The Art of Blood and Power (Book 2 in The Gifted Trilogy)

14- Under the Cellar

At the sudden appearance of the two people I was least expecting to find, I completely forgot about the deadly weapons in their hands headed straight towards me.

Luckily Porter still had his wits about him and, before the spear and dagger could impale either of us, he shoved us both backwards, my back hitting the floor hard enough to take my breath away.

"Holy shit" a familiar voice cursed, followed by several thuds and footfalls until two hands were helping me sit up and I was staring at the face of my friend Briar, her dark eyes far larger than I ever remembered them.

"I should have known you'd try to kill me the next time you saw me" I joked, grinning wider than I ever thought I could at seeing her face again. Even though it had only been a little over a month since we had last seen each other, there were still stark differences to the Briar I remembered and the one staring back at me now.

One of the most drastic differences was the angry frown on her face.

"I'm almost sorry I missed" she replied, hitting me in the shoulder rough enough for me to know she was only half-joking. "How dare you risk your life while forcing me to flee! I could have helped you, asshole! I meant it when I told you I'd fight by your side. Did you not think I could handle my own?"

"Of course not, I know you're plenty capable of taking care of yourself," I said. "But I couldn't lose you. Any of you."

My head snapped towards the cellar door with realization. "Are the others-" I started but couldn't bear to finish my sentence. Couldn't bear to hope.

"We're all here, snowflake," Katrina responded from where she still held her spear beside her, only her upper half peeking up from the cellar. "Which means there's probably someone else you want to see too."

Not even a second after Katrina finished her sentence, a flash of red suddenly peeked from the opening. Hesitantly, the pale girl lifted her face upwards, but I didn't need to see it to know who it was.

"Tessa!" I cried out, sobbing through the word as I lunged forward and grabbed the girl that was also reaching towards me. Wrapping her into my embrace, I helped lift my sister out of the cellar until she was standing, my arms wrapped tightly around her as I lowered my mouth to kiss the top of her auburn hair.

Tears freely slid down my face as I breathed in Tessa's scent. It had the wood dust smell of the cellar yet her familiar scent still lingered.

"You came. I knew you'd find us" she sniffled as she grasped onto me just as tightly as I held on to her.

"Of course little bird," I laughed through another sob. "I told you I'd always find you."

Another thump sounded on the wooden floorboards, followed by an outcry. "My boy!"

I glanced over to find Porter's father, Marcel Collins, tackle his son into a bear hug. Marcel had grown a beard since the last I'd seen him and his hair was slightly more gray, but he still maintained the stocky build I'd always remembered him having.

Porter clung to his father just as tightly as a few tears swept down his relieved face. Marcel was followed out of the cellar closely by four other boys that ranged in age from fourteen to twenty, who all followed suit and tackled their brother to the floor, letting out laughs as they tried to play-fight with Porter or ruffle his hair.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is my bean pole of a brother still alive?" The oldest of the brothers, Axel, exclaimed in his signature carefree grin before scanning the room and stopping at my face, his grin growing somehow wider. "I'll assume that's all thanks to you, Wren. It isn't an easy task keeping my brother here alive."