At the same time, I didn’t know if I could endure the humiliation of going through a trial if he ended up walking free.
“I need to think about it,” I said. “I’m not ready yet.”
“If you change your mind, I can fill out the paperwork at any time,” Daddy promised. “It’ll be a pleasure to prosecute this degenerate.”
“Daddy, you can’t do anything to go after him, even on your own,” I said. “It needs to be my decision.”
“Of course, peanut.” Daddy leaned in to give me a tight hug. “I’ll always do what’s best for you.”
Mama wiped her face before she cleared her throat. “Thank you, Charlie. For protecting her.”
“Always. It’s my purpose,” he responded.
“How long are you guys staying?” I asked. I’d love it if my parents could visit again, even just for a little bit.
“We’ll be here until the middle of the week. The Institute doctors wanted to go over a better treatment plan for Ez, and they thought it was best if we came here to discuss it,” Mama said. “But we can’t stay long, unfortunately. We’re needed back in Kinpago.”
“What’s going on?” It sounded intense.
“We might as well tell you,” Mama said. “You remember before you were sentenced to the Institute that your father and I kept getting called in for emergency council meetings.”
“I figured you guys were trying to hide something,” I said.
“We didn’t want to worry you unless things were getting serious, but it looks like they are,” Mama said. “Tensions are high in the supernatural world. The magical races are starting to make threats against each other.”
“Threats?” Charlie asked.
“Potential declarations of war,” Daddy clarified. “Nobody’s been brave enough to pull the trigger yet, but things are getting heated. The other Hawkei chieftains want us to launch an offensive attack against the angels and vampires, before they attack us.”
“Even Chieftess Vanessa?” I asked in surprise.
“Vanessa is a good person, and a great chieftess, but in times of war, the Fire tribe has always struck first,” Mama said. “The other chieftains want the Elementai to get involved before an attack is launched, instead of attempting to stay out of it like we did last time. Your father and the Anichi tribe are the only Houses pushing to hold back.”
There were five elemental Houses, for each of the five elements. I couldn’t believe almost all of them wanted to go to war. The Hawkei didn’t fight other supernatural races unless we were provoked.
But maybe they thought by striking first, they could save the lives of our own.
“Is there anything we can do?” I asked.
“You worry about your mental health and your prophecy. We can handle politics back in the tribe,” Mama promised. “It’ll be all right.”
“And we wantbothof you home for Christmas,” Daddy said. “I’ll pay off the school. My son-in-law can’t sit in a cold cell alone over the holidays.”
Charlie looked like someone had knocked him upside the head. A huge smile brightened my face as I said, “Thanks, Daddy.”
Mama stood up. “We’re already late to see your brother. I hope he doesn’t think we forgot about him.”
“He’s not the best keeper of time, anyway,” I said with a laugh. “He might’ve forgotten.”
Daddy frowned. He wasn’t sure. This was the first time in nearly a year that he and my brother would be face-to-face, and they hadn’t done anything but fight in between. I hoped everything went well.
We said goodbye to my parents. A huge weight fell off my shoulders as they left the room, and Oberi let out a snuff.Well, the news about the wedding went better than expected.
“I seriously thought I was gonna have to fist-fight your dad. I didn’t know how I was going to do that without hurting him,” Charlie said in a rush.
“Now he wants you to come over for the holidays. It’s so weird.” I giggled.
I can’t wait! A whole Christmas ham for me! Oberi cheered.
