Crystal Staff
“U-Uncle Angelos!” I stuttered. I hadn’t seen the man since I was five. My mother’s brother had disappeared right after his last visit. He had told me something I don’t think I could ever forget.
~ ~
I was five years old and my Uncle Angelos, my mother’s brother, was visiting after his three month trip to Scotland. I had never known there was a place called Scotland, that is, until my uncle came back and told me where he had been. Angelos had always been my favorite uncle. He was fun, nice, and he brought me presents whenever he visited. He was my mom’s only sibling, well, that I know of. All of my dad’s brothers and sisters were boring and they never brought me presents. I loved dad but I didn’t like his brothers and sisters much.
Uncle Angelos was just about to leave when he bent down and whispered in my ear. “My dear Marie. Before I leave, you need to know about the dangers this world holds. There are things out there that shouldn’t be. Things that live in the shadows and monsters that live hidden in plain sight. Don’t trust anyone. If you ever need to defend yourself take this and it will protect you. Hold it in front of you and say these words.” He handed me a small, old paper. “I swear that it will protect you, but you must do the same. This is a rare object and if it falls into the wrong hands…” He shuddered. “Terrible things could happen.”
The older man pulled a longer object out of his coat. It was wrapped in cloth so I couldn’t see what it was, the only thing I could tell was that it was sharp. “Goodbye my darling child.”
My uncle put a soft hand in my head, pushed my hair back, and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. That was the last time I saw him, but I never forgot those words.
~ ~
I remembered removing the cloth and seeing a foot long pointed stick. I thought my uncle was joking, but, being five and trusting him more than my own parent, I decided to believe him anyways. The paper had said something in a language I didn’t know, I didn’t bother asking my parents since my uncle said not to trust anyone and both my parents were hopeless in any language. (They could barely speak English without messing up words, or coming up with brand new ones.) It said ‘Nec reversi sunt per Vanquish daemon portæ inferi magna poena: nam si faxis expectabunt.’ Was that even in a language, or was it just gibberish.
To this day I still don’t know what they mean. I’ve used the gift three times. Once when I had tried to beat up a guy that was three times my size, he turned out to be a shifter. Another time when I thought it would be a good idea to try and attract a bunch of demons, unfortunately it worked and I almost died. The last time I used it was when a shifter had tried to attack Alex, I didn’t do anything to provoke it that time. I had a feeling I didn’t use the large, pointy stick to it’s full potential.
“Marie, you know this guy?” Alexis asked me shocking me out of my thoughts.
“Y-yeah he’s my uncle. He disappeared when I was really young.”
“You were five years old and the twins were three. I remember finding out Leon was missing, it was a terrible year I was searching and searching. Your father gave up after three months, but it took a year for me to get over him. But you were the sweetest thing and you helped me get my mind off of your older brother,” he sighed.
“I thought you were dead! Or did you just decide you hated me!” I yelled at him.
“Marie I didn’t hate and obviously I wasn’t dead but-”
“Shut up! Marie this isn’t your uncle! He’s a shifter!” Alexis interrupted. I stared at the man I thought was my uncle.
“Marie, I am your uncle. I was forced to leave, my queen forced me away from you! She said she didn’t want me corrupting her precious daughter. I may be a shifter but I still care about you like my own child. My sister, I mean, my queen refused to let me see you after that last day. I knew it was my last day with you so I gave you the staff! Do you remember it? Do you still have it? You must believe me!” He shouted, pleading for us to believe him.
It hit me then. “M-my mother was your queen?! My mother was the queen of shifters!” I stumbled.
“She still is. Marie, your mother isn’t dead. In fact I’m here to deliver a message.” He handed me a piece of paper. ‘Prepare to lose, brat. I have your sister in chains. Remember five more days.
P.S. She has such a lovely scream I really do wish they belonged to you.
-Your dear, dead mother
My hand was trembling. They were torturing her. My precious baby sister looked back at Alexis. I saw a mix of emotions in her eyes, anger, fear, worry, just to name a few. When I looked back at my uncle he wasn’t there. Nothing to prove he was ever there.
“We should tell the others about this. We need to be ready just in case we’re attacked. I’m assuming all the other shifters know our whereabouts already.”
“We have a traitor,” I said, probably stating the obvious.
“Yes we do, Marie. Yes we do indeed,” Alexis growled. We walked down the steps and into the kitchen where Liam was educating the boys on which knife is best for which task. “Boys, we need to talk.”
“You sound mad and if you think one of us did something we’ve been here since the last meeting,” Liam said.
Alexis rolled her eyes. “Liam this is serious. This could be a major setback,” I said to my obnoxious boyfriend.
“What is it then?” Zach asked looking up from the two or three dozen daggers sitting in front of him.
“We have a traitor in our ranks,” I said gravely.
CCPL Writers' Block 