CHAPTER THIRTEEN: OTHER USES

~ Marie ~

The banging beat in time with the throbbing in her head and it was only making her headache worse. Whoever it was, they wanted her attention now. Marie groaned as she opened her eyes and glared at the door. Her headache hadn't disappeared like she'd hoped. She staggered her way to the door and leaned against the wall. It felt like she had just closed her eyes before the banging started. Marie rubbed her head for a moment before she sighed and opened the door. Grayson stood there, looking sullen.

"Claire asked me to come get you." So did that mean she had made a decision? Or was she asking for more time? Marie almost hoped it was the later option that way she could get some more rest.

"Where is she?"

"She's at the house." He exhaled in frustration as he gestured for her to hurry up. "Come on." It didn't look like she would be getting any answers from him. Marie closed the door behind her as she followed him to the main house. He led her all the way to the living room before he took a seat with the rest of his family. Four pairs of eyes turned to stare at her as soon as she entered. Abigail and her husband sat next to Peter on the sofa. Claire was sitting in front of them. She was the only one who smiled at her. The rest had serious expressions on their faces.

"I wanted to talk to my family about my decision." Marie nodded. Claire launched into her explanation as her family looked between the two of them.

Back at the hall, Claire had spoken to her about their mother, who was a mermaid. Mermaids had a human form on land and only looked like the legends when they entered the water and transformed. But for some reason, they had trouble walking on land. Several theories were put forth on why but nothing was ever proven. Most believed that their bodies just weren't made for moving on land.

Claire's siblings had inherited their father's wolf genes but she had inherited her mother's. That's why she used a wheelchair and they didn't. The reason she came to Marie was because she was worried about any kids Abigail might have. There was still a chance that any of her siblings could have a mermaid child. Sometimes the gene skipped a generation and showed up in the next one. The chances were low but it wasn't unheard of. Marie had told Claire there was nothing she could do about it. Not that she would even if she could.

Besides not being able to walk on land, mermaids were completely healthy. Marie was not going to mess with an unborn child in order to "fix" something that wasn't broken. Instead, Marie had instead given Claire a choice.

"What choice was that?" Grayson narrowed his eyes at her, his anger evident in the way he tensed his body, as if he was about to spring up and attack. Peter placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It's not like the stories. I'm not going to turn into foam." Claire laughed at her joke but none of her family laughed with her.

"What were her choices?" Abigail gripped her husband's hand as she looked at Claire.

"Your sister has two choices. She can either suppress her mermaid side permanently or she can suppress it temporarily for two years at a time. There are downsides to both." Claire's smile became strained.

"What are the downsides?" Peter was the one to speak this time.

"With the temporary suppression, the effect would lessen over time until it would no longer have an effect and the permanent suppression...." Claire answered Peter's question but she trailed off at the end.

"The permanent suppression would make her infertile." Marie finished it for her. The room burst into chaos. Claire's siblings started talking all at once. They spoke to each other and with her. Each of them tried to argue their point of view, some speaking louder, to talk over the others. Marie couldn't tell what anyone was saying. She glanced at Claire but the woman stayed silent as her family argued around her. Marie frowned. All of this was giving her a bigger headache.

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"Enough!" But none of them noticed or even seemed to hear her shout. Fine. Marie turned her head away as she wrote out a quick light spell. A small ball of light went up towards the ceiling before suddenly bursting into extreme brightness. Everyone shouted in unison. The light and sound faded as quickly as it started.

"What was that for?" Grayson grumbled as he rubbed his eyes. The light shouldn't cause any permanent damage. The brightness had been about as strong as a camera flash. Abigail and Peter kept their eyes closed for a moment before opening them up again. The groom rubbed one eye while he kept the other open. Claire only blinked a few times before she looked at Marie.

"Claire needs to make the decision." Once her family could see again, they all looked at Claire. "Have you made your choice?" The mermaid took a deep breath before looking up and nodding at Marie.

"I want the temporary suppression. I...I want to know what it feels like to walk even if it's for a short time." The house was still as Marie knelt by Claire. With her headache as bad as it was, she wouldn't be able to concentrate properly. The spell wasn't complex but it needed a delicate touch. If she used too much magic, the change to the body would be quicker but would cause pain and place stress on her body. Too little magic and she would have to redo the spell two years from now. Marie needed an alternative method of magic. She took Claire's hands and raised them up.

"Keep them up like this until I say so." Claire nodded but Marie barely noticed as she bit her finger and wrote on her wrists. Once the final script was written, Marie placed her hands above Claire's and sent magic into the spell. The script faded away. Marie stood up and stepped back. "You can lower your hands." Claire looked at her wrists before glancing down at her body, as if looking for something new. The spell was already working but it would take a while for Claire to build up the muscles needed to walk. "Grayson and Peter should help Claire stand up."

"Now?" Grayson spoke for the both of them as they looked at her in confusion.

"She's not going to be steady on her feet for a while but I thought she would like to stand up." Abigail gasped as Peter and Grayson stared at their sister. Peter was the first to move, getting to his feet and walking towards her. Grayson scrambled to his feet and joined him. The two brothers held out their hands. Claire used them to lift herself up while Peter gently kicked the wheelchair back. He got behind her, in order to steady her properly, while Grayson held both her hands. The mermaid took a few shaky steps forward before she stopped and hunched over. Tears ran down her face as she laughed. Abigail launched herself towards the trio and hugged her sister as her tears fell. The whole family laughed and cried as they hugged one another. The groom stood to one side and grinned. Marie turned away and headed out of the living room. With no one looking, she teleported back to the room.

She went over to her bed and sat down. There was no way to tell how much time she had left. Was there enough time to take another nap? Marie didn't get long to enjoy her solitude. A knock at the door informed her of Adrian's arrival. Marie held in her sigh as she walked to the door. She opened the door then walked over to the table and sat down. Adrian closed the door and walked over. He stopped next to her with an odd expression on his face. His hand covered hers before turning her hand over. At first she was confused, then she noticed the bead of blood forming on the tip of her index finger. Marie closed her eyes for a brief moment and healed her finger.

"Blood magic?" She nodded. "You used blood magic on Mark." He hadn't let go of her hand as he stared down at her. "Why?"

"Strengthening." She hadn't given him an in depth explanation on blood magic but he should already know why. Was there a reason he was asking this now?

"Why did you use it?" Marie didn't understand why it should matter to him. Mark was fine. The boy shouldn't have suffered any kind of side effects from the magic she'd used on him. Marie tried to pull her hand away but he wouldn't let go. "I want to know why." His grip wasn't painful but shocking him crossed her mind. She let the thought go.

"I thought I could get him stabilized with the magic I had. I didn't have enough so I used blood magic."

"How would using blood magic help?"

"Blood magic has another use." Or another reason not to use it according to some. "With blood magic, I can make up for what I lack in magic by using the energy in my body." His eyes narrowed in response.

"What does that mean?"

"It means what I said." Marie shrugged.

"Could it have killed you?"

"Why does it matter?" She tilted her head to the side as she looked at him.

"Answer the question."

"Only if I wasn't aware of my own limits." He scowled before letting her hand go. Adrian ran a hand through his hair as he exhaled.

"And tonight?"

"What about it?"

"Why did you use blood magic?"

"I wasn't able to concentrate because of my headache. I had the magic."

"So none of your energy was taken then."

"No." He exhaled in frustration. She didn't know what he was unhappy with. Nothing that happened to her was his business. They were still basically strangers.

"You mentioned you unlocked more pages of the notebook." She picked up the journal and offered it to him. He took it and flipped through the pages. He stared at each one as if he was memorizing the information.

Once he had looked at all of them, he handed the notebook back. Her headache chose that moment to throb painfully. It was finally starting to recede but it still hurt.

"We'll pick this up again tomorrow." With those words, he left. Marie sighed. Would she ever figure him out?