The Prophecy

Chapter Seventeen

My face burned as five pairs of eyes looked from my disheveled mess of hair and nightgown to Waylons not to mention watching him trying to wrangle his shirt over his mop of raven hair I could only imagine what was going through their heads. “Uhhh-mmm… we all saw a light, a really bright one.” Callen stuttered.

“I couldn’t see for a few seconds, what in the hell happened?” Ms Loretta exclaimed.

“How do you know it was me?” I said trying to look shocked.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe being some all powerful witch with crazy weird powers and no idea how to use them? Yeah wasn’t hard to guess sweetheart.” Athen snickered.

I opened my mouth to try and speak but luckily Ms Loretta spoke first. “You boys need to get back to bed, go on get, get out of here.” She gave my Aunt a knowing look and they both began smacking Athen, Callen and Arthurs shoulders ushering them away from the door and down the stairs. Waylon came over and hugged me tight whispering in my ear he was sorry, and the ladies came back to the room and shut the door. 

“Sweetheart we think we know what happened but you need to TELL us, we are leaving in two  days for the gathering and if this is something we need to discuss with The Elders then we need to know now.” Aunt Marg said sitting down on the bed and urging me to sit myself

I very reluctantly and slowly, with lots of hiding my face in my hands I told them what led to the mysterious power/light burst. And before I was done I added, “I don’t know if any of you know but every time I was.. umm… in an intimate setting with any go the boys things would… happen.” I said shyly but continued. “Once with Athen we, we uh were the reason the lights went off that night a few months back…” I told them about the plants growing, the fish flying out of the pond, the star lights floating in mid air, and now this. While their eyes grew wide they didn’t say much which made me more nervous. Once we were done they told me to go to bed and said everything would be ok but they also told Waylon they wanted to speak with him so he gave me a quick kiss but he never came back. I also didn’t see much of him the next day besides glances from across the property and I figured after the reaction I had from our last s****l encounter Marg had told him to keep his distance so I didn’t push. The day we were to leave for the gathering, and Callens ceremony to present his powers and devotion to the Goddess everyone was running around like chickens with their head cut off. Loretta was packing bedding and things we would need for our lodging, my aunt was trying to make sure the boys had everything they needed, Arthur was packing scrolls and books and things he wanted to talk to the elders and other scholars about while we were there seeing as these only come around every 6 months at best.

“Ok ya’ll I’m all packed and ready to roll.” I said entering the kitchen and slamming down my leather carpet style bag on the counter and hopping onto a stool behind the island. 

“Oh dear girl thank you so much for being self sufficient that’s just one less thing for me to worry over I feel like we will never be ready to go!” My Aunt said running from the kitchen to the dinning room with an arm load of stuff and returning a minute or two later with a different arm load and throwing it in the old steamer trunk that was open and set next to the back door. 

“What is all this stuff anyways?” I said looking at the trunks and piles and watching the women run back and forth across the downstairs rooms. 

“Well, each family that comes gets a cabin size depends on how many members you are bringing, this year we have seven and Athen and Waylon haven’t agreed to come to one of these since their own which means this year we get an upgraded suite and I’m so excited!! We bring bedding and cookware even though we really don’t need it, Loretta likes to cook even though she doesn’t have to but the gathering is such an amazing place we ALWAYS have visitors popping in and out so everyone feeds everyone and we never know what the trip will end up like because every year is different.” She finished and continued on her way. Everything got loaded into Waylons truck, he was to drive our belongings and everyone else was to ride in my Uncle Arthurs SUV. 

As we were readying to load up I asked my Aunt, “Auntie, could I possibly ride with Waylon? The car is going to be really crowded, I promise nothing funny I just haven’t had a chance to talk to him much the last few days and I bet we are all gonna be really busy once we get there I just want to spend some time with him. Pleeeease?” I looked at her with the best puppy dog face I could muster and waited. 

She looked pained and huffed before she said, “I’m sorry he’s been avoiding you because I told him to, with all these new powers and things being triggered without knowing when or what is going to happen I was just being extra careful. If you promise not to… do anything untoward I suppose it wouldn’t be the end of the world if you road with him.” She smiled and giggled as she said that last bit and nudged me with her elbow. “Just drivin’ ok?”

My cheeks flushed bright red but I said, “I promise.” And I crossed my heart over my chest with my fingers and held up my hand, “Scouts honor.”

I walked around the SUV and skipped, yes I actually skipped over to the truck where the sexiest man I’d ever seen was stuck with his head under the hood. “Guess what?” I said as I got right behind him, and apparently he was not expecting me because he jumped and smacked his head on the metal above him. 

Rubbing his head he turned to look at me, “What?” 

“I’m so sorry!! I didn’t mean to sneak up on you I was just excited Auntie said I could ride with you to the camp… If that’s ok with you.” He went from scowling to beaming.

“I can’t think of anyone I’d rather share the ride with Peaches,” he said before he gave me a peck on my cheek and turned back to what ever he was doing with the truck. It didn’t take long  after that to get everyone and everything ready to go, within the hour we were on our way down the road. Waylon and I followed the rest of the family and he gave me control of the radio I was also designated snack and drink person meaning I would reach behind the seat and grab a coke or water out of the ice chest he had packed for the trip. What ever his mother had said to me clearly he hadn’t been able to shake because the most contact I had with him the whole drive was he held my hand on and off a few time before needing both to shift and steer. It definitely wasn’t fair but I was glad he was back to talking to me so I wasn’t pushing my luck. We stopped a few times for restroom breaks and once we stopped at a little hole in the wall barn looking building out in the middle of god knows where for some food and to be honest they had the BEST shrimp and grits I’d ever had and Ms Loretta could make herself some grits so that was really saying somethin’. 6 hours on the road and we finally turned down a long drive, there was fields on either side of us as far as I could see then there was a treelike so far in the distance it looked like a toy forest. A good 30 minutes down the road and we entered an emerald green fairytale ahead of us a glowing orange began to get lighter and brighter the farther in we went and some big cream colored canvas tents came into my view. Lanterns, lights and fires burned all around us we parked off to the side of a tent that said “Whitten” on the side and everyone got out and began packing trunks and bags through the door. There was an enchantment put on the tents that made them bigger on the inside than they seemed from the outside, it was truly magical. What seemed like a roomy yurt really had a full kitchen, living room, bathroom, and circular loft upstairs that had multiple bedrooms I spun around in circles a few times truly in awe. 

After we settled in Waylon, Athen, and I went walking through the camp as we passed tents we saw people embracing saying their enthusiastic hellos, I spied a fire witch in the back of a site lighting her campfire using nothing but the air in her lungs she blew on it softly and it smoked smoldered and came to life before my eyes. After a while we came to a clearing and about a half mile in front of us stood a quarry with steps carved out of the stone as if a natural amphitheater has eroded this way over hundreds or thousands of years but Athen filled me in that the best Earth magic the coven had was responsible, in the center many many steps down was a dais of pure and rich brown earth, round and smooth which I was informed was where the young witches would display their powers in a days time. It was all so exciting I’d never seen anything like this place and never been around this many magical beings.

Once I had a general tour Athen took his leave to chat up some attractive “friends” from way back his words not mine and me and Waylon were left to our own devices. He took my hand and led me through some trees our pace quickened the farther away from camp we got I could hear the voices fading then suddenly he swung me around and gently rested my back against a tree and brought his mouth to mine. Waylon slipped his Tonge between my lips and I could taste him once again and I sigh of pure pleasure escaped me.I wrapped my arms around his neck deepening our kiss and he grabbed me around my butt and hoisted me up I reacted by wrapping my legs around his torso and squeezing him with my thighs. 

I don’t know if we were like this for three seconds or three minutes but needless to say when we heard, “Mr Whitten? Ms Delaney? Your presence is required before The Elders Circle come with me.”