Her Quest : Magic in the Blood
Chapter 7

Ian swore under his breath as he reached the door. After tucking Sonia in bed last night, he was up until dawn. And when he tried to get some sleep, his mind seemed to conjure up things, keeping him wide awake in the process. He had not slept a wink and that had put him in a very nasty mood.

To avoid running into any of his family members, he thought of calling Gage and going for a run with him. Gage’s constant chatter would help ease some of his foul temper. However, that plan went down the drain when he found out that Gage was sleeping peacefully.

Not wanting to throw a temper tantrum, Ian decided to go for a run by himself. And so, off he went; sprinting through the woods, hoping for the frustration to leave his body. The woods were a kind of home to him. The scent of earth, the fresh air, the green lush and the chirping of the birds usually helped him calm down. If only that would have been the outcome of his run. Instead, he grumbled at the birds to shut their chirping and kicked the stones on the ground in annoyance.

Ian cursed loudly and with a black cloud hovering on his head, he hurried home.

A cup of coffee should help, he thought, then I will go and kick Gage's butt out of his bed. His sour mood started to fade at that thought.

Entering through the front door, he had intended to get himself a cup of coffee straightaway, but the sound of muttering and shuffling coming from the living room made him take a detour.

Frowning, he peeked into the room and there she was, crouched down on her hands and knees, looking for something under the couch.

Ian crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorframe.

"What's up?" he asked, his eyes lighting up in amusement on seeing her jump in fright.

"Ouch!" Sonia bumped her head before rubbing it, her face scrunched up in pain and her eyes squeezed shut, “Oh hey,” her eyes widened in surprise at seeing him, “Nothing much, just looking for something.”

"Looking for what exactly?" he took a couple of steps into the living room, making sure to leave some distance between them.

"Just something I misplaced,” she mumbled before a bright smile graced her lips, “by the way, Good Morning!"

And it was like clouds parting to let a beam of sunlight through them. Before he knew, he was smiling at her, all hints of his sour mood vanishing.

"Morning. Do you want me to help you?"

"Thank you, but I don't think it's here." she replied casting a glance around the room.

"What exactly did you misplace?" Ian enquired, taking a step forward.

"My bracelet," Sonia answered, a sad expression replacing the smile on her face.

The smile slipped off Ian's face almost immediately. Sonia, however, didn't notice it as she had her head cast down and her hands stuffed in her jean pockets, "Someone dear to me gifted it to me a long time ago."

Oh! Was it a memento from a lover? Ian barely controlled the growl as he heard the vicious whisper in his head.

"I will just check my room again," she mumbled, her voice so soft that he would have barely heard it if he was not standing so close to her. It snapped him out of the internal battle he was having with himself.

Why does she sound so upset? Is that thing so important to her? He thought, as she walked past him, her shoulders slumped.

Ian stood there, staring at the door. Clearly, she loved the person who had given her that thing. But why was she crying? He could see the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes before she left the room. But he could not understand why she would cry for a silly piece of accessory. There were many varieties available out there, she could easily get another bracelet.

It's a token of love, you droll, the voice spat again, it's natural for anyone to be sad over something like this.

Go to hell, Ian cursed at the voice and raked a hand through his hand, "Damn it!"

He dashed towards the stairs and straight up to his room. Dropping onto his knees, he pulled open the nightstand drawer. He grabbed the bracelet and examined it like he had the previous night. That damned thing has kept him up all night.

Ian turned it in his hand and observed it. It is beautiful, he noted. An intricate design twisting and turning in a delicate swirl surrounded by various signs and symbols. But the clasp was broken. It was this clasp that had stuck on his shirt when he carried Sonia to bed. So when Ian had jumped in bed, exhausted from the day's events, something pricked him. It was then that he discovered the bracelet.

As a result, Ian was up the entire night, conjuring up different scenarios in his head. He was surprised his glares did not burn the thing to ashes by now.

Heaving a breath, Ian ran a hand through his hair. He was worried that she would blame him for breaking it. Or worse yet, he may have to explain the whole episode to her and she could get angry.

That thought did not settle well with him. Ian didn't want her to be more distant than she already was. He actually liked having her near him, even if he was too much of a coward to admit it. Scowling at the bracelet, he placed it back in the drawer.

All his life, Ian didn't prefer female company too much. He’d rather chill with his cousins than talk to a girl. But there was something about Sonia that drew him to her. He constantly had the urge to be around her.

Getting up from the floor, Ian started to pace around in his room. He wasn't this annoyed when Sonia laughed at Gage's stupid jokes. He liked the sound of her laughter. He enjoyed seeing her talk to Emm in a serious tone. He had never seen someone so keen and attentive like Sonia was when Dim would explain something to her. Ian even didn't mind that she preferred his cousins’ company over his’.

Sonia never did any of those things with him only because he was being a jerk to her most of the time. Ian wanted to be with her just like the others. To be her friend. To be able to talk to her without being a douche bag.

But friend or not, he cannot return the bracelet to her. Not when it was broken. He would get it mended before returning it to her. This way, she wouldn't be upset with him and he would not have to explain anything to her.

Determined to execute the plan, Ian hurried to shower. Getting dressed into comfy clothes, he headed down to the kitchen to get something to eat.

The kitchen was empty, much to his delight. Smiling to himself, Ian poured himself a glass of milk and pulled the jar of cookies from one of the cabinets. Devouring more than half of them, he returned the jar in its place and rinsed the glass before heading out to the garden. As expected, his Mom was there, tending to her plants.

Making his way towards her, he asked, "Need a hand?"

Startled, Caroline jumped in surprise. "Stop sneaking up on me, Ian" she chided, "And no, I don't need help," she added when he continued grinning at her.

"Okay, I will be upstairs if you need me," Ian said before kissing her cheek. She hummed in response and he made his way back upstairs.

Upon reaching his room, he took a deep breath and decided to get on with his plan. He pulled out the bracelet and a pair of tongs from the drawer and got to work right away.

Ian was so focused on mending the bracelet that he didn't hear the knock on the door. Only when he heard her voice did he snap out. His hands instantly covered the bracelet just before Sonia pushed open his bedroom door and stood by the doorway, confused.

"Yeah?" Don't be rude. Smile and be polite. Ian kept chanting in his head.

“Aunt Carol has been calling you for ten minutes now."

"Oh! I didn't hear her. I was kinda occupied," he stood up, thrusting the bracelet in his pocket.

Sonia smiled, "That's what I thought. So I went down to see if she needed any help and she told me to remind you that if you want to eat, you will have to come down."

"What!" He exclaimed and turned to look at the clock on the nightstand. It was dinnertime already.

"Seems like you were caught up in your work,” Sonia remarked on seeing his reaction. Turning around, she started walking towards the stairs.

Taking out the bracelet from his pocket, Ian held it in front of him, "You have no idea how much caught up I was," he whispered at the twinkling jewellery, "Seems like I need to pay Emm a visit."

"You are coming?" Sonia called out and he quickly hid the bracelet behind him, "Yeah," he answered, and laughed at himself. He felt like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

***

Ian shrunk under the heated glare. He gulped and peeked up a little. Almost immediately, he looked down again. The intensity of the glare was just too much to handle.

"Look up, Ian!" Emm barked and Ian's head shot up.

"Believe me, Emm. I didn't do it on purpose," he tried to reason.

"Then how the hell did this thing break?" Emm bellowed causing Ian to take a step back.

Ian had run to Emm the next day, pleading for him to help him when he found Emm in his work shed, hunched over a piece of wood with a hammer in his hand. He had told Emm about the damaged piece of accessory, but nothing about the incident leading to it.

"I - I don't know. I just found it in the - ," Ian paused, "- in the backyard. Yes, that was where I found it."

"Shut up. You know you stink at lying," Emm snapped, "This is very intricately done, the clasp wouldn't break easily.”

Ian gulped as the memory shot in front of his eyes again. The way he shook Sonia to wake her up and how he had carried her up to her room.

"And if you found it, why didn't you just return it?" Emm questioned, jolting him back to the present.

"But... I-I can't," Ian stuttered, "it is b-broken."

"Because of you," Emm yelled.

Ian winced as he noticed Emm's hold slipping on his anger. The fury in his eyes was enough to burn down a man. Emm had an intense love for carving things and when he saw any work destroyed, he would lose his cool. Ian thanked the Gods that he was Emm's brother. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen to him if he were not related to Emm.

"Actually, I – she” Ian cursed himself for stuttering and stumbling over his words.

"You know what! I think I will give it to her. You can explain everything to her then." Emm challenged him.

"No no. Wait," Ian took a step towards Emm, waving his hands around. Sighing in exasperation, he thrust his hands in his pockets and looked down at his converse clad feet. Taking in a deep breath, he narrated the entire incident to Emm.

When there was no response, he peeked up and was stupefied to see Emm grinning like a mad man.

"What?" Ian asked.

"You are an idiot," Emm simply stated.

"Aye, you sort of enlightened me about that a dozen times in the last forty minutes."

Emm just smirked at him and turned to work on the clasp. Restless, Ian started pacing around Emm’s workplace. It was an old garden shed but that had been Emm's personal space ever since Ian could remember.

The shed was equipped with Emm's tools and machines; dumbbells, a portable stereo, a mini fridge sat in a corner, fully stocked and a small sink in the far end with napkins on a nearby counter. Emm spent more time in this cramped space than in his own room.

"I will just wait inside till you are done here," Ian told him, noticing the way he was focused on his work. He received a grunt in response and left the shed.

Ian entered through the kitchen door and found Cassandra mixing something in a huge bowl.

"Hey," he smiled walking towards her and just as he was about to dip his finger in the mix, his hand was slapped away.

"Ouch!”

"Keep your hands to yourself, young man. I made some muffins a while ago. Help yourself with those,” she tilted her head towards the tray of blueberry muffins placed on the counter. Grabbing one, Ian took a huge bite.

"Delicious," he said with his mouth full, "As far as I remember, you didn't know how to bake these. So who taught you?" he asked, taking another bite of the muffin.

"One of Sonia's recipes," Cassandra replied, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Oh!" Ian muttered in a slightly bitter tone, "So you girls exchange recipes now?" he commented. He had to admit, the muffin was really good and he couldn't stop himself from grabbing another one.

Before Cassandra could reply, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Ian offered and left the kitchen with the muffin still in his hand. Stuffing it in his mouth all at once, he opened the door and regret swept him instantly.

Sonia stood in the doorway, surprise etched on her face.

She looks as beautiful as ever, the voice whispered in his head and he agreed with it as he stared at her, quickly swallowing the muffin.

"Hell," he muttered when her beautiful lips curved into a smile.

The smile dropped in a flash "What?" She asked, perplexed.

"Ah - nothing," he smoothly replied and ushered her inside.

Sonia stepped into the house and looked around, her eyes searching for something or rather someone.

"Aunt's in the kitchen," Ian spoke and pointed towards the kitchen area.

She mumbled her thanks and hurried away, but Ian followed her.

"Hey, Aunt Cassie," she chirped.

"Hey there, kid." Cassandra turned to look at her and smiled warmly, "I made those muffins, wanna try one?"

“I would love to but some other day. Actually, I came to get Jake. Gage's waiting outside."

"Go call him. His room is upstairs. Second door to the right," Cassandra said and hurried to the oven as it pinged.

Ian could only hold his curiosity for as long. As soon as Sonia was out of the kitchen, he turned towards Cassandra and questioned, "Why does she want Jake?"

"They are heading out. You didn't know?" she asked, her attention set on getting the dish out of the oven.

It was then that Ian remembered Gage telling him about their plans and whether he wished to join them or not.

"Ah...yes. I forgot."

Cassandra only hummed in response. Unable to stand there any longer, Ian left the kitchen, his mind going thousands thoughts per minute. He didn't want his brothers to go out with her. She herself had stated that she was not one of them.

What if they got too close and Jake or Gage blurted out their truth? He had to stop them. Turning around, he marched towards the outer shed with determination in his steps.

Emm was still working on the damn bracelet.

"Ian!" he straightened, "it's not my work. You will have to get it done from someone else," He said as he ran his thumb over the bracelet, "it's a fine piece though." He added as he returned it back to Ian.

Quickly pocketing it, Ian blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "Emm, we have to stop them," on seeing the look of confusion on Emm’s face, Ian rushed to explain, "Come with me", saying that, he speed walked towards the house with Emm hot on his heels.

All of a sudden Ian stopped. Sonia's voice mingled with Jake's laughter drifted down the stairs. Ian growled lowly and took a step forward only to be stopped by Emm's hand on his shoulder.

A second later, Sonia and Jake skipped down the stairs. To Ian's chagrin, she held Jake's hand and that idiot was allowing her to drag him along.

Sonia stopped on seeing Emm and Ian, causing Jake to bump into her. Ian's muscles tightened and he restrained himself from pouncing on his cousin.

"Hey, Emm," Sonia smiled brightly at them, clearly not aware of the tension in the room. She turned her head towards Ian and nodded her head, "Hey again, Ian."

Before Ian could open his mouth, Emm quickly cut in, smiling at her, "You guys look like you're in hurry."

"Yes, we are going out. Gage's waiting in the car and this idiot was not ready, so I had to drag him all the way down here," she explained noticing Ian's gaze fixed on their interlocked hands.

"Well then, what are you waiting for? Go and have fun, sweetheart," Emm ushered them out of the house before Ian could lose his control and kick his brother's ass.

"And Jake, don't annoy her with your rambling", he added, smirking at his baby brother.

"I'll try," Jake replied and allowed himself to be dragged away by Sonia.

"Bye, guys." She called out over her shoulder.

Ian turned to Emm and opened his mouth but he was cut off again, "Dim called earlier. He's at your house," with that, Emm left the house with an annoyed and irritated Ian following him.