Once Upon a Steamy Night
Chapter Fifteen

"Dad!"

Adam came rushing to her room when he heard her screaming. He pulled the door open and gasped when he saw Liam sprawled on the floor.

It wasn't the fact that he was sprawled on the floor that scared him but the fact that his shirt was burnt and the smell of burning flesh filled the air.

Claire, on the other hand, was hyperventilating and switching to panic mode as the clouds gathered together and darkened.

"Claire, get it together and help," he said softly.

She shook her head. "Can't touch him...mom warned..."

Adam glanced at her and eyed her curiously. "You saw your mom?"

She nodded then glanced at Liam.

"I need your help, Claire; don't go bonkers on me!" He exclaimed.

Claire took a deep breath as she glanced at Liam's burnt flesh and she blinked. She needed to focus for the sake of Liam then later she could brawl her eyes out. "Claire?"

She nodded. "I'm here, dad."

"Good. What did you hit him with?"

"Lightening," she mumbled.

"Christ! How did you conjure enough lightning to destroy his chest like this?" Adam inquired.

"I wanted to kill him, he was hurting mom and called me a weakling," she growled as she felt the sparks ignite in her again.

"You wanted to kill Liam?"

"What? No, it's the green-eyed guy. He has mom and he wanted me to say a stupid spell. Mom told me not to, then he taunted me and called me a weakling, mom told me not to attack but I went ahead, and I ended up hurting Liam." "We need to save him before he dies," Adam sighed.

"What do I do?"

"Give me your hand and allow me to connect with your magic."

Claire nodded and stretched her hands towards Liam while placing the other hand on Liam's burnt chest.

"Repeat after me, Claire and focus."

Claire nodded.

"Incidio restorae, restore flesh and heal this body," Adam chanted.

Claire repeated after him. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the yellow glow emanating from her and Adam's hands to Liam's chest.

Slowly but surely, his burnt flesh began changing and he was starting to heal.

"Keep chanting, Claire."

She kept chanting and then he was finally healed but he remained asleep. She helped Adam move him to the bed and she wiped off a stray tear. "I'm proud of you for not panicking," he said.

She shook her head. "I messed up dad."

"No, you didn't. You found your mom," he said beaming at her.

"She's in a bad place. We need to rescue her; she looks so frail and it's only the green-eyed man that can lead us to her."

"How can we find him?"

"I don't know, he finds me."

"When next he finds you try to summon me, just think of me and conjure my image in your mind."

She nodded.

"I have something else to tell you, Claire."

Claire arched a brow at him.

"Once Liam wakes up he won't be able to remember anything aside from when you both fell asleep."

"Is that it?"

"Once he's initiated, he'll remember everything magically that has happened to him and he'll know you're a faerie, Claire."

There was silence as Claire tried to calm her racing heart. She swallowed and nodded stiffly.

"Is there a possibility that he won't remember?"

Adam shrugged. "It's highly unlikely, Claire."

"Just let him be, dad."

***

"This time is upon us."

The cackling of men was heard as they clinked their glasses together. There was a festive air in the room and the once dark room was bright and airy. "We'll finally have someone worthy enough to take over."

"Those faeries won't know what hit them!"

***

Scot gasped at the shocking words he heard from the Captain's office, yet he couldn't see the face of anyone. But he could hear their voices.

He hurriedly left the office in search of the Captain afraid that perhaps his ears were playing tricks on him.

On his way out he saw the file marked "RYES" and he was tempted to open it when he wasn't hearing any noise again.

He opened the first page and he realized that the murder case of Mr. and Mrs. Ryes was now a closed case labeling Claire as the killer.

He gasped when he saw her adoption certificate. She wasn't the real child of Mr. and Mrs. Ryes. But why did she look so much like Adam especially now after her strange transformation?

He flipped the pages and saw the evidence they had against her then he flipped the page to the autopsy result when he heard footsteps.

He quickly took pictures of everything he needed and fled to Claire's house. He had to let Adam know that his adopted niece will be going to jail but suddenly, he had a different idea.

Adam had appeared out of nowhere after Claire's adopted parents died, there was a possibility that something fishy had happened.

He decided to get a lock of their hair for testing. Now, the problem remained how to get Adam's hair and he smiled when he came up with a solution.

He headed towards their house and sneaked in through the window where he grabbed Adam and Claire's hair before they would notice and fled.

He took it to the laboratory and told them he needed the result for an ongoing investigation.

"The results will be ready in one week, Scot," they Informed him.

He nodded and left the hospital deciding not to go through with any of his plans until the results come out.

***

"Claire! Get your ass out of bed right now!!"

Claire muttered profanities as she pulled the covers over her face and sunk deeper into her bed. There was no way she was gonna stand up from this bed except- "Let me down!"

-he elevated her magically and now, she was floating in the air.

"Dad, let me down!" She groaned.

He ignored her and steered her into the bathroom before dumping her in her bathtub full of warm water with her freaking nightdress!

"Dad!" She whined.

"Grow up, Claire. In the realm, you will train fourteen hours every day and additional training on your own!"

She grumbled as he left the bathroom and she sighed. Her muscles were sore from too much magical exercise. It's been three days since Liam's accident and five days since the school accident.

They were finally resuming school today and she had spent all her time practicing her elemental magic. She has finally fixed her garden and has gotten the hang of the water element.

Her next elemental class was air, and she was starting tonight.

Over the past few days, she has spent a lot of time with Liam, and they've grown closer. She had not heard from Scot for a while, and she was alright with that.

Aside from the fact that her exercises left her drained each day, she was comfortable with the new direction her life has taken. She was now getting familiar with Adam and they hadn't seen the green-eyed man. "Claire!"

Adam's loud voice jolted her from her thoughts, and she hastened up. Coming out of the bathroom, she threw on a black leather short skirt and a green tank top. She slipped her feet into her boots, pulled her hair into a tight ponytail and she ran downstairs.

"Here, dad," she mumbled.

"Good morning, Princess. Liam is waiting for you at the breakfast table," he announced.

Claire nodded and headed to the dining table.

"Hey, Liam," she beamed at him.

Liam engulfed her in a warm hug and kissed her forehead. "How are you doing, darling?"

"I'm fine."

Claire grabbed a cup of coffee and gulped it down with two toasted bread.

"My birthday is next weekend, Claire. I am officially inviting you," Liam said.

Claire shared a knowing look with Adam and her heart sank at the fact that she might lose Liam in the next nine days.

"That's great, Liam. I'll be there."

"Great! Now, let's make our official grand entry as an official couple in school," Liam beamed.

With a small smile, she followed him out of the house biding her father a quick goodbye.

They arrived at school and yet she still couldn't get over the nagging feeling that he would soon leave her to be with the hunters.

"Are you alright, Claire?"

She stared at his beautiful green eyes in the class and smiled at him. "Try not to forget about all the good times we spent together, Liam."

Liam gave her a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

"Just a personal plea, Liam. I hope you don't forget it."

***

Scot groaned as he stood up from the couch. He couldn't stop pacing and he had a feeling that something was wrong.

He hadn't seen much of the Captain around the house and neither has he seen him in the police station. The Captain has suddenly been so busy that he was barely around him.

He was always with the mayor and his assistant. Scot figured that maybe they were planning Liam's birthday party.

He still hasn't gotten any information on that hair sample he had sent to the hospital and so he decided to go through the case file he had taken pictures of.

But just before he could get lost in his phone, the Captain arrived with Liam and Tyler.

"Kid, have you been lazing about instead of going to work?" The Captain asked.

Scot sighed. "No, Captain, I came back home to get some things done."

The Captain nodded and went inside with Tyler while Liam remained outside rocking on his boots.

Scot decided to pry information out of Liam.

"I didn't know you enjoyed older men's company, Liam," Scot mused.

Liam shuddered. "What the fuck, man!"

Scot chuckled. "I'm trying to make a conversation, dude. Why are you always hanging around them for a while? Did you ditch Claire?"

Liam narrowed his eyes at him. "What's your business with Claire? I'm hanging out with my father because he's got some things to prepare me for before my birthday and after the birthday."

Scot's eyebrow twitched at the mention of birthday preparations. What could be more important than staying In his damn office?! Scot wondered.

A puzzled expression crossed his face and he saw the men emerge from the house with nothing worth value and they left.

Scot was convinced they were up to something, so he rushed inside the house to check what they have been doing but he found nothing in all the rooms which were weird considering he has been hearing noises and movements he has been hearing.

He had a strange feeling about all these, and he was determined to find out. He brought out his phone and quickly scanned through the pictures.

His eyes widened when he saw the autopsy result. They had announced to the public that her parents were poisoned when there were no poison records in this result.

The cause of their death left him speechless. How could the Captain hide such a great secret and frame, Claire, when he knows she isn't capable of such despicable acts? But most importantly, why?

His puzzled thoughts ran wide as he tried to make sense of anything. He wondered if he would be able to see the corpses of the Ryes, so he called up the morgue attendant.

"Hey, Mr. Jerry?"

"Who's asking?" The grumpy voice of an elderly man sounded on his phone.

Scot tried to sound as friendly as possible. "I wanted to schedule an appointment with you. I need to see some corpses on an investigation I'm working on." "What corpse? The only murder corpse here is that of Ethan Ryes and his wife," the man grumbled.

"Yes, that's the one."

"Kid, this case has been closed by the Captain," the man said icily.

Scot chuckled nervously. "Yes, a new lead just came out and I need to confirm it."

"Stop poking around, Scot. You won't like what you'll find. Do yourself and your late parents a favor by staying away."

"But Sir..."

Scot stared at his phone that had disconnected and sighed as he felt goosebumps at the mention of his late parents. Something strange was going on in this town and he was going to find out, he vowed.