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

by Patricia Proctor

  “Really?” Chloe asked. “You are going to complain about the smell even though it will protect you?”

  They both gave in, but Kaiden told her that there were limits to what he’d carry in his pockets and reminded her not to push him too far. “Next, you’ll have me rubbing scented oils behind my ears.” When she raised her eyebrows at him, he said, “Absolutely not… I don’t care what it does! I won’t do it. I’m a man!” and he pounded on his chest. They all laughed and whether it was because it was actually funny or from nerves, no one dared ask or admitted how they were feeling.

  “We also need to find out about a protection spell for GG Peter, Grandpa Marcus, and Dad. Do you think they would let us put rosemary in their pockets?” Chloe asks, genuinely concerned for their safety.

  Kaiden replies, “Let’s just get through the day today and then we’ll tell them what we know and work out some kind of protection spell later.”

  They arrive at noon, an hour earlier than their meeting time just to make sure Selene isn’t on the premises. They don’t want her anywhere nearby and know the only way to be sure is to be at the library when the Silvans arrived.

  Even though they planned everything carefully, they are surprised when they walk through the front doors and find Xavier, Cian, and Brianna Silvan sitting on a bench waiting for them at the entrance to the library. Their smiles and confidence fades the moment they make eye contact with them. “Ah, hell,” Kaiden says as he watches big smiles spread across the Silvans’ faces.

  “So much for our plans,” Rowan mutters.

  Cian stands up first and approaches Chloe with a genuine smile, unlike the more deliberate ones that Xavier and Brianna are wearing.

  “Hi, Chloe,” he says sweetly, grabbing her hand with a familiarity that seems strange to everyone except them. He nods at Kaiden, “What’s up, Kaiden?” He walks over to Rowan, holds out his hand, and says, “We haven’t actually met yet, I’m Cian Silvan.”

  “I know who you are and you know who I am,” Rowan says, ignoring his outstretched hand. “So let’s cut the bullshit, shall we?”

  “Rowan!” Chloe says, shocked to hear her sister’s old attitude return. “At least give him a chance…”

  Even Kaiden is appalled by his sister’s bitchiness. Talking low enough so Brianna and Xavier can’t overhear he says, “Ro, Cian is actually okay. We’re partners in biology and have talked a lot this week and I’m telling you it’s okay to trust him. We both do,” he says, referring to himself and Chloe.

  “Whatever,” Rowan replies. “You two can trust him, but don’t mind me if I’m not so eager to befriend him, especially since they one upped us today by getting here early.”

  “Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt,” Cian says, “but, I can obviously hear you and I just want you to know that we didn’t get here early to ‘one-up’ you. We actually got here early because our Aunt Selene had an appointment this afternoon and this was the only time she could drop us off before she left.”

  “She thinks we’re here to do homework,” he says, grinning at Chloe.

  Xavier and Brianna approach the group and Xavier says, “You don’t owe them an explanation, Cian.”

  “Oh, here we go…” Rowan replies, rolling her eyes at Xavier’s tone.

  “Easy, Red. I’m not trying to cause any trouble, but I’m also not going to stand here and let you bully my brother.”

  “My name is Rowan, asshole. I’ve already told you twice this week to stop calling me Red. Don’t make me tell you again!”

  “Watch your tone with my brothers, bitch,” Brianna starts before Cian jumps in between Rowan and Brianna.

  “Enough, enough, enough!” he says. “It’s obvious we are all on edge here, but just remember that we are all here because we have something in common. So before this escalates any more than it has, let’s find somewhere where we can talk without everyone in town observing us, all right? Chloe, do you have a good place in mind where we can all talk, more privately?”

  “Upstairs,” she responds, “There’s a conference room that Mrs. Kelley lets me use on the weekends. Follow me.” Cian grabs his bag and falls in step with Chloe.

  “Let’s do this,” Xavier says, and waves his arm to let Rowan pass first, “After you, Re-Re-Re-Rrr — Rowan,” he adds with a grin. Rowan rolls her eyes at him as she passes him and can feel her smoldering temper flare again.

  Kaiden and Brianna pair up and follow behind them. “Those two have some crazy chemistry, huh?” Kaiden says referring to Xavier and Rowan.

  Brianna smiles and shakes her head, “Right?! No really, your sister can be a real bitch.”

  “Naw, she’s alright. Once you get to know her, you’ll see… her bark is much, much worse than her bite,” Kaiden says smirking. “Oh, and by the way… you always want to be on her side of an argument.”

  “The same could be said for me,” Brianna responds with a smile.

  Chapter 20

  Once everyone is settled into the conference room, they look around at each other and wait for someone to start. Chloe, the peacemaker, decides to step up to the plate. “Brianna, Xavier, I’m Chloe. I’ve heard so much about both of you from Cian, but I’m glad to finally meet you in person.”

  Brianna smiles at Chloe, “I’ve heard a lot about you, too and I’m also glad to finally meet you.”

  Xavier nods at Chloe and then flashing a huge grin at her says, “It’s great that we are all being all nicey-nice to each other, but c’mon, let’s get down to what we really want to talk about. Why the hell did you all ask us to meet you here today?”

  Cian shakes his head at Xavier. “Come on Xav, she’s just trying to be nice. I think we all need to try to be a little nicer to each other,” he looks pointedly at Xavier and Rowan as he says it.

  “Don’t look at me like that, Cian,” Rowan replies. “You don’t know me well enough to talk to me like that.”

  “OK, Rowan and Xavier, you both need to stop with the attitude,” Chloe says raising her voice, getting everyone’s attention. “We will never get anything accomplished if you two don’t give in a little. You don’t have to like anyone in this room, but you do have to get along enough so that we can sit here and have a GD conversation.”

  “Now, Cian, where were you guys last night?” Chloe asks, taking everyone by surprise.

  “What?” Cian responds, surprised by the aggressiveness in Chloe’s tone.

  “What did you guys do last night? Where did you go? Where were you?” Chloe asks again.

  “Why are you asking?” Xavier asks, suddenly interested in the conversation.

  Chloe starts to ask them again, when Kaiden stops her and says, “They weren’t in the car, Chloe. It wasn’t them.”

  Xavier stands up and raises his voice, “What the hell are you guys talking about?”

  Rowan says, “Sit down, Jet, and let Chloe explain what happened last night.”

  Chloe starts telling them what happened, but midway through she stops, “This sounds ridiculous, it’s not like she really did anything.”

  “No, Chloe. She did do something,” Kaiden says, encouraging her to finish.

  Chloe starts again, explaining what happened in the car. When she finally finishes, leaving out the part about the protection spell she cast, she says, “I hate to admit it, but I was actually really scared and I’m worried about my family. So if you weren’t in the car, then maybe you can tell us what your aunt was doing at my GG Peter’s house last night,” Chloe blurts out.

  “Oh my God,” Cian says and looks at Brianna and Xavier. “This is totally getting out of hand and we have to do something.”

  “What is getting out of hand?” Rowan asks Cian, while watching Brianna and Xavier’s reaction to what he said. They both look scared, worried, and pissed at the same time.

  Xavier drops his head into his hands and in frustration pulls at his hair a little. When he looks back up, his hair is disheveled and standing up where his hands were, but it’s his eyes that have Rowan
catching her breath.

  In his eyes is a world of pain, frustration, and fear. She instantly forgets how she should be acting and lets down her guard to his pain. And when she lets it in, it washes over her and all she wants to do is reach out and hold him. So she does.

  She gets up, walks around the table and grabs his face in her hands. “What is it, Xavier? Tell us. Maybe we can help.”

  He looks into her green eyes and finds himself speechless. Her kindness is overwhelming, especially since he was just getting used to her bitchy attitude.

  He pulls away and shakes his head slowly. “I don’t know what to say. Chloe, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that my aunt scared you. She is… unstable, and that’s all I can say for now.”

  “Unstable? Unstable?!? She’s not unstable, she’s effin crazy,” Brianna shouts.

  Kaiden, surprised by her anger asks, “What do you mean, Brianna?”

  “The woman is crazy and manipulative and dangerous and I don’t want to be a part of this anymore.” Her eyes fill with tears and she says, “I just can’t do this anymore.”

  Cian gets up and comforts his sister. He hates to see her in this much pain and although he expected that she was getting close to her breaking point, he did not expect it to happen here and now, in front of the Alexanders. Cian can’t help but wonder if it started because of Rowan’s kindness toward Xavier. Cian can’t remember the last time someone was that kind to Brianna.

  As if reading his mind, Chloe comes over and picks up Brianna’s hand. “I have no idea what is going on right now, but if we can do something to help, we will. But we need answers, too. What the hell is going on? Why did you guys move here? And what is it about you three that is so…” She leaves the thought blank when she can’t come up with the word.

  “What my sister is trying to ask is, are you witches and are you here to hurt us?” Rowan says bluntly.

  Xavier, Brianna, and Cian look up at Rowan, Chloe, and Kaiden and realize that it’s time to tell the truth. Cian starts, “How much do you guys know about yourselves?”

  Kaiden replies, “We know a lot, maybe even everything, but we only learned recently, so if you asked us that question a week ago, we wouldn’t have known anything. I hope you won’t see that as a weakness and exploit it.”

  Cian nods and says, smiling, “We won’t, but I’m sure you know we can’t speak for everyone in our family.”

  Kaiden takes that as a sign that they can at least trust everyone present in this room. He looks at Xavier who has dropped his head in his hands again, avoiding eye contact. It’s obvious he is uncomfortable so Kaiden asks outright, “Xavier? Can we trust you?”

  Xavier looks up at Kaiden and shaking his head says, “Honestly? I don’t know.”

  Rowan inhales sharply and steps away from him. “How can you say that?” she asks.

  Chloe says resignedly, “At least he’s being honest…”

  Xavier looks around at everyone in the room, but before he has a chance to explain himself the door to the conference room opens abruptly.

  “What the hell is going on?” Liam asks when he sees them all clustered on the opposite side of the conference room table.

  “Dad!?” Chloe says, shocked to see her dad here when he never comes to the library to check on her. “What are you doing here?”

  He looks at Chloe, disappointed. Then to Kaiden he says, “Miss Anderson called the house looking for you, Kaiden. She wanted to know if you still needed the study room since you didn’t show up at noon for your reservation.”

  “With what has been going on,” he continues, looking pointedly at the Silvans, “I figured I’d stop by and check to make sure everything was okay. When I got here Mrs. Kelley kindly told me you were up here with the new kids. So now, I will ask you again, what the hell is going on?”

  Xavier stands up, but quickly sits back down when Cian shakes his head no.

  “Mr. Alexander,” Cian starts.

  “It’s actually ‘Chief’ Alexander, Mr. Silvan.”

  Rowan rolls her eyes and shakes her head, a little embarrassed by her dad’s correction. “Dad. Stop. You are not here on police business, so please, just be cool for a minute.”

  Liam raises his eyebrows at Rowan and before he has a chance to say anything, Chloe speaks up and says, “Dad, please don’t be mad. We just ran into them and decided we should talk to them to find out what’s going on.”

  “No more lies, Chloe,” Liam says sharply. “I don’t believe for one minute that you just ran into them. I think you intended to meet them here all along, which is why Kaiden convinced me to pick up the car last night so I wouldn’t find out who you were meeting here today. Am I right? No need to answer, I can tell by the look on your face. So why don’t we all just sit down and start talking.”

  He takes the seat that Kaiden was sitting in at the head of the table and crosses his hands in front of him.

  “So… let’s start talking,” he says, nodding toward Xavier, Cian, and Brianna.

  Absolutely mortified at being chastised by her father in front of everyone, Chloe bites her tongue and sits back down in her seat next to Liam.

  Without saying anything Rowan goes back to the chair she was sitting in and Kaiden takes the seat to the left of his dad. They are both too stunned by the way their dad spoke to Chloe to say anything at all.

  “So, who is going to start?” Liam asks looking around at the group in front of him, finally focusing on Xavier.

  “We don’t have to say anything to you,” Xavier says, with more confidence than he is feeling.

  Liam purses his lips, leans forward in his chair, and nods at Xavier. “Alright then, Xavier, it seems like you want to be the one to start. I have to tell you,” Liam starts and then leans back in the chair, “I’m not surprised by your attitude, but I guess at this point I was expecting more from you.”

  “What do you mean?” Xavier asks, suspicious of how familiar Liam is speaking to him.

  “Well, Xavier — it’s just that I’ve been doing some research into your family…” he pauses here to gauge his reaction and when he doesn’t get one he continues, “I’m not sure I like what I’m learning about you, especially when it seems my daughter has taken a special interest in you.” Rowan blushes deeply, but has no idea how her dad could possibly know… and then realizes that he was just saying it to see who would react. Liam looks at Rowan, not a bit surprised at her reaction.

  “Of course, you understand, I’ve got to protect my family, so when I got to the station today, I made some calls. It seems there were some… issues at your last school. Do you want to talk about it?” Both Cian and Brianna look at Xavier, perplexed.

  “You can’t bully me like this, Mister Alexander,” Xavier says, adding, “And I have no idea what issues you are talking about.”

  Liam is satisfied with Xavier’s reaction and is about to bring up some of the issues that he has become aware of, none that actually have to do with Xavier, when his radio chirps to life, “Dispatcher One to Chief Alexander.”

  “Go ahead,” Liam says.

  “Chief, we received a 911 call from your grandfather’s house, and we are not getting a response when we call back — are you anywhere near there?”

  Chloe gasps audibly and Liam, thinking of the kids sitting in the room, responds, “Close enough. Give me two minutes and I’ll call you direct.”

  He stands up quickly and looks back at Xavier and says, “We’ll finish this later, and Chloe, Rowan, and Kaiden, I want you to go straight home now. I’ll call you when I find out what’s going on.”

  Chloe stands up and says, “No, Dad. No. We are going with you and…” She looks at Cian, and then looks back at her dad. “We need to tell you about what happened on our way home last night.”

  “What happened, Chloe? Never mind, we’ll talk in the car. C’mon, let’s go. Now.”

  They run out the door without looking back and once they’re out of sight, Xavier holds up Chloe’s keys. “C’mon. We’ve gotta follow th
em,” he says as he starts out the door.

  “Xavier! You stole her keys?” Cian asks appalled.

  “Look, we’ve got to get out to her great grandfather’s house, too. Aunt Selene was going there today to talk to him — that was the appointment she had to go to,” he explains as he heads toward the exit.

  “What the hell, Xavier?” Brianna asks grabbing his arm. “Was all of that an act in there?”

  He slows down and looks at Brianna closely, “Are you serious, right now? You really think I was lying?” He laughs sardonically and shakes his head as he walks out to the parking lot. “What do you guys want from me? I’m trying, alright! Aunt Selene is in one ear telling me what she’s doing and then I’ve got you two in my other ear telling me what I should be doing. Fuck! I can’t stand this shit anymore!”

  Cian and Brianna look at Xavier, somewhat surprised by his outburst. He’s always been quick to anger and more so lately, but to be fair, they hadn’t considered what he must go through all the time between them and Selene.

  Xavier clicks the unlock button on the fob, looking around for the Subaru. Of course it’s parked in the back, he thinks as he starts jogging to the car, not even checking to see if they are following. He yells over his shoulder, “I have no idea where their great grandfather lives, so will you two pick up the pace so we can at least follow them?”

  Cian and Brianna look at each other and jog to catch up with their brother.

  Xavier slides in the Forester and pushes his seat back as far as it will go. Cian hops in the passenger seat and Brianna gets in the backseat, as usual.

  “Two questions,” Cian asks, “First, how are we going to explain why we took their car and second, what are we going to tell Aunt Selene if we see her there?”