***

It was the day of the funeral and I wasn't sure if I could bring myself to go. No matter how many times people tell me that it isn't my fault, I feel like it is. I feel like my mother's death was my fault. It was my fault that she was taken and it lead to her being killed. If I hadn't been so selfish then she would probably be here now.

I felt someone touch my shoulder, "Hey."

"Hey," I quickly wipe away any tears that have fallen before turning back to her, "What's up?"

"We're about to leave," She told me. I nodded. Upon closer inspection, I could see that she had been crying, too. Obviously, she would be. We both lost one of the most important people to us. Hope went to leave, but stopped, "You don't still believe that it's your fault, do you?" I didn't say anything. I felt like saying nothing was better than saying anything. Hope sighed and sat in front of me on the bed, "It is not your fault. You couldn't have known what would happen. You have got to stop blaming yourself for this."

I took a deep breath to keep myself from crying, "But-"

Hope quickly cut me off, "No. No more blaming yourself," Hope reached forward and hugged me. We stayed like that for awhile. When we let go, I felt lonely again. I wish we could just stay like that forever, "Now come on. We got to go." I nodded again and the two of us left the room.

***

We were having a classic New Orleans funeral. People were in the streets, including me, Hope, and Aunt Freya. The casket was in front of us and music could be heard from all around us. It all felt kind of overwhelming to me because of how many people were here. I had no idea why they were here, though. I've never seen any of them around my mom before.

"Where's Dad?" Hope asked. I looked around and, surely enough, he wasn't there.

"He'll be here soon," Aunt Freya reassured us, "He's just waiting on Ivy to help him with the astral projection."

I nodded to myself, "Okay. Then where is everyone else?" I looked over at her. I had been looking around for the people that I knew who knew my mom, but no one was in sight.

Aunt Freya started looking around, too, "Marcel should be here. Vincent. There's Josh." Josh was standing a little bit away from us. He waved at us and I waved back at him.

Hope went back to looking around, "What about Declan?" Aunt Freya was silent, "Please tell me someone told Declan."

Aunt Freya shook her head, "He's in Ireland. I-I was so focused on everyone else..."

I let out a sigh and brought my head to rest in my hands, "God..."

"Oh, my God, Freya." Hope said, as well.

"I'll fix it." She told us.

I brought my head up and massaged my temples, "You don't understand. This... Everything is wrong. Mom didn't even know most of these people." I didn't like that these people would show up and act like they knew our mom. It didn't feel right. The band was now playing and we started walking behind the casket.

"Your mom made a mark on this city. Everyone's here to honor her." Freya tried to get me to understand.

"But where are all of her friends?" Hope joined in, "Skye's right, this is all wrong." Freya's phone buzzed and she stopped walking to answer it. Hope and I continued walking. I took my sister's hand and squeezed it in comfort. It was then that I felt like I was having a mental breakdown. Peoples voices around me became distorted and things were starting to get a little blurry.

An engine roared and I heard tires screech. A black van with its back doors wide open stopped in front of us. Another van appeared. I heard Aunt Freya calling out to Josh. Josh walked over and spoke with the people inside of the van. Freya ran over to us, "Hope, Skye. We've got to get out of here."

"No." Hope shook her head.

"Hope." Aunt Freya started.

"I said no," Hope stood her ground, "This already sucks enough."

I looked over and shared a look with my sister. It was then that I knew we were thinking the same thing, "And we aren't going to let them ruin this day even more." Hope used magic to move Freya to the side.

The two of us hold hands and started chanting. One of our hands were up and we were walking towards the van in front of us, "Bruciare supe terram, faciendo ignis ga praemium," Aunt Freya was calling out to us. One of the vans burst into flames. People around us were screaming.

We both turned to the other van. Our free hands were up as we walked towards it, "Bruciare supe terram, faciendo..." Aunt Freya called out to Josh. There was a gun fire and then we suddenly weren't in the street anymore.

***

I was in my room trying to find something to fix this. I had to find something to fix this. I needed to get my mind off of... You know what. I was moving frantically around my room, looking through all of my spell books for something to help fix this. I was so lost in the books that I didn't even notice my dad appearing in the room.

"Skye." He said.

I froze in my spot, "Leave me alone." I didn't look over at him.

Dad still kept trying to talk to me, "There's no magic that can fix this. I even told your sister this before I came to see you." He started walking towards me.

I walked away from him, "I don't care. Now leave."

He stopped in his tracks, "Please don't push me away."

I spun around to face him, "Don't- Don't do that," I could feel myself tearing up and I tried my very hardest to push that feeling away, "You missed your chance to do that when you deserted me and Hope. You left us there by ourselves. You promised that you would be there, but you weren't. So where the hell were you? What could be more important than your own daughters?"

"I wanted to be there," Dad told me, "I only just found out how dangerous this is. I could kill you."

I was just so mad and upset right now that I couldn't stop the words coming from my mouth, "I don't care! Let me die! You'll be doing us all a favor!" I exclaimed. I didn't even know I was thinking it until now. But I felt that the words I just said were the complete and honest truth. I calmed down a bit to talk, "I just... I can't," The tears I tried to stop came to the surface, "My mom is dead and it's my fault. No matter how much people tell me that it's not, I know that it is. And I need more than some half version of you. Dad, I can't do this anymore, okay? I can't live like this. I don't want to live like this anymore." I was sobbing at this point.

"Please don't say that." Dad begged me.

I looked back to my father with tears in my eyes, "Please just go," I moved my hands in front of me and, just like that, he was gone, "Go!" I said as he disappeared. Now that it was just me in the room, I sat down in the nearest chair and sobbed into my hands.

***

It was time for the official funeral for our mom. We came out to wear the Crescent Wolves, our mom's pack, lived and we planned to send her off in the water. When we got there, Aunt Freya was standing beside of the casket chanting. The casket was covered with beautiful white flowers. Hope and I walked over to the blonde woman. I placed down Mom's jacket that she always wore in front of the casket.

Hope placed down our mom's boots, "We know how much that you've lost over all these years trying to get our family back together. And... We know that you think that there's nothing else that we can do. But we believe that there is. There has to be. We have to save each other. We have to save always and forever. You've taught us most of what we know about magic, and... If you're up for it, we'd really like your help figuring it out."

Aunt Freya took our hands into her own, "Anything you need."

"Do you think that I could, um..." Hope was staring down at Mom's necklace.

Freya nodded, "Yeah. Absolutely." She helped put the necklace on Hope. Once they got it on, I felt someone near us. I looked over to see Josh, Marcel, and Vincent standing nearby.

I looked behind us to see Keelin walking toward us. I hit Aunt Freya's arm lightly to catch her attention, "Freya."

"Keelin," Aunt Freya said. She walked to her girlfriend and they hugged each other, "Oh. Oh... How did you..."

Keelin placed her hands on both sides of Freya's face, "I got on a plane as soon as I heard the news." The two of them kissed and hugged again.

The two of them had broken away from each other so we could start. The casket was in the water and Lisina stood near it with a torch. Aunt Freya stood in front of the casket on the dock on one side and Hope and I stood on the other side.

"People will forget the things you said, forget the things you did, but no one ever forgets the way you made them feel," Aunt Freya started. I reached over and grabbed Hope's hand for comfort, "Hayley Marshall... made me feel like I was part of a family. And when the realities of this life became too much to bear, we shouldered them together. We laughed, we cried. When I failed, she lifted me up. And when I succeeded, she danced by my side. And she did that for all of us. No one will ever be able to replace her, or heal the pain we feel at her loss. But we can honor her with our actions and with our words... We can love each other the way she would've wanted us to love."

I cried as Lisina lit the casket on fire with the torch and it was sent out onto the water. I tried my best to not attract attention to myself by crying, but Hope still noticed. She squeezed my hand. "Good-bye, Mom."

"Bye, Mom," I said as I watched the casket go farther and farther out into the water. I felt another hand grab mine and I looked over to see the person, "What are you doing here? I thought you couldn't come."

My dad was standing there by my side, "Yes, I can. Just for a moment. Our family has infinite struggles ahead, but right now, I need to be here with my daughters." He smiled at us. Thunder crashed in the sky above us.

"Things are probably gonna get ugly." I could hear Aunt Freya say.

"Let's pack it in, everyone. Take shelter." Lisina said to the pack. They all started to leave to find shelter from the approaching storm. The only people left outside were me, my sister, and my dad.

Dad looked out to the casket before looking back to us, "I'll always be here for you both. Even if I can't truly be by your sides, holding your hands, I'll call and I'll write. And Freya will allow us some time together with her magic. But you have to know, this is the last time we can do this. Come here, sweethearts." Dad reached out to us and the three of us hugged. We broke apart when lightning hit the casket and the fire started spreading.

"I'm going to try and fix this for us. I swear." I told him, determination clear in my voice.

"I hope that you do." Dad told me.

"We shouldn't let the fire reach land," Hope turned to him, "You should go."

"Just one more minute," He said. I turned to him, as well. He put his hands on the side of our faces, "I love you."

"We love you, too." We said to him. Then he let go of our hands and walked away.