by Lita Bronwyn
CHAPTER 13
Once they arrived at Gabriel’s place, he carried her bags inside.
“Follow me. I’ll bring you to your room.” He said
“My room?”
“Yes. I think it’s important that you have your own space, privacy when you want it, alone time when you need it.” He talked as they walked up the stairs to the second floor, and turned down the hallway to the room at the end.
Amelia stopped short when she saw the inside of the room.
It was huge, first of all, and looked as though she may have decorated it herself. There was a queen sized bed in the center of the room, a desk with book shelves off to one side, and lots of pink. The curtains, the comforter on the bed. The window dressings alone must have cost a small fortune.
“Gabriel, this is beautiful. Whose room is this?” she asked
“It’s yours.” He replied
“It looks like someone else has been staying here.” Everything looked so welcoming and cozy.
“No. no one else is here. This is your room, and yours alone. I called a decorator friend and told him that the most important person in my life would be staying with me, and that I wanted her to feel as comfortable, and as at home as possible. I told him a little bit about you, and this is what he came up with. I hope its okay.”
“Okay? Yeah, it’s a lot more than okay.” She answered
“This is amazing Gabriel.” She said, as she walked around the room, looking at every detail, running her hands along the cushy blankets that were draped across an arm chair in the corner.
He put her bags on the foot of the bed.
“There’s plenty of space in the closet, and the drawers, so you can put your things where ever you’d like.” He offered
“This is amazing. Thank you so much.” She walked over to the side of the bed where he stood, and she tip toed and reached her arms up around his neck. He dipped his head and kissed her lips gently.
“Anything for you, Amelia. I meant it. If there’s anything else you need, just let me know.”
“No, this is great. I’m kind of amazed right now.” She laughed
“So, I did good then?” he asked expectantly
“You did great.” She said
“Okay, so how about we get unpacked, cleaned up, and meet down in the kitchen when we’re done?”
“Sounds wonderful, I could use a shower.”
“Your bathroom is right through there” he motioned to a door across from the foot of the bed.
“Remember, if there’s anything at all you need, just let me know.”
“I will, thank you again, this is awesome.”
“You are most welcome beautiful girl. I’ll see you in the kitchen.” He said, then disappeared down the hall.
Amelia was strangely grateful for the alone time. Guess Gabriel knew her better than she thought.
She unpacked her two small bags, and began hanging her things in the closet, and placing a few things in a drawer. She took a photo from her bag and placed it on the desk. Then she brought her toiletries bag into the bathroom. And what a bathroom it was! A Jacuzzi sized bathtub, a separate shower with eight shower heads, double sinks, awesome lighting and a heat light to keep her cozy when getting dried and dressed after bathing. On one side of the counter, were an assortment of bath and hair care products, most of which were her regular brands. A couple bottles of perfume, a manicure kit, and a small basket of brand new make-up, which she hardly wore, but was grateful to have. She opened the doors under the cabinet to look for towels, which there were plenty, she saw another basket, this one filled with a variety of feminine products, tampons, pads, panty liners, Midol, you name it. She stared for a moment, it seemed he’d thought of everything. She swore if she lived a hundred years, she would never meet another person like him. This just reinforced everything that she already thought and felt about him. He was just so, attentive, and thoughtful. He really seemed to put her ahead of himself, and she didn’t really know what that feeling was all about, not coming from a guy anyway. The only person to ever treat her that way was her mother. Her mother would have loved him. She felt that sadness come over her for an instant. That sadness that she had finally found him, and that her mother wasn’t here to see it. She decided it was time to hop in the shower. She peeled off her clothes and tossed then in the oh- so- convenient hamper, fixed the water to the temperature that she wanted and climbed in.
The shower heads were more like jets. The warm water massaging her skin, blasting away that last few days of crazy. She stood directly underneath the main one, so she could get her hair good and wet. She proceeded to wash rinse and repeat.
Once in his room, Gabriel flopped down on his bed. How could he go from such a mostly peaceful, although miserable existence, to this? In love. Being loved. Running from witches, searching for witches, mourning losses that weren’t even his? Ah, yes, back to love. This was infinitely better than life B.A. Before Amelia.
Half an hour later, Amelia arrived in the kitchen, where Gabriel had just finished making brunch. There was a platter of scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, orange juice and coffee.
“How did you have time to do all this?” she asked
“Motivation.” He answered
“Motivation?”
“Yes, I wanted you to have a nice hot, home cooked meal for a change. I hope this is okay?” he asked, motioning to the table full of food.
“Yes, this is amazing. I’m starving, actually.” She smiled
“Good. Let’s eat.” He replied
As they piled their plates with breakfast yumminess, Amelia spoke,
“Oh, and by the way, that bathroom is unbelievable. That was the best shower I have ever had in my life.”
“Good, I am so glad you enjoyed it.” He replied
“And,” she added, “Thank you so much for being so thoughtful. There isn’t another thing I could need in there. You really thought of everything.” She smiled
“Good. I wanted to feel as comfortable as possible, and not to worry about the little things, which, if you need them, and don’t have them, can turn out to be big things.” He grinned.
“Right you are, Mr. Alexander. Thank you so very much for the hospitality. You really went above and beyond.”
“Nothing is above or beyond, for you beautiful girl.” He answered
They chatted while they ate, about their trip, Sara, and of course the newest issue, J.
“I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that my best friend, for my whole life, was essentially, a plant. How could anyone have known that I would ever come across that book?” she asked
“Well, I was thinking about that. It could have been a Seer. You know, a psychic.”
“Can they really see that far into the future though?” she asked
“Visions are complicated. Some of them only see certain things, or only certain times, I guess some can see very far. There was no way for anyone to ever know that you would grow up and be working at the Fortress, where you’d have access to such things.”
“I tried calling J again when I got out of the shower, still straight to voicemail.” She said
“Maybe he knows that we’re on to him.” Gabriel thought out loud
“How could he?”
“Well, if he has witch powers, almost anything is possible. He could have formed a link with Sara, to make sure that he wasn’t found out, and when you did the tandem meditation, it may have alerted him, because, you were in her head.” He answered
“So what do we do now?” she asked
“I think the most important thing that you can do, is read that book. Learn as much as you can.”
“I don’t need any more spells.”
“Not for spells, just to learn. I’m sure there’s a lot more information in that thing than just spells. It’s the Codex of a coven. It will probably have information about coven members, history, exactly who was after them, maybe something abo
ut your birth mother. It’s a world of knowledge that we weren’t privy to before. We would be doing ourselves a huge disservice if we didn’t learn as much as possible. It could help us decide what our next move should be.”
“Again, I ask, how do you always know. The perfect thing to say?”
“Years of observing the human condition I suppose. Too many instances of not thinking before acting. Over the years I have learned that, information truly is power, and I have also learned to think before I speak. I guess I just do it a bit more than most.”
“Good answer.” She smiled
“Okay, so after brunch, maybe you can teach me a few things from the book?”
“I’ll do my best.”
After hours of review, the only thing Amelia was certain of, was that this book held way more information than she ever thought. Her head was spinning. Names, magical words, symbols, none of which meant anything to her. She was beginning to think that this was a lost cause. She got up from the overstuffed couch and walked back into the kitchen. Gabriel was sitting at the table, writing in a journal.
“I had no idea you wrote.”
“I don’t. Not really. I just journal.”
“That’s writing.”
“No, it’s more like, documenting.” He laughed “I have no talent as a writer.”
“Wanna share?’ Amelia asked
“Actually, my journals are the one thing I like to keep for myself. I hope you understand.”
“No, no problem. I totally get that.” She replied
He stopped writing and put the pen down, “So, tell me, what have you learned?”
“Not much. I learned that there’s a hell of a lot that I don’t understand.”
“I suppose it will take a little time. You only just gained the Sight, it makes sense that it’s not very familiar yet. It will come.” He promised
“I hope you’re right. I just don’t know what we should do at this point.” She confessed
“Mind if I take a look at it?’ he asked
“Of course not, here ya go.” She handed him the book.
He placed it on the table before him and began to flip through its pages.
His eyes scanned the pages, looking for something, anything that might look familiar to him. The last ten or so pages were blank.
“Do you see anything on these pages, here?” he asked as he turned the book towards Amelia.
“No, they’re blank.”
“Okay, just checking.”
He continued turning pages, then he saw it. A pink bolt of lightning. It was unmistakable. There were also stars along the margins of the page.
“Amelia, did you see this?” he asked
“No, what is it?”
He showed her the page.
“Wow, that looks familiar alright.” She said hopefully.
“What does it say?” he asked
“It says The Moirai shall make the final decision. Who the hell is Moirai?”
“It’s Greek. It means The Fates.”
“The Greek mythology Fates?” she asked
“Yes, but it’s no myth.” He answered
“The Fates are real? Are you serious right now?” she asked
“Keep reading.”
She turned back to the book and began, “Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos. Cloth, milk and destruction?” she questioned.
“Those are the names of the three fates. As you know, Clotho spins the fabric of life, Lachesis
Determines the length of it, and Atropos cuts the threads to determine length of life, time of death.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what it says here.” She agreed
She read on, “Zeus is unaffected by the Fates and also unable to interfere with their work. You cannot escape your destiny. At the age of three days, all newborn are visited by the Fates and their life and fate is determined at that time. Soul mates are also determined at that time. The reason for this is because at one time, we were all together. Our lost halves were not lost, they were with us, a part of us. Zeus felt threatened by creatures who had two heads and eight limbs, so he made it so that all eight limbed creatures were to be destroyed, separated, and scattered all over the earth. He did not want them to join again, thus, his work pointless. With the help of other gods, he made it so.”
“This is very interesting.” Gabriel commented
‘I agree.”
“Keep reading.”
“Okay. These eight limbed creatures were created from the same specks of star dust during the Great Creation. Which is why they were that way in the first place. After being separated by Zeus, throughout all of their lifetimes, the Fates have tried to bring them back together, but since the work was done by Gods, it has always been a problem. This is where the idea of soul mates came from. Our souls are created from star dust, so gravity it’s self has been trying to correct what Zeus did, since time began. Scientifically speaking, these pieces of star dust are supposed to be together to create the whole.
“ This is crazy Gabriel.”
“Well, crazy is kind of our thing.” He smiled
“True. It goes on to talk about soul mates next.”
“I’m listening.” He said with anticipation.
“Okay, it says here that the soul mate bond is the strongest bond that can ever be achieved with another person, in this life, or the next. This soul is the other half of your original soul, and is someone just like yourself. They may seem familiar to you, even if you are certain that you do not know them. Your soul recognizes them. You may feel as though you know them in some way, but that is just your soul recognizing them. Part of you is remembering. You will feel an energy radiate between you. Soul mates share unconditional love, because they have the same exact vibration. There are no exceptions, just timing. When two halves touch, a pink glow of what looks like electricity is created-“
Gabriel interrupted her, “Oh my god Amelia!”
She looked at him, her eyes wide and full of tears, “Oh my god, Gabriel. Could this be true? Could this be real?” Is that what’s happening with us?”
“I think it could be. Think about it. When you first saw me, how did you feel?” he asked
Amelia thought about it for a minute, and felt embarrassed, but she told him anyway.
“I felt like I was supposed to walk up to you and say hello, I actually tried to, which is kinda outta character for me.”
“You did? When?”
“When you were sitting in the common across form Ms. Muffit’s. I got up and walked outside and in that two seconds, you were gone. How about you?” she asked
“You were at Gold, dancing with J. When I saw you, I felt much the same way. I wanted to go to you. I thought he was your boyfriend, so I didn’t. I have never walked up to a woman and said hello. But when I saw you, I knew I had to, almost like I was supposed to.”
“You have never gone up and talked to a woman before? Mr. Charisma? I find that hard to believe.”
“It’s the truth. I have never been very good at conveying my feelings. I guess you changed all that.” He grinned
“I guess so. So what do you think? Is this us? I will never forget that night. When we first spoke, when our fingers touched and that pink arc jumped between our fingers. Is that what was happening? Do you really think that we are two halves of a whole?” she asked
“I do. I really do.” Gabriel replied
He reached across the table and placed his hand on her cheek, and on cue, the glow radiated across her skin and around his hand. The tears spilled from her lashes ad he leaned across and kissed her cheek, then her lips. “Amelia, I believe that we have what every person on earth dreams of. And to hear what you read from that book, just confirms it all for me. What do you think?” he asked
“I think you may be right.”
“I am Amelia. Think about it. We might be the only two in the world who have found each other. I have never heard of any kind of pink electricity, a glow, nothing of the sort, and
I have traveled all over the world, and learned of many cultures and beliefs. According to the letter from Margaret, you were born glowing. How much more proof do you need?”
Amelia got up from her chair and went to him. She wrapped herself around him, putting herself on his lap facing him and her arms around his neck. “This is all the proof I need” he took her face in his hands and gently touched his lips to hers. They stayed like that for a moment, just letting their lips press against the others.
“Amelia, I do believe that we are soul mates. I have never, ever found anyone that makes me feel like this. Like I’m a part of the world again. Like I am worthy of love. Your love. And it’s the only thing I want.” He kissed her again, he had to reach into his pocket and remove the necklace, it was getting uncomfortably warm. “I love you Amelia.” He said as he looked her in the eye. “I love you too Gabriel. Thank you for everything.”
“No, beautiful girl, thank you.”
The doorbell rang and interrupted the moment. She eased herself up from his lap and he stood up.
“Who in the blazes could that be? Amelia, wait right here. If anything happens, run to my room, open the door in the back of my closet, get in, close it, and stay there, do you understand?” he commanded
“Yes, I understand.” Now she was frightened. Who could show up and ring the bell that would elicit that type of reaction from him? As she waited, His phone began to buzz on the table in front of her. Glancing down at it, she saw that it was Rob. She thought about answering it, but thought better of it, and just let it buzz. She was straining to hear who was at the door.
Gabriel returned in just a couple of minutes. “So? Who was it?” she asked
“Delivery Express. With a package for you.” He said confused
“Me? From who?” she asked
“Only one way to find out. Do you mind?” he asked
“No, not at all, go ahead.”
Gabriel opened the padded envelope. It was a cell phone and a slip of paper that read, TURN ME ON.
“Who is it from?” Amelia asked
“No idea.”
Gabriel pressed the power button and the phone came to life. As soon as it was done booting up, it rang.
They looked at each other in wonder.
“Shall I?” he asked
“Definitely.” She answered
He put the phone to his ear, “Yes?”
“Gabriel? Is that you? This is Bernadette Jones.”
“Yes, Mrs. Jones, it’s me. You are very clever.” He smiled into the phone
Amelia’s eyes went wide. She mouthed the words, “Its Mrs. J.?”
“Oh darling, you have no idea.” She laughed “Amelia is there with you, yes?”
“She is.”
“Would you be kind enough to put the call on speaker?”
He did as she asked
“Hello my dear Amelia!” her voice came from the phone. Amelia could tell that she was smiling as she said it.
“Hi Mrs. J. um, what the hell?” Amelia asked
“Ah, yes, what the hell indeed.” Mrs. J. replied
Amelia and Gabriel both grinned.
“Well, darlings, you are both most definitely on the radar now.”
“What do you mean?” asked Amelia
“A failed theft at a truck stop on I95, a sighting at a gas station in a small town in Pennsylvania, and a Barrier Blast the likes of which, I haven’t felt since 1923.” Amelia and Gabriel looked at each other in amazement.
“How do you know about any of that? And what the hell is a Barrier Blast?” Amelia asked
“Amelia, I assume that by now, you have been able to decipher some of that book of yours?” she asked
“Uh, yes, I have actually. How do you know all this Mrs. J.?”
“You both need to come to Nova Scotia immediately.” She said
“Why? What’s going on?” Amelia asked
“There is much too much to discuss now, or over the phone. I will text the address to this phone. Get on a plane ASAP.”
Gabriel spoke, “Is everything okay there Mrs. Jones?”
“Yes, everything is just fine here, that’s part of the reason you need to get here, to get you both off the radar.”
“My home is rather well warded.” Gabriel protested
“Gabriel my dear, if I was able to locate you both and get this phone to you, there’s no telling what others may be able to accomplish. Am I clear?”
“Crystal. We will be on the next flight out.” He assured her. Amelia looked at him and mouthed “What the hell?”
“Have no worries Amelia, I realize that you just returned from a journey, but trust me, this is the most important one you will ever make.”
Look for Glow Part 2 in early 2017