Finally! Another chapter (That's actually more than just a few paragraphs)! I'm so sorry for the long wait, life sort of got away from me, but I hope this chapter makes up for it. It's summertime now, so I will have much more time to write until I have to go back to school in the fall. Thank you all for being such faithful readers, and, please, review!

Enjoy!

Dance Seven-

Ellen Stephenson

Kara was watching Jack as he helped his mom cook dinner. Linda had brought her to stay with Becka and Jack while she checked out Kara's old address. She had been gone for four days now, Seph in tow.

Becka had taken Kara in, hearing her slightly altered story, and the two were close already. Becka would never let Kara cook, saying that she was the guest.

It wasn't unusual for Kara to stare at Jack. In fact, she pretty much stared at him anytime she wasn't talking to someone else. I think while looking at Jack, she was trying to figure out what her daughter was like.

She was really pretty, I almost felt a bit inferior to her. As an enchantress, she looked younger than she was, and her pale blond hair looked perfect with her bright blue eyes. She was wearing a pale purple sweater of Becka's over a tee-shirt of Linda's and a pair of jeans she had borrowed from Linda as well.

I wanted to meet the girl, curious to find out if she was a warrior or not. It would be strange to have another warrior around. It had been Jack and I for so long.

All motion in the house stopped when the sound of Linda's car reached us. Kara bolted from her spot and made it to the door before Jack.

The second I saw Linda's face, I knew the news wasn't going to be good. Linda made us all go back inside, ferrying Kara to Becka's sofa. The blond woman was looking concerned now, anxiety written all over her face. "Linda, what did you find? Did you find them? Are my parents still there?"

Linda shook her head, "Kara, I used every resource available to me, I really did."

Kara groaned, "What are you saying?"

"The address you gave me caught fire last week. The entire house was nearly burnt to the ground. I talked to the sheriff. He said that Levi Whipple's granddaughter Haley died in the fire." Linda took the other woman's shaking hands, "I'm so sorry, Kara."

Kara made a strangled noise, "What about my parents?"

Linda sighed again, "He told me that Gerard Thomas has been missing since a few months after you were kidnapped. He said that Levi told everyone that he was looking for you. No one has seen him since."

"So he could still be out there?" Kara asked, her voice soft. Linda nodded, "What about my mom?"

Linda suddenly looked uncomfortable, "She's dead, Kara. A neighbor found her dead last month in her living room."

Kara shook her head, "What? No? Dead? My mother never got sick! She couldn't have just died!"

"Kara, she didn't. She was murdered." Linda said softly.

Kara paled, and Becka gasped, swooping in on her new friend like I'd seen her yearning to do. "No!" She let out a heartbreaking shout, "I'll kill them. I swear I will! Taking me wasn't bad enough, they had to take my family too?" She sobbed into Becka's shoulder.

Jack pulled Linda into the kitchen, and the rest of us followed, leaving Becka and Kara alone. "Aunt Linda, what happened to her mom? I agree with her, Levi was a sorceress, she wouldn't have just died."

"She didn't. Someone murdered her, like I said. The sheriff told me that it was the most bloody, violent thing he'd seen in years."

"Wizards?"

Linda shook her head, "I don't think so. I got some photos of it, and trust me, not a wizard." She grimaced a bit with that.

I looked back into the living room, Kara was sobbing onto Becka's shoulder still, and Jack's mom had her arms wrapped around the blond woman. "Think she'll be alright?" I asked Linda quietly.

Linda shrugged, "I don't know. That's a lot for anyone to handle. What we need to worry about is finding her father."

"Why?" I asked.

"I looked up on him. He's from a very powerful line of wizards." Linda sighed, "He's a Longbranch, Jessamine's first cousin. He was disowned when he fell in love with a young sorceress. They dropped off the grid after he emptied one of the family bank accounts."

Jack wrinkled his nose, "So Kara is a Longbranch?"

Linda nodded, "Yes, but they'll never acknowledge her, she's an Anawizard Weir."

"Stuck up wizards." I muttered under my breath, just as Leander and Seph walked in the back door.

Lee fixed me with a glare, "I'll ignore that comment." He walked to Linda, planting a kiss on her forehead, "How did it go?"

So, Linda got him and Seph up to speed as Jack and I sat next to each other around the table. "This is bad." Jack said, "If Jessamine experimented on Haley, who's to say she didn't experiment on other children. We need to find them. I was lucky that my body didn't go crazy. Others might not be that lucky. We need to help them. Together, we can make things that could help them control their powers, teach them to fight, to protect themselves."

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Leander snapped. He was in a foul mood now; he disliked innocent people being killed.

"Well…I…don't know. Ellen?" He asked, looking at me pathetically.

"There's only one thing we can do…we need to find them. I think it's a good idea to start now." I said, my voice stronger than I felt.

"What about school?" Linda asked, eyeing Jack, Seph and I critically. Since revealing that Seph was her son, she had become horribly protective. She and her sister got along way better now.

Jack shrugged, "What about it? We can always finish down the road."

"That's a bad idea." Linda groused, "What would your mother say?"

"That I should make my own decisions. What about you, Ellen? You're in, aren't you? It was your idea after all." Jack said.

I nodded, "Yes, I'm in. I don't really care about school anymore. I know most of what they teach anyway."

Linda looked at Leander and then Seph helplessly. Seph nodded, he was in, "No, Seph, not you too. No!" Linda seethed.

Seph shrugged, "I have to go, what would Ellen and Jack do without me? They'll need a wizard."

Leander chuckled darkly, "They'll have me. You should stay with Linda and Becka, to protect them."

And then it was a show down, the little Hastings family glaring at one another. Their staring contest was finally interrupted when Linda's phone rang. She groaned, but pulled it out of her pocket, stepping outside.

She came back a few minutes later with a triumphant smile on her face. "Someone just did a search on Haley Thomas. Looks like we're going to Washington."

Teehee! And so it begins! Back with the Cullens next chapter! If you like my story, please review, I write faster with inspiration!

Review!

-Jenn