“Ana, are you alright?” I heard Darren’s voice behind me. I felt Dr. Roberts’s head shift in his direction, and though no words were spoken, Darren must have gotten the message. “I’ll be in the waiting room if you need anything,” he followed.
After I’d calmed down a bit, Dr. Roberts suggested I say my goodbyes. He reminded me that this wasn’t a chance that everyone got. I should say any and everything I needed to. He gave her an injection of something, assuring me that it was only to give me some more time with her, and not the injection that would end her second life.
I waited until he left the room and then took my mother’s left hand. Every so often it would twitch, and I would feel myself start to lose it again, but I was able to stay strong. With my eyes shut, and a weird tingling sensation on my back, I poured out my heart—apologizing for everything I could ever remember doing wrong, telling her how much I loved her and would miss her. Finally, I said goodbye. The finality of it made me shiver. Dr. Robert’s cell phone began to chime on the counter and I decided that there was nothing left to say.
I grabbed the cell phone and started toward the door in no real rush. Whoever it was, Dr. Roberts could always call them back. But he must have heard it too because he met me at the door. I handed him the phone. Whoever called, it must have annoyed him because he looked irritated when he dialed the number back. He stepped into an examination room to get some privacy, but for as loud as he was talking, he might as well have stayed put.
“This is not the time—,” he started. “I don’t care how important she says it is…I’ve got a family member in here who’s just lost her mother… She knows...? I’m going.”
He came back into the hall, moving quickly past me before disappearing into my mother’s room. I heard Dr. Roberts swear and I rushed back inside to see what had happened.
His phone was on the floor. He turned and stared at me in stunned silence. “You…did this?” he asked, pointing to my mother.
His words scared me. It sounded like an accusation. “Did what?” I asked with a worried voice.
He practically ran to me, grabbing me by the shoulders and guiding me over the bed.
“This,” he said releasing his grip.
I gasped. The black streaks on her neck were gone, and her entire left arm was clear as well.
Chapter 17
Miracle
“I-I did this? But how?”
Dr. Roberts wasn’t listening. He was scrambling to locate the phone he’d dropped. Whoever he was talking to must have still been on the line because he didn’t have to dial back before speaking.
“How?” he asked. “Is she a healer? Like Genevieve?” He looked up at me. I was still frozen where I stood. “What else can you do?”
Hearing the concern in his voice, I decided to be completely honest. “Sometimes, I can hear people’s thoughts…It’s kinda random though.”
His eyes widened. “She’s a conjurer…”
“She’s a conjurer?” Darren repeated from the doorway. I had no idea how long he’d been standing there. “But that’s not possible. She’s an heir.”
Dr. Roberts pulled him into the room, and shut the door behind him. He continued speaking into the phone, this time doing a much better job of concealing his voice. When he addressed us again, it was to tell us to sit down and be quiet. He looked scared.
Dr. Roberts spoke to me first. “Ana, the woman on the phone was my mother-in-law. You may have met her—she attended your welcome party. She’s not technically a witch, but she’s always been able to see things—things other people can’t.”
“Is that who you were talking about when you said “she’s” a conjurer?’” Darren asked. “The woman on the phone?” His voice had a hopeful tone.
Dr. Roberts kept his eyes on me. “Do you trust this boy?”
I looked over at Darren. Realization struck him as I did so.
“You were talking about Ana, weren’t you?” Darren sighed.
I nodded.
He stood up and ran his hand across his forehead. I’d had enough of waiting for an explanation. “What do you mean when you say that I’m a conjurer?”
Dr. Roberts took the spot that Darren had just vacated. “It means that you’ve been gifted with unnatural magick, Ana.”
“Unnatural?”
“Let me explain. Magick is simply the ability to instruct nature to do what you want. If I wanted to start a fire out of thin air, then I would simply command nature to create enough friction to do so. But although you may command it, you are still bound by its laws. That is to say, magick is limited to what is naturally possible. Hence the term, “natural magick.” All witches and warlocks have this ability once they come of age. Unnatural magick on the other hand, isn’t nearly as common. Less than one tenth of one percent of witchfolk are born with the ability to tap into this brand of magick in any significant way, and even then they can usually only access it through one specific gift. Say mind reading, for example. Or in my mother-in-law’s case, foresight. Unnatural magick is essentially the ability to bend nature—“
“To violate it,” Darren interrupted. “It’s called black magick for a reason.”
Dr. Roberts sighed. “To put it plainly, there is nothing to limit what a witch gifted with unnatural magick can do. The normal limitations regarding what is or isn’t possible simply don’t apply. And judging from the fact that you have multiple gifts, I’d say that not only are you conjurer, but your affinity may very well be unnatural magick. Only one other has possessed that affinity, the woman whose eyes you’ve inherited.”
Darren nearly choked. “You can’t be serious. The elders would never allow that. They still tell stories of what happened to Gregori Rasputin.”
Dr. Roberts nodded. “Which is why it will never leave this room. There is an almost paranoid fear of conjurers within our community, to the extent that it rivals that of vampires. For an heir to command such power—her affinity no less…”
He let his words trail off and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. I wondered if I looked as frightened as I felt. “Ana I don’t mean to scare you, but I need for you to listen now. I want you to call your grandmother and tell her that my treatments worked. I’ll play along and swear to have no idea how it happened, but that it did in fact happen as a result of my treatments.” He turned to Darren. “I take it that by your coming by to see her today that you two are friends?”
“More than friends I hope,” answered Darren with a quick look in my direction. I forced a smile.
“Good. Then you will take this information to the grave. Know that if you let this slip, even once, you put her in terrible danger.”
He still looked conflicted, but nodded. “I understand.”
Finally he smiled at me, shaking his head happily. “Ana, you’ve done it. You’ve saved your mother. Of course, I’ll need to monitor her for the next twenty four hours to see what kind of effect your magick has on her overall prognosis. But for now…”
I repeated the words over and over in my head. “You’ve saved your mother.” And honestly, after hearing those words, it was hard to be too concerned with the rest of it.
Chapter 18
Boston
Dr. Roberts decided that on second thought, it would probably be more convincing if he called with the news. I stayed with my mother while he did so, and found my eyes getting wet once more, only this time they were happy tears. Just in the short time since I last looked, had the venom retreated from her opposite arm and shoulders.
Once Dr. Roberts finished with the phone call, I went out to the waiting room with Darren to wait for my grandmother’s arrival. Even though he tried to hide it, I could tell that my being a “conjurer” changed how he saw me. And to be honest, those feelings I felt for Tristan made me a little uneasy around him.
“I brought these for you. Guess you don’t need them, huh?” He pulled a box of cards from underneath one of the chairs. I couldn’t tell from his voice whether he was angry or just
genuinely wanted me to have them. When he pulled his from the top of the pile, I knew it was the latter.
It was a bright red card with a heart on the front, a Valentine’s Day card really, but the inside of the flaps were empty, and he’d used the space to write his own message.
Dear Ana,
I know that we haven’t known each other long,
but I wanted you to know that you have me if you need me.
I’m not good with telling girls how I feel,
go figure, but when I write it seems to flow,
so I’m hoping I’m making myself clear.
I feel really close to you for some reason,
ever since I first saw you peeking down the stairs.
It’s like my granddad used to say,
“you know when someone special comes into your life,
you just feel it.” I felt it Ana.
I know this is horrible timing with what’s going on with your mother and all
but I need you to know that I’m here if you need to talk.
Or if you need to get away for a while.
Or if you just need to punch something (you’re pretty scrawny so I’m sure I can take it).
I can back off if you need me to, too. I can give you space.
I’ll wait as long as it takes. I know how this sounds
given we’ve known each other for like a couple of days, and we promised “no pressure,”
but honestly I can’t stop thinking about you,
and I just wanted you to know that I’m here.
P.S. I sold the truck and donated the money.
I know I can only drive one at a time,
but I’m having a hard time deciding between the Beamer and the Porsche.
But hey, it’s a start right?
-Darren
Whatever awkwardness I was sensing before vanished the instant my eyes returned to his face. There was no worry or humiliation there; he’d meant every word he’d written and wanted me to know it. That nervous excitement that sent my heart racing the last time I was with him returned, and though it wasn’t the intense longing I felt for Tristan, it was still very real. I leaned over in my chair for a hug and he wrapped one of those strong arms around me. I realized that I felt safe there. He could really be my soft place to fall.
Next, Darren pulled out a folded piece of notebook paper and handed it to me. Taylor wasn’t in the loop like the witches and warlocks who’d sent cards were, and had hastily written down a “Hope your mom gets better! Miss You Much!” note with her phone number. He said that he’d told her my mother had gotten sick overnight and that I’d chosen to stay with her. It was as honest as he could be. I smiled at her thoughtfulness and stuck her note into my pocket.
We spent the next twenty minutes going through cards from people I didn’t know. There were a few exceptions in that Nathan, Duncan’s grandson, and Aspen, my preteen make-up artist, had both sent something along. Darren was visibly upset when I asked if London had sent anything. He attributed her lack of a card to her being upset that the two of us were close. He said it was low, even for her, and that she never even tried to get to know me before deciding to hate me. Apparently, Darren was one of the people London’s “hating me” act was meant for. I didn’t blow our cover, but it did feel wrong to be less than honest with him when he had practically bared his soul to me.
When my grandmother finally did arrive, it was with a crowd. Most of the women who’d sat with her at my welcome party, some council they’d said, were with her now, with the addition of a slightly younger lady who I didn’t remember meeting. Though Dr. Roberts had called with good news, each of the women looked anxious, and spoke amongst themselves in hushed voices. They were so involved in whatever they were discussing in fact, that none of them noticed Darren and I sitting just a few feet from where they were standing. It was Darren who got their attention.
“It’s true, Nana. Dr. Roberts brought her back.” He smiled his bright smile, and had added just the right amount of awe to his voice. Then again, the awe part might have been genuine. I smiled with him.
Silence fell over the women and his grandmother stepped forward. She seemed torn at first, unsure whether to join the excitement on our side of the waiting room or to fall back into the cloud of skepticism the other women made up. The former won out. She dived toward us, wrapping the both of us up in a giant bear hug.
“It’s a miracle!” she shouted.
I found my own grandmother in the group. Darren’s grandmother’s defection had shaken her, and for just a moment it seemed like she might let herself believe, but that spark fizzled quickly once the younger woman whispered something into her ear.
“Let’s see for ourselves this cure,” she announced, stepping determinedly toward the examination rooms. Darren’s grandmother stood up and joined them, but turned to wink at us before following the others into the hall.
Feeling myself become anxious, I had stood up to follow when I felt Darren take hold of my wrist.
“Don’t,” he said. His voice dropped to a whisper. “Dr. Roberts will have a hard enough time as it is trying to pull this off without having to worry what you’ll say when they ask you something. And they will. The Elder Witches are good at getting people to say something they don’t mean to. They’re what passes for a jury when you break one of our laws. Just remember, we don’t know how it happened. If they ask you something when they get back, shrug and say you’re just glad your mother’s alright.”
“Sounds like you’ve got some practice with this kind of thing,” I said with a small smile.
He smiled awkwardly. “I’m pretty good at getting out of trouble.”
Just then, Duncan stormed into the clinic looking furious. He turned to me with eyes so severe that I was sure I would have confessed had he spoken a word to me. Luckily he didn’t, and stomped off behind the others.
Darren put his hand over mine. “It’ll be alright, Ana. Just breathe.”
“What happened to Grigori?” I asked out of the blue.
“Huh?” The question caught him off guard.
“You said that they still tell stories about what happened to him.”
“You really wanna hear about that now?”
I nodded.
“Uh, well he was like you,” Darren dropped his voice to a whisper, “a conjurer.” “He’s your ancestor in fact. No one knows what his ability was— just that he used it to control the royal family in Russia. People didn’t like it that they gave him so much power, but he wasn’t breaking any laws so there was nothing anyone could do. Well, one night he let himself get drunk and used black—I mean, unnatural magick in front of other warlocks. They tied him up and then did the “tests.” Once they’d confirmed that he was a conjurer, they tortured him… It was bad, I won’t go into detail, but when they found his body it wasn’t in good shape. We’re all told about it when we’re kids, as a scary bedtime story or whatever—every night his ghost supposedly picks out a different victim to torture as revenge. That part’s fake, but what happened to Gregori is historical fact. I guess the story’s just to teach us to be afraid of conjurers.”
I wished I’d kept my mouth shut. If I was anxious before, then I was terrified now. Hearing that people were afraid of someone who could read minds was understandable, hearing what that fear had made them do….
“But I won’t let that happen to you,” he said touching my hand again. His touch had sent a wave of warmth through me. It was reassuring.
The door leading back to the examination rooms burst open. My heart skipped a beat.
This time it was my grandmother who was rushing over to us. Elation sparkled in her eyes and she wrapped her arms around me. “It truly is a miracle!”
The relief I was experiencing was so great that I found myself laughing. The other women followed my grandmother’s lead—each came over separately, expressing their how happy they were for us. But while most of them were content with a hug or a gentle rub on my back, Darren’
s grandmother wasn’t satisfied until she planted two big kisses on both my cheeks. I saw Dr. Roberts step out into waiting room next, and while not very obvious to most of the people in the waiting area, I could tell that he was just as relieved to have pulled this off. Unfortunately, the next face I saw made me swallow so hard that I began to cough.
Duncan eyed me closely as he perched himself in the doorway. There was no joy in his face, and his eyes bore into me with such fierceness that there was little doubt in my mind that he knew. My eyes shot over to Darren and I saw that he’d noticed Duncan’s accusing eyes too. He looked worried.
********************
I was spending the night at the clinic again. Dr. Roberts was able to pull me aside to suggest that I be around just in case my mother’s condition regressed. I wasn’t sure if I could repeat whatever it was I’d done, but as my grandmother didn’t have any problem with it this time, I was certainly willing to make myself available. I’d managed to avoid Duncan’s eyes until he and everyone else headed home, and the big hug Darren gave me just before we parted had the Elder Witches giggling.
It was late. After checking up on my mother for the fifteenth time, I headed back into the examination room, lay out on the bed, and ordered myself to stay put. Dr. Roberts would be spending the tonight too, to monitor my mother’s recovery. I didn’t want to keep interrupting him. On my last visit, he’d said that the venom having cleared from her heart was a great sign. Once he placed a transfusion line into the large vein leading up to it, he could almost guarantee that it would remain uncompromised. The fact that things were continuing to go so well kept me in good enough spirits to push back my worries to the periphery of my brain. And on occasion, when they did streak out into the center of my thoughts, I had two ready-made worry dampeners to fend them off. First, I reminded myself that if Duncan truly wanted to bust me, he’d had the perfect opportunity with the Elder witches assembled right there in the waiting room. And secondly, I decided that if Gregori could keep his being a conjurer a secret, then why couldn’t I? Getting myself drunk was a non-issue for me; I’d never even tasted alcohol. And honestly, the threat of a gruesome death? Well that ensured I never would. The fact that I was some kind of super witch, practically capable of bringing my mother back from the dead (well, there was no practically about it), actually felt kind of badass the more that I thought about it—
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