Chapter 32 — Emmy

I blink my eyes open and find myself in the healing wing. I feel like I spend half my time in the damn healing wing. I slowly sit up and notice Calder lying in the bed next to me. He is still out. Carter is sitting by my side smiling at me. Dad and Mom are sitting in the corner. They both get up when they see I am awake. I feel like hell. My wrist is still wrapped. If the poison was anything like the other poison the Enchantress used on me, the cut would scar, although I had a feeling a scar was going to be the least of my worries.

“How do you feel, Little Bird?” My mom asks with concern in her voice.

“Like hell. I’m really tired of being poisoned by the damn Enchantress,” I state as I adjust myself in the bed. Dad laughs at me. “What? I am tired of her poisoning me. She needs to come up with something new.”

“I’m sure she will come up with something new now that she has what she needs to raise her army. Calder told us what happened and what she said. He was awake earlier, but he passed back out,” Dad says as he looks over at Calder to see if he is still asleep, which he is.

“Do we know if she raised her army?” I ask, knowing I don’t want to know the answer.

“Nothing yet, but it’s only been a few days. The strange thing is she didn’t try to take you and Calder out. I mean yes, she poisoned you both, but it was an easy poison to cure. It could have been worse. We didn’t even have to use the Knights Wood. I think she wants you two alive for some reason, and I’m sure it’s not because she loves her grandkids,” Dad states.

Ugh, I still can’t get over the Enchantress being my grandmother. It’s so weird. She is centuries old and a spirit no less. I swear, Dad’s family history is way too weird to be real, but unfortunately, it’s very real.

“Awesome! Can’t wait to see what else she needs from us,” I say in a bitter, sarcastic tone.

“We know she needs your heart and soul. What I don’t understand is why she didn’t kill Calder and take his heart and soul. Why does she need yours, but not his?” Dad looks confused, and it is never good when my dad is confused.

I don’t know why the Enchantress wants my heart and soul and not Calder’s. I never gave it much thought, but now I’m curious. I am also wondering why the Enchantress didn’t kill me while she had the chance. I mean, she weakened me and had me tied down by her vines. She could have easily killed me. It doesn't make sense that she would let me live. I also don’t know why she didn’t kill Calder too. Calder is just as powerful as I am, and he knows a lot about her because he was her prisoner for so long which would make him even more of an enemy. What was her end game?

Calder wakes up and he and I talk about how pissed we are at the Enchantress. Dad tells us we need to calm down and not stress ourselves out while we are healing, but like our mother the two of us don’t listen. I am livid that the Enchantress even dared step foot on Coven property. Dad and Vivian did reinforce the protection spell around the manor so that the Enchantress can’t get to us while we are in the manor. Dad also put a protection spell around the training grounds, so we have no more surprise visits from the Enchantress. No one wants her showing up unannounced again considering it didn’t end well, but then again nothing involving the Enchantress ends well for my family.

Vivian spoils Calder and I while we are on the mend. She loves having us around. I know she wasn’t a great mom to my mom, but she seems to be making up for it by being an awesome grandma. Vivian buys Calder and me new clothes, laptops, and new music to add to our iPods.

I keep forgetting that Calder and I share the same birthday month. Our birthdays are coming up soon. It’s the end of March. I'm at the beginning of the month and Calder is at the end of the month. I know Vivian is buying us stuff because we got attacked and poisoned and not because our birthdays are coming up. She always looks for excuses to buy us stuff. Not that I am complaining.

After a few days Calder and I can go back to training. Thankfully, we heal up pretty quickly. My wrist is still sore and itchy from healing, but I'll live. I still can’t get the of Tori as the Enchantress out of my head. It’s a disturbing image. She didn’t even seem upset that she killed her family or friends. She showed no remorse and that alone was disturbing. I also don’t like the creepy way she was looking at Calder, like he was some sexy piece of meat. It was creepy. In fact, everything about that interaction was creepy and disturbing.

During training, I am much more focused than normal. No daydreaming as Calder loves to accuse me of. I am ready to take the bitch out. I’m done playing her twisted games. The next time I see her, she better kill me because I am gunning to take her out. I know Calder feels the same way. I think Calder wants revenge on the Enchantress for kidnapping him and holding him prisoner for most of his life. I can’t blame him. I'd be the same way. That bitch has done some serious damage to my family and to those I love. She is going to pay. I don’t care if she is super powerful and strong. We will find a way to take her and her creepy dead soul army out.

The day we all have been dreading came. Vivian calls the team, including our trainers and my parents, into her office. She looks worried. She shows us a video that a Reaper filmed while on a mission last night. He and his fellow Reapers are fighting the pale green spirits that are apparently hard to kill. Then there is another video of zombie-looking people attacking humans, and the Warriors had to take them out.

This is worse than we thought. Between zombie-looking people and the pale green spirits that look like they came from a Halloween decoration, we are screwed. The zombie people seem to be attacking the humans and although they look like zombies, they aren’t flesh eating. No, they just like to kill. They have swords and guns, and they know how to use them. These aren’t your typical brain-dead zombies.

The pale green spirits seem to be attacking the magical world and they are quick and hard to kill. Fire is the only thing that kills them. Basically, we have two armies to fight. Great! The Warriors are handling the zombie people—that’s what we are calling them. They look like they were raised straight from the grave. Some look worse than others, and I guess it depends on how long they have been dead or how they died. The Reapers are focusing on the pale green ghost-looking spirits. The team is going to go wherever we can to help. This is only the beginning.

The Warriors and Reapers are both trying to do damage control, so the humans didn’t freak out too much. Most humans can’t handle the truth that the magical world exists. The team keeps training. We aren't going out to the battlefield just yet. Right now, we need to get as much info as we can on the two armies—how they operate, their strengths, and their weaknesses. Right now, the Reapers and the Warriors have things under control.

In some strange way I am glad that the army has finally risen. Now we know what we are dealing with. Before we had no clue. At least we know now, well we know as much as we can at this point. I know it’s weird to be relieved that the Enchantress’s army has risen, but I think it just makes me feel better knowing what the hell we are dealing with. It eases my anxiety in that aspect.

So, on my birthday there is a huge party at the manor. We are also celebrating Calder’s birthday too even though his birthday isn’t until April 29th, but who knows where we will be when his birthday comes around. This was Calder's first birthday party, so my parents and Vivian went all out to make it special for him. Calder seems to be enjoying himself. I think he wants to enjoy all the things he missed while being kidnapped and prisoner to the Enchantress.

There is a ton of food and drinks. My parents rented a moon bounce, which is so much freaking fun. Jason made us this huge three tier cake with music notes all over it. I think we all need a bit of fun considering we all know that things are about to get ugly. The Enchantress’s army is causing more problems as the days go on.

The humans are starting to freak out and the Warriors are working overtime to do damage control. This could be the last time we were all together. Who knows what the war will bring and who knows if we all will survive? It’s a sad thing to think about, but war is ugly and not everyone survives. I hope we all make it out alive and unscathed, but there is no guarantee.

I look around and see my family and friends. I love them all so much. It's nice being with everyone. I love spending time with my family and friends, but what I love the most is seeing my family whole. Mom and dad are happy to be together again. I know Jason is happy to have his sister back and Kenzie and my mom’s friendship is stronger than ever.

Mom is slowly doing better, but it will take time before she is a hundred percent again. Being possessed took a toll on her, but mom is strong. I know she will make a full recovery. My dad loves having her back, but now dad is focused on helping the team. Everyone is nervous because we didn’t know what would happen. Our fate is uncertain. I just hope everything we have worked hard to prepare for will be worth it.

We finally came up with a name for the team. We decide to call ourselves the Reckoning because we will be the ones to bring judgment to the Enchantress and her army. We also suspect that the Enchantress has followers, and we will bring them down too. This is what we have been training for. I just hope we are ready, but only time will tell. Only time will tell what fate has in store for us. I can only hope we survive this war.