“Oh, to be a firefly.”
“Are you just saying that, or did you wander?” She spoke of her father’s ability of clairvoyance. The only gift he’d received from his family heritage.
“No, just looking myself. How carefree they are. Glowing whether anyone wants them to or not. They just are.”
“You wishing to glow?”
“No. No, but I would have you glow.” He turned to her. She noted he looked tired. The strain of the day held heavy on him, she could see it in his eyes. He took her hands in his and kissed them both as he held them together tightly.
“I will.”
“No, truly glow…shine. Bright and forever. You are the best of all of them.”
A sob caught in Gwen’s throat. She knew he wasn’t talking about the other leaders or even the other families. “Even Gran?”
“Yes.” He gave her hands a squeeze and let them go.
Placing them on both of his shoulders she tip-toed to kiss his cheek. “I will,” she told him once more and left him to his thoughts.
The cave called for her. Her skin, her hair her very essence called to him. She knew he’d waited for her. Just as she knew Chester was following closely behind. Her training improved the areas she’d been lacking in the past, but no more. She would use Silas to harness them, to beat him at his own game. Whatever that might be. If she were to find spending time with him enjoyable as well, then it was a happy bonus. Chester would just have to deal with it. She would have to be careful.
Sure, she believed Silas wanted her safe from his father, but what about himself? There had to be an ulterior motive there. She just had to bide her time until he showed his hand. She would keep an Ace up her sleeve, hidden for the time being. To be played when all else was in the open. She would make the last move. The very last one.
The cave was lit, more so than usual. When Gwen entered the opening of the room, she saw thousands of fireflies gathered in the ceiling. The green lights flickering in and out at varying moments. Silas sat in his usual place. His legs crossed, hands resting on the stone floor behind him as he gazed up at them.
“Did you do this?” he asked her as she stepped in front of him.
“Me? No. Are you saying you didn’t?”
“Precisely.”
Gwen laughed. A small chuckle in the back of her throat and took her seat across from Silas. He looked at her. Took her in with his greedy eyes. His hair was disheveled. His eyes brooding. He stopped breathing for just a moment.
“What is he doing here?”
“That, is your doing.”
“Mine? How might that be?”
“Since you felt the need to stand by my side at the meeting, you’ve given yourself away. How else was I supposed to answer to your presence in Ohio?”
“You could have told him anything.”
“Could not. He’s hurt. His pride.” She pulled two cans of soda from the cooler beside the large box of books. Most of which lay scattered around the cave floor. “Mostly because I’d not given him the opportunity to protect me as it is his job.”
“I’m sure that’s not his only reason.” Silas stood. He postured for a moment at the entrance, looking like he was contemplating going outside to confront Chester into leaving. He must have thought better of it because a moment later he’d grabbed one of the cans from Gwen and began pacing the small room. He sat once more after taking a long pull from the can.
“He could at least try to control his thoughts. Do you never hear them? He’s begging for you to go to him. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes. You think I’m blind.” She played with the edges of the blanket she sat on. “He has his duty. Even if I did, he’d not accept me. What do you care about it anyway?”
“I don’t. I just find it distracting. I can’t think with his brooding. Can’t he patrol or something? Even Hex and Finis keep their distance.”
“Give me a minute.” She rose to her feet and disappeared from the cave.
“Chester?”
“Let me guess. It’s too hard for him to hit on you while I’m out here?”
“Don’t be absurd. Your mind is working overtime this evening. Even I can hear you.”
He ran his hand through his hair. “I’m not leaving, Gwen.”
“No, I know. Just patrol the woods around the property. Just keep clear of the others.”
“Others? He has more with him?”
“Of course, he does.”
He didn’t bother saying anything, but turned and ran toward the trees. She watched him shift mid step. Then watched as his yellow eyes disappeared into the thick of the woods.
She returned a minute later stating Chester had agreed to shift and scout the area. She told him she mentioned staying away from Hex and Finis, and that Chester vaguely agreed to keep his distance from them.
Given the day’s events, Gwen couldn’t disagree against the extra eyes on them. Knowing that the Raven’s Watch was vying for her title was unnerving. Even if it wasn’t something they could take as easily as voting it away from her. It was not the Council’s gift to take back.
Gwen settled down and grabbed the nearest book on the pile. Most had been skimmed through. However, there were a few that had jumped out at her, needing further examination.
Chapter VII
Seraphina
June 3, 1869
Seth has evaded me again. I thought I felt his presence for a moment while I practiced, but before the last note was struck on the instrument, he was gone. I tried to find him. Magnus insists he’s nowhere to be found, but I can’t stop looking. He and I are the same. Only he will understand the newest desires I’ve had to overcome. I still don’t know if I can at times. I wonder when the smooth exterior will crack, and when I will begin down the long traitorous spiral that Magnus keeps speaking of with the others. They think I cannot hear them, but they are so wrong. My abilities haven’t landed in that ring, just the immortality. I am keenly aware of all my senses. Just as Mildred said I would be. She was smart not to tell them what I would become. I just wish she hadn’t told me. Maybe I wouldn’t need him to come back to me as badly as I do. Had I not known what it was, I could just let him go.
June 8, 1869
I saw him. Just for a moment. My mind cleared, and I focused all my power on his face, and then I was there with him. He looked at me as if he saw me too. I lost hold of the vision when I tried to reach out. He pushed me away, but now he knows I’m looking. What’s more, he looked happy to see me. Not the entire time, but for a fraction of a second. I need him to come back. I want him back.
January 4, 1873
He came to me in a dream. I’ve spent months not thinking of him, and then he comes. He’s just as worried as I am. Maybe more so. I told him what Mildred said. What we were to become. He denied it. Though he is concerned with the thoughts and the voices. He can’t hold them off as I can. My acquired powers help, but he has only those he was born with. I know he wanted to ask for my help. To come to me, but the connection was broken. I can’t get the look of his eyes out my mind. There was fear. Something I’ve never seen in him before.
Magnus is still in mourning. It’s been over a year since the death of his wife, and I still hear him weeping behind his closed door in the evening. My heart breaks for him, and for the child I am to raise instead of its mother. I will never forget my part in her death. The fact that I let the voices consume me, and I allowed them to break my will, that I will always hold. If not for my evil ways, she might still be alive, and their daughter as well. For now, I will concentrate on the child, and on breaking his curse.
March 7, 1875
I’ve found him. He’s home. Though he will not speak to me. He has confided in Magnus and Cedric, but won’t look me in the eye. I have finally taken my place as the high priestess. Performing the blood rites ritual. Sealing the power that all witches will come to possess during a rite on the winter solstice. He was there, watching me. I only had enough nerve to do it because he was
. Because he was cheering me on.
The look on Magnus’ face when Seth took my hand afterward was heartbreaking. How can I offer myself to him when the curse remains? I cannot. We have been weaved into a horrible predicament. Something that will need mending. Until all can be righted, I will give my heart to no man. For each half is already won.
May 7, 1875
I may have an answer to what has made us this way. It’s not a part of the healer gift, but something entirely different. It lays in the familial bonds of our houses. A human marker mixed with the gene of the death watcher. It has slowly driven him mad, and I fear it will soon claim me. I feel the shadows working toward my waking conciseness. I am at a loss.
August 20, 1875
Seth has lost all control. He finally told me his truth. He came back to give us time together. While sanity still held within him. His mind is perhaps now lost for good. Most days he stares off into the void. The black of his eyes level on nothing at all. I’m afraid I will never get him back.
January 13, 1876
I’ve taken him to the Council. Their healers cannot help. They were right. If my considerable gifts could not change him, then I should not have expected they would be able to help either. What am I to do?
The only thing I can.
July 30, 1884
Goddess, he has a son. Magnus is hard to believe the claims of the child, but oh boy, he has his eyes. Seth sits staring at nothing. A bib draped around his neck to catch what falls from his mouth, and his son just looks at him. He told us his name is Chadwick. His mother died a year ago, and he came to find his father. To find out about the strange gifts he had. He had no idea of what his father was. What he is.
Those eyes. I can’t stop staring at his eyes. So much so, I’m afraid I’ll scare him away. I can’t. I’ll need to train him. To prepare him. To keep him safe. Chad…
Chapter VIII
It made no sense to Silas. No one else in his family line had been reduced to what Seth had endured in his final days. At least none that his father had ever mentioned. He thought maybe that was why he wanted that damned curse so bad. Maybe Sigmis wanted to keep that from happening to him.
Suddenly, he couldn’t remember what his grandfather had been like in his old age. Whether he had his senses about him or not. He did know the man had passed while Silas was still young.
“I don’t like you here.” Chester stepped in front of Silas. He’d been walking through the woods to his car, which he kept hidden on a side road beyond the Crawford property.
“I don’t like you. So there, we’re even.” Silas sized him up for a beat then side stepped him and continued in his chosen path, quickening his pace. For Gwen’s sake, he didn’t want to get into a brawl with her friend.
Chester sped up and stepped in front of him again. “I think you should leave. Go back to Indiana where you belong.”
“What is your deal, man? I get it. You’re in love with her.”
Chester gave him a shocked expression.
“Did you think you could hide it from people like us?” By the look on Chester’s face, Silas knew he understood what he was saying. “Yes, she knows too, but here’s the kicker. She doesn’t care. She knows you will never put your happiness ahead of her life. So, do us both a favor and take a step back.
“I won’t let anything happen to her. I care about her too much,” Silas offered as Chester let the information sink in.
“No. No way, man. I’m supposed to keep her safe. The oath—”
“The one you didn’t make. Regardless of your great-great granddaddy, you are not the only one responsible for her well-being. Not anymore.”
“What exactly are you saying?”
“Did you expect it to never happen? How is she supposed to pass the title to an heir if she ends up being a spinster with a slew of cats? It was bound to happen one day. Why not now?”
“No.” Chester shook his head. “No, I refuse to believe for one minute she would ever…” He let the words fade. “I’m still keeping an eye on you. She might want you around her now, but that will change. I’ll see to it.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Whatever. Get outta my way. I mean that, both figuratively and physically. Stay out of my way. You don’t own her.”
Silas moved away from Chester and almost didn’t catch what the protector said. “And you never will.”
Silas was right. He never had to search Chester’s mind to find out how he felt about Gwen. It was written all over his pathetic face. The way he swooned nearby, but never got too close to her. Almost afraid of her, yet fighting the urge to be nearer. Silas felt it too, but they were different. Silas didn’t fight getting closer. He hoped to with each passing day.
The car ride home was quiet for a change. Hex saw the exchange between Silas and the shifter and opted to take the heel toe express. Four paws rather than two feet meant he was waiting for him on the steps of their house when Silas arrived.
Silas left the car, held up a hand to his friend and entered the house. He wasn’t in the mood for any of Hex’s banter. Luckily, he’d left Finis at the Crawford house to keep a watchful eye over Gwen. He couldn’t trust her golden boy to keep her safe from anyone, much less let him go up against Sigmis or any of his lackeys.
The house was silent, save for the hum of the electric heater in the living room. The nights grew colder, and though they were no strangers to the cold weather, Silas found the cold seeped into his bones the more of his power he used. According to the journals that was the cost of using his gifts. Why his family was the only ones affected in such a way was beyond him. He needed to find out what would happen to him if he were careless enough to use too much. Silently he wondered if anyone outside of the Sigmis family knew what had become of Seth, and eventually Chadwick. Surely more of them had succumbed to the same fate. Which meant he and his father would too.
He didn’t want to talk to him, but he had no other recourse. Silas needed to know what he was dealing with. He lifted the phone from the cradle against the wall and dialed his home, his father’s home.
“What?” The gruff voice sounded after just two rings.
“What became of Seth Sigmis?” No niceties for the man on the other end, for he knew he would get none in return.
“So, you’ve gotten close enough to be trusted with the journals? I wondered how long that would take. What do you want? A job well done?”
“What happened…will that happen to us as well?”
“No. Not if our plan works. That ring is key. Get her to tell you how to gain access to the power inside. We need it, Silas. Unless you’d rather chose a forever home like an animal. I hear those nursing care centers are all the rage.” With that, his father hung up.
Silas slammed the receiver down, for no other reason than it made him feel better. No, Sigmis would not tell him what lay in his future, only the way to keep them from ending up like their ancestor. Silas began wondering what became of the rest of the men in his family. He thought back to whom he could trust to find out such information.
Picking up the phone again he dialed a number he knew by heart. Letting it ring for that fourth time. He almost hung up until he heard the familiar tone on the other end of the receiver.
“I need help,” he said into the phone.
“What can I do for you?” The soft sweet voice came from the other end.
“I need to know what happened to my grandfather. It needs to be done quietly. Then, I need you and Seraphine to come here.”
“When?”
“Now. Yesterday. I need us all in one place. I can’t protect the two of you while you’re there.”
Ophelia hesitated on the other end. They’d been friends their entire life. Silas always used his influence to make Ophelia the orphaned as safe as he could. Making her a coven leader within his circle was no accidental or otherwise decision. He’d been planning it for years. The fact that she was the descendant of an original, was just the
help he needed to convince his father he’d made a wise decision. Even then, her hesitation meant she was worried his father would find a way to strike out at Silas for the girls’ leaving.
“I’ll try my best.”
“Good. Then I know you’ll get what I need. I expect you two here by the end of the week, or I will come back to claim you.” He was about to hang up the phone when he’d heard her whisper into his ear.
“Silas, be careful. He has eyes everywhere.” With that, she disconnected the call.
Silas spun around to look at the small house. The house his father had procured for them. The house he had set up and made ready for them weeks before they were to arrive. Of course, Sigmis would have his spies. Shifters could take on any form. If they could think it up, they could become anything. He berated himself for not thinking of that earlier.
Hex entered the front door. Silas flung all his energy at his friend, diving into the deepest parts of his mind. Something he could normally do without being noticed or felt, but the veins around Hex’s head bulged with the force of his friend entering his mind. He needed to make sure he was not being deceived with those that were there to protect him.
“Silas,” Hex muttered while his friend dove through the darkest parts of his memory. “What?” He exhaled hard when the force of Silas inside his head released.
“I’d just been reminded of something. I needed to be sure.” He eyed his friend.
Hex gave him a curt nod, and nothing more was said. Hex knew what it meant for Silas to be the son of Silas Sigmis Sr. Nothing was off limits. The man would possess his own children to get what he wanted. Hex needed no explanation or apology.
“Finis will be back soon,” Hex said to his friend and priest and began packing their belongings.
The next two days involved packing. Only speaking outdoors and finding a new home. For one, Silas wanted to be closer to the Crawford farm. Two, he wanted to get away from anything that had to do with his father. When Sigmis told his son not to worry about the details of the trip to Ohio, Silas didn’t much care. He was less than thrilled to be relocating, to begin with. Having his father pick the house, car, and school he would be attending seemed like a good idea at the time.
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