The Council, A Witch's Memory

by J. C. Isabella

  “Please…”

  “Please, what?” I whipped back around, grasping the shiny banister for support. “Forgive you? Fall into your arms and accept everything that happened because you tell me you’re sorry?” I asked. “I understand you didn’t want to lie to me. I can see it plain enough in your eyes. I am just so hurt because I thought I knew you.”

  “You do know me, the real me,” he came toward me slowly. “You know what I am apart from my family legacy and the titles. Being a prince does not define me. It is my job.”

  I smiled, mimicking his polished accent. “Your words are magical, just like you, Prince Henry. But such a job will define your life.”

  He reared back, “I’m not weaving them to gain anything from you, Venna. This is me. I am what I have always been to you and with you. Everything out of my mouth has always been the truth when it came to the way I feel about you.”

  “Did you kill him?” I asked, suddenly wanting to know just how much he could do. “The man who attacked me?

  “I would have been within my rights completely.”

  I bit my lips, “But did you, really?”

  He reached out to touch my hand. “No, I’d never kill a defenseless man, no matter what he’s done. He was taken into custody and will be tried and convicted fairly.”

  Something in me soared from hearing his words. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll leave you now and I will only come back if you ask me to,” he climbed the stairs, to stand next to me.

  “And if I don’t?” I asked, a fresh flood of tears clouded my vision.

  “Then you will never see me again,” he leaned in and pressed his lips to my forehead. “All you have to do is say my name, and I’ll come back, Venna.”

  There was a flash of green light, and though his figure faded from my view, his voice lingered in my ear. “I will always come back.”

  Chapter 17

  I watched Zane jump excitedly as the waves crashed onto the shore. He loved the water. I wasn’t a big fan. The salty spray burned and I wasn’t a strong swimmer. I tore my eyes from my little brother and glanced up at the house to see my mom hanging laundry on the line. She was sad a lot, mostly because our dad left last year. I’d been nine. He’d gone right after Zane’s fifth birthday.

  I’d noticed he was different than he used to be. Meaner. Sometimes he yelled at my mom for spying on him or trying to change his plans.

  I never thought he was bad until the morning I saw him leave.

  His eyes had turned black.

  I’d noticed that they were a little darker, but I never thought he was changing.

  But he did change, and he left with the man that had scared me on the beach the year before. The one with the black hair named Cal.

  I looked back at the waves just as Zane squealed and leapt for the shore. He’d cut his foot on a rock again.

  Shaking my head, I went over to him and pressed the tips of my fingers to the wound. In seconds it was healed, and he went running back out into the waves.

  “Can I borrow your powers?”

  I looked further down the beach. Once again Henry had been playing on the large rocks, so I ran over and healed his scraped knee.

  “Thanks,” he smiled.

  I nodded, “Sure, anytime.”

  There was a flash of green light, and a man appeared. First I looked at his eyes. They were green and bright. His smile was warm and welcoming.

  “Father!” Henry shouted, running toward him. “Why are you here?”

  “Believe it or not, it’s past your bedtime where we live.” He laughed, ruffling Henry’s hair. “But I guess leaving you in a different time zone for two days takes it’s toll.”

  “Does he have to go?” I asked, looping my arm through Henry’s. “We were going to watch a movie and pop popcorn.”

  Henry’s father raised his blond eyebrows, “I love movies. Do you know what a projector is?”

  I shook my head. “Is it like a TV?”

  “No,” Henry said. “It’s cooler than a TV. The movie covers a big chunk of the wall in our house.”

  “In Capeside?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he bounced up and down. “Can Venna come? Please father? She can even stay over like last time. Remember? We slept on the big rug with the pillows under the tent you made.”

  His father smiled, and he said he’d be right back. He phased to where my mom was hanging the clothes on the line. Henry and I watched them talk for a couple minutes. Then he phased back.

  “Can she?” Henry asked.

  “Yes,” his father said. “Zane’s going to come too.”

  Henry wrinkled his nose, “What the heck is he doing?”

  I glanced back at my brother and groaned.

  Zane was bent over at the waist, spitting up globs of sand.

  Henry’s father helped Zane get the rest of the sand out of his mouth…and I have no idea why my little brother put it in there in the first place, and he phased us to their house in Capeside. We watched movies on the projector until Henry’s mom made us go to bed. But I snuck out of the room I was sharing with Zane to meet Henry in the library to watch more movies. We fell asleep in one of the big chairs just before the sun came up.

  Henry was the best friend I’d ever had, and I told him that before his father took Zane and me home the next day.

  We would be friends forever.

  My eyes flew open and I glanced around the library. The projector beside me was clicking and whirring. The reel of film on it ran out a long time ago. I glanced at the clock on the wall.

  It was midnight.

  I’d been here before I remembered being here.

  How was that possible?

  I threw back the covers and tore out of my room down the hallway to Henry’s room. I threw open the door and turned on the lights. He wasn’t there. I knew he wasn’t there. But still, I spoke.

  “Why?” I asked. “What happened?”

  Of course there was no answer.

  I took a deep breath and shut the door to his room. I walked to the center and studied the place that had been like a second home to me.

  I was so confused.

  “I need you.” I gasped, trying not to drown in such familiar memoires. They were mine, but they were so foreign. “I need you to explain, Henry.”

  Nothing.

  I felt and heard nothing.

  So I called to him again, “Henry?”

  I stood for a few seconds, feeling stupid, and was about to head for the door when the green light I’d slowly began to crave filled the room.

  I turned around and he was there.

  He looked terrible. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair a mess, sticking out like he’d run his hands through it a million times. It became glaringly obvious that our being apart probably wasn’t the best thing for us, at least at the moment.

  “How could I forget you?” I whispered.

  “Venna?” he asked, glancing around us, as if he was surprised to find himself in his room. “What’s wrong?”

  I closed the distance between us. How I’d come to Capeside and met him that day outside Mara and Jackson’s was a mystery, everything before that had been…blank. “How could you forget me?”

  “Are you feeling alright?” he hesitated before feeling my forehead and looking into my eyes.

  “No.” I shook my head. “Before I came to Capeside, I knew you. You were at Zane’s fourth birthday. You found a jellyfish, and then another time you scraped your knee and I healed it.”

  He stared at me, slack jawed.

  “Henry,” I felt myself shaking. I didn’t know what was happening to me. “Why don’t we remember?”

  Chapter 18

  Henry

  “How…” I went over to the bed and dropped down on the end of it, speechless. But I knew how it happened. It was my memory charm loving mum.

  “I had a dream,” Venna sank to the floor, dazed, staring back at me. “But I think it was more of a memory.”

 
; “It was,” my mouth and throat felt as dry as a desert.

  She shook her head, “Henry, that’s impossible.”

  “My mother cast a spell on you to block your memories. You’ll start to remember gradually, in dreams or little flashes. At midnight on your eighteenth birthday the spell will have worn off completely.”

  “That’s why I don’t remember anything before living with Mara and Jackson.”

  “Yes.”

  “What don’t I know?”

  “I’m going to tell you everything, about your past, your parents…and I want you to know that it can’t hurt you. I promise.” She nodded, urging me on. I never wanted to cause her any more distress, but it had to be done. “This is going to be hard for you to hear.”

  “The facts can’t hurt me.” She squared her shoulders, putting on a brave face.

  “John Craven, your father, was born around six hundred years ago. He was abandoned as a baby. We have no record of what happened to him between that time and the early fifteen hundreds. He wreaked havoc in Europe and parts of Asia for fifty years.

  “Before the Council came into existence our people were in danger of being wiped from the planet. Those were treacherous times, I’m told.

  “Craven hated the royal family, having anyone dictate to him how he should live. He challenged the Council and tried to overthrow my father. But he was no match. Craven nearly died in battle. Most assumed he did.”

  “How did he escape?”

  “I don’t know. Eight years ago there were a few sightings of him, alerting magical authorities. Soon we realized who your father was, with the help of your mother, and you were brought to Capeside for your protection.”

  “Why is my father such a terrible person? What did he do, other than try to take the throne?”

  “He wants to enslave humans. To him they are good for nothing but servantry.” I shook my head, thinking it was best I leave out the bit about the portal to the demon world. It didn’t appear Venna was ready to hear that yet. “Many people died, human and magical. He spared no one who stood in his way. Not even your mother. She found out that he lied to her about who he was. When she tried to stop him from planning another uprising, he killed her.”

  “No.” She blinked back tears and rose to sit on her knees. “Didn’t he love her?”

  “It wasn’t enough. His soul was too black for her to reach him, and by the time she realized his plans it was too late. But before she confronted Craven, your mother spoke to my mother, asking her to take you and Zane if anything happened.” I rubbed my eyes, worn out. “We can only hope he is caught before the violence escalates, or, if were lucky, he will run out of people to do his dirty work and be forced to do it himself. He’s weak now, not very quick or strong, a lot easier to catch.”

  “He can run fast like Zane?”

  I nodded solemnly, “A person can have any power. Inheriting a power from a parent is most common.”

  She pursed her lips. “You’re really not going to let me go back to Mara and Jackson anytime soon, are you?”

  She sounded hopeful, as if she didn’t want to go.

  “You and Zane will be staying until this over. When I know it is safe we can resume or normal lives.”

  “Henry, we’re not normal.” She pointed out, wrinkling her nose. “And I think I’m going to have a hard time just sliding back into my regular routine.”

  “What else don’t I know?” She looked down at her hands in her lap, twisting her fingers. “No, that’s not my question…I want to know why my father’s eyes weren’t black until he left my mom. Why was that so important in my memory?”

  I explained to her about the soulless. The black eyes and the black soul. It seemed to make sense to her. She didn’t stop me, didn’t flinch. She just nodded.

  “I haven’t seen what she looks like yet,” she said. “But I have seen Cal.”

  “Cal was in your memory?”

  It was my turn to listen as Venna told me about her last two dreams. It was hard to hide my shock, but I tried. I also wondered what else my mum had charmed out of us.

  “So no one knows what happened to Craven,” she said.

  “No, all we know is what your mum told my mum. The rest is speculation.” I made no move toward her, but I wanted to. It was so hard to keep my distance. She still needed time though. And I would give her as much as she needed if it meant we could have a future together.

  “Why are your eyes glowing?”

  I blinked, stopping them from illuminating. “They glow with emotion. I can control it, and have hidden this from you in the past. It isn’t a very human thing, to let your eyes glow when you’re happy or angry.”

  “Will my eyes glow?”

  “Yes, and you’ll be able to see in the dark. Your hearing, sense of smell—they will all magnify.”

  “How?”

  “When you turn eighteen your powers will come fully.” I said, growing weary from the stress of being apart from her. Zane was good at pacing, but I’d nearly worn a hole through one of my mum’s favorite Persian rugs. “Why don’t we talk more in the morning? It’s late, and you look tired.”

  She shook her head, “I don’t want to sleep. I know I’ll remember more, and I have a feeling that what I remember next won’t be pleasant.”

  “Venna, you don’t know that.”

  “Oh, I do. Think about it. In my dream I was around ten years old. I came here when I was ten.”

  “I wish I could make it go away, but I can’t.” I stood and took the chair on the other side of the room by the fireplace. It was comfortable enough. “We are both exhausted. I’ll sleep here, and if you have another memory, just wake me up.”

  “Henry,” she frowned, not having moved.

  “I know you haven’t forgiven me. But I also know neither of us will get a good nights rest if we’re both worrying.”

  Venna stood and crawled into the bed. I glanced at the light switch and the room plunged into darkness.

  I was almost asleep when I heard her say, “Henry?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Can I ask you another question?”

  I humored her, knowing she’d fall asleep eventually. “Fire away.”

  “Why did the Council form in the first place, and how many people in the world have powers? Are there a lot of us?”

  I smiled at her string of questions. It was such a relief that she wasn’t running from me in fear or hatred. She was angry, rightfully so, but I had her trust. That’s what mattered most.

  “Last time I checked the population consensus for the entire magical world, it was around three hundred thousand. Five hundred years ago it was less than half of that. The communities were segregated. Vampires wandered like nomads, creatures of the night. The werewolves lived in caves and forests, mostly in Scotland and Ireland. Our people were just trying to blend in. They wanted to live normal lives. But we had no rules, aside from the ones humans tried to enforce, which rarely worked.”

  “What changed?”

  “There really wasn’t an agreement amongst everyone. My grandfather and father were noblemen, part of the court in England, and two of the few warlocks who managed it.” I sunk back into the chair, my energy depleting. This was probably the longest day of my life. “They studied the monarchy and devised a system of government.”

  “How did they get people to listen to them?” She yawned.

  “It took thirty years. The catalyst was Craven. People soon realized that they needed order or they risked disappearing. The men who helped my father defeat yours could give it to them.”

  “But why is your father king? What about your grandfather?”

  “He never wanted to be king. It was my father who stepped into the role. Grandfather loves to fight. He trains all of our best guards and spies at a compound in France.”

  “He’s still alive?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “He’d have to be over five hundred years old.”

  “He’s one thousand four
hundred and thirty-two, to be precise.”

  She groaned, “Henry, I think I’ve had enough for one day.”

  “Okay, can you sleep now?”

  “Yes…thank you.”

  I smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  Chapter 19

  Venna

  I woke up to the sounds of thunder, lightning flashed outside. A few rays of dim morning light slipped through navy drapes on the far side of Henry’s room.

  “Henry?” I called, sitting up. The chair he’d been in was empty. He was usually an early riser, so I didn’t think anything of his disappearing act and went back to the guestroom to get ready for the day.

  On my bed I found Zane’s backpack. It had been stuffed with some of my belongings and fresh clothes.

  I was feeling fresh from a shower and drying my hair when there was a knock on the door.

  “It’s open.” I shut off my hair dryer and poked my head out of the bathroom door.

  “Good morning, Venna.” Flora swept into the room. She hopped up to sit at the foot of the bed. Her silky black hair was braided and draped over her shoulder. She ran her fingers through the end of it, loosening the braid and letting the waves cascade down her back. She still wore pajamas, green cotton pants and a matching button up shirt. “How did you sleep?”

  “Great,” I smiled. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. I just wanted to know if you would like to make breakfast with me?”

  “Sure,” I stashed my dryer in the bathroom drawer and followed her into the hall.

  “We have a lot to do today. It’s good you got up early.” Flora had pep in her step. I wasn’t that much of a morning person until I got a glass of OJ and the comics section of the newspaper.

  “What are we doing?”

  “We’re going to exercise your powers. The more you use your gift the stronger you’ll become.” She smiled and stopped outside of one of the other bedrooms. “I’m going to change before we go down.”

  “Flora, did Henry tell you what else I can do?”