by Marnie Cate
“My child, Mae, your request of binding and protection for Mara and Cole has been granted. Your commitment and faith to the light has been noted over the years. Be safe, my children. The darkness can seem stronger than the light,” Danu said, as she faded away.
Gram gasped as a small spark emitted from the blue ring on her finger. The once deep blue stone now had a bright silver spot in the center that stretched out on the stone like a star. The silver design pulsed and then turned white.
Holding her hand to examine the stone, I said, “Gram, it is beautiful. What does it mean?”
“It means that you will be protected and connected to me,” Gram said, “The stone will bind our family.”
Looking at my ring, I realized that my blue stone was also no longer a solid color. It now had a silver spot in the center. Holding out their hands to show us, I could see Cole's purple ring and my father's green ring both bore the same mark.
Gram said, with a delighted tone in her voice, “We are now bound. However, it is time to focus on getting Meg and Miles safely back with our family.”
With those words, we dispersed to begin the tasks that would be necessary for us to save my sister. Looking back at my grandmother, I saw that she was writing in her journal. As the pen strokes filled the paper, I could see teardrops falling and slightly smearing the ink. Sensing that I was there, she stared into my eyes. I could feel her mixture of emotions. It is not every day that the Goddess arrives to grant your request.
Taking my hand, Cole said, “Let's leave her to her writings.” As I accepted his suggestion, I put my hand to my heart and mouthed, “I love you”. Putting her hand to her heart, she smiled and then waved us away.
Chapter 43
When Cole and I arrived on Main Street, we blended into the crowd playing the role of the happy couple. Everyone was still respecting Gram's wishes for our privacy and our well-wishers polite comments were limited to “Isn't it nice to have your father home?” and “How is your family?” We politely listened to each question as I tried to fight my urge to cringe at each inquiry.
When we entered the library, I felt I could breathe again. It was a place to expect quiet and most people would respect the need for silence…most people. As we began to search through the books in the town's history section way in the back shelves of the library, I left Cole to search one of the cases and began looking through books on my own.
“Cole, I am so so glad to see you here.” The undistinguishable shrill of Jessica's voice rang through the library. “Why are you hiding in the back of the library all by yourself?” she said, as she ran her fingers up and down his arms.
Pushing back my urge to push the bookcase on her, I took the book in my hand flipping through it until I reached a page of girls in outrageous outfits and made my entrance.
“Cole, I have found the perfect idea for our wedding,” I said, enunciating the word wedding. “Oh Jessica, I didn't know you were here. What a lovely surprise.” I said, excitedly.
Jessica did not hide her disdain for me but I continued my performance. “I am so glad you are here. I just have been so busy that I couldn't reach out to you to make plans for our wedding but you are here now. I am so excited that you are here and we can go over everything,” I fussed.
Taking her hand, I dragged her to a table and forced her to sit down on one of the chairs. Pulling another chair up extra close to her, I began pointing at the picture I had found saying, “Don't you think that it would be fabulous if the bridesmaids wore outfits like these?”
The girls in the picture had long dresses with big shoulder pads. The fabric was covered with bright colors and black geometric shapes. Each girl wore their hair slicked back into a tight bun that made their dark eyeliner and hot pink lipstick stand out. The clothes really were nothing I would ever have in my wedding but watching her squirm delighted me.
“Won't it be fabulous,” I said, breathlessly not giving her a chance to speak. “Well now that we have solved that question, what do you think we should plan for the food for the reception? Should it be a simple BBQ or formal dinner?”
“Stop,” Jessica shouted and stood up backing away from me, knocking the chair over, “We are not friends. I do not plan to be in your wedding or wear that horrendous dress and I absolutely do not care what you will be feeding your guests.”
With a look of shock, I turned to Cole, “I did not know we were not friends? Did you know this, Cole?”
“I did not know that we were not friends,” Cole said, with a look of shock and surprise on his face. “Jessica, I can't believe you would pretend to like us,” Cole said, as he shook his head.
“I didn't mean you, Cole. We are friends,” she said, putting her hand on his.
Abruptly taking his hand away from her touch, he grabbed my hand and jerked me to him, “You should go now, Jessica. You are right. We are not friends.”
Without a reply, she turned and stomped off. Trying to hide our giggles, I whispered to him, “You are so bad.”
“Me?” he said, as he pulled me into his arms and whispered in my ear, “You, my dear, were jealous.”
“Jealous of her?” I replied, “Never.”
Kissing me on the cheek, he picked up the book that I had been showing Jessica. “Back to work. Let's see our fabulous wedding fashion.”
As he looked at the picture, his face changed. “Come look at this again.”
Leaning in to see what he was looking at, I read the text under the photo, “Genevieve Silver, Lucy Andrews, Michelle Elliott and Camille Black. New Moon Celebration.”
“Wow, it's them.” I said, “Interesting but not useful to help Meg. We should check this out to look through later.” Quickly flipping through the pages, I looked for anything that would be beneficial but there was nothing about the Drygens.
Continuing our mission, we searched to shelves without finding anything useful. “We are going to be here all night.” I said, tiredly as I put my head down on the table. Fighting back my urge to cry, I stared at the books with my head resting on my arms.
“Please help me,” I said barely above a whisper.
As if in response to my pleas, a small blue light appeared for just a second. Thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me, I blinked them several times. Again, the soft blue light flickered. Going to the bookcase where I saw the light, I watched carefully. Once again, it appeared close to a brown book with the title, Animals of the Forest.
Pulling the book out and flipping through it, it was just a book that gave a description of the different types of creatures that lived in Starten Forest. Disappointed I began to put the book away. As I placed it on the shelf, I noticed a thin black book with a silver serpent on the spine that had slipped far back behind the others.
“Cole,” I whispered, handing him the title less book, “Come look at this.”
We leafed through the book that turned out to be the history of the Drygens. Flipping to the end, there was a chapter about the building of the Drygen Estate that included plans and diagrams.
“We don't need this recorded on my list of borrowed books,” Cole whispered, as he took the book and slipped it into the waist of his pants.
Grabbing a few books from the fiction section, we checked them out and began our walk home to share what we had found. On the way home, I became nervous that if we did have to face Eliza that we would not be prepared. What would I be able to do to protect my family?
“How did you know that your gift was Water magic?” I questioned.
“Lucky guess, I thought about how River was always around me and the times that we spent at the lake where we played. I really do not have much control over it yet. But, I can do this,” he said, as he formed three small balls of water and began to juggle them around me.
“Show me what you can do, Mara,” he teased, as he dropped the water formations on the ground splashing me.
“I can light a candle and I once asked Air to blow-dry my hair,” I said, “but that was the elements at
work; it was not me. How will that help us?”
Taking my hands, he said, “Mar, there is so much more that you can do. You just are not confident. When my home was burning, you called a rainstorm to put it out the fire. Just concentrate on one element and see what you can do.”
Taking his advice, I thought about Breeze and the air that surrounded her. Focusing on calling the air, I watched as Cole's hair began whip around. Pushing more air at him, I watched as he struggled to keep his footing.
“Now try another element,” he called to me, over the sound of the wind blowing between us. Holding out my hand, I focused on forming a ball of fire. The flame began the size of a marble. Willing it to grow larger, I watched as it did. When it reached the size of a grapefruit, Cole held his hand above mine and showered rain into my hand. Steam rose as he doused the fire.
“See, you had it in you all along,” he said. "Now let's get home to Gram and show her what we found.
When we entered the house, the smell of chicken soup and baked bread filled the air. My father greeted us with a smile and a hug for each of us.
“Did you find anything useful?” he asked. “Mae has gone to Chester's woodshop to gather some things.”
“We did,” Cole said, as he handed the book to him. “There is a section describing the building of the Drygen estate including a map.”
Taking the book, he inspected the plans. “This looks correct.”
Taking a piece of paper, he began to trace the plan and began adding notes on the grounds, “This will be the best route for us to come up the mountain. There is a path here that ends at the back of the property.”
Tapping his pen on the paper, he sat in silence looking at the pages. “Eliza's room was on this side of the house.” In response to my look of surprise, he quickly explained, “I wanted to keep my eye on her to make sure you guys were safe.”
I wondered whom else he was watching during his death. Did he watch us as we grew? There was more that we would need to discuss once Meg was safe with us.
As he drew on the map, he said, “The master suites are here and the old nursery was this section. My guess is this would be the area where Meg is being kept.”
Cole and my father began to work on the routes we would take and even made backup plans. Looking around the kitchen for the first time since we returned, I realized there were so many baked items on the counter.
“Why is Gram baking so much?” I questioned, as I popped one of the fresh tea biscuits into my mouth. “There is enough here for everyone in town and then some.”
“She has been cooking since the day you slipped into the deep sleep,” my father answered. “She has even been filling the freezer with meals. We have enough food to last for months. I think cooking is how she calms herself.”
Looking around the kitchen, I noticed the pantry shelves were stocked with rows of small bottles. Picking them up to examine them, I realized she had made a variety of elixirs, tonics and potions. As I continued inspecting the area, Gram came back in with her arms full.
“Quick take this,” she said, handing me one of the boxes.
Taking the box from her, I was surprised that she had been able to carry it and the other box with seemingly little effort. Setting it down, I took the second box from her and almost dropped it.
“Gram, these are way too heavy for anyone to carry. How did you carry one…let alone two?” I asked, with concern. “You should have asked us to help.”
“Shush,” she said, “Light as a feather. Let's unload the boxes and then finish up dinner.”
As we unpacked the boxes, I became concerned. Why were we preparing as if a hard winter was coming? What was she up to?
“Gram, why are we stocking the pantry? Elliott said that you have also filled the freezers with meals for months,” I grilled her.
“While you were sleeping, I kept busy,” she said nonchalantly, “Now we have plenty of meals and can focus on Meg when she returns. You can't forget that Miles will be living with us soon. He will probably need a lot of our time to adjust to his new life. We have years of love and family to make up to him. Don't forget that there will also be a wedding to plan. So with all of these things ahead, being prepared is a good thing. Haven't I always taught you to be prepared?”
Taking in her explanation, I dismissed my thoughts and continued unpacking the boxes. She was a planner and her thoughts were logical. While I had finished the pantry, Gram had begun cooking something on that stove that filled the room with its amazing smell. As the food simmered, she had begun cutting vegetables for our dinner salad.
“What are you cooking?” I asked, as I took the knife from her and began to finish cutting the vegetables. “It smells so delicious.”
“This recipe is one I haven't made in a very long time. It was Chester's favorite,” she said, as she added mushrooms to the caramelized onions she had simmering.
She had a soft smile on her face while she stirred the food. I wondered if she was thinking about my grandfather. He had been gone almost ten years but it seemed like yesterday that he was here. I could almost smell his woodsy scent and see him as he would look when he came in from a day of work. Wearing a big smile as he came into the house, he would be covered with bits of sawdust and the occasional wood chip in his hair.
The first thing he would do was to sneak a taste of whatever Gram was cooking for dinner. Gram would scold him for being a mess. He would have a twinkle in his eyes as he whispered something into her ear and wrapped his arms tightly around her. She would smile touching his face and whisper something to him that would make him laugh. His eyes would light up and he would give her one last kiss as she sent him off with a command to wash up for dinner. He would always stop on his way out of the kitchen and turn back to say, “Is breá liom tú, Maesi.” When I asked her what it meant, she said it is just how he tells me that he loves me.
My memories of the past were interrupted by warm arms wrapping tightly around my own waist and a soft kiss on my neck.
“When are we eating, I am starving,” Cole said, as he picked up one of the pieces of cucumber I had just cut and popped it into his mouth.
Putting the knife down, I turned around to face him. “You are always hungry. Dinner will be ready soon.”
He laughed and kissed me again. Sinking into his arms, I felt content to just be held by him. I looked forward to the day that we would be married and we would begin our new life together. I wanted to have what my grandparents had with each other.
“Dinner is ready, love birds,” Gram said. “Can I break you up long enough to set the table?”
“Mae,” Cole said, as he picked Gram up and twirled her around, “Don't be jealous. You know I will always love you best.”
Weakly, she protested and slapped him lightly on the arm demanding that he put her down. When he finally set her back on the floor, she beamed as she said, “Go on now. Do as I asked and you will soon be eating.”
“Anything for you, Mae,” he said, kissing her on the cheek before he went off to set the table.
Chapter 44
We ate our salads while the rest of dinner baked and Cole explained the plans that they had devised. Getting there would be the easy part. But once we were on the estate, we would have to watch for Drygen staff that may be patrolling and any changes to the property that did not match the maps.
Gram carried out a large casserole and herb breadsticks. As she dished out fresh pasta with chicken, caramelized onions and mushrooms covered in a cream sauce onto our plates, she said, “For my dear Chester, gone but not forgotten.” Raising our glasses of water, we toasted.
Silence filled the table as we ate the delicious meal. However, my mind would not be quiet. It kept drifting to the night ahead. Pushing back my thoughts of worry, I tried to enjoy the meal.
As we finished our last bites of food, Gram asked, “Mara, can you serve the dessert? It is in the fridge on the patio.”
When I entered the patio, the room was lit by small twink
ling lights and the front of the refrigerator was covered with a long lavender cloth. As I got closer, I realized that it was a long bag that had something inside. On the top of the bag, I noticed a hook with a small white note attached. The note read, For Mara.
“Go on, open it,” Gram said, from behind me.
Turning towards her, I saw the smile in her eyes. “What is it?” I questioned.
“You will see,” she said, as she motioned for me to see what was in the bag.
Removing the bag from the hook, I laid it down on the table and began to slowly unzip it. As I unzipped the lilac covering, white fabric showed. I knew before I finished what she was giving me.
“Gram,” I said, with tears in my eyes, “This was your dress. You wore this when you married Gramps.”
Taking my hand, she said, “And now I want you to have it. Try it on and see if you like it.”
I slipped into the dress. It fell just below my knees. The top had wide shoulder straps that connected to the bodice that was covered with small ruffles. Upon closer look, you could see the ruffles were actually small flowers with pearls in the center of each cluster of petals. The soft fabric that fell from the waist brushed against my legs.
“Let me help you,” Gram said, as she tied the soft gray ribbon that surrounded my waist. “You look as beautiful in it as I had imagined.”
Seeing my reflection in the patio window, I knew that this was the right dress to wear when I married Cole. Hugging my grandmother tightly, I said, “Are you sure? I know how special this dress is to you.”
“Nothing is as special to me as you and Meg,” she said proudly, “I will be proud to know you wore it to marry Cole.”
Shaking off the sentiment, she released her hug, “Now let's wrap this back up and bring the dessert out before Cole comes to find out where the food is being kept.”
