Tears slid down Hannah’s cheeks. “What now? Am I supposed to love you and call you dad? After you sent those things after me and the only parents I’ve ever known?” She was almost screaming at him.
He frowned. “I did not call forth the wraiths. That’s the other reason that I needed to speak with you all. Sabine told me that she was hired by someone and I believe he is the one who called forth the wraiths. We need to question her about him. I’ve not been able to get through to her since you’ve captured her.”
Everyone was quiet for a bit after that. William finally spoke up. “Is this for real or is this some elaborate scheme to get Sabine out?” He studied his brother’s face, looking for the lie.
“I’m a lot of things, William, but I’m not a liar. I think we both know that.”
“It’s not going to be that easy, Patrick. I cannot and will not ignore what I know just because you ask me to.” William’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides. Jilly touched his shoulder, feeling the rage simmering just below the surface.
“Patrick, you’re going to have to give us more to go on than this,” Jilly said. “You can’t undo years of distrust in a moment.”
Patrick scrubbed his palms over his face with a sigh. “We don’t have to like each other. I’m just asking for you to believe that in this instance, I have just as much to lose as you all do.”
William studied him and nodded. “Okay, I believe you. So what’s the next step? Talking with Sabine?”
“That would be my first thought, yes,” Patrick replied. Hannah stood and ran upstairs, the revelations taking their toll.
Jilly got up to follow, but William stopped her. “Let her be for bit, Jilly. She needs some time to process this on her own.” Jilly nodded and sat back down.
Nikolai spoke up. “Are we honestly supposed to just let you walk into a secure prison? I need some sort of assurance that you won’t try anything.”
Patrick sighed. “Look, I understand that you don’t trust me. I really do, but this is my daughter we’re talking about. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize her safety. We need to know who hired Sabine. We might have better luck if I speak with her. You obviously haven’t gotten through to her.” The last bit was spoken with derision.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Nikolai spat out.
“I think you know what it means. You all haven’t exactly solved a ton of problems yet, have you?” Nikolai sprang from his chair, launching himself at Patrick.
“Enough!” Caroline screamed. “Why on earth does everything have to be a fight? We are all on the same side with this. You boys need to grow up and learn to work as a team. Hannah’s safety is the most important thing here, so get a grip and let’s make a plan.”
Everyone was suitably chastised and they set about preparing for what would come next. It was decided that William, Patrick and Nikolai would speak with Sabine and they would go from there.
After Caroline left, Jilly sat in the kitchen by the fire. She was sad to not have her sister there and angry that she had even left in the first place. She looked up when Hannah came in.
“Hey, I was going to come look for you in a few minutes. I wanted to give you some time. Are you okay?”
Hannah shrugged and put on a weak smile. “I guess. It’s just weird, you know. I knew I was adopted. I just never imagined I’d actually meet my birth dad. He’s not exactly what I pictured.”
Jilly snorted. “I know the feeling. He’s not what I pictured for a brother-in-law either. What I will say is this, he seems to care for you enough to come and ask for help. That has to count for something, right? The question is, do you want to know him? He’s your dad. You’ve got to be at least a little curious about him.”
“I am. I’m just more nervous than curious right now. Plus, Will obviously doesn’t like him, and I trust his opinion more than my own.”
“Hannah, Will loves him. Patrick is his brother, so of course he loves him; they just have a complicated relationship. I think knowing that Patrick isn’t responsible for all of this crap going on is going to help in that respect, too. We won’t be angry if you want to know him, honey. He’s your dad and you have every right to have a relationship with him.”
Hannah was quiet for a while, just looking into the fire. Finally she spoke, her voice almost a whisper. “Maybe you should be easier on your sister. I’m hoping for her sake and mine that Patrick isn’t a bad guy. Even if he is though, she loves him and you should support her the way that you will support me if I choose to get to know him.” She got up and left Jilly once again alone by the fire. She knew Hannah was right, of course, but she did not have to like it.
Caroline was not exactly happy with how the meeting had gone. “So that went well,” she said sarcastically as they drove back to the cabin.
Patrick sighed and leaned his head against the seat. “I don’t know, I think it went about as well as could be expected. I don’t think my brother really believes me, but at least he’ll let me speak to Sabine. She’s going to be the key to finding this person.”
Caroline looked at him sideways. “Do you have an angle here?”
“What do you mean by that?” he asked, his voice cautious.
“You know what I mean, Patrick. I love you, but I’m not stupid. I believe that Hannah is your kid, but is this Sabine thing just a way to break her out?”
He huffed out a breath. “I really can’t believe you just asked me that. I have never lied to you, Caroline, not once. I’m serious when I say that Sabine is the key to finding this guy. I’m kind of angry you would even ask me.”
“Look, I had to know for sure. I’m in this now, Patrick; I left my family for you. I know that there is a good person in you somewhere, but I also know that there’s someone who isn’t afraid to hurt people. I just want you to always be honest with me, no matter what the circumstance.”
He nodded. “I can understand that. You can trust that I’ll never lie to you. There are things about me that you may not like, but I am who I am. I’ve been this way for a few hundred years. I can promise that I will always love you and treat you accordingly. Are we okay, now?” He looked over at her hopefully.
She smiled. “Yeah, we’re fine.”
“Good. We need to pick up Drew on our way home.”
Caroline groaned, “Why?”
“I know you don’t like him...”
Caroline cut him off. “It’s not just that, Patrick. There’s something about him I don’t trust. How do we really know we can trust him, anyway? He gives me the creeps, always skulking about. How well do you know him?”
“I know him well enough; and as long as I trust him, that should be good enough.” It was times like these that made Caroline hate being in a relationship with a man who was hundreds of years old. He always had the final say.
The next day, Jilly found Alex in the kitchen reviewing the spell they were going to use later in the day. Everything had sort of gotten derailed the day before, thanks to Patrick’s revelations.
“Do you think you’ll be able to pull this spell off?” he asked her when she walked over to him.
She shrugged. “I guess I’ll have to, right? Besides, when Will and I do spells together, they usually work.” She smirked a bit, knowing how conceited that sounded. “Plus, we’ll have Emily if we need her. When can we do it?”
“After sunset is best. That’s usually when they’re the easiest to see.” He paused for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. “Are we sure that Patrick is telling the truth?”
Jilly looked at him for a second before replying. “William believes him. That’s enough for me. He would know if Patrick was lying.”
“Sorry, I had to ask. I don’t want to go through all of this crap for nothing.” He shot her a sheepish look. “I’ve got some things to do in preparation for tonight; I’ll find you before we need to begin.”
Jilly nodded as Alex swept past her and up the stairs. She grabbed her mom’s journal and sat by the fireplace.
<
br /> February 10, 2001
I was doing some research on the witches in the family line and I came across some information that doesn’t seem like it should be possible. There are one or two witches who keep popping up throughout history, and one of those witches is my mother. I want to confront her about it, but I don’t have all the facts, yet. What if I’m just imagining all of this? What if it’s just women with similar appearance?
Jilly has been disappearing in her sleep. On several occasions, when I go in to check on her, she’s not in her bed. I look everywhere in the house for her, but she’s nowhere to be found. On one such occasion, I waited in her room to catch her sneaking back in, and she appeared in her bed out of nowhere. The weird thing is she’s still asleep. I don’t know what to make of it.
March 13, 2001
I confronted my mom but did not get the answers I wanted. She stonewalled me, and she asked me how I could possibly think something so preposterous. I know I’m right though, I just need to prove it now.
Jilly stopped reading, unsure of what to think about what she’d read. Was her grandmother amaranthine? If that was true, then how did she die in the accident with her mom? She couldn’t sit still. She felt as though electricity were coursing through her veins. She jumped up from her seat and paced around the kitchen. That was how William found her when he came in a few minutes later.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
She gestured to the open journal lying on the chair and he picked it up to read the open page.
“Is it possible?” she asked quietly.
He cocked his head to the side, thinking. Finally, he shrugged, “Anything’s possible, Jill. You should know that by now.”
“I went to her funeral, though. If she’s amaranthine, where is she? How on earth could she put us through that?” Jilly sat down with a huff.
“If she is amaranthine, and I’m not saying that she is, she may be in hiding. How else would she have explained the fact that she did not die in the accident with your mom? What’s your grandmother’s name?”
“Violet, but she’s also been called Viola,” Jilly replied.
William’s mouth dropped in surprise. “Her name is Viola Proctor?” he asked incredulously. Jilly nodded.
“You know who that is, right?” he asked her. Jilly shrugged and shook her head.
“Viola Proctor is Liza and Mary’s mother. I can’t believe I didn’t make that connection before.”
Jilly’s face went white. “I guess we have our answer then, don’t we?” she said quietly.
“Yeah, I guess we do. What do you want to do about it?”
“Nothing right now. We have way too much on our plate as it is. I don’t really know what to think about it, either. On the one hand, I’m happy she may be alive; but on the other, I’m pissed as hell that she put us through all this crap. I was so lost after my mom died. I needed someone but there was no one here to help me. Caroline was off pretending that her life was great in New York and my dad and I had to pick up the shattered pieces of the life we once had. It was a terrible two years for me. If it weren’t for Emily and her mom, I wouldn’t have made it through.” She shook her head, trying to chase away the demons that had come to light with the memories she had shared.
William pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, love. When this is all over, we can look for her if you want. I’m sure you’ll have questions for her.” Jilly nodded against his chest, breathing in the familiar scent of his cologne.
At 4:30, everyone gathered outside, behind the house, gearing up for what was to come. Hannah paced back and forth on the porch, looking down on everyone. Jilly glanced up and saw the worry in her eyes.
“Hey, I’ll be right back,” she said to William before climbing the stairs to smile at Hannah.
“You know, if you keep that up, you’ll walk right through the deck.” Hannah laughed and stopped her pacing. “I’m just nervous. What if this doesn’t work?”
Jilly had been asking herself the same question all day, but she put on a strong smile. “It will. Alex is confident it will.” Hannah nodded and sat down on the bench against the wall. “I’m going to go back down. Will you be ok up here?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. You go ahead and do what you need to do.”
“Kat will be up here with you when everything happens, so you won’t be alone.” Hannah let out a sigh of relief. She was terrified of the shadow wraiths and the thought of calling one was not a pleasant one for her. Jilly kissed the top of her head and bounded back down the stairs to join the others.
“Hey, Kat?” she called when she walked over to everyone.
“What’s up, Jilly?” Katya replied.
“I think you should go up as soon as you can. She’s putting up a strong front, but I can tell she’s scared.”
Katya glanced up at the young girl on the bench and saw worry etched into her face. “Let me finish what I was doing and I’ll go right up.”
Jilly smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” Alex was standing in the center of a big circle they had made out of large rocks. It was thirty feet across--large enough for Jilly, William and Emily, plus the wraiths. They still needed to make the smaller circle in the center, where they would stand when they called forth the wraiths. The idea was to trap the wraiths in the larger circle, while the others stayed safe in the smaller one in the center. Once the wraiths entered the circle, they would not be able to leave it until they were persuaded to abandon their mission.
Caroline had a nervous feeling in her bones. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on what.
“Will you please stop that? It’s driving me nuts,” Patrick said from the kitchen table. She stopped her pacing and sat down next to him.
“Sorry, I guess I have too much energy to sit still.”
“Do you want to tell me what’s really bothering you?” he asked with a sigh.
She smiled. “I don’t know, or I would tell you. I just have a bad feeling something’s wrong.”
“Call your sister. I’m sure this has something to do with them.” His tone was somewhat disdainful.
She sighed. “Look, I know how you feel about them; but Jilly is my sister. If something’s wrong, I’m going to help them whether you want me to or not. Besides, this could be about Hannah.”
He scoffed and said something under his breath that she could not quite hear. “What? Do you have something to say, Patrick?” Her voice laced with venom.
“If I truly believed that Hannah was in danger, I would go. I cannot understand why you would go against my wishes.”
“This isn’t the dark ages. I have free will to do whatever it is that I want.”
“I understand that, Caroline, but why would you want to do something that displeases me?”
“Displeases you? What? Are you my father all of a sudden? Have you forgotten that William is your brother? Why would you not want to help him if he was in trouble?”
“Have you forgotten that he imprisoned me in a tomb for hundreds of years?”
Caroline sighed in frustration. “I thought your little fight in the woods cleared up that mess.”
“There are some things that cannot be forgiven, Caroline. I will not run to his rescue. He’s a grown man and he can take care of himself.”
Caroline grabbed her purse and keys off the table and walked towards the door.
“Where are you going?”
She looked back at him. “I’m running to the rescue,” she said and walked out the door. Once she was in the car, she called her sister.
Jilly answered on the third ring. “Caroline?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Is everything okay? I’ve had a bad feeling all day.”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. We’re getting ready to do a summoning spell at sundown.”
“I’m coming over.”
Jilly was silent for a minute. Finally she sighed. “Is that a good idea, Caroline? I mean, we’ve got a lot going on. I don’t want a
ny tension.”
“Why on earth does everyone think they can tell me what to do, today?” she said a bit too loudly. “I’m coming, and that’s final. You’re my sister and I love you, regardless of what’s going on in our love lives. I’ll be there in fifteen.” She hung up before Jilly could respond, letting her anger push the pedal to the floor.
Jilly looked at her phone for a minute after Caroline hung up.
William came over when he saw the puzzled look on her face. “What’s up?” he asked.
“Caroline is on her way. She said she had a bad feeling and she’s coming whether I want her to or not. She was all worked up by the time she called me, sounds like your brother wasn’t keen on her coming here.”
William shrugged. “Patrick and I have very different ideas about relationships. He usually seeks to dominate the other person, whereas I like to let you be you.” He kissed her forehead. “When is she coming?”
Jilly sighed in resignation. “She’ll be here shortly. We should probably get back to the circles before it gets any later.” He nodded, and they walked toward the giant circle.
They passed Katya on their way. “Alex said everything is ready. You guys need to be within the center circle before the sun sets or the spell won’t work.”
“We’re on our way, now,” Jilly said.
“Jill, I’ll catch up with you in a minute,” William said. Jilly nodded and continued down to the circles. “Keep her safe, Kat. No matter what happens, make sure she’s safe.”
“You have my word, Will. I’ll do whatever I have to.”
He searched her face for a moment, then his expression lightened. “Wish me luck.”
She kissed his cheek and embraced him quickly. “You’ll be fine. You and Jilly are a force to be reckoned with.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze as she walked past him up to the house.
Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) Page 17
