Chapter 426

Chapter 426
Chapter 426
XENOIS
"I got you killed in another timeline," Riley said flatly.
"No, Sophia got him killed," I corrected. "And me. And Lumina. We all failed in that timeline because we were being manipulated by someone who'd spent years perfecting her control techniques. But this isn't that timeline, Riley. This is the one where we got it right."
"Because Mom died and came back knowing what to look for," Riley said.
"Because someone gave me a second chance," Lumina agreed. "And that brings us to the part of this conversation you really need to understand."
She explained about Janice—the necromancer who'd sent her back, the promise she'd made and broken, the debt that was now coming due. I watched our children's faces as they processed increasingly impossible information.
Lake looked confused but accepting—he dealt with dimensional portals daily, so time manipulation probably didn't seem that far-fetched. Ollie seemed scared but trying to be brave. Riley's expression was calculating, his tactical mind already working through possibilities.
And Shawn—Shawn looked furious.
"This necromancer," Shawn said when Lumina finished explaining. "She's threatening to take you away after we defeat Jerome?"
"She's collecting a debt I owe," Lumina corrected. "It's not quite the same as a threat."
"Sounds like a threat to me," Shawn said, and I could see his plasma abilities starting to activate in response to his anger. His hands were beginning to glow that distinctive blue-white. "Someone says 'pay up or I'll destroy everything you've built'—that's definitely a threat."
"Shawn, calm down," I said, recognizing the signs of him losing control. "Your plasma abilities—"
"I can vaporize her," Shawn interrupted, his voice taking on a dangerous edge. "When she shows up to collect this debt. I can hit her with enough plasma radiation to eliminate her completely. Problem solved."
"She exists outside normal reality," Lumina said gently. "I don't think plasma blasts would affect her any more than any other physical weapon."
"We don't know that until we try," Shawn insisted. "And I'm not just letting some cosmic entity take you without a fight. You're my sister in law now. Family. We protect family."
The simple declaration—the fierce protectiveness from this seventeen-year-old my parents adopted just weeks ago—made my chest tight with emotion.
"I appreciate that," Lumina said. "More than you know. But Shawn, Janice can reset time. If we attack her, if we try to avoid payment—she'll undo everything. Put us back in that nightmare timeline where Ollie dies and I die. We can't risk that."
"So we just accept it?" Shawn demanded. "Just let her take you?"
"We prepare," Riley said, his tactical mind overriding his guilt. "We document everything Mom knows about the other timeline. We research necromancers and cosmic debts. We find out if anyone has successfully negotiated with entities like Janice. And we make contingency plans for multiple scenarios."
"That's very practical," I observed.
"Practicality is all I have right now," Riley said quietly. "If I let myself feel everything I'm feeling about—about being responsible for the other timeline—I'll shut down completely. So I'm choosing to be tactical instead."
"You weren't responsible," I repeated firmly. "Riley, I need you to understand this. You were a victim. A child being used by an adult with malicious intent. None of what happened in that timeline was your fault."
"Then whose fault was it?" Riley challenged. "If not mine, if not yours because you were controlled, if not Mom's because she was trying her best—whose fault was it that everything fell apart?"
"Sophia's," Ollie said simply. "She was the bad person doing bad things. That makes it her fault."
"And Andy's," Lake added. "She kidnapped Riley as a baby. That started everything."
"And mine," I admitted. "Because even under magical control, I should have been stronger. Should have fought harder against the compulsion. Should have noticed something was wrong with how I was treating my family."
"You can't fight magic you don't know exists," my father said, speaking up from where he and my mother had been quietly observing. "Xenois, Sophia was using specialized control spells specifically designed to be undetectable. Even experienced alphas have fallen victim to similar manipulation. This was the reason why seclusion was made years ago, why werewolves pursured other supernaturals away, forcing them into hiding, they kept manipulating people to do their bidding. You can't blame yourself for not recognizing something you had no reason to suspect."
"But I can blame myself for the choices I made once the control was broken," I said. "For taking so long to prioritize Lumina and Ollie properly. For not immediately cutting ties with Sophia when the truth came out."
"You were undoing years of magical conditioning," my mother pointed out. "That takes time. The fact that you managed it at all is impressive."
"Can we get back to the part where a necromancer is coming to take Mom?" Lake asked, redirecting the conversation with five-year-old bluntness. "That seems more important than whose fault the old timeline was."
He was right. Dwelling on guilt from a timeline that no longer existed wasn't productive.
"What exactly can this Janice take?" Shawn asked. "You said she wants payment proportional to what Mom received. What does that mean?"
"Time, knowledge, the power to change fates," Lumina recited. "So theoretically, she could take my memories of the other timeline. Could take years off my life. Could take my ability to influence events. We don't know."
"Could she take you away from us?" Ollie asked, his voice small. "Make you go somewhere we can't follow?"
"Possibly," Lumina admitted. "I don't know the full extent of her powers or what forms payment could take."
"Then we don't let her near you," Shawn said stubbornly. "We keep you surrounded by protection. Me with plasma abilities, Riley with tactical foresight, Lake with emergency evacuation portals. She wants to take you, she has to go through all of us first."
"That's actually not a terrible strategy," Riley observed. "Layered defenses based on our various abilities. If Janice manifests physically, Shawn engages with plasma radiation. If that fails, Lake portals Mom to a safe location. I coordinate response based on precognitive assessment of effective countermeasures."
"You're five," I reminded him. "You shouldn't be planning defensive operations against necromancers."
"We're five-year-olds who defended a school against an army yesterday," Riley countered. "Our age stopped being relevant to our capabilities a long time ago."
He wasn't wrong, as much as I hated admitting it.
"I want to help too," Ollie said. "I don't have special abilities like Riley and Lake, but I can—I can do something. Mom saved me. I should help save her."
"You help by being safe," Lumina said gently. "By staying alive and healthy so that whatever happens with Janice, I know you're okay. That's the most important thing to me, Ollie. Knowing you're living the life I died to give you."
"But that's not fair," Ollie protested. "You shouldn't have to—to sacrifice yourself or disappear or whatever. You should get to stay with us and be our mom and—" his voice broke into tears.
Lumina gathered him into her arms, holding him while he cried. Lake and Riley immediately joined the embrace, all three boys clustering around their mother like they could physically prevent anyone from taking her.
Shawn stood uncertainly, clearly wanting to join but not sure if he was included in family moments like this. I caught his eye and nodded toward the group. He moved forward slowly, adding his presence to the protective circle around Lumina.
I watched my family huddle together, holding each other against an uncertain future, and felt something fierce and desperate rise in my chest.
Janice wanted payment? Fine. She could have anything she wanted from me. My memories, my life, my alpha position—whatever cosmic balance required.
But she couldn't have Lumina. Couldn't take her from these children who needed their mother. Couldn't destroy the family we'd fought so hard to build.