Nikolai
The second I got off the helicopter, I knew something was wrong. The sky was too dark. And it was colder than what it was supposed to be. And there was a dark aura around here.
I entered the house and Vanessa and Adrian were sitting on the couch, huddled together.
“Nikolai!” Vanessa exclaimed and came and hugged me.
“You’ve grown so much, little one.” I patted her back. She was definitely taller than Avalyn.
“I thought I’d never see you again!” She tightened her hold.
“I can’t leave my siblings alone now, can I?” I said and then hugged Adrian. He had turned into a man now.
He was just a couple of inches shorter than me. “You’ve been training good.” For being just eighteen years old, and living in the human world, he was in a pretty good shape.
“Not good enough though. Sadly, there is no Andrei to whoop our butts.” He joked.
“You can come back anytime. It’s your home too.” I said and we walked upstairs to his old room.
“But then whe-” Vanessa elbowed his brother in the stomach. “Let’s go get the dagger.”
I pressed my thumb against the screen and the locker door opened with a beep. I took the dagger out.
“Can I see it?” Vanessa asked excitedly and I handed it to her and shut the locker. She was too young to remember what it looked like.
“What’s this?” She brushed her finger against the crest embedded on it.
“It’s the Kozlov Family Crest.” I replied.
“Kozlov?” I don’t think she remembers much of her time there. It was a good thing.
“That’s Adrik’s last name. Volkov is originally the last name of my mother’s family. We changed it when we left the Mystic Lupus Pack.” I explained and she hummed.
“I have told the kids and the elders to take shelter at the pack house. Most of the adults are on duty. And this atmosphere has caused an unrest in the Pack.” Adrian let me know. “Something is deeply wrong.”
“I know.” I replied. “But we can’t do anything about the atmosphere. And there seems nothing wrong…” I trailed my hand through my hair.
What the hell is going on in my pack?
“Can it be black magic?” Vanessa asked.
“Black magic doesn’t affect the atmosphere. The sky certainly wouldn’t turn dark like this because of it.” I told her. “This seems… bigger.”
“I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Vanessa looked scared. “It feels like death in here.” She took deep breaths. “I need to get out of here.”
And then she ran away.
Adrian and I shared a look before we ran after her to the backyard.
Lightening fell on a tree just a couple of yards away from us and the tree started burning before it split in half.
Vanessa jumped back in fright.
The winds suddenly started blowing and all the trees started swaying back and forth, making loud noises.
Something isn’t right.
Adrian pulled her behind him.
And then suddenly a familiar blinding light flashed in front of our eyes and a portal opened.
Faelern, Fiyona and Valerie stepped out.
“What are you doing here?” I shouted so they could hear my voice over everything else.
“Viktoria is going to come here!” Fiyona shouted back.
What? She’s at home! And she is definitely not coming here!
The three of them formed and circle and held hands.
And then the inside of the circle turned jet black. I couldn’t see what was happening clearly.
And then another blinding flash hit out eyes that made me cover them with my arm.
When I finally lowered my arm, what I saw brought tears to my eyes.
She was here.
Mom.
My Mom was here.
She was standing between the three fayes, looking as beautiful and as regal as ever.
She was wearing a royal blue dress and her brown hair looked exactly as I remember- half tied and half open.
She looked like she hadn’t aged a day. Like she hadn’t died…
The fayes released each other’s hands and Mom stepped out of the circle they had formed.
And in the exact second, her blue eyes met mine and a beautiful smiled curved her lips.
My breath hitched as I was frozen my place.
She walked to me, as gracefully as ever.
Her arm extended and I raised my arms that felt extremely heavy to hug her.
But her arm seemed a little bit up and at at odd angle to hug me.
And then, I felt a stinging sensation on my cheek and my head whipped to the side.
Did she just slap me?
“I did not raise an idiot!” She reprimanded me.
“That’s your mom?” I heard Adrian’s shocked voice in the background.
“Can you at least hug me first?” I looked at her.
Another smile curved her lips and she wrapped her arms around my neck and I wrapped my arms around her.
“I missed you, son.” Her voice shook.
“I did too, Mom.” I choked out.
“I’m proud of all that you have achieved.” She said when I released her. “But I’m disappointed in the way you treated Avalyn.”
“What?”
“I saw everything son.” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“What?”
“Stop saying ‘what’. I could see my kids whenever I wanted. Being in heaven has it’s perks.” She explained. “If you make that girl cry again, I am going to be very upset.”
“But I did-” I shut up when I saw her glare at me.
“I’ve apologised to her!” I pursed my lips. “We made up again.”
“Yeah and when?” She crossed her arms. “Why did you bring Gabriel in your room?”
My eyes widened when I realised that when she could see everything, she meant everything!