Tobias (C I N's Puritan Series Book 4)

by Christina Leigh Pritchard

  TOBIAS

  C I N’s Puritan Series

  Story 4

  Written by

  Christina Leigh Pritchard

  © Copyright 2012-2016 Christina Leigh Pritchard. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

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  Under Copyright Law: No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise (except for brief quotation in printed or digital review) without prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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  This short story follows characters from the C I N Series. It is recommended that you read C I N book one, Traitor book two, and Ally’s Secret book three prior to reading Tobias. This story will not make sense without the books above.

  Information on these stories can be found here:

  http://www.christinaleighpritchard.com/

  “What I did was wrong.

  In my defense, I wasn’t given a choice.”

  -Dr. John

  One

  Year: 1510

  Ten miles outside Romania

  Every Oneida needed a female heir. When I was born, my mother took one long, disgusted look at me, and promptly handed me to Richard.

  “It’s a boy,” she said, cringing. “Take this thing as far away from me as possible.”

  Richard’s eyes widened and he scratched his bushy, brown beard. “He’s our son.” His hat tipped forward, covering his unkempt eyebrows, and he pressed a rough, cracked finger against my soft skin. He smiled. “Hey, little guy. I am to be your father.” I giggled, my toes curling into themselves.

  I was advanced, due to my mother’s inherited “gifts”. I could understand him, and acknowledge my surroundings. The mid-wife, rested against the back wall, frightened at my appearance. If only I could see my own reflection. Did I resemble this hairy man that spoke kindly or were my features similar to the woman who lay on a cloth, tossed over bales of hay?

  “I needed a girl,” my mother said. “He’s useless to me.”

  “That’s the last straw,” Richard shouted, holding me against his shoulder. “You will never see us again.”

  I peeked over his garment at the woman who birthed me. She was small with golden locks, that, even after labor, froze at the ends. Her eyes were sharp and icy blue, piercing your soul, should you dare look into them without her permission.

  “Now Richard, what is this tantrum of yours going to accomplish?” A smile spread upon her face. “I’ve just banished you and your useless seed.”

  “You’re a wicked woman and I hope you never succeed in gaining an heir,” he whispered, his voice monotone. “No one will ever love an abomination. Get used to being alone—forever.”

  Her face rested sideways against a feather pillow. A lone tear trickled down her porcelain skin, freezing on the edge of her chin. “I am the Oneida of the Winter Lands and nearly five hundred years old. Not one of my children have been female. I shall not live much longer. You see, what festers inside me must transfer or I will crumble into nothing.”

  “I no longer care.” Richard lied. I could tell somehow. He loved my mother unconditionally. I felt it in my bones. “You shall never see your son again. I am taking him to the New America where your kind cannot follow.”

  She giggled, clapping. “Silly, little, man-boy.”

  “I am not a boy.”

  “Of all my suitors, I’ve adored you most. And, I must say, there have been many.”

  Richard’s cheeks reddened and I could feel his heart pound. “Many? Well, forgive me darling, but maybe you’re alone because you are a heartless monster.”

  Something inside, a swirl of new emotion, forced me to wail. My arms shook and I wished to speak, unable to. My limbs shook and everything hurt.

  Richard, cooed, bouncing around the room. “There, there, little one. Everything shall be alright. I am to take care of you.” He glared at my mother. “Rayne will never lay her hands upon you.”

  She sat up, her hair falling along her shoulders like rain. “I will go home now, to my lands.”

  Richard shrugged. “Well, good riddance.”

  “Richard?” Her voice cracked. “I can tell that you do not mean what you say.”

  “And yet, hear the door slam!” He stormed out and leaned against the wall. He took one long, exasperated sigh, cradled me in his arms, and smiled.

  “I am truly sorry, little one. I will find you a mother that shall love you as much as I.”

  “Richard!” Rayne shouted. “Do not leave me just yet. I need your help. I’ve just given birth.”

  He leaned me over his shoulder, handing the innkeeper a few coins. “Please, let her stay for a few days to recuperate.”

  The man nodded at Richard and pointed to the stairs. “Yes, I am leaving, sir.”

  The Inn sat nestled among the woods and I could see the foliage through the window behind us. I was resting above my father’s shoulder, facing backwards. The outside grew smaller and smaller as Richard barreled down the corridor.

  He carefully took the stairs, whispering to me. “C’mon son, you’re never going to be used as a pawn by that woman.” His oval eyes were warm and love oozed from them as he poked my nose.

  I liked Richard.

  Two

  A Mother & A Wife

  Richard kept his word. He found a young maiden in the next village named Vienna. Her eyes were dark and deep-set. She would sing to me at night and cradled me in her bosoms.

  Vienna was quiet and obedient. Richard was never overbearing, but I could tell, somehow, that he did not love her. He’d rest his hand on the wall, gazing out the window. I was sure he was thinking of my birth mother in those moments.

  Vienna felt the same. She’d tighten her arms around me, and sometimes a few tears would escape, just before Richard turned around.

  Once he faced her, she’d promptly smile, and stare at him adoringly.

  Eventually, I was able to speak. And, what was my first word?

  “Mom.”

  Vienna loved me as if I were her very own child.

  I liked Vienna.

  RAYNE

  Many Years Later…

  Three

  Uninvited Visitor

  My birth mother decided to make an appearance in my life when I turned twelve.

  She was just as I’d remembered her. Her hair was an alluring silvery-blonde that glistened in the sun, and her eyes were the color of water. They danced when they set upon me.

  When Rayne appeared, I was sitting on the edge of a ravine with Vienna. It was situated just outside the forest by our house. We were using two pigs, searching for foot mushrooms; a family tradition.

  Rayne smiled, opening her arms wide. “My son,” she said.

  Vienna positioned herself in front of me. “Don’t talk to her, Tobias,” she said. “That woman is pure evil.”

  Rayne tsked, shaking her finger. “Shame on you for causing divisions.”

  I could feel Vienna tremble. “You’re the one who said you didn’t want him. He remembers everything. What sort of mother abandons her child because it is not a girl?”

  “Tobias,” Rayne whispered. She motioned for me to come to her. “We’ve much work to do. You’re to go to the Americas.”

  “Stay away from my son!” Vienna shouted. She waved her fist, motioning for the two pigs. They squealed, racing to our sides.

  Rayne signed, taking slow, seductive steps towards us. “He belongs to me. You’re just his silly nanny.”

  “No she’s not!” I yelled, peeking around Vienna. “You abandoned me. Stay
away from us. I hate you!”

  Rayne’s feelings appeared unaffected. She inched closer, raising her hands above her head. Icicles formed at the tips of her hair and rose slightly above her shoulders. It was as if her hair had become water snakes, swaying in midair.

  We recoiled, finding ourselves at the edge of the ravine. I glanced at Vienna. She was petrified. “It’s okay, Mom. I can get us out of here.”

  “No, honey, don’t let her see what you’re capable of.”

  “I can hear her thoughts. She wants to kill you.”

  “Don’t show her—no matter the cost.”

  But, Mom!”

  Tears welled in my eyes. Rayne pointed her fingertips at Vienna. Sharp icicles shot towards her.

  “No!” I raised my palm, sending a wall of ice in between us.

  “Tobias!” Vienna cried. “Now she knows you’re like her.”

  “She was going to kill you.”

  “I’d rather die than let her have you to use as one of her pawns.”

  “We’re going home,” I said. “Follow me down the ravine.”

  “What?”

  I snapped my fingers at our pigs. They’d been on many adventures with me. They snorted, prancing, waiting for me to begin.

  I glanced back. Rayne was breaking my wall of ice. I could see as tiny cracks ran up the center and a few along the sides.

  “It’s now or never,” I said, my hands moving to and fro. The stream below us, formed into what looked like a water dragon. It flew, barrel-rolling up towards us, and ended at our feet. Next, it’s ice block teeth gripped the cliff’s edge and its’ body turned into a long, winding slide.

  “Let’s go, Mom.”

  “I didn’t realize how much you’d learned on your own.” Her eyes widened, watching the two pigs lay flat on the ice slide. I pushed the first one in the bum. He squealed, sliding down through a corkscrew and then an incline, which led to a massive drop. He squealed, his little legs, stretched wide a part.

  I shoved the next pig. “Mom?”

  “Is it safe?”

  “Safer than what’s behind us.”

  “Okay, okay, let me take off my boots.”

  I turned around to the sound of snapping ice. I sprayed more frost into the cracks.

  “No time for all that,” I said, pushing her forward. She fell, tumbling down the slide.

  “Tobias!” she screamed.

  My ice wall cracked and split, straight down the middle. Rayne stepped through.

  I gasped, falling backwards.

  ***

  As I slid down, I shot pointed icicles at the slide, breaking what was behind me. I couldn’t have that woman follow us to our home.

  Sure, she was my biological mother, but I looked nothing like her. My hair was brown and so were my eyes. I wasn’t her son—I was Vienna’s. She’d raised me, not Rayne.

  I fell into the pigs. They squealed, leaping about. I laughed, and so did Vienna. Her long hair fell in my face. I reached up and hugged her. She kissed my forehead, letting way to tiny sobs. “We need to hurry on home.”

  I shrugged, tightening my grip. “That lady is long gone. I destroyed the slide before she could even think to step upon it.”

  Vienna let out a sigh of relief. “That was a close one, eh?”

  I nodded, grabbing her hand. Our pigs followed, snorting the whole way down the path. Father would be home when we got there.

  “Let’s not tell Richard who we saw today,” she said. “He’ll just feel sad.”

  I agreed, kicking pebbles before us. The pigs chased them, pouncing. Their ears swayed as they poked their snouts into the earth. “He’ll wonder why we didn’t find any foot mushrooms, though.”

  Vienna shrugged, tickling my sides. I chuckled, racing ahead. She picked up the edge of her dress and chased after me. We ducked behind trees and hid beside boulders, just missing each other by a few moments.

  I always let her win. It made her happy.

  I could hear her heart beating as she snuck closer and closer. “Gotcha!” She wrapped her arms around me. I jumped up, carrying her down the path. “Hey!” she screamed. “No fair!”

  I laughed, setting her down. “C’mon, Mom. Father will be hungry soon.”

  We stood several yards from our home. It was simple, something my Father built himself. A three room wooden home with a pointed roof. We had a wood-burning stove. It kept us warm in the winter months.

  “Richard left the front door open again,” Vienna said. “I swear he’s more forgetful that my late grandmother.”

  My heart pounded. “Mom, something’s wrong.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I feel it. Father’s heart is not pounding.”

  We ran through the opened entrance, stopping abruptly. It wasn’t Richard who’d left the door open. It was Rayne. She sat in my mother’s rocker—the one she’d rocked me in since I was an infant.

  “It’s about time you got here,” Rayne said. She stood, slowly observing the various handmade trinkets I’d given to Vienna. “You’d miss your nanny, wouldn’t you?” she asked me.

  I knew what Rayne meant and, what felt like a blizzard swirled inside me. “You’d better not dare!”

  “You already know it’s inevitable. Either I do it or when you lose control next year, you do it.”

  My fingers trembled, the tips freezing. “I won’t lose control.”

  “You will, and have many times. I’ve been watching you, son.”

  “Don’t call me your son.”

  “Tobias, you have a different choice, an alternative to murder.”

  I crossed my arms. “I’m listening.”

  “Come with me—”

  “No way!”

  Rayne took a deep breath. Frost covered the mantle over the fireplace. “Come with me and I will train you to control your ‘gifts’.”

  “What about my parents?”

  Vienna shook her head. “You don’t have to go with that woman. Stay with your family. We will figure this out ourselves.”

  Rayne stretched her palm. “It’s the safest option. This will ensure your parents live.”

  I stepped forward, taking her freezing palm. A jarring thought invaded my mind. Her palm—it matched mine.

  Vienna covered her face in her hands and sobbed. “No, son, please don’t go with her,” she pleaded.

  We stepped outside just as Richard came up the pathway.

  He dropped his tools, and ran towards us. “No, Tobias, do not go with her! She intends to use you!”

  “She’s to teach me how to control my ‘gifts’,” I said. “I’ll be back, I promise.”

  He jerked me away. “Stay away from her. She’s not human.”

  Rayne threw back her head and laughed. “I tried to do this peacefully. Ask the boy.”

  I nodded. “Let me go, Father. She said she’d leave you guys alone.”

  He refused, wrapping his arms around me. Vienna raced forward. She stood before us, holding the fire poker.

  “Leave my boy alone,” she said.

  “He belongs to me!” Rayne screamed, her spit formed into hail, and pelted us like flying stones. “I tried to be nice or whatever, but you refuse to listen, so I’ll do things my way.”

  Ice swords formed from her fingertips and moved like snakes around my body. They pierced Richard and Vienna.

  “Mom?” I shouted, crying. I dropped to my knees in between them. “Father?” I held them by the hands.

  “Don’t become like her,” Richard said. “You are my son.”

  “Father?”

  His head turned to the side as blood poured from him, his skin turning pale. My heart pounded. Vienna’s heart barely beat within her chest. “Mom? I’m going to fix this, okay?”

  “I love you, Tobias,” Vienna said. “I love you so, so much.” Blood trickled down the corners of her mouth.

  I glanced up at Rayne. She stood, impatiently, tapping her foot.

  I didn’t like Rayne.

  DONNA DE
NNING

  Four

  Post 1980’s Warehouse Burnings

  Lynn, Massachusetts

  Rayne got her wish. I went to the Americas and found the Oneida of the East—Anna. For several hundred years, things went smoothly, as I searched for the perfect mate to produce a female heir. Anna’s sister, Celeste, caused quite the problem with her offspring. I hated Alex. His callous ways, teasing Crystal, caused our kind to become trapped in Lynn, Massachusetts forever. I’d never planned to stay with these idiots, once I secured a female from Anna. Alex spoiled that plan. He made me sick, and I wanted to destroy him. As heartless as Anna was, she allowed the Moody children to live. That is, until they began to make their own families…

  After promising to never start another set of fulgurites, Alex Moody created a new group that they called “The Warehouse Kids”. At first, when Anna asked me to kill them, I was willing and ready. I went to Alex, feeling victorious. Finally, the thorn in my side would be brought to ruin. Revenge was finally mine.

  ***

  I took slow steps through the woods behind the old C I N school, listening to my feet squish in the muddied earth.

  I liked being alone sometimes. Since the last group Alex created, the Team as he called them, I was constantly sent out to monitor fights. Wasn’t needing a police force why we formed the Groupies?

  Several dried branches lay along the pathway to C I N. I kicked them, watching them disintegrate—just as how I had witnessed my biological mother die. It was before I escaped to the Americas, right when I’d finally began understanding Rayne’s reasons for doing things. She made me strong, ready to preserve our genetic ancestry. Only, I was to have children that would be so much more than us.

  “Hi,” someone said. I glanced back. A girl sat on a small boulder, with dark hair and eyes, so deep, they penetrated my core. I’d felt this same feeling only once, when I’d met my mother out on the ravine. She’d pierced my very soul with a variety of emotions, some I still didn’t comprehend.