by Lenore Wolfe
ELEVEN
MORGAN
Morgan woke to the chill of the room. She didn’t have to see to know that her childhood enemy was back. He’d come to remind her he’d found her—to let her know she hadn’t escaped him after all. That she never would.
The cold told her he’d returned. The fact she could feel him—told her that too. If that wasn’t enough—the force of his power told her whenever he appeared.
She’d become adept at knowing when he entered the room.
Though she wasn’t completely awake, it didn’t matter. He was already gone. She sensed the sheer male power of the one who chased him, as a light breeze touched her cheek—caused by the movement of his wings. Usually, she also felt an evil—the evil the winged-creature always managed to chase away, just before she surfaced.
“What do you want with me?” she demanded, looking wildly around, trying to spot him. “You ruined my life—my childhood. My sister’s childhood. What more do you want?”
Alex sprung from the bed at the sound of her voice. Morgan knew the exact moment Alex grasped she didn’t speak to the shadow—but to the winged creature, himself. He turned this way, then that, still half asleep, trying to find the shadow.
Morgan stared at the large, muscular man as he snarled at his near miss. Then turning, he moved straight towards her with the grace of a predator. “I didn’t ruin your life. I tried to protect you,” he growled. “He….” he jabbed a finger at where the shadow had been, “ruined all our lives.”
Morgan swallowed, staring at him.
Someone banged loudly on the bedroom door. Claire’s voice yelled, “I’m coming in,” just before the door hit the wall as it slammed open, the twins right behind her.
Morgan fumbled around with one hand, snatched up the potion from beside the bed. The other still desperately holding the sheet around her naked form. She saw the winged man step back toward the window, and then he too was gone.
She frowned. She’d swear she’d felt him shudder.
In her anger, Claire went into full swing with the potion in her hand when Morgan yelled, “Wait! You know we don’t want to harm him.” Even though she’d seriously thought about doing the same thing only a moment before.
Claire hesitated. It didn’t matter. He’d gone. She turned and frowned at her. “Why not?” she yelled back. “He’s sneaking into your room in the middle of the night!”
Morgan frowned at her, then drew in a shaky breath. “To protect us, you ninny. To chase the shadow away—and you know it.”
Claire’s shoulders dropped. “Yes, well….” She sighed heavily. “This is all just so frustrating….”
Shaking her head, Morgan sighed too. “I know,” she said. “But we can’t take it out on the one who’s actually trying to protect us—just because we’re still afraid of him, too.” She shook her head. “Not anymore.”
Alex frowned at her. “What is it?”
Claire followed up with that. “So, you admit we shouldn’t be afraid of him?”
Morgan frowned. “I don’t know. But we can’t keep treating him like this because we’re scared of him. It isn’t right.” She gazed at each one of them in turn like an answer could be found in what bothered her. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I just don’t know…,” she shrugged. “I do know there’s more we don’t know....”
“Yeah,” Claire said. “And have you noticed that’s beginning to sound like our theme song?” She walked to the window. “Well, we better figure it out—and quick. Because that shadow is going to drive us all over the edge—if he doesn’t manage to drive us from our home—again. You know that, right?”
Morgan sunk to the bed. Yeah—she knew that. She eyed Claire. “But we have to start setting this right.” She stabbed her finger toward the window. “Because—that winged one—he keeps appearing right after the shadow—every single time.” She threw up her hands. “He’s helping us. He’s after the him.” She stared at Claire. “He said as much.” She shrugged. “I don’t know how he does it. Maybe he senses him when he comes here? But he keeps chasing him away for us.”
Alex frowned. “I agree with her,” he said to Claire. “He’s not after us. He only goes after the shadow. And if we weren’t so afraid of things we don’t understand—we would have been calling him an ally—if not friend—a long time ago.”
Claire flinched.
Closing her eyes, Morgan bit her lip. She pulled her knees up, laying her head on them.
Her sister was staring at her. She could feel it. “Are you okay, sis?” Claire finally asked her.
Morgan sighed. “Yeah,” she said, opening her eyes to look at her. “At least, I could be—if I could get some sleep.”
Grinning, Jake muttered something about all the yelling going on that night, and he and Jack headed off to find their beds.
Lifting her head, Morgan made a face after them.
Claire grinned at her. “You have to admit. That’s the second time someone started yelling the house down tonight.”
This time, Morgan pulled that same face at her, then laughed as Alex grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the bed, helping her to wrap the sheet around herself. She gave Alex a quizzical look before gazing back at Claire and asking, “Did Sophia ever say who she yelled at?”
Claire shook her head, glancing at Alex. Even she could see he wanted to take Morgan somewhere, and Claire seemed to take the hint. She told them she’d see them in the morning and headed back to the attic.
When she’d gone, Morgan stared expectantly at Alex. “What’s up?” she asked him.
He chuckled. “I just spotted the moon out the window. It’s huge this time of year. I thought we could go out on the swing to see it.”
Morgan smiled as he picked up a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders, sitting down to put her slippers on.
A few minutes later, Morgan sat on the porch, staring at that beautiful, large moon, propping her head against one hand. Squeaky hinges sounded as the screen door opened, and Alex’s heavy tread hit the wooden porch deck as he came out with two hot mugs, the screen door banging behind him.
She needed to fix the hinges on that door, she decided, lifting her head and throwing up her hands as if in surrender.
It didn’t do any good. She’d never get to stay here anyway. Neither would her sister. Whoever that shadow was—he would win again. And if he didn’t—Morgan still couldn’t decide if the winged creature, himself, wouldn’t run them off.
“Hey!” Alex growled, coming to sit beside her. He set the mugs on the table beside the swing, then turned and pulled her around so he could rub her back in gentle, sweeping motions. Once more, she reveled in the knowledge his touch didn’t hurt, surprising her anew nearly every day. She’d found the touch of others painful, so she couldn’t help but notice. That, in itself, told her she should be here.
She turned, giving him a weak smile. He searched her eyes, and she knew what he sought. He wanted to know she wouldn’t give up.
“Okay, but what are we going to do about the shadow?” she asked.
“You will do what you were born to do,” he answered. He ran his hand through her dark hair. “By being true to who you are.”
She let out her breath. “By being a witch, you mean—the very reason the kids teased us to begin with.”
“The town’s been pretty open to us now, aren’t they? Even if they have heard rumors. They’ve even welcomed you back with open arms?”
She nodded. “A lot of them have accepted our Halloween invitations, but who knows what their real motivations are. And if they are serious, who knows how long it will last before they turn on us again. People are afraid of what they don’t understand—especially witches. Look at all the bad stuff that happened to witches in the name of fear. They would run us out of town if they actually understood who we are. Worse—they’d probably find a way to have us locked up.”
He shrugged. “I know. I must admit that’s true. But admit it, we did have some fun last nigh
t—planning Halloween. And the town seems okay with the notion that we might be different.”
She grinned at this.
“The truth of it is…,” his voice thickened, “all of us felt pretty awful when you disappeared,” he said. “We each thought we’d somehow contributed to your disappearance. And we’ve all wanted you back.” He leaned in and kissed her lips softly. “We’re all glad you’re home.” He kissed her again, then grinned, gazing down into her eyes. “You’ve no idea how glad I am that you’re back.” He peered at her. “We don’t want you to disappear on us ever again,” he said sweetly.
She giggled and slipped her arms around his neck. “You make a pretty persuasive argument,” she said, against his lips. “Just how badly do you want me back?”
He smiled, his lips still against hers, then kissed her again before saying, “I want you back for the rest of my life—in every way I can have you there,” he said, serious now. But then he chuckled, leaning back and giving her a look that melted her heart.
She loved his sexy, lopsided smile.
He grinned. “Are you persuaded yet?”
“Ummm, I don’t know…. You might have to do some more persuading….” She pulled him to her, tightening her hold, giggling softly as he picked her up and stood with her cradled to him.
“Well, then,” he kissed her again as he attempted to get them both through the door. She started laughing as she held on to his neck with one hand, helping to hold the screen door open with the other, without losing the bed sheet and blanket still wrapped around her.
He managed to turn the door handle of the door, still holding her. He got them through it, kicking it shut behind him and heading for the stairs. “Let’s see if I can do some more persuading,” he said, kissing her as he slowly made his way up the stairs.
Much, much later, she finally admitted how thoroughly he’d convinced her.