Chapter Fifteen
W e pull into the seaside village just as my stomach begins to grumble.
In my defense, we haven’t eaten anything since the sandwiches I made for us, and we didn’t get to... uhmm... keep those as long as I would have liked to. Thankfully the trip has given my nerves and nausea time to settle. Unfortunately, that means that now I’m fucking starving.
We also haven’t spoken since we left the station either, making for a very quiet two-and-a-half-hour trip. To be fair, a lot of my focus is directed at my worry for Ori, who doesn’t seem to have changed at all since we left the forest. I’m also beyond exhausted and I think I may have a permanent wedgie.
Blake parks the bike just outside the first structure of the village, and I hop off immediately. As I begin to pull off the helmet, he puts his hand on my arm to stop me. “Glasses,” he whispers, tapping the bridge of his nose.
I nod and pull the sunglasses from my bag, before turning my back to the village and taking off the helmet. Blake takes it and fixes it to the bike for safekeeping before moving to Ori. Thanks to the air shield, the helmet, and my superior braiding skills, my hair is pretty well in place. So, I slide the sunglasses on and turn around to help Blake with my familiar.
He pulls Ori out carefully and snaps the bag closed, then he takes a breath and looks at me pointedly. “Alright, don’t ask any questions. Let me handle the talking. You don’t want attention drawn to yourself.” He turns to begin walking but stops quickly and glances over his shoulder before adding in a hushed voice “And for the love of the Gods, please do not say the word ‘mermaid’ while we’re here.”
“How was I supposed to know?” I grumble as we begin to move forwards along a path cutting through the main bundle of buildings. He doesn’t answer, so I keep quiet. We need their help with Ori, so I will do whatever that takes. Even wearing a stupid pair of sunglasses, in the slowly falling sunlight.
The village itself doesn’t look vastly different from the ones I lived in as a child. The homes are mostly along the waterside, while other buildings, which I assume are used for trading and such, line the opposite side of the path. The houses are mostly wood and vary from shades of white to blues and greens. Like most magickal factions, the house colors tend to reflect the nature surrounding them. They all even have little gardens along the sides of their homes and some are even growing vegetation out into the water. As a witch, even if I am only half, my fingers itch to help weed the garden and work the soil and my curiosity is seriously peaked at these water gardens.
Like all magickal villages, there are none of those ridiculous human ‘lawns’. I never understood the purpose of those. Magickals use the land as much as we can around our homes, keeping the negative space to a minimum so that our presence isn’t intrusive to the areas we borrow from the Earth. Overall, the merfolk village is very pretty and really not so different from witch villages.
We come up to a house that extends much further out onto the water than the others and has a few smaller buildings that surround it. I follow Blake as he walks up to the building directly across from it, and walks right through the front door. I close the door behind me gently, just as an older woman at a cupboard turns to us. A smile lights her face when she sees Blake, and she bows lightly.
She is delicate in stature but has a strength to her features that hides her age. Her skin is the same sunkissed bronze as Blake’s, and her white hair hangs down in a loose waterfall, reaching almost all the way to her waist. If her smile wasn’t enough to make me see the familial resemblance between the two, her eyes would be a dead giveaway. Hers are the same beautiful pale blue as Blake’s.
The woman is absolutely breathtaking.
He returns the smile but shifts uncomfortably at the bow. “Please Grandmother, no one bows to me. You know that.”
She makes a sound like there’s something bitter on her tongue and waves her hand. “That’s because they are arrogant, and stuck in their old ways. One day, they will understand the reason I bow, and show you the respect you deserve.” She shifts her gaze to his arm, where Ori lies silently, and glances in my direction, before addressing him again. “It looks like this fellow needs some help then? Bring him back right away and I will have a look.” She doesn’t wait for a response and instead moves away from the cupboard, down a small tight hallway lined with several rooms. As we follow, I peek into the rooms we pass. Each has a neatly made bed, chair, and window. This must be their village healer’s commorancy.
His grandmother moves all the way to the very end of the hallway and into the last room. We follow her in and she waves her hand, indicating that Blake should lay Ori down on the bed. He moves to set him down and says to her, “Thank you for your help. I know you don’t normally treat animals, but his situation is special.”
Her eyes snap to his, trying to read something in his words. “Yes, I can feel that he is not what he seems, but you never have to thank me for helping, dear. Besides, things have been rather quiet around here lately, and I could use the distraction.” She looks at Ori and tsks. “Poor fellow,” she says as she begins to slowly unwrap Blake’s shirt from my familiar’s body.
“Yeah, he’s definitely been through some shi—‘ His grandmother’s head snaps up whip fast, the sudden movement momentarily shocking him, and she levels him with a glare. He tries again, sans profanity. “-Er… he’s had a rough time. We faced a bit of unexpected trouble. I already healed the gash in his side, his broken left wing, and tried to soothe his burns.”
She nods and looks back to Ori, her fingers hovering lightly over his body. “Yes, you did well. His condition seems to be holding steady, which is good for now. Would you grab a fresh blanket for him so that we can get this wet rag off? Then I can get a better look at the burns while you introduce your new friends.” She certainly doesn’t miss a beat. Her attention and ability to apply it in multiple directions, says more about her strength as a healer than anything.
Blake comes back with a blanket before I even realize that he left. His grandmother opens the shirt, and gently lifts Ori’s body out of the dampness so that Blake can replace it with the fresh blanket.
“This is Forsythia,” he says as he motions to me. “She’s a fellow hunter after the same target. We decided to join forces when her familiar, Ori, got trapped in a fire.” I notice that while he didn’t lie, he certainly left out a good chunk of the details, but I keep my mouth shut all the same. He watches Ori breathing for a moment before looking back at me. “This is my Grandmother and our faction’s eldest healer, Cordelia Coakley.”
I bow my head slightly in respect before addressing her. “Thank you immensely Madam Healer Coakley for taking a look at my friend. I will gladly compensate you for any assistance you can offer.”
The room has gone completely silent, so I shift my gaze forward and return to standing. Apparently, the healer’s attention is wholly on me for the moment. The silence stretches only a moment longer, and yet still long enough to have me biting my cheek nervously. Thankfully the feeling only lasts a few seconds before she bursts into a fit of laughter.
“Oh my dear, where to start... Firstly, there are no ‘madams’ here. Just call me Cordelia please, I insist. Most of our people forgo the use of titles and forenames, as our first names are more easily recognized and respected amongst our faction.” I nod and smile at her. “Secondly, there will be no payment.”
I open my mouth to object. Healing is tiring work. Surely she should be compensated for it. Instead, she holds up her hand to stop me from speaking and carries on. “You are already paying me by helping my Gods’ blessed gift of a grandson on this treacherous task. No. No compensation will be necessary at all, please.” She dries the tears from her eyes and studies me for a minute more. Even though I have the stupid sunglasses on, I feel like she can see my eyes as if they weren’t there at all.
She turns back to Ori as she speaks again, although this time the humor has gone from her voice. “Forsythia you say? That is certainly a unique name. Your magickal signature seems to ebb and flow heavily. Where do you come from?”
I shift my feet a little, nervous again under an elder’s inspection, but I answer her question. “Yes, I am Forsythia Grimshaw and my familiar Orpheus...uhmm, well Grimshaw I would suppose. We moved around a lot with my mother. Her name was Elswyth.”
“Oh my child,” she says, letting out a large breath as her fingers continue to dance over my raven. “Yes, I knew the elf-witch, Elswyth Grimshaw. She was a wonderfully wild woman, who made all those she ever met smile. As if they could help it anyways. She and I traded frequently over the years. I didn’t know that Ellie had a daughter, but I did hear of her passing. I am terribly sorry for your loss.”
Biting my cheek to hold back the tears as best as I can, but it touches me deeply to finally hear someone speak of her. It’s wonderful to hear that so many people loved my mother. “Thank you. It warms my heart to know she was loved so much in this life.”
Only...why would she keep me such a secret?
Codelia’s hands are still hovering over Ori, but her brows are scrunched up a bit. She nods, then pulls her hands back and stands tall looking pointedly at Blake. She clasps her hands in front of her before speaking and we both jump a little. “How about a ward for a little more privacy?” She has a smile on her face, but it lacks sincerity. Suddenly, I find myself feeling like a child who is about to get scolded and I want to get the fuck out of here. Let Blake take the fall for whatever we did. Before I can react to that feeling though, an air shield slaps down quickly around us. I look at Blake, who has the same worried expression on his face, before looking back at Cordelia.
Great. Now we are both screwed. Not that I have any idea what for.
The smile slips from her face and is replaced by a steel determination that reflects in her tone. “Alright, I need some answers right now. Who is she?” Cordelia asks, pointing at me, but speaking to her grandson. “Her mother may be Elswyth Grimshaw, but those eyes say she has your brand of unique abilities, Blake. Maybe even something more. And this,“ she gestures to Ori, “may be my first cursed in a long time, but I can feel that same tingle in this magick. Thankfully there are not many who would be able to feel it, since this type of hex hasn’t happened in years, but I know the difference. There is a lot more happening here than just your hunt Blake, and I want answers before we do anything else.”
I turn a pleading gaze to Blake, who has his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. He isn’t speaking. I know he told me to let him take the lead, but I can’t just sit here while they talk about me.
“I don’t understand what the fascination is with my eyes.” I pull off my sunglasses since they are clearly not doing any good, and almost miss the small gasp from Cordelia once she has a chance to confirm the odd coloring of my eyes. “I have met magickals that have violet eyes, pale eyes,” I gesture to the both of them, “heck I even met one lady whose neon green eyes I swear would glow in the dark. It really can’t be that big of a deal.”
My eyes leave theirs and settle back on Ori before I push on. “And Ori is just… Ori. He’s just a raven. He’s my familiar. That’s all.” I shrug at that admission. That may be all he would seem to some, but to me it’s everything. He’s everything. Not that I can put that into words that would even come close to explaining.
Blake looks at his grandmother and it is almost as if I haven’t said anything at all. He answers his grandmother’s questions about me the best he can, while I try hard to bite my tongue at being ignored. “Her paternal lineage has been kept from her it would seem. She also has a magick potential that she hasn’t even brushed the surface with. I have some theories, but nothing I would dare say out loud. I did tell her that she is obviously a half-breed.”
He looks back at Ori before finishing, “I had no clue about him though, and it’s pretty obvious she doesn’t know either. Give it to me straight, what’s his condition? If we can heal him, I think he has some answers that we all need right now.”
Cordelia looks back and forth between Blake and me while shaking her head.
Her gaze is drawn back down to Ori, and she scratches her chin in visible contemplation. “Well, this is certainly some journey you have found yourself on Blake.” She sighs and continues on, “The raven has been healed of the most serious injuries, but the injuries are not his biggest problem.”
She looks to Blake and pushes on, “The slowing you placed on his body to help with the burns also slowed the progression of an additional hex that was cast on him. That hex was sent using his blood, which was probably obtained from the attacker’s blade.” She gestures absently to the mark left by the healed gash on his side. “This type of hex is designed to travel through his body until it wraps around his heart. While your spell has helped to slow that hex’s progression and keep him alive, it hasn’t cured him.”
She sighs again before continuing, but this time her gaze is fixed on mine, and her tone remains calm yet firm. “It should have been his place to explain this next part to you, Forsythia, and I am not sure why he never did, but you deserve all of the truths that I can give you. Did you ever notice how everyone else’s familiars don’t actually speak aloud?”
Trying not to bristle at the implication of her words, I nod. While I hadn’t come across many other magickals who had familiars, the few that I had just seemed like normal animals. They communicated with their magickal companions in some sort of mental non-word commands and visual reports. I always knew that Ori was… different . But my pride let me believe he was just special because I was special.
Apparently, that was just a naive thought.
She nods back and continues, “That is because he is not a true familiar. Your mother may have linked a familiar bond with you both, but your raven was not always a raven. He was once a non-fae magickal like us, before being cursed into this raven form. It is highly unusual for a cursed to be linked as familiars because that type of bond makes it so his cursed form is irreversible. Whoever he was, became lost the moment he was linked to you.“ Blake is watching me, and with the last of her words, Cordelia’s attention is now gauging my reaction as well.
I’m not shocked, or angry. I probably should be though, right? That seems like the right emotional reaction right now.
Then why do I just feel so… numb ?
Why does it feel like every stranger I meet knows more about me and those I love, than I do?
I stand still, swept away by the confusion of my thoughts, trying to grab onto something, anything , that still makes sense.
Blake places a hand on my back, and I close my eyes, sinking into the warmth of his touch. I swallow down my inner turmoil and refuse to let my other emotions jump into their place.
Looking at Cordelia, I ask the question that she hasn’t answered yet. “Can you help him?”
She looks back at Ori and speaks slowly. “Blake can work a spell to wake him up so that you can talk to him while his body is still in stasis. It will not be pleasant for him, but I can dull the pain he is feeling as well.”
Shaking my head at her answer, I try again. “Can you heal him?”
This time she looks at me, and I can clearly see the sorrow in her eyes.
I know her answer.
I knew the answer when Ori’s link with me began to fade when we were still in the forest.
I can’t breathe, but I need the words.
I have to hear the words.
So I wait.
She sighs again but doesn’t make me ask a third time. “The hex is in his blood. If he were a normal animal familiar, he would have been lost already. This is not in my abilities. I truly don’t think it’s in anyone’s actually, but I am afraid I cannot heal him from this.”
My vision swims, and the Earth shifts. Someone grabs ahold of me and I find myself looking up at the ceiling of this strange building, while my body feels weightless in comforting arms.
I thought the forced memory with my mother when my magick returned was a nightmare… but this?
This is so much worse.
When a terrible scream begins shaking the room, I know that it’s the sound of my heart breaking.
The pain in my chest blossoms, before everything fades peacefully into darkness.