Her Past 2

"It will be okay, everything will be okay, don't worry, daddy will fix everything." She mumbled into his hair, trying to conceal the fact that she was crying. Attempting to stay strong, believing that as the oldest she was supposed to be calm.

"NO!" Her fathers voice sounded hoarse, grief mingling with despair. "Emmy…"

Looking up Annabelle saw her mother on the ground. Magic swirling around her body as if trying to find a place to stay. Leaving in a brief flash of light.

"No." She gasped, realizing that her mother had died. Tightening her grip on Rasta she tugged Cyrus over to their father and mother.

"Dad, why did mom use up her energy like that? Why was she fighting you? Why did she almost kill Cyrus?" Annabelle couldn't stop the torrent of questions that had bubbled up inside her, she couldn't process what was happening, and she needed answers.

Terry was beside himself with grief. Falling into his role as an archeologist in order to keep himself together.

"When I was pushing your mother's magic back, I felt ancient magic, magic from the beginning of the world. There's no way something like that got free on its own. I must do more research, something like this had to be sealed. I need to find what it is, maybe then I can figure out why it ran rampant tonight."

"Terry!" His sister came running into their house from across the street.

Taking in the house's occupants she paused. It took a few seconds for her to realize that her sister-in-law was dead.

"Terry. I'm so sorry. Are the kids alright? Are you injured?" She immediately went to the children, checking them over before going over to her brother.

"Terry, you need to pull it together. People are going crazy."

She tugged at her brother's shirt. "Pasef's being abandoned. The elders have lost hope. They said so far only children are unaffected. The council said we have to save them, they're Pasef's only hope for survival."

When she realized he hadn't heard anything that she had said she shook him.

"The elders said we have to send the children off world! They'll each be sent to a different planet in separate systems! Hurry!" She grabbed his arm, still unsure if he had heard her. Then she scooped Cyrus up, and made sure Annabelle was holding Rasta. She managed to get them out the door towards the local transport system.

Halfway to the town center her brother came to his sense. Her words finally registering.

"Why are they sending the kids away Erin? And if we have to send them to random places why can't we just teleport them there ourselves?" Terry questioned as he gathered himself and picked up Annabelle and Rasta, rushing to keep up with his twin.

"Sarah had a vision, things will get worse, whatever magic is stirring it's only just begun to awaken, and we don't have any magic users that are strong enough to combat it." She looked over Cyrus's head as she spoke.

"Someone tried teleporting. Whatever is happening it messed with his power, we only found his head in the town plaza."

"There were some elders that argued we should just transport them to a known planet. However, there was a larger faction that pushed for the transportation to be randomized. Something about avoiding detection."

"They believe that someone is behind this destruction. They must want to make sure that the children aren't trackable. That way if whoever did this is still monitoring Pasef, they won't be able to kill them all."

"Kill them all?" Erin looked at her brother.

"Whoever or whatever is doing this must want our race to go extinct. If they are still watching they might be able to track a few of the transporter trails, but they won't be able to follow them all. Best case scenario, no one is watching, so they won't know that the children escaped."

"Shit. So you mean that even if they get off the planet, they might not make it to another?"

"They'd make it to the other planet, but if they were found they'd probably be killed." Terry looked at his sister. "Are they sending them all to different places?"

"Yes. It's to lower the risk of losing all of Pasef."

"Annabelle, I want you to do your best. You have to find your brothers. Do you understand?" He looked at his oldest.

"Yes." She buried her face in his neck.

"Above all be safe Anna. Please survive. Remember, you can't do anything if you die."

"Yes." This time her reply was muffled by his neck.

Erin looked grimly at her brother before speaking. "It's better if we have the children sleep till, they get to a new planet."

"The council said that for any child below the age of 5,000 we need to wipe. Just in case they accidentally spill their secret. How it's done is left to the guardian."

She looked at Terry. "Since I haven't fought anyone my power should be stronger than yours right now. It's probably best if I take care of it. I won't wipe their memories, but I will lock them in their subconscious. That way I can set it to unlock when they mature. The older ones the elders are going to leave an explanation in their memories about tonight, and that they need to stay in hiding."

She paused and then continued. "They said that the oldest is going to get extra instructions, I'm thinking it probably has something to do with finding what caused tonight. It shouldn't be any of the kids though. Anna's the oldest of your three, but there are so many children nowadays that there's no way she's the oldest in town" She patted her brother's back.

"Hopefully she isn't. I don't want her saddled with that…"

The town center was coming into view, bodies were piled everywhere, the fighting was still ongoing as a few families made their way to the plaza.

"I don't really want the kids seeing this." Terry spoke up.

"Alright little ones, time to sleep, you don't need to see all this." Erin spoke quietly as she quickly cast a sleeping spell on her niece and nephews.

"Hopefully we will see each other again. If not know I love you." Her father murmured, grief consuming his voice.

Those were the last words Annabelle heard from her family before she faded into darkness.