Era of Greed [✔ COMPLETE] (Chrim Chronicles #1)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Farren

I opened his door without knocking and poked my head inside. Frank sat on the middle of his bed, reading a book so big it covered both his knees and upper-legs.

Frank looked up. "I gave your copy of the Original Seven to Wren, hope you don't mind."

Despite being twins, we didn't look alike. The same thin and tall stature and the same upturned, freckled noses, but that was where all the similarity ended. Where I was a grim cloud, Frank was sunshine. To keep our aunt's memory alive, Frank would go to the Weeping Park every Thursday and feed the ducks – like we used to do when she were still alive – and afterwards, he'd bring flowers to aunt Poppy's grave. I had never visited her grave since the funeral, it made me feel guilty for not finding justice for her. I was trapped in a limbo of frustration, replaying the Ordinance meeting in my head over and over, wondering where it went wrong.

After I shrugged, Frank pushed himself to the edge of his bed. "My college friend, Nathaniel Cohen, is coming to visit me next week. Are you okay with that?"

I shrugged again. I tried to remember what it was he graduated in, but could not remember. I knew that he worked down South at the hospital, but I had no clue what it was he did. A nurse? A doctor? I didn't really care, either. Frank and I were close, but distant at the same time. His jolliness annoyed me, and my gloominess annoyed him. Our awkward bond didn't bother me. In the end, I found myself interesting enough to keep myself entertained, not even Torill could compete with the buddy I'd found in myself.

"Hey, you remember the Fynce line, right?"

I rolled the chair by his desk closer to his bed and nodded. "Of course I remember." I took a deep breath as I prepared the words in my head, feeling proud of myself for still remembering. "The Fynce line was the biggest bloodline of the Original Seven until The Ordinance trialed and cleansed them in 1894 for a crime they didn't commit."

"Yes, terrible tragedy," Frank said with a deep frown. "Did you also know their magic was connected to stone? The Fynce family was the only bloodline who knew how to draw energy from stone and control that element."

How the hell do you know that? He didn't even attend the Reverie, since the male witches didn't possess magic. Frank had attended some university, which I also failed to remember. I tried to recall any spells that were somehow connected to stone, craving to prove Frank wrong, but there weren't any. "So, what's your point?"

Frank leaned closer. "Their magic was bounded, Farren." His smile grew wider at my shocked expression, and he nodded. "Yes. That is exactly what I mean."

"No, it's impossible." I shook my head. "The Ordinance hunted them down and slaughtered each of them, even the little ones."

Frank turned around, grabbed the book and placed it on my lap. "Then how do you explain this?" He pointed at the curling handwritten words in the middle of the left page. "See? They bounded the stone element, just as our bloodline has done with electricity, so only members of their bloodline could use it. The Fynce line is still alive, Farren. There is no other explanation for what happened to your coven."

As I read the area Frank had pointed at, I tried to find ways to let him down easily. He was so proud of himself for figuring it out, and although I knew it would be difficult to convince him, I needed him to believe that it was impossible.

"Look, Frank. They're all dead, okay?" I closed the book and threw it on his bed. "Their bloodline has been cleansed. Nobody escapes a cleansing. Besides, the Ordinance would know if they were still alive."

"There are so many ways to replace your blood and DNA – ways to leave no trace of your original bloodline. One or two might have gotten away, you know it's possible."