Chapter 2 #2
Heat begins to build behind Jackson’s eyes.
Annabella loops an arm around his shoulder, letting his head rest on her shoulder.
She kisses his head and continues. “I don’t know how many times I offered the chance to change, but she insisted she lived a full and good life and that it was time she joined her husband and ancestors. ”
Annabella goes to hand Jackson the keys but pulls back at the last moment.
“One thing, Jackie. Brenda had an odd stipulation for you to inherit the apartment.” Jackson lifts his head from his mother’s shoulder and raises a questioning eyebrow.
Brenda Lee had a gift for fortune telling but was the most obscure oracle you had ever met.
He was sure one of her final predictions would be tied to this apartment.
“Alright, I suppose I can hear out my dearly departed Mrs. Lee’s final request.” He rolls his eyes as he says it, earning a light smack on the shoulder from his mother.
“The two spare rooms in the apartment will be rented out at 500$ a month to cover expenses and not a cent more. You will find two renters of your approval to spend the rest of your law school career with.”
“What?! You can’t be serious, mother!” Jackson is going to be sick - he’s ninety percent sure it isn’t from the alcohol.
That apartment was his sanctuary during the worst years of his life.
Jackson jumps to his feet and places his head in his hands in an exasperated huff.
“What kind of weird prediction did Brenda have? I thought we bonded; me, her and even grandma Eloise, over our mutual disdain of other people.”
He begins to pace the hall in front of his room as Annabella stands up from her crouched spot.
She places a hand on her son’s shoulder and brings him back to the moment.
“Jackie, Brenda loved you and I’m sure this is her way of getting you to make new memories, with new friends in the apartment you loved so much.
We let you spend fifty years in the human world, practically uninterrupted, and in the twenty nine you’ve stayed in the magical realm you’ve kept yourself from the world around you. ”
Shadows curl around Jackson’s fingers at the memories.
“I loved the human world and I don’t hate you and father for making me leave.
I hate my own magic for making me too dangerous to stay.
For these damned tendrils of shadow and smoke for making me a monster in the eyes of the people I spent my life getting to know.
” Jackson’s fists clench at his side, knuckles white, forcing the dark wisps away.
He can hardly look at his mother when she places a kind hand on his cheek.
“I dare suspect your eternal youth would have also raised questions in time, my sweet boy.” He brushes her hand off and rolls his eyes as she offers him a half smile.
“Wendy will handle fliers, you can deny anybody you see fit, but I believe with all my being this will be good for you.” Annabella takes Jackson’s hand in hers and it softens in her touch.
He uncurls his palms upwards and she places the keys in his hand.
She curls his fingers over them and brings his closed fist to her lips, kissing it once before letting fall back to his side.
“Goodnight, my little bat, sweet dreams.”
Jackson hides a flinch from the old nickname. His mother means well, even if it digs up memories long buried.
Annabella walks away from Jackson leaving him in the hall outside his bedroom door with the keys in his hand. Jackson leans his head on the door and calls out to his mother with a sigh. “Goodnight, mother. I love you and father.”
Jackson changes into a loose shirt and comfy sweatpants before finishing his nighttime routine and crawling into bed.
He claps his hands and the lights in his room turn off at his command.
He stirs in a bed surrounded by memory foam pillows and luxury comforters and ends on his side, facing the bedside table where the keys to the apartment lay.
“Well, this new year should prove interesting. I really hope you know what you were doing, Brenda.”
Jackson sighs and hopes sleep takes him soon, gaze drifting to the worn spine of a picture book perched on one of several bookshelves.
* * *
Back in the master bedroom, Joseph helps Annabella out of her dress. As Annabella’s phone lights up with a message, she has an idea who it might be.
“Christoper, my darling?”
Annabella nods as she reads the message before sliding into bed next to her beloved.
Joseph turns the lights off and draws his wife in close. “Shouldn’t we just tell Jackie all this, my love?”
Annabella looks up from her husband’s chest into his green eyes, they still shine even in the dark of the room.
She offers a half hearted smile. “Jackie already feels the pressure to live up to the prophecy. His magic, which should be a bountiful gift, feels like a burden that threatens to drown him. I don’t wish for our son to be alone but I cannot force the scales more than I have.
We’ll offer him paths and hope the one he chooses brings him joy. ”
Joseph kisses his wife’s forehead and pulls her in closer. “That feels right, but I guess I can’t help but worry.”
Annabella lets herself calm to the beat of her beloved’s heart, relaxing into his embrace. “Whatever happens will be up to fate.”