When Scarlett picked up the phone, Chloe explained everything she'd seen and felt in her vision. I sat on the counter across from the island, watching half the conversation. Chloe transferred the call to speaker. Scarlett was quiet on the other end. Over the phone, pages were being flipped. I assumed she was looking through her grimoire for some answer.
Scarlett finally spoke up, "I've found a spell that sounds familiar to what you're describing. It's to control a person and manipulate their emotions. What I have is the basic version of the spell, but the original is extremely complex."
"Would the complex version of the spell you're talking about match what Chloe saw?" I asked, leaning towards the phone.
Tyler walked into the kitchen, scratching the back of his head. He paused mid-step, seeing the two of us. We must haver looked anxious from the expression of concern that appeared on his face. I held up a finger, then waved him over. Tyler leaned against the end of the island, peeking at who Chloe was on the phone with.
"Maybe? I only know the version I have can be weakened by the victim's own personal morals and other emotions can damage it easily. I'm not as familiar with the original," Scarlett paused for a moment, more page flipping, "I'll call my aunt. She'll probably have the complex version somewhere. I'm going to call you back."
Scarlett hung up. I could hear in her voice that she was getting frustrated too. Turning to my older brother, I explained the last ten minutes. Tyler dropped his head, looking at the countertop. His eyes flickered back and forth, thinking over what we'd told him.
He looked up at Chloe, "are you sure?"
"I'm rarely wrong when it comes to the things I see," she answered, nibbling on her thumb nail.
"And you're sure this came from Will currently? It's not a future premonition or coming from someone else?"
Chloe nodded, "the first part triggered when Will came in the room, and the second part happened when he put his hand on my shoulder. It's happening with Will, and it is definitely happening now."
Tyler stared at Chloe for a minute, reading her expression before slowly nodding and moving his gaze back to the counter. He then looked at me. My brother opened his mouth, but I interrupted him.
"We're going to tell dad but after Scarlett calls back. I'm not going in with half information. I want to know what the final answer is."
Tyler nodded, unsurprised that I'd already gone over this in my mind. He tapped his fingers against the countertop.
"We wait now, I guess," Tyler said, "where's Will now?"
"Out with Scott. I don't know when they're going to be back."
After a few anxious hours of waiting, Scarlett called with answers. Tyler, Chloe, and I now sat in my father's office, listening to his car come to a stop outside. I glanced over at Chloe. Her anxiety was written across her face, picking at her fingernails. She had not interacted with my father often. Like most people who didn't know him, she was probably a little fearful of him.
His footsteps thudded through the house. Charlie barely paused as he opened the office door. We made eye contact as I leaned against the fireplace.
"What's going on in here?" Charlie asked, placing his brief case onto his desk.
"There's something we need to discuss," I said. I moved to the guest chairs of my father's desk with Chloe. Tyler stood behind us after closing the door. Charlie sat in his chair, crossing his hands over his stomach with his elbows on the chair's arms. The slightly amused expression he walked in with changed to one of concern the longer he looked at us.
"Chloe had a vision about Will today. It sounds like it could be a problem," I turned to Chloe. She shuffled in her chair, awkwardly now the attention was on her.
"The first vision showed Will unconscious in a chair. A warlock was casting a spell on him. There was a dark presence and a feeling of anger towards," Chloe paused, "towards you, sir."
"The second vision?" Charlie asked, not phased by her first observation.
"Will placed his hand on my shoulder when he was leaving earlier, and I felt what I could only describe as pure violence. My mind was being forced into submission by this fog with its own conscious. It was still angry, but it was only triggered at certain points."
Charlie leaned back in his chair, placing his pointer fingers against the tip of his nose. We stayed silent, my father thinking through the details Chloe provided.
"What have you learned about the spell?" he asked, "you wouldn't have brought this forward without something to back it up."
"We called Scarlett and Chloe explained it to her. Scarlett has a simplified version of a spell that sounds like this," I placed a copy of the spell's notes that Scarlett had sent, "it's meant to control the mind. The version Scarlett has access to is easily broken by stronger emotions."
"And the stronger version?"
"Before you pulled in, we got an update from Scarlett. Her aunt checked her own spell books and found it. It can't be broken or damaged by emotions alone. If this is the spell and not some hybrid, the only method of removal is to reverse it," I explained, "which can be a very painful process from what I've been told."
"Is there a way for Scarlett or her aunt to perform the spell?" Charlie asked.
"I'll call and ask. From what I understand of witches' terminology," I pointed to the paper my father held, "that spell and its more complex counterpart are darker magic. It's not what they're used to."
"Have them here at their earliest convenience," Charlie glanced at Tyler, "we'll need to contain Will until this is sorted out."
"What are you thinking? The cage?" Tyler suggested. Chloe turned to him; eyes widening in fear. I leaned closer as to not interrupt the planning between my father and brother.
"There's a set of cages in the basement meant for painful and violent episodes. Stuff like a bitten human changing or an illness effecting our control," I explained to her. Chloe nodded her head, understanding what I was staying but it still seemed to disturb her.
Charlie cleared his throat, "Chloe, thank you but would you mind stepping out? Tyler, go grab Aaron. I believe he's in the shed."
Chloe nodded her head, Tyler following her out of the office. Charlie undid the top button to his dress shirt and pulled his tie loose.
"I was hoping to have a night off, but seems I made that wish too soon."
Two days later, a plan was formed and put into action. Charlie, Tyler, and I sat in the cottage, eating burgers. Will needed to come to us naturally, instead of receiving instructions. It was safer if he wasn't alerted or on edge.
Kurtis and Scott were waiting in their bedrooms upstairs for my father's call. Their job was to carry an unconscious Will to the main house. There was a silence consensus between us all that we didn't feel good about this. In a perfect world, I wanted to ask Will straight forward how he ended under a spell of this caliber. Scarlett had warned us if we were cornering him, the spell could take control and Will would fight back.
We continued to eat without pause when the front door open and shut, boots being knocked into the wall upon removal. Will entered the kitchen, pausing with his jacket half off when he saw us sitting at the table.
"Hey, what're you all doing here?"
"Tyler decided to play host and make lunch. We had to make sure it wasn't poisoned. Apparently, he was using food as a trick. He's got a new development he heard about in town that he wants to throw our money into," I said, taking a bite from the burger. Tyler invited Will to the last burger on the stovetop.
"What's the development? I haven't heard anything," Will asked, putting condiments on to his burger.
"There's a housing complex up for sale. It looks like the previous owners kept it in good condition," Tyler explained.
Will chuckled, "didn't we have this conversation like three months ago and it that never got resolved then?"
Tyler nodded, chuckling. Will was correct. It was the same day we'd received the gory pictures of Bill and Michael.
Charlie and I glanced at each other, taking drinks from our beer bottles. During the conversation on how to handle this situation, my father made a valid assumption the spell had something to do with Carrey. It added a layer of stress that we were walking blindly into.
I walked to the counter, placing my empty plate in the sink. Facing the sink, I adjusted the needle of tranquilizer up my sleeve. After taking a questionable drink of his own, Tyler began coughing as to clear his throat. A signal to Scott upstairs to call my cell phone. I didn't even get to a count of thirty before the ringtone began from my back pocket.
"I've got to take this," I said after a look at the screen, exiting the kitchen. My only challenge came now. After renovations a few years ago, the cottage was entirely open concept. I had to be careful where I stood to put the syringe into my hand. I was able to shove myself into the supporting corner wall. The only spot completely out of view. We'd purposefully left the chair where Will's back would be facing my direction. With my phone between my ear and shoulder, I maneuvered the syringe into my grasp. After a general, school sounding conversation with Scott, I hung up the phone.
I took a deep breath, looking down at the syringe. I did my best to walk normally into the kitchen. Neither Charlie nor Tyler made eye contact, both continuing their conversation with Will. Without a pause in my step, I plunged the needle into Will's neck. As I started to press the plunger down, Will jerked forward at the sudden pain. I pushed the plunger down the rest of the way and yanked the syringe, stepping back. Will spun around in his seat, swearing, but I knew he wasn't going to be coming after me. It was a powerful tranquilizer that we rarely used. Will was confused, his hand over the injection spot. My heart thudded in my chest as his feet shifted to stand but his eyes fluttered shut. Tyler stood from his chair, grabbing Will as he began falling out of the chair. Tyler placed his fingers against Will's neck.
"He's out," Tyler called. Footsteps came from upstairs. I dropped into a chair, watching Scott and Kurtis briskly come into the kitchen. I nibbled on my bottom lip as the pair carried Will out of the cottage with Tyler. I tossed the syringe onto the table, looking at it with disgust.
"That was," I paused, "uncomfortable."
Charlie nodded his head, no words coming out of his mouth. He hadn't stood up once.
"Are you going to be alright?"
I sighed, "I'm going to have to be. I'm the one who brought this to you. I'm the one who must see it through."
When Charlie decided enough time had past for them to get Will into the cage, we left the cottage. It was quiet outside, no screaming coming from inside. Everything was eerily quiet. Coming in the back door, I could now hear voices throughout of the house. Scott, Brandon, and Chrissy stood silently around the island, discomfort written across their faces.
"What's going on?" Charlie demanded.
"Cora was here when we brought in Will. We didn't know she would be here. She didn't tell anyone she was coming by. When she saw him unconscious, Cora lost it. She yelled, tried to wake him up. Even tried to fight Chrissy. We got her outside and she's in the woods now," Scott explained.
"I will speak with her later."
Charlie rested his hand on my shoulder, nodding towards the basement door. I barely looked at the others before leading the way.
We joined the rest of the Pack members that were already in the basement. James, Aaron, Kurtis, and my brothers were already gathered. All heads turned as we descended. Lawrence stood at the cage Will laid in. It appeared that he was checking the locks. My dad stood beside him, leaning closer. He was whispering something, but I didn't try to hard to listen. I stood next to James, arms crossed against my chest. We had yet to have a civil conversation since our fight, but I felt better standing with him. Safer and secure.
We all looked at each other. No one liked standing here, looking at our brother unconscious in a cage. The events of the past few months lay in front of us. I'm knew I wasn't alone in wondering where this dark spell fit in, and how much responsibility did Will have for what happened.
A few hours had past since Will was put in the cage. Charlie instructed us all to take shifts watching over him. I'd gotten roped into helping Drew train James back to his full health. Now that he wasn't wincing walking down the stairs, James was eager to get his strength back up to par with everyone else.
James and I shuffled around each other, fists up and eyes twitching to the other person's movements. We were covered in sweat, James more so than I. He was starting to burn out. When I suggested stopping, James claimed he didn't need to. Seeing a waver of his upper torso, I took full advantage. Neither of us made progress. I took a few shots at his head that James stopped or dodged. Re-evaluating, I changed tactics and decided to go for his legs. He wasn't expecting it as I'd focused on upper body throughout our sparring match. I swept James's feet out from under him, pinning him to the floor. James groaned in pain, no longer fighting back. I stood up quickly, leaving him on the mat.
"You're getting better," I commented, taking a drink from my water bottle.
"Or he's just letting out his pent-up aggression over your stubborn ability to be unsupportive," Drew said under his breath. I spun on my brother. That comment was more personal than anything, but entirely below the belt. James and I glared at him, a frightful sight. Drew stepped backwards, raising his hands in surrender with wariness in his eyes.
Kurtis's head appeared around the door frame, "before you kill Drew, I'd like to tell you that Will is waking up."
Grabbing my sweater, I left the room with no response to my brother's comment.
"Drew, go get dad. Scarlett and Chloe too."
Drew opened his mouth, groaning complaints. I ignored him, entering the largest room of the basement. I dropped down on the aging couch beside Tyler. Will's head rolled to the side, quiet groans escaping from his lips. While everybody else piled down the stairs, Will let out a cough and began swearing. The side effects of sedatives were obvious. Chloe and Scarlett, who'd arrived this morning, sat down on the stairs. I could see them, but Will didn't know they were there, and they couldn't see him.
Cautiously, Drew sat down in between Tyler and I, eyeing me for a reaction. I ignored him. I didn't have the energy to respond to his childish antics. Will lifted his head up to us looking back at him. He loudly groaned, dropping back down.
"You guys are going to far with these pranks."
"Everyone, please step out of the basement. I'd like to speak with Will for a minute," Charlie instructed.
"Ashlyn, Tyler, stay. You're right, this," Charlie waved his finger to the cage, "is yours."
Will sat up, looking at us with surprise. I felt a pang of guilt. I hated being the reason he was locked up, under suspicion. Tyler sat down on the arm of the couch, but I stayed by the stairs with my arms crossed. Chloe and Scarlett stood too, but Charlie held up his hand, still looking at Will. My friends looked at me confused, and I nodded once. They sat back down. Charlie wanted them to observe, take notes.
Will grunted, standing. He sighed, dropping himself down on the metal bench welded to the cage.
"What's going on?" he asked, arms resting on his knees.
"Have you ever seen this before?" Charlie held up the spell Scarlett provided. Will leaned forward, eyes scrunching as he read the words.
"That's not even in English. I'm going to say no," Will leaned back, "why?"
Charlie looked down at the page, "this is a spell that is used by both witches and warlocks. Its purpose is to control the recipient's mind by producing aggression and violence towards particular people. Does that sound familiar?"
"No," Will shrugged, still confused. Charlie glanced at me, nodding towards the cage. Indicating it was my turn. I cleared my throat, stepping forward with my arms crossed.
"Will, we've concluded that you're under this spell. We don't know by who and I'd like to hope you don't either. This spell though, has altered your mind at certain points. Thinking back on the past few months, you've been aggressive at different times, some that we may not even know about. I think this spell might have something to do with Mack Carrey."
Will's foot began to tap rapidly against the floor, and his head facing the ground. I stepped up to the bars, my stomach dropping.
"What did you do, Will?"
Will cleared his throat, not looking up.
"I was approached by Carrey. He wanted to discuss my thoughts on how the Pack was run. We agreed on a few things," Will awkwardly coughed, "I met with him a second time. I didn't think anything of it until afterwards. I realized more time went by than I thought. I assumed they'd drugged me and put a tracker in me or something. I checked my clothes afterwards and looked for surgical marks. I couldn't find anything. I guess this," Will nodded his head towards the paper in my father's hand, "make sense."
No one spoke. I nibbled on my bottom lip, making eye contact with Tyler. His jaw was pushed to the side, angry. Charlie turned around, walking towards the couch.
"Will, I don't know where to start. Will, where would you like to start?"
"The spell, I guess. I don't look as bad in that situation," he muttered.
I bit my tongue lightly, trying not to snort at his comment.
"Will, it's not good you got put under a spell and didn't know about it. I'll admit that I feel guilty for not noticing earlier there was something wrong, but you didn't say anything. What if it was a spell that had you releasing Pack secrets and personal information?" I said, "and meeting with Carrey? You didn't say anything to anyone."
"What was I supposed to say? Hey, a dude approached me about what's wrong with the Pack, and he picked me because I'm not a hereditary werewolf and was born as a human. I see things differently than you guys do," Will said, shrugging, "it was someone to talk to. Carrey seemed to understand. He told me that he was born human as well."
It wasn't an answer I was expecting. I thought he had some deep-seated anger towards us.
"Carrey isn't human-born," Tyler said, "his family was a part of the original Pack," Will looked surprised, "Carrey lied to you."
I saw realization hit him. I didn't give Will a chance to answer Tyler's bombshell.
"What about the murders?"
Will's head shot up, "I didn't know Carrey was behind Bill and Michael until the Pack discussed it. He'd only approached me once at that point. I wasn't involved in the decision making around Tony. I didn't know about it either, I swear."
"What about the fire?"
"I didn't know it was happening until it was in progress. Carrey asked me to meet him and when I arrived, you guys were unconscious. This sounds like I'm lying but I don't remember anything after that. The next thing I remember is driving away from the car after it was ignited. I didn't know they were inside the car."
"How do you expect us to believe you?"
I could see Tyler was having a hard time trusting what Will was saying. Will was struggling to form proper words that explained his thoughts.
"I don't know," he said finally.
Quietly, a throat cleared from the stairs. Glancing over, Scarlett subtly waved to her phone. I took mine from my back pocket.
My aunt can help with the spell. She'll be able to tell if he's lying or not.
I looked over at her, nodding. Stepping up to Charlie, I showed him the text. He nodded silently. I passed my phone to Tyler. Tyler gave it back without reaction.
"Tyler, will you grab Scott? I'd like him to keep an eye on Will."
Will sighed, defeated, his head dropping back down.
Once Tyler and Scott appeared, Charlie led us upstairs, Tyler and I following without another word to Will. Chloe and Scarlett followed. Charlie sat behind his desk, looking out the window. The four of us filed in, shutting the door. We stood, looking at my father. He wasn't happy, but I couldn't read much more.
"Scarlett, I'd like you to call your aunt and ask her to take a look at Will," Charlie said, not looking away from the window. Scarlett looked a little surprised that Charlie addressed her. She looked between all of us before answering my father.
"Um, yes I'll do that."
With Chloe following, Scarlett left his office and shut the door again.
"What do you want us to do?"
"Go clean the cottage and make it appropriate for Scarlett's aunt's arrival. You'll question Will after the spell is removed."
Tyler and I exchanged a look when we heard our next job wasn't until after the spell was gone. He was keeping us away from the situation. Charlie didn't know what was happening and this was his tactic to keep us safe. I tightened my jaw at my father's abrupt dismissal of us. There was more that we could be doing other than cleaning right now.