by Sky Winters
Her parents laughed at her obvious enthusiasm. “Off you go, then,” her mother said. “Have a good time.”
Savannah gave each of her parents a kiss on the cheek, and then she hopped into her car, and backed out of the driveway. She drove down the street, turned the corner, and drove until the house was out of sight. When she was far enough away, she stopped the car, and checked for directions on her local map.
She'd need to drive twenty minutes, take a left at the crossroads, and then drive another fifteen minutes to get to the base of Grey Mountain. From there, it was a ten minute hike up the hill to a small, remote cabin, the location of which had been marked on the map. Her instincts told her that she would find what she was looking for in that lonely cabin.
Chapter Six
Savannah parked the car, got out, and took a few minutes to assess the mammoth mountain she was faced with climbing. For the first time she realized how it had earned its name, as the rocks had taken on a smoky grey hue, with hints of rust and silver. It was beautiful, but daunting, and Savannah was glad she'd brought plenty of water with her.
She took a long swig from her first water bottle and set out on her hike. She'd been out in the hills enough times to be able to navigate through the terrain, but there were a few differences here and there. The trees were a little sparser, for one, so she didn’t have very much support in the way of climbing. The soil beneath her feet seemed loose in places, for another, and she wasn’t always sure of her footing. The air also smelled different in this area, as if it was thicker, and coated in a scent Savannah could not recognize.
Even when she grew tired, Savannah didn't stop walking. She climbed until the ground stopped tilting upwards and become flat and steady beneath her. The scent had grown stronger, too, and Savannah sensed she was on the right track. She was tempted to remove her hearing aid, but thought better of it. She still didn’t know if her decision to set out on her quest was very brave or very stupid.
The cabin was located farther off than she'd initially anticipated, and Savannah was starting to worry, but then she glimpsed it in the distance. She gave a sigh of relief, quickened her pace, and kept walking until she was standing right in front of it. It was larger than she'd expected, and she felt a twinge of unease creep through her body as she prepared to knock on the door.
She walked up the cabin’s creaky stairs, paused at the door, took a deep breath, and knocked before her nerves kicked in and she changed her mind. There was no sound for a few moments, but then, suddenly, and without warning, the door flew open. Savannah gasped and jumped backward in shock.
“I’m sorry, did I scare you?”
The man on the other side was tall and thin. He had long brown hair that held tinges of red, and warm, brown eyes that held flecks of gold. His features were sharp and attractive against the pale canvas of his skin. He looked at Savannah with sardonic eyes and raised eyebrows.
“I…umm…hello,” Savannah said awkwardly.
“Hello,” he replied without expression. Savannah searched desperately for his aura, but she was unable to see or sense a thing. He stood in front of her a complete enigma, and for the first time in her life, Savannah felt blind.
“Hello,” he replied in a tone that was only slightly impatient.
His eyes were keenly appraising and Savannah felt as though she were being studied. The only sense she could get was from the cabin itself, which seemed to be steeped in a mystical energy that Savannah had never encountered before, which was the only indication she was in the right place.
“I…I need help,” she stammered, feeling supremely self-conscious beneath his cool gaze.
“If you’re lost, I can give you a map back to the main hiking trails,” he said. “They’ll lead you back to the town.”
“No,” Savannah said quickly. “That’s not the kind of help I need.”
He rose his eyebrows at her again. “No?” he asked. “Then what kind of help do you need?”
Savannah took a deep breath. “The kind only a witch can give me,” she said before she had a chance to think better of it.
He held her gaze for a long moment, and Savannah wondered if he was going to laugh in her face or curse her out as delusional, but he didn’t do either. Instead, he held the door open, and gestured her inside. “Then you’ve come to the right place,” he said.
Savannah entered the cabin and looked around. It was much bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. Deerskins hung from the walls and adorned the cold wooden floors. There was also an assortment of strange tools and objects on the tops of each of the many tables that seemed to crowd the space. The only colors Savannah seemed to register were a range of browns, ochres, caramels, and golds. Savannah had no experience with magic, but she imagined the scent on her nose was exactly what magic smelt like.
“Can you help me?” Savannah asked when he didn’t say anything.
“That depends on what your problem is,” he said. He gestured to a table at the end of the cabin. It sat right in front of a window, but the window had been covered over with an animal skin, that Savannah didn’t recognize. “Why don’t you take a seat?”
Savannah went over to the table and sat down in front of it. “Do you…live here alone?” she asked.
“My grandmother lives here with me,” he replied. “She’s getting old now, so I stay here and care for her, and she…teaches me.”
“Teaches you? As in magic?”
“Yes.” He nodded and sat down opposite her. “What is your name?”
“My name's Savannah.”
“I’m Abel,” he said. “Now, tell me how you found us out here.”
Doubts and nerves overcame Savannah, but she pushed them all down and moved past it. “I knew there were witches in this town,” Savannah admitted. “I suppose I…sensed the rest.”
“You sensed the rest?” Abel asked. His strange, hypnotic, brown-gold eyes flashed. “Does this have anything to do with the fact that you were born deaf?”
“I…how did you know that?” Savannah asked.
“Your hearing aid kind of gives it away,” Abel replied. “In any case, you’re not the only one who can sense things.”
“I can’t sense anything from you, though,” Savannah said. “I can read people’s auras, sense certain things about them, but you? You're a complete mystery.”
Abel smiled a slow, confident smile. “Witches know how to protect themselves,” he said. “We have spells that cloak us from others, but those spells don’t distinguish between those who mean us harm and those who don’t.”
“So you’re cloaked?” Savannah asked. “Is that why I can’t sense you?”
Abel nodded.
“Whom are you protecting yourself from?” Savannah asked.
His eyes grew cold, but that did nothing to take away from his handsome features. “From the monsters that prowl this forest at night,” he said. “The dogs that call themselves wolves.”
Savannah felt her body grow cold and she realized that the enmity was not single-sided. She could tell from Abel’s tone that he feared and distrusted the shifters as much as they feared and distrusted him.
“What’s wrong?” Abel asked.
“I need your help,” Savannah said, fear clutching at her throat, “but I’m afraid that once you know who I am, you may not want to help me.”
Abel looked at her carefully. His eyes were hypnotically beautiful. “Tell me,” he said gently.
“I…” Savannah stumbled over her words, unsure of how to go on.
“Take a breath, Savannah.” Abel’s voice was calm. “I can tell that you mean us no harm, and for that I will trust you. Tell me why you have come here.”
“I met a boy shortly after I moved to this town,” Savannah said, throwing herself into the narration. “We fell in love, but we couldn’t be together, because it wasn’t allowed.”
Abel’s eyebrows rose again and Savannah fell silent. “You fell in love with a shifter,”
Abel said as though he were not surprised.
“Yes.”
“Go on,” Abel said.
“We went before the elders to plead our case, but they refused us,” Savannah went on. “It was only when they discovered I was pregnant that they agreed to let us be together.”
“That's impossible,” Abel said.
“What do you mean?”
“The elders would never have agreed to your union simply because of a pregnancy. Unless, of course, the baby you’re carrying is a shifter.”
Savannah nodded.
She saw surprise flit across Abel’s face. “That is…unusual, to say the least,” he said. “And yet it seems your troubles are over, so I don’t understand why you need my help.”
“My union with Xander has caused some friction in the pack,” Savannah said guiltily. “One of the members, her name is Marissa, she was upset. She chose to leave the pack in order to make an alliance with another shifter from a neighbouring town.”
“I see,” Abel said. “Now that she's created a bridge, this new pack can challenge the old.”
“Exactly,” Savannah nodded. “Which means--”
“You and your child are not safe.”
“Can you help me?”
Abel fixed her with a penetrating stare that made her feel intensely self-conscious. “Do you know of the history between the wolves and the witches?”
“Of course,” Savannah said.
“I can’t imagine that your partner hasn’t already forbidden you to come here to seek our help.”
“He would have, had he known I was coming here,” Savannah admitted.
“And yet you came, anyway.”
“I had to,” Savannah said desperately. “Xander has a lot to deal with. He's confused, and he’s worried it's clouding his judgement. He doesn’t see that Marissa is a real threat, but I do.”
“Why do you think he can’t see that?” Abel asked.
“They grew up together. He think he knows her,” Savannah said, “but he’s not thinking straight. I can sense something terrible's going to happen, I can feel it in my gut, and it's gotten to the point where I can’t ignore it any longer. I have to make sure my child's protected, and that the pack is, too, but I can’t do it alone.”
Abel was about to speak when a curtain in the corner of the cabin slid open, revealing a doorway that Savannah had not seen when she'd first walked in, and out walked a woman, bent with age. At least a hundred years were etched on her face. Her eyes were pale and milky as though the color had been drained from them.
Her hair alternated shades of white and grey, and it seemed to shimmer softly when she walked. She used a cane to navigate her way through the cabin, and it made a sharp crack, crack, crack against the wooden floors as she walked.
“Grandmother,” Abel said as he stood and gave her his chair.
The old woman sat down and fixed her milky white eyes on Savannah. She looked blind, but Savannah knew instinctively that she was able to see far more than most people did.
“Hello, Savannah,” she said as though they were old friends.
“Hello.”
“My name is Elena.”
“Grandmother,” Abel started, “Savannah has come–"
“I know why Savannah has come,” Elena interrupted. “I know what she needs, but she will not find it here. We cannot help her.”
Savannah looked from Abel to Elena in desperation. “Please,” she begged. “I can't do this alone.”
“No, you can’t.” Elena nodded. “Why should we help you when you side with those who have persecuted us for centuries? You carry one of their kind inside you as we sit here talking, and when that child is born you will teach it to hate us, as generations before have done.”
“That’s not true,” Savannah said quickly. “I would never teach my child to hate anyone.”
“And what of your future husband?” Elena asked pointedly, her eyes boring into Savannah’s. “Would he share the same view? Would he teach your child to embrace us as enemies or friends?”
Savannah looked down at her hands, unable to lie, and unwilling to speak the truth.
“You say nothing because you know I’m right,” Elena went on, “and you cannot make promises you can’t keep.”
Savannah looked at Abel pleadingly. “It’s unfair, I know,” she said. “It’s wrong to be hated simply because of something your ancestors did centuries ago. I don’t know why it has to be that way, but I do know that I will work to change it. I'll make sure my children don’t hate for the sake of hating.”
“And how will you explain that to Xander?” Elena asked in her mystical voice.
“The same way I’m explaining it to you now,” Savannah replied. “I know this is a lot to ask, but I’m desperate and I don’t have anywhere else to turn.”
Abel’s eyes blazed with a fire that brought out the flecks of gold that hid there. He bent down beside his grandmother and looked at her calmly. “She means us no harm, Grandmother,” he said softly. “She needs our help.”
The old woman wrinkled her brow at him. “You wish to help her?” she asked.
“I do.” Abel nodded. “This hatred must stop somewhere, why shouldn’t it stop with us? Perhaps if we help the pack they will learn to trust and respect us.”
“That is a child’s fantasy,” Elena said mockingly.
“You have always told me that the only way a child can become a man is by making mistakes,” Abel said in a hushed voice. “Perhaps it is time you allow me to make my own decisions and my own mistakes.”
The old woman stared at Abel for a long while. It almost felt as though they were having some sort of silent conversation to which Savannah was not privy. She sat there silently, praying with all her might that Abel would succeed in convincing his grandmother to help her.
Elena sighed long and deep. “I have taught you well,” she said at last, before she turned back to Savannah.
Savannah felt her heart beat loudly in her chest, and she wondered if Abel and Elena were able to hear it, too. She could tell a decision had been made, but the answer was still unclear to her.
“Will you help me?” she asked.
“Yes,” Elena said, nodding. “We will.”
Chapter Seven
Savannah could see Xander half-hidden by the trees when she pulled up in the car. She tried to wipe her face clean of any signs that indicated where she had been all evening. He was at her door when she got out of the car.
“Where have you been?” Xander asked.
“I took my new car out for a test drive,” Savannah told him with a small smile. “Do you like the car?”
Xander gave it a distracted look. “It’s fine. You were just out…driving all this time?”
“Yes.” Savannah nodded. “I guess I just needed to get out and clear my head.”
Xander nodded and then he reached out and took her hand. “Why don’t we do something fun, just the two of us?”
Savannah smiled. “That sounds perfect. My parents aren’t home, why don’t you come in?”
Xander nodded and they walked in together. This was the first moment amidst the madness of her current reality that Savannah actually felt like a normal teenage girl entertaining her boyfriend at home. She'd never experienced the feeling before, and it made her feel warm inside.
Savannah drew Xander to the couch and they sat close together with Xander’s arms wrapped around her. He kissed the top of her head and laughed. “Does this qualify as doing something fun?”
“I think so.” Savannah sighed. “We’ve never had this--”
“You’re right.” Xander said. “We went from exchanging glances to practically exchanging vows to spend our lives together. It feels like we've skipped all the in-betweens.”
“It’s not too late,” Savannah, reminded him.
“I know.”
“Maybe, after, we can go to the clearing,” Savannah suggested, feeling the strange need to glimpse the
sight of the calm, pristine lake. “It feels like I haven’t been there in ages.”
It was more than just the need to be in the clearing again. Savannah felt the urge to be with Xander in that space. She remembered the first day he had taken her there, the way his eyes had lingered on her body as she had stripped down before entering the lake, the way his hands had felt against her skin, and the way his lips had tasted.
She wanted to experience those sensations again, but knew that they'd be enhanced somehow, this time, not that there was more between her and Xander. Now there was familiarity, comfort, and safety, mingled in with the passion and desire, and she could feel it burning, like a layer of electricity just beneath her skin.
“That’s a good idea,” Xander said. “And you can see what the clearing looks like during sunset--it’s magical.”
“I believe that.”
She rested her head against his broad chest and tried to release all the worries that held fast to her thoughts. Savannah hated keeping things from Xander, but she knew he would dismiss her ideas, and she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing, especially when she felt partially responsible for everything that had happened.
“Are things all right…with the pack?” Savannah asked before she could stop herself.
She saw Xander’s eyes cloud over for a minute, but then he nodded. “Everything’s fine at the moment,” he said. “Rather than talk about the pack, why don't we just…be together.”
“You’re right,” Savannah said, happy with the arrangement. “That sounds good to me.”
They sat there for almost half an hour, sharing random conversation and exchanging little kernels of information about their lives. Savannah felt the strength of their connection strengthen as they opened up to one another. It was nice to feel normal. It was nice to have something that was completely theirs, untouched by the outside noise.
Xander leaned in suddenly and kissed her, hard on the lips. There was an urgency there that made Savannah feel as if they were running out of time. The heat traveled up her body, and she felt the need to be with Xander, right then and there, in the dirt and muck of the forest.