Chapter 38

Alan

       Sometimes, I felt like nobody took my seriously at times here at the HQ. I would pitch an idea, and it normally got shut down. Yeah, sometimes it was because I didn't take things seriously, but that didn't mean I couldn't be serious at all. When I tried to be serious, it never worked.

       So I was officially giving up trying to suggest what to do to take down the rogue supernaturals. Nobody was going to listen to me, so there was no point in trying.

       I was in Grandpa's office, listening to their conversation via the bug Elizabeth planted. normally, Grandpa was the one listening to the device but he was hungry and wanted to get something to eat, so I offered to.

       Mainly because I wanted to get away from everyone shutting down my ideas.

       Elizabeth was also in the office, listening as well just in case I zoned out and missed something. That, and she wanted to be training, but she said Ryder was helping Mae train with the sword, but they were also being too lovey-dovey.

       Stupid siblings being in a relationship and making me feel lonely.

       The rogue supernaturals were currently discussing what they could do to take us down, and both Elizabeth and I were writing everything we heard. Some of the ideas were immediately shut down, mainly by Dirk, but we still wrote everything down so we could definitely stay a step ahead of them. Or a thousand steps ahead of them.

       "I'm telling you, we should just go to the HQ in the middle of the night," Dirk said. "Rarely anyone will be there, we can find out their secrets, and the best part is if they decide to show up, they'll be too tired to fight back."

       "Are you kidding?" Janelle asked. "Dirk, we've tried that before. It didn't work. Need I remind you that's who you got captured?"

       "Then we'll go at an earlier time," Dirk said. "And I was only captured because I was shocked to see Nolan still alive. This time, I guarantee we'll get in and out no problem."

       "Fine, it's your choice after all," Janelle said. "When should we go?"

       "Thursday at three in the morning," Dirk said. "We'll train tomorrow and rest Wednesday. Sound like a plan?"

       "Not really, but you're in charge," Janelle said. "But I'm just throwing this out there that if even more of us get captured..."

      "It won't happen," Dirk said. "Because now we know how to defeat them."

       "Ooh, this is getting juicy," I said. "You getting all of this?"

       "Definitely," Elizabeth said before pulling out her cell phone. "And just in case we miss anything, I'm recording this on my phone."

       "Smart," I said.

       "Look, it's quite obvious the Protectors are using Jerome as their shield, so to speak," Dirk said. "Jerome is the one keeping them safe, and he's the reason it has been hard for us to take down the Protectors. We can't do it with him in the way. We take Jerome down, we take the Protectors down."

       "And how exactly are we going to take Jerome down?" Janelle asked. "You might not want to admit it, because Cheryl definitely couldn't, but he is a lot more powerful than you. And now that we found out he's the sorcerer in the Two Souls prophecy, it's clear that he's going to get a lot more powerful."

       "The answer is obvious," Cheryl said. "We made him weak once. We can do it again."

       "You're not taking Nolan again," Janelle said. "That was smart for a short amount of time when we needed to do a trade off to get Dirk back. Taking Nolan again will be stupid."

       "Whose side are you on?" Cheryl asked. "Oh, right, Nolan's obviously since you use to have a huge crush on him. News flash: He's gay."

       "New's flash: I know that," Janelle said. "And I'm saying that because of the prophecy. I read about it so we could know exactly what we're dealing with, and keeping the two of them apart for too long can cause disastrous things. It can harm a lot more than just those two, including us."

       "I thought Mae was making that up," Cheryl said.

       "No, she wasn't," Janelle said. "We can still use Nolan against Jerome, but not by keeping them far apart. If you want to use him against Jerome, do it in front of Jerome."

       I groaned. When we they going to stop messing with my baby brother? He was already fragile as it was.

       At least we were all making sure Nolan was never on his own. Nothing bad was going to happen to him under our watch, otherwise I was going to whack someone over the head with my spear.

       The rogue supernaturals couldn't think of a way to use Nolan against Jerome yet, so they all decided to stop discussing and train for a bit.

       Elizabeth grabbed her phone and stopped the recording. "I'm going to go tell Gene what they're planning," she said.

       "And I am going to knock some sense into Nolan because he's still freaking out," I said. "If they're really going to attack us on Thursday, that will be the perfect opportunity to catch them off guard."

       "Well, good luck with that," Elizabeth said. "Just... don't put too much stress on him."

       "I won't," I said.

       We both left the office with Elizabeth going to find Grandpa, and me leaving the HQ and heading to my car so I can go to Jerome's. 

       Like always, Jerome opened the door with his magic instead of being a normal person and walking over to answer it.

       Then again, I'd do the same thing if I had magic.

       I walked in and closed the door behind me. "Hey, how's my baby brother doing?" I asked.

       "The same as before," Jerome said. "He's staying locked up in our bedroom, and only leaves to go to the washroom. He's not even eating, and he loves food."

       "I got this," I said before walking over to the bedroom.

       "Alan, don't put any stress on him," Jerome said.

       "I'm not going to," I said. Probably. I knocked on the door, though Nolan didn't reply nor open the door. "Nolan, it's Alan. You don't have to open the door, but just listen to what I have to say. I know it's hard for you to handle change, and I know this is such a huge change for you, but you can't let it force you to shut down. You need to take control of it."

       "No," was all Nolan said.

       "Don't be stubborn," I said. "Look, Dirk and his team is planning an attack on the HQ Thursday at three in the morning. You know how we can finally take him down? A surprise attack from our new sorcerer. Think of everything they did to you, to all the Protectors, to all those innocent people. Do you really want to let them get away with it?"

       I stopped for a bit and waited to see if Nolan would answer or open the door.

       He didn't, so I continued. 

       "I know you can do it," I said. "I know you can control your magic and be more powerful than Dirk. If we want to take them down, we need to catch them off guard, and we can do it with you."

       "I'm no good to the Protectors," Nolan said. "I'm the weakest one, you all know that."

       "No, you're not," I said. "Strength isn't just measured physically with us Protectors. It's also measured mentally, so you are definitely one of the strongest Protectors. If you weren't, you wouldn't have been the Protector part of the prophecy."

       "The prophecy sucks, and I'd rather not be part of it."

       "Okay, but that doesn't mean you won't be a strong sorcerer, because I know you will," I said. "You just have to give it a shot. Please. We need you do take down Dirk."

       "You said they're attacking Thursday. There's no way I can control my magic by then. I lost track on how many times I've had a random burst of magic."

       "Nolan, you have a sorcerer as a boyfriend," I said. "He can train you."

       "Not happening."

       I sighed. I didn't know what else to say to Nolan. He was as stubborn as could be at times.

       "I got this," Jerome said quietly to me before walking over to the bedroom. "Nolan, remember that time you were sad because you made hazelnut hot chocolate but you couldn't drink it because we ran out of whipped cream? So I made some with my magic? Just think, if you get your magic under control, you can make whatever food you think of."

       Not even a moment later, the door opened. "I can?" Nolan asked.

       Jerome nodded and to prove it, he moved his hand around in a pattern before a plate of bacon appeared in his hand. "See?"

       "So, when can we start training?" Nolan asked.

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I relate to Nolan. (obviously because he is me)(seriously though. if i was a sorcerer id be making food all the time)