The Moon Phase Trilogy | Powerless | Book Two | ORIGINAL

Six

Tobias was sitting on the couch, deep into the book he was reading when Astoria burst through the front door. With Flick at her heels, she quickly shut the door and looked at her brother in a slight panic. "Please tell me mom and dad aren't home yet."

Her brother looked at her with raised brows and shook his head, "No. They won't be home for a few more hours. It's Friday, remember? Date night." Astoria sighed in relief and slumped into the seat beside her big brother. Flick climbed up and curled in her lap for a late nap. Tobias finally noticed the red fox and looked between his sister and the fox. "Is that what I think it is?" A grin slowly appearing on his face.

Astoria quickly shook her head, "I'm not sure, actually. Possibly, but I still don't have my powers yet. I don't know what's wrong. And I have no idea why Flick protected me."

"Where have you been for the past four hours that you needed protection?" She could sense worry in his tone, but ignored it.

"Um, well...I went walking on the usual trail I take for some quiet nature time and heard a noise that sounded like a distressed animal. Lone and behold, Flick was being hunted by a um...Scorpion..."

Tobias slammed his book shut and looked at his sister in shock, "A witch hunter was after you? Could they sense magic from you?"

She shook her head, "No, he said I wasn't one, yet he still came after me and Flick. It doesn't make sense. I don't even remember who the hunters work under. If they even work under someone. I figured it would be similar to how the werewolves have the man who gives them DNA and he has hunters under him to help capture his test subjects." She shrugged, gently stroking the red fox in her lap.

Before Tobias could respond, Dust scurried out from his hiding place behind the couch and crawled up his pant leg. Flick noticed him, but strangely didn't attack him and Dust didn't seem afraid of the red fox now in the Rune home. The Rune siblings grew tense, eyeing the two natural enemied animals, but nothing happened between them. In fact, Dust went over to Flick and cuddled into him. Astoria and Tobias exchanged glances and Astoria's heart raced. From what she learned last semester, a witches familiar knew when another familiar was near them. Most familiars don't attack another familiar unless they were a threat.

Astoria didn't want to get her hopes up, but her heart was telling her she was right. She was connected to the fox somehow, even without powers. She knew she couldn't bring it up to her parents, knowing they would be overjoyed and bombarding her with what powers she received. Maybe she could tell Dr. Bluhm? Maybe he would have some answers for her about this.

Tobias sat on the couch quietly, watching the two familiars closely. His mind went back to what his sister said a few minutes ago about werewolves having an enemy. He knew they did. He also knew how dangerous that man was. He had seen it first hand with a colleague of his and how many times he was injected with black liquid into his veins through an IV. Oddly enough, it never effected the wolf, so the man threw him out of his nest. His sister didn't know any of that and he didn't plan on revealing the truth to her or their parents any time soon. Not until it was absolutely necessary.

He cleared his throat, trying to think of the best way to continue the conversation, but came up short. "Um, Tori, what were we talking about again?" He asked with a raised brow.

Astoria stroked her fox's fur gently with a smile, "Uh, how the werewolf hunters work under someone and I'm not sure if the witch hunters do. I was comparing the two. Remember? I was also talking about how their main enemy injects them with some animal DNA. He wants to make hybrids or something I guess? I'm not completely sure."

Oh yeah, I completely forgot. Tobias thought to himself. He raised his brows even higher in confusion. "Where did you hear that from again? As far as I'm aware, they don't have any enemies. Same as vampires."

Astoria looked at her brother like he was nuts, "You really didn't know werewolves have an enemy?" He shook his head, "Toby, everyone has enemies. We may have not learned it in class, but I have werewolf friends. They don't live far from here actually."

"Speaking of school, you're good to go back on Monday." Tobias said, quickly changing the subject. Astoria was suspicious with it but left it alone. Hopefully, she'd be able to get some more answers from Ravenwood's library on powers and late bloomers.