Sky Mothers (Born of Shadows Book 4)

by J. R. Erickson

  "The people who live in the Coven of Ula are..."

  "Witches," Becky finished for her.

  Abby watched her mother closely, trying to decide if she should continue.

  "How do you know that, Mom?"

  "Because my mother was a witch. Sydney used to tell me. She was proud, but I knew it was a curse. I'd seen the witch beneath the willow tree."

  "She's different, Mom. Something horrible happened to her and it drove her insane."

  "We're all a little mad," Becky said, with a small smile, as if remembering another time. "Your Grandma Arlene used to say that a lot."

  "At Ula, I found out that I am one of them. I'm a witch."

  Becky bit her lip and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. She shook her head from side to side.

  "It's all coming true."

  "It's not, Mom. The witch who told you those horrible things was trying to hurt you. It's not coming true."

  "My mother is dead. Sydney is dead. Sebastian's parents, and sister are dead. Don't you see a pattern, here? Being one of them doesn't make you invincible. It's a death sentence!" Becky's voice had grown shrill and Abby scooted closer to her.

  "Please, listen to me and trust me. I have the power to manipulate water. I am so strong. My blood heals other witches and people. It's not a curse, it's a gift. Sebastian is not a witch, but he's magical too. He's called a hybrid."

  "A hybrid?" Becky looked at him with new and distrustful eyes.

  "Kind of like a mutt," he joked, but she didn't smile.

  "It's true that there is a curse in our blood. It was created three hundred years ago by a woman named Kanti. We're going to break the curse, mom. Once we've done that, we'll be safe."

  "Does the curse destroy all the Vepars?"

  "Well, no," Abby admitted.

  "Then, how could you possibly be safe?"

  ****

  "A dog!" Lydie shrieked and ran for the beautiful Siberian husky that jumped out of the boat after Helena.

  Lydie raced down the dock and, without pausing, she and the dog threw themselves at one another. They both rolled off the dock and splashed into the water.

  Helena and Julian laughed as Lydie cried out at the cold. She and the dripping husky splashed through the water and back to the shore.

  "She's gorgeous, Helena," Elda said, walking down the stone steps in front of the castle.

  "Aepa," Helena told her.

  "You named her after your old coven," Elda murmured. "A beautiful tribute."

  "Yes, and she's air all the way. She was chasing butterflies when I spotted her at the humane society."

  "Lydie seems to like her," Julian added, walking up the steps.

  Aepa chased Lydie along the lagoon edge.

  "I would bring home a dog every day if we could keep Lydie feeling that way," Helena sighed.

  Elda nodded.

  "She has changed."

  "You're right," Julian interrupted abruptly. "When I last knew her, she was a vengeful toddler who lit my coat on fire when I told her to stop swimming and come to dinner. We all change. That's the point. What are we here for, if not an evolution? Whose life was a success that came into this world and left unchanged? I challenge you to show me a single entity that has."

  Elda pushed her shoulders back and nodded.

  "You're right, of course, you're right. How can we mourn the growing of a child into a woman?"

  "Because we're women," Helena murmured, continuing to watch Lydie. "We are the keepers of the past. Without our love for every facet of our lives, who would remember and tell the stories? I agree with you, Julian, everyone will and must change. But I also hold tight to that feisty little girl who refused to wear dresses and insisted we cut her hair short so she didn't light it on fire when she practiced magic."

  Elda hooked an arm through each of theirs.

  "That is why I so love you both. The transformer and the keeper."

  "And the preserver," Julian said, nudging Elda.

  "Yes, I am that."

  "What is Lydie?" Helena asked, enjoying their little game.

  "She is the destroyer," said Julian.

  "The destroyer?" Elda asked, frowning.

  "Sure, not intentionally, though sometimes. As she evolves, everything around her must be destroyed and rebuilt to accommodate what she represents - youth, rebellion, vibrancy."

  "I prefer to think of her as the creator, then," Helena cut in.

  "Two sides of the same coin."

  ****

  Ezra arrived at the loft glistening and red-faced.

  "Power yoga," she told Oliver when she strode past him into the kitchen. "You'd think a witch would breeze through it, but I swear that instructor is part devil."

  Oliver smiled wryly.

  "If it weren't possible, I might laugh."

  She grinned and filled a glass with water. Drinking in long, loud gulps.

  "Damn that's good."

  She looked around the vacant loft.

  "Where is everyone?"

  "Doing their good deeds for the day. Kendra is at hospice. Dante and Marcus were off to revive some ailing bean sprouts. And Victor said he had top-secret work that he refused to disclose."

  "Typical Victor," she said.

  "Really?" Oliver asked, treading carefully. "Does he usually break away from the group?"

  Ezra took another drink and shook her head.

  "Not to isolate himself, but when he's on to something new he hides it and then does a big reveal. When he created the city grid, he filled the loft with exploding tinsel balloons to surprise us."

  Oliver smiled, but something gnawed at him.

  "Has everything been cool with Victor? He seemed a little distant when I first got here."

  Oliver watched Ezra carefully. He didn't want to alert her to his suspicions. Victor, after all, was the center of her coven, whether they called it a coven or not.

  "That's a question for him, I'd say."

  "I'm not asking him, I'm asking you."

  "Why, Oliver? Why are you asking me? Why are you here at all? Bored of stuffy old Ula, looking for some fun? The Australia adventure didn't satisfy your need to step out of your comfort zone?"

  Oliver stood and reached for Ezra's hand. He wasn't thinking. He pulled her toward him and leaned his face down. He kissed her.

  She shoved him away and stared into his bewildered face.

  "If you think making out is going to soften me into divulging my secrets, you've watched a few too many romantic comedies."

  She didn't blush, but Oliver felt his own face growing hot.

  "I'm sorry, that was stupid of me. And I didn't do it to soften you, well not in that way anyhow."

  Ezra sighed and ran her hands through her short hair. The last time he's seen her, it had been turquoise. She had since dyed it silver with streaks of purple and black.

  He had shown up the night before unannounced. He wanted the element of surprise. He had brought a stack of irrelevant Asemaa documents as his guise, telling Victor that he hoped he could look at them and see if anything jumped out.

  "Oliver, I like you, but now is not the time for this. I can't trust your motives and you don't need one more thing to figure out. And let's not forget your feelings for Abby."

  Oliver shook his head and started to argue.

  She held up a hand to stop him.

  "You're an honest guy, to your core. It's endearing and I haven't met a lot of men in my lifetime that are, so don't tarnish that by lying to me, or worse, lying to yourself. I understand unrequited love. I've been on both the giving and receiving end of that nasty little heartache, and these days I don't delude myself-ever. You should give yourself that same courtesy."

  Oliver searched for a joke, but came up empty. He sat roughly back on the barstool and smiled grimly.

  "You're like a backhanded therapist."

  She cocked an eyebrow.

  "I'm way worse than that."

  ****

  "Gwen," Abby calle
d, waving as the woman walked through the door.

  She was surprised to see another of the Asemaa with her: Lorna.

  "Look at you," Gwen gushed, hugging Abby and then pulling her away to look at her belly. "That baby's growing!"

  Abby blushed and touched her stomach.

  She had worn a large sweater, but at nearly five months, the baby had started to reveal herself.

  "Yes, Sebastian has started calling her Super Baby."

  "No doubt she'll live up to the name," Lorna said, offering Abby a tight smile and nod.

  "He's over by the window," Abby told them, pointing toward Sebastian. He occupied an elevated table in one of the busy cafe's window alcoves.

  "I've heard this place has delicious sandwiches," Gwen offered, following Abby to their seats.

  Lorna introduced herself to Sebastian and then leaned back in her chair, watching the door and the restaurant interior simultaneously.

  "I'm happy to see the two of you together," Abby started. "Has everything been okay?"

  "Right as rain." Gwen beamed. "Lorna's been staying with Ebony and me for two weeks. It's been like old times."

  Lorna arched an eyebrow at Gwen but didn't comment.

  "Well, slightly more stressful than life before, but still, it's progress, I think."

  "Nothing weird has happened, then?" Sebastian asked.

  "Should it have?" Lorna snapped, shifting her attention to Sebastian.

  Gwen gave her a warning look.

  "Lorna, I think you'd better go with the chamomile tea. Skip the coffee this morning."

  Lorna rolled her eyes.

  "Nothing strange has happened, no. In fact, life has been really calm and sweet lately," Gwen added. "Have things calmed down for you guys as well?" Gwen looked hopeful.

  "I'd like to say yes," Sebastian sighed. "Unfortunately, we're still dealing with some pretty intense stuff."

  "Does that make it easier for you?" Lorna asked, swiveling her gaze back to Sebastian. "Calling it intense stuff? Instead of demons and murderers?"

  Abby clutched Sebastian's hand beneath the table, knowing that his anger would quickly rise at Lorna's comments.

  "Are words important to you Lorna? Do you prefer to give Vepars more power? To instill more fear within yourself?" he asked evenly.

  Lorna glared at him, but said nothing.

  "I'm sorry," Gwen apologized for her angry friend. "I was excited to see you both. I didn't expect..."

  She gestured helplessly toward Lorna.

  "We're not your enemies, Lorna," Abby told her, annoyed. "In fact, we never invited you into this to begin with. You did it all by yourself, didn't you? It made you feel special. Isn't that what you said? Well, mission accomplished. So, let me be honest. We are living in a nightmare that you can't even imagine and I'm not interested in placating you through my lunch, so if you're not going to relax, then let's end this right now and I'll schedule another time to see Gwen alone."

  Lorna pursed her lips and looked ready to walk out.

  "Lorna, please," Gwen said, reaching for her friend's hand. "Remember Sydney."

  Lorna looked at her lap and Abby watched her eyes soften and fill with tears. She brushed them away and nodded.

  "I'm sorry, you're right. It's not your fault. I've just been so angry ever since Sydney died, and then Stephen... The world has stopped making sense."

  "I get it, Lorna. I really do. We all want the same thing."

  Lorna nodded and glanced out the window.

  "Have you spoken with Jack yet? The man from Texas?" Gwen asked.

  "I'm flying out to meet him in two days," Sebastian admitted. "But we're here because we hoped to ask you about something else. Have you ever heard of a coven called the Serpent House?"

  Gwen furrowed her brow.

  "It doesn't ring a bell."

  "Snake Island," Lorna interrupted.

  Gwen turned to her.

  "Snake Island?"

  Lorna nodded, looking strangely excited.

  "Yes, don't you remember? Sydney told us about it. It's an abandoned island off the shore of Trager City. Supposedly a coven existed there centuries ago."

  "Oh wait," Gwen nodded. "I do remember, but it wasn't in any of our documents. Sydney read about it in a history book for Trager. She said we should get a map and take her boat out there sometime as a little Asemaa field trip. Nothing ever came of it, though."

  "You never went?" Sebastian asked, curious.

  "No, she mentioned it right before one of our lulls in the Asemaa. We had a gap of a couple months before meeting again and we had all forgotten about it."

  "Until now," Lorna said.

  Chapter 21

  "I've never been here," Sebastian told Abby as she pushed open the door to Rod's loft.

  It looked exactly as it had the last time she visited, but everything felt different. On her previous venture to the loft, she believed Sebastian had died. Now she had him by her side. It hurt to see Sydney and Rod's life halted in its midst. The pictures and the clothes and the little bits of them spread over surfaces and along the walls. But having Sebastian walk through it with her softened the sharpness of her feelings.

  "Classic Sydney and Rod," Sebastian laughed, tapping his finger on a framed picture of the couple in New Orleans. The photographer had captured Rod kissing Sydney's neck as she grinned into the camera. Heavy with brightly colored beads, a sea of smiling strangers behind them, they existed in their own little world.

  "Do you think they're together now?" Abby asked, studying the picture.

  "Yes, I do. Claire didn't say much about life on the other side, but she said my parents are there and that loneliness doesn't exist. I believe that Sydney and Rod are together right now, sitting at the edge of eternity, sipping margaritas and cheering us on."

  Abby smiled and touched Sydney's grinning face in the photo. Her blue eyes shone and her smile stretched so wide that her cheeks probably ached the next day.

  "I hope so," Abby said. She took a deep breath and turned away from the wall of pictures. It would have been easy to get lost wandering down memory lane.

  "Bookshelf," Sebastian said, hunching over a long shelf beneath a window that faced downtown Trager. "Mostly steamy romance and murder mysteries."

  Abby went to Sydney and Rod's room. She glanced at the bed and felt a little nudge of guilt in the pit of her belly. The last time she had been at the apartment, she had slept in that bed with Oliver. Nothing had happened, of course, but she had not told Sebastian. She wanted to believe he would think nothing of it, but she doubted he would be so understanding. Not that he'd be outright angry. Sebastian hid his feelings well, but it was the kind of information that caused more questions than answers.

  Abby scanned the shelf. Sydney had travel books for Greece, Australia, and South America. She passed over books on pool cleaning and maintenance, wine tasting and herbal health. The name Trager caught her eye and she read the title: How to Survive Trager City in the Winter. The cover depicted a man wearing long johns and a cowboy hat, holding two huge cans of beer as he attempted to navigate a snowy hill. She smiled and shook her head. The author was likely one of Sydney's friends. The title next to it looked more promising: Trager City: Past, Present, and Future.

  "Any luck?" Sebastian asked.

  "Yeah, maybe."

  She flipped to the section about the past and scanned the headings.

  "Here we go," she said, stopping at a section called Myth and Lore of Trager City. She read aloud:

  "Trager City may seem like an ordinary northern Michigan town to the tourists who pop in for a campfire and a swim in the lake. However, the old-timers in the area boast a much more sordid past. From witches to vampires, the city has been housing supernatural creatures for centuries-or so the legends say. One source tells us that once upon a time, our picturesque town was overrun with witches. Fortunately, they kept to themselves on a little-known island approximately five miles off shore. Locals call it Snake Island and perhaps that nam
e was born from its ancient inhabitants: a coven of witches who referred to their home as Serpent House. These days, the island lives up to its name-overrun with snakes of all kinds. Few travelers venture beyond its shores."

  "The next paragraph talks about BigFoot," Abby said, scanning to see if she crossed anything else of value.

  "So it's true, then," Sebastian murmured, reading over Abby's shoulder. "I'm amazed that we've never heard of it."

  "I love that you said it's true despite being nestled between a paragraph about BigFoot and another about the Wolfman.

  Sebastian laughed.

  "Yeah, but there's a reason people say there's a kernel of truth in every myth."

  "What people say that?"

  He grinned and tugged a strand of her hair.

  "Me," he laughed.

  "Well, I'll accept that so long as it doesn't apply to the Wolfman."

  ****

  Lydie passed the library and paused. She heard Faustine and Julian talking about Australia. Helena had given her a brief overview of what had transpired there, and Oliver promised to fill her in on the whole tale, but he left for Chicago before he had the chance. The witches had finally returned from Australia, but she felt as alone as she had before they left. In fact, meeting her aunt had amplified her feelings of loneliness. At Ula, who did she have to remember her mother with? The witches barely spoke of Max and Dafne, two of their own who had died within the last several months.

  "The Lourdes is truly dead, then?" Julian asked.

  Elda had confided to Lydie that the Lourdes had died, but again, withheld the details.

  "Yes. We have her trunk in the oratory, but I haven't had the heart to go through it," Faustine replied.

  "But you discovered the book that Dafne received from the L'Obscurite?"

  "Yes, and I've read it in its entirety. Disturbing-if I had to sum it up in a word."

  Lydie heard a door open and hurried down the hall. She didn't want to be found eavesdropping. She slipped to the stairway and descended quickly, listening for any voices below. She passed Dafne's door and touched the handle, feeling her breath get stuck beneath her ribs and hover there, on the verge of explosion. She wanted to go inside, but didn't. Instead, she continued to the oratory.