UNKNOWN | D.M (UNRAVEL BOOK 4)

[ 48 ]

With a high-pitched screech, darkness began to invade the Estoileon house, smoke crashing through the windows as bricks started to be smashed. Within a few seconds, the whole structure was beyond damaged as Deatheaters plague the once lovely cottage. Curses were being shot violently without any aim, green and red sparks spitting dangerously around, destroying anything in their way.

Elliot wasted no time as he grabs Aion and pulled him down towards Aine while he cast a protection shield around them. The translucent barrier barely protects them as six masked beings stomped through the blasted door. Their wands flick about as they eradicate their entire home. Two of them rushed upstairs to rummage through their belongings while the remaining four stayed on the ground floor, tearing apart all the memories Aine and her family had made here. 

She shrieked, and anger flashed through her eyes as she held onto her father and brother. Thankfully, they all had their wands with them and they could only hold onto the wooden stick for dear life, knowing that it was the only thing that could be used to defend themselves from the chaos that unravelled. 

Elliot grunts, the weight of the shield compressing him as he struggled to hold it. The four Deatheaters were ripping through the protection charm and he could only hold it for a while, enough for his children to get away. He glanced at his two children, completely terrified as they could only watch their precious home get savagely wrecked. He reaches to hold Aine and Aion's faces, making them look at him, panic and fear smudged across their faces. "Listen to me, Aion, Aine— Both of you need to get out of here right away." 

Aine shook her head, dismayed. "W- What? No— We're staying with you!" she said, "I don't want to leave you here."

There was no time. Elliot caught a glimpse of his cracking shield, he looked to Aion. "Get her out of here," he told his son. 

"We're not leaving you, father! We go— You go!" Aion argues back, reluctant to leave behind his father. With this many intruders against them, they needed all hands on deck. If they abandoned him, he wouldn't last. 

Frustrated as to why his kids were being rebellious against his instructions, he raises his voice, desperate. They were his top priority, he had to make sure they were away from this and safe, especially since neither of them had completely recovered from the battle at the Ministry. "LISTEN TO ME, BOTH OF YOU!"

Aine flinches at her father's sudden outburst, she clamps her mouth shut, never had she heard him raise his voice like that. "If I go with you, they'll catch up and they'll get you too. And I can't have that. Someone needs to stay behind and keep them busy," Elliot said, straining his hand to keep the shield up. 

Aion cast another shield, giving them more time. "And that someone got to be you?" he scoffed at his father. He was already planning to stay whether his father liked it or not. 

To hell with that—  

He wasn't going to ditch his family members and leave in this danger. Aine too had shared the same opinion. She was going to leave no one behind and that was it. If they were going to die, they rather die together rather than leave one to shoulder all the damage.

"I'll do whatever it takes to protect my family," Elliot told them, if he had to die to protect the ones he loved, he would do it without hesitation and that was what both of his children feared. It was the fact that he was really willing to do it if it came down and they could not afford to lose their father, not when he was the only one left.

"No." Aine wasn't going to stay put and have any of it any longer. She unsheathed her wand from her side pocket, shooting a stunning spell through the shield. She managed to get one of them, but it only angered the rest. "I'm staying here. That's final!" she firmly stated, standing up only for her father to pull her back down. She glares at him, fighting her tears back. How could he tell them to leave him?