The Vortex: Rectification

Chapter Thirteen.

Chapter Fifty-Three.

Now listen up, these two houses might be a chaotic blend of people rushing in and out of its door, crackling magic pops by the pack door more than a normal family but as I have come to understand. It's very rare for everyone who lives in their thin walls to all be around at the same time, when almost everyone works for the same organisation, it becomes the normal for at least one of them to be at work, at all times.

For all the ups and downs, all the changes and learning curves that I have experienced since coming back it still feels like the two side of my life haven't really blended together. Nessa and Elizabeth are gone the most, Alexander follows close behind them all and the rest pop in and out like they have regular full-time jobs and don't have teams of people relying on them constantly.

It's weird, the house is rarely just Aleera and I, but it doesn't mean I don't feel lonely without all the noise sometimes. When we moved into here after graduating it didn't feel the same and there was way less of us back then and my going out statistics weren't a great jump more than right now. I guess even after all this time I still haven't quite adjusted to being surrounded by noise and then swallowed by silence.

There's this bubble of excitement in the pit of my stomach, even upstairs on the other side of the house I can hear the hum of Liylah's music and the clatter of pans as Elizabeth attempts to help her clean up. By attempt I mean Liylah kicks her out every time she tries to help and not because she's a control freak but because Elizabeth can't even cook toast without burning it.

And you know it's bad when you consider the fact that we can do magic, and after my continued success with the most basic locking and unlocking spells, I have progressed all the way into lighting the fire in my fireplace room. Maybe I should focus even harder on getting it all back now that I know I can but not freezing every night under my four blankets is more of a win than it should be.

"I know you will hate me saying this, but I hate when we have a family dinner and you aren't there" I groan, swirling the dark potion in its vial. "It's not exactly possible for you to just waltz downstairs and eat with us all, nor would it be appropriate for us to invade this space of yours"

If I am being truthful, I love family dinners as much as I hate them, not because I don't adore being surrounded by my family, but it doesn't feel the same when Aleera is left up here. Maybe I shouldn't have rushed away from everyone else so quick, but it didn't feel right in the end, not until I can figure out how to bring her back and not have to let go of her like I fear is coming.

The dark liquid slides down her throat with an eerie kind of ease, I can see the white of her eyes peeking out of her still eyelids. There's no accurate way to explain just how desperate I am to see her lively again, the way my whole body seems to ache when I'm around her too much, but guilt pummels my heart when I stay away.

Seeing her so frozen, only a couple years older than me when she should be decades ahead feels like a betrayal and we did her wrong by it. I know that when it comes down to it, she won't ever hate us for what happened, from the very start she always knew that we were trying out best but entirely clueless about our predicament.

It's a waiting game, to see what will cause her movement and bring her out of a stasis that her own magic has begun to maintain. On one hand there is the fact that Harry and Nessa were the ones that performed the spell but neither of them ever realised that Aleera's body adapted too it. Like a shield around her fragile ecosystem and all the magic that has been keeping her alive and stopping her curse from spreading is also keeping this stasis of partial sleep intact.

I can't tell how certain potions will react against the stasis, against her magic that is probably just as unpredictable as my own.

The thick books I took out of storage are kept in my room, but the darker one's have their own home under Aleera's bed. As well as being the one's with the information that could help her the most, I know that not everyone will agree with me throwing myself into blood magic and cleansing rituals when my magical talents extend to three spells.