"Why are you red, sir?"
On the way to Jin and Alek, Rin passed by the witch that used to serve his grandmother. She was once a powerful witch when everyone knew her name but now that she was retired, she was just a tiny granny known to make snacks and food for warriors in the watchtower.
"Nothing, Rayna. Nothing happened." The boy couldn't even look the old lady straight in her eyes when he answered. He was still not over the heat.
Rayna tilted her head in confusion. "Sure..."
"Bye." Pollux hastily walked away from the spot, leaving the witch in confusion, until one theory came to her mind, which she was eager to tell lady Mutsuki.
His brother and his cousin gave a look at him as soon as he got into his brother's room. And that look annoyed him a little.
They were lying horizontally across the bed on their stomachs with their feet dangling off, and their upper bodies supported by the elbows.
They looked like they were gossiping which was probably true judging from how they looked up to him.
"Took you long," Jin said as he wiggled his eyebrows. "I'm surprised that you haven't had a heatstroke yet in this sun."
Alek nodded next to him, "I thought about giving you guys an umbrella for the sun, but I didn't want to disturb you, so I left but here is the umbrella." She stood up from that position and removed the black foldable umbrella with an innocent smile, unlike his brother's.
"Thanks..." Rin received the umbrella and kept it on the work desk nearby. By now, his heart was almost back to normal and the blush had faded away. He was also glad that none of them asked what happened with Destiny. "Let's listen to Alek's story."
Jin sat up straight from the bed and leaned into the cardboard as his cousin explained the scene of the cafe until now in detail. While Rin listened to her from the work chair.
"I've thought through king Jesper's words, and now I'm ready." She gripped the strap of her shoulder bag tightly, "I'll talk to my friends about this world and what's coming only if they turn out to be supernaturals."
"But until now, there is no sign of awakening..." Rin murmured.
Alek agreed, "Mm-hmm."
"I'm surprised that your mark didn't trigger their supernatural side instantly." Castor replied seriously. He was serious if he needed to be.
"I agree." Rin nodded and looked at the mark on his wrist. "There may be a chance that they are under a spell that locks those sides. I can't answer why and by who though."
"So forcing the awakening isn't an option, right?" Alek asked the twins.
Older nodded and the younger answered, "It could be dangerous."
"Unless we can ask people who uses magic to lift the spell." Jin continued.
Rin told Alek, "If that's the case, I think you should talk to them before doing that. If I were them, I'd appreciate what might happen to my own body or else I'll be seeing a psychiatrist."
"But if they are not, you'll just be exposing them to danger and have no way to protect themselves." Jin stated as he looked at his brother.
The three became silent afterwards, thinking in their own minds.
Alek was the one who broke the silence sometime after by saying, "If we are going to ask the witches or people with magic to lift the curse, we can first ask those people if Mel and Alex are under spells and lift them if they are put after I explain to the two."
The younger twin's eyes shone after hearing that, "And also see if they are really supernaturals or not."
"Killing two birds with one stone. Clever." Castor commented with a smile then asked himself. "Or is it three birds? Determining, searching, and lifting... Yeah, it's three."
The girl nodded and asked them suggestively, "I know I'm asking for a lot but, can we do this as soon as possible? All this 'ifs' are not sitting well with me and I want them to be settled fast."
"Sure."
"Of course."
The twins smiled warmly. Rin with an understanding nod and Jin with assuring tap on the shoulder.
"If they are free, we can even do this today. Right, Rin?"
"Yeah, this is more important than whatever we have after this."
"Thank you so much! I'll contact them now." Alek hopped off the bed like a bunny chasing after food and went to the room next door, which Castor told her was unoccupied.
While the girl was gone, the brothers held a light conversation.
Castor was no longer leaning on the headboard and was sitting on the soft mattress and that alone was a sight to be held. He looked like a supermodel advertising the bed.
"If we are dealing with spells, I think it is not bad to have as many magic users in this." He said in that position.
"Agreed." Rin placed his vein-popping hand on his chin, "We'll need witch, nymph, warlock, pixie, fae, elf and troll in this."
"We already have a witch, warlock, and pixie but what do we do about others?"
The younger looked up at his brother and said, "Maybe it is time to visit them."
The future head smirked hearing that.
----
Obviously, it took some time to convince Melvin and Alec into coming somewhere they didn't know, and without knowing the reason.
They even did a double-check with Bia if they were really talking to Alek and if she was sane. After they were sure that it was their best friend, they decided to trust her and agreed to come to the watchtower in about an hour.
When Alek came back from convincing her friends, she found more people in the room than she left with.
She was sure that there were only two people in the room, Jin and Rin. How come she found eight people staring at her when she walked in?
"Great to see you again, Alek." A soothing voice startled Alek.
She was so busy trying to understand how people multiplied by four that she wasn't focusing on who they were.
The girl had her mouth open as she found out who spoke to her. "Queen Paleine."
The nymph queen was seated at the work chair, farthest from the entrance and nodded with a smile after she was noticed.
"The same goes for me too." Said, Terance, the leader of elves.
Alek then looked between two people and finally registered who else was there. Pari; the water fae, Tinka; the queen of pixies, a young man with a purple highlight in his hair and a tiny old woman only a few times taller than a newborn baby.
Rin came to the rescue of his cousin at this point, "This man," He gestured to the young man, "Is one of our clan's powerful warlocks, Mago."
The man bowed slightly with a friendly smile.
"And this lady here is Quinlan, a troll."
The granny troll showed respect to the future head of Minazuki by middle bowing with a walking stick in one hand. She was already small, but this action made her appear smaller.
Alek felt bad for making the troll bow and did the same bow, "Thank you. All of you for sacrificing your time in helping me and my friends. I will surely return the favour in the future."
Terance chuckled hearing that, "Stop being so dramatic. We just came to help our little friend."
Pari nodded, "Mm-hmm."
Paleine told Alek, "Raise your head, child."
With that, the girl raised her head and faced the eight people again.
The pixie asked, "When are your friends coming?"
"In about an hour."
Then a voice sounded from below, "Mind describing their features?" It was the granny troll.
Mago added, "Even a picture works."
Alek removed her phone and showed them a picture of the three of them together at Mel's birthday this year.
All of them except the three shifters took a turn studying the picture and returned it to the owner after they were satisfied.
After the girl got her phone she asked hesitantly, "Did you feel anything?"
That question made the six supernaturals exchange a knowing look among themselves upon hearing the question.
"We don't want to be quick in a judgement. Let us take time." Terance finally answered the shifter's question after there was a silent agreement between the six.
"Ahh. Understood." Alek nodded while putting away her phone.
Terance asked Jin, "In the meantime, I'd like to talk to my people here if it's possible."
"Of course," Said Jin.
"I'd like to do the same." Said Paleine and Tinka.
"Please follow me, then." Jin ushered the three people out of the room. Only six remained.
Mago talked to the remaining twin with his head down, "If you allow me, sir Rin, I'd like to go back to my duty. I'll return in an hour."
"Sure."
"Excuse me." Mago exited.
"I'll be in the garden young shifter. Message me when they arrive." The granny troll then walked out without exactly waiting for a reply.
Soon, Rin was called out by his grandfather and went away, so it became the two of them, Alek and Pari the fae.
Pari looked at the shifter with the typical look women make, kinda-awkward-but let me just smile. "Do you want me to keep you company?"
"Yep." Alek replied in a flash.
-----
After Jin was done ushering the three visitors, he realised one thing. They forgot to get a witch. He found it weird that he realised now because it was usually Rin who noticed that kind of stuff. Maybe his brother was tired and didn't think of that.
Anyway, he had to find a witch. Rayna has probably gone back home and there were many witches in the clan but he didn't want their help.
Thinking about who to ask for in the middle of a hallway, just the person he needed came walking towards him.
"Is there anything wrong, sir?" The personal witch of lady Mutsuki asked with concern.
"Perfect timing."
Destiny tilted her in confusion as the future head smiled at her as if she was a freshly baked Christmas turkey.