"Curtis, I heard that Annie was behaving strangely, I never had a chance to talk to her though, what happened?" asked Stella as she looked at Curtis.
She had been so busy that she could not speak to Annie, it was just meeting after meeting after meeting, and she had been worried about Annie.
"Well everything is settled now" said Curtis as he looked through the file in his hand.
"I see, was it serious or?" asked Stella as she looked at a file in her hand.
"Well a bit, Annie started to act strangely, mostly because of her powers, but she is fine now" said Curtis.
"I am glad that she is fine now, it had something to do with Azazel didn't it?" asked Stella while yawning.
"Partially, but this time, it relied heavily on Annie's own thoughts" said Curtis as Stella nodded and Curtis handed her a file as she looked through it.
"I told you that all this would put a strain on Annie" said Stella.
"I knew that it would, but she needs to learn to be strong, also to think on her own, experience is the best teacher" said Curtis.
"You know Curtis, your methods are very dangerous, what if things go the other way, and not in the way that you expected?" asked Stella while reading the file.
"Well has anything ever gone the other way?" asked Curtis as Stella looked at him.
"Fair enough, but if we are being honest, you do not know it all most times" said Stella.
"And neither do you" said Curtis as Stella shook her head at him and she continued reading the file as her eyes went wide and she gasped as she looked up at Curtis.
"Curtis, did you read this?" asked Stella as she looked at Curtis and he nodded.
"All of it" said Curtis.
"Mira gave the files to me at the Cauldron's headquarters, that explained everything more or less" said Curtis as he did not seem to look as surprised as Stella was right now.
"This is…" said Stella as she was at a loss for words, now everything made sense.
"I agree with you, who knew that things could get like this" said Curtis.
"We need to talk to Annie, Maddie and Matt right now" said Stella.
"You think that is a good idea? We only just found out" said Curtis.
"Exactly, we only just found out, and we need to inform them, they need to know about this" said Stella.
"Well alright Stella, whatever you say" said Curtis as Stella nodded.
"Mira, please call Annie, Maddie and Matt to my office" said Stella as she sighed internally, this was just too much, everything was going up and down and up and down.
…
"What do you think Aunt Stella wants to talk to us about?" asked Annie as she Maddie and Matt were on their way to Stella's office.
"I have no idea, but we have to know that at this point, it certainly has something to do with Azazel" said Maddie as she yawned.
"That is true" said Matt as Maddie yawned, she was just tired of this all, it was starting to get boring, seriously boring.
"Wait a minute, Annie are you okay?" asked Maddie as she looked at Annie.
"I am fine" said Annie as she laughed.
"Mhmm, good, good, just checking" said Maddie as Annie and Matt laughed.
"I wonder what's new with Azazel this time, maybe he has a new army, or a new deal or something, whatever it is, I am over it" said Maddie as the door to Stella's office opened on its own and they all walked into her office.
"Hi Aunt Stella, you wanted to see us?" asked Annie as she smiled.
"Yes my dear, please sit down" said Stella as Maddie, Annie and Matt sat down on the couch as Stella sighed.
"Aunt, what's wrong?" asked Matt as Stella looked at him.
"Oh well, I guess that you all know what I called you here for by now" said Stella as she sighed.
"Azazel" said Maddie, Annie and Matt in a chorus.
"Yes, it is about Azazel" said Stella.
"What's new about the guy this time?" asked Maddie with a yawn.
"Well I had an investigation done by the Cauldron, and they found some information from the time keepers" said Stella.
"Time keepers?" asked Annie in confusion.
"Yes my dear, the time keepers, they are a division of the cauldron, they are the ones that oversee everything that concerns time in the realm and beyond" said Stella.
"Ahh I see" said Annie.
"Yes, and this morning I got an report from the time keepers and it reveals what happened and why Azazel got his quick recovery from" said Stella.
"Alright, and how is that?" asked Maddie.
"Maddie, do you know a woman called Selene?" asked Stella as she looked at Maddie who shook her head.
"Never heard of her, never seen her, I don't know her" said Maddie as she shook her head.
"Well this woman Selene, she is Azazel's right hand, she does his bidding no questions asked, some say that she's even more brutal than him" said Stella as she explained.
"With the information I have here, it would seem that she was the one who killed your mother and framed Annie for it" said Stella as she watched Maddie's reaction closely.
"Hmm, well that's something new" said Maddie as everyone looked at her.
"Aunt, why are you looking at me like that?" asked Maddie as she looked at Stella.
"My dear, I just don't know, how do you feel?" asked Stella.
"I feel nothing, if that woman called my mother died, it probably had something to do with whatever the three of them had between them, I don't care at all , evil deals with evil" said Maddie.
"I see dear" said Stella as she never knew that Maddie could be so cold, what she was saying did not seem to affect her at all.
"Yes Aunt, is that all?" asked Maddie.
"Well no, apart from that, Selene was the one who saved Azazel from his battle with Annie, and the other rogues that escaped from us" said Stella.
"So this Selene woman seems to be the person behind everything" said Matt.
"You are right Matt, but she's even more wicked than you can imagine" said Stella.
"Azazel truly was weak from the battle, and Selene did the unimaginable" said Stella as she started to become very serious.
"What did she do?" asked Annie as she could sense something bad coming, she did not know why, but she felt like Stella and Curtis were about to tell them some very horrible news, and she did not think that she was ready for any more bad news.
"She made a deal… and that deal allowed her to go back to the past" said Stella.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, go back to the past? As in back in time?" asked Maddie as Stella nodded.
"That's possible?" asked Maddie.
"Very my dear, the time keepers noticed a disruption in the time line, and we were only able to see what truly happened now" said Stella.
"Apparently Selene went back in time to prevent Azazel from meeting your mother… she destroyed everything in the Agricola Realm at that time… and she killed your mother's entire family" said Stella.
"Wait, is that even allowed?" asked Matt in shock as both Annie and Maddie had the same reaction on their faces, it was a look that was a mix of disbelief, amazement and worry ultimately.
"Not on usual terms no, but Selene didn't use her magic to do that, she used the magic of the spirits of old, it's a long story, but she did it" said Stella as Annie, Maddie and Matt were shocked.
"There are several rules put in place to stop people from time travelling, but there is only so much you can do" said Stella as she sighed.
"Wait a minute, so you mean that woman went back in time to kill the woman who gave birth to me?" asked Maddie as Stella and Curtis both nodded.
"That's just messed up, I couldn't care less, but it's just weird to think about" said Maddie as she was just surprised, going back in time, this seemed like something straight out of a movie, that Selene woman really had to be wicked to go back in time to kill her so called mother.
"It is messed up as you say" said Curtis as Maddie looked at him.
Honestly Maddie didn't care at all, she was just surprised that someone could hate another person so much to go back in time just to kill them and their entire family.
"Wait, but then doesn't that mean that I should cease to exist or something like that??" asked Maddie as Annie and Matt looked at her and then at Stella and Curtis waiting for answers.