“Did he know about your... your 'abilities'?”
She chuckled then and nodded, “Things were a little different back then. I didn't know I could change until I was 18 and it wasn't because I was told. It was because it just happened one day. I was terrified. I didn't know what was happening to me. Luckily it happened while I was at home and my mother was visiting. Walter was out at the time and my mother had heard a commotion in my room. She walked in and I was no longer Rose the teenager. I was Rose the Canadian Lynx. You can imagine my shock when she began speaking to me softly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. She calmed me down though and I soon changed back to my human form. It was while I was changing back that Walter came home.”
“I bet that gave him the shock of a lifetime,” I said and she nodded.
“It was the only time I have ever seen a man faint,” she laughed. “When he eventually came to, he thought he'd had a strange dream but then he saw my ripped clothes and knew it hadn't been a dream at all. He took it surprisingly well. It was a shock to the both of us on the same day, and so we had to come to terms with it together.”
“So he accepted that it was a part of who you are?” I asked eagerly, thinking that perhaps Oliver would do the same.
“I was very lucky,” she nodded before slowly adding, “but his parents weren't killed by wildcats.”
The excitement that had been building within me was ripped out of me and I slumped back in the chair, closing my eyes and fighting back the tears that threatened to break loose.
“Lilly, Oliver and Ben have been through a lot over the years. They have had to come to terms with the fact that both their mother and father were killed by two wild mountain lions. If you told them now that you may well be an animal of the feline variety, they could see you as a huge threat. It's very risky,” she said gently. “You're still very young, Lilly. Oliver is your first boyfriend. Are you absolutely certain that he is the one? Because if he's not... and he finds out about this family, all hell could break loose. There are so many things you need to think about, to take into consideration. Ultimately though, it's up to you. We can't tell you what you should be doing with your life. That's for you to decide.”
Of course I knew what she said was true and, although it hurt in the pit of my stomach, I had gone to Rose for a reason. I trusted her and so I knew I had to think long and hard about my decision.
There was so much going on in my life and perhaps stringing Oliver along was the worst thing I could do. The problem was that my feelings for him were getting stronger. They were strengthened every time I saw him.
But on the other hand, I had to think of him and I did know that he would undoubtedly be safer not knowing the truth. But how could he continue to be such a big part of my life and not know? I felt so confused.
As I watched Rose continue to prune her beloved flowers, I couldn't help but think what a remarkable woman she was. She had been through so much, losing her true love and their daughter – and had never known what had happened to them – and yet she had remained clear-headed and, well, normal. She had continued to be a strong and loving woman in spite of it all.
It was then that I thought about how Vivian had taken my father and me away from our family, and I wondered whether someone like Vivian could have been responsible for Walter's disappearance too. I didn't mention it though; I had already drudged up enough heartbreaking memories. I didn't want to cause any more grief. As I left Rose's house a little while later, I thought that perhaps it was something I could talk about with Gabriel.
Walking back down the pathway through the trees, I decided to take the scenic route home, stopping along the shoreline to watch a single fisherman catch a small fish off in the distance. I began to think about Oliver and decided that I ought to ask Gabriel for his advice.
He was pleased that I wanted his opinion on the matter, particularly because he had raised the two boys himself and knew how difficult it was to keep the truth from them.
“But I am a strong believer in fate, Lilly, and if Oliver is meant to be in your life, then he will be.”
“But how can he be and not know the truth. Surely he needs to know who I really am. Who we really are. Doesn't he, and Ben, deserve to know the truth about the family that raised them?” I asked, almost wishing for him to just say 'yes, let's tell them the truth'.
But he shook his head and reiterated that what will be, will be.
As the afternoon turned into evening, the sky slowly became darker and the crucial family members began to arrive again. My worries about Oliver began to move towards the back of my mind as I began to feel excited about seeing Sammy again. I was eager for him to be welcomed into the family again after all these years. At least that was what I hoped would happen.
The six of us (again we were joined by Jo, on my request, for extra support) assembled just beyond the opening to the forest, where I'd followed my mother's ghost the night before, and stood huddled together for warmth as we awaited the arrival of Sammy.
We didn't have to wait long. We could hear the soft flapping of wings from above. It wasn't a frightening sound, just like a rather large bird flying down from the sky. Except for the fact that this bird was a man.
Over the years he had clearly perfected his flying and landing techniques and as he swooped down quite a few metres from us, he came to a gentle halt, before walking very slowly towards us.
I rushed forward with open arms and as I approached him, I could almost feel the tension from behind me but I ignored it completely, hugging Sammy like the long lost brother that he was.
“Sammy,” I whispered, “don't worry. I've explained the truth. They know what happened now and they have nothing against you... but it's been such a long time and it might take a little while for them to accept you and to come to terms with everything. Please bear with them.”
His face belied his body language, which was cool and confident. I could see in his eyes that he was nervous. Scared, even, about what was about to happen.
I took his hand in mine, and together we turned to face my family. We walked towards them and waited.
“Sammy... oh dear Sammy,” cried Rose, “we're so sorry” and she rushed forward and took him into a big hug, sobbing. I could see that she wasn't the only one crying. As I looked closely at all their faces, all were wet with tears and I smiled as they rolled down my own cheeks too.
This is what my mother and Neleh had wanted. They had wanted the truth to be known. They had wanted me to find Sammy and bring him home and that is exactly what was happening before my eyes.
Gabriel took his hand in both of his own then and smiled. He didn't say a word, he just stood looking at the man he had once held responsible for the death of two beloved family members. He now knew that he had been totally and utterly wrong.
Jo later told me that she had been a little afraid at first. Although she knew of the amazing things our family could do, she had never actually seen anything like that before and had hovered in the background waiting to be introduced, nervously.
Of course as soon as I'd done so, her nerves had melted away and she was won over by Sammy's gentle soul.
As we huddled together for warmth, we walked back towards the house, checking that there was nobody out and about before we quickly rushed indoors, cautiously hiding that magnificent set of wings. It was the first time that Sammy had set foot indoors in so many years and the simple act led him to break down in tears as he looked around and saw that everything was pretty much as it had been all those years before.
Meredith patted him on his back before quickly jerking her arm away for fear of hurting him. It broke the ice instantly and he laughed at her reaction, “It's okay”, he said, “they won't break. They're pretty strong,” as he wiped away the tears from his face.
“Come Sammy, come and sit down with us. Let's make some hot coffee, or tea?” Gabriel asked, unsure as to what Sammy would like to drink. We all wondered about what he must have survived on all these
years and Sammy smiled, “It's been a long time since I had coffee,” he smiled.
“Coffee it is then,” said Gabriel standing quickly.
“No Gabriel, I'll do it. You guys have got rather a lot of catching up to do. Let me make the coffee,” said Jo as I walked with her into the kitchen, leaving them to reminisce about the happy times and get to know each other all over again.
Later that evening, it was decided that Sammy would move in with us. Gabriel's house was close enough to the forest and had easy access should Sammy need more space. And of course, should he need to hide from anybody that would visit for any reason.
Sammy shed plenty of tears that night, as all of us did. As I had hoped, he was welcomed back into the family with open arms. All was as it should have been. But there were still so many questions that needed to be answered. Things we needed to figure out together. A future to plan. A father, a son and a brother to find and bring home.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
The next few weeks were fairly uneventful and seemed to go by quickly. Sammy was a joy to be around and he and Gabriel were developing a close bond. He had even been introduced to the rest of the family, after they had suspected something pretty major was going on. Gabriel knew that it was wrong to keep it from them.
Meredith's husband John and their son Cormac as well as Wyatt's wife, Sonya, were told of his existence prior to them coming over to our house. They were told that a discovery had been made that proved, contrary to popular belief, that Sammy Morton was innocent. That he had nothing to do with Neleh's murder or Serena's 'suicide'. They weren't told, however, about the shocking curse that had been placed upon him until the small group arrived at the house.
Because they were aware of the strange creatures that already inhabited our world, they weren't as shocked as I thought they would be. Cormac, however, nearly fell off his chair when Sammy walked in with his huge wings on full view. After a few minutes, though, he declared it to be 'cool' and wanted to know if he could see him fly. Again, the ice was broken and Sammy no longer needed to be hidden from the rest of the family. Who he did need to be hidden from, however, were two men who had been a big part of the family for many years... Ben and Oliver.
Although it was discussed at length, we all felt the same. With their parents killed by wild animals, they needed to be shielded from the truth. The truth that could hurt them. So during those few weeks, I had to prevent Oliver from coming to the house. I knew eventually he would become suspicious but until then, I would go on as normal.
Unfortunately, things didn't go quite as planned.
It was an evening in early March. Gabriel had gone out to celebrate an old friend's birthday and Sammy and I were enjoying an evening in alone. We had eaten pizza and were watching an old film on the television. Ever since Sammy had moved in, we had just clicked. After all, we did have a lot in common. We had both spent many lonely years forced to live without so many things. Although I'd had a few creature comforts, there had been none for Sammy.
We had gone without things like TV and pizza so whenever we had the chance, we would savour every moment.
That night we were being silly and giggling away when there was a knock on the door. Sammy became nervous.
“Hide,” I whispered, giving him a few moments to slip away somewhere in the house.
“Who is it?” I yelled through the door, and as I slowly opened it, there was a beaming Oliver.
“Happy Valentine's Day,” he said with a beaming smile.
“But it's not Valentine's Day,” I answered hoping that Sammy had managed to hide himself well.
He grinned again and produced from behind his back a single rose. Handing it to me, he said, “I know, but as we haven't been able to do much together lately, and we couldn't celebrate Valentine's Day, I thought I'd surprise you tonight. I know Gabriel is at a birthday party so I figured you'd be alone.”
He bent down and kissed me softly on the lips. My concern for Sammy, however, meant that I didn't respond the way I should have.
He pulled back and looked at me strangely, “Is everything alright, Lilly?” he asked.
I nodded but I knew I had never been a very good liar.
“What is it?” he asked.
I smiled, trying to think of something to say when we both heard a noise from indoors.
It dawned on Oliver that I was not alone. He knew I was hiding something and I had no explanation. I was mortified and worried to the core.
“Oh God, Lilly. Are you seeing someone else?”
“No, of course not,” I whispered in response, though not convincingly enough for him. If only I could just tell him the truth.
Suspicion got the better of him and he pushed open the front door and walked in, “So who is he, Lilly? Is it someone I know? Someone from school?”
I repeated over and over again that there was nobody else but he just didn't believe me. He walked into the living room and when he saw two plates and two glasses, he knew, for sure, that I certainly wasn't on my own.
“Oliver, please don't do this. Of course I'm not seeing anybody else. You're the only one,” I sobbed.
“Then why all the secrecy, Lilly? Why have you been avoiding me for the past month or so?”
Again I was speechless, there was nothing I could say.
When I heard the front door slam, I knew that Sammy had made a run for it towards the forest.
Oliver followed and I was terrified that he would see him. I tried to grab him but I wasn't quick enough.
I followed hot on his heels and knew that he had seen the man leaving the house.
“Who are you?” shouted Oliver.
I watched in horror as Sammy turned slowly and the realisation hit Oliver smack in the face.
“But you're... you're a murderer. You're Sammy Morton. Oh my God, what the...? Wings?,” he said. Something clicked within Oliver then and I could see that he was going to try to catch him.
“No, just let him go Oliver,” I yelled as loud as I could, running faster than I'd ever ran before, chasing after them. The two men that meant the world to me. It was then that something extraordinary happened to me.
As I ran, I could feel a dramatic change within me. A fierce pain shot through my entire body, stopping me dead in my tracks. I screamed out in agony and at the same time noticed that Oliver had stopped abruptly and turned to see why I had yelped so loudly. For a moment, Oliver became the least of my problems as I felt my body trying to shut itself down. It was trying to black out. I fought the feeling to lose consciousness and remained awake throughout the process in which my body began to radically change beyond all recognition.
I had been wondering when this would happen but had not prepared myself for the fact that it might happen during the most inopportune time. Why, oh why did it have to happen while Oliver was there?
The ferocity of the pain continued to attack my every pore and I felt as though I wanted to die, and although it felt like this change took a long time, I knew deep down that it had almost been instantaneous.
I knew then that I was no longer the innocent young fourteen-year-old girl that had been chasing after Sammy and Oliver in the forest. And as I looked down, I saw the full extent of my new self. I saw that in place of my long pale arms and legs were four limbs of a completely different nature. Long, lean, incredibly strong and covered in soft black fur, I knew that my change into a feline was complete. Judging from my size, I realised that I wasn't your average house cat but a much larger animal. To my horror, it dawned on me that I had become one of the most fierce feline creatures in the region. I had morphed into a black mountain lion and I will never forget the look of absolute terror on Oliver's face at the sight of me. It would haunt me forever.
I had no idea what to do. For some reason I had not questioned Rose enough about the physical changes that happen during a transformation and we had certainly never discussed what I should do when it did occur.
After witnessing Sammy fly off into the distance, Oli
ver had then seen me become something terrifying, especially in his eyes, seen as I had become the very creature that had been responsible for his own parents' death. I watched as the utter shock of it all caused him to collapse right in front of my eyes.
Terrified that the shock had killed him, I rushed to his side and put my head above his mouth. I could feel his breath and his heartbeat was strong yet incredibly fast – I could hear and almost feel the rhythmic beating without even touching him. I dared not touch him in case he suddenly awoke. That would be an even greater shock, I was sure of it.
I came to the conclusion that he had most likely fainted. He needed to be taken back to the house but, being on four legs I knew I couldn't do it myself. I had no choice but to call out to Sammy and hope that he was merely hiding and had not flown too far away.
Forgetting that I couldn't call out his name, I tried to make some kind of noise to get his attention. It was difficult but I managed a deep howl. He returned almost immediately, landing just a few metres away from us. I could just see his face and I knew that he was not afraid of what I had become. He had witnessed his own girlfriend change into a cat, albeit briefly, and so the sight of me changing wasn't something that caused too much concern.
As if reading my mind, he approached quickly, bending down to pick up the still unconscious Oliver. Living alone in the forest for fourteen years had helped him become stronger than an average man and so he lifted him with ease. He walked as fast as he could back to the house, while at the same time I rushed off into the distance, heading towards the one person I knew would be able to help me in these strange circumstances I had found myself in. I ran as fast as my hind legs would propel me, trying to keep myself hidden, until I reached Rose's house.
I let out another howl as soon as I arrived, causing all of the other cats in the vicinity to howl back. Rose appeared quickly in the doorway, a look of concern across her face.
I approached her, not knowing how to tell her what had happened but she knew something wasn't right. As she peered down at me fearlessly, I bowed my head and looked to the ground, trying hard to think of a way to help her know that it was me. But I needn't have worried, for she knew immediately who I was.
When Darkness Falls - Six Paranormal Novels in One Boxed Set Page 125