Chapter 16 - Sadie
The day after the party, I wake in Rhys’s arms. I feel so comfortable and safe beside him, but at the same time, I’m more afraid than ever.
My issues with the relationship haven’t magically disappeared, and one peaceful night in his arms isn’t going to change the fact that he literally kidnapped me.
But the events from the night before play out in my head with vivid clarity, and my fear rises so sharply, I have to get up quickly in case Rhys notices my sudden anxiety.
Did that guy notice when I pushed him back? What would they do to me if they found out I had magic—and what would happen to Cassie?
I check in on her, relieved to see her sleeping soundly, then go to the kitchen to make coffee. My heart doesn’t slow down, and I test my powers on a few items. My powers are even stronger than before.
What actually is my power? So far, I have telekinesis. I have a heightened sense of everything around me as if I’ve developed enhanced senses. But what does this actually mean?
I sit at the table, sipping very strong coffee and trying to think. If I were alone, back in my old life, I’d probably feel very curious and want to explore this aspect of myself. But here, it just frightens me.
I’m only just starting to get some respect in Rhys’s pack, and obviously, the wolves from the other packs don’t like me. I feel more trapped now than I did before.
I hear a light step in the hall and get up to give my baby girl a kiss and a hug. Seeing Cassie always lifts my mood, but the dark weight in my chest gets heavier.
I have to protect her. I don’t know what to do!
By the time Rhys comes down, I’ve managed to settle my emotions. We eat breakfast together. He’s very relaxed after the night before, and his closeness just makes me even more conflicted.
It was nice to sleep in his arms. I wish I could just sink into that feeling and forget all the reasons why I shouldn’t give in.
***
After Jean picks up Cassie, Rhys drives me to work, and I manage to carry on a conversation without stumbling over my emotions. I can tell he wants to ask about last night, but I’m more determined than ever not to tell him.
And everyone thinks it’s just because that goon leaned on me. Really, it’s because I think I could have taken his head clean off without thinking about it.
I wave goodbye to Rhys as he drives off to work, and finally, I know the first thing that I have to do.
I have to learn about witches and my powers. I need to control this thing, whatever it is.
The girls are in the break room, having coffee. I greet them briefly before heading out back. I’m almost more nervous around them than the wolves, because if wolves would take me being a witch badly, what would humans do?
There’s still a lot of filing to do in the old room out back, but before I go out there, I stop in the reference area to do some checking on the computers. Even though I’m interested to learn more about the witch lore in this town, there’s something bugging me a lot more.
Why did my mother have absolutely no family?
Because we lived isolated, I never thought it was strange that I only had a mother and no extended family.
She died in a car accident when I was fifteen, and I was moved into the city to a foster home.
The place was crowded with homeless kids who had come from similar situations as mine, so I thought my situation wasn’t unusual.
By the time I got to college on a scholarship, I knew that most people had extended families, but I was too caught up in my studies to notice or worry too much about it.
My mother had always told me her mom died when she was little, and my dad died before I was born. I never thought much of it beyond that.
I was too focused on my goal. I thought money was the only thing that could give me security, so I chased it as hard as I could. Looking back, I wonder if I was running from all these questions I have now… and now I have no choice but to face them.
When I search for my mother, Minette Leslie, I find sparse results.
She went to school in a small country town, never had steady employment or paid tax, and the only trail left in her name is welfare receipts, and the time she spent in the hospital giving birth to me.
The lack of a paper trail is almost as interesting as finding a large one, so I go back up the chain to research my grandmother.
Barbara Leslie had a similar life to my mother’s. She lived in a small rural town. Only a few mentions of brief employment, welfare receipts—my mother inherited the same house under state housing—and the pregnancy, with a generic name for the father.
I search for both my father and grandfather, but the names are so common that it could literally be anyone. My instincts, and a little touch of my new senses, clue me in that perhaps that’s exactly what these women intended.
Did they not know these men, or did they just lie on the birth certificate?
I trace back to Barbara’s mother, Natalie, and find the same story. There are no records of her mother, but I’m convinced by this time that the pattern is eternal.
If I had a link beyond this, I could trace us back even more. I wonder what country witches come from originally?
I do a little more searching, my talent with numbers the only thing that turns up any results.
No matter how careful someone is, they always leave a money trail. The women of my family obviously survived on cash, and records are few, but I can at least see where they lived and worked.
I try a bit longer to trace the men who could be related to me, but keep running into a solid wall of similar results. Searching by area, town, or business doesn’t help, even though the women lived in small towns.
Sighing, I take a deep breath and pull back, clearing my search results. Finding out about my family has disturbed me, and it didn’t give me any clues about my powers.
I definitely didn’t see my mother display any magic. I know people loved her cooking—our main income was from selling food she made. Pies, cakes, biscuits… I used to think her cooking was pure magic.
Smiling, I close my eyes, remembering the taste of mom’s cookies right after they came out of the oven. I see her in a golden haze of afternoon light, the memory colored by my love.
Did the women of our family run from the men because we’re all witches, and it was the only way to keep their daughters safe?
The question rises in my mind unbidden, something like intuition. I open my eyes, a short breath caught in my throat, and as I come back to reality, my pen and notebook slap down on the table. As I got wound up, I’d somehow lifted them with my powers.
Thank God no one walked in! I have to get a hold of this thing!
I go back out to the little room, looking through the old historical records. As I read the handwritten pages, I begin to get a sense of what has been left out of the reports. We have official records and personal journals, and most of those are written by a woman named Lynette Croft.
We have the houses mostly finished now, and gardens beginning to flourish. I love the sound of the wind here, and the nearby peaks that color the sky. My only desire is to be here forever with my love, to make this place a safe haven for our kind.
I know by “kind,” Lynette means witches, and maybe even shifters. She makes several references to her “love,” but doesn’t name him.
She’s a witch. I know it, I can feel it in her words, but she won’t name her man, either…
I flip through the journals, wanting to get to the end to find out what happened to her, but I barely get through the first one before Trina knocks on the door.
“Hey, are you okay?” she asks. “You didn’t come out for lunch.”
“Oh?” I say, looking up. “What time is it?”
“It’s almost three. Rhys is here with Cassie. He wants to know if you want to get off early and go for ice cream.”
“Yes, of course I would,” I say, shutting the book and getting up. “I can’t believe I lost so much time out here.”
“I’d like to say it’s because you’re a hard worker, but it doesn’t look like it,” Trina laughs. “You’re supposed to be filing these books, and it looks like you’ve made more of a mess.”
“The town’s history is interesting,” I reply. “I just got really caught up in it. I heard you guys talking about witches before. Do we have any books specifically about them?”
Trina nods, pointing at the back wall. “Those are the records of the witch trials. I have to warn you, it’s not a fun read.”
“I’ll approach with caution, then,” I say. “Thank you, Trina.”
We walk back to the foyer, and Cassie dashes into my arms. I hold her tightly against my chest, feeling her little heart beating against mine.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I isolated her without family, just like all my ancestors did to their daughters. I’m married to the man who got me pregnant, and I don’t know if this is the worst possible thing that could happen, or maybe the best?
“Hi,” Rhys says, lightly putting an arm around my waist. “You okay to finish early?”
“Yeah,” I answer. “The old books will still be there tomorrow. I’m supposed to be filing, but I’ve ended up reading a lot of town history.”
“Oh,” Rhys says. “You won’t find much about the wolves in there, I’m afraid. If you want to know more about us, you’d have to ask the elders.”
“That’s okay,” I reply, as we walk out the door. “It’s official records I’m after.”
Luckily, Rhys lets the subject drop as we walk up to the ice cream parlor. I desperately want to ask Rhys for his help—the pack would definitely have records on witches—but I don’t want to make him suspicious.
I have to do something soon. Almost all my energy is being used trying to hold my powers in. I don’t know what would happen if I let go.
When we sit down at the ice cream parlor, Cassie orders a deluxe sundae in all flavors, and I decide to have the same.
For just a few moments, as the three of us laugh together, I feel like a normal family—but when I lean on the table and let my guard down just a little, the stack of napkins in the center of the table flutter up in a small whirlwind, curling upwards before falling spectacularly onto the floor.
“That was weird,” Rhys says with a frown. “Must be a rogue breeze.”
“Yeah, probably,” the waitress says, hurrying over to pick them up. “Don’t stress. These things happen.”
My fears rise, and even though I try to follow the conversation and smile for Cassie, I’m starting to feel horrible about keeping a secret from Rhys. Watching him laugh and talk with her, and remembering how gently he held me the night before, I really feel like I could trust him.
He trusts me, and I’m hiding something massive from him… something that could devastate the entire pack.
Guilt churns my guts, and I have to look away from him again. Luckily, the sundaes arrive, so I have a good excuse to focus my eyes elsewhere, even though I’m not really hungry anymore.
I’ve gotten to know Rhys. He loves his people, and he wants to protect them. I don’t know why they’re scared of witches, but maybe my powers have something to do with them being sick.
Cassie’s laughter breaks through my thoughts, and I look up to see her lit up in sunlight streaming through the window.
She’s looking up at Rhys with love, and he’s making silly faces and voices to entertain her.
The way she’s surrounded by light reminds me of the memories of my mother—and suddenly I realize I can feel the same magic in Cassie.
Fear blooms in me like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
Would Cassie’s status in the pack protect her? I just don’t know.
Anxiety keeps rising in me, but when I see Cassie reach out for Rhys, the light around her seems to wrap around him as well. When he pulls her into his lap and strokes her hair, I sense a balancing of energy, like something universal has clicked into place.
Wait! What if my magic could be used to help the pack? Maybe it doesn’t harm, but heals…
I know I could be grasping at straws, but something about the idea feels right.
It’s too much like what I want to believe, so I have to be cautious, but it really would solve all our problems if my witch powers could help the pack. And it would guarantee Cassie’s safety… and mine.