A Witchy Inheritance

Chapter 11

So before I was in there so long that it would be uncomfortable I grabbed the three glasses and walked back out into the living room. I was surprised to see three coasters set out on the table, Cicero must have picked up my habit of putting coasters everywhere in the last two weeks, for that at least I was grateful.

Cicero was on the floor near one corner of the table, Marissa was on the couch, seated closest to the kitchen which left an empty coaster near the farthest I could be from Cicero, which I was fairly certain was on purpose on his part. I did have to walk by him, sitting crosslegged on the floor in order to get to the table and I would be lying if I didn't admit small warning bells went off in my head as I walked by him and I knew my body tensed.

One I settled in on the couch Marissa took a sip of the water and put it back on the table. She then turned, folding her hands in her lap and gave me a gentle smaller version of the smile she had when she came in.

"I suppose you must have lots of questions, or you're so overwhelmed that questions aren’t coming, "she gave a small chuckle as she said those words.

"I'm finding it a lot to absorb. If I hadn't seen him shift from human to cat I think I would believe you were all barking mad and wonder how he broke into my house. But I don't know if I have this gift you guys keep talking about. Sure I’ve had some pretty strange dreams in the three weeks since my aunt died. And a couple of times they were dreams of things that actually happened later, but I think that that's just my reasoning skills working themselves out in my sleep. I don't think that there's anything supernatural involved."

That made the older woman's smile falter a little. "Your aunt was positive you had it. She tried multiple spells and multiple sessions using her sight and each time it pointed to you. She might not have had the best success rate but that many in a row tends to be pretty definite. And you said you're having strange dreams that seem to come true. That's a pretty good indicator. The reason I'm here is that the gift tends to ramp up within the first month of inheritance. We don't know how strongly the gift is going to manifest in you, each person has their own level of ability with it and," Marissa trailed off a second and looked away from me as if she was trying to find the right words. “Mannerisms maybe. Everyone has a unique way of approaching their gift and unique triggers. The gift tends to ramp up within the first month of receiving it and doesn't settle into its final incarnation until you’ve had the gift for six months, which is probably why Cicero is here with you. Familiars that get willed to family members tend to stay with someone for six months during that transition period."

Part of me wanted to correct her, tell her that it was probably the family library more than the gift but then I reminded myself that Cicero had gone out of his way to hide the library from this woman and while I didn't know him, I knew even less about her so for the time being I was going to trust his instincts. There was a reason he hid the library.

"I want to help you train that gift. To be here to answer the questions your aunt could not. I think we should meet about once a week to go over training exercises, breathing, and maybe some meditation. While your gift is growing if you can work on it, stretch your boundaries, and figure out ways to call your gift to be used when you want it to be used it will help your control in the long run and makes it so it doesn't pop up, so to speak, giving you visions at an inopportune time. How does that sound? What if we make in the Sunday morning brunch situation?" Marissa's voice sounded cautious but there was also hopefulness to it and the woman's all-encompassing cheerfulness was starting to grow on me a little. I glanced at Cicero who was trying to appear as nonintrusive as possible. When he saw me looking at him briefest nod.

Was me agreeing to Marissa's help agreeing to the fact that I would become a witch? Was I giving myself no choice? Was this my only chance at backing out of this?

"What if I don't want to be a witch? What if I don't want this power can I just give it up?"

Marissa's face fell at my words and she was shaking her head before I even finished speaking. "I'm sorry dear, it doesn't work that way. For some people I wish it did but fate chooses who gets that family trait. Sure, it's a little unorthodox that someone like yourself who has never shown any kind of witch talents would receive the family trait but it's not unheard of. It's just exceedingly rare. If you don't train it, if you don't figure out how to use it, it will use you and in the end you will probably go a little mad, or appear to be so to the outside world as no one will know what you're talking about half the time. Letting your power run rampant will make it stronger. But you won’t be able to live a normal life. I know it's probably not the answer you're looking for but it's the only one that I have for you dear." Her tone was so gentle it was almost heartbreaking.

She was right though, it wasn't what I wanted to hear. I wanted her to tell me that I can pass this gift on to one of my cousins, women who were truly more prepared for it and probably wanted it more than I did. I didn't want supernatural aspects to my world. I just wanted a quiet content life as a librarian, maybe get married someday and have some kids. I wanted simple unadventurous. I know that to some people it sounded boring, but it sounded perfect to me. But I suppose sometimes fate doesn't give us much of a choice in where we end up.

"Can I have a couple days to think about it? This, this is a lot to take in and I need to think about it fully before I make any decisions."

Her eyes were sad but Marissa gave me a tightlipped smile as she reached out and drained her water glass before setting it on the table again. She nodded at me slowly. "Of course Erin, you do what you need to. Cicero has my number for when you're ready. Just don’t wait too long. The longer you wait to start trying to figure this out the harder it's going to be. And you said you're already three weeks in which means this next week is only going to get harder." She watched me a beat before getting up and grabbing the small bag I hadn't noticed she'd laid on the carpet next to the couch. Cicero leapt to his feet and the two of them murmured very quietly to each other as he walked her the several yards to my front door and he opened it for her. She gave me one last tightlipped smile and a small wave before walking back outside and Cicero close the door behind her. Then I was once again alone with the man I hadn't known had been in my house the last two weeks and the tension in the room skyrocketed back up again.