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

41. Echoing Screams

"What about Lili?" Rafe asked, a sharp edge to his voice. The room had suddenly become a lot more tense, and with good reason. As good of a sister-in-law as Emma was, as much as Rafe considered her a friend, that didn't mean she could bring up his daughter without him becoming protective. As much as Rafe knew Emma adored her niece, he also knew that she hadn't exactly been comfortable after seeing the dark magic Lili possessed. 

Emma rested her arms on the table, her head in one hand, "what's going on with her magic, Rafe? Because I know something's up."

"Her power has grown, and it's hard for her to keep it in control. It's very raw and wild magic inside of her, so it tends to have a mind of its own," Rafe answered shortly. He was here to discuss ways to defeat Robert Lloyd, not talk about his child's struggles.

Of course, his brief answer didn't satisfy anyone. Michael cut into the conversation, worry evident in his voice, "what? But she's always had control of her power before these past few months? What changed? Is she ok? Did Robert do something to her?"

"No, Robert didn't do anything to her. So we don't know what changed. We just know it's happening, and Lili's dealing with it as best she can. She's been very brave," Rafe answered him.

"Poor thing," Wilamena whispered, "she shouldn't have to deal with this."

Rafe softened, agreeing entirely, "no, she shouldn't. None of them should."

"I think we all agree on that," Emma said, directing the conversation back around, "but we do need to talk about it. I was there when she lost control and tried to destroy the Countess. And it terrified me, and I was just watching. It must have been even worse for her, having no control over it, just wanting it to stop. We can't let her go through that, especially with everything going on with Robert. We need some way to help her."

Rafe tensed again. Emma meant well, she only wanted to help Lili. But she didn't realize that what Lili had done to the Countess was entirely intentional, and that aside from her issues controlling her magic, she was also going through a lot of anger right now. And Rafe would rather not explain that, because he didn't want to betray Lili's trust if she didn't want to tell the extended family what she was going through. His daughter was entitled to her privacy.

"Yeah! There's gotta be a way to help her control it. Some sort of potion or something to balance her magic and keep it from getting out of control," Clare joined in, enthusiastic at the prospect of at least getting one problem solved today.

Wilamena, ever perceptive to social and emotional cues, saw the tension written across Rafe's face, and tried to kindly redirect the conversation, "maybe we should discuss more pressing matters, like how to protect ourselves against Rob-"

"We can't just let Lili keep struggling with this! Why didn't she ever mention it before? we could have helped a lot sooner," Emma said, not taking the hint at all.

"Perhaps she's overwhelmed, or embarrassed. This family can be a little overbearing at times," Richard suggested, his voice adding to the growing volume in the room, which drowned out Rafe's calls for quiet.

"Wait, but was what happened with the Countess even an accident?" Michael inquired loudly, "she did some powerful magic during the heist too, and that was all intentional."

Clare frowned, "what did she do during the heist?"

"She collapsed the tunnels on Robert's monsters that were pursuing us, for one thing. She brought thirty or forty feet worth of dirt down on them, for one thing," Michael said. Clare and Richard both looked surprised. Emma's eyes lit with recognition, remembering the events from their chaotic escape.