Unraveled Homecoming

by J. L. Shelton

  Annabelle matched her growl for growl. “Mattie, I saw no other option! Siphons were seldom raised by their own families. A king, a warlord, or any other power hungry individual took such children more times than not, tearing them away from their kin and keeping them under tight control. Regularly turning them into subservient weapons who died out from overuse!”

  “And those who weren’t enslaved to an early death often accidentally overloaded their own bodies by taking in too much magic,” interjected Agnes with a grumble. “Trying to connect to another’s energy is hard enough, but rarely do they seem to want to stop there. The thirst for power often leads them to experimenting on what happens if they touch multiple people at once. Ends in disaster, every time.”

  This is not what Mattie wanted to hear! “And I take it my father didn’t know about this whole mess either!”

  “I never told him,” admitted Annabelle proudly, sticking her chin out in the process. “He had enough worry on his mind without me adding a bucket load to it. This decision was mine and mine alone. The only thing I did before I died was to make him promise that you would remain sequestered in Crosshawk until you were at least eighteen winters of age.”

  Fire was starting to heat Mattie’s blood! While this shade had been the most important person in her young life, Annabelle had also been the main source of so many problems! Agnes took a step back, shaking her head. No one could blame the woman for wanting to get out of harm’s way.

  “Why in the hell did you make him do such a thing!?” Mattie asked with a hiss.

  No fear in Annabelle’s eyes when she flatly said, “Because the only other Siphon still alive resides here. Her family took great pains to keep her protected, even leaving for the sea without her because of the dangers she could face on such a journey due to her inexperience at that moment in time. If my blocks had ever fallen, she would have been right there to assist you.”

  Mattie let loose a derisive snort. “And how in the hell did you know she would have even lifted a finger to help?”

  “Because I begged her; because I knew she loved you. Because you are her niece!” snapped Annabelle, the revelation hitting Mattie right in the chest. Green eyes then landed on Agnes, their gaze hardening. “This cannot become common knowledge.”

  The old woman raised her right hand and promised, “It won’t—at least, not by me. She hides her power well.”

  Ignoring the two, Mattie turned away from them and hugged herself. It felt like she was about to hurl her guts out. Aunt Henriella? She had known for some years now that her aunt was the third-most powerful Potenti in Crosshawk, the knowledge of which hadn’t made her treat the woman any differently. She was family, after all! But had she put up with a brat all those years just because of Annabelle’s request? Mattie had thought it was because she had, in her own and most annoying way, somehow become important to the woman.

  “The family she chose is a part of her lifeline, girl!” snapped Agnes angrily, making Mattie realize she had said that last part aloud. “Never doubt your aunt loves you like the daughter she never had!”

  Jaded, thy name was now Mathilda. A small part understood her mother, accepted that she had done this because she truly thought it would help her daughter. The rest of her, however, still couldn’t forgive the woman. And she wasn’t sure she ever would.

  Ice was in her eyes when she turned to stare at what had once been Annabelle Hawksthorne. “Like a daughter?” The chuckle from her lips sounded dark even to her ears. “I felt that way once, long ago. Before I found out that my mother had changed me in ways I could never have imagined or believed.”

  “For your chance at any peace and happiness!” insisted the shade, her hands by her side and clenched into fists. “For your chance to learn your own mind and to carve your own way, yes! Every blasted time, even if it damned my soul over and over again, my answer would always be ‘yes’!”

  “Peace while I was younger, perhaps,” Mattie’s quiet voice definitely had a slight edge to it. “Happiness? Mostly. Knowing my own mind, without doubt.”

  Then Mattie’s eyes narrowed and her volume increased. “But my way seems to have been orchestrated in one fashion or another by someone else! Your need for a Mother Blessed daughter gave me powers that you had to restrain! Father’s just as guilty with his omissions and the insistence I become the best fighter he could make me! Prophecies, Fate, and a universe are all hell-bent on giving me a destiny I never wanted nor asked for! Carve my own way? I wish to Adonai that was true!”

  The last word echoed loudly across the landscape, causing everyone to cover their ears. For, instead of lessening in intensity over time, the volume increased to deafening levels! Then all three fell when the ground began to violently quake. Agnes groaned from landing on her butt. Mattie landed on her stomach, as did Annabelle. The shade’s eyes widen with fear before she used her knees and elbows to carefully crawl towards Mattie. Once they were face to face, she placed both hands on her daughter’s shoulders.

  And to her surprise, Mattie returned the gesture until the two of them were close enough for their foreheads to touch. There were streaks on Annabelle’s face as teardrops fell from those green eyes while she began to sob. And though Mattie’s tears were more on the angry side, she began to sniffle just as loudly.

  “My time is over, precious girl,” Annabelle brokenly whispered. “You have begun to remove those final blocks on your own. When the last falls, I too will be gone.”

  “Mother, I—”

  Annabelle’s voice was shaky but her smile kind. “No; don’t be sorry. Your anger at me was not without cause. Perhaps I interfered because I loved you too damn much.”

  Sobbing it out quickly before the woman interrupted again, Mattie said, “And I love you.”

  “When the power finally hits you, it will be disconcerting—and might remain that way for a long while. Belladonna, Agnes, and Henriella will help guide you when needed. Trust them, for they are family. And remember, you are so much stronger than you know. You will survive this.”

  Crashing and creaking of rock began. Mattie took a quick glance up. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the canyon beginning to refill. Then she noticed her mother’s touch was growing fainter. Quickly returning the gaze to her, Mattie saw that Annabelle’s form was becoming translucent.

  At least her sad smile was still visible. “I told you that many things you had to learn would seem unfair. Maybe I should have said some would seem downright intolerable,” she whispered as she softly rubbed a fading hand down Mattie’s cheek. “You’ll see; everything will work out in the end. Live well through it all, my daughter.”

  One minute the woman who had given Mattie life was there, and then a blink later had her truly gone from the world. The ground stilled, the strange mist had lifted, and all seemed whole. But not totally.

  “MOTHER!!!”

  The heart-wrenching scream was ripped out of Mattie’s throat. The next second, she was in her great-grandmother’s home, keening against her fellow Soul Walker’s shoulder. Both Belladonna and Agnes quickly embraced the younger woman, lending their comfort as best they could while Mattie let the full brunt of the grief consume her.

  Chapter 32

  Annabelle Hawksthorne was truly gone now, her final death inadvertently at her daughter’s hands. The emptiness in Mattie’s heart was greater with this second goodbye, despite the whole fiasco being her mother’s fault. She belatedly realized that she had always felt the woman’s presence within the back of her mind, a tiny bit of constant comfort. Even if Annabelle had done her damnedest not to influence her daughter’s personality, some kind of connection had occurred. Mattie could only hope a bit of her mother’s stubborn spirit had rubbed off on her. She was going to desperately need it.

  For while Mattie’s grief began to subside and had become a manageable level, the physical pain developing in the base of her skull, however, was nearly unbearable! Agnes and Belladonna’s presences were becoming less comforting by the second. It
was hard to explain just how dramatically the way Mattie experienced the world was changing. The ability to sense magic in others used to be like a faint whisper brushing against her brain. Now it felt like her head was being spiked with fiery brands! Agnes’ power was akin to sticking her hand in a candle’s flame; Belladonna’s felt like a raging inferno at her back.

  Mattie’s eyes snapped open, which turned out to be a colossal mistake on her part. Colors swirled all around her, dancing and flashing with various intensities. The assault on her vision had Mattie on her feet in no time. Agnes calmly pulled her hands into her lap, her form glowing with a vibrant amber light. Belladonna’s footsteps as she moved away had Mattie quickly turning towards her. The younger woman was nearly blinded by the multiple colors of The Eldest’s magic, blazing as brightly as a hot forge!

  Any courage remaining within Mattie fled at that sight! She ran for the door a second later, soon wondering when it had started to glow red. The duo didn’t try to stop the escape attempt; her traitorous stomach did the hard work for them. Before she could reach the threshold, Mattie’s hands and knees hit the floor while she vomited whatever contents remained in her stomach.

  Thank Adonai, it hadn’t been that much!

  “Breathe, child. Just breathe.”

  “It’s still similar to what happens when you Soul Walk, girl. Just on a much larger scale.”

  The first gentle voice had been Belladonna. The second one filled with firm kindness had been Agnes. They hadn’t moved any closer, as if the pair had known to stay away for now. Mattie followed her great-grandmother’s advice, closed her eyes, and took in a slow, ragged breath. Repeating the process, she desperately pleaded to Adonai for help to survive this. But when Mattie noticed that her whole entire body wouldn’t stop violently shaking even after the tenth purposeful intake of breath, a guttural and primal scream roared out of her mouth!

  “That’s one way to handle this,” muttered Agnes.

  Belladonna ignored the snarky comment. “The overload isn’t unexpected, Mattie. Just keep breathing and remember how you got through the first time you could view magic.”

  Pretty much the way I am now! she thought angrily.

  And the old seamstress was oh so wrong. This was nothing like her Soul Walking—not even close to what she had been able to sense before! The atmosphere within the cottage thrummed with magic, and not just from the two women. Sparkling streams flowed in and out of every crack and crevice in the walls, following the more natural currents of air. The quaking of her tense muscles would not stop because she could feel the earth deep beneath the floorboards. Pulsating with an untamed and untapped power, the hellacious amount of energy buried underground scared her to death. If she tried to reach for all that magic, it would destroy her—body and soul!

  The fact she was still tempted to grab the power despite the deadly consequence frightened her most of all!

  Footsteps cautiously approached. Mattie’s head lowered before she shook it in frustration. There was no need to see who was daring to come closer. Fresh waves of power battering the back of her skull announced Belladonna’s presence more clearly than any resounding trumpet.

  “Just like with most gifts, you can reduce its effect on your senses,” the woman said as she stopped a foot or so away. “How did you do that with your other magical abilities?”

  “I don’t know!” Mattie growled through gritted teeth. Were there fresh, hot tears in her eyes? With how angry and terrified she felt, there could be.

  “Unfortunately, I think Annabelle might have assisted her,” muttered Agnes. “Those blocks were intricately complicated.”

  “Good thing I interrogated Henriella the other day then.”

  Mattie’s well of patience had not only run dry, but had also been obliterated completely! “If you know a way to help keep my sanity intact, then spit it out!”

  “Look at me.”

  A quiver ran down Mattie’s spine at Belladonna’s firm demand. The last thing she wanted to see was the blazing reminder on just how powerful her great-grandmother was. Something inside screamed that The Eldest’s magic could consume her as easily as a parchment caught within a roaring fire.

  For once, Mattie let fear rule her reasoning and just growled a faint, “No.”

  “Mattie,” her tone had switched to a gentle prodding. “How do you lower the intensity of a candle’s light?”

  Cover it somehow, of course.

  Belladonna didn’t wait for the younger woman to answer aloud. “Henriella insists that part of a Siphon’s gift is the ability to lessen the barrage of magic. Otherwise, you could accidentally gather so much more into yourself than was ever intended.”

  “But it won’t be completely gone from view, will it?” Mattie gasped out, somewhat proud her mouth could still form a coherent sentence. This confirmation that Crosshawk was a hotbed of magic was starting to make her head fell like it was going to burst wide open!

  The sad answer made Mattie cringe. “No. But your aunt insists it will be akin to walking through the world bundled from head to toe within a dark, gossamer scarf. Magic will never be truly hidden from you again, but it will appear more like a soft haze that can be easily ignored when necessary.”

  “And how am I to accomplish this amazing feat?”

  Agnes was the one who bit back. “Stop whining, girl, and just figure it the hell out! Did you train with the infamous Metis or not?”

  Compassion definitely wasn’t the seamstress’ strong suit, but her cold, verbal slap helped force Mattie to push the agony aside. Agnes and Metis must have gone to the same school for unforgiving instructors, because the powerhouse of a gnome had never allowed pain to be an excuse for sloppiness either. So while Mattie’s head still hurt like hell, sheer determination helped to bring her thoughts into focus.

  A distant memory came to Mattie while she considered a way to diffuse the magical assault, causing a quiet sob to escape her lips. Her reaction to the special family moment was part anger at her mother for burying it all these years, making Mattie wonder why Annabelle would have done such a thing. The other reason was for how much it made her miss the infuriating woman even more!

  When Mattie was five years old, her exploring nature had landed her in trouble more times than not. One day, she had popped the latch on a cedar chest in her parents’ bedroom. At first, Annabelle had angrily yelled at her daughter for unpacking all her precious mementos and piling them haphazardly on the floor. But when Mattie tried to put the old wedding veil on her head, a laugh had escaped her mother’s lips. With a bright smile, the woman had quickly placed the envelope she had rescued from the floor into the chest. After tucking it under a pale green blanket, she turned and adjusted her child’s new and overly large headpiece as well as she could. Gregory had found the two of them giggling as Mattie had tried to walk around with the flimsy fabric reducing her vision, its length threatening to trip her up. He had scooped his daughter up with a chuckle, declaring he hoped it was still many years before he saw her wear such an ornament again.

  Believing the attempt would be nothing but a vain hope, Mattie imagined how it had felt to wear that headdress. Though the band had been made of gold, it had rested lightly on her head. Fabric as soft as a flower’s petal had hung over her face, the gossamer mantle blurring details behind a faint silver haze. Just like the mental fortress had been erected to protect her mind from invasion, Mattie began to use those memories to help envision a magic-reducing veil protecting her.

  Mattie never expected it to work, but soon the powerful waves of arcane energy lessened to a soft hum. New pain shot through her as the tightness in her muscles snapped, cramps in various limbs made themselves known from the sudden relaxation. Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned to gaze at Belladonna. Gone was the blinding lightshow. Instead, a faint yet colorful aura surrounded her form.

  “I think she figured it out,” said Agnes, sounding impressed.

  Mattie could barely see the orange sheen of Agnes’ magic a
fter she switched her focus to the old seamstress. “I think you’re right,” she said with tentative hopefulness.

  Belladonna smiled. “Good. This will help make the hardest lesson less agonizing.”

  Mattie’s heart sank at those words. Hadn’t she gone through enough trauma today? “There’s more? I just want to go home and recover!”

  Agnes shook her head. “This power you have now is too dangerous to let you go anywhere without learning the basics of control.”

  “This is not fair at all.”

  “Life never is.”

  Mattie glared at Agnes, but Belladonna just nodded in agreement with the old seamstress. “Still, a break is definitely what we all need. Mattie, why don’t you go into the bedroom and take a nap. I’ll wake you once our meal is ready.”

  “And I’ll take some tea before heading home,” said Agnes readily. “You won’t need me for this next part. Plus, my sister must be worried about me by now.”

  The cranky Soul Walker then turned towards Mattie. A soft smile was on her face as she gave the younger woman a respectful nod. “You did good today, girl. None of this was easy and would’ve broken a lesser person. Never doubt your strength, no matter what.”

  “Thank you, for everything,” Mattie said sincerely. “There would’ve been no way to get this far without your help.”

  “You’re welcome, girl,” she said with a wink. “Now get your worn-out ass to bed.”

  Mattie smiled, before releasing a groan as she hauled herself off the floor. After bidding Agnes farewell, she somehow got her tired and sore body across the cottage and into the bedroom. She barely noted how large and puffy her great-grandmother’s bed was before plopping down upon the mattress and falling immediately into a dreamless slumber.

  Chapter 33

  “If I had known the woman would continuously drag me along with her on an emotional free-for-all, I wouldn’t have bonded with her! Three days in a row is almost more than I can bear!”