“You may not enter.” He said with a deep aggressive voice.
I said nothing back, then I felt this power come over me, my vision went red and the necklace gave a slight red glow. The door opened in a rush with Edness Callamore standing on the other side.
“Shay, please come in.”
I turned to the guard and walked through the door, shutting it behind me.
“What can I help you with?” She walked back over to her desk and sat down with her normal teacup sitting next to her on her desk.
“I do not want to stay here any longer.”
She was looking at some of the papers on her desk. “No. I do not believe that if you were to leave it would help you right now.” She looked up to me smiled then to the necklace now around my neck. Her eyes widened, and she looked scared for the first time. “Where did you get that beautiful necklace?” She tried hard to refocus herself.
How was she able to see it? I must not let her know that no one can see the necklace.
“It was a gift.”
She looked away for a moment then toward the window. “Oh, who from?”
I stood there for a second. “I don’t think that really matters.”
She picked up her tea and took a sip. It was almost as if her hand was shaking lightly. “I suppose not. Well, you came to me for a reason. You want to leave and no one here thinks that would be a good idea. I believe, my dear, that we are at an impasse. Do you think you will change your mind?”
I just shook my head no.
She looked down, wrote something on one of the papers she had been reading and set the pen down. She looked at me for a moment, took another sip of tea, and then spoke. “You may leave. You will receive nothing from us. No one may go with you and you may not take anything.” I was surprised she said it that way, but I felt that her mind was racing with another plan to win this battle. I turned and walked toward the doors. “You did hear me? Nothing.”
I did not turn around to her. “Yes.” I grabbed the doorknob and turned, leaving her to her plans. I saw Declan leaning over the railing of the staircase and Duncan sitting at the bottom of the stairs.
“You want to leave?” Declan asked.
“I know this is not where I am supposed to be, from the moment that I was brought here, I knew I couldn’t stay.” I felt that I spoke with sadness.
Duncan stood. “This is your home too. You don’t have to leave.”
I reached for his arm. “Yes, I do.”
Duncan pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around me. “Don’t leave.” I could hear the loneliness in his voice.
“I’m sorry.” I pulled back from him. “Your grandmother has done more than she is willing to admit to. I cannot stay with the knowledge I now have.”
Declan looked confused. “Tell us what happened.”
I shook my head. “The deal was that I cannot take anything with me, including your loyalty.”
I turned to walk away. “You will always have my loyalty,” Declan said.
“You have mine as well.” Duncan followed after Declan was finished speaking. I turned to walk away from them.
“Shay? Come on, Shay.” Duncan tried to get me to turn back around and I couldn’t. I knew it would be harder if I couldn’t show the strength that I now felt to leave. I kept walking. I had to make that life changing decision. No matter what comes next it will be for me and for my brother. I reached up to the pendant on my new necklace and brushed my fingertips over the gemstone as it gleamed. I went to the room I could no longer call my own and changed my clothes to the ones that I had been brought to this mansion in. It felt normal, like me, but not. This is it, my last moment in this room. I left the room without any look back. The next step was to walk past Declan and Duncan Callamore. I decided to skip the goodbyes and get out of the house the old-fashioned way—sneak out.
I opened the door as quietly as I could. I heard someone walking up the stairs. I had to take off, and I had to get out quick. The panic set in, and in that exact second I transitioned into my mac tire form. Then I ran. As I ran through the woods trying to get back to my home the day turned colder. It was almost eleven in the morning, and it had started to snow now. I made tracks as I ran quickly, attempting to stay in the trees completely out of sight. I could hear traffic pick up on the road not too far away from where I was. I had to hurry. I was close to my home. I slowed down enough to be more careful as I got closer to my back yard. I stopped when I reached the edge of the woods leading into the back yard. I stood watching the snow fall on the old metal playground set my dad built for Tommy and me when we were about four. I had so much fun running around while Tommy chased me. My parents could watch us from the porch or the kitchen window while my mother made dinner and my dad finished up paperwork he brought home from work. I think he worked more than he wanted to when we were little. You could see how tired he was every day. What wore him out, though? He worked for the Callamores, and now I questioned everything that I had been told as a child.
I walked past the playground. As soon as I got to the door, I transitioned so that I could walk into the home I grew up in. I put my hand on the doorknob, but it was locked. I got the key from under the plant pot by the back door. I went inside, listening closely to see if anyone was home. They should have been there. I could barely think straight, and I knew Tommy’s death was affecting my emotions more than it should have.
Where were my parents? Could they really get over the loss of a child in one day? Was this ceremony supposed to help move past it as if he never even existed? I shook my head to stop thinking about Tommy for a moment.
I ran upstairs to get clothes. I opened the door to my room walking into a perfectly clean room. I knew that my mother must have had something to do with the organization. You know when you can’t figure out what was moved because everything was moved? I grabbed two bags—one duffle bag and then my book bag. I grabbed enough clothes to completely stuff the duffle bag and then put some of my books and personal things into my book bag. I walked over to my dresser and opened the top drawer and pulled out this small metal box that looked like a pencil box from the 1950s and opened it just to check how much money I had in it. When I opened it there was twenty dollars and a note. I was so angry until I opened the note.
Sorry to disappoint.
Hope this helps. I moved all your money plus mine
to an account in both of our names.
Stay safe. I will always love you.
—Tommy
He did what? It sounded like he knew he was going to die. But how? Nothing made sense to me. But I grabbed the box and put it in the bag. I heard the door open downstairs. I stopped and did not speak a word while I just listened to them walk into the house.
“Julia, you know it had to happen.” I heard my mother crying.
“I know, I just wasn’t expecting it so soon.” I heard the lights flick on and then my mother plopped down on the couch. They knew he was going to die and they let it happen. I hurried to grab things out of the bathroom and stuffed them into my backpack. I heard some sound from downstairs; someone was coming up stairs. The doorknob turned. I had nowhere to go. And then the door opened to my dad standing there. He was definitely surprised.
“What are you doing here?” He shut the door trying to be quiet so that my mom wouldn’t come up. I continued to stuff a sweater into the duffle bag.
“I’m getting my clothes. What does it look like?”
He shook his head. “We have already lost Tommy. She won’t make it if you leave.”
I never looked at him. “You lost me the moment you decided that the Morrígan was more important than your family.” I grabbed the last thing that I needed and swung the duffle bag over my shoulder.
“Shay, that’s not true.”
I looked at him with no respect left for the man I loved as my father. “You know…whatever it is that you have to tell yourself to not feel responsible for your own child’s death. I know that everyone knew the hunters were
coming after Tommy. And how about this to think about? How did those hunters only attack Tommy and not the royal family?” I turned away then back to my dad that stood there confused. “Edness Callamore had your son murdered. Those hunters were not your traditional hunters; they belong to the Morrígan.” I looked over my shoulder out the window. “I want his keys.” I held out my hand. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Tommy’s truck keys.
“Are you going to at least say goodbye to your mother?”
I shook my head. “Both of you were dead to me the moment you were too weak to protect your own children.” I grabbed the keys and ran out the door. I knew my mother heard me, but I never stopped. I got in his truck and started it, then backed off the driveway as quickly as possible.
➢22 Tommy’s Gift
I had to go to the bank. Tommy had left something for me. I pulled into the parking lot of the bank. I looked all around making sure I wasn’t walking into a trap of some kind. I grabbed Tommy’s hat off the dash and put it on when I got out of the truck. I walked through the front door, seeing cameras everywhere, trying not to hide from them, but avoiding them as much as possible. I went up to the counter. “I want to close my account.”
The lady looked at me for a second. “I need to see some identification.” I got out my driver’s license and handed it to her. “This is a joint account. I will need the other account holder to close it. A Mr. Thomas Evans?” She looked up. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Let me get the manager. We should be able to close this without the paperwork.”
I looked at her. “Okay.”
She came back quickly with a very well dressed man following her. “I am so sorry for your loss. I just need you to sign here. The Callamores have a very important relationship with this branch. And Mr. Evans had already taken measurements to ensure you would receive the funds if anything were to happen.” He pointed at a paper that declared Tommy deceased and no death certificate available.
“Is that it?” I asked.
He took the paper. “Yes, ma’am. How would you like your withdrawal allocated?”
“There shouldn’t be too much in there, maybe a couple hundred dollars,” I said.
He shook his head. “No, ma’am, Mr. Evans has been depositing money for two years now every week. The total of your account is eighteen thousand five hundred twenty-four dollars and thirteen cents.”
I didn’t know what to say. “Umm, whatever is available.”
The teller nodded her head. “I can do most of it in hundred dollar bills, and then tens and twenties?”
“That’s fine.”
It took about fifteen minutes for her to come back and she had bands of money, and then she started to count it out while placing it in a cloth deposit bag with the bank’s name on it. “Will that be all for you?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
She smiled, and then I saw her eyes flicker red. “You will not be able to run from me.”
I blinked at her. “Excuse me?”
Her eyes flickered red one more time.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” She looked very confused at me.
“Nothing, have a great day,” I said.
I turned and walked out of the bank, looking back once at the teller as I left. I hurried to get into the truck. I started in the only direction that I knew I could go in. I knew that I had to learn more about Aodhan O’Dorcha and the Morrígan. I wanted to know what exactly the Morrígan wanted without putting myself in a position that I couldn’t get out of. Honestly, right now she had nothing left to take from me and that made me her most dangerous enemy—an enemy that could hurt her and bring her to an end. I continued to drive through the night, I wasn’t sure exactly where it was that I was going but there was something that was pulling me forward.
Sometime in the night it started to snow again. I felt like I had tunnel vision, and I was stuck in that storm. I finally started to get tired and hungry. I found an old hole in the wall 24-hour diner off the highway to stop. I pulled into the nearly abandoned parking lot and turned off the engine. I rubbed my eyes and pulled the keys out of the ignition. Then I grabbed my backpack to get out. The truck still smelled like Tommy; I took a deep breath in before I got out.
I made myself walk through the door. There was a waitress sitting at the counter reading a book. She flipped the book over. “Sit anywhere.” She smiled.
I chose a booth where I could see Tommy’s truck, and she followed me over to the table.
“Hey, sweetie, what ya’ drinkin’?”
I looked up at her. “Coffee, please. And a water.”
She grazed the table with her hand. “Sure thing, sweetie. Can I get something going for ya’?” I opened the menu and looked up at her. “You got money to pay?” She paused and looked straight at me.
I could tell she was one of those take-no-prisoners types of people. And I wasn’t going to waste her time. “Yes, ma’am.”
She nodded her head once. “Good.”
I must have looked caught off guard. She spoke again. “How ’bout the breakfast special. Ya’ like bacon?”
I nodded my head yes. “Thank you.”
She walked away and yelled at the cook to get food started. I started to stare out of the window seeing my reflection staring back. I didn’t recognize the person I was looking at and worse yet, I could see some of the resemblance that people often talked about when they realized Tommy and I were twins.
The waitress came back over and brought me out of my trance. “Here ya’ go? Ya’ need cream?”
I nodded my head again. “Yes, please.”
She reached over the counter and grabbed a cup that had half-and-half in it. “Here you go, sweetie. You need to talk?”
I took a deep breath and shook my head rapidly in very short motions. “Thank you, but no. I’m good.” I faked a half smile and looked at the coffee mug. “Thank you.”
She smiled back at me then walked over to the counter where she had been sitting, turned her very well-worn book back over, and started reading while the radio played in the background. I could hear the cook humming through the cook’s window. It almost made me chuckle. They had it so peaceful, and they had no idea about what was really happening in the world outside their normalcy. I heard a bell ding and she walked off to get my food. She came back over with two plates.
“Here we go—world famous banana waffle, scrambled eggs, bacon, fully loaded hash browns. Eat up. Is there anything else I can get ya’?”
I looked at all the food and before I could answer. “You know what, how ’bout some warm homemade syrup?”
I looked up at her. “I would love some.”
She walked around the counter and opened something, reaching in for a metal syrup container, and came back over, setting it right by my hand. “You’re going to love it. Mama’s secret recipe. I’ll be over here if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”
I nodded my head and she walked away to the counter with bar stools and sat again turning over her book to read once more. The cook came out of the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee and did a little jig while the waitress read her book. I poured the warm syrup all over the waffle and started to cut in. It was legitimately the best waffle I had ever had. I started to feel better as I ate filling up my hungry stomach. It was very quiet as the old ’50s music played softly. I put another piece of banana waffle in my mouth and it was so delicious. When I was finished eating the waitress came and took my plates.
“Can I ask a favor?” I didn’t know how she would react to my favor, but she shook her head.
“Sure, sweetie.”
I took a deep breath. “Can I just sit for a moment before I get back to driving?”
She nodded her head. “Of course. Take your time. We’re not going anywhere.”
I smiled. “Thank you.” She smiled kindly back at me.
As I sat, I kind of started to doze off, then I woke to a deep man’s voice I had heard before. “May I?”
I instantly look
ed up seeing Aodhan O’Dorcha. “Sure.” I grabbed the thick old-style coffee mug with both my hands not to drink, but to keep my hands on something warm. This man brought a cold to the air that should never be there. It made shivers tingle through my spine.
The waitress looked up. “Sir, can I get ya’ anythin’?”
He looked and smirked at her. “Coffee please.”
She smiled back in a flirtatious way. She set her book down and hopped up to get him some coffee. He cleared his throat and set the gold tip to his black staff on the table. The handle was so elegant. It circled around a sapphire stone that showed through the winding gold. He must have been waiting for me to speak. I decided not to. I didn’t want to be the first one to speak so we sat very quiet for almost two minutes.
“Well, Miss Evans I believe you have questions for me. What may I help you with?” He smiled. I sat for another moment before I decided what my first question would be.
“Why Tommy?” I looked up at him.
“Your brother came to me about two years ago with information on Morrígan. We had spoken for some time that day. He wanted you protected and knew that this Matthew Pearson would only be able to do it for a little while. He knew that you would transition and that his life would end. He was a brave young man under my guard. I am sorry that it ended in this manner. But take solace in his undeniable love for you.”
I had tears in my eyes. Tommy had trusted this man, Aodhan O’Dorcha, to protect me. I sniffled and cleared my throat. “What does the Morrígan want?”
He sat up a little straighter. The waitress came and sat another coffee mug in front of us.
“Will that be it for now?” she asked.
Crimson Secrets Page 23
