The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 90

REMY

Cain looked at me and tilted his head. He took a step towards me, and my first instinct was to step back, but I resisted. As he got closer to me, I could feel something inside of me pulling towards him. My stomach felt fluttery, and I didn't like the way it felt.

"What are you doing?" my dad demanded, starting to move towards us.

"Yes, this makes perfect sense," Cain said, stopping just a few feet away from me. "I thought something felt familiar about you, but I didn't understand what it was. My magic is calling out to me, though."

Blade squeezed my hand, and I could tell he was feeling nervous about the situation. So was I, so I was grateful that he was standing by my side.

"Have you been able to control time through your magic?" Cain asked.

I shook my head. "I'm still getting familiar with my magic. I can control it when it comes to basic things, but it still feels out of control when my emotions are running high."

Cain nodded along. "That's normal for someone your age. What's not normal is how much magic you have. You're only eighteen."

I looked at my mom and dad, unsure of how to explain this. I didn't want to tell him what happened with my magic and how it had been awakened early. I didn't know Cain at all, and his history told me he couldn't be trusted. The less he knew, the better. That was what we agreed upon before coming here, so I didn't know how much I should say.

"You said through the time magic, we could get a glimpse into the past. How does that work?" my mom asked, changing the subject.

Cain glanced at her, and then he took a step back from me. He knew there were things we weren't saying, but he didn't push the subject. I was sure there were things he was keeping secret from us as well. "As I said, time is a tricky thing. Magic that can control and affect time is just as tricky, if not trickier. Come."

Cain moved around the couch and walked to the door behind us. He entered it, expecting us to follow. I looked at my mom again, and she nodded, giving me the okay. I went in after Cain, and the rest followed along.

We entered a space that looked like a little office, only the walls were covered with information. There was a desk that was littered with papers centered against the back wall, and a white board hung behind that. Cain took his sleeve and wiped the board clean. He grabbed a dry erase marker and drew on the now blank board. He drew a simple line and labeled the beginning "past," the center "now," and the end "future."

"As you can see, time could be thought of as a line. The past is everything that has already happened, the now is everything that is currently happening, and the future is the possibility of everything that could happen." He drew a big circle around the "now." "This is where the most time magic takes place. It's easiest to manipulate what's currently happening. The simplest thing to do is to create a simple bubble where time moves differently. You can slow time in the bubble, giving you more time to think or act. You can also speed the time to jump forward, although I have had very little use for that. There are other things you can do with the magic, but I won't go into that detail right now."

Next, he drew a thick line right before the word "now." "Everything behind this line has already happened, so you can't manipulate the timeline. However, you can create glimpses into the past, like watching a TV show."

"Can someone travel back in time?" Blade asked, looking at the white board with intense focus.

"I have never achieved something like that, and I have never heard of anyone else doing it either. From my understanding, the past is set in stone, but there's a lot about magic even the most skillful sorcerer doesn't know," Cain explained.

"Now the future is different," he continued. "It hasn't happened yet, so it's harder to glimpse into the future. The further into the future you try to look into it, the more magic it takes to look. Sometimes a sorcerer can get a small glimpse, while other times they can see more."

"If you know what's going to happen in the future, can't you change it?" I asked. I understood how the past couldn't be changed, but Cain acted like the prophecy was a guarantee. I had a hard time believing that was actually the case.

"I used to think so, but these days I'm not so sure. No matter what I tried, I couldn't stop the prophecy from coming true," Cain said. He set the marker and turned to us.

"Maybe you couldn't stop the prophecy, because you were trying to stop the wrong thing," I suggested. I looked at the timeline in front of us. It looked too clean, too simple, too easy. "Maybe seeing into the future takes more magic because there isn't one future. Every little decision has the chance to change the future."

"Maybe you're right," Cain said, but he didn't sound convinced. "Either way, you better be careful with this prophecy. I know you want to believe the best, but if you make the wrong decision, it could cause a lot of harm."

His words held a weight I was familiar with. My hand searched for Blade's once again, and with him, that weight felt just a little lighter. I knew Cain's words held truth, and that scared me. Something told me that I was right about the prophecy. I wasn't meant to destroy the world. I was meant to save it. However, there was still a fear in me telling me I was just being selfish. I was worried that I wanted the prophecy to be a good thing because I desperately wanted a future with Blade.

"It's getting late," Cain said. "If you agree to stay here one more day, I can show Remy how to look into the past with her magic. Then she could look for the answers you came here for."

My dad looked at my mom, and then his eyes glazed over. They were privately linking each other, likely discussing what the best option was. While getting this information was important, I was sure they were worried about the pack. If Draven attacked and someone was hurt or worse while we were gone, I was sure my dad would never forgive himself.

I knew he still blamed himself for Darian's death, even though he hadn't said it in so many words. He had become more strict with pack members and increased the patrols. He had even gone out on patrol himself more than he used to. He was trying to overcompensate for Darian's death.

"We can only stay for one more day, so make the most of it," my dad finally said. "Don't mess around with us either. We have too much at stake for that."

Cain looked at my dad, and his face tightened. "I have a lot at stake, too. I don't have time to waste."

-

LUNA ADIRA

Everyone settled into the little guest house Cain had provided for us. It was a tight fit, but I felt better knowing everyone would be together. It gave me a piece of mind that the children would be near us if anything went wrong here.

Once everyone settled in for the night, I found myself stepping outside of the building to get some fresh air. I had felt sick the entire trip here. Just the idea of being around Cain twisted my stomach into knots, but I had pushed through it for Remy's sake. It wasn't as bad as I had imagined it would be, but now that I was here, I couldn't stop going over the past.

Cain looked much older, and his voice was raspier. It had been eighteen years since I had seen him, and he felt like a complete stranger, but I never really knew him in the first place. He had been in my life for a flash and was gone just as fast, yet he left a scar on my life bigger than almost everyone else I had ever come across. I hated that someone who had been in my life for such a short time affected me this greatly, and I didn't want to let it affect me any longer.

I looked up to the moon and made a small wish to the Moon Goddess. I asked her to lend me the strength to finally let go of all of the hurt and move on. It was well past due. As I looked up at the waning moon, I felt stronger and more energized. My magic had always been reliant on the moon, so the moon cycle often affected my strength and mood.

"I had a feeling I would replace you here," Cain's voice rang out from nearby.

I glanced at him, but I didn't move from the porch of the small house. Instead, I leaned on the railing and waited for him to come to me. He approached me slowly, and when I didn't protest, he stood next to me, giving me more distance than someone I was friends with would have.

"A part of me still hates you," I admitted, still looking at the moon. It was time to be honest and get everything off of my chest. I couldn't keep going over the past and reliving the hurt. "When Remy wanted to see you, I was vehemently against the idea. I was so angry that I would have been fine never seeing you again."

"And yet, here you are," he said, looking up at the moon with me.

"My love for Remy is greater than my hate for you," I said simply. It was the truth. If it weren't for Remy, there was no way I would have looked for Cain, but I wanted to see her happy. I wanted her to get the chance to have a family just like I had. "Your daughter is strong. She's smart and caring, too. She reminds me of you," he said. He was trying to compliment me through my daughter, but it didn't make a difference to me.

"I know."

"Where's your son?" Cain asked.

My chest tightened at the mention of Caulder. "The Council of Magic took him from me. They wanted to use him for his magic."

"That sounds just like the council," Cain said. "That's why I'm trying to take them down. You don't have to believe me, but after everything that happened with you, I realized I couldn't live my life under their thumb anymore. I thought giving up my magic and running away with your mother would be enough, but it wasn't. Not when I discovered the horrors other sorcerers had faced because of them."

I bit my tongue, stopping myself from asking about Freya. I hadn't heard anything about her since coming here, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. Freya's betrayal hurt worse than Cain's. She lied to me every day as a child. She never acted like a mother, either. She was the reason I lost my pack when I was only eighteen, and she didn't even feel sorry about it. Then, when she had a chance to make a difference, she ran away with Cain the moment she had a chance to, abandoning me yet again.

I was curious if she was still alive or not, but I didn't think the answer would make me feel any better either way.

"Do you want to know where your mother is?" Cain asked. I could feel his eyes on me, and I was sure he had sensed my shift in mood.

"No," I said firmly. I didn't want to deal with that knowledge right now. I was already struggling with keeping it together as it was.