War of the Griffins

Chapter 15

Jinx raised an eyebrow as she noticed neither Evelyn nor Natasha was still walking with them and turned to look for them. Her eyes softened as she saw them talking and turned back to follow her family inside. They'll be in soon enough; I don't need to bother them when the conversation they are having looks rather serious.

She slipped past the others walking the halls silently as she came to a familiar door and opened it softly. Her cousin's room hadn't changed much since the last time she had seen it. She hummed softly as she thought about all the information she had learned in the few hours since she'd learned this girl, Natasha's girlfriend Carolyn, was also her own Anam Cara. How will this work? This girl and I, and my cousin and her? I've never heard of a person having two Anam Cara's in their life, not since the time of Queen Maeve. Not only this but her Anam Cara's are cousins! And then there were those words in the journal. If I remember correctly, they were 'On the throne an heir will sit, Blood of Crowe and Fae. Long divided the courts will unite once more.' Well, if that couldn't be more obvious but at the same time what if we don't get her back?

While Jinx paced deep in thought, another person had joined her in the room watching silently before clearing their throat. "What's got you all deep in thought Jinxy?"

Jinx stopped short almost falling forward as a result before she turned to glare at whoever interrupted her internal monologue only to roll her eyes as she saw Natasha smirking at her arms crossed over her chest. Running a hand through her short pink hair she sighed softly, "Just thinking about everything I learned today. I-I'm just shocked we share the same Anam Cara..."

Natasha's eyes softened as she walked over to her cousin and pulled her into a hug, "I know... Believe me how I felt when I found out you were her Anam Cara. Though I didn't know I was hers as well at the time, stupid Pool of Fate."

Jinx chuckled at that and hugged her back before pulling back, sitting on Natasha's bed as she asked, "so did you come to collect me for more planning?"

"Actually, I came to collect you for a trip to Carolyn's childhood home, we're going to be mediators in getting possibly a few more allies on our side. If we can actually trust old Jacob Crowe," Natasha sighed heavily at that eyes shut as she rubbed her forehead out of annoyance, "I don't like this Jinx, but if it'll help us get back Carolyn, we have to take it."

Jinx nodded as she stretched and looked at Natasha as her eyes flashed softly, "want me to go scout it out, make sure it isn't a trap?"

"Course I do, but be careful okay cousin," Natasha answered as she clapped Jinx on the back before she opened the nearest window, "you good on directions and getting a portal open?"

Jinx just nodded as she fluidly shrank and shifted, cawing softly. She flapped her wings eager to take flight before her eyes gleamed as she lightly pecked Natasha on the forehead. She cawed again inwardly chuckling as she heard Natasha yelling at her as she flew out the window into the night. "Don't peck me that hurt!"

She flew high over the treetops enjoying the feeling of the wind on her wings before she found a suitable spot for a portal. Her eyes glowed softly as she cawed once more and dove down. She inwardly grimaced as the portal opened with a loud pop right before she entered it. Ugh, I hate it when my magic misfires like that.

Jinx hopped around as she landed two feet from the portal looking at her surroundings before she flew up again to get a better view. I still got it!

She noticed a teal Thunderbird and swooped down to take a peek only to notice the car was cold and the rest of the house's lights were off. She shifted back behind the house for a moment to stretch as she texted her cousin to confirm if this car had been there getting an answer back that it was Carolyn's car. Hmm, they're not here yet I'll keep watching.

With that in mind, she went back to surveying the area a few more times, before noticing two cars stop in the driveway. Flying down to the roof she got a closer look at the cars and watched them for a bit. Her eyes focused on the eldest male as he closed the passenger side door. So that's Jacob Crowe, looks a lot younger than I would expect but being cursed by the fae does have some strange effects guess that was one of them.

Moments passed before she flew down right onto one of the car hoods. Jinx flew to the other hood watching them silently before she hopped down and shifted back, grinning as she saw the shock on their faces. "So, you must be the other part of the Crowe family? Names Jinx."

Jinx smirked as she crossed her arms over her chest and watched them for a moment before she pulled her phone out and sent 'all clear' to Natasha. "The others will be here in a moment but while I have your attention, I'm going to give you a little advice," Jinx sighed as she ran a hand through her hair before looking up at them with narrowed eyes, "the situations bad everyone's tense, so you better not be wasting our time. Your brother..."

Jinx paused as she pointed straight at Jacob, and growled, "has your granddaughter, mine and my cousin's Anam Cara, in a makeshift cell, injured and chained to a chair as best as I could see."

Jinx brought her hand up to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose as a scowl crossed her lips. She watched each and every one of them for any traces that they could be a spy for the enemy. What shocked her though was the genuine tears that crossed not only the elder woman's face but Jacob's as well.

"My brother has gone too far this time!"

Jinx couldn't help the shock from appearing on her face as she heard Jacob speak. This wasn't like the man she had heard about at all. As she was internally trying to figure out the reasons for the change, she couldn't help but inhale instinctively and coughed. Black magic! I haven't smelled magic as dark as this since before grandfather's death! It's the same magic from the cursed lands.

She took a deeper inhale putting a finger up as she noticed the confused looks on their faces. Her frown deepened as she exhaled, and her eyes widened. It's not just the same type of magic it's the same user!

"Are you ok...Jinx was it?"

Jinx turned to look at the eldest woman and nodded, rubbing the back of her neck as she spoke, "sorry, yes I am. Mrs. Crowe, the reason behind what I was doing is that I have an innate ability to tell magic by the 'scent'. What I mean is well say someone was to use a type of magic on someone. I can smell it just as well as if I were smelling the actual scent, I am describing..."

She sighed as she continued looking over at Jacob, "You have the scent of cigarette smoke and rum all over you, and normally I would write it off because you're human. This rum though, it's of fae-make."

"I recently came out of the fog, so to speak, since my father's funeral I had been getting headaches and it was only recently that everything came undone... so please can you tell who it was?" Jacob asked as she paused once more, placing a hand on her shoulder. It was easy to see he had a desperate look in his eyes as he continued to speak, "I want to know who took away my free will, the damn bastard that caused me to hurt my family... and my granddaughter."

Jinx hummed at that frowning as she closed her eyes in thought, "Magic that extensive must have a tether to keep control of the affected individual, and your father not understanding the works must have said to use him as the tether, so he could control you more directly. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you the user's name, but I can tell you he is powerful... and I don't mean to frighten you but if he is still living then we have a lot more things to worry about than any of us ever expected."

As she finished speaking, Jinx opened her eyes again and turned her gaze up to the moon. This was troubling news indeed, and once the others got there, she would report it to her mother and uncle, knowing they would understand more about this threat than she did. She blinked as she heard a faint pop and turned her head to look for the source. They're here.

"Hello, father."