by Mona Hanna
She frowned, not knowing who would be visiting her at that time. She put her book on the table, went to the door, and opened it. She nearly screamed. “You! What are you doing here?” she exclaimed.
The tall man with light brown hair and dark eyes smiled a little. “You don’t seem pleased to see me.”
Alexandra slammed the door in Cameron’s face. She growled, walking away from the door, but there was only a loud knock again. She clenched her fists, having absolutely no desire to see him after all these years. Two whole years! And he just shows up? Why that little…
Alexandra went back to the door and hurled it open. “If you honestly think I have anything to say to you other than how dare you run away from your own child, you’ve got another thing coming. Not a word—not a word! And, of course, not a single coin. Did you think there’s any way I’d be happy to see you? Are you mad?”
Cameron looked at his pale hands, clasping them together and sighing softly. “I don’t blame you for hating me—or for yelling at me. I’m a coward, a fool, a scoundrel. I’m sorry, Alexandra. I’m sorry I left. Please, let me explain.”
Alexandra huffed, not prepared to hear an apology, still filled with anger. But, despite her desire to slam the door in his face again, she found she was curious to hear what he had to say. But she wouldn’t forgive him—no matter what he said, there would be no forgiveness. She stared at the man who she’d thought she was in love with, and finally relented. She’d give him a few moments. Only a few.
“Fine, inside. But make it quick,” she said, moving aside to allow Cameron space.
He nodded, walked inside the house, then stood near the door.
Alexandra led the way to the table and chairs to the left of the room. The two sat, and then she waited for Cameron to speak, taking a length of her long dark hair between her fingers and twirling it. She hated that she felt nervous around him, but she did. She hated the feeling of butterflies swirling in her stomach, but it was there. She bit her lip, hoping this would be over quickly.
“When… when you told me you were pregnant, it was a big surprise,” Cameron said, looking at his hands resting on the table. “Obviously I knew it could happen, but I’d been lucky for a long time, and didn’t expect—well, I was just surprised. No doubt you found out, after I left town, that much of who I was was a charade. I barely had any money, and I didn’t work in proper jobs, just went from town to town, doing what I could to get by. I didn’t even have a place of my own to live, and here you were, telling me I was going to be a father! It was… too much. Suddenly I saw settling down and a baby and all the bonds that would go with that life. I couldn’t handle it. So I fled.”
Cameron shut his eyes for a moment, rubbed his forehead, and then he continued. “I left and went about my old life, living as I had been, traveling around. I knew it was awful leaving you, especially without any money, but I tried to put it out of my mind. But, as the months went by, what I couldn’t put out of my mind was him. The baby. My child. I had a child! I had a son or daughter, my own flesh, my own blood. I couldn’t breathe, knowing he was out there and I had abandoned him.
“So I decided that I had to come back—not to win you back, Alexandra, I know there’s no hope for that. But I want to be in my child’s life. So I’ve gotten regular work, in the next town over, and saved all I could. I know it doesn’t make up for two years of no help from me, but I’m hoping this will make a difference in your life now.”
Cameron reached into a satchel he’d placed on the floor. He retrieved a small brown sack, which he placed on the center of the table. Alexandra looked at him for a moment, and he pointed to the sack. “It’s yours. It’s all I have. Hopefully it will help.”
She tentatively grasped the sack with her slender fingers and opened it, peering inside. She gasped. “This is silver! All of it! I’d have to work for months to earn this much! How in the world did you earn all of this?”
Cameron half smiled. “Turns out I can be pretty useful when I set my mind to it—when I’m not avoiding being useful, that is,” he said, chuckling slightly.
Alexandra couldn’t help but smile, but then she quickly forced herself to be serious again. “What do you want from me?” she asked. “Do you want to be in Julia’s life? Because she doesn’t know you—you can’t just suddenly expect to be a father to her.”
Cameron’s brown eyes lit up. “Julia,” he breathed. “A daughter. I have a daughter.”
Alexandra paused, surprised at his reaction. He seemed sincere. And all that money! But she couldn’t let herself be swayed by coin. Oh, she’d take it—she deserved it. But she had to do what was best for Julia. She frowned at him, then came to a decision. “If you want to be in Julia’s life, you can slowly—slowly—start to spend time with her. If you prove yourself, you can spend more time with her. No rushing in and trying to take over. I can’t prevent you from seeing your child, but we do things my way. Understood?”
Cameron nodded. He took a deep breath, then met Alexandra’s gaze. “May… may I see her? Is that alright?”
Alexandra looked at him closely. This was all happening so quickly. “Okay. She’s sleeping—you mustn’t wake her. But you can see her.”
She rose and walked towards her bedroom. Alexandra suddenly turned around, looking up at Cameron as he stood before her. She looked into his dark eyes, gazed at the soft brown hair she’d run her fingers through before, noted the strong chin, and perfect lips that had swayed her in the past. She tried to steel herself, telling herself that in no way was she to fall for this man. She had to maintain control. Not just of the situation. Of her heart.
“Come this way,” she said softly. “But be quiet.” She led the way to her room. On some level she knew this was going to get messy, but she tried not to believe it.
***
Ariel picked at her dinner with her fork, not feeling hungry. She glanced at the others—Brayden wasn’t eating either, Sean was only nibbling, and Hallie looked like she was about to be ill. Ariel put her fork down and cleared her throat. “We may as well talk about it—there’s no point just sitting here, being miserable.”
Sean and Brayden exchanged glances while Hallie looked at Ariel desperately.
“What’s there to say?” Hallie said. “We don’t know anything yet. We don’t know what this prophecy is, we don’t know who the men we saw were, and we certainly don’t know where the other High Witch is. I want to sort this out, but we don’t know anything, Ariel. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Ariel felt Hallie’s pain, sadness, and desperation. She rubbed her neck, trying to figure out how to deal with this. “So we find out answers. Tomorrow we’ll go in search of the truth of all this—whatever that is. For now, then, we should just try and relax. You’re right, there’s not much to say yet. So we’ll try to not worry. There’s so much else we could talk about—all those letters we wrote to each other, Hallie—all we said to each other. Now you’re here! Let’s enjoy it—let’s not waste a moment.”
Hallie smiled, seeming relieved, and Brayden squeezed Ariel’s hand. She smiled at him, wanting everyone to try to enjoy themselves.
Everyone began to eat properly. Ariel tended to Erica a couple of times when she became fussy, but the meal mostly went well. Then Hallie began to look serious again, which worried Ariel. “What is it?” she asked. “Is something wrong?”
“Do… do you remember the locating spell you told me about—how you found me?” Hallie said. “You said it only worked because Erica’s power joined with yours when you cast the spell the last time. I was thinking—all along, I know you’ve been wanting to find the fourth High Witch. Do… do you want us to cast a locating spell together? Join our powers to try to find her? Do you think it would work?”
Ariel swallowed loudly. “Yes, I do think it would work. I didn’t want to bring it up yet in case you weren’t ready, but I’d love to do that. That’s my dream—to find the other girl and do what we can to help her and her family. I’m a bit
too tired tonight, but do you want to try tomorrow morning? We could get up early and start fresh.”
Hallie nodded. “Alright. You’ll have to teach me what to do—I’ve never cast a locating spell before. But I want to do it. Heaven knows where the girl is—probably halfway across the world—but I want to try to find her. I don’t want her suffering like we suffered. I want her to know how to use her power early on. So… so it doesn’t control her.”
Hallie became quiet, and Ariel knew she was remembering the incident that happened when she was eight, when she accidentally hurt some children at her school with her magic. Ariel bit her lip. “Why don’t you and Sean go relax in your room while me and Brayden clean up. You can have an early night, if you like. You’ve traveled for so long, you probably need a lot of rest.”
“That would be good,” Sean said. “I still feel like I’m recovering from being on the ship. An early night would be great.”
Ariel smiled at him and he smiled back, and then he rose, taking Hallie’s hand. They left the room, and Ariel sighed deeply, resting her head on her hand.
“Brayden, this is a mess—a big, stupid mess,” Ariel said. “I’m trying to be strong for Hallie, but I’m just as scared as her. But our first step is to find the other High Witch—we’ll deal with everything else later. I just wanted a lovely time with them! Why does the prophecy thing have to be happening?”
Brayden took her hand and kissed it, holding it to his chest. “Tonight we just rest. We need an early night too. Go and relax, I’ll take care of the cleaning up. Ariel, you can get through anything—I know you, you’re amazing. Whatever this is, I know you’ll be able to handle it. And we’ll all be with you. I love you so much, and I don’t want you to worry.”
Ariel looked at him fondly, moisture forming in her eyes. “Oh, Brayden,” she whispered. “I need you to hold me tonight. A lot. Alright?”
He grinned. “I think I can manage that,” he said. “It’ll be terribly trying, but I might be able to get through it.”
Ariel giggled, loving that he filled her with happiness. She stood, put a couple of the plates on the bench, then left the kitchen. She was going to try to rest a great deal that night. She gazed at the door to Sean and Hallie’s room as she walked past, hoping they could relax too. She just wanted everyone to be happy. Happy, and safe.
Chapter 4
Cameron stood by Alexandra, looking at the sleeping little girl in the cradle. He gazed at Julia in wonder. She was so small—tiny little hands, tiny little face, lovely, silky black hair. She looks a lot like Alexandra, he thought, his heritage only making the girl’s gorgeous dark skin lighter than her mother’s. He ached to reach out and place a kiss on Julia’s cheek, but dared not, lest he wake her. He looked at Alexandra, wanting to tell her about the pride he was feeling but not knowing where to start.
“She’s—she’s lovely,” he managed to stammer. “So small. She resembles you a great deal. What’s she like—can she walk yet? Can she talk?”
“She can walk and she talks a bit,” Alexandra said softly. “She can say ‘Mama’ and has names for her toys and names for food. She changes all the time—she isn’t the same one month to the next. I mean, she’s only fifteen months old, and look at her. Look at how she’s grown, from when she was a baby. I—I know you never saw her as a baby, but try and imagine…” Alexandra stopped, turning slightly away from him.
Cameron shut his eyes for a moment, knowing he was such a fool for doing what he did. Nothing would ever make up for it. Nothing could replace all those months he was gone—not seeing Julia grow, not supporting Alexandra through her pregnancy and those early months of Julia’s life. He knew Alexandra would never forgive him, not someone as headstrong as her. He was lucky she was letting him see Julia at all.
Alexandra led the way out of the room and pulled the door nearly closed behind her, leaving it ajar slightly. Cameron knew he was about to be thrown out, but he wanted to delay it any way he could. He had an important question he wanted to ask.
“Has she shown any magical ability?” he asked. “Do you think she’s a witch?”
The look on Alexandra’s face as they stood by the table and chairs again surprised Cameron. Her expression was filled with concern, with worry, her brow furrowed. Is something wrong?
“She’s definitely a witch—she gets that from you,” she said. “But her power confuses me. I always thought a witch or warlock only had one type of power, like you being a shape-shifter. I haven’t seen her shape-shift, but she has made things appear in her hand from across the room, and she’s made water appear in her cup, and I’ve seen her create a small flame once. A flame! I doused it immediately, but why does she have the power of controlling fire and water, and the power to call things across the room? And what else is she going to do? Her power is strong, Cameron—she doesn’t seem to be trying to cast a spell, she just does it. I don’t know how to cope with this. I don’t know how to control it.”
Cameron looked at Alexandra, at the despair in her deep brown eyes, but didn’t know how to help. He’d secretly hoped his child would have magic, something he could share with them, but he’d never heard of anything like this. He paced the room. “I know some people who know about magic, more than I do. I’ll talk to them about this and see what they say. I can try to help her control her magic as best I can, but it does sound strange. We have to get hold of this quickly, though—if her magic is strong now, it will only grow as she becomes older. Does she use magic every day?”
“Yes. All the time.”
Cameron chewed on his lip. “Could I come back tomorrow, during the day, so I can see her cast a spell? You don’t have to tell her who I am, just a friend of yours who’s visiting. It would help me to get my head around this, be able to explain it to others better.”
Alexandra frowned at him, looking him in the eye, something that disquieted him. She certainly was headstrong. “You can’t—it’s too soon. You just show up out of nowhere and now you want to see her tomorrow? I said you could spend time with her—slowly—but this is all too fast. You can come back next week. Or the week after. You’re rushing me, and I don’t like it.”
“I’m not trying to rush you—I’m trying to help.”
“Then back away—step back! Don’t crowd me! You’re moving in too fast, and I don’t like it. You can come back next week. That’s all I have to say.”
Cameron stood there, desperation in his heart, seeing his life with his daughter slipping through his fingers. He’d have to work hard to convince Alexandra he wasn’t going to hurt her—wasn’t going to hurt both her and Julia. He realized he had to do things Alexandra’s way or there would be nothing at all. He moved towards the door. “Alright, I’ll be back next week,” he said quietly. “I’ll do whatever you ask. If you need me—if you need anything at all—I live at this address.”
He reached into the pocket of his trousers and retrieved a small piece of paper with his address written on it. He handed it to Alexandra, watching her read it. “Send for me and I’ll come over immediately. I’ll drop everything. I’m not going to abandon you again. I promise.”
He left it at that, opening the door and walking out, shutting it behind him. He stood there for a while, feeling happy and sad and excited and uncomfortable. He had a daughter! He was ecstatic but knew he had to be careful—had to play this safe or he would have nothing.
He would do anything for Alexandra and Julia. He just knew it.
***
Raven sat in the tavern, downing his second drink. He spoke to no one, the expression on his face enough to scare anyone away. He just wanted to be left alone, to deal with the dark situation he was faced with. Kidnapping a baby. It made him sick.
He heard the door to the small place open and close behind him, but he ignored it. He sighed, taking another sip of the drink he was barely tasting. He wasn’t looking to become drunk, just needed to take the edge off.
The chair across from him was pushed aside. Raven looked up
to see Ewan sit down. He inwardly groaned.
“I’m pleased to see you too,” Ewan joked, but Raven said nothing. Ewan placed his hands on the table, then leaned forward. “It’ll be over in a few days,” he said. “Once we reach the town where Julia is, we’ll do it quickly. One of us will leave a letter for the mother to try to calm her, try to explain that no harm will come to her child. I’m sure she’ll be hysterical, but it’s the best we can do. Once we’ve hidden Julia away and surrounded her with spells to stop Ariel from finding her, Julia can begin her new life, and she’ll settle in soon enough. She won’t remember her mother after a time—she’s very young. I know you hate this, but…”
“You know I hate this?” Raven spat out. “Do you know I can’t sleep because of this? Do you know it makes me sick? That I can barely stomach food because this act disgusts me? I know it’s the only way, but separating a mother from her child is the last thing I want to be involved in. This ridiculous prophecy—we believe it, we’ve seen enough to know it could come true—but the lengths we’re going to to stop it… I hate this! If only we could trust the High Witches would never find out about the spell. If only we could trust they would never cast it. But we can’t. The four will meet if we do nothing—we’re all sure of that. The risk of them finding out about the spell in that case is too strong.”
“Because we know they’ll cast it,” Ewan finished for him.
Raven nodded. “Because any good person would. They wouldn’t understand the repercussions.”
The two grew silent. Raven knew only those who studied the prophecy, who understood it completely, would know the disaster that would occur if the spell was cast. Anyone else wouldn’t see how grave, how wrong it would be. The High Witches would no doubt think they were doing the right thing, but they wouldn’t be. Could Raven and the others in his group explain it to them? Could they convince them of the problem?