The Raven Saga Box Set

Chapter 47

She hadn't a clue why she and her family were being targeted, and it pained her to know that they were all in danger.

But Lilly was relieved to hear of Carmelo's plans. The more help the citizens of Powell River had, the better.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

A few days had passed since December found out the truth about her grandmother, and she had still not heard back from Lilly. But, truth be told, she wasn't too concerned. She had a lot on her mind herself.

Monty revealed that he had known all along... about everything. But he had been sworn to secrecy. She forgave him, though. She now knew how vital keeping these secrets really was.

As she padded down the soft, carpeted stairs, she heard her mother's voice. She was talking on the phone with one of her clients. Moira was an interior decorator and a good one at that.

"Yes, Lisa, I can come round later today. I'll be there at four this afternoon if that's okay with you? Hmm? Excellent. I'll see you then. Bye." She replaced the cordless phone back on its stand in the hallway and looked up, her curls dropping in front of her eyes. Blowing them away, she smiled at her daughter.

"As much as I love being here at home with you, I guess I need to get some work done. We also need to get everything you need for school on Monday."

December rolled her eyes. It was something she had been dreading, school. The only time school had ever been enjoyable was when she was with Lilly. After she had left, it had become almost painful. The lack of friends, the occasional taunt from fellow students and the general feeling she'd got when she walked through those school gates every morning left her feeling physically sick.

The emotions clouded her face and weren't missed by her mother.

"December?" she asked, "Come and sit down and tell me all about it. Why are you dreading it so much?"

Together they walked through to the large living room and sat next to each other on the smallest sofa.

With December's hand in her own, Moira looked into her eyes and listened carefully as she poured her heart out. She told her mother all about her one and only true friend Lilly, and of the awful experience she'd lived through. Her parents vanishing, then her move to Canada and the truth about Vivian not being Lilly's mother at all, but a cruel kidnapper. She didn't tell her that Vivian was actually an evil witch because December had no idea herself. She explained that after she'd left, she had often been the soft target of some of the class bullies and was so nervous about going to another school in case it all started again, like a vicious circle.

"Now, now, my angel. You forget who and what you are. If you really want people to like you for you, they will. It's as easy as that. Don't allow them to be nasty to you. If they do happen to be horrible to you, then you can simply, with the flick of your hand, make something happen - nothing bad, mind you - just a little something to make them look silly. I did it myself when I was your age."

"You were bullied?" she asked, surprised.

Her mother nodded with a cheeky smile as she fingered her hair, "with this red hair. You betcha! But it lasted mere days. After a couple of little embarrassing accidents whenever they were near me, it soon stopped," she giggled.

Returning her smile, the tension in December's shoulders visibly melted away. "You'll have to teach me, Mom. I don't know how to use this magic of ours."

Moira patted her hand, "It's already in here," she said as she placed her hand over her heart, "You just have to bring it out. It's easy. Come, while the sun's shining, let's go outside, and I'll show you."

Monty was busying himself in the garden, humming away happily when they appeared with a glass of home-made lemonade for him.

He thanked them, drank it down in one long gulp and turned to admire his handiwork.

"You're doing a fine job, Monty. I'm so pleased to have you here," said Moira.

"I'm pleased as pie to be here, my dear. I haven't had this much fun in years."

"That's only because you've got me for company," said a voice out of nowhere.

Chuckling, Monty turned to watch as Ruby's familiar translucent slender frame slowly came into view. "Aye, you're probably right, love," he winked.

Moira shook her head with a laugh and left her dead mother and Monty to continue flirting as he tended to the garden.

Once out of earshot, December whispered, "I'm not sure, but I do believe Ruby has a bit of a soft spot for Monty."

"You're absolutely right, and by the looks of things, the feeling is mutual. It's such a shame that she's dead. They'd make a lovely couple." They both turned and watched as they continued to flirt, a fit man in his sixties and the translucent figure of a dead woman. As if it were the most natural thing in the world.

At the very bottom of the garden, before it opened up into a wild open field surrounded by thick, dense trees covered in golden brown and red leaves, there was a pretty little white pergola covered in climbing ivy. December followed her mother inside and took a seat.

"I know that you've experienced magic at least once because you mentioned it the other day. That day in the gym. You must have really wanted it to happen. That really is all you need to know for the magic to occur, you know."

December thought back to that day and recalled how much she hated gym class. Detested was a better word. She must have subconsciously wished, deeply, for the water to appear everywhere and that's precisely what happened.

She also recalled the day in Battersea Park when she had tried to make bubbles appear in the Thames, but she had failed miserably. Initially, there had been a voice inside her head, telling her that she needed to really want for it to happen. The voice had quietened down when she had felt the presence of a person so close to her. Thinking back, she realised it must've been the fear that prevented it. And perhaps the fact that she wasn't really that interested in seeing bubbles in the water!

Moira was watching her as she sat there deep in thought and as December realised that fear can upset the balance, Moira smiled.

"See, you're starting to understand how it works. Like I said, it's all in there, to begin with."

"But I didn't say a word, how did you know what I was thinking?" as she asked, she realised the obvious answer. Her mother was a witch, after all.

"Okay, I get it. Does that mean that we can read minds?" she asked.

Shaking her head, Moira replied, "It's not something we can do in our everyday lives. And we can't always do it. I could understand your thoughts just then because you were focussing so hard on the magic and the fear. We certainly can't read random everyday thoughts. I wouldn't want to. Did you ever see that Mel Gibson movie, What Women Want? Can you imagine living with that? No, thank you!" she laughed.

"So, we can only read the minds of those that are thinking about magic?"

"Pretty much, although sometimes we can pick up on the thoughts of supernatural beings, which can prove helpful, especially in dangerous situations."

Hoping that she would never have to deal with any kind of dangerous situation, December shivered a little.

"Let's try your magic. See this cushion? I want you to make it lift into the air."

December sat upright and took a long deep breath. She looked long and hard at the soft yellow cushion, concentrating so hard that her eyes began to ache.

"No... you're trying too hard, December. You want it to move, simply make it move. Like this," she said as she demonstrated, the cushion hopping up and down as if dancing to music.

Laughing, December tried once again. She managed to move it very slightly to the left, and then to the right. As the gentle sounds of her giggling increased, so did the height of the dancing cushion. She spun it around and let it dance in the air gracefully before she made it slide back down to the seat.

"See? It's easy. Now, see the climbing ivy on the pergola? I want you to make it dance around."

Sure enough, moments later, December controlled the movements of the plant as it twisted and turned around the little pergola where they sat. When she calmed her thoughts down, the dancing ivy returned to its rightful place.

"Can I show Ruby and Monty?"

Moira nodded, and the two walked out onto the grass. December shouted, "I'll race you!" and with a chuckle, the two of them ran up the garden towards the house.

"Monty, Ruby... look what I can do?"

They turned to watch in delighted fascination as she and her mother made the garden furniture dance around the deck. Chairs swirled around each other as if dancing the waltz, a wooden table hopped from one leg to another, and a parasol swung around and around in circles.

Turning to her mother, December's face was alight with utter delight. She felt her body fill with happiness as she finally felt like she had come home.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Lilly had been so focussed and concerned with what had been going on in Powell River that she had completely forgotten about getting back in touch with December.

In her last email, her best friend had told her how close they now lived to each other, but Lilly knew that if she contacted her, December would want to visit. Powell River was just far too dangerous for her at the moment. It would have to wait.

For the time being, at least until they were sure the area was safe again, Carmelo and Jo would remain at Lilly's house. Rose, in the meantime, had moved in with Meredith, John and their son, Cormac. It was fortunate that their other two boys, Shayne and Bailey, were away studying, safe. Nobody was to be left alone.

One of Carmelo's close allies was a German vampire called Ursula, who had lived with the Elders for many years. Not only was she an ally, but a good and faithful friend. That day she arrived with a small group from the mountains, followed closely behind by some male and female witches from all over Northern America.

Lilly had briefly met two witches in the mountains when Vivian had been caught, but neither were among those introduced to her now. All had been briefed about recent events, and they had been told to report to Carmelo at Lilly's home, which would be used as their temporary base.

The witches had arrived in several large and, surprisingly luxurious, RVs, so Lilly didn't have to worry about preparing any sleeping facilities for them - not that anyone was thinking about sleep. They had a much more important issue to attend to, finding the rogue vampire.

There were seven women and two men and none, thought Lilly, looked like witches. Although she was now well aware that witches could come in any guise.

Emilie, Victoria, Sally, Hyacinth, Hope, Margot, Agnes, Philippe and Felix. The names were reeled off to her, but Lilly was barely able to recall which name belonged to which witch as they all smiled kindly and then quickly shuffled back off to their vehicles to continue doing whatever it was they did in there. Lilly decided to leave them to it and not to ask any questions. Not yet, anyway.

Feeling almost lost in her own home, Lilly went and sat down in the corner of the living room, trying to hear what was going on without getting in the way. Sammy joined her, handing her a hot cup of sweet tea before he sat down alongside her.

"It's a little weird, isn't it? Having all these people in the house?" he said as she sipped carefully as to not burn her lips.