Luke walked toward the tree at a moderate pace. Enid watched from a safe distance, gazing at the tree with a mix of fear and respect, as if Luke hadn’t been there, she would have killed herself as the tree’s curse had commanded her to do.
The tree’s mental commands echoed louder and louder in Luke’s head; with each step he took, it felt as though the voice grew stronger and angrier.
However, Luke endured and kept moving forward until he stopped just inches from the trunk.
His eyes noticed what seemed to be a ritual mark on the tree’s central bark. It was barely visible, worn down by time.
His focus was on the tree, and he noticed a barrier that prevented him from seeing beyond the trunk, as if it were hollow, yet he couldn’t see what was inside.
‘That’s where the evidence must be,’ Luke thought with a slight smile, as the robotic and angry voice echoed in his head telling him to stop and leave.
Luke tapped the tree twice with his knuckles and heard the hollow sound, but he also realized that the wood was extremely hard.
He took a step back and prepared to punch the bark, right where the ritual mark was. He began to concentrate telekinetic waves in his fist, and after a few seconds, the air around Luke’s fist began to vibrate.
Without thinking twice, he struck the tree.
BOOM!
A metallic sound resonated throughout the area, the telekinetic waves released stirred up a great amount of wind that sent dust, dirt, and leaves flying.
‘A trunk as hard as metal?’ Enid thought, surprised by the tree’s hardness.
Luke continued hitting the trunk without hesitation. His parents had hidden the evidence so the Spellmans wouldn’t find it, but also so that he would. There shouldn’t be any chance of destroying it after breaking the tree’s trunk.
On the third blow, his fist pierced through the trunk. When he pulled it away, he could see inside the tree, which was indeed hollow with enough space to hide something.
‘How did they hide the evidence without breaking the tree?’ Luke wondered, unable to comprehend how his parents managed such a feat.
Inside the tree trunk was a dusty and worn-out backpack. Luke had to enlarge the hole he made because the backpack couldn’t fit through yet.
After a few more blows, he finally had the backpack in his hands. He opened it from the zipper and saw several documents. ‘Finally,’ Luke thought, glancing at the contents of the backpack.
That wasn’t all. He also saw a jar with a silver liquid. He recognized it as a memory fragment. After all, he had gone through the process himself and recognized the silvery liquid.
Besides the jar with the silver liquid, he saw two pieces of clothing: a small scarf and a bib.
‘Is this from when I was a baby?’ Luke thought, his expression different from usual.
“Luke, watch out!” Enid shouted, causing Luke to stop staring dumbly at the contents of the backpack.
With his clairvoyance, he noticed the long, steel-hard branches moving at an alarming speed toward him, clearly aiming to impale him.
When three branches were about to pierce him, Luke murmured, “Shambles,” and vanished just in time, reappearing next to Enid.
Enid sighed in relief when she saw Luke dodge the tree and appear by her side. Though she knew his strength and vast arsenal of abilities, she was about to rush in to help.
The branches hit the ground, easily piercing it and creating a large cloud of dust. They quickly returned to attack, this time aiming at both Luke and Enid.
Enid stepped forward, protecting Luke. Her arms partially transformed into those of a werewolf.
When the branches were about to reach them, Enid attacked first. With a fierce slash, her claws ripped through the thick bark of the first branch, sending hot splinters flying. Enid repeated the same action, chaining together quick, precise cuts.
Each strike sent shards of wood as hard as metal flying, but the branch continued to resist.
Luke took advantage of Enid handling the attacks and used Shambles again, reappearing next to the tree trunk. Now, the useless orders filling his mind were to return the backpack to its place and then leave the area.
He made a small cut on his index finger, causing a few drops of blood to spill, which he directed toward the ritual mark on the bark.
When the mark was stained with blood, it absorbed it and even glowed faintly. His hunch had been right. The thick, long branches of the tree stopped attacking and returned to their original positions.
The robotic, annoyed voice ceased to echo in his head.
“Is it over?” Enid murmured, as her arms returned to normal and she watched the branches retreat back to their original position.
[You can come now] Luke said through a telepathic message, and Enid heard his voice in her head.
Enid looked at the tree and, after a second of doubt, began walking. If the tree tried to invade her mind again, she knew Luke would save her, so she wasn’t afraid.
However, that was an unnecessary worry; she didn’t receive any more mental orders. She approached Luke, who was already sitting on the grass in a cross-legged position, with the backpack open and pulling out what was inside.
“How did you stop the tree?” Enid asked, sitting in front of him, just a few inches away.
“I splashed some blood on the mark on the tree. It must have been the mark my parents made to make the tree act as a defense. I guess giving it my blood made it realize I’m not an enemy,” Luke explained.
Thanks to Wednesday, Luke had learned a lot about dark rituals and such things. Since his parents had hidden the evidence for him to find, it made sense to think they must have made the tree stop attacking once it recognized he had obtained the evidence.
“Mm,” Enid nodded and turned her attention to the backpack. “Oh, this! It has your scent, I’m sure of it,” she added, pointing at the bib and the small scarf, which were in poor condition.
Luke looked at the baby clothes. Why had his parents kept these? It would have made more sense for them to give them to Natasha, who had taken him in as a baby.
‘Is there another one?’ Luke thought, surprised to notice another jar with the silver liquid. As he took both out, he saw they were numbered, one labeled number 1 and the other number 2.
There was also a yellowed note with very elegant handwriting. He quickly read it and looked back at the two jars.
“What does it say?” Enid asked, curious.
“Sure, if you want to tell me, it’s fine if you don’t,” Enid quickly added, making gestures with her hand.
Luke stopped looking at the jars and looked at her. “The jar number one is a memory that I can see right now. Number two is the most important evidence my parents obtained. It should be presented to the authorities,” he replied.
“Oh, I don’t get it. Don’t you need some special device to see those memories? How could you see the memory from jar number one right now?” Enid asked.
“If you want to project the memory to a group of people and then keep that memory, yes, you’d need a device. But if one person drinks the liquid, they’ll see the memory, kind of like a vision, but the memory will be lost forever,” Luke explained patiently, only because it was Enid asking.
“Drink that silver liquid?” Enid said with a strange expression, staring at the thick liquid in the jar, which didn’t look like an appetizing drink.
“Yes, it’s drinkable, according to the theory I read… Its taste is supposedly thick and metallic,” Luke responded, while putting jar number two into the backpack and leaving only the first one.
He carefully opened the lid, and before drinking it, he looked at Enid. “Can you protect me?” he asked, knowing Niklaus was on his way, but his curiosity was greater. For the first time, he would see his parents in a lived memory.
“Of course!” Enid responded instantly, standing up. “Drink it, don’t worry. I’ll keep watch.”
Luke nodded gratefully and, not wasting any more time, drank the silver liquid. He had to drink it all.
He felt the dense liquid slide down his throat, leaving a metallic aftertaste that made him shiver. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but the thick, cold sensation twisted his stomach. As soon as he finished swallowing, a chill ran through his body, and his vision began to blur.
His eyes turned white, and the world around him seemed to fade away. A sensation of weightlessness enveloped him, as if his mind had been ripped from his body.
Everything became blurry until, suddenly, he felt solid ground beneath his feet.
Luke blinked, finally regaining his vision.
He was still in the same place, in front of the tree trunk, but something had changed. It was night, with the faint moonlight illuminating the forest.
Then he saw her, standing before him. A beautiful young woman, around twenty-five years old. Her brown hair, almost blonde, fell in soft waves over her shoulders, reflecting the moon’s glow. Her face was serene but enigmatic, with clear, deep eyes that stared at him with intensity.
She wore a dark robe with some cuts and dried blood, she didn’t seem to be in the best condition, though not in a critical state either.
Luke felt his heart beat strongly. He didn’t need anyone to tell him.
It was his mother.
Besides knowing it was his mother, Luke couldn’t help but compare her to his feminine form, Tuesday. They had similarities, though Tuesday’s hair was a golden shade that gave her a more fairy tale appearance, and her features were much softer.
“My name is Sophie Poe. I hope the person who sees this memory is my son… Luke,” the woman spoke, her serene expression showing no desperation despite the situation she was in.
Her voice was calm, lacking the emotion that a typical mother would have when speaking to her child for the first time, knowing this might be the only message her son could hear from her.
“If you’re seeing this, it means you’ve managed to survive and have obtained the evidence we hid. You must present the evidence to the council, but don’t trust the council members completely. Several outcasts families are already working with the Spellmans. You can trust my family, the Umbrio. Also, the Addams and the Faulkners. The other psychic families of the six greats are not to be trusted, though I’m not saying they’re conspiring or under the Spellmans’ orders,” Sophie continued her monologue calmly, her eyes showing only a faint glimmer.
“In jar number two is the most important evidence of all. Protect it with your life, and if you manage to show it to our society, the situation will change,” Sophie said in a more serious tone than before.
“Is that all?” asked a male voice that Luke didn’t recognize. The strangest part was that the voice escaped his lips without him controlling it.
He quickly understood what was happening. It was his father’s voice. John Poe. The memory was from his head, so Luke was in his POV, so to speak.
“Yes, that’s all. Now say something if you want,” Sophie replied.
There was a brief silence, broken only by the distant sound of the wind.
“Well, then, before dying or disappearing or whatever happens to us, I want to leave a message for my son,” John said in a tone bordering on sarcasm.
‘Father…’ Luke thought, wanting to see his face, but he couldn’t.
“Luke, if you’re the one seeing this, it means you’re alive, which is good. My advice for you is simple: have children, many of them. If possible, get yourself two or three wives. The Poe family is on the brink of extinction, and the only way to avoid that is for you to start working on it as soon as possible,”
Sophie rolled her eyes, exhaling a sigh of patience.
“Is that your great advice?” Sophie asked.
“What else could I say? I’m not going to give him speeches about destiny or revenge,” John replied, shrugging.
Luke noticed that Sophie, although maintaining her serious expression, allowed a slight glimmer of mockery to cross her gaze before adding, “You only managed to marry me because your charms weren’t enough to make another woman want to go out with you seriously, considering the position you were in.”
“Are you insinuating I have no charisma?” John asked, clicking his tongue with feigned indignation.
“No. You could have all the charisma in the world, but no woman in her right mind would agree to marry you in the situation you were in. The Poe family on the brink of extinction, at war with one of the most powerful psychic families, no allies, no resources…” Sophie replied, pausing briefly.
“You weren’t exactly the best catch,” she concluded.
“Then why did you accept me? Aren’t you in your right mind?” John asked, not offended by how direct his wife was.
“Because… your charms did work on me, and unlike the other women, I’m not a coward, and I don’t care about my family’s opinion,” Sophie responded.
The Umbrio family had turned their back on her and disinherited her when she married John. They tried everything they could to make her leave him, but she didn’t listen; she was determined.
“I’m lucky to have you by my side,” John said in a playful tone.
“You are. Now let’s stop wasting time. We need to keep going,” Sophie said.
The memory began to fade, and Luke felt his consciousness being dragged back to reality. The last thing he saw was his mother’s image, looking him in the eyes with a different kind of gleam, though he didn’t know if the gaze was meant for John or for him.
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