Chapter 37

Orchid

       Us Protectors were trying to decide what to do about Dirk's team, but we couldn't think of anything. We had to do something to take them down once and for all before more people got killed.

       Before any of us got killed.

       Since Elizabeth placed a bug at their hideout, Grandpa was listening to their conversation right now to see what they were planning. They were discussing something right now, so if they had something planned, we would know about it.

       The rest of us, excluding Nolan because he had been hiding out at his home, were trying to think of something.

       It wasn't working.

       "I'm telling you that it's simple," Alan said. "We wait for them to be discussing their plan in their hideout, and we ambush them. They won't expect it."

       "No," I said. "We need something more thought out. We can't just ambush them because they might be prepared enough to fight back. We really need a thought out plan to finish them, not just ambush them."

       "When you say finish them, do you mean arrest them or kill them?" Jerome asked. "If it's the latter, I call dibs on Dirk."

       "We can't kill them," Ryder said.

       "Well, that's disappointing," Jerome said.

       "Well, at least not on purpose," Ryder said. "If you just so happen to accidentally kill him while in battle or something, that's a whole other story."

       "'Accidentally'," Jerome said, placing the word in finger quotes. "Got it."

       "No, I'm being serious," Ryder said. "Don't kill him and say it was an accident, because you can be reprimanded for it. Trust me, I want to kill Dirk to and say it was an accident, but we have to follow the rules."

       "I'm part of a prophecy," Jerome said. "I don't have to follow any rules."

       "No, you still do if you're a supernatural," Ryder said. "Like I said, I want Dirk dead as much as you do, but killing him and claiming it was an accident won't help. Even though he's rogue, the Tribunal will grill you during a trial, and trust me, they'll find out the truth. And if they do, then you're screwed."

       Jerome groaned. "I just want him gone."

       "We'll get him and the rest of the team arrested," I said. "We just have to think of a thorough plan." I sighed. "It would help a lot if the brains of the family was here."

       "Uh, hello, are you blind?" Ryder asked. "I'm sitting right here."

       "Not you, egomaniac," I said. "Yes, you're the smartest one out of all of us, but you also like to head into situations and tasks head on. You don't like to plan ahead, and it has caused you problem in the past. Like, I don't know, Dirk almost hurting us because you refused to use magic binding handcuffs."

       "Okay, I get it," Ryder said. "Can't we just get Nolan to come here?"

       "I doubt he will," Alan said. "He obviously doesn't want to leave his house."

       I looked at Jerome. "Is there any way you can convince Nolan to come here? We could really use his brains."

       "Yeah, and he shouldn't be on his own," Alan said.

       "He's not on his own," Jerome said. "Mae's with him. I wouldn't have let him stay back by himself, no matter how much he would have refused to come."

       "Why is he refusing to come here?" Ryder asked. "It's like he's being bottled up yet again. He does that a lot in case you didn't know."

       "Yes, I'm quite aware of that since he is my boyfriend and he lives with me," Jerome said. "And he's not really bottled up right now. He's just freaking out because he's a sorcerer now."

       I'm sorry, did I hear correctly? Did Jerome just say Nolan, my brother, was a sorcerer?

       How on earth was that possible? And how did it happen?

       "Run that by us again," Ryder said. "Because to me, it sounded like you said Nolan is a sorcerer."

       "You guys don't know?" Jerome asked. "Aw, that's horrible, not being told about your brother. So sad."

       "This isn't a game, Jerome," Ryder said. "What the hell happened?"

       Jerome shrugged. "I don't know exactly. That's why he said that he felt weird like something was swirling around inside of him. There's magic inside of him, and trust me, he's able to use the magic. When we got back home, he freaked out and almost hit me with magic, so now he locked himself in our bedroom and he refuses to leave."

       "Then what are you doing here?" Alan asked. "Shouldn't you be helping him understand this?"

       "Yes, but it's no use doing it now when he's freaking out," Jerome said. "I'm not going to put even more pressure on him. I know how to handle him and right now, he just has to process what's happening."

       I couldn't help but smile softly. I was certain any other person would immediately want to start training Nolan on how to use the magic, but Jerome didn't. Instead, he was giving Nolan the space he needed, knowing not to give my brother anymore stress.

       Jerome really was perfect for my brother, and I was really happy to see my brother happy. Nolan had always been such a reserved and quiet person, but seeing him open up to Jerome, and open up about his sexuality, made me so proud of him.

       I still, however, was so confused about Nolan now having magic.

       "You still didn't answer how it happened," I said.

       "I don't really understand how it happened," Jerome said. "I'm guessing it's when he was helping me push Dirk's magic back to him because afterwards was when he starting feeling weird."

       "If he's a sorcerer, does that mean he's still a Protector?" Alan asked. "Because my baby brother was already kicked out of the Protector Circle once. I don't want it happening again."

       "Yeah, he is," Jerome said. "Well, I assume he is since he was still able to turn invisible. Besides, even if he wasn't, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be kicked out of the circle since he can still help out on missions, but now he'll be able to do a lot more. That's if he accepts it soon."

       "I hope he does," I said. "Because we may have found our way to take down the rogue supernaturals."

       "How?" Ryder asked.

       "By catching them off guard," I said. "And what better way to do that by having another sorcerer with us that they don't know about the next time we're in battle?"

_____________

Three chapters left. :o

ALTHOUGH it might extend to 45 chapters. There's a high chance that it will because I still have some things left to do and I'm not sure if I can tie it all up in three chapters. WE'LL SEE.