Alexander’s POV
“Because she isn’t fucking dangerous!” my uncle screamed.
“We don’t know that,” Anna responded calmly. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Are you fucking shitting me right now, Anna?!” my uncle screamed again as he pointed at my mom. “She can barely lift her head! She isn’t fucking dangerous!”
I couldn’t stop staring at my mom. I knew it was my mom, but it was so fucking weird. She was an 18-year-old girl. She looked more like Fia than my mom. She looked so young and so innocent.
My dad was completely speechless. He kept staring at her and touching her. It looked like he was trying to assure himself that she was real. He hadn’t spoken a word since it happened. I wasn’t even sure if he had taken one single breath since it happened.
My uncle was trying to convince Anna to open the door and let him in. He kept screaming that she wasn’t dangerous and that Anna should let him get her out of there. I agreed with him. She wasn’t dangerous. The darkness didn’t affect her as it did Sophia. It was more internal. The battle my mom was leading was inside her.
“Please, Anna, please,” my uncle cried out. “Just let me get her out of there, please.”
I forced myself to look away from my parents. I looked at my uncle and my heart spasmed painfully. He looked terrible. He was on the verge of tears. He looked completely unhinged.
“He is right, Anna,” I said, making them both look at me. “She isn’t dangerous. Open the door.”
“Alex…,” Anna spoke, but I interrupted her.
“No, Anna,” I said, looking back at my mom. “Open the door. We are taking her home.”
I glanced at Mason. He was staring at my mom with a shocked expression on his face. He was pale and I was sure that he hadn’t moved an inch since my mom transformed in front of our eyes. I reached out and took his hand in mine. He didn’t even flinch.
“Open the door!” my uncle exclaimed loudly.
Fia? I mind-linked my sister.
Yes? She responded immediately.
Anna is opening the door. I said, squeezing Mason’s hand tighter. We are getting Mom out of there.
Fia was silent for a moment.
Anna agreed? She asked.
She had to. I said. I am not letting her stay there a minute longer.
Will you bring her home? Fia asked.
Probably. I said. I will mind-link you when we get her out, okay?
Okay. Fia said softly.
I cut our mind-link and focused back on Anna. She approached the door and took a deep breath. She mumbled something quietly and the door glistened for a second.
I watched as my uncle unlocked the door. His whole body was shaking. His breaths were short and fast. He fumbled with the lock for a few seconds before he finally managed to rip the door open.
“Emma!” he exclaimed as he rushed into the room and ran toward the bed.
My dad looked up at him with a mixture of shock and confusion on his face. My dad let my mom go so my uncle could pull her to him.
“Oh, my Goddess,” my uncle cried out as he wrapped her in a tight hug. “Oh, my dear Goddess.”
I watched as my uncle cupped my mom’s cheeks. He shook his head and sobbed.
“How is this possible?” he cried out. “How can she be 18 again?”
My dad gulped and stood up slowly. He started pacing around the room, staring at his feet. I forced myself to move. I walked inside the room and approached my dad. He sobbed as soon as he saw me. I pulled him into a hug and looked at my mom and my uncle.
My uncle kept caressing my mom’s face. He kept kissing her forehead and her cheeks. He was crying silently and the sight broke my heart.
“What are we going to do?” I asked quietly.
No one answered me. The room was silent. All I could hear were my uncle’s quiet sobs.
I tightened my arms around my dad. He kissed my temple and let me go. He turned to look at my mom.
“Goddess, this is surreal,” he said as he ran his hand over his face. “This is completely insane.”
My uncle looked up at him and gulped.
“She is wearing the same pajamas she wore the day you rejected her,” my uncle said and my heart stopped.
My dad nodded. Mason gasped quietly.
“Does that mean…,” I mumbled as I looked at Anna.
She gave me a small nod. “I was right.”
I looked back at my mom and my body shuddered. She was facing my dad, wasn’t she? She was wearing those pajamas because she wore them when he rejected her, wasn’t she?
“Okay,” my dad said, taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly. “There is apparently not much we can do to help her. She is alone, wherever she is. We need to do our part on this side.”
“What are we going to do?” I asked and this time my dad answered me.
“I am taking her home,” Dad said. “I want Wren to examine her. She still has a fever and that can’t be good. I need him to keep her body healthy.”
I nodded.
“And then?” I asked and my dad tightened his jaw.
“Then we wait,” Anna answered. “We can’t do anything for her. She needs to do this on her own.”
My heart clenched painfully. I wished that there was something I could do to help her.
My uncle placed another kiss on my mom’s forehead before he stood up. He wrapped her up in a blanket and picked her up.
“Let’s go home,” he said as he started walking away with her.
My dad wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple. We followed my uncle out of that fucking room. Mason started walking beside us. He was still pale and in shock.
“What are we going to do with the room?” Anna asked as she closed the door behind us.
“Burn it,” my dad said. “We will burn the whole fucking cabin to the ground.”
We wouldn’t need it anymore. At least I hoped so.
