Markus

"You and Markus stay downstairs while we will keep a watch upstairs," Blathnaid tells Naomi. Naomi nods in agreement before they split up.

"Let's take a stroll through the halls, shall we?" Naomi says before pushing me in the chair slowly. It's not like I can say no.

We stroll to the kitchen, dining hall, living room, workout room, garage, and the library. Still, no sign of the girl. They were talking with her for like a few minutes before she wandered off into somewhere else. Then, bam! She disappears with a Houdini magic trick. Now we can't find her. It's not like I give a damn. I can't help. I would like to, but it will be weird if they see a paralyzed man's wheelchair moving by itself. I can't remove the controls on these things.

The coven is okay. The fights pretty much give me a headache. I need to find a power trick to make myself deaf, not to overhear everything. It reminds me of the times when my mom and twins fight against me. It gets my blood boiling. She even escalates into physical harm that still hurts today. Damn flashbacks. I never had them when I got my revenge and stuck in a seething pot of fire. Why now? It's hard not to have a panic attack when they hit. If I wasn't paralyzed, I can probably express my anxiety without restraint. Since I am in a strange household, I don't want to piss off my damn niece and her father by shouting at the coven to shut the hell up or having a panic attack.

"Do you want any books to read, Markus?" Naomi asks.

"Does it look like I can read?" I remark, reminding her that I can't move my friggin arms.

"Um, I still see you're able to open a book up with your damn mind," she replies, calling out to my crappery.

"What do you mean? Like this?" I make two books above her on the shelf next to her fall on her. I smirk at her, warning her to not test me. She looks at me, clutching her hands into fists.

"Yes," she hisses.

"You're lucky those books weren't heavy and hardcovers, otherwise, down you go."

She goes to pick up the books and sneers, "You should consider yourself lucky that the dark angel eased off your organ failure and inability to talk," she places the books back on shelves, "Otherwise you'll be more of a toasted pickle."

A growl rumbles in my throat. "Don't mention those days," I told her angrily.

"I get it; it sucked, but remember, submitting into your rage for a long time screws you over and makes everyone around you hate you."

Okay, can they stop mentioning that to me?! It's been like a friggin 'decade! I am not asking them to get over it, but will they shut up about it?! If I still had my power, I would frick them up pretty badly while it fricked me up. It will keep their asses alive and no one will give a shit. Naomi and her father are lucky that they survived. It's not necessarily a bad thing because their sorry asses are taking care of me, but why bring that up?!

I eye her down while she walks around the library. I use my abilities to push the wheelchair myself. In the farthest left corner, she pauses. Something must have hit her.

"Markus, do you feel anything here?" She asks.

I push myself a little closer. My whole body twitches as I feel high spiritual energy surging through me. I feel higher than a drug high. An energy that never gets old. I don't wish for it to fade. It's a portal. A portal that connects the spiritual world into this one.

I shiver. I still remember my grandpa telling me how to get into the library to get rituals. Those non-human rituals are the next-level kind of transcending. I know that I can't endure trials like those again with the Dark Angel. My mind gags and shivers at the experiences I went through, in order to strike those who wronged me.

"Yes," I tell Naomi, "It's a portal."

"Mhm," she nods, "Let me contact Blathnaid, so we can close these portals."

She picks up her phone and dials Blathnaid. I tune out, feeling as if we're being watched. I move around my chair, scanning through the library. A large shadow figure stares at us not even ten feet away. I stare at him without any fear. By their energy, they are capable of doing small physical things, but nothing as powerful. It'll be lucky to throw a cup once in a while. Passing wind is more noticeable than it. They don't feel like a threat compared to the energies I feel in the household.

Naomi ends her call. Her friend will perform a portal closing ceremony when the night falls. She turns around and sees what I am seeing. The moment they lock eyes, the shadow turns away and vanishes, but not fully though. I can see its figure upon the walls and the shelves. We follow it out. It dissipates quickly into thin air.

"Shadows, should we ask Lucas and Blathnaid if they are seeing these too? The ritual is opening portals," Naomi suggests.

"I think they already know about portals," I shrug it off, "They're not oblivious to them, Naomi."

"I know, but it's okay to notify them that manifestations are happening in the house."

"Fine, whatever suits your ship, Captain."

Naomi walks before going up the stairs while I move next to the stairwell. I am not going up there. If they spot me, they are probably going to ask what wheelie trick am I doing or believe that there's something wrong with me. In this world, they might think I'm faking a disability. I wouldn't care if I was attacking them because no one would believe it was my fault. My power has never fully gotten away it seems. Some part of me feels so glad that the Dark Angel took my power away. I feel freer than I have ever been in a while.

"Now there are shadows inside the house," I hear Blathnaid say upstairs as I use my super hearing, "I'm not surprised."

"Is this normal for this ritual?" Naomi asks back.

"I'm sure. I'll check it again in the library though."

"My poor father will have to go through hell and back for this one," Naomi says worriedly.

"I'm sorry, Nao."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Blath," Naomi replies reassuringly,

"If they aren't going to stop it fast enough, I will," I hear Lucas say in another room. I heard his voice across the hall from where Blathnaid and Naomi are talking, "I do have my knife beneath my mattress, along with my pillow."

He is speaking in a mumbling voice, making sure he doesn't be heard. People do talk to themselves when carrying out jobs or plotting out a murder, so they can remind themselves, or they are more organized if they do plan their errands to themselves. Well, not me. He's not speaking out to the crowd with a monologue or a soliloquy like he is in a play. Great, I'm sounding like Naomi now.

"They're never going to free her. Why did they bring her into the coven, anyway? I never liked that bitch from the start. She seems to be an autistic childish git, who got everything she wanted. They fall in love with her faster than they did with me. She's only been here for a few months while I've been here for years. She broke a major rule, but they decided to keep her. They still kept her even when she killed her beloved Renin. And there's Jonas. I'll make those demons die with her when I stab her in her sleep."

This guy is dumb if he thinks that this is going to work in his favor. The coven won't act nicely to him if he follows through, but he will still insist regardless. I still believe Ivelisse can be saved without being murdered. I don't know how. What irks me about this dude is that he'll never see that and he will still commit murder if there's a priest and guests at the house around this time. We will wake up and find Ivelisse stabbed. Perhaps, he can be smarter and kill her while we leave the house? Oh wait, by the time we leave, Ivelisse might be saved by then! As much as I want to doubt that Lucas might not kill her while we are here, he's sicker than Ivelisse right now.

At the right time, I see a large shadow with wings, but this shadow is interesting. It doesn't cast darkness upon the walls but illuminates calmly with changing colors. "The ties are much weaker here," he whispers to me.

Using this as an opportunity, I say loud and clear, "Guys, there's an outline among the wall here and it ain't mine." If this doesn't work, I need to go into the dramatics.

This caused the group to come out and investigate what I am seeing. Naomi comes down the stairs, looking around. She sees what I'm seeing near the kitchen. Her eyes widen and signal the other two to come downstairs. Blathnaid follows suit while Lucas looks around from above. He is the last one to go.

As you can see, his stairwell journey is not a peaceful way. I create a force to give him a little push. He screams loudly as he lunges forward without his control, landing on his face. We all wince at him, worriedly as this poor bastard performs somersaults the rest of the flight of stairs. He moans loudly in pain.

"Lucas!" Blathnaid and Naomi rush towards his aid. He starts to cry in agony.

"Something pushed me," he whines.

Naomi coldly glances at me. I hide my smile, but she can obviously know it was me because it takes some time for the redness in my eyes to fade. She doesn't say anything though.

"Rick!" Blathnaid cries.

I hear running footsteps, possibly coming from the attic, rushing downstairs. His face looks like it is in a state of panic. "What happened?" He skitters down.

"He fell down the stairs!" Blathnaid explains.

"Looks like someone pushed him," Naomi adds, tightening her words, so she doesn't slip the truth out.

Rick urges us to call paramedics and inform Ella about what happened. He doesn't mess with injuries to the head. We do that. In a matter of minutes, paramedics arrive and take Lucas away. Ella tells the group that they haven't found Ivelisse yet on the road. Rick decides to go to the hospital with Lucas since he is the doctor in the household. He seriously told us to not get injured while he is gone before leaving. It's just Blathnaid, Naomi, and myself now.

Naomi pushes me into a room that reminds me of the nurse's office and first aid. I remember many times going to the nurse's office for bloody noses and bruises after bullies beat me up. It happened so many times that the nurse accused me of beating myself up to get out of class. I told her what truly happened and questioned why I never reported it. I told her I did, but bullies hate snitches and get special treatment. If I tell, they will see me as more of a whiner than a man. She could've been wise enough to quietly report it herself. They could've used the cameras in the school to back it up and penalized them. I am sure they would get expelled at that point. Eventually, I stopped going and wore long clothing to mask the damage they had done. What my mother has done too. Zero-tolerance and no bullying allowed my ass. Cameras were only there just to give the school a good rating, but the cameras were not so decent. They wouldn't even check the cameras unless there's a possible stranger, shooter on campus, or it's a student they hate doing possible trouble.

This first aid room looks like it can treat more injuries than the actual school nurse can. Fluids, comfortable cheap beds, medicine, and machines. The machines are a heart and vitals monitor. I guess Rick is the one behind this room and didn't want to waste a sum of money with ambulances and hospital bills, so he does treatment for his coven. Smart, especially when going to the hospital. My mom never took me to the hospital in Colorado because the medical bills suck and she was the one doing the damage.

Naomi shuts the door and folds her arms like a mom would do.

"Why would you do that?" Naomi confronts, trying to keep her cool.

"I've heard him," I reply.

"Hear what? You don't push people down the stairs, Markus," She lectures.

"He was planning to murder Ivelisse- Stab her in her sleep. He hated her for a while and her possession was his plot time to kill."

"Jesus Christ," she mutters.

I add in, "While you and Blathnaid are talking about your worries."

"I just don't want you-"

"I won't," I scoff, "For crying out loud."

Blathnaid opens the door and asks, "Is everything okay in here?"

"Yes," Naomi breathes.

"It's okay to tell me. It's just us three."

I push myself by her. She notices my eyes changing color as I force myself to move. She makes room for me to go by. "Make sure you keep an eye on Lucas for me when he gets back." I tell her out loud, "Planning to kill someone shouldn't be taken lightly. "

Blathnaid stares at me, baffled, as I brush by her. They don't stop me. I roll myself around, exploring the first floor. I see another massive shadowy mass manifesting in the kitchen. It also eyes me down. Whatever Ivelisse invited in doesn't look friendly and I give them the look that I don't care before moving along. It's not as powerful with the shadow being with the rainbows. In fact, he was less scary than this one.

I can sense Naomi and Blathnaid are talking about me in the medical room, but I can't hear as I sense a sound barrier, preventing me from prying into their business. I guess Naomi learned that the hard way last time. Since they are busy, I use my abilities to go up the stairs like it's a smooth incline. Another shadow on the wall skids by. Then, another one. Followed by another.

"So many shadows," I whisper. I would think that I am in a high school hallway if I see any more of them.

"She's going to jump," I hear one of them whisper to another, "She's going to fly."

What?

"That invader must die."

"Invader?" I say to myself, questioning what they mean. The shadows stop and look at me. Their whispering turns into impolite stares. I don't see their eyes. There are many shadow figures coming into view. The feeling of presence is a little too much for me to handle.

"That lowly mortal is going to fly from the highest point," A shadow replies.

I think I know what they mean by that. I push myself with the fastest speed I can muster. I used to be untouchable at full power, but this will do. I head outside into the cold crispy air. The blue sky is slowly getting covered by the gray bubbly clouds of impending snow. I look up to the roof of the house. There's a girl with brown hair and her eyes are yellow and bird-like. There's this glow around her that changes color.

"Hey," I call out to her, "Don't you dare jump!"

Blathnaid and Naomi rush out to see what is going on. Blathnaid calls Ella in a panic. Naomi teleports to where the girl is standing just when she rushes to the edge. She jumps, but Naomi grabs her by the collar, making Naomi crash on her face while the girl's neck hits the roof. The girl lets out a grunt before plummeting to the ground. Naomi teleports again and manages to catch her, breaking the fall. This time, Naomi doesn't slip up as much.

"You're not going anywhere this time," Naomi tells the girl.

"She won't, but I will. It would've hurt much less if I'd jumped." She glances at me with heavy breaths.

"So," I turn to Blathnaid, "This is Ivelisse?"

"Yeah..."