The Gift of Magic

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

When they pulled up in front of her mother's house Morgan got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk looking up at the house. She'd grown up here, had spent her childhood riding her bike on these streets, playing with her friends at the little park down the street, and now all those happy memories were soiled by the fact that behind all that normalcy there was a huge secret. One that both of her parents had hidden from her for her entire life, she had no memory of a time before they lived in this house, had always thought that it was the only home they'd ever had.

When she knocked on the door, her mother opened it still in her pajamas, cup of coffee in hand. “Morgan what are you doing here at this hour? I've barely had my coffee.”

Morgan stared at her mother, a wave of conflicting emotions rushing over her. Love was the strongest, but anger was there as well. “We have to talk.” She said, “Strange things have been happening to me and I was attacked this morning on campus.”

Morgan's mother opened her mouth, but when she saw Peter all that came out was, “Oh.”

“Hi Evelyn, it's nice to see you again.” Peter said, following Morgan into the house.

As Morgan watched, all the color drained from her mother's face, “Peter? What are you doing here?” She asked, the coffee cup she was holding beginning to shake in her hand.

Morgan grabbed the cup from her mother, all her anger draining away, “Let's go sit down.”

The living room seemed like the most sensible place to talk, so she led the way down the hall. Once they were all seated, she turned to her mother. “I think there are some things you need to tell me.”

Her mother looked down at her hands, “I'd begun to believe that the whole thing was just a bad dream, I mean it's been over twenty years." She said, more to herself than Morgan, clearly lost in her own thoughts. Then she sat up straight and looked at Peter, “What happened? Something must have happened if you're here. How did you find us?”

“Mother.” Morgan said, to get her attention. “Peter said that he's my cousin. He had a letter from father that said the same thing.”

Her mother only nodded her head and looked down at her hands again. “We lied to you.” Her mother finally said, her voice so quiet Morgan could barely hear her.

When Morgan didn't say anything she repeated, “We lied to you. " Then added, “We took you away when you were just a baby to protect you.”

“Away from where? Protect me from what?” Morgan asked, becoming impatient.

“We did what we thought was best, we only wanted to protect you. It was never part of the plan not to tell you.” Her mother mumbled, again talking more to herself than Morgan.

“You're not answering my questions.”

Her mother looked over at Peter, “Can't you explain it to her.”

Peter looked over at Morgan, then said, “I've explained a little but Morgan needs to hear it from you.” He said, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. Evelyn had never been very nice to him as a child, chasing him away when he’d come to play with Morgan because he encouraged her to use her magic.

Morgan looked at her mother, seeing a very different woman in the early morning light. “I don't even know where to start.” Her mother said, then took a deep breath. “First I want you to know that I realize now that your father and I made a mistake not telling you about this sooner. I just didn't want things to change, I was afraid that I'd lose you.”

“You always told me that you met daddy at college. Is that true?” Morgan asked.

Relieved to have a place to begin her mother said, “Yes, we met our junior year.” Then smiled as the memories washed over her. “Your father always thought that I didn't notice him at first, but the truth is that the first time I saw him I knew that he was the man for me. He was so handsome and popular, there were girls all over campus who dreamed of being Mrs. Thomas Corey so I knew that I'd have to be different, that I'd have to make him come to me. It worked and by the time we were seniors we were engaged, he even took me home to meet his family on a charming little island off the coast of New England.”

Her mother was still smiling but she could see her eyebrows beginning to come together in that way that told Morgan that something unpleasant was coming. “I didn't know about his family until we moved to that little island, it took a while but I began to understand that your father was head of more than just a successful fishing empire. They were…” Her mother tailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

“Witches.” Peter offered.

“Yes, Thomas never told me. It was a shock at first and I almost left several times, but I learned to live with the fact that when your father left in the morning he wasn't just going to check on the fishing boats, he was going to deal with coven business. It was so surreal that for months I floated in a state of disbelief, constantly looking for some sign of witch craft everywhere around me. When I discovered that I was pregnant with you I knew that I'd have to find a way to deal with the reality of my new life no matter how strange it was.” Her mother paused, took several deep breaths, then reached out for the cold coffee.

After she'd drained half of the cup she continued. “For the first few years after you were born life was perfect, I could shut my eyes to the things around me that were disturbing and pretend that we were living a normal life. But then your magic began to surface, and it scared me to the point that I begged your father to take us all away from there, I was sure that if I got you away you'd somehow become a normal child.”

“So, we left?” Morgan asked, when her mother had paused for too long, the frown on her face getting deeper.

“No, your father wouldn't abandon his family, it was two years later that we left. A very bad man had you kidnapped to thinking that it would weaken your father, but that's another story. After we left Corey Island, I made your father promise that we wouldn't speak of the place or his family until you were old enough to be told the truth. I'm the reason you never knew, I thought that if you never found out you'd never become what your father was.”

“Father was a great man, I'd be lucky to be like him.” Morgan said.

Her mother raised her hand to stop Morgan, “That's not what I meant, sweetheart your father was a very powerful witch, I don't know any other way to say it.”

It wasn't the first time Morgan had heard those words, but coming from her mother they seemed so much truer. “I still don't understand why you didn't tell me when I was old enough to understand. Dad should have told me when we went to Salem, I would have understood.”

“When we fled the island, we drove for hours with no idea where to go, but when we pulled into Denver two days later it was snowing. Everything was covered in a fresh blanket of snow and your father was sure that it was a sign so he checked us into a hotel for the night. I was so relived to be off the road, I took you and collapsed into bed and fell asleep almost immediately, when I awoke hours later your father was gone.”

“He left us?” Morgan was shocked.

“He wrote a note explaining that he had to go back home alone to take care of some business, that we should stay in the room as much as possible until he returned. He came back three days later, exhausted but confident that you'd be safe. I never asked what he'd done, I honestly didn't want to know, but before he fell asleep the night he came back, he told me that you had a lot of magic inside you, magic that would have to come out someday.” Her mother finished, wiping away the tears sliding down her cheek.

Morgan couldn't speak, couldn't find any words to describe the confusion she was feeling, and there were a million questions swimming around in her head. She turned to Peter, feeling like she was only getting half of the story, hoping that he could add something that would help her make sense of what she was hearing.

“Morgan when your father left, he went back to Corey Island and with the help of the family bound both his magic and yours so that neither of you could use it, made you appear to be just a normal little girl growing up in Denver. Of course, he never told us where he'd taken you and your mother, refused to let anyone visit or even call, instead he visited once a year to renew the spell and visit the family.” Peter said.

Morgan remembered her father's once yearly business trip, the one he always came home from depressed and grumpy. It had never made sense to her that a business trip could have such an effect on him but now she understood, a few days a year with his family must not have been nearly enough. Suddenly she felt very guilty that her father had given up so much for her.

“He only got to see his family for a few days a year, that's terrible. He must have missed them so much.” Morgan said, the guilt heavy on her heart.

“Oh, sweetheart I know what you're thinking and he wouldn't have had it any other way. You were the center of his world, he loved you so much.” Her mother said.

“Then why didn't he tell me?” Morgan missed her father so much just then that it was a physical pain.

“We always thought that there would be more time.” Her mother said, her mother's words an echo of her father's words from the night before.

They sat in silence for a long time, each lost in their thoughts until finally her mother got to her feet, “Your father kept a journal and I found a box with your name on it on the top shelf in the closet. I never noticed before he died, but when I got back from his funeral it was there on the shelf. I haven't opened, haven't even touched it, but I think it's meant for you.”

Peter jumped to his feet and followed her mother, “Let me get the box for you Evelyn.” He said, as they went down the hall.

“Thank you, Peter.” She heard her mother say as their voices faded.

When they came back into the room, Morgan got to her feet and took the box from Peter. It wasn't very big, but she could tell that it was full. “I hope that this will help you find some answers. Peter says he wants to take you to Corey Island and I think that maybe it's time for you to go there. He says that a man attacked to outside the library this morning. Is that true?” Her mother was pale, her hands a little shaky as she looked into Morgan's eyes.

Morgan wanted to lie to her, just to make her feel better, but knew that the truth was best, knew it all too well. “It's true, he was…evil…”

“I want you to go with Peter.” Her mother interrupted before she could finish. Then she turned to Peter, “Can you keep her safe?”

“Once we're on Corey Island, nothing can touch her. We learned our lesson the hard way when she was kidnapped the last time.” Peter said.