by Mara Webb
“Get comfortable why don’t you!”
“Did you find out what that photographer discovered on the cliffs?” she asked. The question blindsided me, and I had to work my way back through the events of the last few days to remember what she was talking about.
“No. She was killed over it, but I don’t think the two geniuses that orchestrated her death actually figured out what was down there,” I explained. “Something valuable by all accounts.”
“Okay, well I can deal with that now,” Darcy said.
“What do you mean, deal with it?”
“Humans see dollar signs everywhere they look, always on the hunt for the next thing to make them a few bucks. Clearly, they are willing to kill over it, so I will remove temptation,” she smiled. “I’m the aunt of a peacekeeper, I’m trying to help!”
Something about it seemed ingenuine, but I didn’t know enough about what was going on to argue. Was she going to tell me what Cindy had found on those cliffs? Or would I have to find that out for myself?
“There’s another peacekeeper now, did you know that?” I asked.
“I’d heard about it,” she nodded. “Considering that you are in the process of bringing the dark island under some sort of control, it might be useful to have someone else to lighten the load. I thought you’d be more bothered about your boyfriend running around all day with a girl like that.”
“A girl like what?” I pressed. Darcy parted her lips to reply but was interrupted by sounds beyond the door. It sounded like Ryder and his brother were arguing louder now. I couldn’t hear the words they were saying, but they were clearly unloading a lot of issues onto each other.
“Your guardian is in love with you, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that,” Darcy said.
“He might have mentioned something in the past.” I turned away from her, not wanted her to see the flushing of my cheeks. The less I thought about Ryder’s professions of affection the better, because this whole thing was messy enough.
“The man that shot you seemed to have gotten his hands on some very unusual weaponry, I’m sure that’s why you were brought here,” Darcy continued.
“What do you mean?”
“They were small caliber, those bullets. They brought that big fella down easily and nearly killed you with a shot through the shoulder. There was no exit wound, which would suggest that the bullet was lodged in your body somewhere, but it’s gone!”
“How do you know all that?” I asked.
“You’ve been unconscious for two days, I’ve been in and out of this room more times than I can count, and I’ve read your medical file,” she grinned.
“That’s private information, I don’t know if you’re allowed to— wait, did you say I’d been out for days?”
“Oh yeah, it’s been quite stressful, but I can assure you that you didn’t die at any point, so it is still just you and the other one. If we had a third peacekeeper in the mix, then things would be utterly chaotic.”
“Unlike this totally normal situation we’re in now,” I groaned.
“Ryder saved your life,” she reiterated. “That man that shot you probably didn’t even know what he had in that gun, the one brain cell in his head will die of loneliness before he does, but your guardian recognized it quickly and got you the help you needed. Despite the cost.”
“What cost?”
“Where is she?” Miller roared. The door was still open, and I could see him approach.
“Leave her to rest,” Ryder shouted back.
“You don’t get to tell me anything,” Miller yelled. “Why are you shirtless? Why is she here? What happened? I’ve been trying to call you for days and you didn’t pick up. Do you know how hard it was to track you down?”
“Yes, I do,” Ryder replied. “This place isn’t supposed to be found, not by you anyway.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Miller growled.
“No dogs in the house, that’s what that means,” Jared sneered. Great, now Ryder’s brother was joining in on the action and there was no way this wasn’t about to get physical.
“If you want a dog, I’ll give you a dog,” Miller grunted. I knew that he was implying that he was about to shift into wolf form, but it sounded as if he was threatening to give Jared a puppy or something. It made me laugh, and the sound caused Miller to turn in my direction. He stepped forward, and I saw Ryder’s bruised hands come into view as they grabbed at Miller to hold him back. Oh boy.
“She needs to rest!” Ryder shouted. “You need to stay out of there!”
Miller turned on his heels and swung a fist at Ryder. The punch landed, but it was Miller that seemed to bear the brunt of the pain. Ryder looked completely unphased by it.
“If I could have answered your calls then I would have,” Ryder continued, as if the punch hadn’t happened.
“Are you two quite finished?” I called out.
“Sadie,” Miller said, bursting into the room and barely missing Darcy as he pushed the chair out of the way to stand by my side. Fortunately, she had stood up and moved before he started kicking the furniture around, and he obviously couldn’t see her on account of never having died.
“You need rest,” Ryder shouted through the door, sensibly deciding to stay a few feet away from Miller.
“I’m okay,” I whispered, Miller pressing his forehead against mine and letting out a loud sigh of relief. His skin was so hot. I hadn’t heard a car engine at any point, suggesting that he had hiked to wherever this cabin was.
“I couldn’t find you. I tracked you to the cabin and found Wyatt, dead,” he said, leaning back a little so I could see his face. “I knew you’d been in there, I could smell your scent, but then the trail went cold somewhere on the road, and I’ve been trying to find you this entire time.”
“It’s weird that you are a werewolf, you know that right?” I laughed. “Like, your ability to follow me by smell alone is really weird.” He cracked a smile, which felt like a victory on my part.
“Shaun has been arrested by the way,” he said. “I guess he saw me shift from a wolf into a person, after he stopped crying he just confessed to everything. He’s not quite as brave as I thought he would be.”
“Again, shifting from a person to a wolf, and vice versa, is weird,” I smiled.
“Weird, but hot, am I right?” Darcy chimed from the corner of the room. I rolled my eyes at her.
“I should get you home,” he said, brushing a finger along my cheek. “Effie and Kate have been conjuring all sorts of magic to try and find you and I’m worried that they are about five seconds away from causing an apocalypse.”
“Oh?” I laughed.
“Yeah, it’s been a scary few days with those two.”
I pulled back the cotton sheet that was over me and glanced down at the outfit I was wearing. I had on a bandeau top and a pair of shorts, neither of which I’d ever seen before. I wondered briefly who had dressed me in this, Ryder or his brother. Miller helped me to my feet and steadied me as I walked toward the open door.
Ryder and Jared were standing in the entrance room of whatever this place was, both of them wearing a fixed expression of rage at Miller’s presence.
“He saved her life,” Jared grunted.
“And I’m grateful,” Miller snapped back. “But you should have answered the phone. You don’t have the right to take her somewhere that I can’t follow.”
“Don’t I get to decide wh—?” I began.
“Not now dear,” Darcy interrupted. “The men are having a ‘man’ moment. Let them have it.” She rolled her eyes at both Miller and Ryder who, despite having me stood in between them both, seemed as though they were bracing for another brawl.
“Let’s go and stop Kate and Effie from blowing up the entire island,” I suggested. “Ryder, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied earnestly. “I’ll stay here with these two; text me when you feel up to it.”
“I will…” I said, beginning to
walk out the door with Miller’s assistance. It took a few seconds for my brain to catch up, but when it did, I turned back around so quickly that I nearly fell over. People could only see Darcy if they had died. How could Ryder see her? “What do you mean you will stay here with these two?”
“He means me and his brother, sweetheart,” Darcy grinned. Ryder nodded in agreement.
“You can see her?” I shrieked. But that must have meant Ryder had died at some point and come back to life. Just like I had.
17
“There is possibly something in your childhood that is lurking, some unanswered questions that are troubling you,” Gloria pondered aloud. I was lying down on the sofa in my living room, silently cursing Kate for bringing the radio psychiatrist into the house.
Kate figured that there would be nothing more beneficial to my healing ‘journey’ than to clear out my mind of unhealthy thoughts. I had argued that I didn’t think ‘unhealthy thoughts’ were a real thing, but here I was getting a session with a shrink regardless.
“Gee, I don’t know,” I sighed. “I was given away as a baby, raised by a woman that gave no acknowledgement to the fact that she knew my birth parents when I now know that she did, or at least she knew my dad’s sisters. Maybe the problems started when I moved here and found out I was a witch, or that my cousin was now a ghost, or that my boyfriend was a werewolf?
“How about the time I literally died?” I continued. “Or that I now think my guardian has di—”
“I’m sensing some resistance to therapy,” Gloria said. You think? I’m sure she was a fine psychiatrist, but I didn’t think that any amount of counselling would help me navigate my life. I’d heard a few of Gloria’s shows and they always seemed to result in a caller slamming down the phone in a rage. She kept telling the audience that some people didn’t like to hear the truth because it made it real. I think she was just being antagonistic to get ratings.
“I’m not thrilled that Kate arranged this on my behalf,” I replied.
“You like to have control, yet your world is now filled with things beyond your control,” she suggested. Well, I couldn’t really argue with that observation. “You would benefit from having something consistent, one part of your week that can anchor you.”
“Are you suggesting that we do this every week?” I said, my voice thick with skepticism. Kate had managed to convince her to give me my first session for half price, but I knew that wouldn’t continue for future appointments.
“Sadie, you have a need to find calm within yourself so that you can bring it to others. You are a peacekeeper here, you are torn between the human world and the world of the paranormal to which you are still a stranger,” she said. I’d been here for months now; I didn’t consider myself a stranger to the weirdness of Hallow Haven anymore. Although, I still didn’t know what had happened with Ryder after I was shot, and it had been playing on my mind ever since.
We had exchanged a few text messages, but over the past few days I hadn’t seen him. Miller had only left my side to check in at the police station, and even then, he had made sure Effie, Kate or Mabel was with me. The hours when Mabel was ‘babysitting’ me were some of the longest hours of my life.
I hadn’t mentioned to anyone the significance of knowing that Ryder could see Darcy. I hadn’t told Miller what had happened, and I had kept it hidden away in my mind so that even Kate couldn’t see it if she read my thoughts. It was something I needed to discuss with Ryder face to face.
“Okay,” I agreed, somewhat reluctantly.
“You won’t regret this,” Gloria assured me. “I think it’s important to acknowledge that we are about to begin something together that will equip you for the challenges you face, both in your personal life and in your professional capacity. For example, I would be very interested to know why it is that you chose to become intimate with one guardian over the other.”
“Excuse me?” I said, sitting up fast that I became slightly lightheaded.
“It seems obvious to me that you had two men enter your life at the same time, both of them thrust into a position where it was there responsibility to care for you, protect you and hold your life at a greater value than their own,” she began. “Yet, when they both revealed their romantic interest, you chose one over the other. From what I gather, Miller has been spending the night here now. That seems as if you have kicked things up a notch.”
My mouth opened a closed a few times in disbelief. Yes, Miller had spent the night several times since the incident in the cabin, and yes it had been worth the wait… But why on earth would I need to discuss that with Gloria? How did she even know about that?
“I—”
“Kate told me,” Gloria said, anticipating my questions. “It isn’t something that I want to discuss today, but I would like you to think about it ahead of our next session.”
With that, she stood up, nodded in my direction, and walked out of the room. I was still floundering from what I considered to be a gross invasion of my privacy, but Effie and Kate ran into the room before I could fully recover.
“How come you will talk to Gloria about your night life, but not me?” Effie complained.
“Night life?”
“You and Miller, your adventures between the sheets, you know…” she clarified.
“First of all, I didn’t plan on talking about that with anybody, so let’s just get that straight,” I said. “Why are you telling your psychiatrist about my love life?” I directed that at Kate who had slumped down into the chair that Gloria had previously occupied.
“I don’t know, honestly,” Kate laughed. “I guess I was just talking about how my love life was at a total standstill and then I happened to mention that you seemed to be doing very well for yourself.”
“Great,” I sighed.
“I haven’t seen Jared for a few days,” Effie added. “But the text messages are getting wild.”
“I don’t want to know,” Kate grimaced.
“You’re just jealous that I am dating the hottest guy on the island. Well, not the hottest, because there are two hotties around here and both of them are into Sadie, but Jared is doing pretty well in third place. He’s also not all that hot temperature wise, that dude runs cold…” Effie trailed off.
“Okay, well if there’s nothing else,” I laughed, standing up.
“Actually, I was hoping you would come out for a walk with me,” Kate said.
“A walk?”
“Yeah. Look, Brielle’s boyfriend wanted to get my opinion on an engagement ring that he has been getting made at Bearbrooks and if the final say falls on my shoulders, then I will implode from the pressure,” Kate complained.
“Wait, how come you are the one he asked for that?” Effie replied. “Also, you told me that you wanted today to be the first day that we trialed making those breakfast boxes. We ordered a whole bunch of stuff to get started with it! I’ve put flyers up in the café, Kate!”
“Oh snap, was that today?” Kate shrugged.
“This was all your idea; I didn’t even want to do this because I knew you would make me do everything. This is why you shouldn’t work with family, Sadie. Are you familiar with the term ‘siblicide’?” Effie ranted.
“I don’t know the first thing about engagement rings, so why don’t you just go, and I’ll stay here with Effie and work on the breakfast boxes?” I suggested. Effie seemed pleased with the idea yet continued to throw a glare at her sister to let her know that the trouble wasn’t over.
“Fine, but don’t you dare talk about anything raunchy while I’m away,” Kate warned. “I don’t want to miss you talking all about Miller and—”
“I won’t be talking about that,” I countered. “You won’t be missing a thing.” Kate gave me a skeptical stare before walking towards the hallway.
“You know, Gloria is really helping me out. She suggested I try hypnotherapy,” Kate announced.
“Hold on, what?” Effie scoffed.
“Hypnotherapy!”
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“Yes, I heard what you said, I’m just shocked that you are even considering it,” Effie replied.
“I’m only bringing it up because… well Gloria said that hypnosis can help bring up memories that your conscious mind has tried to hide from you,” Kate explained, continuing on despite Effie rolling her eyes in horror. “I just think that you might find out more about yourself if you let her into your head.”
“Are you talking to me?” I laughed.
“Gloria said that the memories of traumatic events are still formed, even if you feel as though you can’t actively remember them. Hypnosis can help you access it all,” Kate shrugged. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just saying that I think it could help you.”
“Why would I need to access memories? I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything,” I said, looking over at Effie for reassurance and finding that she was holding a sofa cushion to her face and screaming into it.
“Your parents were at the funeral, the one that brought you to Hallow Haven for the ‘first time’,” she sighed, making large air quotes and looking disapprovingly at her sister. “You must have seen them, right?”
“I— I guess.” I hadn’t thought about that. I stood up and walked to the dining room, pushing open the door and staring at the wall that held up the painting of my family tree. How had I not noticed that before?
“You can’t see everything on there, can you?” Kate asked flatly. “The reason that you haven’t pieced all of this together yet is because you can only see the members of your family tree once you’ve met them, right? Or maybe they have to do something to get your attention and then they show up on the wall. I don’t really know how it works.”
“My parents aren’t on here,” I mumbled, mostly to myself. “How did I not realize that their faces aren’t here.”
“You see them sometimes though, right? But the pictures change, and they look different,” Kate continued.
“I don’t know, I don’t remember if I’ve seen them at all.”
“Then let Gloria help you. Your aunt told you that your parents were at the funeral that you attended, that your whole family was. You could unlock the memories, find them all, it could be fun!” she smiled.