"My mom is dead?" I didn't want to believe it. "What about my dad?"
I searched their faces and saw only a cloud of pain.
My grandpa put his arm around his wife's shoulders. They each took one of my hands. "Come with us."
Chapter 9
Sadie
Inside, dozens of sea witches pushed towards us while those who had been outside followed us in.
"Welcome!"
"Hello!"
"Greetings!" their voices called out like bells.
I turned for Steve in time to see the kitten dash down the hill.
"Steve?" I called, but he’d disappeared, probably to avoid getting squashed.
"She looks just like her mother!" A large woman with long grey hair and a dimpled smile engulfed me in a hug. She smelled like cinnamon. "I'm your great-aunt Millie, child!"
"I'm your cousin!" a red-haired man exclaimed, reaching out to shake my hand. He was taller than anyone I'd ever seen.
My Aunt Tina wrapped her arms around me. "I'm so glad to see you again," she said. "I was so worried."
I hugged her tight and realized I hadn't even been quite sure she was real.
As my family rushed to introduce themselves, my grandpa held up a hand. "She deserves answers, people. Sit. Let the girl breathe."
He guided me to an over-stuffed chair near the fireplace. I was overcome with emotions: happiness at finding a magical family as well as sadness that my parents weren't here. I looked from face to face and recognized gestures and expressions as my own. I saw lots of high foreheads and pale hair. This was definitely my family.
As everyone settled into a chair, the room quieted and my grandpa turned to me with dewy eyes. He began, "Sarah—"
"She's called Sadie now, dear," my grandma gently interrupted.
"Of course. Sadie." He chuckled. "Everyone you see here is related to you—aunts, uncles, cousins. We are your family and now that we have you back, we will never let you go. We're elated to have you back with us after all these years."
Tears welled in my eyes. My very own grandparents were sitting right in front of me—and I could see more than two dozen other family members. I finally had a family of my very own. A huge family!
"Let me start with the basics," my grandpa said. "The Summer Sea Witches have lived in these hills for centuries. We have the power to control water, and because of that, as you may have figured out, we are among the most powerful of paranormals. There are three other sea witch families in the world. The Winter Sea Witches live in the North Pole; the Autumn Sea Witches live in the South Africa; and the Spring Sea Witches live in France."
"Ask anything, dear. We'll tell you everything," my grandma said. "You don't have to wait a minute more."
Tears streamed down my face. I had one question burning through me but I stumbled to get it out. "Why didn't you look for me?!"
"We didn't know you were alive!" everyone said together.
"That's the only reason we would ever not look for you," my grandpa added.
My grandma took my hand again. "You see dear, when sea witches die, our bodies transform into rainbow light and merge with the atmosphere. There is no corpse."
No corpse? So maybe my parents were alive! "Then how do you know they died?" I asked.
"We felt it… a giant shift in energy rocked over all of us."
"It was the most painful thing I'd ever experienced," Aunt Tina said.
Everyone murmured agreement, and I looked at the faces nodding around me.
"We knew they had died. And we believed you had also died," my grandpa said. "Having you back here is the greatest joy I've ever experienced."
I smiled but couldn't let go of the chance my mom and dad could be alive. "But what if they're still alive?"
"Then where would your parents be?" he asked. "We might have thought you were with them, but they would have known you weren’t. Nothing would have kept them away from you. Nothing except death."
I was silent. I didn't want to accept that my parents were gone. I should have been happy with the amazing family I had just found. But instead I wanted more. I wanted parents. I knew I was being greedy. "I'm sorry," I said. "I'm so glad to have found you."
My grandma's violet eyes twinkled as she took my hand and gave it a quick kiss. "You don't have to apologize," she said. "Give yourself a little time to get used to everything, my dear."
"How did it happen?" I asked. "How did my parents die?"
"A car accident," my grandma said.
"We found their car," my grandpa said. "It had gone over a cliff and crashed onto the rocks."
"Why didn't they command the water to save them?"
"We've wondered that for two decades. We just don't know."
"What did the water tell you?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"When you asked the water? What did it tell you?"
I looked from my grandpa to my grandma. They seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. "How do you think I found you? The water told me where to go."
"You can communicate with water? Not just control it?"
"Your powers are stronger than ours." A murmur rippled through the sea witches that gave way to a shocked silence.
"You may be the most powerful paranormal in all the land," my grandpa finally said.
"Me?" Why would it be me? That made no sense. I'd lived as an ordinary human for most of my life.
"We need to learn from you. Stay with us," my grandpa said.
"Yes, stay!" a young woman said. "We need you and you need us."
Aunt Tina came forward and took my hand. "Come with me," she said quietly, leading me outside.
A breeze had kicked up and lightning sparkled across the ocean horizon. A storm was coming.
"Your mom told us that your dad was a winter sea witch, but he wasn't," Aunt Tina told me once we were alone. "Your father was not a sea witch at all."
"What was he?"
"I don't know," Aunt Tina said. "Only that he wasn't one of us."
"I don't understand. Is that why they died?"
"I don't know. I'm sorry. But it is why you can do something like communicate with the water."
"Is that why I'm banished from Enchanted Shores?"
"They banished you?"
I nodded.
"You need to go back right away and convince them that you're safe."
"How?"
"By being yourself, my sweet girl," she said, pushing a tendril of hair off my face.
Aunt Tina was right. I did need to go back. "Why did you summon me here? Is someone in danger?"
"We summoned you because we love you, Sadie. And Enchanted Shores isn't safe for sea witches; the townspeople are hateful. But it sounds like you already figured that out."
I didn't think my neighbors were hateful. Not all of them, anyway. "I know it may be hard to understand, but I just can't give up my life in Enchanted Shore unless I absolutely have to."
Tina nodded. "So come back to us whenever you'd like. Just remember that your powers have no limits. Not until you find them." She kissed the top of my head. "Now go!"
I nodded and set off.
Limitless. I’d never even dreamed big before. No limits would take some getting used to. But for now, I had clear tasks: Find Steve, go to Enchanted Shores, and get the banishment reversed.
"Steve?" I called. Where had he run off to?
I had started down the trail when a single cloud caught my eye. It floated above the ocean, lower than all the other clouds. It was small and round and something about it seemed friendly.
It occurred to me that a cloud is made of water. "Come to me," I said aloud.
The cloud flew down to my side. "Carry me to Steve."
A rush of cool damp air enveloped me, and before I knew it I was rushing across the sky. The wind on my face was magical and I had to laugh.
I wanted to get a bumper sticker for my car that read: My other ride is a cloud.
I could complain about some
things that had happened to me since becoming a sea witch—or whatever I was—but the truth was that it was pretty cool.
Maybe I’d been kidnapped, arrested, and even banished, but I knew the truth.
I never wanted to be normal again.
Chapter 10
Sadie
On the grassy clearing, Leo sat a chaise, fanning himself. He waved up at me as if he’d been expecting me.
"This is good," I said.
The cloud lowered me to the ground and then drifted back into the sky.
"Thank you, cloud," I murmured.
Steve chased a butterfly between flowers.
"Where have you been?" I asked him.
"Right here," he said, his tail twitching.
"Was there some reason you couldn't go into that building with me?"
"What makes you think that?" he asked.
"You ditched me!"
"You're upset," Leo said in a comforting tone of voice.
I nodded.
"How was your family?" he asked.
"They're so normal. I mean, they're sea witches, but they just seem so ordinary. I'm more powerful than they are. Can you believe it? I've only been magical for a week, and already I can do things they've never heard of."
Steve nodded. "I believe it."
I turned to the kitten. "What do you know?" I asked him. "I command you to tell me."
"I can't," he growled. "I wish I could, but I can't."
"Then what good are you?" I burst into tears.
Leonardo put his arms around me and patted my back. "Hey," he said. "Families are weird. It's all going to be okay. I promise."
"You weren't even there!"
"What did you want to do when you left there? Did you have a plan?" Leo calmly asked.
"I had to find Steve." I held up my index finger.
"Check," Leo said. "Done."
"Go to Enchanted Shores," I added second finger.
"Okay."
"And get the banishment lifted." I lifted my ring finger, making three.
"You’ve already done one of those things."
"The easiest thing," I protested. But he was right. I was making progress.
One foot in front of the other, that was all anyone could do.
Leo gave me a last hug and got to his feet. "I was going to give you a lift back to town, but I see you already have a ride." He pointed up.
The cloud was still hovering. I whistled, and it shot down to my side. "Pretty cool, huh?"
Leo nodded. "Absolutely."
"So I'll see you around?" I asked Leo, scooping up Steve and letting the cloud take us.
He nodded as we lifted away.
"Why did you go to him?" I asked Steve.
"Don't you like him?" the kitten meowed.
"Sure I do." I nodded. "He's kind. But I can't tell if he's being platonic or romantic."
"If you can't tell, then it probably doesn't matter. But what about Jake? Remember Jake?"
"Of course I do!"
The kitten purred, "You deserve better."
As we landed back in Enchanted Shores, I thought about Jake and where we stood. We hadn't even had our first date. "I trust Jake but don't think he trusts me to take care of myself. That's a problem." ," I told Steve.
"So do we go find him?" Steve meowed.
"No. I want to find Hannah. Make sure she's okay." We had landed on Main Street, and as the cloud disappeared into the darkening sky, I walked over to the Shaggy Puppy.
"How will Hannah end the banishment?" Steve padded at my side.
"I don't know. But I told the cloud to take me to the next person I needed to see." The chimes tinkled as I opened the salon door. "Here we are."
"Why are you listening to a cloud? You never listen to me." Steve sniffed but followed me inside.
I flipped on an overhead light. "Hannah?" I called out. "You in here?"
"Sadie!"
I heard a scuffle from the back office and raced to throw open the door.
I couldn't believe what I saw. Hannah sat in the desk chair with her boyfriend Barry looming over her. He gripped her by one arm, and her face was red with tears. He held a syringe in his hand, the needle pressing into Hannah's pale skin as she struggled.
"Get off her!" I called out. "Water in the air, get him!!"
Barry slammed against the back wall with a groan, collapsing in a pile on the carpet.
"Sadie!" Hannah cried, pushing the tears off her cheeks and struggling to stand.
I raced to her. "What happened, honey?"
"He was giving me a drug to make me normal!"
I picked up the syringe. It contained a blue liquid. "What is it?"
"I don’t know. Barry was the one who pushed Monty—and he was mad that I’d found out. So he was giving me a drug to make me stop seeing ghosts."
"Are you okay? Did it get in you?"
The syringe was nearly full.
Hannah shook her head. "I'm okay. Thank goodness you came back!"
I turned to Barry. "What is this stuff?"
He turned to me and his expression shifted as if a mask had fallen.
I shivered. "Start talking. Or do you want to be thrown across the room again?" He'd hurt Hannah, and I knew I would have no trouble following through on the threat.
"The drug is called Rise," Barry said, his deep voice full of confidence. "It makes humans feel inspired and loved. It brings paranormals down and feel uninspired and normal. It kills their powers. And it's incredibly addictive. Paranormal kids love it."
"Why would you give kids an addictive drug?"
"What other kind do they want?" he scoffed.
"Where did you get it?"
"I sell it. Paranormal kids want to experience life as a normal, just for kicks. They take this drug and it brings them down to earth. They try it for thrills. Nothing else. Life as a normal."
"And Monty found out about it?"
"He tried to get me to stop. We struggled, but I didn't kill him. He just fell. And he died."
Barry laughed.
"He’s evil," I said, as I realized it was true.
Hannah sniffed, "I’d been sensing his darker impulses, but I had no idea he was hurting people. Even though I'm an empath, he still tricked me." She dissolved into tears.
I wrapped an arm around her. "Honey, it's not your fault. You did the best you could and you kept Barry from hurting any more people. You're a hero, Hannah. I couldn’t be more proud of you."
She sniffed and nodded. Steve hopped into her lap and she stroked his velvet fur. He was a good kitten.
I pulled out my phone and called Cormac. After I told him what had happened, he said he'd be right over.
Within a minute the front door chimed.
"That was fast," Hannah said.
It wasn't Cormac though. It was Leo and Jake. Leo raced to Hannah and Jake ran to me.
"Sadie!" Jake said. "Thank God!"
I fell into his arms. Every concern I'd had evaporated. Being with Jake felt like coming home.
"Will you ever forgive me?" he asked. "Cormac and I fixed the magic shell and lifted the banishment. Please don't ever leave again. Don't leave me."
"How could I?" I felt warm and safe with Jake, and he smelled like sage and honey. "You’re not the only one who made mistakes. I need to work on my temper," I said.
"No," he said, kissing me. "You’re perfect."
I had to laugh.
Cormac strode in. "Is it true?" I asked. "Did you lift the banishment?"
He nodded. "As long as you behave well, you’re welcome to stay in Enchanted Shores."
"What do you mean by behave well?"
Cormac leaned back and smiled. "You can't break a single law. Not even jaywalking."
"Oh come on…" I said. "Really?"
"Really." Then he turned to Barry. "Get up. You're going to jail."
"Magic jail?" I asked. Someday I wanted to see it—from the outside, of course!
Cormac nodded. "He knows all our secrets.
What happens after magic jail is up to him. Between selling drugs and what he did to Monty, it will be years before he gets out."
I noticed that Michael Higgins’ Great Dane chair had been installed, and it was gorgeous. How did he finish it so quickly? Was he also paranormal?
Was everyone magic?
I had woken up a week ago, and suddenly everything—and everyone—was magic. Would I ever get used to it?
Leo and Hannah were talking quietly in the corner, his arm around her protectively.
"Is Monty still here?" I asked Hannah.
"He left, saying something about Mrs. G giving him his wings back." She smiled.
I could see that her cloud of fear had lifted. "Are you feeling better?"
She nodded.
"I'll take her home," Leo said.
"In a car?" I didn't want him to fly her so quickly she got sick.
"It's okay," Hannah said with a smile. "I like Leo's way of traveling. We've been…"
"Seeing each other," Leo finished her sentence. "We had dinner."
Hannah's face lit up. "And we're having dinner again tonight!"
"You have?" I said.
"Let's meet for breakfast tomorrow," Hannah said. "We have a lot of catching up to do."
I gave them both a hug goodbye.
I sighed. Something about Leo and Hannah together made perfect sense.
After Cormac had taken Barry to jail, it was just Jake and Steve and me again. I wandered through the Shaggy Puppy, turning off the lights and locking up.
"How are you?" Jake asked tenderly.
"Surprisingly, I’m feeling okay."
"I still have reservations for dinner if you're feeling up to our first date."
"Tonight?"
He nodded. "If you feel up to it."
I actually felt great. Using magic seemed to have that effect on me now.
I grinned at Jake. "Let's go!"
"Don't worry about me," Steve meowed. "I have a meeting." He disappeared up an alley as soon as we hit the sidewalk.
"You ready?" Jake asked, taking my hand as we walked across the street to Paris Nights, the French restaurant I'd walked by a million times but never stepped inside in all my years of living in Enchanted Shores.
"I've never been more ready." I grinned.
Jake pulled me into an embrace. His warm body was so huge and huggable, I melted a little as he kissed me gently.
Vamping and Glamping (Enchanted Shores Book 2) Page 7