Chapter 2 Just A Tool They Used
Just A Tool They Used
Ariel
In the past few months Isobel and I had become…
friends of a sort. It was an uneasy truce at the best of times and something that often made me uncomfortable.
But I was working my way past all of that, slowly.
I had to. For myself. For my dad. For that baby growing inside of her belly. And, lastly, for Isobel herself.
Brighton had become like a bright light of joy in my life and a permanent fixture to my side. I almost expected some jealousy from his brothers but they both acted like it was completely normal behavior for him to latch onto me and to spend so much time with me.
What the hell did I know about normal? I didn’t argue with them. Mostly because I loved the kid and I loved spending time with him.
My family was everything I could ever hope for it to be and then so much more.
For the first time in my life, I might have had things in my world that sucked from time to time, but it was mostly smooth sailing. That didn’t mean we didn’t have our hardships, because we certainly did. We just somehow managed to miraculously work them out between all of us.
The only blight on my life had been what had gone down with Isobel. And that had actually worked out well for all parties in the end. Better than any of us could have hoped for.
My dad was certainly happier than I had ever seen him before.
I’d like to say that’s all I cared about here but it would make me a damn liar.
Isobel and I would never be best friends but we were so much more now. We were family and to the both of us that meant everything.
It was funny what two people who’d gone through the types of things we had could bond over.
For me, it was all about Rain, and it always would be. My dad was arguably the most important person in my life. I always knew Isobel was psychotically obsessed with the man, but even I had misjudged just how deep that particular well ran.
They weren’t just in love with each other. They were both psychotically obsessed with the other one and the rest of their coven.
For me, though, that was the only kind of love there was and I was ecstatic that my dad had finally found it for himself.
He might have had it with my mother, but I didn’t remember it. I’d been too young and no matter how hard I tried to remember her the memory always escaped me.
I feared I would never get the memories back and I’d forever have to be good with that.
I wasn’t sure who it hurt more, myself or Rain. Not that Rain would ever say anything about it.
It was the only blight on my life, was my mother. Given that she was dead and I didn’t remember her I would have sworn it couldn’t get any worse. I was wrong because the not knowing killed me just a little bit. And, because I didn’t want anyone else to know, I didn’t bring it up to anyone.
Besides, I wasn’t the only motherless misfit here in this group, or even the one with the most fucked up past out of all of them.
Check out Brighton, for example. If I were that kid I’d probably be on suicide watch. He just breezed on through life like a damn menace. And boy did I love him for it.
The kid was slowly becoming one of my favorite people ever. I didn’t even understand why, it wasn’t like he was the nicest kid in the universe. There was some little part of him that reminded me of myself. It would take a lot more than the Council or shitty parents to break that kid.
He absolutely joined Baxter in being one of the little brother’s I never knew I needed until I got them.
I expected resentment from my boys because I had semi stolen their baby brother. They didn’t care and showed me nothing but endless love and devotion.
“No Baxter today?” I asked as I sat down beside Isobel cross legged on the grass.
She spent as much time with that little guy as I did Brighton. Honestly, maybe even more. He was Rain’s adopted kid after all and he lived with them.
I didn’t know if she played out the role of his new mommy, all I knew was that Rain was very much fulfilling the role as his new daddy. And Baxter loved them both a whole lot.
I didn’t mind sharing. My dad had plenty of heart to go around and, if it weren’t for me, he’d probably have had a whole lot more biological children with my mother.
I would have thought my dad had all the children he needed already but I’d been wrong. So very wrong.
Frankly, I was looking forward to it. If anyone deserved to be happy it was my dad. And Dash’s dad. The jury was still out on Finn and likely always would be.
Isobel sat down on the grass beside me. She tucked her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
“Bax went into the shop with Rain. Toby and Baylie are working tonight and I think my boy is hoping they adopt him into their small circle. Honestly, I’m hoping they accept him into their ranks because it’d mean a lot to me if all my boys were tight. ”
I could completely understand that. I loved that all of my boys were tight. Even Trenton and Simon fit in somewhere with the rest of my crew.
It was odd how we all fit. Or maybe we all fit because we really were just meant to be. I could get behind that.
I plucked at a blade of grass. “Do you think it’ll ever get any easier? To just be without being haunted by the things that they’ve done?”
This was something that I’ve always struggled with. It wasn’t so easy for me to just snap my fingers and move on from something. I liked to overthink, and I sure ass hell liked to know the why behind everything. Especially when it came to something important.
Though, the Council was no longer an important topic to me. They were a very dead one.
But, my mother on the other hand? She was more important to me than I ever was willing to admit out loud.
If any of my guys ever found out how badly I felt when it came to all things my mother they would lose their fucking minds. I was one messed up girl and it had a lot to do with my aunt kidnapping me, taking me from my mother and father, and then raising me how she did.
I used to blame myself for her death but I knew now it hadn’t been my fault. If anything she deserved to be blamed for it.
I had serious mommy and daddy issues and I didn’t think I’d ever be lucky enough to grow out of them.
“Are you still afraid of being underwater?” I asked Isobel something I was so curious to know the answer to.
I’d still be afraid of being underwater if I hadn’t faced my fears head on and forced myself to be under the water again.
The Council had a way about them and they had liked to kidnap and torture female witches. I didn’t get it myself but sometimes men could be motherfuckers and there was really no excuse for it.
“I’ve never been afraid of the water,” she said while staring out at the river before us. “The water isn’t to blame for what happened to me. Men who were monsters were. The water was just a tool they used. As soon as I realized that the water lost all of it scare factor to me.”
Good. I was glad to hear it. She had enough on her plate to worry about, she didn’t need added trauma from the water on top of it.
She probably needed counseling. Like myself, I knew she’d reject such a notion. We worked through our own problems in our own time and on our own terms.
We were both hot messes.
“Hey Ariel,” Brighton called as he threw a rock into the water in an attempt to skip it. “Can we come here and go fishing one day?”
Um… no?
Isobel took one look at my face and burst out laughing.
I had no desire to torture and maim any kind of creatures, thank you very much.
“Are we done with this place for the day?” I asked her carefully. I knew better than to ask for good.
She and I, we’d never be done with the water for good, and our memories would never entirely let us go. I didn’t care how many times she said she wasn’t afraid of it, I didn’t believe her.
“Let’s go back to the cabin and grab something to eat. If we are lucky your dad will be there and we can have lunch with him.”
Sounded like a good plan to me. I liked food a whole lot and I really loved my dad.
Lately, I even kind of loved Isobel.
Being and adult was pretty strange at times.
Neither of us commented on Trenton and Simon waiting patiently in the parking lot like the stalkers they were.
Brighton even waved at them.
The kid had yet to learn how to be cool.