Raven (29 page)

“
So, then it’s really time. It’s really
real.”
My mother’s voice sounded sad.

“
Did you ever doubt it?” The man replied. “No—no, you always believed.” He nodded

“
Is he—” my mother began.

I watched as the man smiled and took a step forward. “May I see Elle?” He distracted her from what she was going to say.

My mother did not move for a long while, as though rolling the man’s question over and over in her head. At ten, it was still hard for me to understand adults, but I knew enough about my mother to know that she seemed nervous and scared. Being that I was the granddaughter of to the most important person of recent history, I had been raised to be proper and educated. But, I also knew that it came with its consequences.

My mother swallowed. “Yes. You may see her.”

I watched as the man made his way up the step, touching my mother on the arm and leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek. He brushed past her and went inside as my mother’s eyes dropped to me.

“
Samantha, come along.”

I hated it when she called me Samantha, but since there seemed to be some sort of name confusion, I went along with it. My mother had a stern look on her face and I was in no mood to be defiant. I followed her into the house and down the hall after the man. We entered my grandmother’s bedroom on our tiptoes, afraid to wake her too suddenly. I watched, now far too curious to even blink.

My grandmother was asleep in her bed with the TV on. My mother was quick to rush in and shut it off, crossing her arms against her chest as I watched her eyes begin to well with tears. She was shifting her weight from one foot to the next. I licked my lips, not knowing what else to do as I walked up to her and put my arms around her waist. She sniffled, placing one hand on my back and rubbing it.

“
Mamma, what’s happening?”
I whispered, looking up at her, now building on her energy as my heart began to race.

The man named Sam looked at me. “Samantha, there is no need to be frightened.”

It was then that something began to protrude from his spine, unfolding like a fan. My mother gasped and I looked up at her, watching as her hand covered her mouth. A tear fell down her cheek. I looked back at the man, not believing what I saw. Memories of my grandmother’s stories flooded my mind and I recalled why his name felt familiar.
“Sam,”
I uttered.

His eyes glanced at me with a glimmer.

My grandmother woke then, her eyes fluttering open as we all froze. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, the look on her face indicating that she knew he was there, even before she saw him. She slowly dropped her gaze to meet Sam’s, her eyes glimmering with a tear. Her lids closed as a smile grew across her wrinkled face, her long white hair twisting about her ears.

Grandmother let out a soft chuckle, opening her eyes.
“Old friend,”
her voice was low and melodic.

The man snorted. “Look at you! You look like a grape left out in the sun.”

My mother laughed through soft sobs.

Grandmother laughed as well, lifting her weak arm and giving the man a soft nudge on the arm. “You
arse.”

Sam looked at her with fond eyes. “It’s been a long time, Elle.”

Grandmother nodded slowly. “Too long, my dear, too long.”

Sam lifted his hand and touched my grandmother’s face, causing her to gasp.
“So cold,”
she shuddered.

He looked at my mother and then me, causing my mom’s body to tense. He turned away and back to grandmother, slowly bringing his hands to her sides as he lifted her gently from the bed. He cradled her in his grasp, as though she were nothing but a child. I had never seen my grandmother smile so widely, chuckling ever so lightly as she watched Sam’s face.

He looked at us again, his golden eyes telling us to follow as he turned and left the room. We followed him back down the hall to the door, but as I rounded the entry into the living room, another figure caught my eye.

I froze, my mother catching up to me as she again gasped, grabbing my shoulder with a hard hand. The figure in the living room was staring at my grandmother, his eyes as blue as the sea. I turned to ask my mother who he was but she refused to let me move. I looked at my grandmother instead, seeing her stare back at the man. Her face was no longer smiling, but showing some other expression I had never seen from her before. I tried to place the look on her face, finally realizing that it was the same look I’d seen from my mother when she’d looked at Father.

Sam walked up to the other man as he placed my grandmother into his arms. I saw them shake with fright as the man took her from Sam. I kept my gaze on my grandmother, watching as she watched the man, her face unchanged.

The man also cradled her with one arm, as though she were as light as air. Something black began to fan from his back then, just as they had with Sam. This time, it was me that gasped. The black wings spread the length of our living room, like black curtains. The man touched her face with the tips of his fingers, smoothing them across her skin. I watched in disbelief as he seemed to wash away her age, her face growing taught and her hair beginning to glow.

The woman I saw moments later was not the woman I grew up knowing. My mother’s sobbing grew worse as we watched, grandmother’s hair now cascading in luscious locks of blonde, her skin like porcelain. My grandmother giggled then, her voice like music to my ears.

The man’s mouth curled into a smile as he leaned close, kissing her softly as he set my grandmother down on her feet. I hadn’t seen my grandmother stand in quite a few years, but the way she stood now was unlike anything I’d seen. She was tall and thin, her shoulders back and her chin up. A glow surrounded her.

Grandmother gazed at the man for another moment, and then slowly turned to face me. Her bright blue eyes blinked a few times, her smile full of happiness and youth. I looked at my mother, seeing her hand shake as it rested on her heart, attempting to hold back tears. Grandmother stood still while the man finally moved, his large black wings retracting behind him. He walked up to me, his gaze fluttering between my mother and me.

I felt my mother’s hand drop from her mouth.
“Father,”
she whispered, almost too low to even hear.

I was shocked by my mother’s words and what she had called him. I had heard my mother talk about my grandfather many times, always wanting to know more from grandmother, and I did too.

He was a mystery to us, someone my grandmother spoke of in a voice I could not explain. I knew he was a powerful man, but not a man to fear. I was gawking at him. I knew it was rude to stare, but I couldn’t help it. The man smiled.

My mother let her grip on my shoulder relax as she stepped around me, the man walking into her and giving her a hug. They remained in that embrace for a long while as I watched my grandmother, gazing upon her as though she were art. She was still and calm like a ghost, somehow at peace. Her eyes were so bright they were hard to look at, her skin glistening as though dipped in pearl paint.

My mother finally let go and stepped behind me, placing a hand on the center of my back. She cleared her throat. “This is your granddaughter—Samantha.”

The man’s gaze broke from my mother’s and fell to me. His mouth sank into a solemn line. He slowly knelt until our faces met. Feeling frightened, I watched his black eyes, moving like storm clouds and glittering like an opal. He leaned in then, kissing me on the forehead as I shut my eyes.

His lips were like ice as they touched my skin, and I felt a cold sensation sink in. The sensation spread across my head, flooding my entire body as it rushed through my veins. Something inside me burst open then, blooming like a flower in my heart, warm like a smoldering flame. I shuddered as he stood tall once more, saying nothing as he turned and made his way back to my grandmother’s side.

Sam cleared his throat. “I love a good family moment, don’t you?” He stole the energy from the room, causing my mother to relax as she laughed. “Time to go, Edgar.” Sam was watching us.

I had nothing to say. I was too speechless by the whole thing to even believe it was really happening.
Edgar,
I repeated his name over and over in my head, holding on to the sound and cherishing it.

“
Goodbye, mother. Goodbye—
father
.” My mother was barely able to whisper her valediction.

Grandmother smiled as Sam came to her side, taking her hand in his. Grandmother raised her other as though to wave, but as I watched it—it slowly disappeared like dissipating smoke.

She was gone.

My mother knelt down beside me, wrapping her arms around me as her black hair curtained my face. She sobbed hard as I rubbed her back. Magic was real, I thought. It all was
real.

ESTELLA

I felt his hand in mine, so cold, but so sweet. I saw the world I had known for the past eighty years disappear around me. In the bright light that followed, my skin glistened with a youth I had all but forgotten. I heard myself giggle, as though it was not my own.

A hand touched my chin, coaxing me to turn my gaze. My eyes met his, eyes I had seen in the darkness of every dream, burned there by a love so deep, I could never forget.

The corners of his mouth curled. “Welcome home, Estella.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, familiar sounds and smells invaded my senses. I took notice of the new surroundings, seeing the meadow, seeing
home.
The sun was shining, but it was the sun I recognized seeing long ago, deep down through the caves. I smelled the lush grass below my feet, and the flowers on the wind.

Edgar’s finger traced the length of my arm, causing it to shiver. His face was as striking as I remembered, every feature just the same as it always was. He lifted his hand and brushed the back of his fingers along my jaw line and past my ear. His other hand was laced behind my back. He pulled me against him, holding me in the arms I had longed for. He leaned close, his eyes so real and so sharp, that I could not deny the fact that this was really happening.

He leaned in, whispering as his nose nuzzled mine, “You’re all mine now.”

I smiled, feeling the chill of his lips hovering so close to mine. “No, Edgar.” I denied. I saw his eye glimmer.
“You’re all mine.”

He pulled me into a kiss, his cold sugary lips the drug I had been craving. A warm feeling filled my chest, the same warm feeling I swore to fight for, to find at any cost.

I had finally found my way home.

I was in Heaven.

SAMANTHA

I never understood exactly what happened that day or why, but that was the day I began to understand what the world was like
Before.
All that I know is that when my grandmother left, a part of her was left behind, in me. She was once a great leader, once a great sorceress. I still hold on to her stories as though they were my own, her journals and belongings the tools I now need.

My grandfather’s kiss awakened something inside me, something that wants out.

That day he came, I fear he opened a doorway to my soul, a door that was never meant to be opened. Since, nothing has been the same. My horrid luck and the death of my parents was no accident. They were murdered. The images of blood never leave me, their last breath a chilling echo that whispers through my soul. I know what I saw that day, and I know that something is coming back…

My name is Sam, and I am
Gifted…

THE END

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Book of Love

_{- - - -}

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