The Raven Saga Box Set

Chapter 22

“Goodness, Lilly... you could have...” Rose began, but I interrupted her.

“Please Rose, let me finish. I was led there by the ghosts of Serena and Neleh. They took me deep into the forest. I walked for a long time before I woke up, but when I did, I knew that they had been trying to show me something. Well, not something, but someone,” I whispered.

I could tell my family were all biting their tongues, except Jo, who was clearly excited and desperate to know the full story.

I held up the photo of Sammy and Neleh and said, “Last night, I met Sammy Morton.”

Gabriel stood up so abruptly that he knocked his cup of tea to the floor.

“Lillian Tulugaq. What were you thinking? You could have got yourself killed. And then what? Then what?” he yelled and stormed out of the room.

That was exactly the kind of reaction I had dreaded, which was one of the reasons I had wanted the others to be there with me for support.

As I'd imagined, Wyatt stood and followed him, as did Meredith who returned a moment later with a sponge and began mopping up the tea. She was soon followed by the others. Gabriel was obviously forced to bite his tongue again.

I said nothing until everyone was sitting quietly.

“Sammy is not what you think he is. Sammy is not a killer.”

I could hear Gabriel huffing and trying so hard not to speak, so I continued quickly.

“Sammy was a witness to my sister's death. Vivian is the true murderer.”

Although there were gasps, I could tell the information was being mulled over by them all.

“And he told you this, did he? And you naïvely believed him? Oh Lilly,” said Gabriel softly.

“There's more to it, Gabriel,” I said, “Sammy has been in hiding all these years. Not because he was involved in the death, but because she cursed him. She prevented him from being able to return home. She cursed him with wings. Two beautiful big black wings.”

Everybody suddenly began to speak at once, and I waited a moment before hushing them so I could continue, “Sammy was the one who saved my life. He rescued me, and you still have that feather to prove it... don't you, Gabriel?”

He stood then, his face white as a sheet, and he walked into another room, returning with the feather that proved what I had been telling them was the truth.

“Goodness. All these years” began Rose, “all these years he has been persecuted in so many ways. He was never even given the benefit of the doubt.”

“That's not all,” I said, “Sammy and Neleh saw Vivian putting some kind of spell on Serena. He believes that he was putting a spell on her to get rid of her. That's how Neleh was killed. She confronted Vivian, and she was murdered, but not before...” I took a breath.

“Not before what Lilly?” asked Jo eagerly.

“Not before Neleh changed into a cat.”

Rose smiled then, “So she did carry the gene. And I thought I would never know the truth.”

“The scar that Vivian had on her face in this photograph was put there by Neleh. She managed to swipe at her with her claws seconds before she died.”

We all sat in silence for a few moments, letting the news sink in.

“So where is Sammy now?” asked Gabriel at last.

I explained that he'd created some kind of a home within a cave in the forest, far from the town. He couldn't risk being seen by anybody. “He knew that if anyone saw him, he would be taken away like some kind of freak. He is such a gentle man. Even now, after all that has happened to him. Even after being so alone for all these years, he is still a truly wonderful, gentle man. He should be a part of this family. The way he was meant to be,” I said sadly.

Gabriel finally conceded and nodded, “I feel absolutely terrible. How could I not have known this?”

“He hid from the world. He didn't want anybody to know,” I replied.

“But the Elders. This is something the Elders should have known. We must go and see him,” he said.

Again, I explained that it would be very difficult to find his hiding place but told them that he had said he would return not far from the house that evening.

“He wants to meet with you all too,” I whispered, as a tear rolled down my cheek, knowing that he would finally be welcomed into our home with open arms. Fourteen years later than he should have been.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

That day had turned out to be one of the most surreal days I had spent in Canada so far. For me, it hadn't been so hard to understand what had really happened all those years ago, because I had only learned the truth about myself a few short months before. I knew it was tougher for the rest of the family, though, as they had old beliefs that had to be undone.

Of course, they believed me when I'd told them what had happened – there was no reason for them not to. But it would be when they met Sammy again that the truth would really sink in. When they saw how much suffering he had been through, not just physically, but emotionally too, they would take him in with open arms. I had no doubt about that.

And it was this reason that I couldn't wait for the reunion to take place. I willed the hours to pass by, for darkness to fall.

There was another problem I had to deal with, though. As much as I craved to be with Oliver that day, I knew I couldn't. He would have known there was something going on. Something big. And I couldn't tell him what it was. Oliver was as innocent and naïve about the truth of this world as I had been on my arrival to this magical place. If I told him that there were such things as witches who could cast evil spells, he would think I had gone completely mad. Wouldn't he?

When he had phoned me that morning to organise a time to come and pick me up, I had to make excuses not to go out with him, and that hurt me. I hated lying to him. But what choice did I have?

It was then that I began to wonder whether our relationship would survive. As much as I was falling for him, I knew that if he were kept in the dark, our relationship would predominantly be based on lies. And what relationship can survive that? But more importantly, it wasn't fair on him. There was love, but a really successful relationship had to be based on many things. Yes, love was at the top of the list, but it was followed closely by trust and honesty. No relationship could survive without all three.

I was f*******n to talk about our family's raven gene and the fact that I had been raised by a witch. I couldn't tell anyone that I knew this world was not just inhabited by normal animals and human beings, but also by werecats, werewolves, vampires, halflings, changelings, shape-shifters and so on. I had to keep the secret, even if it meant ruining my own chances of love.

Sadness overwhelmed me, but I wasn't ready to give up just yet. I had to try and be a normal teenager. Surely over the centuries, other half-human half creatures had successful relationships with other humans... hadn't they?

I needed to find out, and so later that day, I broached the subject with the person I knew would offer me the wisest words, Rose.

“I knew this subject would come up at some stage, dear, and it's a difficult one to answer. Sure, there have been relationships between changelings and humans. But not all of them have survived, I'm afraid. Yet others have,” she said with a sad smile, as I caught the remnants of a memory flashing across her eyes.

“What about you, Rose? Did you have someone once?” I asked, eager to find out what she had been thinking about.

We were standing in her conservatory where she kept a number of beautiful flowers. As she spoke, she sprayed them gently with water, carefully breathing more life into the different stunning specimens of roses.

Her face lit up immediately as she said his name. Walter.

“He was the love of my life,” she said as she placed the water bottle down and turned to face me. She then opened a cupboard and pulled out an old photo album, the pages had become slightly withered with age.

She handed it to me, and as I opened it, I could see it contained photos from many years ago. Most were black and white. The majority of them were of a very handsome young man with fair hair. There were a few which showed him standing very close to a stunning young woman with dark hair and very familiar cat-like eyes. It was Rose. Although she had aged, she was instantly recognisable. About halfway through the album, the pages became empty. I felt a pang of pain for her; I guessed that he had not lived past his thirties, perhaps not even his mid-twenties, judging by the images.

“What happened?” I asked, intrigued.

It was clearly, even after all these years, still painful to recollect but she spoke gently, “He just disappeared,” she said, taking my hand in hers.

So that was why it was painful for her to talk about it – because she knew it might be painful for me too. She knew that her words would reverberate with me. He simply vanished. Just as my own father had.

As she spoke, she flipped to the back of the album where a single photograph had been glued down. This one contained the image of not just the couple in love but of a tiny baby too.

“One day he took her out in her pram for a walk, and they never returned. Nobody saw them. It was a complete mystery,” she stuttered, trying to hold back the tears.

“Rose, I'm so sorry,” I said, wishing I could do something but knowing full well that I couldn't. When my father had disappeared, it must have been absolute hell for poor Rose. It was as if she was re-living history.

I felt her pain. Not only had she lost the man she adored, but she had lost their only bond, a tiny little daughter.

“How old was she?” I asked.

“Six months exactly,” she said as she blotted her eyes with a white cotton handkerchief, “her name was Lori.”

“When did they disappear?”

“A long, long time ago, my dear. He was 30-years-old. I had just turned 21,” she answered before closing the album and putting it back in its resting place, before continuing, “we had known each other for many years and had begun dating when I was 16. Some people weren't so keen on us being together because of the age gap, but we didn't care what they thought. We were so in love. We were soul mates, and little Lori was the icing on our cake. That's what we used to say,” she said.

“Did he know about your... your 'abilities'?”

She chuckled then and nodded, “Things were a little different back then. I didn't know I could change until I was eighteen and it wasn't because I was told. It was because it just happened one day. I was terrified. I didn't know what was happening to me. Luckily it happened while I was at home and my mother was visiting. Walter was out at the time, and my mother had heard a commotion in my room. She walked in, and I was no longer Rose the teenager. I was Rose, the Canadian Lynx. You can imagine my shock when she began speaking to me softly as if it was the most normal thing in the world. She calmed me down though, and I soon changed back to my human form. It was while I was changing back that Walter came home.”

“I bet that gave him the shock of his life,” I said, and she nodded.

“It was the only time I have ever seen a man faint,” she laughed. “When he eventually came to, he thought he'd had a strange dream, but then he saw my ripped clothes and knew it hadn't been a dream at all. He took it surprisingly well. It was a shock to both of us on the same day, and so we had to come to terms with it together.”