Michelle nodded, suddenly nervous even though she had no idea who she was meeting. They’d only taken a few steps toward the cabin when the door flew open, and a tiny old woman came hobbling out. She was leaning on a cane, wrapped in blankets even though the day was warm, and even from a distance, Michelle could see that one eye had gone cloudy.
“Sophie Rayburn, is that you?” she called, still hobbling toward them. “Who have you brought to my mountain? You know I hate to have guests.”
Michelle reached down and grabbed David’s hand; he gave hers a squeeze and smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Sally’s not as bad as she seems.”
“Who’s that talking about me? David Rayburn, what are you doing coming up here to bother me?” Sally screeched from across the yard.
“We’ve brought you someone I think you’d like to meet,” Sophie quickly said, rushing over to Sally and helping her to cross the last few feet to where Michelle stood frozen in place. “This is Michelle.”
The old woman looked up at her, squinting her good eye against the sunlight that streamed down through the trees. Then she gasped and said, “Oh, she looks just like her, but it can’t be her; she’s been gone for a long time.”
Michelle was confused, then Sophie said, “Michelle is Monique’s granddaughter.”
“But how is that possible? What is she doing here? I never thought...I mean, after she left, I...” the old woman trailed off, tears forming in her eyes.
Sophie took Sally’s arm and said, “Why don’t we go inside? I brought everything for a real tea. Michelle can explain while we eat.”
“Oh, a real tea? You know how much I love that,” Sally said, letting Sophie lead her away.
When Michelle walked into the cabin, she had that sense of stepping back in time again. The cabin was small, just one big room with a kitchen tucked into a corner, with the bed pushed into the opposite corner and a bathroom that had been added awkwardly on one side.
Sophie settled Sally in a rocking chair by the fire. “You rest for a few minutes while I make the tea,” she said, patting the old woman on the back.
While Sophie bustled around the kitchen, stoking the old iron cook stove, Michelle and David unpacked the food she’d brought. When they were finished, it looked like a feast spread out on Sally’s little table.
Once the water had boiled, Sophie shook some loose-leaf tea into the pot and brought it over to the table, and they all took a seat. Sophie made a big show of pouring them all tea, straining into their cups and then passing the sugar and milk.
Sally took her time choosing an assortment of goodies for her plate, then took a sip of her tea. “Okay, I think I’m over my shock, but you do look exactly like your grandmother,” she said, with a little giggle taking a bite of a cucumber sandwich.
Michelle was still a little bit confused. “Did you know my grandmother?”
Sally nodded her head, her mouth full of food. When she’d swallowed, she smiled a nearly toothless smile at Michelle and said to Sophie, “Get my memory book from my bedroom.”
When Sophie handed her the book, she paged through it for a minute, then handed it to Michelle. “See, there we are, in front of the school; it was the last day of school.”
She looked at the picture of two girls, their arms around each other, making faces at the camera, and her heart skipped a beat. The taller of the two girls looked exactly like her, and she closed her eyes for just a second, trying to absorb what she was seeing.
“Monique and I were best friends from the time we could walk, but then she and her family were forced out of town. We lost touch for a long time, and it wasn’t until we were both grown with families of our own that we became close again. She swore she’d never come back to Gypsum Creek again; that’s why it was such a shock to see you,” Sally explained, her eyes taking on a far-away look, as she traveled back in time.
“I didn’t know that I looked so much like her,” Michelle said. “I only knew her for a few years before she died. I didn’t know she lived here. Why did she leave?”
“She was born here,” Sally said, then let that sink in. “She had to leave because people discovered who her people were.”
“I still don’t understand,” Michelle said, wishing the woman would give her all the information at once.
Sally set down her teacup. “Molly was your great-grandmother; she had an older daughter that everyone forgot about. Molly sent her away to live with relatives back east when she was six. She came back years later, with a different name and a husband, convinced that no one would know who she was, but they found out, and the family had to flee.”
Michelle was in shock; had never known she had a connection to Gypsum Creek or Molly. “But that’s not possible. I mean, wouldn’t she have told me?”
Sally shook her head, “She hated this place, swore she’d never come back. Years later when, we found each other again, she confessed to me that she never got over being chased from her home.”
“That’s so sad,” Michelle said, thinking of the pain her grandmother has suffered as a child.
“I think it made her stronger,” Sally said, shaking her head sadly. But then she perked up. “Tell me why you’re here. Have you seen Molly?”
Chapter Sixteen
***David***
David’s head was reeling, and he could only imagine what Michelle was thinking. Reaching beneath the table, he found her hand and gave it a squeeze; she squeezed back, but her eyes never left Sally’s face as she talked.
It took her a while to explain to Sally why she’d come to Gypsum Creek and some help from both David and Sophie to explain what happened at the gravesite. When they were finished, Sally sat back in her chair and studied the tea leaves at the bottom of her cup.
“Rinse this out and get me a fresh cup. I need to think,” Sally said.
When she had a fresh cup of tea steaming in front of her, she took a sip, set it down, and looked at Michelle. Her eyes got that same disconnected look he’d seen in Michelle’s eyes that night he’d told her he was a shifter, then she cocked her head to the side and studied her some more.
Even David was beginning to get restless from her penetrating look when she suddenly said in a strange voice, “You’re stronger than your grandmother, stronger than your great-grandmother and her mother before her. I can see it all laid out over the years; the spirits have shown me your path, the path of a great witch.”
Michelle shook her head. “But I don’t want to be a great witch I just want to be a historian,” she said, weakly.
Sally slammed her hand down on the table. “It’s not your choice. You are who you are, and if you turn your back on that, you’ll never find a moment of happiness,” she said, then seemed to come out of the trance she’d been in.
They were all too stunned by Sally’s outburst to say anything, “Oh, that hasn’t happened for a long time,” Sally said, breaking the silence.
Sophie jumped to her feet. “Are you okay,” she asked, fussing over Sally when David thought that she should be asking Michelle that question; her face had gone white, and she was trembling.
He put his arm around her and asked, “Are you okay?”
It took Michelle a moment to answer. “Those were the last words my grandmother said to me.”
David looked over at Sally, then back at Michelle. “Do you think...” he started to ask but let the question trail away and just held onto her, knowing the answer.
“What am I supposed to do?” Michelle whispered.
Sally took a deep breath. “I think it’s up to you to close the doorway so that Molly can finally rest in peace.”
***Michelle***
Michelle pulled out of David’s arms, got up from the table and began to pace. “I tried, I wasn’t strong enough.”
Sally got up slowly from the table and walked over to Michelle, who stopped pacing and looked down at the tiny woman. Sally looked up at her, then began to walk around her. “Oh, you have the strength; you just don’t know how to use it,” she said,
then announced, “Tomorrow you will come back here, and I will teach you to use the magic locked inside you.”
“But, I don’t… I can’t…” Michelle sputtered, wishing she’d never come to Gypsum Creek, then looking over at David, whose face was filled with concern.
“You can and you will,” Sally announced. “It’s your destiny; fate has been planning this for a long time.” Then in a softer voice, she said, “Your grandmother would be proud of the woman you’ve become, but the magic inside you wants out, Michelle.”
Sally’s words brought back the memory of her last visit with her grandmother, she’d been packing to leave when her grandmother poked her head into her room and said, “Leave that for now; there’s something I want to show you.”
Michelle followed her into the back room where she dried herbs and made her potions. She pulled a big book off the shelf and set it down on the table. “Someday, this will be yours. It’s been in our family for generations; it contains all the spells and incantations you will ever need, but if you don’t stop fighting your magic, they will never be yours to control.”
“I hate being a witch; it makes me so different from everyone. Besides, I spend all my time pretending I’m not magic; how can I embrace my magic when I’m hiding it?” she said in frustration.
Her grandmother put her arms around her and gave her a hug. “When the time is right, your magic will be there, but you’ll have to be brave enough to embrace it.”
Later that summer, she’d gotten the news that her grandmother had passed away, and shortly after that, the book had arrived. She’d carried it with her everywhere she went since then, wrapped in leather and carefully locked in a wooden crate that she’d had made especially for it.
She’d never been brave enough to open it, to see what secrets it held. But it looked like the time had come to find out what was inside, to discover the secrets her ancestors had been gathering and to use those secrets to help Molly.
“I’m scared,” she finally said. “I’ve been fighting my magic for so long.”
Sally patted her on the arm with one of her arthritic hands. “The time has come for you to push that fear aside and become the witch you were destined to be. We begin tomorrow,” she said, then hobbled over to her rocking chair, sat down and closed her eyes.
They quietly cleaned up the tea and left the cabin. “She’ll sleep for a few hours now; her son will come and check on her at dinner time,” Sophie said when they were all in the truck.
They were silent the entire trip down the mountain, all lost in their own thoughts, but when they got back to the farm, Michelle knew what she had to do. “I need to go back to town tonight. Stephanie is probably worrying, and there’s something I need to get before I go back tomorrow.”
Sophie nodded. “It’s been a long day, and you probably need some time to process all of this. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about it sooner, but I wasn’t sure until this morning.”
Michelle smiled at her. “It’s okay, I understand, but I am just a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing,” she said, giving Sophie a hug.
“Life has a way of doing that, but don’t worry; it’s not more than you can handle,” Sophie said. “Take the truck so you don’t have to walk; you can bring it back in the morning.”
***David***
When they got back to town, David parked the truck in front of the boarding house thinking that it felt like they been gone a long time. They hadn’t talked much on the short ride to town, but he knew that Michelle was still reeling from what she’d found out that day.
He got out of the truck and went around to open her door and help her out of the truck. She stepped down right into his arms and just held onto him for a long time, her body trembling. When the trembling had stopped, she looked up at him and smiled, then pulled his head down and kissed him.
“At least that hasn’t changed,” she said, grinning up him, a blush spreading across her cheeks.
“And it’s never going to,” he said, grinning back at her. “I guess we’d better go in and let Stephanie know that you’re okay.”
“What are we going to tell her?” Michelle asked, suddenly afraid that she was going to have to lie to her new friend.
“The truth,” David said, leading her up the walkway to the porch.
Millie was sitting on the front porch, and when she saw them, she said, “I told Stephanie that you were okay.”
Michelle opened her mouth to greet Millie, but Stephanie came barreling out the door. “It’s about time you two showed up here. Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick,” she said, grabbing Michelle and giving her a big hug and David a dirty look. “You could have called.”
“I’m sorry, Stephanie, a lot has happened since we left here yesterday,” Michelle said.
“I want to hear all about it; sit down right now and spill,” Stephanie said, pushing them into chairs.
David let Michelle tell the story, noticing that it was easier for her this time, that her hands didn’t shake like before. When she finished, she wasn’t shaking or overwhelmed by what she’d just shared, and he realized just how strong she was. Most people would have still been reeling after what she’d experienced, but she already seemed to be coming to terms with what she’d just learned.
“I knew it,” Stephanie said when Michelle finished. “I knew you were a witch.”
Michelle stared at her in shock, then Millie patted her hand. “Don’t worry, we have a little magic in our blood too.”
“How is Aunt Sally? I haven’t seen her in months, she gets so grumpy when anyone goes up there,” Stephanie asked, a twinkle in her eye.
“Sally was always like that; when we were girls, she used to spend hours alone in the forest,” Millie said, a wistful note in her voice. “Wish I go back to those days, even for a few hours.”
Stephanie patted Millie’s arm. “Too bad there isn’t a spell for that. But now what we need to do is figure out how to close that doorway,” Stephanie said.
“Wait,” Michelle said. “Did you say Aunt Sally?”
Stephanie nodded, then looked over at David. “Didn’t you tell her?”
David shrugged. “I didn’t think it was important,” he said, knowing that it was important now, “but I think we’d better explain now.”
“Okay, I’ll see if I can keep it simple,” Stephanie said. “There are basically two main families on the mountain, descendants of the original settlers, the Rayburns and the Colemans. The Swensen’s were here originally too, but, well, you know what happened to them, and when your grandmother and her family tried to come back, they weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms. So, about half the people here are either a Colman or a Rayburn.”
Michelle let her breath out in a whoosh, and David’s heart ached for her. “I feel like I’ve just become part of something so big I can’t see the beginning or the end.”
Millie reached over and patted her hand. “Life is just a big circle, going around and around; sometimes you just have to hold on and see where you fit into that circle. We’re glad you’re here, Michelle, and not just because of the doorway; you belong here, just like your grandmother did.”
David could see that Michelle had heard enough for one day. “I think it’s time Michelle rested a little bit,” he said, getting to his feet.
“I’ll alert the coven to what you’ve discovered; we’ll be here if you need us,” Stephanie said. “Go get some sleep and then we’ll have some dinner.”
Chapter Seventeen
***Michelle***
The next morning, they were bumping along the road back to Sally’s house, Michelle cradling a leather-wrapped bundle in her lap. David had one hand firmly clasped in hers, and for a moment, she had the weirdest feeling this wasn’t her life, couldn’t be her life.
But then she looked over at him, and he smiled at her, making her heart leap and a tingle erupt deep inside her. A wave of dizziness washed over as a powerful feeling of love erupted inside her and spread, leaving her
feeling warm and content.
Sighing, she looked out the window as the forest flew by and wondered how she was going to find the strength to do what she had to do. How she was going to face the doorway again, face the evil that emanated from the darkness and threatened to suck her in. She’d felt it when Molly opened the doorway, felt it pulling at her and remembered the terror she’d felt.
For a moment, she considered telling Sophie to turn the truck around and take her back. She wasn’t ready for this, wasn’t strong enough to face the evil black hole at the gravesite again. But then she remembered what she’d be walking away from, that if she ran, she’d lose not only David but all the other wonderful new people in her life.
She knew deep down that leaving had never been an option, that it was something she could never have done, that love or not, she’d have never turned her back on Molly, Jessie or Sophie. Suddenly, she understood that she was part of this, part of the evil that had been lurking in the forest all these years.
It also became clear to her that she was the only one who could end it, the only one who could close the doorway and free Molly from her prison. But now she also understood that although she had to face that evil, that she had always been destined to face it, she’d been given what she needed to face it.
Feeling as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, she sat up straighter and took a deep breath. For the first time since she’d been with her grandmother all those years ago, she opened herself to the magic swimming through her veins.
When they got to the little cabin deep in the woods, Michelle got out of the truck feeling stronger than she had in days. The power of her magic filling her completely for the first time in years, she took David’s hand in hers and walked toward Sally, who was waiting on the porch for them.
“You’re different today, young one; your magic flows through you,” Sally said, a look of surprise on her face. “I thought it would be harder to get you to open up. But this is good; it will make our work that much easier.”
Young Love (Wolves 0f Gypsum Creek Book 3) Page 10
