The four of us go into the front room, ignoring the furniture like we always did and sitting on the ground. I leant back against the couch and Kia sat right next to me, basically huddling into me, while Lexicon were opposite us.
We sat in silence at first, I sure as hell wasn't starting. It was Lex who broke the silence and it didn't take him long.
"You lied to us. How long have you known?"
"About 3 years ago, after the two of you bolted."
Kia grabbed my hand, running her fingertip in spirals across my palm. She was nervous, dammit.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Kia stiffened as their voices started to merge. The fucking idiots are scaring her again.
Keeping calm for Kia's sake, I shrugged. "Because then you'd go weird and be nice and I would get a double shot of that. Us being nice messes with my head more than when the two of you merge."
They suddenly became aware of it and immediately split again, probably hating how their idiot brother had to be the one to call them out for it. I guess that was the end of that topic, they proved themselves that they would have overreacted.
"Next thing, both of us need to move into Con's apartment."
It took me a second to realise what Lex meant by that. I looked down at Kia and she looked up, sending me a small smile as my face formed a frown. Fuck! I can't look after her if I move in with Lexicon.
I got it though, it was too dangerous for me to stay at the dorms and I guess they want me monitored if I'm being forced to study magic. I would have to move anyway, Con living on her own is one mess but the both of them together, I don't trust them to keep themselves alive. And there is no way I can take Kia with me, not now.
"I'll drop her off at Erica's tomorrow. You two handle moving her stuff over." They nodded, sending individual glances at Kia, who was just listening. She knew exactly what was going on, not the prophecy but me moving. She doesn't deserve this much shit so young. No 4-year-old needs to be that strong.
Lexicon went silent, neither wanting to bring up probably the topic most important to them. The silence went on for almost 5 minutes when Con finally asked. "How is she?" Kia kept looking at her finger on my hand but at some point she had stopped moving it. She wasn't a mage but she had a strong sense of sight and her development was a bit unpredictable from her mess of parentage.
"She's fine, without you two around." I couldn't stop myself from sending the jab at them even though I knew all 3 of us were responsible. "Besides, Hazuto said the repulsion with you is still too strong. She hasn't shown signs of developing magic abilities and it's hopefully unlikely because of you two but we're still checking up on her every week.
"And no, there's no sign of Calamov's health problems either. It's a miracle but she's in the clear from all of the bad stuff at the moment."
The number of things that could go wrong with Kia was terrifying for everyone but the girl herself. She could either inherit her mother's corrupted magic or her father's life threatening disease that has had him on his death bed for most of her life.
"Anything else?" I asked, Con perking up a little. Apparently, they did forget something. She hit Lex in the chest with the back of her hand and he then pulled out two old fashioned flip phones. "They're as analogue as you can get so you should be fine. We wouldn't leave you with no way of contacting people."
They meant Kia.
I took the phones and handed the girl the white one, keeping the grey one for myself. I flipped it open and saw the other number had already been saved, as well as Lexis's, Con's, Kia's dad and aunt, the people from the surgery and our parents'. This should be useful.
Kia tapped my arm with the phone, not wanting to speak but clearly wanting something. "You want this one?" She shook her head. Not knowing what else it could be, I pointed to my ear. She stood up and whispered, "The magic flowers." Ah, of course.
She handed me the phone, standing as waiting as I open it; clever girl had already turned it off. I closed it and cupped it in my hands, hiding it.
"Are you doing magic?" Con asked. I nodded, this was something I knew I could do without losing it, she already made me do it to all of her stuff.
Closing my eyes and concentrating, I imagined I was drawing in black over the body of the phone, making a floral pattern which I knew the girl would like. It took some time for me to be happy with it but when I was, I opened my hands and eyes, seeing the phones exactly as I had imagined it. I handed it back to Kia, her beaming face making me smile and mess up her hair playfully.
As the girl sat there in awe, tracing her small fingers over the black blowers against the whit body of the phone, I turned to Lexicon. "Seriously, the only thing more confusing than what's wrong with you is the magic you can do," my brother commented. Even though he was speaking, him and Con were both watching their daughter.
Once Kia started to notice the other two, they looked away, Con changing the subject. "Guess it's still a no go with the parent?" I scoffed at her words. All three of us collectively sighed.
"They really don't believe we can go back to how things used to be."
"But it wasn't even that big a deal," Lex argued, he knew all of us thought the same. Our parents just don't want to see that. "I mean it was obvious from the beginning, even Con figured it out herself." Connifer immediately zapped Lexis, making him jump. "Don't abuse me!" I snickered.
"And you're evil, how do you not scare Kia?" Smirking, I put my arm around my niece and pulled her closer to me. He was just asking for it. "Because I brought her up, she knows I don't have control and mean well when it comes to her. Only her."
"I'm your brother! I've known you longer." Con just rolled her eyes. She probably thought the same but how their split meant Lex was the only one being expressive about it. "You two lose your minds over cereal. Don't start."
"Lame ass!" Was he a kid or something? Wait, of course he is, I don't know why I even asked. "Anyway, where'd they go this time?" They meant our parents. I shrugged. "Dunno, they were just gone one day when I came back from summer school. Haven't been back since. The Elder probably knows though, he said they talked to parents."
Con's face went grim. So something did fuck up at the star reading. "You didn't say, what messed up this time?" Lex asked her.
They want to try the Lexiconikai." My face went serious, the stars really have fucking lost it.
"Kia, why don't you go up to your room and share your number with your friends." The girl immediately nodded, reading the mood and running out of the room. When I knew she was back in her room, I stopped using my filter.
"Have the council fucking lost the plot? You two physically can't hold the ceremony yourself." Lex nodded, all of us in agreement for once. "The idiot's right, we need a counterpart."
"They want to try Elix," Con explained, not happy about the suggestion at all. It was obvious why too, they would be strong enough but we don't even know who 'they' are yet. Even then, there is training involved. They ceremony is next year, there is no way they can get the Elix to pull it off, even if they knew who it was now, even if it was Zira. "And you know what's happening if the Elix isn't prepared in time."
"Fuck!" Lex exclaimed. "After all that petitioning?"
"I know, it's a complete pisstake, even I'm angry over it. But the Elder won't have any of it."
I shook my head at the both of them, refusing completely. "It's fucking suicide. No way."
"I get it, but even you know someone has to. You're the only Malikai known at this point." I didn't even listen to all of what my sister half-heartedly said. There was no fucking way in hell. "Just find your gen's counterpart already then!" Lex sighed at my outburst, not happy but somehow understanding the whole thought process of the deranged lot. "It's been 8 years, they're starting to give up the entire idea." I clicked my tongue, pissed.
This whole thing was stupid, it needed to be shut down already. "Last time we tried we caused a fucking natural disaster on the other side of the world. Tell the council they have to try harder; if we perform the ceremony as the Lexiconikai, the prophecy is the least of their problems. There won't even be a world to destroy, forget saving it."
Even though we all spoke from different viewpoints, we all had the same look in their eyes, they knew it too. We'd just end the world if we tried.