I let them grieve. They've all been strong long enough. We are but three now. It has taken awhile, but I think we're all ready to get back on our feet.
Branwen had tried frantically to get ahold of her brother after...they died. She had no success. It seems that Alexander must be a substitute sibling for her. However I cannot allow him to be here now. Alex cannot function well enough yet in an emergency.
It is now up to me to keep the three of us alive. I must keep them safe. I have already failed Seth and Skyler...
We are truly sorry for the lack of any sort of update on this. As far as the phone and computer go...you can blame the Crow Queen. The Morrigan. The filthy, dirty bird who has blood on more than just her hands. She is wading in it. Basking in the body count, most likely.
This is my fault...I told Branwen we could help her friend and now look. There is not a single damn thing we can do about her except...
...it is hard for me to accept killing her if I can still remember when she used to be a person. And that's my fault too. I am part of the reason she isn't a person anymore.
That means I am part of the reason Seth and Skyler are dead.
We had been in Oregon, if but for a mere two days. We had moved because of the threat of The Morrigan. She had, of course, followed us and we would by no means want her complicating things any more than she already had as we tried to find Aiden.
We should not have moved. We played right into her blood covered talons.
She had perfected her illusion and we fell into it once more. It was easier to break with the knowledge that we knew what it was, but much harder to hold it off as we kept running into it time and time again. And it was not healthy. None of them had said anything about it, but The Morrigan's illusionary art is based off of what makes parallel travel possible, and if you remember correctly it is not safe for anyone not affiliated with Him to remain in it. The initial desert ruse was not powerful enough for any deadly side effects to occur, but it left them sore and hurting. This new repeated exposure was starting to greatly damage their health.
The parallel also blocks off all electronic communication, at least when used correctly.
We tried to answer the phone several times...all in vain.
She struck on the 30th. I was awake at the time. I was the only one not feeling the effects of the parallel, but the other four were too weak for what happened next.
She struck Skyler first. Just one blow was lethal enough to bring the Panda down. Thankfully, for both Seth and Skyler's sake, she died not long after the head injury. She did not suffer for long.
I have never seen Seth enraged. I could not even imagine the Buck fighting back with murderous intent. He was holding up well against The Morrigan's remaining army (I suspect she has been killing some of her minions off for sport). I tried to get to him. I had been defending the Wolf.
I was a fraction of a second too late. The knife was already in his neck. Another second later, and we had lost Seth as well.
This seemed to satisfy The Morrigan well enough, and she drew back with whatever proxies we had not killed or rendered unconscious.
...to leave the remaining two of the original five to wallow in sorrow. The weight of it all finally collapsed on them. I could do nothing of any sort of consolation. I thought Alex might be better suited for the task, but he could not bear it either.
We buried them not long after.
And then we were quiet for a long time.
I allowed Alex to be conscious earlier today because he told me he had an idea. He had taken the girls into a pet store so they could see the puppies.
They have not genuinely smiled in such a long time. It was good to see that. Alex is much better at handling emotional matters than I.
We will arrive in Oregon shortly. The phone is working now, Aiden. The remaining three of us are relatively healthy, physically speaking. I don't know what to say about our collective mental state. I'm sorry.
This is my fault.
I'm not going to let anymore of us die.
But for now, we need to rest.
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