“Yes, I’m fine,” I lied. “Why wouldn’t I be?” I added, feigning a smile.
“Oh, I don’t know, I can just tell when something is bothering you. It’s like I can read you or something,” he laughed. “I guess it’s all the time we spend together. I’m getting to know you more and more each day.”
It would truly rip his heart out if anything happened to this relationship, I concluded as we walked to the front of the house to his truck. He surprised me by picking me up and swinging me around in the air, breaking me from such depressing thoughts of the future and what may happen.
“I love you, you know that?” he said as he put me down and brushed a hair out of my face.
“I love you, too,” I responded quietly as he kissed me as if it would be the last kiss we would ever share. That was nothing new. He always seemed to show me his love generously as if the world could end tomorrow. With the Darkness being in power, I was afraid it just might, so I kissed him more passionately than I had ever kissed him.
“Wow!” he exclaimed when our lips parted.
“What?” I asked, smiling a genuine smile for once since we had walked outside.
“That was some kiss,” he said making me blush. “Save some of that for tomorrow,” he winked. “Bye,” he said with a wave and got in his truck and backed out. Images begin to swirl around my head like a broken record as the nightmare I had replayed itself over and over.
“Aaahhh!!” I screamed. “I’m fed up with these thoughts. I’ve got to do something to prepare myself, or I’m going to drive myself insane,” I rushed into the house. “Grandmother, are you feeling up to training me today?” I blurted out in an instant.
“What, child?” she called from the sitting room.
“I don’t know if your grandmother is feeling up to that,” advised Luna, racing to my side as I walked down the hall to the room.
“What do you mean? She already seems better.”
“That may be true, but she hasn’t used a large amount of magic yet like that in training. You don’t know …”
“Oh, quit being a fraidy cat, Luna. She would tell me if she wasn’t up for it. I have to be prepared,” I interrupted.
“Amelia …” she retorted, but I wouldn’t hear another word and barged into the sitting room without giving her a second glance.
“Grandmother,” I spoke calmly, trying to prepare my words.
“Not today,” she murmured, now sitting by the big bay window looking out to the yard.
“Huh?” I asked, knowing what she was referring to.
“Maybe tomorrow.”
“But I assumed you were feeling better,” I sulked, pouting a little.
“I am, at least I think I am. I want to wait until tomorrow,” she explained without looking in my direction.
“But I—”
“Amelia!” she scolded. “If you cannot see past the nose on your own face, then you are not the daughter I raised.”
“What? You mean granddaughter,” I clarified.
“What? Oh yes. Well, you know what I meant,” she countered, turning to face me, her face stained with tears as she hurriedly tried to wipe them away.
“Grandmother, what’s wrong?” I asked, rushing to her. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean …”
She hugged me. “I know. I am sorry, too. It is not your fault. I just need to be alone tonight,” she confessed, walking out of the room.
“All right.” I uttered, in a soft tone.
“She’s missing your mother something awful this evening,” Luna divulged as we walked up the stairs.
“I miss her, too,” I muttered.
“It’s not the same, Amelia. You can’t miss what you truly never had. You knew your mother for a short season. She had her daughter for her whole life until the Darkness stole her from her,” she said, putting emphasis on the word daughter.
“I understand that,” I grumbled.
“No, I don’t think you really do. Until you have your own, you don’t really understand the magnitude of what it means when they are taken from you, whether by force or by choice.”
“Were you ever a mother?” She cringed as I said that.
“Once,” she whispered. “They didn’t make it.”
“What happened?” I probed compassionately as I could.
“I was young. Things happen,” she answered.
“Oh, you mean you and Dougal …”
“Yes, Amelia,” she snapped, aggravated. “We got pregnant. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“No, I’m sorry. I-I-I …” I stammered, not knowing how to respond as we got to the top of the steps and walked to my room down the hall.
“Yes, I was expecting. Guardians are supposed to abstain from that sort of behavior. Our full focus is supposed to be solely on our duty.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Well, when your grandmother found out, she was excited for me and wanted to keep them.”
“Oh, there was more than one?” I asked innocently.
“Amelia, I’m a cat. We generally have a litter,” she informed me, jumping on to my bed as I followed. “My babies,” she uttered, whimpering for a moment as if memories were flashing across her face.
“What happened, Luna?”
She continued, “Well, it hadn’t been long since the murder of your grandfather. My babies weren’t even that old yet … maybe six weeks. They had just started running around.” She paused, wanting to cry. “That’s when he showed up,” she seethed.
“Who?” I asked.
“Cassius!” she fumed, hissing loudly. “He wanted to know where the family was currently hiding. I was smarter this time around. No one was going to get that information from me.
‘Go back to your master,’ I told Cassius mockingly.
‘No one is my master,’ he countered, growling.
‘What about the Darkness?’ I reminded him.
‘He’s not my master. I’m his right hand man.’ I laughed uncontrollably for a moment,
‘He would stab you in the back if he had a chance.’
‘You’re wrong,’ is all he said with a scowl. ‘Now, where are those babies of yours?’ he added menacingly.
‘You better not touch my babies!!’ I hissed, running to protect them as they played. In mere seconds, he had grabbed me by the throat, and as I hung, dangling in the air, he killed my babies, one at a time in front of me. I can still hear their pitiful cries for Mommy as I dangled there, completely helpless. After killing the last one, he threw me to the ground amongst their little crippled bodies. ‘My babies! My babies!’ I cried, licking each one as if I believed that would bring them back to life. ‘I’ll kill you for this!’ I vowed.
“He said nothing but laughed psychotically and walked away.”
As she finished her story, she began to sob uncontrollably while I held her in my arms.
“So believe me when I tell you I know what your grandmother is going through. Diana might not be dead, but she is away from her and in harm’s way. She’s tried to rescue her, but has not succeeded. That can cut just as deep,” she said solemnly.
“Grandmother is powerful though. Why can’t she just storm in and get her? I mean, why hasn’t she before?” I countered.
“She has tried, Amelia. Remember the time she came back banged up and she told you she got hurt in the garden?”
“Oh,” I remarked, remembering that day and not knowing why I didn’t put two and two together at the time.
“They were waiting on her. It was an ambush. I don’t know how they knew, but they always seem to know she is coming. Maybe one of them is watching her or it’s the mirror. Maybe she talks in her sleep,” she murmured, almost talking to herself.
“What? Who’s watching her? What mirror?” I exclaimed confused.
“Never you mind. I’ll explain it later. I’m tired tonight. Let’s go to sleep, all right?” she suggested, yawning and stretching as she curled up on my pillow where she usually lies.
; “All right,” I agreed, stifling a yawn, and lay down to go to sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
AMELIA
IT’S COMPLICATED
Darkness surrounded me and fear encompassed me as my mind drifted to days of old … to the beginning that started the crazy journey toward my revelation that nothing was like I knew it to be and nothing would ever be the same. I found myself sitting in the same spot on the dusty stairs as I had for so many nights before that. Writing, writing, writing in my journal. Words upon words of the loneliness and misery that had become my life at the time, praying for a savior to rescue me from this prison of solitude that had taken me captive for so long. I turned to get up and go to bed. That’s when I saw her … that’s when I saw it. A mirror like no other. Normal mirrors you look in and see yourself and nothing talks back, but this one was different. This one frightened me to the very essence of who I am. It shook as if having a spasm and began to glow from some unknown life source. Grandmother touched it as ripples ran from her fingertips and danced upon the mirror’s edge. It breezed through the conversation that had taken place that very night with only utterances here and there that were even audible. I realized in that instant I was dreaming. I wanted to wake up. I wanted to get away. I was tired of the path that had been laid out for me and didn’t want to be on it any longer. That was when the dream took a drastic turn from what had happened in reality, and he, the creature from the mirror, stepped out into the light. He breezed past my grandmother, who no longer seemed coherent but frozen, as if by magic, knocking her down in his stride. I tried to run. I tried to scream. Nothing would escape my mouth. Nothing would save me from this impending doom that was to become my death. Just as the hooded creature with eyes that glowed like embers was about to devour me, the front door burst open and Matthew ran in. “Stop! What’s going on here? Leave her alone!”
A hiss erupted from the Darkness and within seconds, a dark red light shot from his hands, hitting Matthew. The hooded creature laughed maniacally as he took down his hood and the light shown on his face. Half of his face was that of a handsome fellow with hair black as the night. The other half, however, was scarred and deformed from some sort of accident. My guess was the fire. I screamed as I tried to run to the lifeless body of my beloved.
“Oh, my little niece all grown up,” he hissed.
I gasped. “It’s you.”
“See what happens when you go against the Darkness,” he proclaimed, referring to himself in third person as he pointed to Matthew’s body.
I finally was able to move my feet as I ran and threw myself down beside my one true love. “Matthew, wake up. Wake up. It’s Amelia. Can you hear me? Please wake up,” I begged, taking his hand and kissing it as I began to stroke my cheek with it like he had done many times before. “Please wake up. Don’t leave me. I need you. I love you.”
“He’s dead!” said the Darkness without an inch of compassion in his voice. “That’s what happens when you tangle with me.”
I screamed and lunged for him. “You evil man, I will kill you,” as he grabbed me by the throat, lifting me into the air, cutting off my air supply, and making it very difficult to breath. I gasped for air as I kicked and pulled at his hand that held me in his stronghold. In that very instant, Luna came running down the steps from my room into the hallway in which we stood, and within seconds, he zapped her, killing her too. I tried to scream as loud as I could manage, but nothing came out. The shadows of darkness started to surround me again as he threw me to the floor beside the bodies of two of the people I loved most.
“I will get you, Amelia. You will see. You will be like putty in my hands,” he uttered, repeating something he had told Grandmother and walked out the front door.
Lying there for a moment before finally waking up, I was back in my own room again. “Are you okay, Amelia?” asked Luna. “You were thrashing around in your sleep.”
“Oh, Luna!” I wailed, throwing my arms around her and holding her as if she had returned from the dead—but reminded myself it was just a dream. I began to cry uncontrollably. “I have to break up with him to keep him safe,” I squeaked out. “I just don’t know how to.”
Luna spoke nothing and just let me hold her as I cried until I couldn’t cry anymore. The songbirds began to chirp their merry little tune, announcing the arrival of morning. I was exhausted, but knew I had to get up and face the horror that had become my life. I was about to let go of the one person that seemed to hold together the strands of my sanity that I had left. No matter what it did to me though, I had to let him go to protect him. I was sure he wouldn’t want to come around anymore after we broke up. Not seeing him would just about push me over the edge, but I knew it was the best thing for him. I had to keep him safe. I just had to.
I took the longest shower I had ever taken in my life as I dragged along, slowly getting ready. Though it was necessary, I was not looking forward to ripping out a piece of his heart, much less mine. I stumbled down the stairs to breakfast as I tried to figure out what to say. It’s not like I could say, “Hey Matthew, I’m a witch which is putting your life is in danger, so I’m breaking up with you.” Nope. I had to protect the family secret, no matter the cost. Not that I would wish this life on anyone else, but Gah! It would be easier if Matthew was a warlock, I considered. Like that was going to happen though. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I tripped over my own two feet as I walked into the dining room, causing me to fall and hit my head on the table. “Ouch,” I exclaimed as Grandmother rushed from her chair and tried to help me up.
“Are you all right, Amelia?” she asked as I rubbed my head.
“Yes, I’m fine, Grandmother,” I assured her, slowly looking at her and noticing she looked worse than she did yesterday. Her usual sun-kissed complexion was growing pale as the bags under her eyes looked darker by the day. “Are you all right?” I probed.
“Yes, child. I am not the one who fell,” she joked, forcing a laugh.
“I meant you look …”
“Amelia, it is not polite to question a lady’s appearance,” she scolded, trying to continue to smile. I spoke nothing more as we both ate our breakfast quietly. “By the way, Matthew arrived early. He said he was waiting for you on the porch with a surprise when you finished your meal.”
“Wait … he what?” I said as I quickly finished and cleaned up the dishes and raced for the front door.
“Ladies do not run, Amelia,” shouted Grandmother, but I didn’t care today. I threw open the door to find Matthew sitting with some blue forget-me-nots.
You aren’t going to make this easy for me are you? I thought to myself.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said rising from the rocking chair that he was sitting in. “I don’t know why, but these flowers called out to me today. I guess because they are blue like your eyes.” He handed them to me, and I had to bite my lip so as not to cry. “I love you,” he said as he whisked me off the ground and spun me around, kissing me as he sat me down.
“I love you, too,” I echoed and truly meant it. “Matthew, we need to talk,” Looking him in the eye and caressing his face with my hand. He took my hand from his face placed it to his lips and kissed it.
“Can it wait? I don’t mean to brush you off. I just have to finish pressure washing, so I can start painting tomorrow.”
Tomorrow, ugh. The word sent pain in every direction of my heart.
“I love you,” he uttered again, kissing my head then nose then lips. “See you in a few,” he added as he jogged off to the back of the house to get the equipment.
I collapsed in the rocking chair trying to prepare myself for the inevitable. “It’s for his own good,” I chanted to myself slowly as I rocked, listening to the sound of the ladder as it was placed up beside the house and the clomp of his boots as they trudged their way up.
I just sat and listened to him work for what seemed like hours, but knowing only thirty or so minutes had passed. He hummed as he worked. I had been listening to the mp
3 player he had gotten me for my birthday a lot and recognized it as the song he wrote me. I was about to get up, go in, and put the flowers in some water when he screamed, “Get away, stupid bird!” I heard the sound of water being sprayed as the bird cawed and screeched back at him. I dropped the flowers as I ran as fast as I could to see what was going on. Matthew was half way up the ladder, being attacked by a raven. I could tell it had pecked and clawed him in various places. “Get away!” he hollered again as he swatted at the bird.
“Get away bird,” I demanded, throwing my hands in front of me, without thinking, as a yellow stream of light shot from them, sailing behind Matthew’s head and hitting the bird in the stomach.
Matthew, not seeing what had just happened, swatted at the bird one more time and, to my horror, lost his grip on the ladder. I shrieked, “Matthew!” as he fell to the ground, landing on his left arm. I looked around and noticed the bird had flown to a nearby tree after being hit with the bolt and was watching the goings on. I ran to Matthew as he slowly got up, holding his left wrist close to him.
“Are you hurt?” I asked.
“No, I’m fine,” he responded wincing. I took his injured wrist in my hand as I examined it.
“It is swelling already. You need go to the doctor.”
“No, I’ll be fine. I just need some ice,” he assured me.
“No, you won’t. You won’t ever be fine. It’s because of me. We have to break up,” I spit out the words as the pain of them surged through my heart.
“This isn’t your fault … wait … what’d you say?” he asked, confused, as he frowned.
“Today was proof. You got hurt because of me. We have to break up. It’s for the best,” I insisted, trying not to cry, but failing miserably.
“I don’t understand, Amelia. I get hurt and all of a sudden you want to break up. Why? Explain it to me. Is there someone else?” he probed.
Amelia and the Secret of Stoney Manor (Amelia Series Book 1) Page 17
