Alexa sprinted for the upturned sofa and leapt off it into her brother's side. The symphony of his breaking ribs made her smile. Not her. The other her. The other thing inside her head. Wolfie was with her – somehow. Or maybe she was with Wolfie. It didn't seem to make any logical sense, but somehow, for the first time in three-hundred years, she was whole. Her foot connected with James's chin, snapping his jaw before he could pick up the Ashdon. The less power he had over that sword, the better. He stumbled away and he was forced to brace himself for a few seconds on the floor.

"She's with you," he said, pressing his fingers to his bleeding lip.

"Maybe". She sailed over the rubble, missing him by a hair's breadth as he rolled away. James staggered upwards, glanced at the blade. Alexa used the opportunity to check up on Jake. He was standing far away, his mother still seated on the chair. He pointed behind her. Alexa gave a half-turn but couldn't stop the hilt of the Ashdon as it smashed into her hip. She rolled away, gasping. Ashes clung around her bones and her muscles felt weaker than ever.

"Who...who gave you that blade?" she managed. The pain in her side eased a little. Not much, but just enough. James swung for her again – this time she dodged. A piece of glass pierced her thigh.

"Was it Him?" James took another swing.

"Him? Ha! He means nothing now. I am stronger, sister. This weapon is mine. I made it. I made me. I am the Ashdon!" The sword caught her side, tracing a long line of blood across her skin. It wasn't a normal wound either – the Magik of the blade made it burn and made her blood bubble as it ran. She swung, plastered his hand to the hilt. Held him there.

"James, please. Think of Hope. All of these people. Your son". James wrenched away, taking the Ashdon with him.

"She's still dead. Nothing changes that," he snapped.

"Exactly. Killing me, letting Jake die, changes nothing. Stop this. You can still save this world". He stopped, the sword still clasped in his hand. Moving closer, he dragged the blade across the floor.

"You don't understand". His fingers curled up. "There is no world without her". He lunged. Alexa felt her confidence fraying, and her hair turned even whiter. Her eye decoloured fully from red to blue. Wolfie's voice was more prominent than ever.

Take him downtown Lexie, her voice spat. Maybe it was a figment, maybe it wasn't. Didn't stop her answering.

I do not know what that means.

Course you don't. The voice vanished. And Alexa let her Demons run. She launched herself at her brother, tackling his ashes and pushing as hard as she could against his energy. He pushed back, an iron will. Stronger. A hundred years her senior. She found it almost impossible to keep her balance. Thinking of Jake, she tried to pull the fight backwards. James was having none of it. He jumped off the remaining banister and drove a spinning kick into her already bleeding side. Crashing to the floor, Alexa felt his ashes clotting around her wound. They bit into the flesh, causing the bleeding to intensify. Satisfied, James turned his back. She seized the opportunity, bit down on it. Blackness rocketed out of her hands, coiling like snakes around his neck. In her other hand, white lighting sparked, forming a blade. The Tristan. One half of a whole. Its Magik surged through her. James, kicking and screaming, held onto the Ashdon for all he was worth. That gave her time to warn Jake. She met his gaze.

"Get your mother away from here, hurry!" He shook his head.

"I can't. I've tried pulling her up, but she won't budge. What am I gonna do?"

"I'll try to keep James at bay, if I can," she added. He smiled gratefully. Turning back to the fight, James had managed to move his arm out of her Magik. The arm holding the sword, which he raised and flung in her direction. She swung to the right just in time, the blade skimming across her cheek. Her line of sight was only disturbed for a mere second, but in that time James had broken free of the lighting and the blackness and had fallen back to the ground.

"You don't know what I can do sister. You've been away for quite some time. Let me show you my other new trick". Splaying his hand, Alexa felt the ground beneath her roil. Oceans of concrete split around her, separating until the very foundations of the building could be seen. The world shuddered, shattering in several places. She'd read about this once, one rainy afternoon in the library. The capacity of a True Halfblood. Entity Control. The ultimate particle manipulation. With one last surge, a plethora of Chainlinks appeared. Their long necks and glass-like figures were just as she remembered. Judging by Jake's moon-shaped eyes and gaping mouth, she could tell he could see them too. James coughed. Blood splattered and he wobbled. Righting himself, he smiled at the Chainlinks as they lumbered around the building. They didn't belong here – he knew that. Alexa snapped her Tristan back into her hand. She had a lot of work to do.

Though he'd never admit it, Jake had a feeling they were going to lose. As soon as those strange creatures appeared, he knew things weren't going to play out the way they wanted. He hadn't been able to see them in Halfirr, probably because he wasn't a Halfblood anymore, but he could certainly see them now. Chainlinks. Bulging whitened eyes and steel guarding their every twitch and stride. They were simply gruesome. Some of them split off into pairs, started lumbering toward Alexa. Others however, turned to him. Great. Jake bent down to face his mother.

"You really have to wake up now. Come on!" he cried. "I know you're going to come back from this, no matter what he's done to you. You've gotta come back from this!" No matter what Alexa had told him about her remaining this way forever. She had to come back.

"Come on!" His knees gave out. The Chainlinks moved closer. "Come back". He couldn't hold on any longer. Above him, the air shifted.

"Jake?" Mum blinked, arms falling slack. He looked up.

"Mum!" In that moment there was nothing else but them. Just the two of them. The rest of world would have to wait. Her arms wrapped around him and he buried his face in her shoulder. He almost felt six again, when he'd scraped his knee riding a bike and she had told him everything would be okay.

"You have no idea how long I've been searching for you," he whispered.

"You found me". Tears trickled down her cheeks. "I knew you'd find me". They stayed like that for a very long time. The crackling of the nearest Chainlink brought them back to reality. Mum stood up from the chair.

"I still don't understand. Alexa said James Altered you. She said... She said you'd never wake up".

"Altered me? He tried if that's what you mean. I was aware of everything, but I couldn't do anything to stop it. At least not at first. I just needed an anchor to bring me back. I needed you. Oh, Jake". She hugged him again. Cupped his bruised and bloodied face.

"I'm so sorry. I tried so hard to tell you. I should've found a way". He shook his head.

"It doesn't matter now". Something slithered around his leg and, before he could stop it, flung him to the floor. His back cracked against the stone, shooting spikes of pain up his spine.

"Jake!" Mum bent and ripped the chain from around his ankle. It burnt her skin, but she didn't seem to care. The Chainlinks were almost upon them. Mum's face darkened and she picked up the remains of a chair leg and swung it at the nearest Chain. The wooden leg cracked and split against its body, forced it back a step. Abandoning the chair leg, she punched the creature square in the face. It tipped over and rolled away. Jake stared. Mum clutched her wrist and winced.

"I thought you weren't a Halfblood," he gasped.

"I'm not" she said. "I'm a mother".

Alexa watched in amazement as Emma Green began parrying the Chainlinks. For a human, her strength was phenomenal. Jake was by her side, which meant both of them could see the Chains. She smiled. James glanced at Emma for a second or two, before returning his attention to her.

"Wolfie was right about that woman," he muttered to himself. Alexa's blue eye shrunk back to red, white hair receding.

"What else did Wolfie tell you?"

"Tell me? Ha! Everything I didn't need to know and nothing that I did. Be glad she's gone". She intercepted him before he could make another move. Her Tristan whacked against the side of his head, sent him sprawling. He rolled over and over, and his head struck the wall. For a moment, he lay still.

"You do not dare to speak of her that way. She is our sister". Rubbing his head, James clambered up. His face had grown dark.

"That thing is not our sister. I created her. She was a product of desperation and sheer brutality. She is not supposed to exist," he said. Ashes gathered in ringlets around his forearms.

"What...?" He shook his head.

"Tell me! Tell me now! Tell me what you did!" James looked away. In the end, he didn't have to. In the end, she remembered it all.

Walking away, she turns her back to her parents. The wooden staircase creaks and groans until she disappears from view. They have no right to imprison her here. They are not her keepers. She turns down the landing, striding to her room in the west wing with ease. In seconds, she flops down onto her bed. A sketchbook lies next to her, the drawing of a snowy landscape sitting unfinished on the page. Picking up her charcoal, she begins to map out the rolling hills and the icicles dangling off the tree branches. It is here that she stays, reviewing the look of scorn on her parents' faces at her mention of freedom. What was so terrible about her dream? Didn't she deserve to have a life too? The clock on the wall strikes six and she rolls over, discarding the book back onto her quilt. She should apologise; her parents were only trying to protect her. But her father had known about James's travels. A thought strikes her. Had he known? Maybe her father was shouting at him right this minute. Now she definitely has to act. James is her brother – she can't let him the face the mild wrath of their parents on his own. Besides, maybe he will tell her about his travels if she saves him. She reaches up and pulls herself onto the floor. Beneath her, something shakes, and a sharp snap is heard. Screaming. Nothing. Her father: weeping. She's out of the room, rushing down the stairs and seeing nothing but red. James! Her mother, her father! It must be the villagers or another Vaskel. That is when she reaches the stairwell.

"James?" He's standing by a body, holding a heart in his hand. Her father crouches beside it, stroking its hair. His tears stain his shirt blacker than his eyes.

"Mum...? Mum!" Rushing forward, she tugs at her mother's arms, but her pale skin cracks like parchment. She turns to James, oblivious of the heart as he drops it onto the carpet.

"Help her! Help me! Brother?" She pleads and calls for him, but he doesn't move. Her father gets up, just as her mum's body cracks and falls into ash. Her following scream reaches the tips of Heaven and the Gates of Hell.

"What have you done?!" Her father rushes forward, yelling for her to run. James meets him halfway there, their claws clashing like rapiers in the night. How had this happened? Why? Why? She moves to help her father, but he shouts for her to leave.

"Meet me by the bridge Alexa. I will be alright". James shoves him up against the wall. She can't watch anymore, and she does as he says, rushing towards the rear door of the manor. The evening air is cold, and it crystalizes in her lungs like ice. Her feet normally escape the pain, but now they fall victim to the harsh ground. The ripple of smashing erupts from the manor and she uses her Senses to listen for... The sharpness of crackling fires. The smell of smoke and dragon of the flames. Light flares from the sky, catapulting into the house with an ear-splitting smash. The force of the blow locks onto her balance and she tumbles to the floor. By the time she finds the strength to look up, the manor is burning. It is burning. Everything is burning, all around her.

"Papa! Papa!" She calls into the flames. Nothing. No answer.

Sister, James calls sweetly through the link. The connection is acidic, and she wants no part of it anymore. Clutching her head, she screams and drops to her knees. How? How had this happened?

Sister.

"Leave me alone!" she shrieks. Her knees wobble, but she just about manages to stay standing.

Mama... Papa... She hasn't even had the chance to say goodbye. No, it isn't real. She tells herself it's all a dream, so it must be a dream! Mustn't it? The bridge is in her sights, but she knows there's no point in waiting. Her father is gone. Turning around, she meets his gaze across the smoke. His eyes are black, but his smile suggests something else. Guilt. Dishonour. Hatred. She struggles to face him, for the sight of him makes her sick to the bone.

"James, what have you done? Why did you kill...our," she cannot finish.

"They deserved to die".

"No one deserves to die. Why brother!" She shoots towards him and starts pounding on his chest with her bare knuckles. He hardly twitches.

"How could you do this?" James pushes her away, and she slugs him across the jaw. Stumbling, he presses his hand to the bone jutting out from his face. Now his face is as ugly and as twisted as his actions. The bone soon heals and slots back into place. She can barely feel the next few minutes. They are drowned in rage. In pain and hate—

The pain stops, suddenly. The world blackens and a part of her is torn away. She wrenches back and screams, clutching the place where her eye used to be. Blood pours down her face. She spits blackness and skin onto the bridge, lunging for him again. Something feels different and she misses him by centimetres. Her rage has dulled, while her pain has amplified tenfold. He pushes her. He pushes her too hard. She collapses against the wall of the bridge, trying to right herself. By then it is too late. Her body tilts and, carried by momentum, she plunges into the water. The ice breaks beneath her weight and she fractures the river stream as it closes around her. No. She isn't finished, not yet. She is going to kill him. Avenge her pain, and her parents. A hand wraps around her throat and she looks up. He looms over her and shoves her against the rocky bed, crushing stones into her cheeks. Water enters her lungs and the ice solidifies in her body. Frantically, she struggles in his grip, trying to break his hold. He cracks his hand into her socket and the pain blinds her once more. Slowly, but surely, the river envelops her, along with the pain. Maybe it is better this way. Everything turns white.

Tears. They sang long and hard upon her cheeks. Alexa found herself kneeling on the floor of the building, the air around her frozen into sharp blades of ice and ash. She was clutching her shoulders. Jake stood a little way off, a chair leg in his hand while his mother kicked the remnants of a table at the Chainlinks. James meanwhile, lounged beside her. An icicle was lodged in the space above his heart, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Now you see the truth," he hissed. "We both deserve to die". He'd held her under that river until she'd drowned. Frozen. He'd killed their parents. And yet,

"That may be what you think. I however, disagree". She arched an eyebrow at Jake, who nodded. Emma promptly smacked a Chain upside its misshapen head.

"Can you trust me?" she asked him. He smiled.

"Always". The chair leg left his hand and she snatched it out of mid-air. Slashing through the ice, she drove it straight into her brother's chest and pulled it out the other side. He staggered, so she kicked him until he went down. Behind her, Jake started picking up bricks from the hole in the wall and throwing them at James.

"You're insane!" he cried. A brick struck him across the jaw.

"Maybe we are," said Jake. She motioned for him to stop throwing and he ran back toward the Chainlinks. Hopefully, they'd keep him out of the way. Closing her eye, she felt her hair turning white again. Her vision faded from red to blue, landing somewhere in-between. James yanked the wood dagger from his body and cast it heavily aside.

"He told me to do it. He said I had to!" She ignored him. He'd had his choice and he'd chose wrong. She lifted her palms skyward, opening them out so wind roared and Magik sparkled. A hole blew into the roof. Desperately, he brother searched the ground for his Ashdon. He didn't find it in time. Alexa lashed out, snatching up the blade and – as her eye shone – it split into ashes at her feet.

"No! What have you done?! What have you done?" James bent forward, scrabbling around and trying to salvage remnants of the blade as if it were a timepiece.

"The right thing," she whispered. Alexa swept the particles of the floor upwards, forcing them to crackle with black sludge. The ground rose too, and James was flung up onto the second floor. He landed with a thud.

"Alexa, look out!" She half-turned and singed the head off the Chainlink as it ran at her. The sound of Jake throwing up echoed from behind.

"Can you keep them at bay a little longer?" she asked. Weakly, he nodded.

"Thank you". James was just starting to get to his feet, so she sailed up over the railings, landing on a broken table. The second floor rattled, the suspension wobbling with every step she took. It would have to do. She needed to keep the fighting as far away from Jake as possible. Her nephew. Everything she'd thought they'd been: gone in an instant. Alexa shook her thoughts away.

"You're stronger," James coughed. Rubbing his throat, he tried to bend the house in on itself. She could feel the particles sizzling, but they wouldn't move. Frowning, James tried again. And again until she raced up to him and tackled him to the floor. It was never going to be Magik that defeated him. It was never even going to be a weapon. It was always going to be her. James tried to shove her away, but she clung to him like an insect. He kneed her in the ribs, but she only moved around and used his pressure points to manipulate his spine into breaking. James hissed and lay still. The bone was already starting to repair. Immediately, she lunged for him again, striking the bone into two, then three, then four. He curled up. With that, she kicked him in the groin. Twice.

"That was for our Sistra". It was an ancient Halfblood word, one she'd never used before. Her father had been investigating their species behind her back, so she'd picked up a few things. One day, she'd know more. Not today. James cried out, doubling over. His spine protruded out of his back like the branch of a tree. She was about to reach and pull the bone out of his body, when something stopped her. He looked up, eyes begging.

"Sistra, pletha". Sister, please.

"You know Half-speak," she said. "You read father's books too".

"Halferian is our language dear Sistra. I was...I was just as curious as you".

"Then why? Why did you break me?" The tears began to fall again.

"I wanted to break you the way I'd been broken. I lost the love of my life... No". Realisation dawned on him and black tears trickled down his face.

"You were the love of my life".

"I am sorry. For everything I've done. I hurt you, I killed the people who loved us. I killed my Hope. I'm so, so, sorry". Like her pain, his exploded onto his face, each line around his eyes showing his sorrow. Alexa's own tears came thick and fast, pouring rapidly onto her clothes. She bent down, felt the cold embrace of her big brother. They sat like that for a while, neither willing to speak. Time would have to move forward though. Until then, the world stilled, their mistakes grinding to a halt. Forever. Alexa could sense a weight lifting and even though she knew it would take years for her to truly heal, she managed to find her peace.

"James, I forgive you". Those were the hardest words she'd ever had to utter. They stung like lies cycling through her tongue. Eventually, they'd become the truth. Not yet. Not for a very, very long time. Perhaps, one day, she'd find it in her heart to truly forgive him.

"You've hurt so many people. It has to stop, James. Now," she said. Feeling his nod against her neck, she sighed. He held on tighter, so she gave in to the embrace. Down below, the remaining Chainlinks sunk into the ground.

"I know I've done the unforgivable. But, you... You... Thank you," her brother whispered. She nuzzled into his chest.

My big brother...

"No, thank you sister". His hold on her back tightened. "That makes things much easier for us". Gripping the back of her neck, he locked her head in place. Alexa felt her body shutting down and when she attempted to move her toes, they stayed frozen. She'd heard about this, but never witnessed it first-hand: rime-grasp. Among Halfbloods – or rather among what she'd read about them – there were several disciplines of Magik. True Halfbloods like her and her brother had the potential to possess them all. Most were linked to the four elements, while others were based off the Halfblood's surroundings and personality. James's power should have been emptiness. Cruelty. Betrayal. Everything he was exhibiting now.

"James," she began slowly. "Let me go. You do not need to do this". His eyebrows scrunched into a frown.

"Sister, I'm doing this for us". Like a lost little boy, he held on tighter. He pressed his lips into her hair.

"It's just you and me now sister". She tried to twist out of his grip, but he was too strong. Down below, Jake cried out. Her Magik surged in choked tendrils, as if it was trying to free her from her current state. James shot her a smile, one that screamed of the past.

There's no future in memories. No good comes from living in the past. Using his body weight, she gathered momentum and slammed both of them up against the railing which gazed down onto a steep down. His smile still remained.

"It's going to be okay sister," he said. "We'll both go down together". The brim of Alexa's vision turned fully blue and her face took on a steely glare.

"No," she went limp in his grip. "Just you". He pushed and she pulled, swinging around his waist until she struck him so hard he fell backwards off the landing. Time seemed to slow, only moving in sparks of colour. When her Magik had gathered, she held her hand up into the blackness and the Tristan dropped into her palm. Fingers closing around the handle, she took one last desperate moment to forgive him, before driving the blade through her brother's chest and straight into his heart.

The blow wasn't supposed to kill him. With Halfbloods, even pulling out their vital organs wouldn't kill them. Nor would stabbing them in the heart or chopping off their heads. Alexa knelt over her brother, her Tristan still lodged in his chest and her own heart on the verge of bursting. She'd never seen such pain in his eyes and as much as she wished she could say he deserved it, she couldn't quite convince herself that justice had been served. She'd have to find a way to incapacitate him from now on; the wound would only keep him down for so long. Reaching out, she trailed her fingers over his cheek. The skin came away as rotted ash. She pulled back.

"James?" Blood poured from the wound along with dust and ashes. His skin broke into moth-like shapes, cracking as if he was made of glass.

"James? What is happening?" Stretching a mottled hand up to her face, her brother smiled.

"He's collecting on my debt at last. I'm free now, little sister". His body began to melt and drift away. Piece by piece. Skin like parchment, crumpled to nothing. She tried hopelessly to grab onto what was left of him, but his skin fell through her fingers.

"No! No, no! This wasn't supposed to happen! James? James!" His fingers brushed the tears away.

"Lexie". Shaking her head, she moved around him and placed his head in her lap.

"It's going to be alright. Jake! Call someone! Help us." Even though she knew it was no use.

"Lexie," James whispered again. She looked down at him.

"I love you. More than you will ever know". 

He crumbled to nothing in her arms.