Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

4. The Past Returns

It took less than ten minutes for the five Wibberlys to gather in the living room. Abby and Jake sat side by side, scared, apprehensive, and not sure of what was going on. This was definitely not normal. Their parents were usually so calm and happy, and a sudden change had come over them. Something was clearly wrong to get Kate and Rafe so worried.

Lili was tapping her toe to relieve the stress. She had seen first hand how vengeful whomever had sent that letter was. She wasn't sure why they had so much hatred for her family, but they could not be allowed to act on it.

The questions began, with Kate and Rafe asking what happened and Lili breathlessly telling them. She told them about the magic contained in the envelope, which only made her parents more anxious. Then Abby and Jake took a look at the letter, so they knew what had everyone so afraid. Lili watched her siblings intently as they took in the threatening words. Abby's horrifies hazel eyes flitted to the scratch mark representing the healed wound on Lili's head. The young girl looked terrified, though she didn't want to be seen that way.

Jake, meanwhile, read the words over and over. He read them four times before passing the paper back to his father, trying to look for any additional information or hidden code of some type. When he couldn't find any, he asked the only question he could think of, "who's R.L.? Do you know?"

A dark look passed over Rafe's face like a shadow. Lili shivered. Whoever this R.L. was, her father definitely loathed him.

Kate kept her utter disgust for the man behind the initials less evident, knowing the importance of keeping calm in this situation and not causing her kids more fright. So she made sure her voice was steady, "R.L. is an old enemy from our past by the name of Robert Lloyd."

Abby and Jake exchanged looks of confusion, trying to place the name from the stories of their parents' history. Lili, however, had memorized these stories intently, more so than her siblings, who had never been as interested in sitting still and hearing someone talk about the past. Her eyes sparked with recognition at the name.

"The spy, right? The one who you thought was your neighbor when you were my age, but who actually betrayed you to the Dire Magnus," Lili supplied.

"The very same," Kate confirmed.

"You're certain it's him?" Jake piped up.

Kate nodded, "it fits him to do this. He hates us for defeating his boss and taking what he thought was his chance at power. He's angry and vengeful in personality. He also enjoys cruelty. And if he thinks it can in any way help him fulfill his ambitions, he would gladly kill us all and let the world burn."

Abby shuddered at the description of such a horrid man. And figuring out that he was after her family, after vengeance, was the scariest moment of her life.

"Wait," more remembrance of the stories filled Lili's brain as she spoke, "wasn't Robert taken into custody by the magical council after the second battle of Loris?"

"He was supposed to be," Kate frowned, "and we never heard of any escape. But clearly he's not in prison now."

"So something must have gone wrong. Either he escaped- which we would have heard about, or he was never arrested, and we weren't told," Jake analyzed.

"It's all highly suspicious," Kate agreed.

"Another thing," Lili piped up, "in your stories, you mentioned that he's human. He doesn't have magic. So how did he send that spell?"

"He could have had someone else cast it. Or found an object that can cast it. Or gained magic somehow," Abby theorized.

Kate sighed, "however he did it, it only makes things worse for us. I don't know why he waited to strike until now, but he did."

"He's a little cockroach who finally crawled out of his hole," Rafe muttered darkly.

Kate placed a gentle hand on his arm, letting him know that she agreed with him, but also that this wasn't helping at the moment. Rafe took a deep breath in. He already had a bad feeling about all of this, like it wasn't going to be a quick and easy problem to solve.

Meanwhile, Abby was trying to hide the fear in her voice as she said, "how in danger are we?"

"Well, I don't think he knows where we live, because he sent the letter to the house in Cambridge Falls instead of our mailbox. But we still need to do something so this doesn't happen again," Kate reasoned, her voice calm despite it all. A youth of chaos had made her good under pressure, and she knew the value of honesty without causing a panic.

Abby nodded but bit her lip in a nervous habit. Lili reached out and put a protective arm around her shoulder, like her mom would do, even though she was afraid too. 

Jake, meanwhile, raised a hand, "what are we going to do?"

Kate's lips pressed together as she thought on it, her hand finding Rafe's and squeezing it tight. The couple leaned close and whispered to each other for a moment before coming to a consensus. Kate pulled away and turned to address her children, "we'll have to go to Loris. We need to find out where the council messed up and seek their help in stopping Robert's threat. Plus, we have to warn your aunt Emma and uncle Michael. They could be in danger too."

"A trip to Loris," Abby whispered, so overwhelmed at the thought of leaving home during these troubling times. Lili held her closer, feeling her fright.

"Yes," Rafe interjected, sounding more levelheaded now, "but first, we need to make a stop in New York."

"New York?" Jake questioned.

Rafe nodded, "If anyone has heard rumor of how Robert did this or where he is, it's Abigail. She has contacts all over the magical world. Plus, she can help us figure out how to bring this up to the council without dealing with the pains of bureaucracy."

What he did not need to say was that they had to have this meeting in person. The children already knew that magic and technology didn't always mix and that must magic users shunned it, plus, they couldn't wait for a reply to a letter. They needed action quick and that meant seeking answers face to face.

Still, even though they understood the reasons, it didn't make it any less frightening. Sure they were used to the chaos of magic and they had heard all the stories. But they had always thought their parents and family had already won and saved the day long before they were born. They had never expected this sort of danger coming from the past to haunt them.

Kate, meanwhile, felt a pang of heartache as she looked at their scared faces. This was exactly what she had never wanted them to experience. But they would have to go through it. It wasn't as though she could just leave them here and vulnerable. They had to stick together if they wanted to handle this.

Rafe squeezed her hands once more, then he said in a soft voice full of love for his children and understanding of their plight, "I know it's scary. But your mom and I are here for you. We're going to take care of it, I promise."

That seemed to do a little to soothe them, a little, but not much. Kate understood from her own experiences that the real relief would only come when the threat has passed. So she steeled herself to face her past, so that relief would find them soon.

Then she said kindly but firmly to her children, "pack a bag. There's places to be, things to do, and no time to waste."

A/N: Highlight of this chapter for me is Rafe calling Robert a cockroach. He's not wrong, after all.