by J. C. Hart
"Well, she, and other women from your blood line have played an important role in the Bay, helping to keep it safe from those outside, who... Well, who want to see things change around here."
"The Bay is a quiet, safe little town. It's got a beautiful seaside location, and you know, change might not be such a bad thing. A little tourism goes a long way, right?" Alyssa placed the coffee mugs on the table and slipped into the seat opposite Sam. The other woman gave a little laugh.
"You are so good at avoiding things. I knew that the very first time I met you. You avoid grief, you avoid responsibility, and you avoid living the life you were meant to live. What happened that made you so afraid?" Sam had a way of saying truthful things kindly, when the same words from anyone else's mouth would have Alyssa storming from the room.
"Just because I don't know what I want, it doesn't make me afraid," Alyssa said, tugging on her earlobe. "I came here, and I dealt with the ghost. Not everyone would have done that."
Sam rolled her eyes. "Don't think I don't know how you dealt with the ghost, Alyssa."
"Seriously, does nothing go unnoticed around here? Why can't you people just back off and let me do my thing?" Alyssa got up from the table and paced the kitchen floor, reaching down to scoop up Socks for a cuddle. "All I wanted was a quiet little life."
"It can be a quiet life, Alyssa. But you're part of the Bay now, and, well, that comes with a cost."
Alyssa stopped pacing and faced Sam. "You don't get it."
"I think I kinda do. I've lived here my whole life, Alyssa. I know how this place works, and I know what happens to those who come here. It's not a bad thing, being part of the community, really. We want you here."
"Fine." Alyssa let out an exasperated sigh and sat back down, letting herself be distracted by the kitten, who was chasing a loose thread on her top.
"You have a connection to this place, I know you feel it. Can you be honest about that?"
Alyssa glared at Sam. "I am honest. But yes, I do. I've always loved it here. It feels like home."
"It is your home. You're meant to be here. Trust me on that much, please?"
"Only if you promise to get to the point. Kelly's going to be up any minute now and I'd kind of like for you to be gone by then." She snapped the words out and then cringed. "I didn't mean it like that." She reached her hand across the table and grabbed Sam's. "I value your friendship, but I'm just not sure Kelly is ready to know what’s going on here. Hell, as you've so rightly pointed out, I'm not even sure I am. So give it to me straight, in as unclear way as possible so that I can keep denying everything, but at the same time maybe help you out."
"Mrs Nolan wants you to become a witch, and lend your powers to maintaining the barrier that protects the Bay. Your family have done this since the beginning of the town. This is important, whether you want to know the details or not."
"I don't."
"Right, then you'll have to take my word from it." Sam's face was so patient, so calm. Alyssa had no idea how the other woman could always seem so composed, even when she was clearly talking with someone difficult.
"Why me though? Why not some other witch? I'm not even a witch. Barely. A bitch, more like it." Alyssa's shoulders sagged a little. This was what it really came down to. She didn't feel special, that was for sure, and yet these people kept insisting it had to be her.
"Like I was saying before, your family has a connection to this land. Your ancestor knew it was a powerful place and she used her magic to impregnate herself with the essence of—"
"Oh my fucking god." Alyssa slapped the table with both her hands. "And this, THIS, is why I don't want anything to do with it. Do you know how sick and twisted I'm finding out my family is? I always knew they were a pack of assholes, but this takes the cake." She winced as Socks sunk his claws into her at the outburst, but she couldn't really fault him. A little pain was the only thing keeping her from completely losing it.
"Alyssa, you don't understand."
"No, you're damn right I don't. And you don't seem to get it either. I want to trust that you're not forcing me into things I don't want a part of, and I am hearing that you think this is important, but I just can't. I want nothing to do with my heritage." With that, Alyssa got up from the chair and headed for the hallway. "Oi, Kelly, time to wake up!" she yelled down the hall. "You're going to help me tame the garden."
She heard a muffled groan from the second bedroom and turned back to Sam with a smile on her face. "Looks like Kelly is about to get up. You better get out of here." She folded her arms across her chest, trying not to feel guilty about the look of sorrow marring her friends face.
"Just, think about it," Sam said. She paused beside Alyssa, who thought she was going to try and hug her or something, but thankfully the other woman walked headed for the door, closing it gently behind her.
Alyssa exhaled the breath she'd been holding. Maybe it was time to think about wrapping up here and heading back to the city. It looked like things weren't going to be as lovely as she'd thought they would, and it was way better to cut her losses now than risk losing more.
Chapter Eleven
He'd just slid back into his car after dropping the note in Alyssa's letterbox when a flustered woman exited the house. Brandon couldn't help but wonder if it was one of Mrs Nolan's lackeys. Seemed like she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted—regardless of how that affected the people she needed things from.
All the more reason to hit the road.
He put the car into gear and headed down the street, feeling a slight twinge of guilt at leaving Alyssa alone with this mob. At least she had her friend, Kelly, and it wasn't like Alyssa would have jumped into the car and driven off into the sunset with him. They barely knew each other.
Still. It was a shame they hadn't had the chance. Maybe another time, another place.
Anywhere but here.
He turned out of the street and headed for the main road, hitting the edge of town within another five minutes. For a small place, it sure as hell had a lot going on. He'd always known the Bay was a bit different. Angela had led him to believe that was as good thing—good for people like them, anyway. Now he wasn't so sure. It was a shame too, because he could have done with settling down for a bit before figuring out what his next move was. The trouble was that it was hard to settle when the dead seemed to seep through the cracks when he was around, and every lover he'd ever had was plagued by messages from beyond the grave. Thank god Angela hadn't died, because he'd hate to know what had gone down in that house of hers. It actually didn't bother him that'd he'd had to leave so soon. The place needed to be burnt to the ground as no amount of renovation would fix what was wrong with it.
Brandon frowned. Lost in thought he seemed to have turned back into the town somehow. He shook his head and did a U-turn, swinging back the other way. This time he paid more attention to where he was going, but within a minute he was back in the middle of town.
That fucking bitch.
He pulled over and yanked his phone out of his pocket, hitting dial. When she answered he couldn't hold back a snarl. "What the hell have you done?"
"You made an agreement, Mr Cartwright, and we intend for you to keep it." With that, she hung up on him.
He threw the phone onto the passenger seat and swore profusely. At least that was one thing his Gran had been good for, because he knew several different languages and could swear in all of them. He could feel rage brimming in his heart, and breathed deep, trying to squash it down. It was never a good thing to let that come up, take him over. He knew what happened then, and he couldn't let it, not now.
He needed a plan. Figure out a way out of this town, or out of this contract. But first, he had to hope like hell Alyssa hadn't checked her mail yet.
Unfortunately for him, she was standing at her letterbox reading the note as he pulled into the curb. She glanced up, her brow furrowing when she saw him. He hadn't even had a chance to get out before she'd strode up and opened the pass
enger’s door.
"I thought you were skipping town?" She arched an eyebrow.
"I changed my mind?" He gave a shrug. "You made me want to stick around." Well, it wasn't entirely untrue. He did want to get to know her better, but she was also the reason he couldn't leave. Not that he was going to let her know that.
While he didn't agree with his task, maybe he could find some other way to convince her to step into her Grandmother’s shoes. There must be something she wanted, and if he could find that out... well, maybe both their problems would be solved.
"Yeah right." She rolled her eyes, but a grin slipped across her face. "I'm pleased you're sticking around for a bit. Next time you go, come say goodbye properly, okay?"
He wanted to grab her hand, ask her to come with him, but he knew there was no point. Unless he could figure out what that bitch Mrs Nolan had done to anchor him here in town, there was no escaping, for either of them. "I promise. I think I'll be here or a bit longer anyway. Got work to do."
"Wow, must have been a rough start to the job if you thought about bailing so quickly."
"My boss is a real cow. Trust me." He grinned, then made like he was checking the time on the dash. "Speaking of work, I better get back to it. I was hoping I could snag that note before you noticed it."
"Too bad for you." It was her turn to shrug. She went to slide out of the car but then turned back, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Hope you can stop in later for a visit or something." And then she was gone, leaving the scent of her in his space.
This was either going to go very badly, or turn out very well.
Chapter Twelve
"I just had the weirdest run-in with Brandon," Alyssa said as she dropped the note on the kitchen table.
Kelly reached or it, skimming the words. "He's leaving?"
"No. He changed his mind about that. Don't you think it's a bit weird though? He gets into town, meets a girl he apparently likes, and then he's set to leave?" Alyssa frowned, wondering what it meant.
"Men are weird." Kelly shrugged. "And we need to go to the supermarket."
"Why don't you drop me off at my car, and then you go. I really can't be bothered. I need to get some stuff done around the house."
"Alright, but no complaining about my purchases."
"Come on, you know me better than anyone. I trust you. Let's go now." Alyssa grabbed her keys and waited for Kelly to get her things together. They hadn't started in the garden yet, but she knew it wasn't really Kelly's thing; she'd much rather shop. "Actually, you could stop in and see Sam. Pick out a souvenir while you're in town," she suggested.
"Maybe. Come on."
They headed out and in minutes Alyssa was waving Kelly off and slipping into her own car. She grabbed her cell from her bag but it was completely dead. She shouldn't have expected any different, and, as Sam had shown that morning, if anyone really needed her they'd just come knocking on her door.
Alyssa headed home, taking the long way around. It wasn't that she was avoiding the house exactly, she just wanted to sort her thoughts out. She was into Brandon, that much was clear, but his irrational behaviour this morning put on the warning bells. Grant had acted that way too in the last months of their relationship. Just, a little odd. Things that he explained away, but there were too many explanations, and not all of them added up. She needed to remind herself that Brandon was not Grant, and not only that, it wasn't like Brandon owed her anything. They'd only met the other day.
She parked the car in the drive and walked around the back of the house. While the front needed just as much work, she didn't really want anyone watching her as she mangled the gardens. She opened the back door and dumped her keys on the counter, scrambling for the phone charger amongst the clutter on the bench before plugging it in and abandoning it for the outdoors.
Socks followed her, keeping close to her feet and settling in to bat at stray leaves on the ground by the steps. Hopefully she'd feel an immediate sense of achievement and that would spur her on. That would be the advice Gran gave her, if she were still here. And right now, she wished that she was.
This week alone had proven, again, that she didn't know Gran as well as she thought she did, she almost wanted to call her mother, to see if she knew some of the history of their family. Was Alyssa strong enough to wilfully defy family duty? At times she'd been frustrated and sad that her mother had stopped her from seeing Gran, that she'd denied Alyssa of knowing about the family heritage, but after talking with Sam this morning she realized more than ever that actually her mother was strong, and brave, and she just hoped that she'd inherited some of those traits as well.
It wasn't fear that had kept her mother away from the Bay, or maybe not just fear, but also the drive to protect those she loved.
Ouch. And here Alyssa was, keeping her mother shut out. Ignoring her, rejecting her. She dropped the weeds back in the garden and stood up. She needed to call her mother. Right now. Dusting her hands on her pants she headed inside, the sound of a ringing phone hitting her ears as she opened the door.
But her phone was still flat, so it must be Kelly's. She found it beneath a newspaper on the table, caller ID only telling her it was 'Babe'.
"Hello, Kelly's phone," she answered.
There was a pause on the other end and then the voice that spoke gave her chills. "Um, Alyssa?"
"Grant? What the fuck are you doing calling Kelly? Why does it say Babe?" She felt like all the air had escaped her lungs and she collapsed into a chair, dropping the phone on the table. "Oh my god. Oh my god." Her breath was coming in short gasps and she tried to think clearly, tried to breathe deeply, but she couldn't. She could hear Grant talking still, but she hit the end button and pushed the phone back under the newspaper so she didn't have to look at it.
Kelly hadn't been acting weird because Alyssa had moved to the Bay. Kelly was acting weird because she'd shacked up with Grant.
The front door opened and closed as Kelly entered the house. Alyssa could see her from where she sat on the couch. She'd been waiting for an hour, unable to do much of anything after answering the phone call that had changed everything.
There were a million questions brewing inside her. But foremost among these was the only one that really mattered. Had this started before Grant broke it off with Alyssa? She could, maybe, forgive the rest of it. One day. But not if this had started when he'd still been her boyfriend.
Kelly spotted her, cocked her head to one side and frowned. "What's up chook? Everything okay?"
Alyssa choked out a bitter laugh. "No, Kelly. Everything is not okay."
"What's wrong honey? What happened?" Kelly put her bags down on the floor and crossed to Alyssa, kneeling before her and trying to give her a hug.
Alyssa pulled back, shaking her head. A few tears slipped free but she brushed them off roughly. "Your boyfriend called while you were gone." She said the words softly, watching carefully as Kelly's face went white. "How could you?"
"Lysie, I promise. I never meant to hurt you." Kelly reached for her again, but this time Alyssa stood and walked around the couch so that it was between them. She kept her arms folded over her chest, trying to constrain the hurt.
"Then how could you? Him, of all people. Grant." Her voice broke on his name. She didn't love him anymore, not like that. He'd broken her heart. Things hadn't been perfect, no, but what kind of callous asshole breaks up with a girl when she finds out she can't have babies? "We'd been planning a life together, and what, now he's carrying out those plans with you? If it wasn't for all the boozing you've been doing since you got here, I'd think you were already knocked up."
"Don't be like that, Lysie."
"Don't call me Lysie! If you were really my friend, you wouldn't be with him. What is wrong with you?"
"It wasn't meant to come out like this. I've been trying to find the right time to talk with you about it—"
"Don't worry, it all makes sense now. You came here to tell me you’ve shacked up with my ex, and you thought pushi
ng me at some hot guy down the street would help soften the blow." Alyssa cradled her head in her hands, her fingers shook and she knew that she wasn't thinking straight right now. She took a deep breath and looked up, dropping her arms to her sides. "I think you should go. Okay? I know now, and you're free to get on with your life. But can you tell me one thing?"
"Don't make me leave it like this. Alyssa, you're my best friend."
Alyssa shook her head. "Did this start before I left? Before we'd broken up?"
The way Kelly pressed her lips together, the way pain pooled in her eyes was all the answer Alyssa needed.
"Get your stuff sorted, and take Socks with you. When I come back I want you gone." Alyssa walked out.
Chapter Thirteen
She didn't know where to go, or what to do, so she just walked. Walked, and walked, and walked. She couldn't face Sam right now, and Brandon said he was going to work, so that left her with a big fat nothing. This whole thing was a sham. Nothing was real. She had no place here in this town, no place in the city now, and it wasn't until that moment when Kelly's face revealed the truth that she realized she really had no-one to turn to.
But, that wasn't quite true. She veered across the road and turned onto another street, heading for the cemetery. It had been a few weeks since she'd gone to see Gran. There was still so much of the woman in the house that she didn't feel the need to visit a tombstone.
The Kotahi Bay graveyard was actually fairly big considering the relatively small size of the town, but Alyssa got the feeling that people who came here didn't move away too much. Was she destined to end up in a plot with Gran as well?
Within a few minutes she'd reached the gate. Alyssa abandoned the path and walked among the graves, heading for the far left corner where Gran was located, along with other relatives. None of whom she'd actually met, but who she felt like she was getting to know from the not so pleasant things she’d been learning. She plonked herself down on the grave, lying flat on top of the stone. No one else was here to judge her, and the sun on her face was just what she needed. She trailed her fingers over the engraving on the headstone.
