“Oh, yeah. Let’s make it fast. I want to see Mom.” We got it done quickly and slid the bag into the glove compartment, got out, sealed the wards, then headed inside. When I got to the door, Auntie Sett pulled it open and tugged me into a hug.
“She’s better. She’s going to be okay,” Auntie Sett’s voice cracked, and I hugged her back good and tight. Mom was the older of the two sisters. There had been four of them, the Fortin sisters, but the two eldest had died in the last shifter-witch war. Bernadette and Marie-Sidonie were about two years apart, then twelve years between Marie and my mom, and three years between Mom and Cosette. Auntie Sett barely remembered Bernie and Marie. They’d died when she had been five years old. Grandma had checked out for a few years after losing two of her kids, so Mom had helped raise Sett until Grandma got her head screwed back on straight.
“She’s tough, Auntie Sett. She’s not going to let some racist asshat take her out,” I said. My attempt at reassurance. Hey, I was pre-law, not in law school yet. The art of subtlety had never been mine.
Sin rolled his eyes at me and nudged us both back into the house, a hand on Auntie’s shoulder. “Who’s her healer?” he asked.
“Evelyn Rue,” Sett told him, an arm looped around my waist as we headed down the hall to the kitchen. “I was just getting tea ready to bring in. You go ahead, Sid. I want to ask Sin’s advice on some of the herbs. He’s better at them than I am.”
I kissed Sett’s cheek and slipped past them to the hallway. I knew Mom would be in the sick room in the back. It was a bright and airy guest room with its own bath, a door out to the patio, and across the hall from the apothecary room. The door was open, and I gently tapped before I pushed it open a bit more. “May I?” I asked as I stepped a pace in.
“Siddie,” my Mom said, lifting a hand to me.
I glanced at my grandmother for a moment and she nodded, so I rushed over to the bed and knelt beside it. I took Mom’s hand and kissed her fingers. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“I’m pretty glad to see you too, daughter mine,” Mom tugged my hand a little and I leaned up and kissed her forehead.
“How are you feeling? Sin and I went to the lighthouse and burned the bloody blanket. Didn’t want to leave that around for anyone to use.”
“Smart girl,” she murmured as she stroked my hair. “I’m feeling a lot better, but I’m going to need some time to get my strength back.”
Evelyn cleared her throat, “As soon as Cosette brings the tea and Amelia drinks it, she needs to rest.”
Grandma Fortin moved to the bed, leaned over and kissed Mom’s forehead. “I’m going to talk to the kids, Melly. You drink your tea and rest. They’ll be here when you wake up.”
I kissed Mom again and got to my feet. “Definitely, Mom.”
Sin came in with Sett and he carried the tray for her to put it on a table before he headed over to Mom. “Hey beautiful mother of mine,” he said as he leaned over to kiss her forehead.
“There’s my Sinclair. Hello, son. You and your sister are the lights of my life.”
“And you are the light of ours, Mom,” Sin said as he handed her a cup of tea and helped her sip it.
Evelyn took the cup from Sin and sat beside Mom to help her drink the tea.
“We’ll see you after your rest, Mom,” I told her and headed for the door.
Grandma walked out with us and we hugged. “I’m glad you two came here. You’ll stay for the night, so you can spend time with your mom?”
“Sure, Grandma. Thanks for asking,” Sin said.
“We’d like to stay, Grandma. It’s been a really crappy day,” I told her.
Gleaming silver hair coiled in a braid around her head, Grandma Fortin was a tiny powerhouse. Elegant demeanor and fine manners in cargo pants, chamois shirt and a t-shirt with a broom on it that said: “I Drive Stick”.
“Well, come into the kitchen. There’s a big pot of chicken soup on the stove and Sett made her cheddar herb bread.”
“Oh, bless you both. I’m starved,” Sin said as he moved to kiss the top of Grandma’s head.
We all sat down at the table and Jolie, Bernadette’s daughter, put the food on the table. Jolie’s father had sent her to Grandma when she was thirteen and started showing her magic. She’d lived here, worked with Grandma on the farm and helped around the house since then.
“Hi, Jolie, how are you?” Sin asked as she set a pitcher of iced tea on the table.
“Good,” Jolie said, tone short and cold. She went back into the kitchen and left us alone.
Grandma sighed. “I’m sorry about that. You’d think she’d have learned by now.”
I put my hand over hers and squeezed lightly. “It’s fine, Grandma. We’re used to it.”
“You shouldn’t have to be. You two didn’t ask to be born special and your parents fell in love in spite of it all. A person can’t choose who their heart picks.”
I thought about her words while I ate my soup with the bread. Mom had told me when I was younger that she and Dad had met while he was on an investigation. They’d been friends for a couple of years before they realized they wanted more than friendship. Both had dated other people but couldn’t get each other out of their heads so they ended up together and were happier that way. Sin and I had only dated humans so far, trying to play it safe. The last thing we wanted was to upset one side or the other by dating a gifted one.
Sin’s spoon rested in his empty bowl as he reached for more bread. “Grandma, did Mom say anything about Dad?”
“She only said that they were split up after the first two days and she didn’t see him again.”
“Our grandfather Boudreau said that Dad escaped and had gone back to the house. They burned it down, hoping to get him, but no bodies were found in the rubble, so he’s still out there, somewhere,” I told her.
Grandma’s expression tightened, “Do you believe him?”
I shared a look with Sin, and he answered. “We believe him about that, at least. But we won’t be voluntarily socializing with him again. Not after today.”
“I won’t ask what he did this time,” Grandma said. “He’s always been a racist, misogynistic asshole, so I’m assuming it was something along those lines.”
“You called it,” I said.
“I do feel for him in that his child is missing. I’m grateful mine is alive and back with us, so I can give him that much. But if he treated you poorly, Siddie, then that’s all he gets. My sympathies for his worry over his child and nothing more.” Grandma reached over and poured us more tea before she continued. “He spoke down to your mother once, in front of me, and I gave him a case of hives that made his life interesting for a little while.”
“Grandma,” I gasped, then burst into laughter.
Sin choked on his mouthful of tea, trying not to spray it as he laughed.
Grandma shrugged. “Well, men tend to like to scratch their privates a lot. I just gave him a reason to be doing it.”
It felt good to laugh with Sin and Grandma like this. We’d not had a lot to laugh about the past few days. Knowing Mom would be okay was a huge help too. Now we just needed to find Dad.
“Sin, could you call Benny and tell him about Dad? Maybe they could keep an eye out for him. We know he liked to run the woods around the lake.”
“Sure, sis. I’ll take care of that. Let me go do it now,” Sin said as he got up and put his dishes in the kitchen.
Grandma reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You two are doing well through all of this. I’m proud of you, Siddie.”
“Thanks, Grandma. I’m just trying to do my best, is all. Most of our friends are planning for graduation and we’re trying to keep our parents alive.”
“I know this has been a sore subject before, but have you considered getting more training?”
I sighed. “We’ve been talking about it. I still want to go to law school and Sin wants medical school, but if there’s another war coming, we need to be better prepa
red.”
“I pray to all the Powers That Be that there will not be another war, but I, too, am seeing the signs of unrest. I think being better trained would help you two stay alive longer. You know I’m a blunt speaker and having you two as targets isn’t going to change.”
“I know. This mess with Mom and Dad is just the worst we’ve had to deal with so far.”
“Just think about it, Siddie. I’ll support you no matter what your decision. You and Sin are smart kids and will make good decisions about this.” Grandma gave me a kiss on my forehead, and it felt like a benediction.
Sin jogged back into the room, “Sid, we’ve gotta go. Benny said someone tried to get to the cabin and Stefano got hurt.”
“It never triggered the wards,” I said, trying to understand what he was saying.
“They never got that close. Candace and Stefano were on patrol and caught them before they got into the yard.” He paused and looked at Grandma. “They were witches, Grandma. Can Auntie Sett come to help us?”
Grandma nodded. “I’ll get her. We’ll also get your things. You two can live in your Mom’s cottage for now.”
“Wait, Grandma…” I started to say and Sin shook his head.
“No, Sid, she’s right. Who knows what crap Grandpa will pull now that we’re standing up for ourselves. I’ll ask Benny if we can get a couple of guys and a trailer to move the garage stuff. You focus on the house stuff. But for now, let’s get over there and make sure Stefano is okay and find out what happened.”
Grandma left the room while we got cleaned up and ready to go. Before we left, she handed me a set of keys. “These go to the cottage. The others are to the storage barn out back. You can put stuff in there. It’s climate-controlled for the herb packages.”
“Thank you, Grandma. Let Mom know we’ll be back if she wakes up?” I asked.
“Sure, honey. You two get a move on. It’ll be dark soon.”
We pulled up to Benny’s garage first, to check on Candace and Stefano. Out behind the garage was a small clinic that he used for the pack when needed. There were a couple of vehicles outside the clinic, so we pulled up there.
“Sin, do you think we should stay at the cabin or go to Grams?”
“Go to Grams. We have the finances now, and let’s be honest, the wards at Grandma’s place are better than anything we could put up.”
“True, because they’ve been built on for generations. Hundreds of years.”
“Do you want to stay here and just let me go in?” Sin asked me, expression worried.
I shook my head. “No, I’ll go with you. I need to get past this block of mine sooner rather than later.”
We got out of the car and headed to the clinic. A pack member stood by the door inside and nodded to us when we went in. I took a deep breath and all I could smell were shifters and blood. My hands started to shake so I shoved them in my jacket pockets and followed Sin into the next room.
Stefano lay on a table with the doctor standing over him, checking an IV that fed into the patient’s arm. Candace was seated beside the table, holding her husband’s hand.
Benny came up to us as we stepped into the room and urged us back out. “Hey, you two, he’s going to be okay. Whatever the witch did to him, it forced him out of his shift and knocked him unconscious. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Hey, Benny. Glad to hear he’s going to recover. Our Aunt Cosette is coming by to help if you need it. She is going to stay out in the car until you say it’s okay. We don’t want to step on any toes,” Sin said.
“She might be able to ease whatever aftereffects the spell attack left behind and make sure there aren’t any nasty surprises that pop up later,” I told him.
“Geeze, I didn’t think about that. You two and your Mama are the only witches I ever got to know. Is your Aunt cool like you?” Benny asked.
I laughed a bit. “Auntie Sett is the coolest person ever. We wouldn’t have brought her along if she wasn’t, Benny.”
Sin looked at his phone. “She’s parked outside. Want her to come in?”
“Let me go check with the doctor and Candace,” Benny said. He disappeared back into the clinic while Sin texted Sett.
I leaned against the wall, practicing my breathing. I had to stay calm. See, Sin was pretty comfortable with his shifter side. He’d been training with Grandpa B for years, but I had to work with what Sin remembered, and then eventually, with Dad. Dad had worked so much, he wasn’t around enough to train us when we were small – and he thought Grandpa was training us both. Yeah, not so much. When I hit puberty and the urge to shift got to be too much, I did it alone, in the garage. It was traumatic and when I shifted back, I refused to shift again, until it got to be too much. We were supposed to shift a couple of times a month, at a minimum. Something about the balance of our human and animal sides. It wasn’t a moon thing, more of a yin-yang thing. I still hated shifting. Being around more than one or two shifters made it hard for me to control the urge to shift, so I spent more time with the witch side of the family or just mundanes.
That’s why Sin was worried about me being here, around a bunch of shifters in a heightened emotional state. More pheromones in the air meant more stress on my ability to control my shift.
Benny came out and nodded to Sin. “Go get your aunt. The doctor can’t figure out why Stefano isn’t waking up yet and Candace said she trusts you and your family.”
I held my hand up. “I’ll get her, be right back.” Fresh air. I needed it. I darted out the door, over to Auntie Sett’s sedan. “They’d like your help. Stefano isn’t waking up.”
Sett nodded, got out of the car, and paused. “You look pale, you okay?”
“Yeah, just a lot of…smells.”
A wry smile and she patted my shoulder, then handed me her keys. “Mint and lavender in the trunk. Go grab a little and you’ll feel better.”
I headed for her trunk while she went inside. A black case was in the back and I opened it to find a miniature herbal apothecary. Color me impressed, because I was going to get Auntie Sett to help me set up one of these. Sin and I could both find a lot of use for something like this. I found the catnip mint and lavender and put a little of both into a mesh bag. Crushing it between my palms, I rubbed it under my nose before just breathing through the bag a few times. The pressure eased and I felt my shoulders drop. I gave myself a moment before I closed up the case.
I tucked the bag into my bra, adjusted my shirt, and headed back inside. The guard at the door wrinkled his nose at the strong scent of mint and lavender. I just smiled at him and headed to the back. By the time I got back there, Auntie Sett had done her work and Stefano leaned back against the raised end of the table as he chatted with the doctor. Candace shook Sett’s hand as she thanked her profusely.
Sin stood near Benny, so I headed over there.
“So, if we could borrow the trailer and a couple of guys…” I heard Sin say before I stopped beside Benny.
“The sooner we get our stuff out of his way, the better we’ll all be. He’s none too stable right now with Dad missing,” I said.
Benny nodded. “It happens with some of the really old ones. The slightest emotional upheaval and they become unstable shifters. Emmett and I will bring the trailer and a tow truck over in about half an hour. You kids get moving.”
Auntie Sett met us at the door. “Stefano is going to be fine. He’ll need to rest for a couple of days, but no ill effects beyond that. You two want some help?”
“That’d be great, Auntie. Thank you,” I said as we headed to the cars. “Meet you at the cabin. We’ll take the wards down once we get there.”
It took us less time to empty the cabin and barn than it did to fill it. We packed it all up into the car, trucks, and trailer and headed to Grandma’s before it got dark. Sett and I moved the house stuff while the guys handled the garage stuff on the unloading side. I ordered a stack of pizzas to feed everyone before they drove home. Shifters were like hobbits, they had second
breakfasts and third suppers. Granted, witches weren’t much better when they were casting or working, but human appetites were more the norm for them. Either Grandma herself or someone she’d sent over had cleaned the cottage and put fresh bedding on the beds. There was even a casserole in the fridge for us to heat up.
Being here meant wi-fi, and both Sin and I had a rash of messages and calls to return. Bella had sent me about thirty, asking where I was and if we were okay. I messaged her back that we were okay, just spending time with family and had been out of cell range. That was pretty much the same message I sent to everyone else that asked.
Sin and I added our wards to the house after he’d called Grandma to thank her for the cleaning and food and checked on Mom. Since she was sleeping, we decided to just go to bed ourselves. Breakfast in the morning at Grandma’s with everyone came early.
Sin
I lay in bed, exhausted and wanting to sleep but unable to shut my brain off enough to do so. I’d been busy answering all of the texts and voicemails I’d racked up over the past few days. I wished I could go hang with my friends and have a couple of beers, play some pool and let it all go. But that wasn’t in my near future. Unfortunately. I was lucky if you could call it that, that I’d broken up with my latest girlfriend last week. Tanya had been fun, and human, but she started asking too many questions, so I let her go. Between the questions and the clinging, I was done.
The last guy Sid had dated, ended up friend-zoned to the point where he let her sleep in his car and hang out at his place and not even get a snuggle. She had a way with people. I tended to be more judgmental and less trusting. Aaron figured as long as he was in her life as a friend, he had a chance. I didn’t have the heart to tell him he had a better chance of being hit by lightning or winning the lottery.
It was really quiet here. Even at the cabin, there had been some traffic noise. Well, that and animal noise from the shifters. Here, the only noise was the wind through the trees or blowing across the fields. I cracked the window open to let in some air and the scent of the herbs on the late spring breeze calmed me enough to sleep. My last thoughts were of Dad. I hoped he was somewhere safe.
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