The Stranger
Lily couldn't focus at school, her joy in her birthday dismissed in her mind. She was checking the clock in class every two seconds, Time seemed to slow down to a standstill. She needed to talk to her mother. She was desperate to reach her and even though it was against the rules with her parents, she dragged out her cell phone and sent a message to her mom during class.
"Mom, I need to see you ASAP. Something weird happened and I need to talk to you"
She saw her mother saw her message, she fully expected a scathing text back about keeping her phone away during her lessons, but nothing ever came back. The eye with the words seen next to it made her anxiety peak. Was her mother really that mad over one text? Lily never broke the rules, not with her mom. She jumped when suddenly the intercom buzzed over her English class.
"Ms. Shipione, Please send Lily Davison down to the office, she being checked out."
Lily didn't move for a full 30 Seconds. what was happening? Her teacher finally realized she hadn't moved and said loudly over the class room chatter "Lily get a move on girl. You're getting broken out early on your birthday!" she beamed. Ms Ship, as Lily and other student called her was a favorite, especially with Lily who flourished in her English and creative writing classes. Lily sent a small smile back, her stomach in knots, she knew this wasn't about a birthday surprise. Her whole body trembled and she walked on legs that felt like lead, headed to the office as if it was the gallows.
When she walked into the front office of her school, She saw her mother sitting sitting in a chair. She smiled but she looked smaller and more frail then Lily ever remembered. They didn't speak to each other, her mother just got up and signed the sign out clipboard and started towards the double glass front entrance doors. As the walked out of the cool of the office into the air that felt like breathing soup, they stayed silent. Her mother silently scanning the huge parking lot filled with students old busted up starter cars and walked over to her non-descript minivan that all moms seemed to drive. They both got in, her mother still said nothing. Lily followed suit, knowing now, she would get some answers and they wouldn't be good. As the AC finally started to cool the sweltering car off and they passed the guard house at the entrance of the school parking lot, they both waved at Dorothy, who was a family friend and owned the house right next door with her two sons, who had grown up with the sisters. They drove for what seemed like miles, in no particular direction. They circled back and forth, through back neighborhoods and main road. still silent. Finally Lily burst out.
"Who was he?"
Her mother seemed to shrink more. she didn't speak still and drive out to the Pier. the ocean, in all blues and greens, white where it lapped and foamed on the soft sand beaches always peaceful to Lily. When her mother spoke it was calmly and quietly.
"Tell me exactly what happened? Every detail you remember? I will explain as best I can"
Lily walked through the short exchange with the red haired giant of a man in as much detail as she could. When she mentioned his name, and him wanting to pass his foul message along to her mother, her mother sat up straighter, seemed to find some of the strength that had helped raise her four daughter away from all she knew.
"Aaron is your uncle. Your father's brother." Lily started to shake,tears forming in her eyes. "What happened with the blur? Why does he have my streak? what did he mean two years? why did he call you a mongrel?"
The questions came rapid fire and her words tripped over themselves in the speed in which they tumbled out of her mouth. Her mother turned in her, sighing, her face sad.
"I met your father when I had gone into Manhattan with a friend, on a night out. He was so handsome, the lights of the club we were at bouncing off his hair that looked black in the dark and gleaming on the silver. The streak at his temple was a startling difference and stood out immediately. He was dressed immaculately in a designer suit, and he didn't seem to be as pushy as most men are in those places. They get drunk and grab you or try to dance without permission. He walked up, seeming to part the huge crowd in front of him with no effort. It was like they pushed against him and moved away instinctually. I didn't have that same feeling. He ignored my friend, who I can admit was an eye catcher and who mostly got the attention. I was happy to have a drink and dance and not be swarmed. he moved right up next to me and leaned down and said " My name in Aiden, I would love to buy you a drink and dance" He had this rolling accent I later figured out was Scottish. I said yes. after he spent the whole night out glued to my side, much to my friends Chagrin, he asked for my number and to see me again. I said yes, I had become infatuated with him already. I had never had someone like his attention before, I felt special and he was different, so much more different then other men I had met. We dated for a few months. I introduced him to your grandparents. Your grandmother started muttering in Irish the second he walked in the door, but your grandfather thought he was a fine young man fit for his youngest daughter of his seven children. When he finally brought me to his family, we walked into a brownstone that was massive. and walked into a sitting room that came right off the pages of Architectural Digest. His father was Red haired like he was and had the same silver streak, but a second blazed off his other temple. He was kind, welcoming, but his mother and brother were cold, and spoke to him in scots Gaelic, I didn't understand a word. His brother left and his mother sat silently drinking coffee while his father, Aiden and I Talked. We left after an hour, and it seemed to go well. They had asked a lot of questions about my family, which I chalked up to sizing me up as a potential daughter in law. I later found out it wasn't that at all. They were, different, in a way I couldn't fathom at that time. besides the wealth, they carried something in them, that you do now, and I took you away because they wanted to make you like them, and I ran away before they took you away from me."
Lily sat in stunned silence, trying to process everything her mother had said. She only had three questions for her now, and she asked them slowly now, knowing the answers she might not like.
" Did my father hurt you? "
She hung her head as she answered Lily, " Yes, but not in the way you'd think. His family wanted something I hadn't given them with Deena, they thought she was not fit enough for their purposes. To much of me in her. They wanted a second child immediately, and I pushed back. Aiden tried to stop the pressure, didn't want me scared off at that point I suspect now, or maybe he did have some love in his heart for me, I will never know. But one night, we are at his parents house and the topic of a second child came up again and Aiden lost his temper and said we were leaving. His mother managed to talk him down, and insisted we stayed for dessert, his favorite, tres leches. We left and on the way back to our house, Your father started to act differently. He started be act erratically, not his usually composed and stoic self. The man I loved had been replaced within minutes to someone I had never seen. He forced me that night, and the next morning it was like it had never happened. He didn't remember anything and I loved him so much and it was once. I let it go. a few months later I found out I was pregnant, with you."
He forced her... Lily started blankly at the ocean, the roaring in her ears had nothing to do with the water and gulls now.
" Tell me what happened Mom, I need to know what they want and what's in two years? "
" Lily you are different, like they are, like I am, and didn't know. He picked me that night at the club because he saw that in me, and that meant I was able to produce a child that could carry on their family dynasty. I don't think he planned on falling for me in any real way. Eventually he did, and revolted against his mother, who was the one who made that horrible night happen. She had drugged him, poisoned her own son, because she didn't want to wait for a second child. When you were born, I loved you, you were born with the same hair and streak as your father. and your eyes? those are his too, the light blue grey surrounded by the deeply blue? Those eyes are his and everytime I see them I remember him. I told you not to ask, that there had been abuse. I'm sorry I made it seem like it was your father that did that, but I didn't want you daring to search while you were so young. I'm so sorry." She started to sob, and Lily wrapped her arms around her mother just to comfort her and herself. Her mother had been the strongest force in her life, her entire life, and she knew without a shadow of a doubt, that she wouldn't have done anything to purposefully hurt her. So no matter what was done or said, she knew her mother was on her side.
"Where is my father?" Lily asked quietly, dread in her stomach.
"The last I saw him he was bleeding on the floor of his parents house after getting you and I out. He stopped them, so we could run. They hurt him trying to get to you and Deena. They had figured out she had inherited my family's talents and had decided they needed you both and would take them even if we said no. Your father fought them, he was badly injured. and I ran where we planned then when he didn't come, I kept running until I reached as far away as I could in a car from everything and everyone who knew me. I had enough money for a while, to get established, make sure we had food and a roof. I had paperwork your father had made somewhere, that gave you different last names but he didn't have the heart to change your names fully. Lily is a nickname, and so is Deena." Lily's mind was spinning, she didn't even know her real name. her mother must have seen her distress and said quietly " Liliana Elizabeth" not Lily Beth" we wanted you to have a piece of yourself, of your father with you, since he knew he might be caught too deeply. He loved you girls, adored the ground you walked on. I'm so sorry, I don't even know if he's alive. But now I know that Aaron is, and he is your Grandmother's favorite little errand boy. I thought the protection was stronger, but at least we know we have two years to prepare."
This is how I found out I was mix breed, a warlock/Ware hybrid. I was the Mongrel.
