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

by Patricia Proctor

  “Dad! I can’t believe you’re going to let them go!” Chloe says angrily. Liam responds, “Chloe, I don’t have a choice. I can’t keep them here and if they don’t go home now, she’ll just come up here looking for them, and that can’t happen.”

  Rowan just sits at the end of the table watching everyone move around her. She can feel something big burning up inside her. It started as a wave of heat in the pit of her stomach when she heard Selene was home, and now it is a moving thing, sliding along her skin. It was consuming every part of her, like a fire moving through a dry forest.

  “Ro? Are you okay?” Chloe asks her sister who has an intense look in her eyes. When Rowan doesn’t respond, Chloe snaps her fingers at her sister, whose green eyes flare back to attention.

  “Just worried,” Rowan says looking toward her sister, smoldering in anticipation for what she senses is coming.

  Cian hugs Chloe goodbye in front of Liam and then dashes back in after Liam and Xavier walk out the door. He grabs her and kisses her with every ounce of love he can pour into her. When his lips touch hers, he has the vision of the two of them in the future and although he has never done it before he speaks a spell and knows it works when she pulls away gasping.

  “I saw!” she says smiling, amazed at what he has just given her. The image of them when they are old was as clear as a digital image. She can see the wrinkles at the corners of their eyes from all the joy they have shared over the years. No longer worried about what will happen with Selene, she returns his magic with her own. She removes her amulet from her neck, casts a spell of protection and gently ties it around Cian’s neck. He smiles at her as the horn blows outside. “I love you, Chloe. I’ll see you soon,” he says as he dashes out the door. Chloe smiles sweetly and watches as he climbs in the jeep. She puts her fingers up to the glass and waves to Cian as Liam pulls out.

  Brianna sits in the chair with tears streaming down her face. “I just couldn’t do it,” she says, over and over again.

  Chloe and Rowan sit next to Brianna and comfort her, trying to ease away her needless guilt and shame. “You’re doing the right thing,” Rowan says. “They can protect themselves. Besides, think about it; now, they won’t have to worry about protecting you, too.”

  Chloe adds, “Brianna, no one should live in fear, especially in their own home. You know you can’t change how she treats you, so you’re doing the only thing you can do, which is to change yourself by not being her victim.”

  “The saddest part is that Selene probably won’t even care that I’m not there,” Brianna says, feeling more alone than ever without her family.

  “Who cares what she thinks? And you’re not alone,” Rowan reassures her. “You have your brothers, and Kaiden, and we’re here with you, now. We’ll help you get through this, Brianna. Just remember, you are a witch, a powerful witch with amazing abilities. You don’t need Selene… you’ve never needed Selene. You said before that you’ve always been able to read people, so start focusing on enhancing your own abilities, and forget about her. Let go of the negative seeds she’s been planting in your mind for the past five years. You’re better than that witch.”

  Brianna smiles and wipes away the tears, “You know what? You guys are right. This isn’t me. I’m not this person; I’m not a victim.” With that, they go into the family room, light some candles, and try to learn as much as they can to protect the people they love.

  Liam pulls up alongside Marcus and Peter before continuing to the house. “Anything?” he asks.

  “Nothing. We can see her moving around inside; but so far, she hasn’t come out.”

  Liam tells them that if he is not out in ten minutes to come looking for him, and call for back up. He asks if they’re armed and they both nod in confirmation. “Me too,” Liam says, adding, “but I sure hope it won’t come to that right now.”

  Xavier and Cian remain quiet throughout the exchange and know that the guns will do nothing if Selene casts a spell on them. It will all come down to what kind of mood she is in when they walk through the door. Xavier asked Liam not to come in with them, explaining that it would only make her more irate, but Liam insisted.

  As they close the car doors, a curtain twitches in Selene’s bedroom. Xavier says to Cian, “Let me go first and I’ll do the talking.” Cian agrees and steps aside for his brother.

  Selene opens the door before they are even on the porch. “Well, isn’t this just a lovely surprise, y’all come on in and sit a spell,” she drawls in a southern accent. Even though neither he nor his family have an accent, Liam resents her mocking his town, his people.

  “Selene, I’m dropping these boys off, but Brianna is staying with us. If I hear of you putting your hands on either one of them, I will personally arrest you for assault. I don’t know what the hell you are up to; but I can tell you this, you will not win against me or my family.”

  The fake smile vanishes from Selene’s face and she glares as she says, “Is that a challenge, Chief Alexander?”

  Liam smirks, “It’s a fact, Miss Silvan.”

  Turning to Cian and Xavier, he says, “Are you sure you want to stay?”

  “Oh, please! Spare me the drama. I thought you left the drama queen at your house. I’m not going to hurt them. They’re my nephews, for God’s sake. Now thanks for dropping them off, Chief. Oh, and you can tell Peter and Marcus, they can leave my street, too. Or else I’ll have to call the police about a suspicious vehicle,” she says as she steps aside for the boys to walk through before slamming the door in Liam’s face.

  Liam gets back in the car uncertain if he is doing the right thing. Legally she hasn’t done anything yet, and really if she wanted Brianna home he would have to bring her home. He can’t legally keep the kids at his house, without her permission. She made it perfectly clear she doesn’t care about Brianna though, or else she would have said something about her coming home. He just has to trust that Xavier and Cian know what they’re doing. Cian he trusts, Xavier… he’s still not so sure of.

  Cian starts to make his way back to his room but the tone of Selene’s voice freezes him in place. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Selene growls when she finally sees Liam’s jeep pull away. Although Xavier told him to stay quiet he can’t help but call her out. “We knew you weren’t actually out of town,” he says smirking. He hopes that she thinks that whatever spell she cast didn’t work.

  Selene cocks her head at Cian and says, “Oh? And how would you have known that and when did you figure it out? Was it before or after you had Brianna go through my room searching for evidence I was gone? Don’t worry. You don’t have to answer. I’m done with you, Cian. You’re dismissed. Go to your room and I don’t want to see your face until I figure out what to do with you. Now!” she screeches when Cian doesn’t immediately walk away.

  She turns to Xavier, crosses her arms, and says, “I just can’t wait to hear what you have to say for yourself. Sleeping with the enemy, Xavier?”

  “It’s not like that Aunt Selene, just chill for a second okay. You are not going to believe what I discovered…” Xavier sees Cian turn around and look at him with a shocked expression. Cian cannot believe that Xavier would turn on the Alexanders so quickly. Xavier doesn’t acknowledge Cian’s reaction; instead, he leads Selene into the kitchen.

  Cian paces his room, trying to figure out what to do. Was all of this a ploy, he wonders? Did Xavier and Selene plan all of this from the very beginning? Cian thinks back to all the things that happened at the Alexanders and realizes that Xavier did a lot more listening than talking. Cian sends a text message to Chloe. It was a set up. I’m sneaking out and need someone to come get me now. While he waits for a response he repacks his bag with clean clothes and stashes the book his mom gave to him before she died.

  After a couple of minutes, his phone vibrates signaling a new message. It’s Liam. I’ll be there in 5. Cian responds, Meet me at the school, too risky to come to house. Although Liam doesn’t respond, Cian is sure he got the
message. He quietly lifts the window, tosses his pack in the yard, and drops out behind it. The rain is falling so hard now that Cian is sure Selene wouldn’t have heard anything. He stands up quickly and closes the window behind him. No going back now, he thinks as he edges along the side of the house, breaking into a run when he reaches the driveway.

  Liam is waiting in the same spot as before and Cian hesitates before climbing into the jeep. “I’m drenched,” he says.

  “That’s the least of my concerns,” Liam says, reaching in the backseat for something Cian can use to dry off with. Even though it’s late spring, the cold rain has Cian shivering. Liam blows the heat on high and waits for Cian to get warm before asking what happened. As they drive back to the house on the hill, Cian explains that he thinks Xavier has been playing everyone from the beginning. Cian tells Liam everything he knows and by the time they pull in the driveway, Liam and Cian are nearly panicking at what this will mean for all of them.

  When night falls and Selene is tucked away, Xavier makes his way to Cian’s room. He needs Cian to know that he would never do anything to put the Alexanders in jeopardy. He knocks softly once and pushes the door open expecting to find Cian brooding on the bed. Instead he finds the room empty. “Damn!” Xavier thinks, realizing that Cian must have believed that Xavier was working with Selene.

  Xavier reaches into his pocket for his phone, only to discover it’s not there. He rolls his eyes and shakes his head… Aunt Selene… I guess she didn’t totally believe my story, he thinks to himself. He tries to remember if there are any old messages, but as long as no one texts him tonight, it should be fine. He deleted everything before he even left the Alexanders.

  The Alexanders, he thinks. I can only imagine what they must be thinking right now. He closes the door quietly on Cian’s room and heads back to his own. If only there was a way for him to get a message to someone. He runs through his options, and arrives at the only person who he thinks will believe him… Rowan. She’ll know that what happened between them was real, but how can he reach her?

  He lights several candles, calls to the elements, closes his eyes and focuses on her. On a piece of paper he writes, I didn’t tell Selene anything. I told her lies. I would never hurt you or your family. You must believe me. He folds the note, holds it out in front of him and quietly says, “Though this message is unspoken, hear these words, this message is meant for just you and me,” and he focuses on Rowan with all of his energy.

  Since he has no way of knowing whether or not she heard it, he ends the spell, burns the message, blows out the candles, and crawls into bed. He is certain sleep will elude him. He lies awake thinking about Rowan and even though her abilities haven’t manifested, he is hoping that the connection they shared under the stars will be enough to reach her tonight.

  Rowan twitches in her sleep. In her dream she sees Xavier in a room surrounded by lit candles. She watches him write something on a piece of paper, fold it, and hold it out while speaking. She wishes she could have read what he wrote. She hopes that Cian and Brianna aren’t right about everything they said about him. She hopes that he told Selene lies and that he won’t do anything to hurt her or her family. She loses the image of him as she rolls over in her sleep and just as quickly as the dream arrived, it disappeared. Forgotten the instant it was over.

  Chapter 32

  “So Cian isn’t in his room, huh?” Selene asks as she sips her coffee on Monday morning. “And you are sure that they will both be in school today?” she asks again.

  “It’s finals,” Xavier lies, shoving a piece of toast in his mouth. He watches Selene look at him skeptically. When he finishes chewing, he adds, “They have to take the tests or they won’t pass the class. Liam Alexander can’t do anything about that…”

  Selene nods, finally agreeing with something Xavier says. Although she doesn’t completely believe everything he said this weekend, he is still here. That has to count for something, right? She really wants him to be telling the truth because she needs him for what she has planned. She smiles at Xavier and says, “Okay, at lunch you tell them that I want to meet them after school — just to talk. Let them know I don’t mind if they go back to the Alexanders’, but I, at least, need a moment to find out why they would choose the Alexanders over me, their own flesh and blood,” Selene fake pouts for Xavier.

  “Perfect!” he replies enthusiastically, cringing inside over even this much camaraderie with his aunt. He takes his time getting ready and when he holds out his hand for his phone, she digs it out of her purse and hands it to him. She watches him go through the school doors and decides to wait around for a minute to watch for the Alexanders. She parks across the street — watching and waiting.

  After the final morning bell rings and she hasn’t seen any sign of them she decides to drive past the police station to see if Liam is there. Since she and Xavier were late this morning, maybe Liam dropped the kids off early — in order to avoid seeing her. She smiles at the thought of ruffling Chief Alexander enough that he would make an effort to avoid seeing her.

  When she gets to the station, she sees Liam’s jeep parked in his usual spot. Although she considers going in to talk with him, she changes her mind, thinking about all she has to do to prepare for Cian’s and Brianna’s homecoming.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  Xavier can’t believe how easy it was to manipulate his aunt. First, he cast a spell of protection using the rosemary from the Alexander’s garden. Then, he cast a spell to block his thoughts from her. Once that was in place, he used his own mind control to make her see what he wanted her to see. She seemed to believe everything he said and when he took a look in her mind, he saw it was true. Either her powers were getting weaker, or his were getting stronger. He wondered if it had anything to do with spending time with the Alexanders and being on the property.

  As soon as he got to class, he pulled out his phone and called Cian. When he didn’t answer, he tried Brianna’s phone next. Shocked that neither one took his call, he decided to go over to the police station. He hoped that Liam would be at work today. He figured with Peter and Marcus at the house, it was likely he would be at the station, even if only for a short time. He was about to walk out the door, when he saw Selene parked across the street. He turned around and made his way to the back door. He jogged through the schoolyard and made his way past the library and city hall before seeing Selene drive slowly past the police station. His spell must not have lasted as long as it should have or she wouldn’t be checking on me so soon, he thinks. He crouches down behind a planter and waits for her to leave.

  After she is gone, Xavier stands up and crosses the road quickly just in case she makes her way back. He opens the front door to the station and walks right into Liam.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Liam asks, looking shocked to see Xavier. “I just saw your aunt drive by. Did she drop you off?”

  Xavier shakes his head no and before Liam can say anything else, Xavier launches into his explanation. “I came because you need to know that I didn’t tell Selene anything. I made up lies… I told her you don’t even know the land was sacred… I told her that you gave up looking for information about her after the incident at Peter’s and that you are now focusing on finding whoever broke into his house. She doesn’t even know that you know that it was her… I told her that the only one who is practicing magic is Chloe and all she is doing is protection spells. I did tell her that my abilities were stronger on the hill; but only because I needed to say something so she would think she could trust me.

  Liam holds up his hand to Xavier and says, “I know, Xavier. I knew you would be coming in… your brother called me. He had a vision and saw this happening. He said that you would be telling the truth. Though to be honest, I can’t be sure since I don’t have any special abilities to decide for myself. I do know that I want you to be telling the truth, and for now, I’ll have to trust your brother and my gut instinct. But, let me make myself clear — I won’t hesitate to kill you
or Selene if either one of you try to harm my family.”

  Xavier nods, “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, sir. Now I need to talk to my brother and sister because Selene is planning to kill them, soon. And when we don’t show up after school, she is going to go after them.”

  They climb into the jeep and start up to the house. Xavier decides that the only way they can beat Selene is if they work together. The only way he knows to beat her old magic is with all six of them acting as one.

  “Has Rowan developed any of her abilities yet?” Xavier asks, already guessing he knows the answer.

  “No. Not to my knowledge,” Liam answers wishing he could see into this kid’s head.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  Selene is parked at the front of the line of cars at the end of the school day. She has watched every other car behind her pick up their kids and pull away. She fumes as the last kids walk out of the school. Where the hell are they? she thinks to herself. She thinks back to the morning and her conversation with Xavier. Although she thought he was lying, or maybe because of it, she dug around in his mind a little bit on the way to school, looking for the truth. She was a little surprised when she discovered that everything he told her was the truth. She was confident, maybe too confident, in her own abilities and obviously, not confident enough in his.

  Family or not, it’s time to end this. She was hoping that she could count on Xavier, at least for a while longer, but it seems as if he is no longer on her side. She thinks back to his sarcastic comment this morning about doing her bidding as needed. She wrote it off as stress since everything he had said was confirmed with her mind reading. She wonders if something is off with her abilities and then decides it must be from not spending enough time with her niece and nephews. She pauses for a moment at the thought, wondering if she is doing the right thing in destroying them. Then she remembers that once she has the Alexander land, she has no need for any of them.