by Cate, Marnie
“I know where we can go,” my father said. “We will go where they won't find us.” Standing up, he said, “We will go to Great Winds.”
Chapter 16
“We can't just up and leave everything here,” I countered as I looked around at the house. “They will burn everything like they burned Cole's home. I will not risk losing my grandmother's home.”
Wiping the tear that fell from my face, Cole said, “We can protect the house before we go. I found a spell in my mother's things and I used it on her studio. I know it will protect this home, too.”
“Great, Cole gather what we need for the spell. Mara, pack yourself a bag of essentials only and then help Meg and Miles do the same,” my father commanded.
“I can help the kids, Mara,” Hazel said. Then quickly added, “I mean if that is okay with you.”
“Okay everyone, pack a small bag. Only what you want to carry and meet back here,” My father continued his orders.
Meg and Miles quietly obeyed and led Hazel up to the loft. Going to Gram's room, I scanned everything as I stood in the doorway. Realizing that I was not packing, my father hugged me tightly.
“Caterpillar, we need to hurry,” he urged. “I know this is difficult.”
“Do you? This is my home. This is my grandmother's home. How can you guarantee they won't destroy everything?” I said. “You all keep saying how strong the magic within me is. Why can't I stay and fight them?”
“Mara, the Drygens have gathered men from the darkest corners of this earth,” he said, cupping my face in his hands. “The kind of men that do not care about anything other than the money that Blanche Drygen will pay them. Your magic might be able to fight ten or twenty of them but you are not strong enough to fight the numbers she has built.”
“How do you know what she has built?” I argued, turning away from him.
“What I saw tonight in the box told me. I am not willing to take a chance on losing you,” his voice cracked. “Mae would not want you to die for any of this. I can't make you. Please pack a bag and come with us.”
He kissed me on the cheek as the tears streamed down my face and left me to decide. I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to delay what must be done. I was not strong enough yet to fight. Staring at myself in the silver nest mirror, I wiped away my smudged eye makeup. A light flashed in the mirror and my grandmother appeared.
“All will be safe here,” Gram whispered. “Now go to your family and be protected.”
A crashing sound in the bedroom pulled my attention from the mirror. The lamp on the bedside table had knocked over. While I had turned away, the image of Gram in the mirror disappeared. Going to inspect the lamp, I found that it had broken in half. Sitting down on the floor, I picked up the broken lamp.
“Mar,” the sweet voice of Cole whispered in my ear, “It's ok. I am here.”
Setting the lamp down, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. At first he resisted but soon, I was consumed by the power of his kiss. Picking me up, he laid me on the bed. Lying beside me, he gazed deep into my eyes and then kissed my cheek trailing kisses to my neck.
“I have missed you, Mara,” he breathed into my ear.
Wanting to forget about the world around me, I let myself be consumed in his kisses. Nothing mattered in this moment. Cole was my world and we would survive what was ahead together.
“Oh, I am sorry,” the embarrassed voice of Hazel said, interrupting our passionate moment. “I was just checking to see if you needed any help.”
Sighing Cole sat up wearing a chagrined grin on his face. “We were just about to finish packing and will be right there.”
Closing my eyes, I tried to push back my feelings of embarrassment and shame. “There is nothing to be ashamed of Mara,” Cole scolded. “Now sit up and let's get our bags packed. You know that isn't the first time one of your grandmothers has found us in an awkward situation.”
“Not helping,” I said, getting off the bed. Picking up the lamp, I noticed a silver edge sticking out under one of the broken pieces. “Wait, there is something here.”
Taking it from me, Cole pried off a chunk of the lamp and revealed a small journal. Trying to open it, he said, “It is stuck.”
He handed it to me and I tried to turn the cover to see what was inside. “I can't open it either. Is there anything else in there?”
Checking the broken lamp again, he shook his head, “Nothing. Let's take it with us and see if we can figure it out when we are away from here.”
Taking a brown leather bag from the chest at the end of the bed, he began to put things in it. Handing it to me, he said, “Here, I packed a bag for you. Check to see if I took everything you wanted.” Rifling through the bag, I found the clothes I would have packed and Gram's journals.
Returning to the room, he lifted up another bag. “I have also gathered us a good amount of supplies in case we need them.”
Peeking inside, I saw potions, herbs and at the very bottom, a small glass jar of blackberry tea biscuits alongside Gram's favorite loose tea leaves.
Smirking at him, I laughed. “Essentials, huh?”
Picking me up, he said, “Now I have all the essentials.” As he carried me out of the room, I felt sad that this might be the last time I ever saw Gram's home.
Chapter 17
The six of us stood outside the patio and took hands. As we read the words to the spell, the house began to glow a cornflower blue. With each word spoken, the light increased and the color changed. As we read the last line, the property was enclosed in a radiant violet colored dome that stretched from the front of the house to just past Gramp's woodshop. The lilac light glimmered with the colors of the elements before exploding into a white light that shot into the sky with a crackle and a loud boom.
“We should go soon,” my father said, picking up Miles and taking Meg's hand. “We have a long trip ahead of us. We have done all we can do here.”
“Wait,” I said, stopping him. “How are we going to get there? Meg and Miles are exhausted and none of us have slept since last night.”
“We take the truck,” he said.
“No,” Hazel said, interrupting us. “We can't take Mae's truck. It would be too recognizable. We will take my vehicle. No one would notice it.”
Eyeing her, I questioned, “Won't the Drygen's recognize it? You have worked for them for over twenty years.”
Laughing, she took my hand, “Sweet girl, I have learned many things working from the Drygens. I knew that there would be a day when I would need to leave and I always made sure that there was a way for me to escape hidden nearby.
Placing her hand on my face, she said, “Mara, you need to release whatever fear you are holding and trust me. I am only here to help.”
The warmth of her hand and her voice struck something inside me. The hardness I was feeling seemed to melt just a little bit. Looking into her eyes, I could see her sincerity. The wind around us began to blow. Drifting on the wind the scents of my grandmother engulfed me.
“Listen to your heart,” the voice of Gram whispered in my ear.
Following my instinct, I put my hand onto Hazel's and whispered, “I trust you.”
A small tear ran down her cheek and she wrapped her arms around me. “The Goddess has blessed me with all of you. I won't let you down.”
Tugging on my hand, Miles said, “Mara, can we go now? I'm sleepy.”
Reluctantly releasing my hold on Hazel, I knelt down to my little brother. “We are leaving now. Hazel is going to take us for a ride.”
He whispered, “She is good, Mara. Don't be afraid of her.”
Whispering back, I said, “I'm not afraid, Miles. I just want to make sure you are always safe.”
“When you two are through whispering, I think we should leave,” my father said.
Hazel turned to him and smiled. “We are ready now. Follow me everyone.”
Leading us off the property into Starten forest, Hazel took us into an area heavily covered with
shrubs. Not seeing a vehicle anywhere, I grew nervous that I had let my family fall into a trap.
“Is it much further?” I said, nervously looking around.
“We are here,” she said, as she pushed aside some of the foliage and tugged on a rope. As she pulled harder, the front of a vehicle appeared. With one more jerk, she pulled the front half of it out of its hiding spot. The dark green vehicle was covered in dirt including the windshield.
“Climb in everyone,” she said, as she handed the keys to my father. “There is plenty of room for you to get comfortable. We have a little bit of a ride ahead of us.”
With my father and Hazel in the front seat, Meg and Miles excitedly scrambled over the middle seat and snuggled in the third row. Cole and I took our spot in the middle row. With us all seated, my father started the car. The windshield wipers went back and forth trying to clear off the dirt coating the windows. Instead of cleaning, it just smeared into a muddy paste.
“Hey Cole, can you call us a rain shower to help the wipers out?” my father called back to us.
With a smirk, Cole called Water and misted us all, “Oops, you meant outside right?”
Laughing, he called a rainstorm that was soon pouring down outside. The loud sound of water banging on the vehicle slowed and then stopped as quickly as it had started. The car was now clean and we could see out all of the windows.
Chuckling, my father began to drive forward. “And we are off.”
As we drove through the forest, I wondered where he was taking us. Turning to look back, I could only see the roof of our house. Closing my eyes, I hoped that we were making the right decision.
Leaning on me, Cole kissed me gently on the cheek. “I was worried when you left so quickly with Elliott lying on the ground. What was so urgent that you had to leave?”
“When we went outside to find my father, the entire property had been frozen including him.” I said, fighting off the distraction of his touch on the back of my neck. “You fell to the ground and began to stroke the grass. When I called Fire and Wind to melt the ice, my father told me to bury the box. You sat there dazed but he told me you would be fine.”
“I don't remember anything before you leaving me,” he said softly into my ear. “I can't imagine a life without you, Mara.”
“You won't ever need to worry about me not returning,” I said with frustration and pulled away from him. Moving myself closer to the door, I felt the need for space from him. “I have no plans of going anywhere without you.”
Holding his hand out to me, he said, “Don't close up on me now.”
His wrist once covered with the protection tattoo that Gram had placed on him no longer held the mark. “What happened to your wrist?” I said. The glimmering black circles that had surrounded his wrist had faded. The eye outlined on the back of his wrist no longer held the peacock colored pupil.
Holding his arm out in front of him, he wore a look of surprise. “I…I don't know,” he stammered. “It was here this morning.”
Fear filled me. “Snowystra,” I said. “She removed the protection spell. She has declared war. She is not going to stop until she gets her way.”
“This changes nothing, Mara,” Cole said, taking my hand. “We will find the spell in Gram's books and we can recast it, okay?”
Nodding, I squeezed his hand. There was no spell to turn back time and return everything to what it had been before I found out about the magic. Staring out the window, I realized that we were leaving everything we had known. Where this would lead, I wasn't sure. My life had always been in Starten and we had never needed to venture out. Now everything was changing and I couldn't stop it. Resting my head on the cool glass, I watched as the scenery blurred by and I drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 18
“Wake up, everyone,” my father boomed, waving paper tickets in his hand. “The second part of our journey is about to begin.”
Rubbing my eyes, I said, “Second part? What's next?”
“A train!” Miles exclaimed, pointing at the black boxes on wheels, spotlighted by several tall lampposts. “I have always wanted to ride on a train.”
Jumping over the seat I was sitting on, Meg and Miles climbed over me. Both were eager for the next part of our trip. Begrudgingly, I stepped out of the vehicle into the night air, picked up my bag from the pile and followed my excited family. Stepping onto the train, we walked single file past rows of seats until we reached a train car with sliding doors.
Opening one of the doors, my father smiled. “Our own private car.”
The benches inside were covered with a deep red fabric. The windows were framed with the same burgundy material.
“We will be on the train for many hours,” Hazel said, as she stuck her bag in the overhead compartment. “So, sit down and get comfortable.”
Taking a seat by the window, I nervously waited for us to start the next part of our trip. The whistle of the train sounded and a man in a black uniform came into the train car asking for our tickets. Miles beamed as he held the tickets out to the man.
“The dining car is open all night,” he said. With a big smile, he punched holes in each ticket before returning them to Miles. Winking he said, “I suggest you try the banana pudding, young man.”
Miles smiled. “I will, sir.” As he took his seat by Meg, he looked as if he would explode from all the happiness he had inside him.
Sitting down between Meg and Miles, Hazel said, “It's still night, little ones. Let's settle down and close our eyes.”
Focusing on me, she said, “You should try to rest, Mara.”
Nodding to Cole, who was hunched over and snoring, she commented, “He has the right idea.”
Smiling at him, I rested my head on the window. The train jerked as it started, followed by the clickety-clack of the wheels on the rail. Gazing out into the night sky, I stared into the blackness and slowly drifted off to sleep.
My dream was filled with images of Snowystra in the forest. Her touch immediately froze tree bark, running up through the branches and leaves. Long icicles hung down, showing just how strong her icy touch was. Tears filled my eyes as I followed behind her. As the tears broke loose, the strangest thing happened.
I took a tear on my finger and held it out to the tree. As it dropped, a long line of silver connected the teardrop to me and I felt a warm tingle run throughout my body. When the drop landed, a burning sensation shot through my arm. The tendril connecting me to the tear began to freeze. The ice of Snowystra flowed towards me. Pushing my magic against hers, I watched the line change from blue to red and back again. The colors battled as I struggled to push her magic away. Focusing the warmth I had felt from my tears, I sent one flash of heat through the tendril.
Instead of staying on the path of the line, the warmth exploded outward. The blast generated a bright light with small particles of colors dancing inside it. The frozen trees began to melt and return to their lush green. The distant sound of birds chirping rang out. Ahead of me, Snowystra turned and glared but she did not return to refreeze her path. Instead, she continued walking, crunching on the shards of ice that she had created and disappeared.
Jolted awake by the sound of Meg's cries, I found that she was safe. Meg and Miles were playing the card game that they had invented and Mile's was winning. Across from me, Cole and my father were quietly discussing our current situation.
Moving to sit beside me, Hazel said, “Mara, it is so nice to be able to be near you. I have spent the past seventeen years watching you from a distance. I watched you in your first Lunar Dance at the Summer Moon Festival. I was so proud of you. There were so many times that I wanted to stop and talk to you but I knew that I would risk the chance of exposing myself.”
“Why did you come back to Starten and then decide to work for them?” I questioned. “It must have been horrible in that place.”
“It wasn't all bad,” she said, as she pointed to Miles. “When your mother moved into the mansion, my job became watching over hi
m. Meg and you were safe with Mae. I knew that I was needed there.”
“Why would you watch over, Miles?” I whispered, not wanting him to hear my question. “He is not your blood relative. Wasn't it risky staying there?”
“When I had thought Elliott had died, I was devastated and I considered returning to my mother. But, I realized my purpose when your mother arrived. Miles will always be my grandson. He was a gift from the Goddess,” she explained. “The choices of his parents and my son were not his fault. It was such a cold place for a child to grow up that I had to stay with him.”
Taking in her words, I felt a heaviness come over me. I really wasn't sure how many more secrets I could handle learning. Closing my eyes, I pretended to sleep. Listening to the click clack of the train, I thought about the home I was forced to leave and worried that I would never see it again. My mind replayed the events of the last few months. Could I have stopped all of this? Could I have saved my mother if I had gone with her instead of sending her away?
“We are here!” Meg cried.
The train had finally arrived at our destination. Disgusted by the view, I sighed. We had stopped in a desolate area that was nothing more than dirt and tumbleweeds. We had gone from the lush green forest of Starten to this lifeless area. Where had my father taken us?
Reluctantly, I stood up and stretched. My family was bustling around making sure that all of our belongings were gathered. I picked up my bag to follow them down the narrow aisle and off the train.
“Here let me help you,” Cole said as he held out his hand to me. Holding onto him, I stepped off the train.
The hot dry air of our destination stole the breath from me. I had never felt heat like this before.
“Remember what I told you all about drinking lots of fluids,” my father said, as he handed us each a silver container. “While we are here dehydration can sneak up on you. So what are we going to do, kids?”
Miles chirped, “We have to drink lots of water, even if we are not thirsty.”
“You are correct,” my father said, tousling Miles hair.