why are you so eager to speak with his ghost? And why now? Is it because I’m back?”

“Irwin, you ask too many questions.”

Irwin just wouldn’t budge. “Tell me. He was my brother too.”

“I’m sworn to secrecy.”

Irwin just couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Is that what you couldn’t tell me five years ago? When father and the elders shunned me? Just that it’s a big secret?”

“I didn’t agree with how the situation was handled then and I still don’t agree with it now. Just that, now that the situation has calmed down and that I had time to think further about it, I understand the reasons behind my father’s actions.”

“Aurélia, think about what you are saying!”

“Listen, little brother, I get where you’re coming from. I was there too…”

“Then tell me!” Irwin was adamant.

Aurélia had to give something to Irwin, she had no choice. “I can’t tell you exactly what Lithael has done, father made sure of it by putting a curse on me…”

“I can’t believe this!” Interjected Irwin, rage in his eyes.

“Stay calm. The death of Lithael has something to do with another’s death. Someone father, he, killed as well.”

“Who could that be?”

“Leslie.” Answered Aurélia with the saddest and most intense of tones.

Irwin felt like a ton of bricks had fallen upon him. He had not even considered, not for one second, that Leslie was involved. But now that he thought about it, it made a world of sense. But still, one crucial question remained and Irwin was certain that Aurélia wanted the answer to that question: why would their father kill their brother’s lover?

“Now, do you get it, Irwin?”

“No, I don’t.” His voice was just filled with sorrow. “Whatever Lithael did, it was a legitimate reaction. Why in the world would father kill Leslie?”

“I understand your statement. But, take that information I just gave you and conduct that investigation you came here to do. When you are done, you might see things from another perspective.”

“So you knew... of course, you knew. After what I have said, why else would I come back home? What about the summoning ritual we just talked about? If you want to keep secrets, why include us? Don’t tell me you will ask us to leave when it’s done?”

“I’m afraid so. I’ll make sure no one eavesdrops.”

Of course, she meant Ricardo specifically. Speaking of which, he was looking at Irwin with intensity, making weird signals. Which reminded Irwin that he had a friend somewhere in the family domain. Ricardo was already next to him, looking worried.

“Irwin, we should go get Mark.” Began Ricardo, without even measuring his words.

“Who is Mark?” Asked Aurélia.

“Huh… I brought a friend with me.” Said Irwin, timidly.

“You brought a civilian here? The protocol is not even in place!”

“We should stop arguing about it and go get him.” Insisted Ricardo.

“Why? What is happening?” Asked Irwin.

“He is going up to the second floor.” Ricardo’s tone became urgent.

“Don’t tell me… you idiot! You left your friend inside the Rosemary Manor!” Aurélia’s face went white.

Mark had it right all along. The Rosemary Manor was indeed haunted by the ghost of Anthon Demahy De Chevenelles. Everyone in the family knew it, even the staff. Exploring beyond the first floor of the manor meant hearing, seeing, and even feeling things. The worst thing to happen to an uninvited guest of the Rosemary Manor was death in the most horrid way if they ventured to the second floor, where Anthon’s bedroom was located. One night, intruders had managed to infiltrate the domain and entered the manor. They were no doubt after valuables but what they had found was an angry ghost who didn’t like being robbed. It took a few hours of hard labor for the staff to clean up the blood and erase any other evidence of an intrusion. It had become a rule to never penetrate the Rosemary Manor without a member of the Demahy De Chevenelles family. Even then, never go past the first floor. It was painfully apparent to Irwin that he had forgotten to warn Mark about the second floor of the haunted Rosemary Manor.