"What are you?"

It dawns on Tempest that Blaise, as dumb as he is, actually possesses power. Not only power but pure blood power.

It was strange to consider which is why she hadn't thought to ask until now.

"I'm a warlock." He grins, holding a palm to his chest pridefully.

Tempest blows out the smoke of the cigarette she'd lit when Aspen and Jasper burst into a heated argument.

She wasn't sticking around that crap without any encouragement.

Blaise and Tempest were left as bystanders, the former had become taken with Crew who was quite enjoying the ear rubs and nose kisses from Blaise.

"I was basically brain washed growing up. My parents thought I was a liability so they gave me a bracelet to dull my powers. The most I could do was a few self protection spells and boring nature magic."

Tempest bites her lip at the sad but amusing admission.

Is that a fucking smile I'm restraining right now? Just kill me already.

And then as she further absorbs his confession, a new theory hits her like a truck.

"You two." She raises her voice, halting Jasper and Aspens hushed debate and successfully gaining their attention.

"I think Blaise just said something smart." Tempest says without thinking only to grimace at the hope that brightens the boys expression.

"I did?!"

"He did?"

All three boys ask in astonishment.

That was certainly a claim they'd never heard before.

"Well..." she hesitates confirming,  unsure she said the correct thing from the moment it left her lips.

"The point is." She moves swiftly on.

"I think he just helped me realise why Jasper and I took so long to assume I'm half angel." She starts, taking her time getting to the point as the realisations are still freshly settling in her head.

"Because you don't have wings?" Jasper frowns in confusion.

"Exactly. What if the reason I don't have wings is because someone cast a spell or some shit on me to weaken my abilities?" Her tone is questioning as she proposes the theory to people with way more experience and knowledge then her.

She has no idea if it would be possible, hence the percentage of doubt in her tone.

"Would that be possible?" She asks, growing impatient with their thoughtful but silent reactions.

"With a powerful binding spell perhaps, yes." Aspen is the one to affirm.

"And could it be undone?" She pushes, a speck of hope flickering within her.

"Possibly. Depends on the spell and what it entailed. But since nothing about your existence is normal I'm guessing whoever may have cast it made it difficult to be reversed." Aspen explains.

"He's like a human centipede." Blaise whispers into Tempest's ear, breaking the ominous mood with his typical senseless comments.

"Encyclopaedia, you mean." Aspen covers his eyes with his hands in exasperation.

Only Aspen can decipher Blaise's astonishingly incorrect remarks with such a speed.

It's a skill that's evolved over the twenty years they've spent growing up by each other's side.

"And he isn't even human." Jasper adds for good measure.

"I hated that movie." Blaise shivers, continuing as though they never interrrupted his train of thought.

Probably because there couldn't be a train of thought in an empty head, Tempest thought to herself.

"It gave me nightmares." Blaise pouts out his bottom lip.

"You don't have to remind me. Mine was the bed you climbed into after your parents and your brother kicked you out of theirs." Aspen's narrowed eyes are accusing as they stare down his other half.

"I'm forever grateful Pen. Your calfs were my tootsies very own personal heaters." Blaise chides with a nostalgic smile.

"You don't deserve such an impressive six pack when you go on like you're four years old." Jasper grumbles, further bullying his younger brother.

"Don't disrespect my abs like that Jasper Keller, they have feelings! I even named them all. Want to know their names wifey?" Blaise turns his grin to Tempest who was in the midst of rising to her feet, praying she could sneak away unnoticed.

Tempest resorts to her usual ways and simply ignores him, hurrying towards her temporary residence.

She'd already made way too much unnecessary conversation for her liking. More than she'd usually make in the span of an entire month.

And she found it exhausting.

"Bother me when you come up with a plan for reversing this binding thing."

She remembers to add before disappearing into the building.