Birthrights

by Butler, Christine M.

  Caislyn sighed. “Ah, Gods. Humans! I am an auto sketcher. I sketch my visions or dreams and most of the time they come true. And rituals aren't bad. I mean they can be, but not all rituals are bad. It depends on what the intentions behind them are. Magic isn't good or bad, it’s the user that determines the results. “

  Jax raised her eyebrow again “And your intentions were...”

  Caislyn gave a mischievous grin “Just stand right there, don't move...”

  Jaxon's eyes grew wide, “Why?”

  Caislyn laughed. “I was trying to find my parents!! What did you think my intentions were! I did a ritual to ask for help in finding my parents, and what I got was you.”

  Jaxon stared at her new acquaintance, trying to piece together all this information. “Okay, what do you mean you got me? I didn't have anything to do with your parents disappearing. I'm just an art sales consultant.”

  “No, there's more to you. You got into a non-human rave and we teleported off a roof top together. There's no way you are just human.”

  Jaxon's brow furrowed and confusion was obvious on her face. “Teleport? What are you talking about? I'm human. Always have been and unless bitten by something furry or fang-filled, I'm staying that way. Here look, my license says I'm a donor.” Jaxon pointed to the little red heart on her card, “you only get those if you are human.”

  Caislyn took the license and looked at it. “But I don't understand.”

  Jaxon put her license back in her pocket and took her jacket off. “Maybe I'm here to help you in some other fashion,” she finished as she turned to go sit on the couch.

  “Hey wait, what's that on your shoulder?” Caislyn asked.

  “Huh? Oh, you mean my birthmark?” she turned and let Caislyn take a closer look.

  The intricately designed mark took up most of Jaxon's shoulder blade. It was a web of different symbols completely woven together to make up a unique brand all together.

  Caislyn remarked “I've seen this somewhere before.”

  “Um, yea obviously you've seen a lot before,” Jax replied as she pointed to the sketches.

  “Funny. But seriously, I've seen this somewhere. I think in a book. Come on, it’s downstairs.”

  The girls went back down the stairwell and through the door that lead them into the store. They meandered through the stacks of books and over to the counter where Caislyn began searching through the books until she found the one she was looking for. “I swear I've seen that mark, recently, so it must be over here.”

  Jaxon meandered around the store looking at the different titles and authors. “Wow, this place is really cool. Is this how you learned to be a witch?”

  “I didn't learn to be a witch. I was born that way. I just learned to use my gifts. And yes, my mother and father used many of the books to help me learn,” Caislyn said quietly. The mention of her parents brought about a sadness in her voice.

  Jaxon could sense the loss of Caislyn's parents weighing on her new friend. It was like a heavy coat of wool lying across her entire being.

  “Wait, here it is. I knew I saw it somewhere,” Caislyn held the book out to Jax.

  A small black and white picture showed the exact design that was on Jaxon's shoulder. The caption underneath stating, “The brand of this ancient lineage of witches is thought to be an extinct line. Many philosophers believe this family was to have bore one of the witches mentioned in the Seers Prophecy. In order for that to be true the line cannot be extinct, but rather hidden.”

  Jaxon and Caislyn stood there looking at the book and then at each other. “Human huh?” Caislyn questioned.

  Jaxon swallowed. “Whatever! I don't have any powers. I can't fly or teleport or whatever we did back there, and I certainly don't do rituals, of any kind or with any intention.”

  Caislyn put the book back on the counter. “Well I don't know what you are, but you are something and it’s not human.”

  Jaxon sighed heavily, trying to process the information she had just received. As an adopted child, she had never known her biological parents, and with this new information she had to wonder if this was really possible or just some sort of sick joke nature was playing on her. "I'm adopted. So I never knew my real parents. I was raised as a human girl; a normal, human girl by my adoptive parents."

  Caislyn saw the worry on her friend's face and decided it was time for a drink. The two of them headed back upstairs to Caislyn's apartment to chase their demons, real and imagined, away.

  The two girls sat on the couch drinking their Tropical Cloud drinks - a concoction Caislyn had become famous for in her circle of friends before her parents went missing - commiserating in silence while Jaxon's attention was drawn back to the wall of sketches. She got up from her place on the couch and walked toward them.

  “You know, these are really good,” she said as she looked back over at Caislyn. “I've never seen so much detail in a charcoal work before, it's almost as if they are real.”

  Caislyn responded with a lopsided grin, “Well, they kinda, sorta are.”

  “Oh, yeah, I guess they are, but you know what I mean.” Jaxon studied the sketches a little longer, “you know, they just draw you into the scene like you are there with them.”

  “Yeah, I sketch what I see in my dreams and they are usually very vivid. I don't completely understand the mechanics of it, but they do turn out rather lifelike. It was actually startling the first time I ever did it.” Caislyn looked down into her drink, staring at the cloud of cream moving through the alcohol bliss, her thoughts going back to her father who had talked her through her gift and helped her to understand it. The sadness of his loss overwhelmed her for a moment.

  “You'll find him you know.” Jaxon said as she tried to fight off her own wave of melancholy, while wondering to herself where that feeling had come from.

  “Yeah, I know, he's out there somewhere,” Caislyn paused and looked back at Jax. “Wait, how did you know, I was just thinking about my dad.”

  “I don't know, it was just, well, you just looked sad. I figured it was because of your parents.”

  “But, you weren't looking at me. So how did you know?”

  “Uh, I don't know, I just guessed I would feel that way if it were me, so I figured you did too.”

  “You're empathetic!” Caislyn nearly shouted the revelation, because for her it was one more nail in the coffin that Jax was not human.

  “I'm what?” Jax questioned. “First you tell me I am a witch or something and now you're calling me names, what's going on?”

  Caislyn laughed at Jax and then began to explain, “An empath is someone who can feel other people’s emotions, it goes deeper than that with some people, but there's an easy explanation for you.”

  “Oh, I don't know. I don't think I feel what other people are feeling. I think I'm just really intuitive, that's what my mom used to tell me anyway. She said it was a gift to be so compassionate and so understanding and that I should just accept it.” Jax said thoughtfully.

  “Hmm, it sounds to me like your mom knew you were an empath. She just gave you an explanation you would understand and accept."

  "Maybe," Jax said as she nonchalantly changed the subject, “I got an idea. What if we displayed your art in the gallery? Maybe someone would recognize the scenes and be able to help you figure things out. At the same time, I need to get a new artist in. My boss would be oh so happy if I brought these into the gallery. Not that I care if I make him happy, but it will be a boost to both of us financially.”

  “Oh, I don't know, these are so personal.” Caislyn looked down into her drink again and then back at all the art she had hanging along the walls, “what if the wrong person sees them?”

  Jax scoffed at the idea as she explained,“So what if the wrong person sees it, then they will come looking for you and you'll know. You're a witch, you can protect yourself. Hello, you can teleport!”

  Caislyn rolled her eyes, “I can not teleport!”

  “Well, you did.”<
br />
  “Whatever, the point is, outside of my family you are the only person who has ever seen the sketches. I used to keep them hidden. I only put them out in case it triggered a memory or helped me find my parents in any way. You are talking about people looking at them and maybe even buying them to take as their own.” She sat thoughtful for a moment, “what if I need to look at them again?”

  “Xerox! Seriously, we will make copies for you, and if someone recognizes anyone or anything, they will ask questions, you may get some answers. Do you want to find your parents or not?” Jax looked at Caislyn, “Didn't you say earlier that there was a reason you met me? Maybe this is it! We met so I could put your sketches out and get you some answers. This will help, I promise!”

  Caislyn sighed heavily,“Okay, how do we do this?”

  “I'll bring someone by in the morning to help me pack them up. I saw a copier downstairs, lets go make copies and get everything ready.”

  ***

  For Art’s Sake

  The following day, Jaxon showed up bright and early with two of the guys they used to unload shipments at the gallery. She had trusted them on numerous occasions before to get the job done right and they trusted her to pay well for their caution. Jax used her cell phone to call Caislyn and let her know they were waiting for them downstairs at the bookstore entrance.

  “Alright,” a very groggy Caislyn responded into her phone, “be right down.” Caislyn sat up on the edge of her bed, and commenced putting her slippers on her feet. 'Why in hell's name does she have to make it so early?' she thought to herself as she smiled down at her favorite slipper critters. Her feet were shoved up the ass end of two very peculiar looking garden gnomes. Not real gnomes of course, but they were the stuffed little gnomes that bobbled on the top of her slippers as she walked. It looked from the front of her as if she had two garden gnomes sitting grumpily on the ends of her feet. These were her favorite slippers when she could find them, being as they had the gnome spirit, they would often wandered off on their own and get lost throughout the apartment.

  As Caislyn walked downstairs and through the shop, she paused momentarily to turn on the coffee pot. If she had to be up this early to unload her mounds of sketches, then she was going to be caffeinated. She continued on to the door, unlocking it and letting Jaxon inside.

  “Why so early,” she grumped to Jaxon.

  “Why not? The earlier I get this done the quicker I get everything tagged, in the system, and on the walls. Isn't that the point?”

  Caislyn looked at her out of the corner of her eye as she turned to go retrieve some of the coffee that had begun brewing.

  “Don't you have a band of merry men with you, just as bright and bushy tailed, waiting to pounce on your orders, or do I have to do the lifting too?”

  Jaxon laughed at Caislyn, who obviously wasn't a morning person. “Look, I don't like mornings much either, but I would really rather get this done before Seth comes in tonight. I want to rub it in his face that I found a new artist so quickly.” She tossed her head back behind her at the men who were now in visual range unloading some crates from the truck they had pulled up, “there they are now.”

  “Coffee?” Caislyn asked Jax as she poured the fresh brew into her cup.

  “I'm more of a tea person.” Jaxon said, while eying her friend's peculiar choice of slippers.

  Caislyn caught the look, admired her own slippers one more time and shrugged while sipping the coffee that was warming up her hands. “Tea bags are over there, behind the counter. Help yourself.”

  Just as she said that, the first of the movers walked in the store with a hand truck loaded down with wooden crates. “Uh, hey, where should we be stacking these for now?”

  “Just over here by the counter,” Caislyn directed.

  “Hey, did you hear that noise, your bells at the front door sounded different when he came in,” Jaxon half-questioned Caislyn.

  “Bells?”

  “You know whenever you come in the store there are some bells or something that sound. Only I haven't heard them do that before.”

  “Oh,” Caislyn realized what Jaxon was talking about, “there aren't any bells, it’s the wards on the store. My father set them up to make a different sound for the various species in the world, so we would know how to better help them when they walk through the door. That guy is a witch; the wards always sound that way for witches.”

  “Except you,” Jaxon corrected.

  “Well, yea, I think my dad put his own spin on me, just in case I thought of sneaking out when I shouldn't” Caislyn laughed as the second guy came through the door carrying more crates, without the need of a hand truck. “That one there is a Were,”she paused for a moment, “wolf most likely.”

  “Oh, that's neat, wait, did you say Jack's a Werewolf?" Jaxon looked a little peeked for a moment. Jaxon started stirring her tea frantically, “I didn't realize, should I be careful around him? Holy crap! How do I not know these things?”

  Caislyn stifled a laugh, “I don't think you have anything to worry about unless you wanna try tongue kissing him on a full moon.”

  Both girls looked up as they heard Jack the Werewolf snickering over by the door.

  “Oh, by the way, they have excellent hearing.” Caislyn laughed as Jaxon's face took on the scarlet hue of embarrassment.

  In an effort to change the subject Jaxon asked, “What about me?”

  “Hmm?”

  “The bells, wards, whatever, they do something different for me.” Jaxon looked nervously toward Caislyn, knowing she was not going to like this answer.

  Caislyn nodded to her,“Yeah, they do.”

  “Well?” Jaxon questioned.

  “Well what?”

  “Well, if I am not a witch or a Were, then what do I sound like?”

  Caislyn looked out into the open expanse of the store, seemingly looking through the mass amounts of books upon the shelves into nothingness. She didn't answer for quite some time, as Jaxon nervously continued to pack away the sketches that Caislyn was giving her for the show. “I'm not sure,” she finally answered. “I have never heard it before.” Caislyn still stared off into oblivion as she continued, “It's kind of like mine in that it's unique, but the only person my dad ever gave a unique sound to was me.”

  “Well, I don't think I have ever met your parents.”

  “No, it's something else altogether, I just haven't figured it out yet.”

  “When do you think you'll figure it out? Because I am dying to know.”

  “Don't worry Jax, we'll figure it out soon enough.” She looked around at the crates, now full with her sketches, “you better get these things out of here before I change my mind.”

  Jaxon had the guys load up the remaining crates, it was beyond her why they brought so many in for just some sketches, it wasn't like they were packing up statuary or something. She finished off her tea and headed out to her car. “See you later tonight, Cais, and stop worrying. This was meant to be, I can feel it.”

  Caislyn nodded to her and took a look at the vintage Mickey Mouse watch she always wore. It was already 11:30 in the morning, that only gave her an hour and a half to get ready to open the store, 'so much for going back to sleep,' Caislyn thought.

  ****

  Over the next few hours Jaxon oversaw the offloading of the crates containing Caislyn's drawings, she painstakingly categorized, assessed, framed, and entered them into the system. Caislyn had given her a rough value that she would place on each sketch were she to sell them off herself, but Jax felt she was selling herself too short. She raised the prices on each piece substantially and began logging where their placement would be throughout the gallery. Jaxon took some still photo shots of the now signed and framed sketches for publicity photos and she made a note to get Caislyn in here to take a few snapshots of the artist with the art.

  She was trying to figure out how to get Caislyn in there, not only for photos, but also to make an appearance at a show when her boss Ronald stuc
k his head in the door.

  "Jaxon, you take care of all those drawings and stuff already? I was hoping to see them before you decided on your own that they were good enough to show."

  "Oh wow, Ronald, sorry," Jax replied realizing that she had completely forgotten to involve him in the process, "I guess I was just so excited about this new artist that I got carried away."

  Ronald stepped further into her office, walking towards the last few drawings that Jaxon had left on her work table.

  "Well, I certainly appreciate your gun-ho attitude towards this new artist, but in the future, I think following protocol would be the wisest action. I do know your reputation speaks for itself and I'm sure your eye for art is quite refined, but I'd still like to be the one to call the shots. Otherwise the big guns will question why they're paying me!"

  Jaxon agreed wholeheartedly with her boss, "Oh sure, no problem Ronald, really. I'll be sure to keep you in the loop in the future.” She got up and met him at the work table as he flipped through some of Caislyn's sketches, feeling lucky that her reprimand wasn't harsher. In Raleigh her old boss would have made sure she never forgot who was in charge. Jax shivered slightly at the thought of it but was interrupted by Ronald's assessment of Caislyn's work.

  "Wow, these really are quite outstanding, Jaxon. They're so real, so full of emotion. I'm surprised you convinced the artist to let them go. How did you say you found them again?"

  "I was in this old bookstore a few blocks down, and there they were, just hanging there. I started asking questions, and it just felt like the right thing to do, you know? I mean, I could just see them here, in our gallery." Jax covered nervously. She really hadn't expected Ronald to be so inquisitive. Maybe bringing Caislyn to the show wasn't such a great idea after all.

  "So when are you planning an opening? I imagine since you've gotten it all ready, then it must be soon. I'm beginning to think your excitement is contagious. After seeing these, I can't wait to hear the cash register, uh, I mean the door chimes ring," Ronald blushed as he put the drawings back on the table.