Enchanting Wilder

by Cassie Graham

  McKenna rubs my arm with her hand. “Will you tell me stories one day?” she asks hopeful. “I want to know what it’s like to be a badass angel.”

  “Look within yourself.” I wink. “You’re pretty badass.”

  She groans, throwing the covers off herself. Rising to her feet, she turns to me, her hands on her hips. “You’re a smooth talker, you know that?”

  My hands find the skin on her legs and I smile when goose bumps rise under my touch. “Years of practice.”

  She laughs and shoves me away playfully. “I don’t even want to know how many women and heavenly beings you’ve been with.” With that, she snickers to the bathroom and closes the door.

  I smile to myself as I rummage through my bag to get a pair jeans and a t-shirt. She definitely doesn’t want to know that number. After I slip on my sock and boots, I shove my knife in my back pocket and make my way back to the living room where Cole, Abigail, Wood, Candy and Kai sit. The air in the room is a strange mixture of anticipation and uneasiness. Abigail chews on her thumbnail while Cole fitfully turns pages of a magazine. Wood side-glances at Candy on the other side of the couch, while Kai pops his knuckles.

  “Hey,” I say, attempting a smile. “She’s on her way. You guys okay?” I ask Cole.

  He sits up straight in his recliner. “We’re all right, son. Just ready to be done with all of this.”

  Abigail’s chin trembles and Cole sets his magazine down, taking hold of her hand.

  “They’re going to hate us,” she whispers to herself, a tear falling from her eye.

  I rush to her, seeing so much of my mom in her. She’s so caring and loyal, but also a little smothering and overbearing—everything a mom should be. “They could never hate you, Mrs. Sawyer,” I whisper, careful to keep my words from Candy’s ears. “They love you so much.”

  Abigail sobs quietly into her hand, nodding, though I don’t know if my words have any impact.

  McKenna’s footsteps bring our attention to the hallway, and the room becomes eerily quiet. She looks to Wood, Candy and Kai first, waving and when her eyes land on her mom, she scowls. “What’s wrong, mama?” she asks, moving to her quickly, sitting down on the floor in front of her.

  Abigail laughs through her tears. “Oh, sweetheart, there’s just a lot on my mind.”

  Her mouth set, McKenna wraps her arms around the top of Abigail’s legs. “I’m ready.”

  Cole sighs, letting go of Abigail. “We’re so sorry you had to find out this way. We had been planning to tell you everything, but the timing was never right. We were always too scared. It just never happened.”

  McKenna stays silent, but her eyes move to Candy and her nose twitches. She swipes at it.

  Cole continues, “Sally is a Spirit Guide, but she’s also a powerful Principle angel. She oversees not only the Strix in the world, but keeps a close eye on mankind in general. She used to work very closely with Pursuers, helping rid the world of the evil it’s so destined to obtain. That’s how she found you.” He smiles, biting his lip. “For centuries, there was talk about a daughter and son of the devil—devils reincarnated. Normally, that meant Pursuers find you and take you out, but they later learned, after failed mission after failed mission, that you, McKenna, were also part Seraphim angel.” His eyes stare at me now, dejected. “Your father Noah, does he know of Maker’s presence?”

  I blink. “Yes, sir. He knows she exists and the role she plays in the world.”

  “But does he know his connection to her?”

  I shake my head. I can’t imagine him knowing. If he did, he certainly played his lie off well. When he told us of our history, he thought Ava had died. There’s no way he knows. “No, sir. They’re actually on their way here, if that’s okay. I called them when we got back, but dad was out on a case and mom wanted to wait until he was done to make their way to Massachusetts. They should be here any minute.”

  Cole swallows. “Of course that’s fine. We’d love to meet them. I fear he isn’t going to like what we’ve learned.”

  Wood shuffles in his seat, his nostrils flared.

  Mom cuts in, quick to cut the tension, “So, when Sally heard of your existence, McKenna, and your connection to Heaven, it was an immediate call-to-action. All of their best angels were sent to find you. That’s how Sally knew where the entrance to Beneath was. After two decades of searching for you, she stumbled upon it and the Godly Force made their move.”

  “That’s when they brought us in,” Cole adds. “After years of trying for a baby, Sally saw our sadness. In every lifetime before this one, we’d always had two girls. I think she knew how much we wanted a child, how much we suffered because we thought we had done something wrong in our previous lives to make God angry. So, she asked God, on our behalf, if we could take you. Raise you as our own.”

  “He agreed.” Abigail smiles proudly. “We’ve been on this earth for as long as man has. We’d proven ourselves to Him ten times over, and we were forever grateful. So, when Sally brought you to us, we had strict orders.”

  “You were never to know of your true self until God said it so. You were to believe you were a Strix. You acquired the Sephra Linking with Candy, and we even kept up the appearance we were confused about why you had the same birthday. Though, that was never really a worry. We had Candy, oddly enough, on the same day we got McKenna from Sally—just two years later. It was just a weird coincidence.” Cole pauses, finding the next bit of information hard to reveal. “We were told to manipulate your mind and take away any memories from your lifetime before us,” Cole admits, tears in his eyes.

  “Both of us?” McKenna asks, her chin trembling, gazing at Candy whose expression is stoic and a little terrified all at once.

  My jaw twitches and I will my feet to stay planted. All I want to do is comfort McKenna. I have to remind myself this a family matter.

  Cole chews on the inside of his lip, a tear falling down his cheek. “Yes.”

  “Why influence Candy’s memories, then?” McKenna asks, pulling away from her mom, sitting cross-legged. “I can understand taking mine away, but Candy wouldn’t know any different.”

  “Well, when we did finally get pregnant,” Abigail says happily,” we knew her memories from her previous lives would eventually come back in full swing the moment she found out she was a Strix. Only her memories wouldn’t be of you, they would be of her and Elaine, her biological sister.” She shakes her head, her mouth trembling. “So, when Candy was born, we were to help her believe she had previous lives with you. We were to live out our lives as a normal Strix family and no one would be the wiser. We were never to raise a red flag within the community, especially with The Leaders. They only knew what God wanted them to know. And that was as little as possible to keep up the charade. As soon as they found out about McKenna, they’d be on the hunt for her.”

  “Why? Wouldn’t they automatically know McKenna wasn’t your other daughter, Elaine?” I ask.

  Cole sighs. “It wasn’t likely. For every cycle of life, Candy and Elaine looked different, with different names, and different qualities. We could claim McKenna was Elaine and they’d never know. But to them, McKenna is an abomination. The lovechild of an angel and a demon. If they knew the truth, they wouldn’t allow her to live on this earth, let alone allow her to be a Strix.”

  “Dammit,” I stammer. “What happened to Elaine?”

  Abigail looks down at her lap and Cole looks away, my eyes scrutinizing him too harshly. I feel the weight of his guilt all the way on the other side of the room.

  “We…we searched for her in our previous life. We thought she had died. We no longer felt her soul. She was rather feisty and went out on her own quite a bit. She’d be gone for long periods of time without giving a word of her whereabouts. That’s simply how she was, rebellious to a fault. After months without any indication she was okay, we finally called upon her. We had Sally search for her, but it was to no avail. We no longer felt connected to her, so we mourned her and hoped to see
her again in our next life. But, that never came,” Cole says, finally looking back at his girls, ashamed.

  “Dammit, dad,” Candy utters under her breath.

  I decide to steer the conversation away from Cole and Abigail. “How did it not get out?” I ask. “The demons had to have known about McKenna.”

  “Maker was very adamant about keeping her secrets under wraps,” Kai offers. “No one knew.”

  “Do you know what happened to my birth dad?” McKenna asks. “He has to be out there. He’s an angel.”

  Cole shakes his head. “Maker told you he was dead. Now, that may be true, but from what I understand about him, he’s still alive. It’s not easy to kill a heavenly soldier.”

  I pull a chair out from behind the table in the kitchen and quickly bring it into the living room, the chair scraping across the aged floor. “Do you know who he is?”

  “We heard a name,” Abigail offers quickly. “We don’t know if it’s him, but Maker talked about an Anxo quite a bit. The last Maker heard, he was in Ireland somewhere.”

  “You think Anxo could be my dad?”

  “Well,” Cole says. “Anxo means angel in Gaelic, so if I were a betting man, I’d say so.”

  McKenna groans, rubbing her temples with her fingers. “Ugh, information overload.”

  “Does that name sound familiar?” Cole asks me.

  My feet bounce anxiously on the floor. “I recall an Anxo. I just can’t put a face to the name, unfortunately.” My eyes move to McKenna. “I’m sorry, Mighty.”

  She removes her fingers from her head. “It’s all right.”

  I turn to Candy and I think she’s stunned silent. “You…you okay?” I ask, jutting my chin to her.

  She swallows and blinks a few times. “Yeah, just a lot to take in.” I’m sure now that she knows about Elaine, she’s desperate to remember her. I would be if it were Wood.

  “We’re sorry, honey,” Abigail says, tears welling in her eyes again. “We never got the go ahead from God, and we couldn’t bring ourselves to tell you about Elaine. It hurt too much, and we didn’t want to burden you. When Maker faked our deaths everything went to hell.”

  “What are you going to do about that?” Wood asks. He places his elbows on his leg and laces his hands together. “You can’t just come back from the dead.”

  Cole chews on his lip and his eyes search Abigail’s. “We’ll have to pick up and move on, unfortunately.”

  “What?!” Candy screeches, standing up. “This is all too much.”

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but we can’t stay here. What will the mortals think if we just come traipsing back after our deaths were confirmed and our car was found at the bottom of Crane River? It’s just not possible,” Cole says with apologetic eyes.

  Candy sits back down in a huff, crossing her arms over her stomach. I’ve learned the red in her cheeks and the blotchiness in her neck is a go-to sign she’s overwhelmed and on the brink of a meltdown. I wish there was something I could do for her, or at least something Wood could do for her. He should step in.

  I shake my head.

  Not your problem, Declan.

  “Can you…” McKenna asks with a quiver in her voice. “Can you put my memories back? Can you put Candy’s memories back?”

  Both Cole and Abigail nod. “Yes. If that’s what you want, we will put your memories back. We do have to be careful, The Leaders can’t know about any of this. If we do this, give your memories back, you can’t go looking for Elaine,” Abigail looks right at Candy.

  Candy stammers. “O…okay.”

  “I want them back,” McKenna says. “If I’m going to have to make this decision, I need to know all of it. I can’t just walk around with half of the information.”

  Abigail stands up in a flash, tugging her shirt down over her faded blue jeans. “I’ll go set up.”

  Cole gets up, his expression sad. “I’ll help you, honey.” He gives one more hopeful look to McKenna and Candy. McKenna returns a smile but Candy turns her head, clearly upset. He huffs and walks into the kitchen, leaving us alone.

  “Are you ready, Mighty? Sure you want to do this?”

  McKenna stands up, walks to Candy and grabs her hand, lacing their fingers together. “I’m sure.”

  Mom and dad calmly walk back into the living room, holding all of the ingredients they need for the spell. Setting each element on the coffee table, they instruct us to lay on the ground side-by-side.

  “You’re going to be okay,” dad insures me, his hand on my arm. A small tear drops for the lid of my eye and I nod.

  He then kisses Candy on the forehead, whispering something into her ear. She licks her bottom lip and nods, her jaw twitching.

  Mom blows us each a kiss, indignation in her eyes, but stays at the plethora of components at the coffee table. She continues to keep her hands busy, which is a sure sign she’s having internal conflicts. I’d say something, but honestly, I just want this done and over with.

  Declan shuffles to my side, grabbing my hand. His callous palms rubbing harsh on my skin. I love the feeling so much. “No matter what,” he promises. “I’m always here.”

  I sniffle, leaning into him as he leans down to place a small kiss on my lips. He lingers for just a second and then pulls away.

  Focusing on a spot on the ceiling, I take slow, deep breaths, preparing myself for what’s to come. I’ve never done such a spell before, so I have no idea what to expect.

  Is it going to hurt? Will I get sick with everything rushing back?

  “We’re ready, girls,” mom utters over us. “Keep calm and everything will be okay.”

  Candy stays silent and I gesture that I understand.

  Soon, a sweltering ball of cobalt light shines bright above us as mom and dad chant over Candy and I. They rock back and forth, the force in their hands growing stronger with each incantation.

  My eyes blink rapidly as the wind begins to howl, drying out my eyes. I take hold of Candy’s hand, moving as close to her as possible. She squeezes back with intensity, turning her head to me.

  It’s okay, I try to tell her.

  In my peripheral, Declan stands to the side of us, his arms crossed tight over his chest. I look to him, trying desperately to see his eyes. His face. Anything that’ll bring me comfort. I don’t know if having my memories back will be a good thing or not, but Declan calms my nerves.

  Sounding like the rumble of an airplane engine, the magic above us tosses high into the air and then down onto us with such force Candy and I are knocked apart, each of us sliding to opposite sides of the room.

  My back hits lightly against the couch and Wood catches Candy.

  Hair a mess, the pounding in my chest roars inside my ears.

  “Are you okay?” Declan mouths as he bends down to check me out. I can’t hear his voice. “Are you okay?” he says again.

  Everything around me blurs and I can’t seem to find my bearings.

  I close my eyes and nod, taking hold of his taut arm. “I’m okay,” I attempt to say but it comes out as a rasp.

  Mom rushes to me while dad eagerly moves to Candy.

  As the deafening roll of magic inside me settles, images become clearer and sounds trickle their way into my ears.

  I sit up, pushing hair away from my face. “Holy shit.”

  Declan smiles and mom laughs her tiny, sweet little giggle.

  “Mighty, you did so good.”

  I wipe the moisture from my forehead and lean my head against the soft cushions of the couch. “Did I? Because I feel I’ve been run over by a truck…or four.”

  Mom touches my head with the back of her hand, looking so motherly. I want to wrap my arms around her neck and cry. “You’ll be okay, honey. The memories will start filtering in soon.”

  Pulling my legs to my chest, I nod. “Okay, mama. Thank you for doing this.”

  She kisses the top of my head and walks over to Candy, checking her just as she did me.

  “You think Candy is going to be
okay?” I ask.

  Declan turns and looks over his shoulder, a sly smile on his face. “I think she’ll be just fine.”

  “They’re here!” Wood yells down the hall and Declan and I get up from the bed, him kissing me on my forehead before we make our way out of my room.

  Taking my hand, he leads me outside to meet Sarah and Noah. Immediately, a radiant smile pulls at my lips when I see them. They don’t know it—but Noah and Sarah are my grandparents.

  My grandparents…

  God, this is so weird.

  Wood greets them first, engulfing both of his parents in a massive bear hug. His mom squeals, slapping him on his chest when they pull away. When Wood walks back to the front porch of our house, Declan moves to them next, pulling me along. First, he kisses Sarah on the cheek and then gives his dad that bro-hug thing. They both smile at me as I stand awkwardly to the side, holding my left elbow with my right hand.

  “Good to see you again, McKenna,” Noah greets, tipping his hat at me.

  “Oh, honey!” Sarah wails in her adorable way. “I’m so happy to see you’re doing okay.” She pulls me into a hug, and I grunt at the impact. Though a little stunned, I willingly and wholeheartedly, wrap my arms around her, having a brand new outlook on our relationship.

  She lets me go and smiles, taking hold of Noah’s arm.

  My mom and dad step out of the front door, their smiles wide as they welcome the Wilders to their house.

  “Glad to finally meet you, Wilders,” my dad says, chuckling when Noah shakes his hand. “Sorry it had to be under such circumstances.”

  “Yes,” my mom agrees with a wink. “But, now we can interrogate the both of you and get the real scoop on Declan.”

  We laugh together as mom and dad escort Noah and Sarah inside.

  “Your house is just lovely,” Sarah appeases. “But I have to ask, how were we able to find it?”

  “I can answer that,” Kai says, walking into the kitchen, waving to Declan’s parents. “I spelled it so only you can see it. To everyone else, it just looks vacant.”