After the Summerland (The Witches of Spring Hill Book 1)

by Patricia Proctor

  Liam sits for a minute and thinks back to the voice in his head telling him to let them go and give them some independence. At least they’ll all be together, he thinks to himself.

  “Alright, let’s go,” he says resignedly. “But I want Chloe to do the driving until I spend more time riding with you and Rowan,” Liam says looking pointedly at Kaiden.

  Liam has been letting Chloe drive them to town when she needs something for the garden or from the fabric store. Liam knows she’s a safe and cautious driver, but he hasn’t spent enough time riding with Kaiden and Rowan to know how they will be behind the wheel. He imagines Kaiden will drive fast and Rowan will be easily distracted, especially when other people are in the car with her.

  “And if I catch any of you talking, texting, or even looking at your phone while driving, the car is gone. No second chances, no discussion. Understood?”

  They all nod their heads in agreement, knowing that their dad has seen some bad accidents caused by distracted driving. Since they got their driver’s licenses he has been telling them that nothing is so important that you have to take your eyes off the road and look at your phone, absolutely nothing.

  Chloe jumps up from the table and wraps her arms around her dad. “Thanks, Dad!” she says, before running off to get her shoes and jacket. Kaiden and Rowan give Liam a hug and thank him before excitedly taking off after their sister.

  “Nice one, Kaiden,” Rowan whispers as she slips her feet into her flip-flops. Kaiden smiles and says, “Now we just need to find a way to bring up the Silvans on the way over to GG Peter’s house.”

  “I’ll handle it,” Rowan says confidently, walking out to the jeep.

  Chloe is sitting in the driver’s seat with their dad in the passenger seat when Rowan and Kaiden make their way outside.

  “Now we are at Chloe’s mercy,” Rowan says teasingly, smiling as she says it. Had this happened a week ago there would have been a bitter argument about why Chloe gets to drive, but now Rowan is just happy they will be able to get around without their dad driving them everywhere.

  “Buckle up, kids,” Chloe teases as Kaiden and Rowan roll their eyes at the same time.

  Once they are on the main road in town, Rowan asks, “So Dad, have you learned anything about the Silvans?”

  Kaiden nudges Rowan, giving her a look and mouths, “Real subtle, Ro.”

  Liam looks back at Rowan and says, “Probably a lot of the same stuff you guys already know. Selene Silvan is the kids’ aunt, recently relocated here from California. After being sick for a while, the kids’ mother died around five years ago and their father died about a year ago. No other living relatives so far, but we have just started looking. Their father made quite a bit of money in the 90’s dot com boom and invested well. Selene inherited a substantial amount of money when he died and the kids will also inherit a lot of money dispersed to each of them through a trust fund when they turn 18.”

  “We know everything about the kids including birth dates, where they went to school, their old friends, sports they played, their grades, etcetera, but we can’t find anything about Selene prior to her moving in with her brother and his family. We’ve learned that the family is originally from the area of Salem, Massachusetts, and can find a birth certificate and information about Michael Silvan, but nothing about Selene until she arrived in California a little over five years ago. She may have been married and went by a different name, but still, we should have found something about her from her maiden name or at least a birth certificate. Anyway, we’re still looking into it…”

  “Have you found any ties to witchcraft?” Rowan asks.

  “Well, right now her connection to Salem is enough to make us think that she has ties to the craft. We know it’s a very weak connection, but since they arrived in town, there have been a few strange… occurrences. Until we can dig up more information about her past, we can’t ignore that the Silvans come from a place so historically entrenched in witchcraft, and with the strange things that are happening here I won’t just chalk it up to mere coincidence.”

  “So you think they could be witches?” Chloe asks bluntly, looking in her rearview mirror at her sister and brother.

  “Keep your eyes on the road, Chloe,” Liam admonishes. “To answer your question honestly, yes, I am fairly certain that Selene, if not all of them, are witches. And right now I don’t know how strong their power is or why they are here, but one thing is certain, their gifts are only going to get stronger the closer they are to our land.”

  “Your GG Peter is doing more in-depth research and will let me know as he discovers it, but in the meantime just be cautious around them. Of course, I have only ever seen the kids when I pick you up so I don’t know much about them, but you know how I feel about Selene… I suspect her interest in raising the kids after their parents died was not based on pure intentions. With what you know about yourselves now, I’m sure you will be able to sense any “otherness” about them and act accordingly.”

  “What kind of strange things have been happening since they’ve gotten here, Dad?” Rowan asks.

  “Well, a few people in town have told me that they find themselves having a conversation with Selene, telling her things that they normally would not say to someone new in town, including things about our family. Afterward they feel either nauseated or fuzzy and can’t remember things clearly. When I picked you up the day I met Selene, I experienced the nausea and fuzziness myself. I saw you walking out of school with a visible gap between you and the Silvans, but when Selene suggested that the six of you were walking out of school together, I saw it, but only for a moment until I shook my head. When I looked back I clearly saw a space between you and it was obvious by how you were walking that you were not together. It was like she made me see something that wasn’t there.”

  “We didn’t walk out with them on the first day we met them, Dad, and when we saw you talking with her, you had a weird look on your face,” Rowan says. “So it seems she is practicing some kind of magic in town, but what is it she wants from us? Do you think she knows about the land? You guys told us that other witches would want it.”

  “I don’t know, Rowan. I just don’t know how she would know about you guys or the land since she just got here. People in town don’t even know the extent of the power, since the spell the Scott sisters put on the land never broke when they died.”

  With that, they each retreat into their own thoughts until they get to GG Peter’s house. After a short visit with GG Peter, they can’t wait to climb into their “new” car to discuss what they learned from their dad on the way over.

  “So now we know,” Kaiden says.

  “I think we knew before,” Chloe responds. “And I also think we should just ask them outright tomorrow at the library.”

  “Are you serious?” Rowan asks, shocked at her sister’s suggestion.

  “Really, what do we have to lose? If we get it out in the open, maybe we can find out what they’re doing here,” Chloe says.

  “What makes you think they’ll tell us the truth?” Kaiden asks.

  “Well, since we’re all spending time with them one-on-one tomorrow, we will at least have the opportunity to ask each of them individually. At worst, we get three different stories, and maybe, just maybe one of them will be the truth,” Chloe replies, looking nervously in her rearview mirror at the headlights coming up behind her.

  “Didn’t Dad say he was going to stay at GG Peter’s for a little while?” Chloe asks, getting increasingly nervous about how fast the car is approaching.

  “Yeah, why? Chloe, what is it?” Kaiden asks, picking up on her anxious tone.

  “This car coming up behind us came out of nowhere and is catching up fast,” she replies while looking again in the rearview mirror.

  Both Kaiden and Rowan turn around in their seats and watch, as the car gets closer. “That can’t be Dad,” Rowan says adamantly, “the headlights are way too low for the jeep.”

  “Just stay calm,
Chloe. Maybe it’s just someone in a hurry to get somewhere and it has nothing to do with us,” Kaiden says unconvincingly as the car’s bright lights flash once and then remain lit, momentarily blinding everyone.

  When Chloe looks back in the rearview mirror, she realizes that the car is now tailgating so close that the headlights are no longer visible.

  “Guys, what should I do?” Chloe asks, panicking.

  “Maybe just pull off to the side and let them pass,” Rowan suggests.

  “NO, Chloe! Absolutely do not pull off the road!” Kaiden warns. “Just slow down a little bit and hopefully they will just pass us.”

  As Chloe slows down, she repeats the protection spell and holds the amulet around her neck. When she looks again in the rearview mirror she sees the now familiar white Mercedes pull up close behind one more time before abruptly turning away just as they approach the old bridge right before the main road into town.

  Chloe takes a deep breath in and unclenches her hands from the steering wheel. Exhaling, she holds her hand up to show Rowan and Kaiden how frightened she was. Her hand trembles and even though she hates to admit it, she’s extremely frightened by the whole thing. Chloe stops at the intersection for a second longer than necessary before turning onto the main road.

  “Could either of you see who was driving?” Rowan asks as she turns back toward the front.

  “No,” Chloe and Kaiden respond at the same time.

  “Well then, I guess we have another question to ask tomorrow when we meet up with them,” Rowan says as Kaiden and Chloe nod silently in agreement.

  Chapter 19

  It’s still dark out when Chloe wakes up in the morning. She can tell by how quiet the house is that her dad has not gotten up yet to leave for work. Instead of getting up herself, she snuggles deeper under the covers, unable to shake the chilled feeling she got last night in the car. For the umpteenth time she wonders who was driving the Mercedes and why they were on the back road to her great grandfather’s house. In all the times she had been to GG Peter’s, she had only seen a few cars on that back road since there wasn’t much out that way. So why would the Silvans be back there late on a Friday night? Either the Silvans followed them from town to GG Peter’s or they were already at GG’s when they showed up. Either way, the Silvans had no business being on that back road.

  Chloe shudders, thinking about how things could have gone differently. She imagines the Mercedes crashing into them, or worse, running them off the road at the old bridge. If someone wanted to kill them and make it look like a car accident, that would be the place to do it. Even buckled in, there would be no way to survive a car crash into the rocky ravine. She thinks of her GG Peter in his house all by himself. If the Silvans were watching him, they would see that it wouldn’t be too hard to break in and hurt him. Someone could walk right up to the door, knock, and he would trustingly open it, only to be attacked. They could even push him down the stairs making it look like an accident and get away with murder.

  Even though they all agreed not to tell Liam what happened, Chloe wants to and really thinks that she should. She fears that whatever is going on with the Silvans is escalating and everyone close to them may be in danger. She lays in bed thinking about it until the light from the sun slips through the gap in her window shade.

  She knows if she tells Liam what happened last night he will undoubtedly take the keys from her and not let them drive anywhere and they have to meet the Silvans today. She decides to wait until later to tell him, so when she finally hears him moving around she stays in bed rather than going downstairs. She knows as scared and worried as she is, she will blurt out everything as soon as she sees him.

  She thinks about Cian and wonders if he was in the car last night, but no matter how hard she tries, she just can’t picture it. Instead she suspects it was Selene, or Xavier, but mostly she thinks it was Selene acting alone. She can’t say why exactly, but gut instinct tells her that although Xavier is strange, he doesn’t seem like the type to try to scare someone. He seems more like an all or nothing kind of guy and if he really wanted to scare them, he wouldn’t stop at tailgating.

  Chloe drifts back to sleep and is startled awake when Rowan and Kaiden burst into the room. “C’mon, Chloe! It’s already 10:00 and we need to start planning for this afternoon,” Rowan says as she climbs onto the bed with her.

  Kaiden has a cup of something in his hand that he holds out to her. “Cream with just a little bit of coffee, just the way you like it.” He hands her the mug and sits in the window seat opposite his sisters.

  “Thanks, Kaiden,” Chloe replies as she sits up and stretches. “I woke up early this morning and couldn’t stop thinking about what happened last night. I really don’t think it was Xavier, Cian, or Brianna driving, and I’d bet they weren’t even in the car. What do you guys think?” she asks as she takes a sip of the hot, creamy coffee.

  “I totally agree,” Rowan replies. “I know that Xavier is the most likely of the three, but from what I can tell about him… I just can’t picture him doing it. He’d probably want attention for it so he’d make sure we knew it was him driving. And, he’d totally want to see the scared looks on our faces.”

  “I agree with both of you,” Kaiden says, adding, “But it doesn’t mean they don’t know what their aunt did, so we need to be cautious about how we bring it up.”

  “We also need to find out if she followed us or if she was already at GG Peter’s,” Chloe says.

  Both Rowan and Kaiden look at Chloe as if they hadn’t considered how Selene Silvan happened to come upon them on that stretch of road.

  Rowan is the first to respond. “I don’t know which would be worse, if she followed us she had to have been sitting out at GG Peter’s the whole time we were there, otherwise she wouldn’t have known we were driving the Forester. On the other hand, if she didn’t follow us, then she was watching GG Peter. And, now that I say it out loud, that is definitely worse.”

  “Maybe she knows that GG is looking into her history,” Kaiden adds, remembering what their dad said last night.

  “We need to tell dad, Grandpa Marcus, and GG Peter what’s going on for their own safety,” Chloe insists, adding, “I wanted to tell dad this morning… but I knew if I told him about what happened last night, he would take away the car that fast,” she says snapping her fingers. “And I really think we need to talk to the Silvans one-on-one today. I put sprigs of rosemary inside GG’s house when we were there last night, and I put some in the jeep. It’s not 100% protection like a spell, but at least it’s something.”

  Kaiden and Rowan nod their heads in agreement. “Alright, we’ll talk to dad tonight when we get home and maybe we’ll have more answers after talking to the Silvans today,” Kaiden adds.

  Rowan gets up and says, “He’s not going to like it that we met them without telling him.”

  Kaiden knows she's right. “No, he won’t. But at least we’re meeting them together and that will count for something.” He jumps up from his seat, grabs Chloe’s empty mug and walks out the door.

  “I call the shower first!” Rowan yells after him and walks out the door. “I call second!” Chloe adds quickly.

  “Damn!” Kaiden says and pleading his case adds, “But, I can be done in less time than it will take you to decide which shampoo to use.”

  “Sorry, Kaiden,” Rowan replies as she heads straight into the bathroom before he steals her turn.

  Feeling bad for Kaiden who always ends up last, Chloe gives in and says, “You can go second, Kaiden. But only because you brought me coffee this morning — but you better be fast, and you better not use all the hot water.”

  “Thanks, sis! I’ll be fast, I promise!”

  Chloe can’t help but feel grateful for this new camaraderie she has with her siblings. She loves the amount of time they have been spending together and hopes that it will continue.

  Once they’ve all showered and are ready to go, they meet in the kitchen and go over the plan one last ti
me. Rowan will sit at the far back table in the café at the library and wait for Xavier. This way she can watch for him without him seeing her first. Also, if for some reason Brianna and Cian don’t know that Xavier is meeting her, they won’t be able to see her when they come in to meet Kaiden and Chloe.

  Kaiden will wait for Brianna at the entrance to the study hall. The study rooms are enclosed glass rooms that range in size from a single desk to a 4-person table. On Friday afternoon, Kaiden called and reserved a 2-person study room near the back for him and Brianna. Rather than texting her to let her know where to meet, he decided to meet her in the hallway. He’s bringing his backpack so it looks like he will be studying, but the books inside are all about witchcraft. He’s hoping that when Brianna sees the books, she’ll react in some way that confirms their suspicions and will open up and start talking.

  Chloe will meet Cian near the history center as they planned. Since she normally spends Saturday afternoons at the library she won’t be out of her element, but she will keep an eye on her sister and brother until Cian arrives. She already knows that she and Cian are going to talk about being witches since they have both been hinting about it all week. It will be good to get it out in the open. Even if Rowan and Kaiden don’t get anything from Xavier or Brianna, at least they can count on Cian. She is bringing one of the grimoires with her, but won’t pull it out unless she feels like she can trust him. Chloe will bring up what happened in the car last night, mostly because she was the one driving, but also because she and Cian have already connected and he seems the most trustworthy of the three.

  Before they leave the house, Chloe insists on leaving a note in her room for their dad, just in case something goes wrong. “You never know what can happen when a group of witches gets together,” she says, only half joking.

  They all wear the amulets that Chloe found in the garden; Rowan and Chloe wear theirs around their necks, and Kaiden wears his wrapped around his wrist, tucked under the sleeve of his hoodie. Finally, for protection, they each carry in their pockets a sprig of rosemary cut from the garden. Even though both Rowan and Kaiden complained when they smelled how pungent the herb is, Chloe insisted they carry it.