Chapters 52

Leo's POV

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"How is he?" Roman and Lucas walk into the room and Jack and I instantly get nervous.

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"Hasn't woken up yet," Sammi says.

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"Elise, I need you and the rest of the kids to come with me. I need to know exactly what you saw and explain it to us with every detail you can remember." Roman says, without making eye contact with Jack or I. "Josh's parents are on their way here now, should be back soon. They are coming in from the city."

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We all head out and walk to the board room in the pack house. It's the same room I was in when I was first introduced to the council. I recognize two of the three faces that are already on the monitors on the wall.

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"Take a seat," Roman says and we all quickly move to take a seat. I go to sit between Jack and Elise, but Lucas pushes me down into the seat I'm closest to and he sits down next to me and leans over and whispers in my ear.

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"You are in deep shit kid, when this meeting is over you stay put."

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I shift uncomfortably in my chair and Jack shoots me a look that reveals he had the the same message given to him from Roman.

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"Welcome back Lux and Centori. How's the baby?" Roman asks and the two I didn't recognize now have a name. They weren't at the last council meeting.

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"Baby Ria is wonderful, and so is her brother Alby! We had twins!"

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"That's wonderful. We are so happy for you both."

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"Izzy it's good to see you again as well, hope you're feeling better." Roman makes small talk for a few moments until Anna joins us with Odette and Yuki.

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"You all remember Yuki?" Anna asks and I do remember her from the first meeting.

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"Conjuration right?" I ask and she smiles at me.

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"Good memory Alpha Leo," she says and smiles at me.

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"Ok, now that we're all here, we need to understand if any of you have ever seen this?"

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Roman shares a series of pictures with the group on the screen and passes out copies in the room. They are all of the weird little marble and individual photos of each of the symbols.

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"I've never seen that," Izzy is the first to respond and Lux and Centori say the same.

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"This one here," Yuki holds it up, "Centori, isn't this much like the symbols in necromancy?"

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Centori scoots closer to her screen and stares at it. "It could be interpreted as the evil eye I suppose. But the snake and the cross that are with it would indicate a very dark magic. Perhaps a dark conjuring. But I've never seen this exact symbol. I'm just speculating."

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For an hour they go over what happened with Josh. Every detail they can remember and Odette stands up and paces the room.

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"The boy isn't awake?" she asks as she taps her long fingernail against the window.

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"No, it's been a few hours now."

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"Is he secured?" she asks.

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"What do you mean, secured?" I ask and she spins to look at me.

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"You have no idea what that little marble did to him, or who did it to him. You don't know if Josh is still in there or if it's someone or something else. Maybe he did pass the test that you speak of. There might not be any Josh left in there."

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"Shit." I hear Roman say. "Odette's right. We need to take every precaution. Lucas, have Sammy leave the room. I want a guard in there and I want surveillance in there ASAP."

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"Where's the object now?" Yuki asks.

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"We collected it and locked it into a spell box."

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All seem good with this for now and Roman asks the group to begin research on the symbols they found. The monitors click off one by one and everyone is dismissed, with exception of Jack and I.

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"Do you want us to stay?" Anna asks Roman as she shoots Jack and I a look of pity, knowing we are in hot water.

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"No you go, get dinner. Lucas and I will be by shortly and will join you in the dining room," he kisses her on the cheek and they all leave us alone and the door closes behind them.

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"Alpha Roman, we weren't in any kinda trou-"

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"Shut it Jack," Roman says and I know better than to open my mouth. "What you two did today was monumentally stupid. You left grounds without protection and without telling anyone. How many times do I need to explain to you that you need to be smart. Jack, you know what your duty is to Leo as his Beta and it isn't to always do what he asks. You are his advisor, and sometimes that means telling him no," Roman says.

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"And Leo, you are not just free to do what you want anymore. Just because your uncle is gone doesn't mean you aren't a target. It's very possible that this thing that Josh has gotten himself tangled up in is ultimately after you," Lucas adds on.

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Jack and I shoot each other a knowing look and Lucas notices it.

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"What aren't you telling us?" he asks. "Where exactly were you two today?"

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"We went to the house where I was held."

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The mood turns from anger to something else and the look on Lucas' face is more concerned than angry.

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"Why? Leo, why would you go back there? Why didn't you tell me?" Lucas asks as worry fills his eyes.

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"I needed some closure. I needed to see it. I needed to remember it more. I thought maybe if I just went back one time the nightmares would stop."

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"Son, I would have gone with you."

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There's an uncomfortable pause and Jack mind links me, prompting me to tell them what we found.

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"I - I touched that orb-thingy." I say and even Jack is surprised.

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"When?"

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"Josh was acting really strange when I met him. He damn near killed himself climbing the water tower and slipped and fell off the thing. I was able to catch him with my powers or whatever. After we were sitting and watching TV and it fell on the floor. I picked it up and looked at it and the etchings kinda glowed red in my hand. I felt sick when I held it and I gave it back to him and asked him where he got it, but he got really defensive and wouldn't tell me. I didn't think anything of it though. Honest, I thought it was just a trinket."

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"We need to talk to Evan, see if he has noticed any shifts in Josh's mood. It's probably connected." Lucas suggests.

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"There's more. When we were at the house Jack found books hidden under the basement staircase. Lots of them."

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"What kind of books?" Roman asks.

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"I'll go get them," Jack hops up and heads out the door and Lucas and Roman are staring at me as if I've grown two heads.

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"You brought them here?" Roman says and I nod.

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"They would make me copy nonsense stuff from an old book into these weird notebooks. For hours I would have to write stuff in them. Draw pictures. I still don't know what they are."

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Jack rushes back in and throws them all down on the table. Even I am a little stunned seeing them all together.

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Lucas picks one up and starts flipping through it and shakes his head and picks up another one.

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"What the hell is this?" he asks as Anna, Odette and Yuki come back into the room.

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"Here, this is what I mind linked you about," Roman says. He must have told Anna and asked them to come back.

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"I recognized this symbol in this book as one that was on the orb," I pull out a book from my inside pocket and hand it to Roman.

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"These are spells. Ancient ones. They are of an evil, dark magic origin," Yuki comments.

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"What are the spells for?" I ask and Yuki picks up another book and flips through it.

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"I'm not entirely sure, but based on some of these drawings they are part of a ritual designed to awaken an ancient curse, or diety... or something."

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Odette turns to me and she places her hand under my chin and raises my head to look at her.

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"Leo my dear, your foster parents, they were never interested in you as their child. You were their tool." She releases my face and spreads the notebooks out on the table. "These notebooks are filled with malevolent spells. You wrote all of these?"

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"I guess so, but I don't really remember doing it."

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"When. When did they have you write in these?" Yuki asks.

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"What do you mean when?"

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"Did you write in them at night? At breakfast? Was there any common timing you can remember?"

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I think long and hard about it and a memory springs alive in my mind.

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"One time, I remember they were really angry with me. They taped my arms tight to my body, and taped my legs too. Like a mummy. That woman must have wrapped the tape around my mouth ten times to keep me from screaming and then he shoved me into that fucking box. I sat in there for hours, trying to scream so someone could find me. When they finally let me out they freed up one of my arms so I could have a hand free and they sat me at the table and tied me down so I couldn't get up. I don't know how long I wrote in one of those books that night. I was terrified. I just kept writing and writing, barely able to breathe with the tape so tight on my mouth. I wrote in the book that night until my hand bled."

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All eyes are on me, and they all are shocked as they hear this.

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"How often did they torment you Leo? Did you always write in the books after?" Yuki asks.

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"More days than not," I say almost in a whisper. I don't want to revisit this anymore. Anna can sense my anxiety and she comes over to me and gently wraps her arm around mine and pats my hand. I know she is using her gifts to absorb the feelings I have and give me some relief.

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"I don't think they abused you to just control you Leo, I think they did it because your suffering empowered the spells that you were writing. The more despair you felt, the stronger the spells were. The books fed on your pain. You weren't randomly placed there. You were requested for a reason, or someone like you. Do you know who put you there?"

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Without hesitation Lucas is quickly putting on his jacket.

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"I do, and I'm gonna beat the shit out of him until he tells us."