The Return - A Michael Vey Fanfic

Chapter 36

"Ugh, it has been a really long day," Ethan muttered.

He was currently with Jacob in one of the many bedrooms in the house, and while Jacob was sitting in a chair, Ethan was lying on the bed with his arm over his eyes.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Jacob responded.

Ethan snorted. "Have you seen Mackenzie by the way?"

"I last saw her in the game room with her mom, why?"

"Oh, maybe because, you know, her dad just died," Ethan said sarcastically. "I wanted to make sure that she was doing okay."

"Alright, well I'm going to go downstairs and see if I can get anything to eat."

Ethan listened to Jacob's footsteps as he left the room then he got up and went to the game room.

Mackenzie was in there but not with McKenna, who had probably left to talk with Nichelle. Mackenzie had her hair tied back into a high pony and she was wearing a simple outfit of exercise pants and a loose fitting sweat shirt. She was watching some TV program and Ethan could tell by the sound of it that it was probably The Bachelor.

"Hey," Mackenzie said before Ethan could say anything.

"Hey," Ethan responded and took the greeting as an invitation to advance farther into the room. "How are you doing?"

Mackenzie looked down at the floor. "Not good to be honest."

Ethan nodded and asked, "Is there anything that you want to talk about?"

"Not really. I mean, I'm not really sure how to even put this into words."

Ethan sat down on the couch across from Mackenzie. "Try," he said simply. "Something like this isn't good to keep in your system, and it'll be better for you if you can get it out."

Mackenzie fumbled with a bracelet on her wrist and nodded. "It's just... I can't believe he's actually... Gone. You know? Or am I just crazy?"

"No, I completely understand," Ethan said. "It makes sense."

"And then, also, the gunman... do you know that he aimed for me?"

"Mackenzie," Ethan said warningly as he could already see where Mackenzie was going with this.

Mackenzie ignored him. "It's my fault he's dead," she said softly.

"No, Mackenzie, it's not."

Mackenzie looked Ethan in the eyes. "Yes, it is."

Ethan stated right back at her, not willing to submit to her gaze or her accusations. "Are you the one who actually pulled the trigger?" He asked.

Mackenzie finally looked down, though whether it was out of shame or defeat, Ethan didn't know. "No," she muttered quietly.

"Then it's not your fault he's dead," Ethan said.

"Yeah, but if I had just-"

"If you had just what? Let yourself get killed? Your dad was trying to protect you from that, Mack. I know you're in pain right now, you have every right to be, but your dad chose to out your life before his, and that is not your fault."

Mackenzie swallowed hard and shook her head. Ethan saw this disbelief in what he had said and he frowned.

He decided not to talk about it any longer though. "So how did you guys end up with Quentin and Tara in the first place?"

Mackenzie shrugged, though Ethan could tell she was happy at the change of subject. "After The Electroclan disbanded, Ostin and McKenna just kind of went their separate ways together and eventually ended up in Tennessee. My mom gave birth to me there and the day I turned eleven years old, Quentin and Tara showed up at our door. I still remember that day too, it's almost like its permanently engraved into my mind.

"Anyway, both my parents were surprised to see Quentin and Tara, but neither of them knew what the two of them had been doing, so they invited them in and made small talk. My mom made tea for them and the next thing I know, she passed out. My dad realized that they had been drugged but it was already too later because then he passed out.

"After my parents had been drugged, I hid in my closet and was in there for so long that I fell asleep. Then I woke up again and I was in that dark cell with only my mom. We though they had killed my dad but he came back and we found out that what they had done was even worse.

"We were the first three people to be kidnapped by Quentin and Tara and we contributed in the capture of every other glow that they kidnapped by finding them. We even found you and your family, it took a while, but we did. In fact, the only flow we couldn't find was Nichelle, probably because she had nothing to do with the powers any more. She had no powers and she had no children who did."

"Geez, that's pretty deep," Ethan said.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Mackenzie laughed bitterly.

"You know that's not your fault either though, right?"

"Yeah, I do. My parents helped me get over that. I mean, we didn't even know what was happening to them for a long time. Only recently did we realize they were being killed, and that's also when we stopped helping. Quentin nearly killed both me and my mom but didn't."

"For liability," Ethan muttered.

"Yeah probably," Mackenzie said. "But hey, at least my mom and I are out now and my dad is in a better place, right?"

"Right," Ethan responded. Mackenzie tried to say it happily but there were tears in her eyes, proving that she didn't really believe it.

"In sorry," Ethan muttered softly. He didn't know exactly why he said it, it just sounded right.

"No, it fine." Mackenzie wiped her eyes then shook her head. "It's not your fault."

"Nor is it yours," Ethan pointed out.

"I know it isn't. I just miss him, and that grief is turning itself into blame," Mackenzie said. She laid her head on her knees. "The human brain is like that. It can so easily turn grief into blame."

"That's why we need to kill Quentin and Tara," Mackenzie said.

Ethan did a double take. Of all things he expected Mackenzie to say, that was not one of them. "You want to get revenge?"

"What? No, of course not," Mackenzie said. "It's not that I want revenge, it's just that I don't want Quentin and Tara killing anyone else, and trust me, they will not stop until they're dead. The only way this is going to end is by the death of us or them."

~

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up! I've been pretty busy :)