by Terra Wolf
“Dave? Do you remember the girl you were with?”
He shook his head. Then he rubbed his forehead almost like he had a headache.
I tried another approach. “What about before? Do you remember where you were before you got to the bar?”
This time he nodded, some recognition showing on his face. “I was at the shop. We were really busy and this couple came up. Weird kids all dressed in black. Attractive couple, they were talking to me about something.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “Do you remember what they were talking about Dave? Or their names?”
Both Dave and Joy responded at the same time. “Natalia.”
Dave looked wide-eyed over to Joy as he asked, “You know her?”
Joy locked eyes with me in the rearview mirror and replied, “I used to.”
Shit, it was the same girl from town that day. It was the girl from Joy's past she wanted to forget, I knew it was her.
“Okay, so the woman is Natalia, what about the guy? Dave do you remember the guy’s name?”
Dave rubbed his face with his hands as if trying to get his brain to function properly again. “Yeah I do. Nick. He said his name is Nick.”
2
Joy's car screeched to a halt on the wet road. “His name is what?”
“Nick,” Dave nodded. He was sure about the fact.
Joy turned to look at me. The shock was written all over her face. She was thinking exactly what I was, something wasn’t right. First, this girl that Joy hasn't seen in years, shows up in town and tries to steal her new boyfriend, and then her comrade is a guy who looks remarkably like my ex? Not to mention he disappeared nine months ago and hasn't been heard from since. Things were beginning to add up in my head but nothing quite made sense. I had to wonder if the only person with any answers was Ultan. “Joy we need to go back to the bar.”
She nodded and pulled the car around in an empty parking lot. We were back at the hole in the wall within minutes. The rain had stopped and Joy was starting to feel more confident in her driving again.
Ultan sat outside with his head in his hands, looking uncharacteristically anxious. When he saw us arrive he strode over to our car and waited for us to get out. He ran his hand through his hair, his eyes constantly searching around him, almost as if he was concerned that he was being followed. Joy stepped out first and pulled her seat forward so I could get out. Dave continued to sit in the car, lost in his own mind. I don't even think he remembered being here earlier tonight.
Ultan took my hand in his and pulled me slightly away from the car. “Are ya all right? I'm sorry about what I said, I just think ya need to know the truth.”
I yanked my hands from his. “Okay Ultan, then what is the truth?”
He put his hands in his pockets unsure of what to do with them. “This is going to sound mad.”
“I think I can deal with a little crazy, it's the questions I'm having trouble with.”
Joy walked back to the car to check on Dave. In his current condition I agreed that he needed to be watched.
Ultan shifted uncomfortably, whatever he was about to tell me he wasn't happy about.
“Lass, yer Gran should have told ya this long ago. There's a special kind of people where we come from. People who can do things, who have special abilities, or powers. Not like we’re superheroes or anything, but it can help us in unusual situations. Some of us are born with it and some of us are transformed. Natalia and Nick were not born with our gifts. And so they were changed. They become attracted to the darker things in life. They like to hurt people Paige, people like ya.”
I stood there dumbfounded by this change in events. Is this why I had that strange connection with the book? Should I have listened to my grandmother, or Beatrice? Was I in danger? The conversation I had with Gran at the restaurant sounded off in my head.
“The girl that we found, the one who died. Did they think she was me?” I would never forgive myself if someone had died in my place. Someone so young, that I didn't even know. I looked around me to see if Natalia or Nick were close by, but from the looks of the drunken crowds near us, they had left the scene when they ditched Dave.
Ultan looked down sadly. “Yes lass, they thought she was.”
My head swam. A girl had died because of me. And I was next. Jesus. I looked at Joy for support but she was still staring at Dave.
I looked pointedly at Ultan. “What about the book?”
He lifted his head to meet my eyes. “I knew ya found it.”
“Yeah, so what about it?”
“Did it respond to ya?” He raised an eyebrow.
I squinted at Ultan. “I’m the one asking questions here. Now what about the book?”
“I can’t tell ya that, but ya can ask yer Gran.”
“Then we’re going home, come on Joy.”
I walked back to the car and no one tried to stop me, but I heard Ultan call out to me, “Mind yourself lass.”
Joy and I didn’t even talk on the way home, she could tell I was upset.
I slammed Joy's car door without saying a word and stomped up to the front of the house. The night backfired, as I had known it would, just not in this way. My head was a jumbled up mess and I took the stairs two at a time to avoid any looks from Gran. I didn't want to talk about my night and I knew she would ask for the full play-by-play of the evening. Instead I wanted real answers and now. I had learned not to run from my problems but face them head on. I went to the desolate bedroom and ran up the attic to find the book. But when I looked in the small trunk, it wasn’t there.
I ran back downstairs to see Gran and Beatrice sitting in the den. “Looking for something dear?” There was the old leather book, lying in front of her on the coffee table. Beatrice rocked in an old chair in the corner. After tonight there wasn’t much I was sure of, except two things. The first thing I knew was that the book was magic, and it was real. The second was that a girl died because of me. She died for me.
“Someone going to explain to me what the hell has been going on here?”
Beatrice smiled and I saw someone walk into the room from the corner of my eye. Ultan stood to the right of me, looking concerned. “Nice to see you son,” Beatrice said. “It’s been a while since you have visited my store. Care to hear your fortune? Or do you already know whom you protect?”
“I know where my allegiances lie.”
“Good. Then I am of no further use here.” She slowly collected herself and made her way to the door. “Remember though, she is ice and you are fire. Be careful young ones.”
I heard the door shut softly behind her before I began shouting again.
“Seriously what the hell is going on?”
Gran stood slowly from her seat, she had been looking frailer the past few days and was starting to worry me. I walked over to help her up, even though I was angry. “You need to sit down. We need to explain something to you,” she said slowly.
“Paige I need you to listen, Ultan is going to try to tell you something. You need to have an open mind and just listen. I'll answer your questions when he's done.”
I resigned myself to the fact that I may finally learn the whole true. “I’ll listen.”
Ultan took a deep breath before attempting to explain what was probably the most difficult piece of information he ever had to tell anyone.
“Okay, let's look at this from a different angle. Natalia and Nick are a couple and even though he may not look like the Nick ya remember, a piece of him is still in there. Natalia is part of a cult and she handles new members, mostly male members.”
Every time I had seen Natalia and Nick together they were obsessed with one another. It was sickening.
“So they’re part of a cult?”
“Very similar to one, yes,” Gran responded. “But darker than most. They'll do anything to increase their numbers, even taking people against their will.”
Then it dawned on me, Nick hadn't left me on purpose, he really had been taken. “Are you t
elling me that Nick has been brainwashed?”
Quickly I became overwhelmed by the news. He really was alive, they had just changed his appearance. Tears flooded my eyes. “But why haven't you gone to the police with this information? If that is the real Nick people have a right to know. What about his parents? They have no closure, they think he just left on his own. But I knew that he didn't, I knew that something happened.”
I began to twist my curly dark hair between my fingers, something I always had done when I was anxious. Gran and Ultan exchanged an uneasy glance before she continued. “Paige, we can't tell the authorities, they would never believe the type of group he is in. They think it disappeared over a hundred years ago and the Invidia have made it very difficult to track them.”
“The Invidia? That's what they're called?”
Ultan jumped back into the conversation, “Yes, it's the Latin translation for Envy. They’re really dangerous people Paige. They would do anything to get what they want.”
“What is it that they want?”
Gran took a deep breath. “Power. Special power, the type of power that only those with abilities are born with. People like me, Paige, people like you.”
“I have abilities? Like what?” I thought back to the car, the book, the blue light that had come from within me. My anxiety was getting worse, but I understood what they were saying.
Ultan smiled slightly. “You're pretty lucky aren't ya? Luckier than ya should be?”
“My mom must've rubbed a rabbit’s foot or something while I was in the womb, but I don’t think I have abilities. What does my luck have to do with anything?”
Gran leaned closer to me and whispered, “It has to do with everything. You are my granddaughter, an Electi. You want to explain to us what happened in the car tonight?”
“How do you know about that?”
“The same way I knew when you broke that vase as a child. I can sense things Paige, it’s one of our gifts.”
Sense things, like Beatrice and emotions. “Joy and I were almost in an accident, but…” I didn’t know how to continue. I looked at both of them and Gran smiled expectantly. “But I put my hands out and wished we wouldn’t. Something came out of my hands. And we were okay.”
Gran continued to smile but Ultan looked sick with worry. She opened her hands and came over to hug me. “I knew I was right! You have powers and I will teach you how to use them. Blessed be. I am so happy for you dear one! Clearly you’re strong enough to fend off situations, but you must also shield yourself against our enemies. I won't stand by and watch you get hurt when you can protect yourself.”
I looked down at my measly arms. “Protect myself with what?”
Ultan bit his lower lip for a moment. I had to admit it was sexy, for a moment my mind flitted back to the bathroom at the bar. His hands on my body. His lips crushing onto mine. “Yer gifts have protected ya, but now you must embrace them in order to protect yourself. Yer Gran wants to teach ya the ways of yer people.”
“And who are my people?”
Gran looked at me and said in a very serious voice, “Witches. We’re a special coven made up of mostly Irish witches. People from our homeland, not unlike Ultan.”
“Yeah, except there's one big difference with me,” he said walking away.
“You're not like us?” I couldn't believe I had just said us, but this explained so much.
“No, I'm the opposite lass. The bad guy.”
Gran moved slowly and crossed the den toward him. “You are not the bad guy. You had no idea what you were doing. You were such a young lad when they made you choose.”
I stayed sitting, dividing myself from them. “Made the decision to what?”
Ultan sighed and ran his hand through his hair, his bangs still falling back down in front. “To become an Invidia.”
3
“You're one of them? But how? You don't act like Natalia and Nick.”
“Invidia are made, it's not a hereditary disposition like yer powers are. I was only fifteen when they found me living on the streets. I thought it would just be like some gang, like all the others I had been in. It was the only way to really live back then. But then things started happening, more kids started showing up. There wasn't enough for everyone. I thought they would start cutting out the weak ones, that's what all the other ones had done. But things kept changing, weak ones would become stronger. Then I realized why. The darker the deeds that they did the stronger their powers became.”
“One night, about a year after living with them, I watched a twelve year-old boy kill a man. Two days later I learned that the man had been his father. They make people do terrible things and they feed off of each other, using each other's power to produce their own. It's a vicious cycle and I didn't want any part of it. So a week later I packed my things and I ran away, but they had already imprinted their powers upon me. Plus they had wanted me for a special reason.”
“What’s that?”
“My powers don’t come like yours. I’m a shifter lass. Not a witch. I’m strong, and uncommonly fast. A good fighter too, when I can keep him in check.”
“Who?”
“My bear.”
“You’re a bear?!?” What the hell?
He ran his hands through his hair and looked at the floor. “Yeah. Father was too apparently. I didn’t know, until I became a Protector. Turns out I wasn’t on the street because they didn’t want me, it’s because my parents were dead. So now they think I play for both sides. I do little jobs for the covens in the area as well as jobs for the Invidia. Mostly bringing in their younger comrades who screw up. It's a decent living and it makes me feel better about all the horrible things that they are doing. When I bring them in, it’s a very “off with their heads” type situation. We have to diminish their numbers Paige, it’s how we’ll be safe. At least that's what I tell myself.”
I couldn't get over his honesty, he looked so defeated. Humble and damaged in a way. We were both damaged. We were the same.
“Is that when you met Gran?”
He smiled at Gran sweetly. “Aine was kind to me. I lived with her for a while, she… she took care of me when I had nowhere else to go.” He blushed slightly. I loved seeing this sweeter side of him.
Gran patted him lovingly on the back. It was clear she trusted him completely.
Everything was clicking into place. “So, let’s say I believe this. What kind of powers do I have?”
My grandmother continued to rub Ultan's back to calm him down from reliving his horrific childhood experience. But suddenly she was next to me. In the blink of an eye my grandmother had moved across the room, completely invisible.
“Whoa! How did you just do that?”
She smiled. “I'll do you one better than explaining it, I'll show you how to do it.”
“You mean... You mean I could do that? Go across the room with no one knowing?” Now this was a skill that could come in handy.
She laughed. “You could go anywhere without anyone knowing.”
“Is that what's in the book?” I pointed to the thick volume on the table.
Gran turned to Ultan. “You told her about the book?”
Ultan stood tall. “She deserved to know. Ya said it yourself, she'd be stronger than ya. Wouldn't ya want her to learn?”
“Of course I want her to learn! But it's my job to teach her, you know that magic is not self-taught. It could lead to disaster.”
“Excuse me, not to interrupt, but you’re talking about me and I’m right here! Are you trying to tell me that the book you were referring to is a spell book?”
Gran nodded. “Have you touched it yet?”
I looked down at my shoes for a moment. “Just once. I knew then that something was going on. It… it burned me?” I questioned what had happened in the attic.
Gran smiled. “You are bound, to the book, and to your necklace. Did it glow?”
Ultan looked at me with hope in his eyes. “Yes,” I said. “I didn’t know what w
as happening though. How am I bound?”
“Blood magic,” Ultan answered. “The magic is in ya. The book knows that, as does yer necklace.”
I took a deep breath. “So I’m a witch?”
“Yes, you are dear,” Gran answered.
4
Natalia
Natalia moved from one edge of the room to the other like a cat stalking her prey. Pacing was one of those things that she always did when she was annoyed and it helped her calm down. Her mother had done it before she passed away and it was one of those traits that Natalia had just picked up. She wrung her hands as she muttered to herself an incantation she hoped would reach the ears of Ultan.
“You're sure you saw him then?” One of the younger girls, Ashley, was sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring at Natalia between her purple bangs. Natalia could hear her moving her lip ring around her mouth, she always sucked on it when she was nervous.
“Of course I'm sure I saw Ultan. But what I want to know is how he knew we were going to be here Ashley. Do you know anything about that?” Her words dripped with evil emotions. Natalia couldn't figure out how Ultan knew that she was here and also that she was after Paige. She stopped her pacing and looked directly at Ashley. “How does he know that she's the one? Her grandmother killed my parents! How does he know that?”
Ashley shrugged, but broke eye contact when she said, “I mean he was one of us for a while. Maybe he found out everything then?”
Natalia shook her head. She knew that when Ultan was here with her he wasn’t completely under her control. The elders had been stupid, allowing him to see that young boy kill his father. From the beginning Ultan had been harder to control than most, it was his shifter nature. He was constantly trying to protect himself. She couldn't keep her hold on him once he had seen that gruesome mistake. He fled the country and came to America. He was one of the last Irish descendants they had, one of the only people that Aine trusted. Other members of the group, including herself, had come from Italy. However, most of their members here were people they had encountered in their American travels. None of them had powers of the old world, but most of them had small things they could do, like Ashley for example. She could read people's emotions, it always made her uncomfortable and awkward to be around. Natalia liked the fear that she had instilled in the young girl. Only the elders held the true old world power at this point. And none of them had any interest in Paige, which Natalia knew was stupid. Every hundred years or so an Electi was born with power stronger than anyone else in her coven. Natalia knew that Paige was going to be that witch and she had to do everything to stop her. But with Ultan on her side it would be difficult for Natalia to get close. He would try to guard Paige and would want her to know the truth, allowing her to be protected by the coven, which would be practically impossible for Natalia to infiltrate.
