Chapter 46 - Burn (Ansel Conrad POV) Pt.5

Chapter 46 – Burn (Ansel Conrad POV) Pt.5

If there is one thing that I've learned it is that when searching for the truth you need to look past all the noise that comes with the bottom line.

"She murdered her! She murdered her!"

While some people wanted the truth to get them out of precarious situations, others used it as a shelter. Cynthia, I had absolutely no words when it came to her. In all honesty the only person I was concerned about was my brother Danny.

"You said that your mother bound her to Bend, to herself, she couldn't die! If she died then that girl she did something to our baby!" I frowned in that moment looking at Danny.

Please tell me he is not aware of what Lydia was going to do? I think a bit panicked and taken by surprise.

Since when did he let his children practice magic?

Ignoring the babblings coming from Cynthia, I keep my eyes on Danny. Even without what I was telling him now, Danny didn't look well. Haggard and falling apart came to mind. Although, after the past week, he just continued taking hit after hit when it came to this week.

"Turn the girl over to the Elders Ansel, that is the best decision that you could make," Nick Ramos said as I left the room to inform Danny of Lydia's death. My niece. The ache was too much. I had warned her to stay away from Faith, but somehow she ended up seeking her out and trying to take her power.

How did Lydia know what to do? I had only let Danny's children see him twice, each time with me accompanying them. I was in the room. I did not see any hidden messages being passed.

Yet, here was Cynthia saying; "You said that your mother bound her to Bend, to herself, she couldn't die! If she died then that girl she did something to our baby!"

I was missing a piece of information. Somehow, Cynthia had been able to pass a mess-

My mind actively seeking the truth, while my heart was breaking for my brother, as I note that his body sways and his eyes are unfocused, glassy, "Danny! Danny!" I call his name, snapping my finger to get him to focus but as he sinks to his knees, his eyes roll and lids shut promptly before he can slump to the ground.

"Oh God! Help me! Help him! Danny! Danny!" Cynthia cries, pulling at her restraints while I remove the key from my pocket. The ruckus, the chains beating against each link and the iron bars of Cynthia's cell sound noisily.

"I told y-you all, she's nothing but trouble!" Cynthia cries, on her knees, close to the bars separating her self from Danny. "T-They will come for her," Cynthia sobs her words striking me as odd. Stored for dissection later, I wrench open Danny's cell dragging him out and locking the bars behind us. Checking his pulse, I frown at the quickness.

"Don't leave me in here!" Cynthia cries, mumbling and groaning as I carry Danny out of the dungeon where she would remain.

Our father waiting just outside eyes widen when he sees me carrying my brother, his face grim. Climbing the stairs with each other, I fit him into the car, my father driving the short distance to the guesthouse. Rushing ahead of me, he holds the door open as I bring Danny inside, his children in the living room with my mother mourning the loss of their sister.

"So she's just gone?" Stella, Danny and Cynthia's eight-year-old daughter asks my mother as Leslie vibrates in place her eyes widening when she spots me. Bypassing the children, I sneak down to the basement of the guesthouse, my father following me. Opening the spare room down there, I lay him on the bed, standing and taking a few steps back from him.

"I think we need to call Trev," I tell my father, though he only frowns. "I – I don't think that Trev can fix what's really-" I shake my head, "No, dad you didn't see him. It's as though he was starving down there... I mean look at his eyes, his face. It's only been a week but Danny looks as though he hasn't eaten in weeks," I wave a hand at his face, pointing out his sunken eyes and the sharpness of his jawline.

It could not be a human illness, but at the same time, learning his wife had lied to him could not make him look this way as though slowly the life had been sucked out of him. Had he been infected somehow, somewhere before arriving in Bend? Our dungeons were laced with poison but only if Danny had fought to get out would he be infected.

If anything, we had taken more preventative measures to halt Cynthia's use of magic after the Hotel explosion. If anyone was getting ill from our dungeons it should and would most likely be Cynthia. Not my brother.

Could stress alone do this to him?

Rubbing my face roughly, I swallow the bitterness that collects in my mouth, the bile that creeps up my throat. I have been where Danny is. Although, the situation was not one that I could full compare.

I lost a son. He lost a daughter.

It was a tragedy either way, however, I had Kalenah. A strong, trustworthy woman at my side. From my standing point, I was not quite sure I could confidently say the same about Danny. I couldn't risk everyone that entrusted their faith in my to lead to let her out of the dungeon. She had to remain where she was.

Without keeping her locked away too much could go wrong.

Cynthia seemed to have only her interests in mind. Why on earth would she send Lydia after Faith? But worse...

"You said that your mother bound her to Bend, to herself, she couldn't die! If she died then that girl she did something to our baby!"

"Dad, Cynthia knew that Lydia could die," I whisper regretfully, that was the bottom line. My father grimaces looking at Danny, but shaking his head, "No-" he murmurs under his breath.

"Dad, I'm serious," I tell him, repeating word for word what Cynthia said when I told him about Lydia. His eyes widen, and he stumbles back sitting on the sofa in the corner of the room.

"Dad she thought that all the kids were bound to Bend or mom, and Cynthia sent her knowing that Lydia could die," the disclosure given in a hushed tone.

Dad shakes his head, mournful and heavy-heartedly exhales. The air whooshes from inside him, whistling as it escapes. "How – do you believe Danny knew of this?" dad questions cheerlessly.

"Of course not! None of this is mom or dad's fault!" Leslie, my oldest niece comes blazing into the room, Andy on her tail angrily trying to pull her from the room. "Les, stop," he murmurs.

She is grief-stricken.

I know that this needs to be handled with care but at this moment, Leslie was showing her tumultuous teenage uncontrollable side. Standing a solid foot over her, Andy has red eyes and tear tracks on his face.

"No, no. We came here to be with family and one girl is ripping us apart, she killed Lydia Andy, uncle Ansel you won't to do nothing!" her voice wavers. "You had a meeting and you wouldn't even entertain any kind of punishment-"

Dad stands up, going to Leslie, trying to pull into a comforting hug, but she only steps away. "No, this isn't – a hug isn't going to bring Lydia back grandpa," she cries, shedding tears.

"Leslie," I sigh thickly, her sorrow on show for all to see. Our eyes connect and the despondency in her eyes silences me. "Leslie," Andy says but she only looks at him in disappointment.

"You c-cannot be our brother and her sister," she cries and it's as though she's struck Andy. Green eyes, like Faith, only widen to gape at her.

"The only reason Fatima isn't part of our family is because mom lied and left her behind. Then she warped all my memories, she made Danny believe that I had just lost my mind and I was recalling facts wrong. Hell she made up a daughter! And Lydia is dead because mom sent her to do a spell, one she knew would harm Lydia but still told her to do it," my eyes widen, and my gaze whips towards dad.

"That's not true, she wouldn't – Andy even if she – the Faith could have stopped when she ended Lydia from taking her powers, instead she killed her because she wanted to get back at mom-"

Taken a back, my lips turn down into a deep grimace.

"Leslie how do you know that?" I ask slowly.

Pulling her gaze from Andy she turns to me, wiping away errant tears, "Grandma Mary says you only take what you need from nature, never more. Faith could have stopped, she could have taken enough of her power back without killing Lydia-"

"Lydia shouldn't have tried to take it!" Andy roars shaking in his spot. "Since when did she even start using magic? And how can you say I cannot be her sister?" he shrugs, eyes glassy.

"If your birth mother came back today, walked right through the door Leslie, would you send her away because you have Cynthia now?"

A battle of words spewed proceeds. "You lost Lydia, but I've lost Fatima twice now!"

Fleeting surprise takes over me before I spare dad a glance.

Andy twists to face me, "First mom abandoned her and now – now uncle Ansel you said to give her s-space that whens she's ready she'll come to me. B-but I did that and now after what Lydia did, she'll never come to me. So I lost Lydia, Fatima and found out that mom lied to me for years," as brother and sister stare down one another, I sigh at the growing tension and misery in this room.

As if I needed just one more shock, Andy tears his glare from Leslie to me, eyes wet, "Keep mom locked up forever. She doesn't deserve to be out after everything she's done, all the lies." The loudest sound in the room after Andy speaks is Danny groaning – showing signs of waking.

The sound gathers all of our focus, and we turn to Danny. I walk to his right as Leslie dashes to his left. "Daddy?"

Our family has never been fractured before.

My siblings and I had disagreements but we've never endured catastrophe and not come out on the other side strong and more united. "Daddy, wake up," Leslie tries again as Andy sticks to standing at the end of bed. Slowly, Danny shows signs of waking. His eyes move behind closed lids, his finger twitches, and the groans become frequent until his lashes flutter.

I stare at my brother, my old question coming back to me, could stress really make him turn into this ghost of himself so quickly? Even when Danny was mourning Tina – his first wife – he did not look so gaunt.

I'm prepared for a physically taxing wake up, he might look weak, but I had been here with Danny before. He lost Tina and he used all his strength to attempt to break loose with our father. There was nothing he did not try to fight us, shouting and cursing, desperate for his reality to be a dream in that moment. It was too much to wake up in a world where Tina was no longer living.

So when I see him coming too, I brace myself.

Tina was his wife. Lydia was his daughter. A piece of him and Tina. His three girls, Leslie, Lydia and Lia, they were the pieces of Tina he had left. I think that brought him comfort. He hadn't lost Tina completely.

I know the devastation and fight brewing, the coming explosion.

As his lashes flutter, and lids are forced back slowly, I ready myself. Danny needed strength right now. I couldn't risk other by letting Cynthia out, and in place of that – though I know it won't be the same support – I am here for him.

My father and mother. His children.

Unfocused blue eyes stare up at me suddenly. I hold my breath, just waiting for the minute that he jumps from the bed, seeking Lydia, or worse, Faith. Because in his grief he will need someone to hold responsible and Cynthia has his family right underneath her thumb.

"Daddy?" Leslie whispers holding his hand in both of hers. But Danny doesn't look towards his daughter calling his name. "I – I should have known – how could... could you keep my family safe," he drags on, "when you couldn't even protect your own boy." My eyes widen and I hear my father gasp.

"You were supposed to protect her," he says accusingly, except he no longer holds my gaze when the words are feebly mumbled. Nothing is said for maybe a minute, and his words hurt more than any physical blow he could have given me.

"I failed her," he's gazing at the ceiling.

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Let's hope Ansel is right and this is only Danny's grief talking...