Times would change. There would come a day when she wouldn’t have to keep her abilities a secret from her loved ones any longer. Even then, this knowledge of the final days would be her burden to bear alone. The truth is people don’t want to know when the last moment will come because it would cast a shadow over those last days. There can be no normal when you know what’s going to happen. The person facing their final departure doesn’t want their last moments filled with visitors who would not be there for any other reason if not their demise. They want to live their last as they had lived the rest. Anya would learn this lesson the hard way by letting her secret known down the road and watching all the fair weather folks pour in pretending they cared.
The night he died, Anya lay awake by his side holding his hand with her head resting gently on his chest. She listened to each breath knowing soon it would be his last one. A quiet took over him, and she thought he had gone. There was one last ragged, loud, heavy intake after that, and Daniel was gone. She wept. She clung to him and sobbed until sleep finally took her. When she awoke in the morning, she set about the preparations to say goodbye to Daniel and the rest of her family.
Anya had spent all of her years worried about what if something happened to her. She knew one day the Return would be complete, and her family would never have the answers to her disappearance. There was always a chance of someone learning her secret, and what would happen to her family then. They may have been able to escape death, but that was not a guarantee. At best, they would be exiled, but she often wondered if Daniel would still want her after learning she wasn’t too far from the tree sprite he had always called her.
She never gave it any thought that she may one day outlive him until he became ill. There were options open to her of course. She could continue this life for a long time if she chose. This winter showed her that she did not want to continue here without him because it would be too painful. There was no guarantee the Return this year would be completed, and she didn’t want to wait to find out.
Once news of Daniel’s death was made and his body prepared to be laid to rest, her family would be dealt a second blow. They would learn of her demise as well. She felt guilty and selfish for leaving now, but she tried to convince herself it would be easier in the long term for them. It would also ease the burden of having to care for her in her old age. It wouldn’t be necessary of course, just a guise she’d have to put on to alleviate questions.
The long winter days were partially spent planning how she would pull off her exit. Parts of it were easy. The potion to return her looks to the youthful beauty she once had was already made and tested. It would be easy to leave and start over afar where no one would recognize her. There were stores of supplies already packed up that would be easy enough to carry since she would have to leave the horse and wagon behind. All evidence of her true self were cleared out and buried save for the grimoire she wanted Isobel to own.
The hard part had been deciding exactly how she would pretend to meet her end. There were a number of spells and potions she could use that would render her in a near death state, but it was all too risky. If she was put into the ground before the enchantment wore off, she would be a prisoner. She knew she couldn’t die, but she didn’t want to learn how spending an eternity in a grave would feel either. Someday, she would surely be found, but how long would it take?
There was also the option of passing someone off as herself. She toyed with charms that would make others see her persona in the face of a stranger, but even that was tricky. If she were supposed to be a corpse, who would be the one making sure the potion was drunk by those present? She would need a second charm to work on herself to make her unrecognizable and would need a reason why this stranger was in the home of Daniel and Anya.
It also never sit well to try to pass another off as herself. Nearby towns were filled with beggars who oft were discovered dead in the passageways from illness, poverty or exposure. It could be easy enough to snag a body that would suit her purposes. These unwanted members of the town were usually piled together in shared graves outside the town’s boundaries. Sometimes the holes would lie open filled with rotting corpses for months before someone would fill it with dirt. There was always a need to create less mass graves by piling as many as possible together.
Some people would discard the bodies themselves if they lay unmoved for too long. A few decent folk would dig a grave, but sadly most just dumped the bodies into the river. Anya could ensure one poor soul would at least obtain a proper burial. These beggars already had been dealt a hard lot in life, and she believed it wrong to strip them of the one thing they owned – their identity. Not that a mass grave would be marked, but at least there wouldn’t be anyone mistaken who was buried there for someone else.
Perhaps it was because she spent her entire human life worried about her family’s pain when she disappeared with the Return, but it made more sense to simply disappear. The one thing she needed to see to was that she wouldn’t want her family looking for her wrought with worry and hoping she may one day return. She would have to stage an accident, and that’s exactly what she prepared to do. They would mourn her never knowing how she secretly rowed away in a boat down the river to begin again anew.
As word traveled about Daniel, Anya left their home late that night to set her plan into motion. She drove the horse and wagon several miles from home opposite of the way her children would arrive. It would appear as though she were headed to the basilica. She guided Daniel’s horse to a stop with ease. She was much more skilled then when she first tried to lead Daniel’s mare shortly after they met.
Anya unhooked and rubbed him down gently. She could sense the horse understood what she was about to do. Putting her fingers in her mouth, she let out a whistle. The steed raised up on hind legs and came back down hard. She smacked his leg quarter sending him off in a gallop. It would find his way back home, and it would be what sent her children looking for her. They would search north of the house first then the woods where she loved to wander for hours before they turned their attention to the road to the south where they would find the wagon in need of repairs.
She looked along the edge of the roadway and found a large rock which she used to beat a wheel off disabling the wagon. This would make an accident look more believable as well as deter any would be thieves from easily taking the wagon for themselves. In her bag was an old dress. Earlier she had sliced her hand and allowed the blood to drip and spray across the front. She ripped pieces off it and scattered all the bits of cloth leading whoever investigates the scene on a path into the trees.
Happy with her work, she removed a small vial from the folds of her dress. Knowing her children would believe she had been thrown from the wagon and killed in the fall, she gulped the liquid. They would find her ripped clothing and see it as evidence some form of wild animal carried her remains off into the dense woods. There would be a short scouting mission to try to find what may be left of her, but it would be called off quickly she thought as she felt the wrinkled lines in her face smooth and soften.
It would comfort them knowing she didn’t have to continue on long after losing her husband. Touching the side of the wagon, she could picture Young Daniel standing with his brothers as they decided there would be no place their mother would rather be more than reunited with their father. Theirs had been a special type of love that never wavered. It strengthened every day since the night he rescued his tree sprite from the woods near his home.
The bundle of supplies she brought was lightweight and carried easily strapped around her shoulder. A short distance down the road, she entered the tree line to head to the river. There were a couple miles of woods to cut through before she would come upon the boat owned by her love. It was the same boat they used to travel to these parts from their first home. They hadn’t used it for years not since their age bested them.
It wouldn’t be a problem for her now. All of her aches and pains were gone. Her gait was light and easy over
the tree covered ground. She started to spin looking up through the trees at the moon cutting through the branches above. Even with a heavy heart, she smiled and laughed softly feeling once again at home amongst the tall guardians. If anyone had spied her, they might have believed they just saw a tree sprite with their very own eyes.
Chapter Seventeen
“Still nothing from Lilah?” Everleigh asked.
“Not since our brief call this afternoon when she told me she just woke up,” Jackson’s face was filled with worry.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
“Are you sure this will work?” Jackson wanted to be hopeful.
Meredith laughed nervously. “In theory, yes, but I’ve only attempted something like this one other time, and you were there.” It should work. If she could use Lilah’s psychic connection with Jackson to boost a locator spell, then Jackson should work as a conduit to reach Lilah. They would soon find out if her theory was correct.
The four of them held hands. Meredith, Luke, Everleigh, Jackson and back to Meredith just as she instructed. The two witches between the two men. “Jackson, close your eyes. I need you to focus on Lilah.”
“I am.”
“I need you to do more than just think about her. Open your mind to me and Everleigh, and try to connect with Lilah at the same time.”
Jackson did as he was told not confident this would work. He was not a psychic or a mind reader. He possessed no magic powers like the women in the room held. Lilah was home in bed. Every time he thought of her, that’s what he saw. It didn’t feel right, but he couldn’t push through to learn more than where she was.
Several minutes had passed, and he was just about to let go of their hands when Meredith announced, “That’s it. I got her.”
He continued to wait not sure if they were done.
“Something’s wrong,” Meredith uttered.
That was enough for him. Jackson’s eyes tore open. “What’s wrong?” he was practically yelling. He yanked his hands away from the others and clasped them on top of his head. Pacing back and forth near the others, he concentrated on controlled deep breaths in and out, but never took his eyes off of Meredith.
“I can’t be sure now that our link to her has broken,” Meredith stated, and there was no missing the irritation in her voice.
“What link?” he asked, working himself up to a full frenzy forgetting his breathing techniques. “I don’t understand how this works. I’m not an Air!”
“Breathe,” Everleigh stepped in front of him. “It’s like Aunt Meredith said. You’re her match. The two of you are linked. We can use you to see her.”
It still didn’t make full sense to him. For years, he’d been told the Elementals were limited in what effect they had on other groups. Now, Meredith had conducted spells twice in a row that worked on other factions. When they learned last night Fire was in town, it almost made sense. Meredith is a witch-vampire hybrid, but no one is supposed to be able to use their powers on an Element. That’s why Lilah was needed to help her accomplish it. This was different. It didn’t seem possible for Meredith to get a read on Lilah by using their connection, but somehow she managed it.
Jackson started pacing the floor.
“You need to calm down,” Everleigh scolded him. “Please, Jackson. You need to keep your emotions under control as hard as it may seem. We can’t have you…”
He sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Keep me in the loop. I need to know everything if I’m to keep everything under control. You might think it’s a bad idea for me to know, but leaving it to my imagination is worse.”
The others nodded at him, and Meredith promised, “I won’t keep anything from you Jackson. I want to help.”
He walked back to the others and held out his hands. “Let’s go again.”
No one moved.
He shook his hands toward them. “Come on. Let’s do this.”
“It won’t be necessary. I think I may have seen enough,” Meredith told him, grabbing her coat.
“What are we going to do?” Jackson raced to the hall to get his jacket.
“We?” Meredith laughed. “You are staying here.”
“No! I’m going with you.” Anger rose inside of him, and he was fighting to keep control of his demons.
“I can’t have you losing your head and exposing yourself. Take a look in the mirror, would you? You look like your mom,” Meredith spat the words at him.
Jackson turned and punched the wall. The others jumped and watched as he retreated to the stairs.
“This is exactly why he’s staying here,” Meredith sternly told Everleigh in case she was thinking about taking him along anyway.
“Luke and I will go in the house and scout it out. Once I feel it’s safe, you will have her leave through the back door,” she ordered.
“Alright, I can do that,” Everleigh thought it sounded simple.
They headed to the front door near where Jackson still sat quietly halfway up the staircase. “We’ll have her here before you know it,” Meredith told him gently.
He didn’t move a muscle except to ask, “Is she okay?”
Meredith took a deep breath and wasn’t sure about answering the question. She despised lying especially after the promise she just made, but he was not in his right mind. The smallest spark could light his fuse, and it was hard to tell who might get hurt in the crossfire.
Jackson noticed her hesitation and looked at her with pleading eyes.
“She will be,” she told him. “It’s nothing that can’t be undone.”
With that, the three of them left the house. “I’m going to have to make a stop at home to get something,” Meredith informed her niece.
“Since when don’t you have everything you need in that bag of yours?” Everleigh said, sounding like she was joking, but she meant it.
“Since Air decided to pump your friend full of sleeping pills,” Meredith said flatly.
Everleigh’s mouth was still hanging wide open when her aunt drove away. She knew there had to be some reason for Lilah to act as she had been, but she wasn’t expecting this. At worst, she thought maybe her family had taken her phone to shut off her contact with them.
She looked up and saw Jackson at the window of the door. She gave him a quick wave then headed to her car before he decided to come out and ask her anything about what her aunt said. Or worse, ask her to bring him along.
Meredith left Luke in the car with it running while she made a quick dash into Eloise’s house, hoping she could get in and out without being noticed by her nieces. Opening the front door, she saw Eloise step out from the sunroom in the back, so she walked straight to her as quietly as she could.
“Where are the girls?” she whispered.
“I gave them the day off and sent them to the movies,” Eloise answered. “How’d it go?”
“Perfectly,” Meredith told her, pulling a small red trinket out of her satchel. “You know when you told me last night to hang on to this until tomorrow, I thought it was because you worried about risking the girls seeing me if I snuck in again so soon. You could’ve given me the heads up that I’d be needing it again,” she said, placing it carefully in Eloise’s palm.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Eloise asked, tying her treasured rubino pendant around her neck. “Besides, it keeps you on your toes.”
Eloise walked into the sunroom, motioning for Meredith to follow. On a table near the door was a small paper bag. “Take this. Mix it with what you have.”
“What is it?” Meredith asked, opening the bag to peek.
“Juniper berries. It will help detoxify her.”
Meredith dropped her arms to her side. “Why don’t you come out and tell us these things? It would’ve saved us a lot of time, and we could’ve got to Lilah faster if you had let us know instead of making us go through all this trouble.”
Eloise sat in her chair overlooking the garden. “There’s time. I would’ve intervened if it had taken too long.
Plus, the lot of you need to learn to work together and trust each other. It’s for the good of us all with what’s coming.”
Opening the bag again, Meredith caught a whiff of something else. “Is that lavender?”
“Of course, it’s lavender. Lilah was drugged, wasn’t she?”
“You want me to give her a sleeping aid?” Meredith asked perplexed.
“Sleeping never hurt anyone. It will counter the side effects of the pills she has in her system,” Eloise looked up at her. “Unless you want to clean up all the mess when she can’t get to the bathroom in time.”
“Fine. I’ll use the lavender.”
“I thought so,” Eloise’s eyes sparkled.
Meredith started to leave, but Eloise stopped her again. “Did anyone find out you had it?”
With her back turned, Meredith grinned, happy the old woman couldn’t see her face. “Not a soul.”
“Good.”
“But Luke suspects.”
Eloise was quiet, and Meredith wasn’t sure if she was free to go or not. She turned to look at her sitting in her quietly chair. “I’m sorry,” she offered, thinking Eloise must be mad.
“Nonsense. Fire is his kind. It’s only right for him to know everything.”
“Our kind,” Meredith corrected her.
With a troubled sigh, Eloise looked at her niece. “Yes, child. You’re right again.” She reached up for Meredith’s hand and placed several small items in it.
Furrowing her brows, Meredith looked at the wagon wheel shaped objects she was now holding. “Lotus root?”
“You may find yourself in need of some,” Eloise said, waving her hand indicating it was time for her to go.
Meredith walked toward the front of the house sticking the lotus root into her satchel. Thinking better of it, she placed one in her pocket just in case. It would be pointless to ask when she would need it or for what in order to be better prepared. The old woman shrouded herself in secrets, loved always having the upper hand, and nothing brought her more joy than watching events unfold just the way she had already foreseen them.
Earth: The Elementals Book Two Page 18