October 22, 2002 – 15:00Frank opened the door and saw a man he had never seen before. He noticed a slight resemblance to Audrey: same eyes. Lizzy was resting in her room and he didn’t want to disturb her.“Does Lizzy Hudson still live here?” said the man, in a timid voice.“Yes, but she’s not available to talk at the moment. Who are you?”“My name is Pier Glozo… I know her well. May I come in? And who are you?”Frank didn’t want him to come in, but he didn’t want to talk about Audrey in the open.“Sure. I’m Frank, her nephew. Audrey is my cousin.”Pier tried to pass the door, but couldn’t. Frank remembered Coralis saying something about warding the place against elemental intruders.“We can’t talk in the open air like that and I don’t know when my girlfriend will be here to let you in through the wards. Is Audrey with you?”“No, she isn’t, but I wanted to talk about her.”“I’ll give you my cell number. What about you call me when you’re in a safe place to talk and I’ll put you on spe
October 22, 2002 – 16:50Frank looked at her. He was speechless.“Our laws and customs do not allow an elemental to make that sort of deal with a human unless he, or she, is a marked mate of an elemental. Blue and Frank are a couple, yes, but she didn’t mark him as mate,” said Sebastian.“Like how shifters mark their mate? I know all about what mates mean for werewolves, is it the same for elementals?” said Stephanie.“It’s similar. Like it is for werewolves and most shifters, the ceremony surrounding it is the equivalent of a marriage, a mate is a soulmate, but the ritual isn’t the same. There is no biting involved and there is a spiritual aspect to it,” said Sebastian.Frank was listening with interest to what Sebastian was saying. He knew that a long-term relationship with Coralis was possible, but it didn’t occur to him that their customs regarding marriage would be different, so he never thought about asking her about that.Coralis’ hologram vibrated. She pulled it out of her clo
October 22, 2002 – 21:03“Your brother should have known better than to make that kind of deal with a human, you know it’s against our laws to begin with and I didn’t have to accept it.”“That may be, but only Audrey’s new guardian can accept it and duel me, you should know better.”Coralis remembered what Frank had told her about his conversation with Pier. Feeling proud of him despite the situation, a grin appeared on her face. She held her wand tight in her left hand and had her right one stretched next to her, palm facing him.“You are facing Audrey’s new guardian,” said Coralis as she threw a laser beam at him.He tried to dodge it, but the laser went right through his left hand.“LIAR!” he said while throwing her a blast of air, throwing her backward in the air, “Audrey’s cousin said the guardian is his girlfriend. Where is she?”Coralis shifted into her panther form as soon as she passed the shadow line, and landed on four paws behind a treeline. She crouched and transformed ba
October 22, 2002 – 22:18Everyone was holding their breath. Neither Coralis nor Dwayne got back up. Frank wanted to rush to Coralis, but Sebastian stopped him.“She isn’t dead, isn’t she?” said Lizzy, her hand covering her mouth.“I want to go to her,” said Frank.“She probably stam’ed out, but we can’t go in yet. Given how much energy has been discharged during the battle, it's not safe for humans to get close to them, not until the lingering energy starts dissipating. If there is no movement for 5 minutes, the officials will go have a look.”A few minutes later, High Mage Finnas and the two CMMA officials walked into the circle to check on them.“What does stam’ed out mean?” said Louis.“Means she entirely drained her energy and passed out, out of stamina.”High Mage Finnas stood back up and whispered something to Vectan. The CMMA representative nodded and headed to Audrey’s family.“Blue Thunder won the duel.”Lizzy hugged him and Frank released his breath.“She stam’ed out?” said
October 22, 2002 – 22:40“Who is Mousse?” said Molly.“She is Pier’s mother, I believe,” said Lizzy.“Yes, that is correct. Mousse is also involved in this mess,” said High Mage Finnas.“About the school, I would like to have Audrey transferred to the Northern Labrador Elemental Institution and if her mother agrees, I would like permission for a mind-link. That way, if something else ever happens at school or when she’s with her mother, she can reach out to me instantly.”“Granted. Both requests. I will get back to you regarding her transfer to NLEI, but you can go ahead with the mid-link.”Lizzy wondered what a mind-link was but didn’t want to interrupt. Remembering all that happened during the past 2 days, she didn’t care what it was: if Coralis thought it was a good idea, she would agree to it. She had seen enough to know that she could trust anything coming out of Coralis’ mouth when it came down to Audrey’s safety.“Thank you. Before coming here, I spoke to Lucida Chorms, the mot
December 24, 2002 – 16:00Sebastian and Stephanie arrived at Louis’ house.“Hey Ray, I wasn’t sure you’d be here tonight,” said Stephanie.“Misha’s family decided to visit their family in Italy for Christmas and flights to go there are too expensive for me.”“I don’t know your situation, so I apologize in advance if I’m out of line… but if she wanted you to come and you wanted to go… could she have covered the cost of your flight tickets?” said Sebastian.“Don’t worry, you’re fine. I’m sure she could have, her family has money, but she didn’t offer and I didn’t ask. I heard Coralis is taking Frank to Scotland tomorrow?”“Yeah, and she didn’t offer either. She just paid for his tickets when she booked them, she knew he wanted to go.”The doorbell rang. Sebastian was still standing by the door so he answered it.“Hey Frank! Coralis and Audrey aren’t with you?”“They should be here around 6. Their flights from St. Johns got cancelled, they had to take another one that had a layover in Ha
December 24, 2002 – 17:45“Uh, kind of,” said Coralis, looking between Frank and Raymond, confused.“BRO!” said Frank, quickly turning to his brother. “They aren’t witches and they aren’t here to kill you.”“Sorry about that,” said Linda, walking to them to collect their winter coats and bags. “Raymond found out when Sebastian and Frank arrived. He asked questions about Audrey school’s situation and why you were the one to pick her up. He doesn’t know everything yet.”Audrey was holding tight to Coralis, which didn’t go unnoticed by Frank. It meant a lot to him that his family was accepting of Coralis and how close she and Audrey became. Lizzy got up the stairs and went around Raymond to meet up with Coralis and Audrey.“Sebastian and Lizzy said they were mages, so they’re witches, aren’t they?” said Raymond.“No, Ray, they aren’t,” said Stephanie, looking at her brother through the railing. “A witch and a mage aren’t the same thing. Let us explain it to you before you jump to conclus
December 24, 2002 – 19:10“BRO!” said Stephanie and Frank at the same time.They all stopped eating.“Why would we?” said Coralis.“Humans aren’t our enemies, I don’t see why we would kill you all just because we could,” said Sebastian.“I’m not trying to offend anyone, but I can’t help myself from wondering if you’re all into a fake bubble, feeling safe when you aren’t, although I can hear myself thinking clearly, so I don’t know. I’m confused about all of this. Coralis, if you grew up in orphanages, shouldn’t you hate us all? Unless you didn’t.”“BRO! That’s enough!” said Frank, then looked at Coralis, “Luv, you don’t have to answer him.”“It’s fine,” she said while massaging his thigh to reassure him. “It’s a legit concern, especially considering the current heated climate among elemental clans and other supernatural. There are a lot of clans and factions out there that want me to hate humans enough to turn against them.”“But you would never, I know you would never, right? Neither
December 23, 2003 – 22:15“LIEUTENANT YOUMIS?” said Sebastian, looking at him. “Wasn’t he supposed to replace High Fay Zaaro?”“Yes. These abominations reek of his essence.”A few minutes later, Coralis got back on her feet and stepped out of the circle.“Lieutenant Youmis is exhausted. I don’t think he will regain control anytime soon,” said Coralis.“And you said vampire essence was in the mix?” said Eva.“The second time was already worse than the first time. And now this? Why here? Why our pack?” said Emma, as Emery walked back through the portal, followed by High Fay Ellya.“I don’t know why, but we will find out. That’s also why I didn’t want to kill the wolves. We know we can reverse it. Once the connection to their human counterpart is restored, we can question them,” said Coralis, looking at the time on her phone. “I should call my mate before he gets home and worries if I’m not there.”“Ellya, we need to send a unit to capture Lieutenant Youmis. Blue Thunder said he was exha
December 23, 2003 – 21:00 The Northerners were playing at home that night. When the game was over and she and Sebastian were about to take off to go home, Coralis received a call from Emma. She signalled Sebastian to wait and put the call on speakerphone. Emma was in a panic.“BLUE, can you come RIGHT NOW?”Sebastian suddenly got worried.“Where? What’s going on?”“Is Stephanie okay?”“Here at Red Crescent pack. Yes, Stephanie is fine. She left Healing Moon at 9 to go home. She’s not here.”Sebastian was relieved to hear that and swore that if Stephanie still wanted it, he’d complete their bond when he got home, even if he knew Coralis was probably right: the mark was a seal.“I’ll be on my way. I’m close by,” said Coralis, ending the call, and took off, Sebastian following her.“What do you think happens this time?” said Sebastian, as he was trying to keep up with her.“I don’t know, but I’m guessing she couldn’t reach out to anyone at the CMMA. Remember the last time they got a hol
December 20, 2003 – 00:15 (Scotland Time)Coralis closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wanted to rip their eyes out and strangle them, but she knew these girls were humans, most likely heading to the same destination as she. She believed Frank when he said nothing ever happened with that actress, but she didn’t like these girls talking that way about her man.She was thankful to have her wrist binds so she wouldn’t break storefront windows by accident. Her eyeglasses only prevented her from using her eyes to direct her elemental energy and to camouflage their elemental colour but without her wrist binds, her elemental energy still leaked through her pores and she could still use her hands to direct it. She walked away and headed to the bar before she did anything to these girls and ended up in jail.Her flight landed in Montreal early morning. She had a game in Mexico in the evening but decided to skip practice time just so she could spend more time with Frank before she had to
December 19, 2003 – noon“There is still a hold on your name, right?” said Erik.“In Scotland? Why not in London?” said Henry.“Yes, but considering Blue Thunder is technically a citizen of England, she doesn’t have jurisdiction over me. I could still be walking into a trap, however, so I still made sure of that. Not sure why she wants to meet there, but I think it’s better there than in London. Even with a hold on my name, I’m not too keen on walking around the SIS headquarters. Taking my flight from Scotland instead sounds like a better idea anyway.”She tried to call Frank on her way to Scotland but got no response. She hoped he was still asleep and tried not to overthink it, but she was worried. As she was hovering above the meeting spot, Frank called her back.“That was you trying to call, right?” said Frank as soon as she answered.“Yeah, everything okay?”“Yes. I was in the shower. Wanted to take my phone in the bathroom just in case you’d call, but my scattered brain forgot it
December 19, 2003 – 09:00Coralis and Andrew entered the meeting room, dragging a restrained Xanita with them.“What is this?” said Alfredino.“Xanita Aza is the one who killed Minister Luke Massina and we sent a copy of our evidence to British authorities,” said Andrew as he played the video timeline assembled by Erik and Henry. “Do you want to handle her yourself, or shall I hand her to the authorities?”“It seems we owe you an apology, Blue Thunder,” said Rolland, watching the video.“The warehouse we searched never had any cursed weapons. It was merely a ruse Xanita used to get Blue and me away from the hotel. Want to tell me again how in gods worlds Massina’s murder got pinned on my apprentice when we were nowhere near the vicinity of his hotel?”Phraton tried to say something but Alfredino quieted him, using magic to shut him up.“JORGIE! Jorgie Fluk gave me that tip about that warehouse!” said Xanita, panicked.“Oh, we know about that, don’t you worry. Unlike you, he’s been mak
December 11, 2003“WHAT?”“I still need to find evidence to prove it or force her to confess, but I was right. Blum was protecting someone. Xanita never received a tip about that damn warehouse.”“That explains why Gus could never find anything relevant or suspicious about it, besides someone tampering with their security cameras.”“Basic human material wasn’t difficult to tamper with. We probably were the only two elementals to have ever set foot in there. Do you know if Sebastian is available tomorrow?”“I don’t know. We don’t have a game tomorrow, but lately, I talk to him only when I’m in my London flat. Only place I can talk safely.”“I’ll check with him then. Remember when Xanita said she had a call to take and came back with that so-called tip?”“Yeah, and thinking of it, she was also the one who sent us to that warehouse.”“She had been talking to Jorgie. Erik and Henry are on their way back to where you guys live, they’ve been a great help.”“Jorgie? The same Jorgie who’s bee
December 9, 2003Early in the morning, while Frank was busy preparing coffee, the doorbell rang. He stopped what he was doing and frowned, wondering who could it be.The bell rang again and again. Coralis came to his mind and he dropped the spoon of coffee grind that he was holding to rush to the buzzer. He pressed to unlock the door below and opened his entry door to find out who it was. Down the stairs, he saw Samantha, panting. She looked up toward him.“Hey, M. Blue! Sorry to show up at this time; I didn’t know where else to go.”“Uh, it’s fine. Come in,” he said as he let her in. “What happened?”“My mom just found out about me. She wasn’t supposed to be home, or I would have gone to Tom’s aunt probably, I don’t know. During the full moon, I can’t control my shift, but I can usually shift back just before dawn.”Samantha paused. She stood, her legs slightly apart and leaning over, her hand resting on her knees.“Your mother came back while you were still in panther form?” said Fr
November 23, 2003“If you must know,” she said, forcing herself to speak sweetly, “he does not reside in London. He is busy with work and I am obviously occupied away from him.”Behind her calm demeanour, she was raging. She knew that Rolland had something up his sleeves by letting her stay at her London flat instead of locking her up in a cell. She wanted to kill the guard and fly to Frank, but she knew doing that would make it worse for them. She had to let them think she was playing their hand, no matter how hard it was. She missed him.He let go of her cloak and she jumped down on her back porch. Once back inside, she activated a custom mute-ball before calling Frank. Her pager went off as soon as she put her hand on her phone. It was her contact from MI6.“Blue Thunder on the line.”“It’s been a while since we talked, you and I.”“Given the recent events, can’t say I missed you, no offence.”“Can’t say I blame you. A report recently came to us from Clear Valley, which contradicts
November 14, 2003Before she could leave the meeting room, a furnace appeared behind the elders. Rolland stood and grabbed the casting iron lying on top of it. Its tip was shaped like a small straight line. With his other hand, he took the can of silver that was next to it and sprayed silver on the casting iron tip.Watching Rolland make the preparations to bar her EBEE tattoo, she felt relieved. She would no longer be attached to the EBEE. She would be free.“It has been brought to our attention that you recently took a mate. Do you understand that mates are a distraction in our line of work and a potential weapon to be used against us?” said Rolland as he approached her with the casting iron.“I understand,” she said, looking at him as she wondered if he meant it as a threat.Rolland pressed the casting iron three times on Coralis’ skin, where her EBEE tattoo was. The three burned lines formed what looked like a triangle. Lines all intersected with each other, except that a line wou