Later that Evening.
After dinner, which was somewhat calmer than yesterday's dinner, everyone retired to bed as Queen Christina and King Albert bade them goodnight, even Ollie seemed tired, he just let them all go without even bothering them, which even made Maddie surprised, even though she did not say it, before she awaken the beast again.
"I have made a sound barrier" said Maddie as she closed the door to the lounge as she sat down beside Annie who was sitting by Matt on the couch as John and Lisa were sitting together on the other couch as Curtis stood in front of them.
"So what did you want to talk to us about Curtis?" asked Annie as she wondered why Curtis called this meeting in the first place, did he already find was he was looking for.
"Yes Curtis, what do you want to speak to us about?" asked John.
"It is something very delicate" said Curtis as he spoke as they all looked confused, they wondered why Curtis was acting more suspicious than usual.
"Well what is it about?" asked Maddie as honestly she was not in the mood for all this intrigue, Curtis should just go straight to the point, she was really tired now.
"It is about Annie's powers" said Curtis as he realized that it would be best to carry all of them along, so they would understand him and not misunderstand him.
"What about her powers?" asked Lisa as she was getting more confused by the second.
"John, Lisa, I have not told you anything since I did not want to worry you but…" said Curtis as he paused.
"But what?" asked Lisa as she narrowed her eyes at Curtis and she looked at Annie as Annie avoided her gaze.
"Annie lost her powers" said Curtis.
"What do you mean lost her powers?" asked Lisa as she could not believe what she was hearing, even John felt the same, but he just kept quiet as he was trying to let Curtis' words sink in.
"*Sigh*, Look Lisa, while we were in the plain of Kadama and Azazel was chasing after us… I got caught, and well Azazel killed me, but after Annie managed to scare Azazel away, she used a revive spell to bring me back to life, at the expense of her powers, at the time she did not know… but it was only when she woke up from her coma that she knew" said Curtis as he explained.
"Honey are you alright?" asked Lisa as she turned to look at Annie quickly.
"I am fine mom" said Annie as she looked at her mother.
"Why didn't you tell us anything?" asked Lisa.
"Mom I…" said Annie as she was cut off.
"You what?? Don't you think we worry about you too?" asked Lisa as Annie could not say anything at all.
"Aunt, don't be too hard on Annie… she didn't want to worry you" said Maddie.
"Wait… did you two know about this?" asked Lisa as she narrowed her eyes at Maddie and Matt as they both avoided her gaze and they went absolutely quiet.
"Unbelievable, how did you two know?" asked Lisa.
"Well Annie told us…" said Matt as he realized that it was a bad idea for him to say so.
"So you could tell them Annie, and you could not even tell me your own mother?" asked Lisa as she had been suspecting that something was wrong, but she did not want to be a worrywart, but it would seem that her daughter had started to hide things from her.
"I'm… I'm sorry Mom… I didn't want to worry you and Dad, and Aunt Stella and Curtis were taking care of it" said Annie as she sighed.
"Why don't you want to worry me? I am your mother, I am supposed to be worried about you at all times" said Lisa.
"I'm sorry mom" said Annie sadly.
"Annie I…" said Lisa as she was cut off.
"Lisa hun, that's enough" said John as Lisa turned to look at him.
"But…" said Lisa as she was cut off.
"But nothing Lisa, Annie had her reasons, and she already told us why" said John.
"When she woke up, you were so worried about her, and it would have not been a good idea for them to tell us about the situation on hand at that time, it would have only made things worse, and make us worry even more" said John as he agreed with with Annie and Curtis and everyone else did by not telling them.
"I know John but… I don't like it when you keep things away from me Annie" said Lisa as she sighed and she looked at Annie.
"I'm sorry Mom, I promise I won't do it again" said Annie as she sighed, the last thing she wanted to do was to make her mom upset, in the end, she was her mother.
"*Sigh*, It's alright dear, what matters is that you are alright now" said Lisa as she sighed, she just could not help it, Annie was her daughter, her only child and she loved her so much, she did not want anything bad to happen to her, she wanted her to be safe at all times.
"Thank you Mom" said Annie as she smiled and Lisa smiled.
"Wait Curtis you said scare Azazel?" asked John as he turned to look at Curtis as he realized something.
"Yes I did" said Curtis.
"So you mean to say that Azazel is still alive?" asked John as everyone turned to look at Curtis.
"Yes… he is still alive" said Curtis.
"Which is why Annie needs her powers back, so she can protect herself" said Curtis as he explained.
"So how can she get her powers back?" asked Lisa as she looked at Curtis.
"Well that's the thing… we don't know… it's not easy to determine how exactly we can get her powers back" said Curtis as he sighed, he knew that this would be bad news to tell them, but it was necessary that they know what exactly was going on.
"So you haven't been able to find anything?" asked Maddie.
"Sadly I have not… but believe me when I promise you all that I will, I just need more time, there are many texts I need to go through first" said Curtis as he explained.
"But you haven't found anything, and that's what matters" said Annie as she sighed, it was the truth, each passing day she lost more hope that she would get her powers back.
"Which is why I am telling you that I will find something, I promise you Annie, trust me" said Curtis as Annie looked away from him as she sighed, it was getting difficult to be positive when it had been so long and nothing had changed.
"Curtis Can't…" said Annie as she seemed to think of something.
"Can't what?" asked Curtis.
"Can't my parents have another child?" asked Annie as everyone turned to look at Annie at the same time, there was a mix of disbelief and curiosity in their eyes.
"I mean if they have another child, won't he or she automatically get the Grey powers?" asked Annie as she looked at Curtis.
"Well…" said Curtis as even he did not have an answer, no one had ever bothered to ask him this sort of question before, and the truth was that he did not know at all.
"Well the thing is I am not sure Annie" said Curtis.
"The Grey family has only ever had one child, and every two generations, that child received the powers, and no one else" said Curtis as he explained.
"So if my parents were to have another child, he or she would be powerless right?" asked Annie.
"Well it is not certain Annie, he or she, would have to grow up first, and even then it is unlikely that they would receive the powers, the magic is… well it is unpredictable, even I cannot tell what it wants to do" said Curtis as he was being honest right now.
"*Sigh*, so that option is a no go" said Annie as she sighed, all she wanted was for all of this to end and be over, and even if that meant that she would not be the one to defeat Azazel, she did not care, she just wanted to rest and nothing else.
"Annie, what made you think like that?" asked Lisa as she looked at Annie.
"There is no sure possibility that I will get my powers back, so the sensible thing to do is to start trying to find other ways to defeat Azazel" said Annie truthfully.
"But dear, you don't need to think like that" said Lisa as she could hear the despair in her daughter's voice as Curtis and everyone else could tell that Annie had already given up.
"Annie, your mother is right… you need to have hope" said John as he forced a smile, he knew that this was hard for her, she was only sixteen and her life was turned upside down just because of one man.
"Annie, don't give up" said Maddie as Annie turned to look at her as Maddie held her hand.
"Yes don't give up Annie" said Matt as he smiled at Annie.
"Believe me when I say that I feel the same as you do Annie, I really do" said Curtis as he forced a smile.
"But we cannot give up… we can't" said Curtis as he had once felt like Annie was feeling now, but giving up would not be the right option.