Ana Awakens: A YA Paranormal Murder Mystery Novel (The Clermont Coven Trilogy Book 1)

by Alina Banks

  The door opened, and the only person it could be was Mom. I didn’t look at her.

  “Ana…” She moved closer to me and put her hand on my shoulder. “I understand that you are still upset with me. I kept the truth from you for a long time because I truly believed that was for the best. I didn’t plan on coming home. I did what I thought was best for you. You don’t agree with me and that’s okay. I don’t expect you to. I don’t expect you to understand me, when there are times when I don’t think I entirely understand why I made all those choices.”

  “Mom, it’s going to take a long time for me to forgive you.” I looked at her then, so she could see how much she’d hurt me. “Being a witch is a huge part of me, and you kept that from me. Understanding why doesn’t change how much it all hurts. I…you tried to protect me because that was what you thought was best, and that is something I accept. But that choice took more from me than you can possibly understand. If I had grown up here, I would have been a very different person. I would have had so much more than I do now, because I would have learned magic sooner.” I shrugged. “I would have had friends sooner, instead of traveling from one place to the next, never really being able to settle down. To make friends. To have that part of me for longer.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. More sorry than you will ever know. Making those choices…they were what I thought was best, in the past. Now, I know they weren’t, but I can’t take it back. All I can do is try my best to make it up to you.” She sat down next to me. “Magic is best learned from someone who knows how to do it. I know I learned best from Mom. I know I’m not as strong as you, but it would be a good place for us to start, and maybe I can begin to make up for behaving like a scared child for so long. Back when it first happened, I was a scared child, but there’s no excuses now. I’m an adult, and I should have realized how much of an effect I was having on you and your future.”

  I studied her face, saw the sadness in her eyes. “I know. I understand. I really do. Logic, however, is not something that always works well with emotions, and it kind of feels like the emotions have taken over right now. Especially with everything that’s already happened.” I smiled. “Which is what you did before. Let the emotion win, when you should have been more logical.”

  “We all do it at times, Ana. All I can do is make things up to you, to apologize for failing you as a parent before.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Do you remember who the minion was before?”

  “There was more than one,” Mom said. “I think it has to do with how strong the demon is, because if I’m remembering this right, there was one to begin with, and then, as time passed, it became more. In the end I think there were five. Five people working for the demon, who was trying to take full control of Clermont.” She shook her head. “Knowing that would have made me stop to think about what it was I was doing. Only it didn’t seem to for them, although I couldn’t tell you what the demon promised them in return for their help.”

  “Is he actually going to give them anything?”

  “I have no idea. I wouldn’t say that his promises are worth anything, personally.” She shrugged. “Anyone who decides to work for him needs to learn a very important lesson about the likelihood of something that is pure evil giving you what he promises. Your grandmother always said the people most likely to work with the demon were those who were most desperate. Later on, we found out that three of them had personal arguments with members of the coven, so they worked with the demon to seek revenge. Yet so many more were killed because of that choice, and that’s something I couldn’t forgive. However, one of those minions is still around.”

  For a few seconds, all I could do was stare at her. “One of the minions is still around?”

  “After everything that happened, he learned a very important lesson.” She raked a hand through her hair. “I didn’t mention it to you before, because I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do. There is a chance he might actually be able to help us work out who the minion is this time.”

  “Personally, I still think it’s the principal.”

  Mom smiled. “I wouldn’t say you were wrong about that, since I know all about the choices his family made before. I’m surprised Becca didn’t say anything about it, but then again, I think she wants to believe he’s learned his lesson. Unfortunately, there are some people who don’t learn from the mistakes they make, or the mistakes people in their families make, and I think there’s a chance Gregory Woods might be one of those people.”

  “You went to school with him?”

  “He was actually a few years above me. I knew of him, but I was better friends with his younger brother. Alan was in the same year as me. There was a point, I think, when Alan thought the two of us might have a chance of getting together. I never gave him a reason to think there was going to be anything between us, yet he still had his hopes. When I got into a relationship with your dad, Alan was upset. At least, to begin with. Then, he came to terms with my choice. He accepted my decision, because he saw how happy I was. Gregory, I think, didn’t ever forgive me for not choosing one of his family. He knew of us because his cousin was one of the witches of our coven. He seemed to think that me being in a relationship with Alan would have given the Woods family a step up.”

  “Could he be helping the demon in order to bring you back here, to make you pay for not choosing Alan?”

  “Unfortunately, anything is possible.” She studied me. “I think we need to work out what we do next by talking to the only surviving minion, and then we can go from there. If it is Gregory Woods, then he’s going to pay for that choice.”

  “What happened to Alan?”

  “Alan moved away after everything happened. I haven’t heard anything about him since then.” Mom sighed. “All I can do is hope that he’s happy, wherever he is, and that he found someone who loves him the way he always deserved to be loved.” She stood. “I can introduce you to the surviving minion, if you’d like. I think you can learn from him, about what it means to be a minion, and how it affected him.”

  We stood together on the doorstep. Mom reached out to knock, but before she could, the door opened. A man stood there, his eyes wide, looking back and forth between us. “Hello, Lilah.” He shook his head. “I was somewhat expecting to see you, but I have to admit I was hoping this wouldn’t happen.”

  “I thought it was important I introduced you to Ana. Ana, this is Marcus. Marcus, this my daughter, Ana, the next Conway witch.”

  Marcus nodded. “I’ve heard about Ana.” He gestured for us to follow him. “I’m not going to say it’s a pleasure to meet you, young one, because it’s not. I understand why you’re here, though.”

  As we stepped into the house, he closed the door behind us. I found myself studying him. “Why did you decide to help the demon?”

  He laughed and looked at Mom. “She gets right to the point.”

  Mom gave him a knowing look and shook her head. Marcus led us to the kitchen table, where we sat.

  “Honestly, for me, I’m not sure if it was so much a choice,” he said. “I believe I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The demon was looking for someone it would be easy to convince to work with him, and right then…my life was so screwed up, and the demon said he could fix all my problems. That he could bring back my lost love. Now, I know that it would be impossible. Not even a demon can bring back a dead person.” His eyes met mine for a moment. “Had I not made that choice, I would have moved on, eventually. Instead, I trapped myself, and that’s something I can’t forgive myself for. Working with that creature…” He shook his head. “Although I can understand the choice I made back then, because I was young and stupid, I know it’s something I’m never going to be able to leave in the past.”

  “What was it like to be one of his minions?”

  He sat there for a moment, deep in thought. “At first, it didn’t affect me. I didn’t notice anything until the magic started to change me into something I wasn’t
before, and that…it’s something I don’t know how to describe.” He bit down on his lip. “The darkness started to claim me, in the same way it would claim any minion. I started to want to harm people, which wasn’t something I’d ever wanted before. Going through that…the words aren’t coming.”

  He paused before dropping his head in his hands. “Going through that changed me, both physically and mentally. When the demon was sent back to his realm, I was able to reclaim my humanity, but what I did is always going to be a part of me. I willingly killed for that thing. Had I known how it was going to affect the rest of my life…but even then, I can’t say I wouldn’t have made the same choice. I would have still walked that path because of how I felt, and he knew how to exploit that. I’m sure that whoever made that same decision this time did it for the same reason. That’s something I’m absolutely certain of.

  “Once the decision is made, there’s no going back, unless you’re saved the way I was.” He looked down. “I know there’s one person I have to thank for that - Alice. If it wasn’t for her, I think I would have died, which is something I’m always going to be grateful for, even though it was something that took her life.” He breathed in deeply and then looked back at me. “She’s the reason I’m willing to help you now. I know the others would have killed me, because that was the simpler option. I understand it, but Alice remembered who I was. Alice saved me for the girl I’d loved so deeply, for who I could be in the future, and for who I had been, up until I met that demon. She trusted that I’d be able to put my life back together. I’ve done my best to do that, for her, which hasn’t been anywhere near as easy as I hoped it would be.”

  “Is there a reason for that? Other than your ability to forgive yourself for choices you made in the past.”

  “Sometimes, when I sleep, I still see the demon. I see him reaching out for me, because he wants to claim me. He remembers I belonged to him once, and should he come back, I’m certain that’s what he’d try to do, because I was meant to be his until I died.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I feel like I should have been the one to die. Not Alice. Not when she was so kind to me, even when I didn’t deserve it. She gave me a chance to have a normal life, which is something she’ll never have, and I will never stop atoning for that sin.”

  I felt a stab of pity for him. “Have you spoken to Alice since then?”

  He smiled. “A couple of times, but I can’t bring myself to go in there too often. I feel like it’s mocking her, for being dead when I’m alive, so I keep my distance. I don’t know if I should, though. She’s never blamed me for the choices she made.”

  Sneaking into the school library with Mom was something I could never have imagined doing. Alice, unexpectedly, was waiting for us just inside the door.

  “Hello, Lilah.” She looked at Mom. “I have to admit, I didn’t think you were ever going to return to Clermont, no matter how bad things got.”

  Mom sighed. “Neither did I, Alice, but this is where I was needed.” She shook her head. “When Becca called me…I did think about not coming, more for Ana than for me, but I knew I couldn’t. Not knowing that the demon had always been hunting me. That’s something I didn’t expect.”

  Alice raised an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you expect that, Lilah? The demon wanted you and your mom dead. Knowing that you’d gotten away, knowing that it was possible there would be another generation…” She looked at me, her eyes meeting mine for a moment as she gave me a smile. “A generation that had the power you didn’t. Honestly, having seen Ana, I think she probably has more power than even your mother did, and that’s saying something.”

  I looked between the two of them. That wasn’t something I could have imagined possible. Being stronger than my grandmother, when I’d heard so much about how strong she was, was something that had me shaking my head. “I can’t be stronger than her.”

  “Why not? Power is innate.” Alice gestured for us to follow her. “It’s something more than you can understand right now, Ana, because you weren’t taught about magic before. Magic has always been here, even before we knew what magic was. You’ve learned something about the history of Clermont, so you know there wasn’t always a town here. The town was built because of the power in this region.” She sat at the same table we’d always sat at before, and I joined her, but Mom didn’t. Instead, Mom stood and leant against one of the bookcases. “Becca’s family was changed by the magic because it needed a guardian. It needed protection from beings like the demon. The demon had been trying to claim the magic here for as long as there’d been magic. There have been stories of it wanting the power so it can rule over the entire demon realm. However, if the demon succeeds, the magic will disappear.”

  “So the magic will be gone? Entirely?” I narrowed my eyes. “The demon created the witches in order to make it easier for it to claim the magic for itself, and it didn’t care how it would affect them.”

  “Of course not. Demons use humans. They don’t care about us and they never have.” She sighed sadly. “What we need to do, is to focus on destroying it.”

  I nodded. “In order to do that, we need a witch in the physical realm, a witch in the spiritual realm, and one trapped between the two.” I looked at Alice. “You said you thought you were here for a reason, and there is a chance that this is the reason.”

  For a moment, Alice stared at me. “Maybe. That does make sense, but in order to do that, we need to have a witch who can connect with the spiritual realm, and those are rare.” She studied me more closely. “It is possible that you might be that witch. All these pieces…it feels like all of this is working out this way for a reason.” She shook her head. “I don’t know if it’s going to be possible this generation, though. Maybe it won’t be something that can be done until the next generation, but just knowing that it might be possible…” She shook her head and glanced around the library. “I had started to think I might be trapped here until the end of the Earth, but if that’s not the case…it would be a relief.”

  “That’s something I can understand.” I smiled at Alice, and then glanced at Mom. “Being trapped isn’t something I’d much like either.” Mom had always felt like she was trapped by the fact she had magic. “I’m sorry this happened to you, Alice, but you being here might mean we’re able to bring an end to the demon for good, so I can’t help but feel grateful for that.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  As I sat alone in the sanctuary, I thought about everything I’d learned. About meeting the minion, who was trying so desperately to get his life back after finding himself manipulated by the demon. About Alice, who was trapped in the library, and probably would be until we could bring an end to the demon, which wasn’t something I was certain was going to be possible anytime soon. I’d walked into something more complicated than I could have known, and that was something I’d coped with better than Mom had. Instead of running away because I couldn’t cope, I’d made the most of my newfound abilities, especially knowing what was likely coming next.

  I wanted to do an experiment. Alice’s words about how she didn’t know if I would be able to connect with the spirit world, had me wondering whether I could, but I didn’t know where to start. There were books on the shelves I could use as a starting point. Mom didn’t know the kind of things I wanted to learn, because she’d never taken the time to learn about them, which…as understandable as it was, considering how she felt about being a witch, I couldn’t help but wish things were different. That Mom had been more like Miss Cane. If only she’d…

  I shook my head. None of us had any way of knowing what could have happened if she had embraced what she was, because she hadn’t made that choice. I had a choice in front of me. One that Mom would have had to make back when she was my age. Should I push myself to learn more than she had, or should I just accept what I already knew, and practice some of the simpler spells?

  I looked up at the shelves again and saw the book I was looking for. I thought about my grandmother. She had obvious
ly looked into how they could rid the world of the demon for the rest of time, and if she was doing that…

  I bit down hard on my lip. She knew I was going to be using the sanctuary. It wasn’t somewhere Mom liked to be, because the gathering of power was too strong for her to cope with long term. I stood and took the book from the shelf, before idly wondering if Grandmother had hoped to be the one to bring an end to the demon or if she always knew I’d be the one to shoulder the responsibility.

  Dad’s eyes met mine. Mom was working late again, so it would just be the two of us for dinner. There was worry in his eyes, which was understandable, and I smiled at him. “Everything is okay.”

  He looked down at his plate and frowned. “I knew your mother was a witch when I first started dating her.” He looked back at me and seemed uncertain. “Back then, most people knew a little about the coven, because of how important it was. It had been a part of Clermont for as long as there had been a town here, and without the coven, everything changed. Clermont…it’s not the place it was before, even with everything Becca’s done to try to keep things together, and I know part of that is due to Lilah’s choice to leave Clermont.” He bit down on his lip. “You’re a witch, Ana, and that means something more than I can ever truly understand, but I am always going to be here for you. If you need to talk about anything, I’m here.” He smiled. “I may not be able to understand everything, but I’ll do my best.”

  “Mom’s decisions did change Clermont,” I said, “but the town was changing even before the coven lost so many members to the demon. She was meant to be the one to take over from my grandmother, and she made the decision long before the demon appeared that she didn’t want to, because she never wanted the power she was born with.” I shrugged. “If she had put more effort into learning how to use the magic that was a part of her, then things might have been different.”