Chapter 6

Serena

God, I’m exhausted. My body was practically shaking with fatigue. My vision was blurry and I felt sick. My throat ached and was covered in purpling bruises. If it wasn’t for Holland’s illusion magic Tony definitely would have locked me in a room somewhere. I let out an exasperated sigh, God he is such a worry wart.

“What was that sigh for?”

“Nothing, just thinking about how exhausting my brother is.”

Reed looked at me exaggeratedly, “seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“I’m not that dramatic am I?”

“Quite the opposite. I’d say you’re so undramatic it’s exhausting.”

“Oh,” remorse filled me. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I was just trying to -”

“I know what you were trying to do, Ren. I also know the reason you did it was to not worry us, but what you don’t realize is how much we all care about you. If you have to hurt yourself to keep us happy, it’s going to end up backfiring.”

“I -”

“You can’t win every battle, Serena.”

We reached the door to my room and I pondered Reed’s words as he led me towards the bed. “I know I can’t. I shouldn’t have done that anyways. I mean of course she would feel manipulated. I mean, that’s all my magic is good for anyways.” I looked down at my hands, thinking about the deceiving lavender waves that normally flow through my body.

Reed cupped my face in his hands, suddenly interrupting my thoughts. “Serena, your magic is brilliant. You just need to learn control. It will come. No one at your age has mastery over their magic, so just keep working at it and one day you’ll realise what a gift it is.”

I could feel my eyes begin to water. My voice shook as I spoke, “it doesn’t feel like a gift right now.”

“I know,” he enveloped me in a warm hug and began rubbing his hand down my spine soothingly.

I could feel love pouring out of him. I could feel his faith in me, and it was so strong I wanted to believe it, but my magic had caused harm too often for me to grasp on to it. At the same time, I was determined to prove him right, to make him feel proud of me, to make sure I didn’t hurt him by failing.

“For now, you need to rest and stop using your magic. I can only do so much, if you use anymore it really will become a problem and I’ll have to tell your brother that you won’t be ok, and you know what he’ll do.”

I shivered at the thought. “I’ll sleep. I don’t think I can go much longer anyways.” My eyelids were so heavy I could’ve fallen asleep, even though I was still sitting up.

Reed sighed, “Take the potions Holland gives you and I’ll come back in a few days to see about healing those bruises.”

I nodded, “Thank you Reed.”

“Of course, you know I’d do anything for you guys,”

I rolled my eyes, “you mean you’d do anything for Val.”

He laughed, “ok Cupid, it’s time to go to sleep.” 

He pushed me gently to the pillow before pulling the plush comforter up to my chin. I thought I heard him whisper goodnight, but I was already slipping into dreams.

***

I tried hard to bite back a wince as Reed poked and prodded at my tender neck. “There’s definitely a lot of swelling.”

“That’s probably why she hasn’t been able to do more than squeak the past few days,” Silas added, crumbs of the muffin he was eating littering his face.

“Can you fix it?” Val asked.

Reed nodded, “Her magic should be recovered enough for me to heal it, at least part of the way.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. For the past three days I‘ve been unable to speak, my vocal chords restricted by the swelling in my throat. No matter how many of Holland’s potions I choked down, my voice continued to fail me.

“Grab me a bucket of water, Silas.”

He dropped the wrapper of his muffin into the trash before filling a large metal bowl full of water and placing it beside me. Reed took a deep, clarifying breath and I could feel his magic begin to caress the water until a small ball floated from the bowl. The orb followed Reed’s hand until it landed on my neck, sending a cooling sensation throughout my wounds. As Reed worked, I could feel the constriction on my neck loosen and the tenderness dissipate. 

Before long, Reed maneuvered the water back into the bowl. “That’s all I can do for now. The rest should heal just fine with some time. Go ahead and try out your voice.”

“Thank you,” my voice came out gravelly from disuse, but I could feel the relief flowing off Silas and Val when my voice finally came out.

“You’re very welcome. Keep drinking the potions and I suspect the bruising will be gone in a couple of days.”

“Okay,” still strained, but with each word I spoke it moved closer to normalcy. “Any updates from Holland? I’m worried about those two, they don’t exactly get along.”

Val sighed, “I trust Holland to be professional.” Silas and I looked at each other sceptically. “He texted me a minute ago, they’re on the way back.”

I bit my lip, nervous to hear what my brother had decided. After he stormed out the other day, he called me. He spoke only a few words, “I’ll reconsider my position. Bring her to HQ in two days.”

Holland had taken Daniela - her name, as I’d learned at breakfast the day after she woke up - by himself. Since I couldn’t talk, I didn’t want my brother to see me. Val stayed for Reed and Silas stayed because he was “starving”, which was code for “I don’t want to do any work today”. That left Holland to take on the task.

Holland and Daniela hadn’t exactly gotten along. They bickered about practically everything and had at least one screaming fight each day. Sometimes I would try to quell their anger, but the glare Daniela threw at me each time I tried along with the pure hatred that flowed off her, made me shy away. I wasn’t sure I could ever make her feel less manipulated, or even if I wanted to. It’s true my magic is … Invasive. I’m not going to deny that. She has every right to hate me. I can just keep her safe from afar.

“He didn’t say it went bad, so I’m assuming Tony decided not to execute her.”

“I don’t know, Holly would probably think execution is a good thing,” Silas added with a shrug.

I bounced my leg as stress flowed off me in waves. “I’m sure it's fine,” I said, more assuring myself than anyone else.

“It will be,” Reed said with determination.

As much as I kept telling myself it would be ok, I wasn’t so sure. My brother would have Daniela’s magic examined and if he deemed it too dangerous he would kill her. Even though the past few days Daniela’s magic has seemed non-existent, Tony would take any measures necessary to bring out her full potential. He definitely picked a fight with her, didn’t he? I bit my lip harder until I tasted metal.

“Stop,” Val said.

“What?”

“Stop worrying about it, what’s done is done.”

I nodded. He was right, whatever happened it was over now. I couldn’t do anything about it, but that didn’t stop my worry.

I heard the lock at the front door jiggle. Val set a hand on my shoulder as we watched the door swing open, revealing a scowling Holland. “She’s been assigned to our team.”

Holland was clearly unhappy about this decision, but me, I was ecstatic. This was the best thing I could’ve hoped for. I could never have imagined Tony would let her be within a hundred feet of me let alone live in the same house - let alone live in the first place. 

“So it went well?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t say it went well…”

Daniela finally joined Holland in the doorway. She looked tired. Then she met my eyes and anger began to pour off her in waves along with a storm of magic, reflecting her ire. “You and your stupid fucking brother. Clearly being a jerk runs in the family.”

All my happiness faded. Right, she hates me. Why would she ever want to be near me, let alone work with me? It was selfish for me to be happy about it. “I’m sorry…” 

Holland glared at me, “why are you apologizing?! She’s being an asshole!”

“Fuck you!” she gritted out before storming towards her room.

“What happened?” Val’s calming voice cut through the uncomfortable silence left in Daniela’s wake.

Fury still rolled off Holland but he dutifully began reporting to Val at his question. “Well, we went where your brother asked us to. We got her magic examined by one of the doctors first. That part went smoothly, apparently she’s barely got a lick of magic… At least that was before Tony came in.”

“What’d he do?” I asked

“He walked in and basically ripped the magic right out of her soul. There was a seal over it, suffice to say, your brother broke it.”

“That’s why I can still feel her magic from here,” Silas said like the lightbulb in his head had finally turned on. 

Holland scowled at him, “it’s nothing to smile about.”

Silas shrugged and walked across the house to wrap his arms around Holland. “C’mon Holly, no reason worrying over it, we’ll figure it out.”

“How do you know that?! We could barely contain her before even with the seal! What are we supposed to do now?!” Holland shoved Silas away and the wounded look in his eyes made my heart ache. 

Holland’s voice lowered as he laced his fingers through Silas’s, trying to take back his outburst. “She hates us, how are we supposed to help someone that doesn’t like us, let alone trust us?”

“I told you, we’ll figure it out. We always do.” All the fight faded from Holland and he submitted to the hug Silas offered. 

“I’m going to call my brother.”

“Ren, maybe you shouldn’t.” I could feel Val’s worry, but I didn’t care. What my brother did was wrong and I need to know why.

“It’s fine,” I gave him a reassuring smile before heading towards my room, my brother’s number lighting up the screen. 

The phone rang and rang, even after I settled onto my bed, the rings continued. When I was sure it would go to voicemail, the line clicked.

“Ren?”

“Hey Tony,” I tried to make myself sound inviting, hoping to not ignite his ire.

“I assume you heard what happened?”

“Yeah, I heard and I guess I just don’t understand why you would do that.”

“It was necessary.”

“But I just thought maybe there was another way. Something less invasive? I don’t know, I just think it might’ve been a little harsh. Not that you’re harsh, I just…”

“Serena.” I immediately shut my mouth. “I told you it was necessary. I don’t do anything unless it is necessary. You know that. Or are you doubting me?”

“No. I wouldn’t. I trust you, and if you say it’s necessary I believe you.”

“Good. I just worry about you,” he let out a deep sigh. “Everything I do is to keep you safe, and I hope you’ll understand why I had to do it.”

“Of course I do,” my voice softened. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“It’s fine. Mistakes happen. I need to get back to work, don’t forget how much I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He hung up and I breathed a sigh of relief, I knew he didn’t mean anything by it. That didn’t change the fact that what my brother had done would leave a lasting effect on Daniela. I could feel her hurt, a sadness so deep my eyes began to sting. Sadness and anger and hopelessness. It screamed at me, and every part of me wanted to comfort her.

I looked at her door across the hall, contemplating. I shouldn’t. I can’t help her. She doesn’t want my help. She made that clear.

I knew she hated me, I did, but I couldn’t bring myself to walk away. I couldn’t leave her all alone when she was drowning in sorrow. She was already as alone as she could be; in a strange world, with people she doesn’t know, things she doesn’t understand. I gathered all my courage and knocked gently at her door.

“Leave me alone!” I could hear the tears in her voice.

I took a deep breath, “Right, yeah, I will. I’m sorry, I just - I’m here if you need anything.”

“Fuck off!”

“Sorry,” I whispered once more before heading back to my room, feeling the waves of Daniela’s pain.