Chapter 19

The trio blinked to the front of Marx’s house.

Eight Prol males holding aloft flaming torches were standing in front of the house. The ninth man, who had already thrown his torch at the house, encouraged the rest to follow his lead.

“What in blazes do you lot think you’re playing at?” Jax yelled at the men in a very loud voice.

“Get away from there. They are all dead and have to be burned,” the man without a torch replied.

“No, they have all been cured are simply sleeping,” Jax countered.

“Who are you to tell us anything?” The man blustered.

One of the other men pushed the loud mouth out of the way and stepped forward. “Jax? Is that you, Jax?”

“Hello, big brother. Don’t tell me you’re a party to this burning, are you?”

“Um, well, they haven’t been out of the house for three days, and the neighbours said the stench was getting overpowering,” he blushed and stammered.

“That was probably because we opened all the windows to let some fresh air in. We did lose Hana, but Marx and the kids are all fine. Are there any other families in the village with sick people, Ray?”

Ray nodded, “Several, but they seem to be getting better. We stopped people going to town several days ago. They have a lot of sick people down the hill.”

“Um, why is the house not burning down?” one of the men, Elder Liam, asked.

Jax turned to see the torch still blazing on the doorstep. She pulled her wand from her side, pointed it at the offending item and snuffed the flames. The torch then sailed over the men’s heads to land in the street with a clatter and a puff of smoke.

David chuckled and then said, “Probably because of all the spells Jax and us put on the house.”

The nine men looked at the trio in stupefaction. For many, they only just realised the two men with Jax were not Prols and very tall, imposing men. They then dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

Elder Liam mumbled, “We are sorry, Wizard Jax, for offending you.”

Jax sighed and went over to her brother. After she snuffed his torch, she said, “You, come inside. The rest of you go home. I’ll front the council tonight to sort this mess out.”

Eight of the men hurriedly got to their feet, and after bowing at Jax, they got the hell out of there. Ray was a bit slower, gaining his feet. He was still looking at his sister in shock.

Their father had always said that Jax was very special, but none had fully comprehended why he had always favoured her. Very few Prol families could boast of having magical people in their numbers. To have one as powerful as Jax seemed to be, was a complete shock to the man.

He wordlessly followed Jax into his family home.

Ray was surprised to see Marx walk down the hallway to the kitchen, where he was now seated.

“Hey, Bro, nice of you to drop by,” Marx grinned at his elder brother by four years.

Ray’s twin brother, Ron, had died with their father in the cave-in. Ray’d not had an easy time of taking on the mantle his father had left. In some ways, he felt he should have gotten the house, but he hadn’t wanted to take on Hana and all the kids.

He had been relieved when Marx had stepped up to take on that responsibility. However, others often treated Marx with respect even though he and Marx’s twin brother, Mel, were both older. Mel didn’t care so much as he was wrapped up in his wives and kids.

Their younger brothers, Gerry and Gus, had done the unthinkable and ran away to sea when their father had died. Neither had married to the surprise of many, as they were both twenty-two years old by then. They had only worked in the mine because their father had expected it.

While Ray had taken his brother’s wife as his second wife, the last two and half years hadn’t been peaceful. His wives hated each other, and he often ended up in the middle of their feud. Now Greta, his first wife, was very sick, and Cara won’t leave her side. He couldn’t understand women at all.

“Um, well, um, Jax said that you were all getting better,” Ray mumbled.

“Yeah, she has some wicked medicine. She even put Hana’s remains in that vase she loved. The kids were pretty happy about that.”

Ray looked around and then back at Marx, “The house looks amazing.”

Marx frowned and also looked around. He then looked at Jax, who giggled. He shook his head.

“Damn, Jax, how am I going to sell it quickly now?”

Ray looked at him, shocked, “Why do you need to sell?”

“Well, how many people here will be happy to know this house is full of Prol-Shifters?”

Ray nearly fell off his seat. As it was, it did slide back and rock over to bang onto the floor, as he shot to his feet.

“Oh shit, not you too?”

“What?” Marx replied.

Ray gained his composure and retrieved his chair before sitting again.

“You have heard all the rumours of people in Point Alpha having changed since those ships from the Tear Islands have been coming to visit. Somehow, I got infected, and my six oldest kids are too.”

Marx grimaced, “I think it was Hana. I checked the registry a year ago and found out one of her great-great-grandfathers was also a Shifter and on the same ship as our relative. I was surprised when I learnt that.”

“Plus, I had a suspicion she was stepping out on me, as she went all strange around the time that she fell pregnant with Max. That was when she started pushing Gemma at me.”