~Wren~

Let's do it well.

Astra's word echoed over and over in my mind as everyone closed in on us. I knew all of these people who were surrounding us, either by reputation or in actuality, neither of which were giving me much confidence. Though Astra seemed completely fearless in that moment, brandishing her wand as if she truly could've taken on all of this alone, I was struggling to keep my hands from shaking. How was she always so brave?

If the plan was to die well, I needed to find some of that courage for myself. I turned so that my back was against Astra's, watching for any sign of a spell about to be cast. It was going to be hard to keep up a shield charm wide enough to cover our sides while also strong enough to withstand the onslaught of curses that was about to come our way. Maybe Astra's would make up for mine, considering how powerful every spell she cast was.

Part of me was refusing to believe this was happening. The thought that we might not even make it to Stillens hadn't crossed my mind. That someone like Vane might take it upon herself to kill us before we got there... it sounded preposterous. Yet here we were.

Astra tensed up behind me, and I had a feeling she was about to start firing before anyone else had a chance to. I braced myself to cast a shield charm, but before it got that far, I heard a voice that nearly made me sag with relief.

"What's going on?" my mother snapped. I turned around to see both her and my father standing in the curtained archway across the room, staring at the scene before them in shock. Of course, seeing them should've made me feel anything but relieved, but the only thing that went through my head was, At least we're not going to die yet. It seemed crazy to think of my parents as the ones with any kind of sense, but there was no way they'd let anyone kill us before Stillens had a chance to do it himself.

Next to me, Astra had only grown more tense, gripping her wand tighter as she glared at my parents. I pursed my lips to keep from letting my relief show. It was ridiculous, that my completely insane terrorist parents who had both tortured me multiple times were making me feel safe, but... I mean, they weren't going to kill us.

"What's going on?" my mother repeated. Without anyone saying anything, the circle fell back, opening the space between us and my parents. I pursed my lips, wondering if she was expecting me to answer or one of the people surrounding us.

"They broke in," Vane said finally, glaring at us as if we'd somehow ruined her fun. "You're the one who said—"

"I know what I said." She turned her glare on me, and only Astra's presence right next to me kept me from wilting. "Come here."

My automatic instinct was to obey, but Astra grabbed my arm before I could. "Only if you're going to take us to Stillens."

She narrowed her eyes, clearly displeased, and the next thing I knew, several people from behind were propelling us toward them. Astra jerked away several yards from my parents, but I guess it was far enough. They closed the distance between us.

For several long moments, it seemed like she and Astra were simply going to glare at each other until one of them cracked. My father was the one who broke the silence, in a quiet tone that the rest of the room wouldn't be able to hear. "What are you doing here, Wren?" Surprisingly, he looked more worried than anything when I met his eyes.

"We want to talk to Stillens," I said, my voice much softer than I'd meant it to be.

"Are you stupid?" my mother asked. The words were harsh, but her expression showed concern. I felt that familiar twinge rearing its head, the desire to do whatever they said, earn their love again. Instead of answering, I just looked down.

"I think the only stupid people are the ones who are getting between Stillens and the two of us," Astra snapped. She'd lowered her voice to the level as my parents', but that didn't change the disdain in her tone.

"That's not going to happen today," my mother said, a bit of the harshness leaving her expression when she glanced at me.

"I'm afraid this is a right now kind of thing," Astra snapped, matching their volume but not their tone. "Or do you think he'll be totally fine with this delay?"

My mother's glare was vicious when she turned back to her. "Stillens doesn't want to be disturbed."

"You think I'm not an exception to that?" She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, and I once again found myself wondering where she got that kind of courage.

My mother, though, didn't seem to notice at all. "No, I don't. I believe I know my uncle better than you do, Lestrange." Before Astra could answer, she'd turned back to me. "You need to go back downstairs, Wren."

I blinked. She wanted me to leave? Slowly, I shook my head. "What?"

"Leave. Keep playing your harmless little game with Russey and Potter. There's no reason for you to be involved with this."

"You're just letting her walk away?" Astra's grip on my arm tightened a bit, as if I might actually do what they said. "Why?"

"Wren, please," my father said, completely ignoring her. "We don't want you to get hurt."

"Stillens will get to you eventually, dear, but it doesn't have to be today," my mother echoed, reaching out to stroke some hair back from my face. I flinched, but I didn't pull away—some horrible part of me wanted to lean into her touch. "He might even be convinced to forgive you."

I wanted to yell at her to get away from me, stop acting like she cared. I wanted to say that I would never want Stillens' forgiveness. I wanted to tell her I'd rather die than be in his good graces ever again. But I opened my mouth and nothing came out, and all I could bring myself to feel was shame.

"Oh, shut up." Astra let go of me and crossed her arms. "I think we all know what a two-faced little bitch you are, Katreena." I winced, already having an idea of what was coming, though I don't think Astra was expecting it.

My father smacked her across the face, hard enough that she stumbled into me. Though I caught her shoulders and managed to keep her upright, she seemed disoriented as she blinked at me. I closed my eyes tightly, praying for Astra's bravery to come infect me somehow. Then I glared back at my parents. "The concerned parent thing is less convincing when you start assaulting my friends, you know."

And there it was, all my mother's anger now leveled at me. She gripped my arm and yanked me towards her, leaning towards me so that our faces were only inches away. "How dare you. After all we've done for you! You ungrateful little demon!" She shook my roughly, and it took everything in me to hold her gaze and not flinch away. "You don't even know half of what we've sacrificed for you, Wren. And you dare to act like we're the ones who don't care about you?"

In spite of my best efforts, my eyes felt wet when I blinked. I took a deep breath and shook my head. "If you really cared about me, you'd leave. You'd actually do everything you could to protect me, not just stand aside and watch when he hurts me."

"Letting you go ruin your life is not loving you, Wren," my mother said sternly. "All we or Stillens have ever done is help you learn what's right."

"That's not true." My voice was trembling in in spite of myself, but I didn't let myself look away. "How could any of this be right? They're about to execute an innocent woman downstairs. Do you really think that's okay?"

"Her death is a necessary sacrifice," she said patiently, as if she were being the reasonable one here. "We're trying to make the world a better place. That can't happen without sacrifice."

How was my mother so calm, while I was about to cry? How was this so turned upside down in her head? How could she not see the truth? "Nothing Stillens wants will make the world a better place!"

"You know that's not true, dear," my father said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I did flinch away that time, but the hurt that flashed across his face for a moment only made me feel worse.

I guess I paused too long, because Astra cut in before I could push through the hurricane of emotions whirling through my head and think of something to say. "I can't think of a single thing he wants that's not just something horrible with a pretty coat of paint."

Instantly, my parents were both angry and glaring once more. Caught between them and Astra, I felt incredibly small. I almost expected one of them to hit her again, but thankfully my mother only huffed. "I don't expect you to understand." She turned back to me, her face a mask of concern that I knew I couldn't trust but felt so real. "I know that Stillens has been a bit harsh in the past—"

"A bit?" Astra scoffed. My mother ignored her.

"—but after today, that'll change. I promise. You go back downstairs now, hold James Potter's hand and try to stay out of the way, and soon everything will be better. We can have this conversation again when things are less tense."

The disconnect between what my mother was saying and reality was so great that for a moment I didn't even know what to say other than, "We're not going back downstairs."

She laughed. "Of course you're not both going. We'll make sure Lestrange stays fully entertained until Stillens has time to see her."

Just like that, the part of me that had been wavering finally remembered what a monster I was talking to. "I'm not leaving, and certainly not without Astra."

"And we're not waiting," Astra added firmly. "We're seeing him now."

Somehow, I think I surprised my mother. She barely seemed to have heard Astra. Instead, she was staring at me, seemed both shocked and sorrowful. "You'd really put this girl above your own safety? Above your family?"

I took Astra's hand at that. Honestly, I don't know if I meant the words that came out of my mouth; all I knew were that they were exactly the thing to say if I wanted to hurt my mother back after all the times she'd done the same to me. "This is my family. And I don't abandon my family to Stillens."

It was the wrong thing to say. It was the perfect thing to say. I'd made my mother truly furious. I'd ripped out her heart. I'd stood up to her and should have been proud. I'd disrespected her and should have been terrified. I'd hurt her and should have been ashamed. All these thoughts went through my mind as I watched her react to my words. Grief. Rage. Hurt. Fear. Sadness. Shock. Fury. Suddenly, Astra's hand in mine was the only thing keeping me upright. I barely noticed her pulling me back.

I'd expected her to start screaming at me, or maybe start crying. Or tell my father to punish me. Or do it herself. What I hadn't expected was for her to suddenly grow cold. She stared me down for a moment. "Are you sure you want to make this choice?"

Astra squeezed my hand, and I managed a nod. I'd gone too far. I didn't know what I'd done, really, what I'd pushed her to, but I'd never seen her like this. But I held her gaze, stood my ground, tried my best to stop trembling.

She frowned at me for a moment longer, then shook her head. "Kill them."

My heart stopped. I blinked, not sure if I'd heard her right. She hadn't... she couldn't have...

"Katreena..."

My father reached towards her, but she pushed his arm away. "Didn't you hear me? Kill them!"

Still, no one moved. Not that I was looking to see it. I was blinking away tears. Trying to catch my balance, now that the floor had fallen out from under me. Staring at my mother, my mother who had... had just...

"Mom?"

Briefly, her eyes flicked back to me, her gaze unflinchingly hard. "You are not my daughter."

The small voice inside that still wanted her love was now all of me. All of me, screaming and crying and in disbelief, even though in reality I just stood there, leaning on Astra all of a sudden because my legs weren't working. Nothing was working. Of course, my mother was a terrible person. Of course, she didn't really love me. But I guess I'd never really believed that before because all I wanted was for her to walk over to me and pull her into her arms and tell me she'd only been punishing me, could never really mean that. Right then, I would've done anything she asked if only she'd take those words back.

But she didn't. She cast a glare around the room. "What are you waiting for?" Finally, everyone else in the room seemed to catch on, and out of the corner of my eye I saw wands being raised, saw Astra preparing to defend us both.

We were going to die. There was no way around that. I couldn't fight, not anymore.

My mom wanted me to die.

Without even sparing me a glance, she turned on her heel and walked away.

~~~~

Question of the Day: You're all worried about deaths, but have you considered... are there things worse than just death?

Answer: Wren finally losing all faith in Katreena broke me, my dudes. Sobbing over here. If it makes you feel better though (it won't), I had to break this chapter into two because otherwise it would have been genuinely far too emotionally traumatic for me to get through. So this chapter isn't as bad as it could have been...?

Vote and comment!

~Elli

Word count: 2333