True of Blood (Witch Fairy Series)

by Lamer, Bonnie

  The nature walk is everything I expected it to be. Cold, wet and miserable. After an hour, I start to get whiny and by two hours, I’m down right surly. Dad finally gets the hint and we start heading back towards home. After climbing up a particularly steep slope and losing my footing twice, I vow not to leave the house again until July. I’m so excited to finally be at the top that I almost walk through Dad who is staring at the ground with a puzzled expression on his face.

  “What’s the matter, Dad?” I ask.

  “There’s people tracks,” Zac says excitedly pointing to a spot about ten feet away where there is a line of tracks in the snow that do indeed look like human footprints.

  “People tracks? Who besides us would be crazy enough to trudge through this snow and get this close to being a human icicle?” Okay, I already admitted that I was surly.

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” Dad says completely ignoring my icicle comment. Peering closer at him, he looks worried. The way he’s standing there so still as only a ghost can do and staring with his brow scrunched together is making me nervous.

  “Is everything okay, Dad?”

  Shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts, he looks back at Zac and me. “Yes, of course. Just wondering why someone would be so far off the trail.” The closest hiking trail is over five miles from our house. Someone would have to be seriously lost to find their way here.

  He must have been thinking the same thing. “Why don’t you take Zac back to the house. I want to see where these tracks lead and see if someone needs help.” He’s totally oblivious to the distress that coming across a ghost when you are already lost in snow filled woods and thinking you’re going to freeze to death would cause. But his heart is in the right place. Maybe a spirit guide through the woods would be welcomed by a lost hiker.

  Zac and I make it back home and I’m finally able to peel off my soaked jeans and gray long underwear, which are unfortunately a necessity at this elevation, and step into a hot shower. By the time I’m done and come out of my room, Dad’s home and he and Mom are in the living room speaking in hushed tones.

  “It couldn’t be,” Mom is saying. “There’s no way anyone could have found us here.”

  “Then how do you explain the tracks suddenly disappearing? Who else could do that?”

  What is he talking about? “Dad, what’s going on?” I ask coming into the room startling them both. If they could turn any paler, I believe they would have.

  Dad tries to put a convincing smile on his face. “Nothing’s wrong. I wasn’t able to find the hikers and I’m worried that they’re in danger.”

  “What did Mom mean about someone finding us?” I don’t miss the guilty look that washes over her face before she puts her own unconvincing smile on. “I was just hoping that they would find our house so we could help them but we’re so deep in the mountains that it would be almost impossible. I hate to think of someone being all alone and lost. I think I’ll go talk to Barb about getting dinner started.” With that, she floats through the living room wall in the direction of the garage and Aunt Barb’s lab.

  “I think I’ll take another quick look around,” Dad says as he floats through the large picture window.

  Okay, Mom and Dad have never lied to me before that I know of but their explanation just isn’t adding up with the conversation they were having but they’re obviously not going to say anything else on the subject. All through dinner, they both have a hard time looking me in the eye when talking to me and I am getting more uncomfortable by the minute. What is going on that they don’t want me to know about?

  After dinner and dishes, I go to my room and log onto my Facebook account. I get lost for the next couple of hours in my own little cyber world of friends. By the time I come out to get a snack before bed it’s already Zac’s bedtime. I stop by his open bedroom door and listen to Mom tuck him in. From the time I can remember, Mom has always sang the same lullabies to us. I used to look forward to them every night when I was younger and still needed to be tucked in. I still love to hear her lilting voice as she sings the songs she says have been sung to all the children in her family for generations, so I stand in the door to listen as she sings softly:

  “Deosil go by the waxen moon - sing and dance the Witch’s Rune;

  Widdershons go when the Moon doth wane, the wolf will howl by the dread wolf’s bane;

  When the lady's moon is coming new, kiss your hand to her times two;

  When the moon is riding at her peak, then your heart's desire you should seek.

  Heed the north wind's mighty gale - lock the door and drop the sail;

  When the wind is from the south, love will kiss thee on the mouth;

  When the west wind blows o'er thee, the departed spirits will restless be;

  Heed ye flower, bush, and tree - by the Lady blessed be.”

  I have no idea what the song means and when I’ve asked in the past, Mom just smiles at me mischievously and tells me that the important thing to remember from the lullaby is that to bind the spell every time, let the spell be spoken in rhymes. Then she says that it was a southern wind that brought Dad to her. As far as an answer goes, it’s not a very good one but I can never get her to tell me anything else.

  “Will you sing both to me tonight?” Zac asks as he yawns widely.

  Mom smiles. “You look awfully tired, are you sure you want me to sing again?”

  “Uh huh,” he says as his eyelids already start drooping.

  “Alright, we’ll do both tonight.” Mom begins to sing softly again.

  “BeWitching Goddess of the cross roads

  Whose secrets are kept in the night,

  You are half remembered, half forgotten

  And are found in the shadows of the night.

  From the misty hidden caverns

  In ancient magic days,

  Comes the truth once forbidden

  Of thy heavenly veiled ways.

  Cloaked in velvet darkness

  A dancer in the flames

  You who are called Diana, Hecate,

  And many other names.

  I call upon your wisdom

  And beseech thee from this time,

  To enter my expectant soul

  That our essence shall combine.

  I beckon thee O Ancient One

  From far and distant shore,

  Come, come be with me now

  This I ask and nothing more.

  Zac is sound asleep by the time she finishes. I think she only kept singing because of me listening at the door. Even if I can’t explain what the songs mean I’ll probably still sing them to my kids some day, too, just because they’re so beautiful and comforting. I’ll hold off on the cryptic replies, though, when they ask me what they mean and just admit that they don’t mean anything I think as I head back to my room with the apple I just got from the kitchen.

  A little while later, Mom comes into my room. She’s in pajamas now and I can’t help but think how cool it is that she and Dad can appear how they want to appear. They don’t sleep any more but they still appear in pajamas every night. She sits down next to me on my bed where I’m reading. She and Dad have gotten much better at hovering and appearing to sit on things. They used to look like they were sitting inside of them or a foot above them.

  “Good book?” she asks.

  I shrug. “It’s okay.”

  “I can’t believe you’re seventeen already,” she says as she presses a cold translucent hand to my cheek. “There’s so much that I still have to teach you.”

  “From the amount of homework you and Dad give me, it seems like my brain is already going to burst,” I grumble and she smiles.

  “I wasn’t talking about schoolwork. I mean about life. About mistakes. About destiny.”

  My brows furrow as I consider what she’s saying. “Mom, is this the birds and the bees talk because I figured all that stuff out a long time ago and since there aren’t any boys around here for me to make any mistakes with, you rea
lly don’t have anything to worry about.”

  “Not your mistakes, mine” she says quietly and I swear by the way she is looking at me that if ghosts could have tears in their eyes, she would have them now. She gestures to my necklace and bracelet. “Promise me you will wear these always.”

  “Mom, you’re making me nervous.”

  With a cheap imitation of a smile, she rises from my bed. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to. I’m just a mother who is having a hard time with the fact that my daughter is all grown up now and I realized that I haven’t truly prepared you for the world. I always thought I had plenty of time but now you’ve reached a magical age and you’re unbound and falling into adulthood without any practical guidance.”

  Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel better. “What are you talking about?”

  “Nothing we need to discuss tonight. We’ll talk more tomorrow.” With that, she touches my face one more time and then floats out of my room leaving me perplexed and a little bit frightened. It’s now impossible for me to concentrate on my book as I ponder yet another cryptic conversation with my mother.

  Later as the light of the full moon streams in over my dark blue comforter from the large window that faces out into the woods, I think of the verse in the lullaby that Mom sang to Zac which says when the moon is riding at her peak, then your heart’s desire seek. What is my heart’s desire? There are so many things that I want. I would love to have my parents be corporeal again. I would love to live some where that has summer all year long instead of being almost constantly surrounded by snow or rain. I would love for Zac to have other little boys to play with instead of being stuck in this house most of the time with very little to do. And I would like to have friends of my own to do things with like go to the mall or the movies instead of being stuck in this house too with very little to do. That last thought tugs at my conscience as I think of the loving household that my parents have provided for us. They love Zac and me so much that they have forsaken an afterlife which promises to be glorious and instead anchor themselves here to be sure that we are safe and well taken care of. If we moved off this mountain and around more people, there’s a good chance that they would be discovered and our family would suffer. Zac and I might even be put in foster homes. It seems ungrateful of me to want more than they have already given us but maybe Mom’s right, maybe I haven’t experienced enough of the world at large and I’m missing out on some important life lessons. That’s the thought that lingers in my mind as I fall asleep on the night of my seventeenth birthday.

  Chapter 2

  The next day I wake up antsy and I blame it on my conversation with Mom last night. It doesn’t help that she keeps looking at me as if something bad is about to happen. Even after becoming a ghost, Mom has always been happy and full of life but today she looks closer to being dead than she ever has. I can’t help but wonder if she and Dad have been waiting for me to be old enough to care for Zac so that they could finally move on. With that thought in mind, I push away my plate of frozen waffles and slump back into my chair.

  “Everything all right?” Dad asks looking at me with concern. Even he has seemed nervous this morning and Dad has always been the most laid back person I have ever met. Granted, I haven’t met that many people but still, he never looks nervous.

  “Yes,” I lie. My parents exchange a look that I can’t quite figure out.

  “Xandra, honey, why don’t we take a break from school today and spend some time together?” Mom says trying to sound cheerful but failing. “After you finish dishes, come find me in the living room. I’ll be reading.”

  My feeling of dread is getting worse by the minute. Zac and I take as long as possible with the dishes but since there are no pans to wash, we have them done way too soon. Not being able to put it off any longer, I walk into the living room and have a seat on the overstuffed red couch.

  Mom drifts over and sits down with a transparent leg underneath her so she’s facing me. “Do you remember the Fairy tale you used to love when you were a little girl?”

  I shake my head. “Not really.”

  “Would you mind if I told it to you again?”

  “Mom, I’m a little old for Fairy tales.”

  “Please, just humor me,” she says with a small smile and I nod reluctantly as my feeling that something bad is going to happen soon increases.

  After a moment, she begins to talk again. “Once upon a time, there was a lovely princess who lived in a beautiful white house that was as big as a castle. She had a wonderful life. There was a stable behind the house full of horses that she loved to ride and she was given everything her heart desired. Her parents, the King and Queen, loved her very much and she could do no wrong in their eyes.

  “She had a charming childhood filled with magic. Her mother was a powerful Witch and after the princess’s seventeenth birthday, her mother began to teach her the secrets of the earth and taught her to be responsible as she honed her skills for magic is only to be used for good, never evil. The princess found she had wonderful abilities such as performing difficult spells and she could even move things with her mind. For three years, she worked hard to become the woman her parents meant for her to be as she would be queen someday.

  “But even as she worked and trained, the princess grew sadder and sadder. She didn’t want the responsibility of a kingdom of Witches for there was always bickering and challenges of magical abilities and her parents were constantly under the threat of being overthrown by someone more powerful than they were. The princess longed to escape the world she had been born into even as she felt guilty for wanting to leave her parents. She knew her destiny was already set in stone, or so she thought.

  “On the night of her twenty-first birthday, the princess was wandering the woods behind her home enjoying the almost full moon of the Equinox that would usher in spring. As she stopped to pick a lovely purple flower, she noticed a shadow in the trees. She stood and continued her walk for she was never afraid of shadows in the night; she had her magic to protect her. After several minutes, it became obvious that the shadow was following her. Being the brave princess she was, she moved toward the shadow to discover what animal was so curiously coming along for her walk. To her amazement, she found a horse as black as the new moon with obsidian eyes and a gleaming mane. She had never seen a horse as beautiful as this one.

  “Reaching out a tentative hand, she stroked the horse’s nose. He snorted softly in pleasure and she moved closer to him. He was a powerful stallion with wild eyes and a hard muscular body. As she continued petting him, he began to nudge her with his nose. The princess finally realized that the horse was trying to encourage her to ride him. Charmed with the idea, the princess wrapped a handful of his mane in her hand and used it to pull herself up. She sat on his bare back enjoying the freedom of riding without a saddle. When she was in place, the horse began to gallop.

  “The princess laughed as she enjoyed the feeling of the wind against her face and her long blonde hair streamed out behind her. They rode like this for a long time, the beautiful black steed and her. When they reached a clearing in the center of the woods, the steed slowed and finally stopped. The princess climbed off his back and picked spring flowers for him to eat as she stroked his neck and back. She couldn’t stop staring at his eyes that danced with intelligence and something else she couldn’t name. She knew that she could love this horse more than all others and she hoped that she could convince him to follow her home. She knew that her father would purchase him from whoever owned him for he loved for her to be happy.

  “After a while, it was time to return home. She mounted the horse again and they ran with the wind back to where she had found him. There he stopped and nudged her legs with his nose. The princess took the hint and dismounted. With a final rub of his nose, the stallion rode off into the night and the princess feared she would never see him again.

  “The next day, the princess returned to the woods and waited as the moon of the spring Equinox rose in the
sky. She was sure that her beautiful black horse would come to her that night and just as darkness took its hold, she heard him. She smiled as he trotted to her and laughed when he rubbed his nose against her face. She needed no encouragement this time to climb upon his back and they spent the night together under the full moon and stars in the clearing in the woods once again. The princess was sad when he nudged her and wanted her to climb on his back so he could bring her home. It was much harder to leave him that night than it had been the night before.

  “On the third night, the princess waited once again and when she saw him coming toward her, her heart filled with joy and love. He carried her through the dark woods and back to the clearing. When she climbed down from his back, she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered to him how much she loved him and wished that he would stay with her forever.

  “The horse began to shimmer and shake and the princess stepped away in fright as she watched his long nose recede and his body grow smaller and his skin lightened and his obsidian eyes became a vibrant green. Within moments, the most beautiful man she had ever seen stood before her. The princess didn’t know what to do as she watched this transformation for nothing her parents had taught her about magic could explain what had just happened.