Chapter Thirty-Three
Another Striking Blow
Belladonna stood near the mantel. She’d tied her hair up in a messy bun, more of that gray poking out from her roots. She pressed her hand over the photo of Grandpa Beau standing near the edge of the lake. A bright smile lifted his lips as he showed off his latest catch.
Whenever she would reappear at the house, Grandpa would pick her up in a big bear hug and swirl her around in a circle. Belladonna would protest, especially if she was pregnant again. Grandpa would carefully set her on her feet. Crow about how happy he was to have her home.
It took longer for Clo to warm up. I think that had a lot to do with me. How I’d stare at this mysterious creature who claimed to be my mother but was rarely a part of our lives.
I took the open spot next to Aster on the couch, the room still tilting and shifting like a ship on a stormy sea.
‘Lia get a call from the station?’ Clo asked.
‘No.’ I gave her a firm look. ‘She said she couldn’t stay. I think you know why.’
In the fading light, Clo looked small and fragile sitting in Grandpa Beau’s favorite chair.
Her words about keeping the secret until his death stung.
There’d been so many times I’d seen their heads close together, shoulders up around their ears, as they tried to mask their harsh words.
I always assumed it was about the challenges of raising us three girls.
How they’d thought they’d have a quiet retirement, not be parenting small children again.
All these years Clo had continued to keep this secret, and I needed to know why.
‘Clo, please help me understand what is happening. The reasons you kept the truth from me. From all of us,’ I said.
‘That’s not her fault,’ Belladonna said. ‘She was honoring a request I’d made of her a long time ago.’
‘What kind of request?’ Aster said.
Belladonna focused on the line of pictures documenting our family’s history.
Her fingers trembled as she reached out to touch the old photo of Ambrosia and Sylvia.
‘When I ran from Harvest Moon at eighteen, I felt free. Lighter. It was liberating not to have people constantly watching me like I was some kind of freak. I could wear what I wanted. Date whoever came along. I finally had control. Power over the things I hated about who I was.’
‘I don’t understand. What didn’t you have control over?’ Aster pressed.
‘Give her a chance to talk, sweetheart,’ Clo said.
‘For a short time, I was lulled into a childish belief that I could steer the path of my life, and then I got pregnant with you, Dani.’ She turned watery eyes on me.
‘I was terrified, but you were this normal little cherubic being that filled a space in my heart I didn’t know was empty.
It gave me such hope and joy. Made me believe everything was okay.
So I had Lia, and you, Aster. My sweet final baby. ’
‘What changed? Why did you leave us with Clo and Grandpa Beau?’ I said, unable to keep the anger from my voice.
‘That was never my intention in the beginning. But then my world crashed down when animals started seeking you out, Dani. I understood you had a gift. At that time, Lia and Aster were still so small.’ She clasped her hands in front of her.
‘I’d convinced myself that because you all had different fathers I’d shifted the fates.
But the Perkins blood is stronger than I gave it credit for. ’
‘We know all this.’ Aster pressed her hands down firmer into the couch. ‘What is it that you wanted Clo to keep from us? That made you stay away all these years?’
Belladonna pressed a shaky hand to her mouth, and Clo gave her a reassuring nod.
‘The summer I turned thirteen, I was invited to a swimming party. It was a big deal, because most of the kids at school were mean to me. One of the girls made fun of my bathing suit because it was pink and orange and green, and she said it made me look like a watermelon. It was just a mean girl being cruel, but you’re so tender, vulnerable, at that age.
’ Her breaths became more stuttered. ‘The kids all laughed, and it ignited a tornado of fury inside of me. The stronger my rage grew, the more the water in the pool shifted and swirled around the girl. The power of it tugged her under. A boy managed to rip her loose from the grip of it before she drowned. Her parents were angry. Told the family who owned the pool that their drain was dangerous. That it nearly killed their daughter, but I knew better.’
Belladonna moved to the wall of windows that faced the lake. The water thrashed and churned against the dirt shore, kicking up into tall spouts.
Aster’s mouth fell open. I stayed frozen in place. All these years, none of us had ever noticed the way the lake reacted to her.
‘I kept that day a secret from your grandmother.’ Belladonna’s breath warmed the glass.
‘But as I got older, my power grew. By just looking at water, I could get it to wave up, splash onto the shore. In the winter, I could focus on the ice, make it shift. Crack. Up on the ski mountain one year, I got into a fight with a boyfriend and caused a small avalanche. Your grandmother heard about it. Confronted me when I got home.’ Like all the fight had gone out of her, she whispered, ‘You can tell the rest, Mama.’
‘That night your mother told me everything. She was terrified. Wasn’t sure what was happening to her. I told her about the history of the Perkins women. Their power over water.’ She shot me a pained look before saying, ‘And fire.’
The revelation was a stinging slap. I’d always counted on Clo to be honest. To not hide any hard truths from us. But with one sentence, she’d proven how na?ve I’d been.
‘Wait.’ Aster’s beautiful green eyes widened. ‘Clo can control fire? And… out in the woods earlier? Mother used water to stop the flames from eating up the forest?’
‘Yes,’ Belladonna said shakily. ‘And you…’ She couldn’t manage to say the rest.
‘My synesthesia isn’t a weird fluke? The way I can see color, sense emotion is…’ Aster’s small body shook. ‘It’s magic?’ She took an uncomfortable gulp. ‘And Dani with the animals? Lia with her connection to the woods? It’s supernatural?’
‘Perhaps, but I’m not entirely sure,’ Belladonna offered quietly.
‘What the hell does that mean?’ It was rare to hear Aster snap at our mother.
‘None of you exhibit the hallmarks of magic from the Perkins line,’ Belladonna answered.
‘We’re freaks of some kind, then?’ Aster’s body continued to tremble, and I pressed my hand on top of hers.
‘What Bella means is that you do have some kind of gifts, but it’s unclear if they are related to magic.’
‘What do you mean by “unclear”, Clo?’ I forced out.
‘There are people in this world who can hear a beautiful song, and without any training can play it from memory on a piano. There are those who can read a passage from a book, a piece of poetry, and recite it right away because they have an eidetic memory. Is that magic or a blessing? We don’t know, but we believe you girls do have gifts, we’re just not sure if they’re tied to magic. ’
I flashed to the breaking bulbs in Bryce’s bathroom. The wilting flowers and oddly bubbling gravy. That sure as hell felt like magic, but I couldn’t think about that right now. I was too worried about what all of this was doing to my little sister.
‘Bryce,’ Aster stuttered. ‘He was in the woods. If he saw the water, if he reports that Belladonna has magic, it’s going to be like that reporter from Denver, right?
’ Her uneven breathing picked up again. ‘I could lose my business. And Dalton. He’s been so good to me through all the rumors and whispers, but what if this is all too much for him? ’
I inched in closer to her on the sofa and tried to pull her in, but she was on her feet.
‘How dare you!’ she screeched at Belladonna.
‘I defended you. Claimed you were eccentric, unique, but this whole time you were running from us so you wouldn’t have to explain the truth about what you are. What we are?’
‘No!’ Belladonna protested. ‘For years, I’d been able to keep my powers at bay.
Then I lost my job. Was struggling with money and had three babies to feed.
’ Her voice broke. ‘In a hotel room in Reno right after you were born, I tried to give you a bath, Aster. My mind started to swirl, panic. The water rose up over your face,’ she said on a choked breath.
‘I ripped you out of the tub, held you to my chest, and sobbed, knowing that you…’ Her stare shifted in my direction.
‘That none of my babies were safe with me anymore. Before I left you all here, I made your grandmother promise not to tell you about the magic.’ She wiped the tears from her eyes.
‘I wanted you to have normal lives. Not be haunted every single day by the legacy of this family.’
‘You were wrong. That legacy has permeated every single part of our lives,’ I said sharply.
‘Oh, my Dandelion—’
‘But you kept coming back,’ Aster interrupted. ‘And then you’d just leave us again.’
Belladonna gave a sad nod. ‘Every year I return, hoping I can control it. And every year, as soon as I arrive, my power over it wavers. That time I promised to stay and help you in the shop, I was sure I was mastering it, but then your grandmother told me she was going to tell you all the truth. I got upset, and my focus slipped away again. The water in the lake started to flood the forest. Race toward this house.’
‘If you can’t control it, why the hell are you back now?’ I said.
‘As Clo told you, I’m going to therapy. I’ve found with some deep breathing and visualization I can push back the flow of magic.
Today, I used it in the forest. Directing where the water went.
How it flowed. It gives me hope that I can stay.
That I can be close to you girls and my mother now with little risk. ’
Every sentence, every confession was another striking blow.
Aster sobbed next to me. I pulled her into my side, and she collapsed against my chest. ‘This is all too much,’ she cried.
‘For years, you let us believe you didn’t care.
And then you swoop back in today and do this?
If Bryce saw what you did, our lives will be ruined. ’
The desperation, fear, in Aster’s voice made me sit up straighter. More than ever she needed me to be strong. Protect her and Lia in the way I always had.
‘I’m going to talk to Bryce. Find out what he saw.’
‘And if he says…’ Aster fixed an angry stare on Belladonna. ‘That he knows about her?’
‘I can convince him what happened in the woods was nothing but smoke and water from a tanker we couldn’t see.’
‘And you think he’ll believe you?’ Aster swiped tears from her cheeks.
‘I don’t know, but I have to try.’
I moved to stand and the ground was still wobbly beneath me.
‘Please stay here, Dani. You can talk to Bryce in the morning.’ Clo tried to reach for me, but I stumbled back.
‘No. Your lies have made this mess. The only way to save what small threads of hope we have left is to talk to Bryce tonight.’
It took me less than twenty minutes to get to Bryce’s cabin.
The minute I pulled into the driveway, it was clear he was gone.
The chairs on the outdoor deck were hidden beneath a large khaki tarp.
All the lights inside were out, and the front door was locked.
I sank onto the step in front of the house and my phone beeped with a text from him.
My editor called and said she needed me in LA. They had to pull an
article at the last minute from the spring issue, and they want my piece
to fill the space. It’s due by the end of the day tomorrow. I’m sorry to
go back on our wager, but I can’t miss this deadline. Don’t know when
I’ll be back in Harvest Moon.
Three more dots appeared on the screen. I waited for an I’ll call you or Talk to you soon. Any hint at when he might return, but after a moment the dots disappeared.
The ache in my chest was so raw that I had to suck in a breath.
So much for my promise to Aster about convincing Bryce that what he saw was not real.
Our fate was in his hands, and I had a bad feeling that our peace, the quiet life we’d once known, was truly gone the moment Bryce found Belladonna and me in the woods.