THE MAN NAMED AXEL KNOX

THE FOUNDING FAMILIES

The meeting room was deep underground, there were no windows, no clocks that could tell of the time. A single round table sat in the middle, surrounded by five chairs. Three of them were occupied, Harrison was a representative of his own family, the Hawthorne, while the fifth, while the fifth, which was the Windsor chair, remained empty. It had been empty for twenty years.

Harrison Hawthorne stood at the head of the table. The three figures across from him sat in shadow. Their faces were hidden, one of them hid their face wearing a hood, another by the angle of the light and the last person was by choice. That was how these meetings worked. Power didn't need to see faces. Power needed results.

“Report,” said a voice from the left.

Harrison clasped his hands behind his back. “The boy survived.”

Silence. Then a woman spoke from the right. “The elixir?”

“Fully absorbed, there was no rejection, no side effects either, it was beyond what we expected.” Harrison paused. “His powers have awakened.”

Another voice, this one way younger than all of us, almost eager. “Show us.”

Harrison pulled a small crystal from his pocket and placed it on the table. The crystal glowed, and an image flickered to life, security magic captured in the cabin. Axel, tied to the chair. His arms glowing blue. His eyes were burning and the ropes were smoking.

The three figures leaned forward slightly.

“He broke through the sedation within hours,” Harrison continued. “The magic bonded with his bloodline faster than any previous vessel. We've never seen a response like this.”

“What's his name?” asked the cold voice.

“Knox. It's Axel Knox.” Harrison kept his face neutral. “Picked him up off the street, he has no family, no connections, he's the perfect vessel.”

The lie slid off his tongue smoothly like water. None of them knew the truth. To them, Axel was just another orphan, another experiment, just another tool.

“Bring him tomorrow,” said the woman. “We need to see for ourselves, we need proof, not some recording from a magical crystal that could be fabricated.”

“Of course.” Harrison nodded. “I'll have him ready by noon.”

The youngest voice spoke again. “If he's as strong as you say… the Windsor problem becomes irrelevant. We won't need their bloodline after all.”

No one disagreed. The meeting ended as quickly as it began. Chairs scraped. Shadows moved. One by one, the four figures disappeared through different exits. Harrison stood alone in the empty room, staring at the empty Windsor chair.

“You're wrong,” he whispered to no one. “His bloodline is exactly why he matters.”

He drove back to the cabin, night had come already. The forest road was narrow and winding. His mind raced through possibilities. Tomorrow he would bring Axel before the founding families, they would test him and they would be impressed and then they would want to use him.

Harrison didn't mind that, all he just needed was to keep his secret a little longer.

The cabin came into view. He stepped out of the car and stopped.

The front door was gone, splintered wood lay scattered across the porch. The frame hung crooked, barely attached to its hinges.

Harrison moved fast. He pulled a small knife from his boot and stepped through the doorway.

Inside, the room was a mess. Furniture overturned. A chair….the one Axel had been tied to, now lay on its side, ropes cut clean and in the corner of the room Vince and Leo sat slumped against the wall. Vince held his chest and groaned, while Leo cradled his broken wrist.

“What happened?” Harrison's voice was low. Dangerous.

Vince looked up, wincing. “A woman, she had blonde hair, blue eyes. They were glowing—just like the kid. She came through the door like it was paper.”

Leo nodded, his face pale with pain. “She took him, bursted right in like it was nothing, beat us both in ten seconds, and walked out with Axel. We couldn't stop her, we were no match for her.”

Obviously, they were no match for who Harrison was beginning to suspect had come to take axel. His grip tightened on the knife. “Describe her again.”

“She had blonde hair, it flowed down to her shoulders. She also wore a black mask at first, but then she pulled it down when she talked to him.” Leo swallowed hard. “She looked just like him. Same jaw. Same eyes. She called herself his mother.”

The words hit Harrison like a fist to the chest.

Mariette.

“She's alive,” he breathed. After fifteen years. Fifteen years of nothing. There was no body, no trail, no proof of anything and now she has Axel.

Vince struggled to his feet. “You know her?”

Harrison didn't answer. He walked past them, out the broken door, onto the porch. The forest stretched before him, dark and endless. His hands were shaking. Not from fear. From rage.

He raised both arms. The blue glow started in his chest……just like Axel's……but stronger. More controlled. It raced down his shoulders, through his elbows, to his fingertips. His eyes ignited. Bright. Burning.

And then he let it go.

Twin streams of blue fire shot from his palms, cutting through the dark forest. The trees thirty yards away exploded into flames. Pine needles crackled. Bark blackened and peeled. Within seconds, a whole section of the forest was burning, the fire climbing toward the sky.

Harrison stood there, arms still raised, as he watched it burn. His jaw was tight. His chest heaved.

“Fifteen years,” he said to the darkness. “You hide for fifteen years and now you come back for him?”

The fire roared louder. The heat reached his face, but he didn't flinch.

“You can't have him, Mariette. He's mine. I made him. I gave him the magic. Not you.”

Behind him, Vince and Leo limped to the doorway. They watched the flames in terrified silence. Neither of them had ever seen Harrison like this. Both of them knew that it was best not to say anything not after losing Axel under their watch.

Harrison finally lowered his arms, as the glow slowly faded from his eyes. The blue fire in the forest died just as quickly…..leaving behind smoking, blackened trees and the smell of ash.

He turned back to the cabin. His face was calm again. Cold.

“Find them,” he said. “I don't care how long it fucking takes. Find Axel and bring him back to me.”