Chapter 4
Skully
MY BODY JOLTS, causing my eyes to fly open.
For the first time in weeks, I’m waking up with the sun rather than before, and the urge to run to the toilet isn’t there.
My room is lit softly with the morning light, and I feel rested.
My legs twist under the covers, and I stretch, trying to remember how I got here and how long I’ve been asleep.
Yawning, my mind plays over my memories from the previous night, but stops when I remember Azriel walking me home.
“Loreli!” I jump out of bed, across my room to the door, and fling it open. Taking the stairs two at a time until I reach the kitchen and come to a dead stop. Azriel and my aunt are sitting at the table, both looking like they never went to sleep. My aunt is nursing a large cup of coffee.
“See, she’s fine. The sleep helped her.” Azriel shrugs and moves to get up before wrapping his arms around me in a hug.
Even with the memories fresh from last night, I don’t pull away from him.
I’ve never felt anything but safe with Azriel, and even with my mind muddled this morning, I still see him as my hero, my supportive best friend.
Aunt Loreli’s face pales, and she shakes her head before drinking her coffee. “She only slept well because you knocked her out.”
I feel Azriel’s large shoulders shrug since they’re still wrapped around me. “She was freaking out, and I didn’t want her magic getting out of control.”
Magic.
Pulling out of Azriel’s hold, my hands fly up, only this time they aren’t sparking.
My chest squeezes, and tears fill my eyes.
I don’t understand. I feel like I’m losing my mind.
I look at my aunt, whose eyes are also glazed with tears.
She gets up from her chair and holds her arms open.
I rush to them, collapsing, and holding her tight.
“I feel like I’m going crazy. You said magic, right? Is this real?”
She nods against my head and squeezes me tighter. “It happened last year. When you turned eighteen. I told you the truth. About you, our family, our history. And then I had to tell Gavin, and he came to take you. When you lost your memories, you lost everything back to that point.”
“My dad? Because I have magic?” My heart lurches, and my stomach twists.
“Not just because you have magic, Skully.” My aunt’s voice is low, filled with sadness as she pulls back from me.
“You’re a little more extra than just a witch, girl,” Azriel adds, his brow furrowed as he watches me.
For the first time since last night, a realization hits me.
My brown eyes find his purple ones, and they waver.
He knows what I’m going to ask, and it might shake the foundation of trust I have in him.
Since we met, I’ve only seen him one way, and last night’s incident could change our relationship completely.
“Did you know me when I bumped into you?” The words cause me physical pain so much that it hurts to breathe.
I need to know, though. Loreli sucks in a sharp breath as she looks at him, her fear from last night is still there, but less now.
Probably because up until this very moment, I trusted Azriel to be the person I thought he was.
His eyes darken somewhat, and he shakes his head. “I know you needed to ask, but I hope you know I wouldn’t do that to you. That first night was a coincidence. After that, I knew you were magical. Any time your skin touched mine, I could taste that there was more.”
“But you knew last night,” I remind him, taking a step back from both my aunt and him. He nods, and his shoulders drop.
“I saw you with your aunt. Then the memories I had started to come back. I’d heard your name, and I knew your story from what you told me. I can feel, hear, taste, and smell the magic that surrounds you, something so familiar and yet foreign to me. I knew you had no idea.”
His words pulse through my veins, while feelings and energy that have been dormant for so long swirl and race within me, forcing me to realize what they are saying is true.
My magic is waiting for me to remember it, to recognize that it has been here the entire time, part of me.
My fingers spark, and I jump. Loreli reaches for me, taking my hands in hers.
She mutters something under her breath, her eyes closed until the tension inside of me subsides.
“I need you to tell me what happened,” I tell her, my voice barely above a whisper from the fear gripping my throat.
Her eyes, hazel like my mom’s, search mine.
“I can if you’re ready.” Silently, I nod and follow her back over to the table where she had been sitting.
She sits me down before taking the chair across from me, never letting go of my hands.
Azriel sets a cup in front of me and fills it with tea before standing off to the side, arms crossed over his chest. I eye him speculatively.
“Maybe try something less strong until you have a handle on that.” He points to my hands with a slight grunt.
Ignoring him and the drink he set in front of me, I turn back to my aunt. “I’m ready.”
A small smile tugs at her lips. “It’s strange to have this conversation twice. But I can’t imagine how it must be from your perspective either. My darling girl.” She takes a shuddering breath. “Your mom is not my full-blood sister. We have different fathers.”
My brow lifts. I never knew this. They looked so similar; I never would have suspected they were anything but blood-related. “Who was her father?”
Loreli’s shoulders lift. “We don’t know.
Our mother never said, but I always had the distinct feeling that she feared him.
Feared he would come back. But then she was with my father and had me, and we lived together.
Our parents never treated us differently, and the only reason your grandma told us was because your mom’s magic was growing differently than mine. ”
“Different how?” I breathe out, never taking my eyes from her.
“Witches are powerful, but our magic is entwined with the earth. It’s a steady balance that keeps harmony.
My magic comes from herbs, the sun, the moon, water, and flowers.
I use it for good, to heal, to help. That being said, there are witches who use the same elements but use them for darker things, unnatural things. ”
“Did my mom?” Panic hits inside me.
Loreli shakes her head. “No. But I’m explaining it this way to say that in this world, there is good and there is bad: good magic and dark magic.
There are good beings, and there are evil beings, and some that are in between.
In this world, we balance each other to keep the evil away from the innocent.
” Her gaze flicks quickly to Azriel, but I see it.
I turn to my friend, only to find him already watching me. “Are you evil?”
“Depends on who you ask. To some, I’m Death, whom they fear.
To others, I’m my true self. An angel sent to collect their souls.
You can see me, but I look different to your aunt because of her magic.
And to strangers who I pass on the street I look like a normal, mundane person they won’t even remember the next day. ,” he explains.
My eyes fall to the table, trying to process. The life I thought I had has been torn apart. My normal has been replaced by something that feels imaginary; yet, I knew it all along, didn’t I? The dreams. The constant energy that has been running under my skin that I’ve been foolishly ignoring.
“Witches and angels.” I glance back at Loreli. “You said my dad came to get me. Is he a witch or a warlock?”
Loreli scoffs. “No one in River Falls practices the magic that we do on the North Shore. Our covens are separate for a reason. Gavin and his family are from a long line of protectors. But their magic borders on the edge of being dark. It has to be for what they do.”
Azriel chuckles. “Tell her how you really feel.”
My aunt rolls her eyes. “Like you view them any better. You’re essentially the same.”
Azriel’s eyes flare, and his jaw locks. “I am not the same as a reaper.”
“A reaper? Like the guys in black cloaks with the long scythes? That’s real?” My mouth drops open. Loreli and Azriel share a look between them.
“Most things that you imagine or hear of are real, yes,” Azriel announces.
Loreli shakes her head at him. “She needs a minute. Skully, just because they’re real doesn’t mean they are exactly how you imagine them. I wish I could remember the analogy I used for this last year to explain myself better.”
Azriel snorts and moves to sit next to me. He takes my hands from Loreli’s. “Your aunt wants to protect you, and so do I. But we have different ideas on that. I think we should just rip the band-aid off and tell you everything, and then you can process and ask questions.”
My gaze connects with his, giving my silent permission. “Rip away.”
“Witches exist. So do Vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, and reapers.” He finishes, “Reapers, like your dad, are usually descendants of one of the five families that live in River Falls. They are born and die like humans; yet, they have ancient magic that closely resembles mine. Only I do not die. I have looked the same for over a thousand years. I come for souls that are ready to move on. A reaper is more like a guardian. It’s their job to protect this world by keeping the evil and demons locked where they belong.
I like to think of them as guard dogs.” Azriel smirks and winks at me while Loreli scoffs.
“Don’t say that to her. She is part reaper.
She is part of Gavin. Skully, your father’s line is one of the most powerful of reapers.
His line was strengthened a hundred years or more ago when they struck a deal with a warlock and intertwined their magic,” Loreli explains, opening up so many more questions.
“So let me get this straight, my mom was a witch, and my dad is a really powerful reaper.” I glance between them and notice my aunt’s pinched face. “What am I missing?”