The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 20

With her arms held out, she sniffled back her tears and welcomed her son into her arms. His face nestled into Karen's neck, her curly, brown hair tickling his nose in a familiar and comforting way. She could feel a deep pain that they both shared begin to fade away as he broke down and cried.

His healing sobs gave her strength, and as he gathered himself within her embrace she thought back upon his words, realizing — perhaps for the first time — just how much of an impact she may have had. Karen's perspective on life might have changed, but the renewed thirst with which she sought out her next adventure did nothing to quell her distrust of The Council.

It was comforting to know that she may find allies there, should the time come where they were needed, but the organization's actions still spoke in larger volumes than anything else. There was little they could do to leave the shadow that their dark deeds had cast; some stains were just too deep to ever wash away.

Alexi felt his mother's gift as it soothed and comforted him, and allowed it to take the sharp edges from his pain and ease his fading grief. Neither of them had expected the cathartic revelations that had taken place, and just enjoyed the moment as they settled into the burgeoning new relationship they would form. Whatever they had shared before Alexi joined The Council was gone, and in its wake they hoped to build something new and better.

Pulling back, Alexi wiped away the last sign of his weakness, and focused his gaze on Karen. She didn't need her gift to know that despite the breakthrough they had just shared, he was nervous about what he was about to say. It was in that moment that they both knew their new relationship would need to have boundaries if it was going to survive.

"It's alright, son. Let's just get The Council's business over with. I hope you'll understand if my answers are... well, carefully worded."

Alexi smiled and nodded, the last traces of their emotional journey still clinging to his mind as he acknowledged the wisdom of her statement.

"When we're done, I can take you to manage your estate, if you'd like. I know it's been awhile."

Karen thought it was a sweet offer, but was reminded of her mates, and was surprised by how quickly they had complicated things with her son.

"I've got other considerations before I'll be ready to redistribute my assets." She paused long enough to take his hand, before finishing with, "With recent changes in my personal life, I'll need to determine how things should be handled if something unexpected was to happen to me."

Alexi tilted his gaze, choosing not to pull at the thread he could see sticking out from the edge of Karen's statement. With the question that sat at the tip of his tongue, he was working hard to hold back his curious nature, knowing that Wilcox would see not just what he saw, but what he thought. The longer he was there, the more difficult he found it to ignore the strange things that seemed to surround Karen.

Walking to the fridge, Alexi pulled a sheet of paper from a notepad that was hanging from the door. There were cartoon cats clawing at the top edges of the paper with the words 'Scratch Pad' written in bold letters beneath.

"Clever," he chuckled as he took a pen from atop the fridge and wrote down an email address.

"Send me a message when you're ready, and I'll come back as soon as I can."

"Wow," Karen began, "My ludit child has moved into the modern age? This truly is an era of change!"

Alexi's eyes furrowed into a scowl, attempting to hide the smile that lurked at the edges of his lips.

"There's some new wizards who are just in love with these stupid things, and all of us are expected to use them now."

Karen didn't seem surprised as she watched Alexi wave his smart phone in front of himself with a derisive sneer, being reminded of the boy she had raised all those years before.

For the next half hour they sat on stools and talked, catching up on the mundane things that had kept them busy. Or, at least that was what Karen had done. Alexi talked in broad terms about ferrying wizards across the world between the hubs of magical study and other points of interest that The Council controlled. It was clear that they each were skirting certain topics, but the slight omissions did little to dampen the bonding that took place.

Alexi oohed and aahed as he ate the cookies, memories of his youth revisiting him with every bite. Karen watched and enjoyed, seeing again the young boy she had raised in France.

Their tender moment was far more brief than either of them had wanted, but they could sense the end of their time together. While Alexi returned the stools to where they belonged, Karen wrapped the remaining cookies in a large cloth napkin, stating, "Even if these cannot keep you safe, at least they can keep you happy."

It was the first time in a half century that Karen had felt like a mother, and the warmth in her chest reminded her how great it was.

"Thank you, mom."

He tucked the arms of the cloth bundle into a pocket, allowing the package of cookies to hang at his side. Returning his gaze to Karen, his eyes opened wide, drawing her attention as he stated, "Okay, when I start speaking next, we'll need to be careful... You understand?"

Karen shook her arms out and wiggled her body, loosening up before she nodded her head, removing the smile that had been on her face.

A moment later, Alexi walked out of the kitchen and moved towards the closet he had entered from. Turning, he again walked into the room and spoke, "I'm sorry to arrive unannounced, I'll try not to keep you any longer than necessary, Ms Anderson."

His tone had changed completely, all warmth was gone and his face was a mask of calm confidence. Gathering herself, Karen washed away the last of her mirth and joined into the performance.

"Thank you, Sir."

There was a bite to the way she addressed him, as if that simple word was a weapon. In it, Alexi felt the pain of loss he had once known before their recent reconciliation, though he was careful to keep any thoughts of that out of his mind. Instead, he allowed the anguish of her words to settle in a bit before pushing himself forward.

"I know you've still got a few years until our next inspection, but events in this area have come to light that warrant a visit. Given your history with... magically gifted children, we thought you might have some insights."

If Karen was surprised, she hid it well. Instead, she shook her head and huffed, "Unless you're looking for a half-therian, I don't think I'll be of much help."

"Well, that may actually be of value. The thing is, recently there was an attack somewhere in this area. A therian woman attacked a large boy in the forest. From the eye witness account, he was pretty muscular and had brown hair. Likely a football player, judging by the way his musculature was distributed.

"Sound like anyone you know?"

After taking a sip of her tea, Karen grinned and forced him to wait as she took her time savoring her drink. That behavior was new, he thought for a moment before stoking the embers of his frustration at how she was drawing out her response.

"Really? The almighty and powerful Council has relegated itself to meddling in therian affairs."

Her eyebrows raised to punctuate her point as she continued, "Don't worry your arrogant little heads about it, it's all taken care of."

She could see by the expectant look on Alexi's face that she would need to go into more details, so with a sigh she continued, "Alright, there's a half-therian girl in the area that I've been taking care of for a few years, and all of this has to do with her.

"Some brat named Brandon from her father's clowder became obsessed with her, and chose last week to execute a foolish and narrow minded plan. You see, he wanted her to be his, and thought he could force her to bond with him if he could... I don't know, Stockholmes her into it.

"You guys would love his plan, it's the exact perfect balance of naive optimism and sociopathic disregard for other's well being."

There was no need to force an emotion on that barb, Karen's words hit home and reminded Alexi of exactly what she thought of The Council, and by extension him.

"Anyway, his plan was to kill her boyfriend, and take her to a rundown warehouse in Oregon. I can take you there if you're interested... No? Okay, well what ended up happening was that Brandon and this other girl he had already forced into bonding with him, Marcy... no, Mary... I can't remember... They attacked her boyfriend, used the distraction from the fight to knock out and kidnap her.

"I arrived just in time to save her boyfriend, but my friend was already gone at that point. He had gotten so close to dying, and lost almost all of his memory of the event, but he lived."

Within those words Alexi could feel a deep and profound relief that the man had survived. The emotions were pure and unmarred by treachery. Whoever this friend of hers was, or her boyfriend, Karen cared about them both greatly.

"I was terribly worried about my friend, but there was nothing I could do. She had told me about running into Brandon a week before at her father's property in Oregon, but even then I had a hard time believing the deranged young man would have gone through all that trouble.

"Later that night she called me, and told me she had killed Brandon. Her boyfriend was stable at that point, but I was drained from sealing the wounds on his chest — they were so deep and I was so tired by that point. It still surprises me how he had survived, the slashes were clean to the bone, but managed to miss anything vital, just centimeters from his heart."

Alexi was captivated by Karen's story, almost imagining the events as they were described. It all felt so real, and had a ring of truth to them. He found himself struggling to find a gap or tether of a lie anywhere in the tale, and despite his hidden desires he was trying. Sure, she was hiding the names of her friend or the boyfriend, but that was to be expected — she would tell them if they needed those details for their investigation.

"Once my friend found her way back, she told me what had happened. It was thanks to Brandon's mate, and her resistance to his commands, that my friend was able to out wit and ultimately kill Brandon. Once I learned that, her boyfriend surviving the attack made much more sense. The girl's defiance to her mate's command had allowed her to skirt the edges of his words.

"That was why so much damage could be dealt, but almost everything vital had been missed."

She took another drink of her tea, looking at Alexi with an expression that made it clear she was done.

Alexi cleared his throat and started his standard routine of follow-up questions. "What can you tell me ab-"

"That's everything I know, so just go back to your masters."

Her words served every purpose she had intended, reminding Alexi that he was just a cog in a machine that she abhorred, and that even if she knew anything else, she was not going to share it. They may have the ability to take away her freedom, but she was fiercely loyal to her children and would never give them up.

She told them everything she did, because she had faith that The Council had no interest in therians, and in that respect, she was right.

"Thank you for your time, Ms Anderson."

As Alexi was gathering his thoughts, visualizing the complex series of symbols that would take him back to where he needed to go, Karen's phone chimed.

She checked the small device and grimaced, a look like she had read something dreadful plainly visible on her face for a moment before she turned off the screen and pocketed the phone.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to go help a friend with a family problem."

Again, there was no hint of subterfuge in her statement, and behind the dread of what she was heading into Alexi got a sense of joy and anticipation as well. She watched him carefully, her eyes making it clear she was waiting for him to leave before she got ready herself.

Walking to the closet, Alexi stepped over the fallen jackets and folded over pants, ski wear mixed in with rain jackets in an obvious attempt to mess with him. The symbols were plentiful and complex, but came naturally to the older man as he drew them within his mind, drawing power from the center of his being and channeling it into the fabric of the back wall.

A rippling shimmer cascaded over the painted surface, until there was a rush of warm air pouring out of the newly formed portal. On the other side Karen could see a sterile and unremarkable room, unfamiliar scents telling her that it led somewhere she had never been. Again, she shook her head and watched in amazement as Alexi stepped through the door and it closed behind him.

She was just as impressed with it as she always had been. Her amazement vanished as she turned and headed to her room, thoughts of Sara's text swarming through her head.

"Time for family outing."

Sara's text was short, but its secret meaning was known to her, and filled Karen with anxiety. Whatever was going to happen, life would probably never be the same for their family again.

On the other side of the country, in a small office building in Louisiana, Alexi marshalled his thoughts and sorted through his memories, trying to harden the ones he wanted to keep secret, while holding the later moments that he had prepared with Karen near the front of his mind. He tried to stitch his arrival together with the interview he had held with Karen, attempting to compress and forget the entire exchange that happened before it.

The room was white with gray carpeting, fluorescent lights doing everything in their power to make it all seem even more impersonal. There was one door leading into the room, and it was back behind Alexi where he had just come in. He opened it, and instead of the portal that lead to Karen's house, he found a hallway with a few more rooms off to each side.

It was all so plain and boring, no sense of style anywhere. The truth was, it was an important detail that few understood, but he knew its purpose far too well. It was impossible to identify where you were if there were no details to notice. That was why there were no paintings or art, no plants or anything other than white walls and gray floors. He could be anywhere in the world, and yet in a way if felt like he was nowhere at all.

After a couple of turns down a few more nondescript hallways, he found himself in a large room filled with benches and lockers. While at first glance everything seemed normal, there were a few lockers that had fist sized circular indentations in the center of their doors. Walking up to the first one, he looked around the large open space, ensuring that the room was empty before he continued.

Alexi pulled a clear orb out from within his pocket, connected himself to it and caused a swirling cloud of light grey mist to form within its center. After the mist shaped itself into an intricate and ornate symbol, the lines of its design shimmering with mystical intent, he inserted the magical focus into the indentation on the locker door.

The moment the orb made contact, it snapped into the recess on the door, Alexi's hand coming away as the door swung open. Within were bottles and books, each one containing decades of research and wealth that Alexi had acquired over his time with The Council. Pulling the satchel of cookies from his side, he placed them on a shelf near the top, one of the only places with enough space for the large bundle.

With a sigh, he closed the door and reclaimed his focus, the glowing symbol within vanishing into a swirling cloud of light-grey mist as he pocketed the device. With purposeful steps he navigated his way through the office building until he found himself at the room he was intended to go for his debrief.

Opening the door, Alexi was expecting to find Wilcox, but came to a sudden halt as he found himself face to face with Oren. Wilcox was hard enough, the talented young wizard proving his reputation had been well earned in the couple of interactions that Alexi had shared with him. But Oren, he was a legend.

For over a century, Oren had been on the governing board of The Council, and even though they had only seen each other in passing Alexi found himself awestruck by the old and powerful wizard.

"Stop your fanboyin' and take a seat. I don't got all day." There was a surplus of happiness in Oren's voice as he concluded his statement, a laugh filling the room as he leaned back in his chair and admitted, "Actually, I kinda do. So, go ahead, think some more about how amazing and charismatic I am. I know I added the charismatic bit, but go ahead, run with it."

Alexi was stunned, not sure whether he should laugh as he walked the few steps to take a seat in front of Oren. The old wizard was cradling his walking stick across his legs, still chuckling to himself at his own joke as he followed Alexi's confused thoughts.

"Don't you worry, young man. We'll get this all figured out. Just relax and look into my eyes."

No longer had Oren instructed him than he felt himself drift into Oren's gaze, the older man drawing him in with a grin. The moment their minds were connected, Alexi was taken aback by the chaotic happiness that began to swim around his thoughts, Oren's laughter echoing through his mind as he said, "Just focus on what happened at Karen's, everything will be alright."

Part of him still wanted to protect Karen, to hide what had happened, but his thoughts were muddy and difficult to form, leading his mind to the beginning of their meeting. Oren watched it all, Alexi stumbling out of the closet, and being stunned by how young Karen looked. As the memory played on Oren seemed to suss out details that Alexi had missed.

Like how her gift had influenced his emotions in such subtle but effective ways. Or how she had been pushing her emotions into his mind without thought, as if she was not fully in control of that gift, which was unheard of for a wizard over thirty, let alone two hundred. Every detail built up a fear in Alexi's heart that he had somehow betrayed his mother, that Karen's trust had been misplaced, and that their relationship was once more lost.

"You are Russian, I'll give you that. No need to worry, young man. Everything will be alright."

With those repeated words, Alexi felt a calm and comforting wave wash over his mind, and he knew that everything would be fine. He was not sure how, but somehow it would all work out. Karen would be safe, and he had protected her secrets.

As Alexi consoled himself in those comforting thoughts, he watched as Oren went back through his memories, fortifying the events in ways Alexi had never known, until they were lost even to him. By the time Oren was done, the only thing that Alexi could remember was a seamless series of events where he had exited from the closet amid a sea of frustration, which only grew worse as their conversation escalated into the kitchen where Karen explained everything that had happened with the therian attack.

All in all, the conversation with Karen lasted a couple of minutes, and was cold by any measure. Alexi's pain at all of Karen's barbed comments were there in horrific detail, but none of his observations about her strange new gifts or behavior were present.

Oren stood and rested his weight on his walking stick. With a step, he crossed over to Alexi, where he rested his hand on the grizzled man's shoulder, stating, "Everything will be alright."

With those words, Alexi once more remembered the real series of events, and took comfort in the reconciliation that had taken place. All of his insights, along with Oren's were there for him to remember.

The door to the room opened, and Wilcox came in.