The Witch's Journey

by Leigh Ann Edwards

  “They only get one life together,” Danhoul said looking at Ainsley with a hint of accusation.

  “I thought I was doing her a favor, not having to be put through all those lives filled with so much heartache,” Ainsley said. “It’s why I requested that.”

  “I know,” Danhoul said. “I’m not tryin’ to blame you.”

  “We’ll need to make Angelique feel more welcomed,” Alainn said. “It must be terrible for her.”

  “Just try not to judge her,” Danhoul replied.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  “You can’t spend Christmas Eve alone,” Danhoul said. “I’m not tryin’ to push. We don’t have to sleep together ever again if that’s what the issue is, but you shouldn’t be alone.”

  “I’d just ruin Christmas for everyone,” Angelique argued.

  “You wouldn’t. They’re actually very empathetic. Arianna’s sometimes a little difficult because she’s pregnant and emotional. They can all be a little headstrong, like you, but we’ll need to work together.”

  “They’re really protective of you,” Angelique said.

  “They don’t want to see us hurt or have it awkward between us.”

  “I don’t think we can be more than friends, Danhoul.”

  “If that’s what you want, I won’t pressure you. But it can’t only be because you think the other witches might disapprove. I really like you. Hell, I admit, I’m startin’ to more than like you, Angie, but…”

  “This will be freaking awkward.”

  She put her head on her arms resting on the table.

  “I apologize if I’ve made it worse,” Danhoul said touching her shoulder.

  “Clearly, it wasn’t just you. I don’t regret it, but it doesn’t mean I don’t feel guilty. I love Faolan with every damn breath and I still had wild sex with you.”

  “I was there, Angie. I do remember,” Danhoul said and she smiled.

  “I won’t go tonight for their Christmas Eve party. I’d rather not come for Christmas dinner tomorrow either. Please give my apologies to everyone.”

  “If that’s what you want,” Danhoul said, sounding disappointed.

  “I would like Cal and Fiona to meet sometime, because I’m almost certain she’s his mother. I had my suspicions but after talking with him and seeing his eyes and his expressions, I’m pretty sure.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “I haven’t told her yet but she and Cal should definitely be reunited.”

  *

  “You can’t be alone Christmas Eve, Angelique!” Arianna insisted.

  The other three witches sat in her kitchen. Angelique served tea.

  “I’m sorry if your first impression of us wasn’t good,” Alainn said.

  “I heard all your thoughts coming at me. I admit, I felt judged.”

  “That wasn’t our intention,” Ainsley said.

  “At least I didn’t know who thought which thoughts. I didn’t know who believed I was seeking attention—or who thought I seemed sad and pathetic—or who wondered if I really loved Faolan that much if I was spending time with Danhoul—or who believed I wanted everyone to feel sorry for me.”

  “Christ, no wonder you left in such a hurry if that’s what you heard,” Arianna said.

  “We really do want you to spend Christmas Eve with us,” Alainn said.

  “I’d just bring you down and make you uncomfortable because of Danhoul.”

  “Danhoul’s right; what you do is your business,” Ainsley said.

  “You don’t judge me for sleeping with him?” Angelique asked.

  “Well…I guess that answers our question,” Arianna said. “We weren’t sure it’d gotten that far.”

  “We’d never judge you,” the three said in unison.

  “Especially since you’ve all considered sleeping with Danhoul when estranged from your husbands.”

  That created another awkward silence.

  “I’ve seen echoes of what occurred in the past. Danhoul’s kind and caring. He’s been a guardian to each of you; he’s super appealing and…sexy.”

  “You’re right; if we’d no hope of bein’ with the men we loved, probably each of us may have ended up in Danhoul’s bed or maybe more,” Arianna said.

  They all nodded with varying degrees of sheepishness.

  *

  Angelique made it through Christmas. She went upstairs for Christmas Eve and everyone came to her apartment Christmas Day bringing food galore.

  Mrs. Boyle was there, too. Fiona didn’t make it. She ended up with an unpleasant stomach bug. Angelique hadn’t spoken to her or Cal about her belief they were related.

  In fact, oddly, Fiona seemed to be avoiding her. When she got a letter saying she’d temporarily closed the shop to go traveling, Angelique knew there was more to it especially when she wouldn’t answer or return her calls or texts. Something must have spooked her. Fiona was highly intuitive.

  Mrs. Boyle and Mr. Nivens passed away mid-January, only a day apart. Both in their sleep as they hoped for. Angelique was sad, but they’d lived long full lives. Angelique and Newt scattered Mr. Nivens’s ashes along the Charles River according to his wishes. Danhoul and Newt accompanied Angelique to Mrs. Boyle’s funeral. She was buried next to her husband.

  What was both thrilling and ironic, with no children, Mrs. Boyle left the lighthouse in Ireland to Angelique. Angelique owned a freaking lighthouse—Faolan’s lighthouse, plus the three-hundred-year-old cottage where she and Faolan had made love and excitedly spoke of living there one day. She’d visit sometime, see if it could be restored—if she lived through the upcoming battle.

  Danhoul and Tristan believed they’d be required to learn more about fighting Odhran and preparing for that battle. She needed to learn more, although remembering those horrific creatures on Faolan’s ship made her hesitant.

  Angelique was getting to know the other witches and their husbands, beginning to feel part of their circle. She and Alainn had really clicked. She felt especially close to her. Cal had taken Angelique under his wing, too.

  Newt and Timothy were seeing each other exclusively. Arianna’s baby belly was growing fast and the loving looks she and Darius shared were touching. Cal and Ainsley spent lots of time alone, apparently making up for months apart. Although Alainn and Killian had been married for over five years, their love and passion was obviously very much alive. Witnessing them all so in love made missing Faolan even harder.

  Tristan was seeing a girl from the pub. With him it was always casual. Angelique and Danhoul were friends. They tried not to make it awkward, but still, it was.

  Today was Valentine’s Day. Angelique sorrowfully wondered how she and Faolan would’ve spent the day and night. When would she stop thinking like that?

  Romantic movies on television tonight made Angelique more bitter; listening to music didn’t console her. She’d done some yoga, considered going to bed but it wasn’t even nine. Hearing a knock, she opened the door to Danhoul holding a bottle of wine.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day. This isn’t a romantic call—or a booty call,” he joked. “I thought since you’re alone and I’m alone, we could be alone together, just friends.”

  “Come in, Danhoul. I’ll get you a wineglass.”

  “You aren’t drinking?” he asked, stepping in.

  “I have a bit of a headache.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “After the accident a few years ago, I occasionally have headaches.”

  “I could do magical healing.”

  “That’s not a good idea,” she said glancing at him and trying not to be turned on. “But you’re very sweet.”

  “Not that sweet,” Danhoul replied.

  He pulled her pink phone from his pocket. The one Wolf had taken the night she and Faolan left on their journeys through time.

  “The photos of Faolan are still on it; maybe because it was in the magical chest. I thought it would be easier for you to move forward without this reminder, but that’s not my d
ecision. I found it weeks ago when helping Darius and the other guys begin the attic renovation. I apologize. I should’ve given it to you right away.”

  “I understand.” She reached for the phone, already crying. “But there was nothing in the chest that night I…destroyed the attic.”

  “Must have magically appeared. But, I’ll go,” he said.

  “No. Stay. Since we’re both feeling so cheerful about Valentine’s Day maybe we could watch a horror movie.”

  “I’d like that.” He grinned.

  *

  Angelique sat on the porch swing on the veranda, welcoming the warm early March sunshine.

  “I need to talk to you Angelique,” Danhoul said.

  “Sounds serious.”

  “It is,” he said passing her a sheet of paper.

  “A report of a historical shipwreck,” she replied after looking.

  “An Irish ship off the coast of New England in November 1774.”

  “I don’t see Faolan’s name.”

  “Some are indiscernible including the captain’s,” Danhoul said. “But did you notice the name of the ship?”

  Angelique squinted at the faded writing, then dropped the paper—saw it flutter to the ground almost in slow motion though her heart raced. Angel’s Curse. That was too much of a coincidence. Obviously, Faolan remembered her and not with fondness. Clearly, he was as affected by their parting as her, which made no sense when he hadn’t remembered her when she’d gone back and slept with him.

  “I need to try to stop that shipwreck.”

  “You can’t mess with history, Angie. A lot would change and not necessarily in a good way. That might be the reason for the shipwreck if the gods know of an unfavorable future that would happen if the men lived.”

  She sat dumbstruck.

  “You still can’t go back in time, correct?” Danhoul asked.

  “Not to Faolan’s time, although I haven’t tried in a while. You could make sure Faolan isn’t on that ship.”

  “It would be interfering with history.”

  “How often have we done that before, Danhoul? Why did you even show me if you don’t intend to help?”

  “You have a right to know.”

  “Why would Faolan be near Boston? He swore he’d never sail here with the trouble with the British and everything leading to the Revolutionary War.”

  “If he remembers you, he’d be trying to get a message to you. But how would he think he could do that knowing you’re in a different time?”

  “Oh my freakin’ God, The Lake House.”

  “I thought you once owned a beach house.”

  “No, the movie, The Lake House. Two people leave messages before realizing they’re in different times.”

  She raced up the steps to the attic, flung the door open to see Darius, Killian, Cal and Timothy pulling up flooring for replacing.

  “I have to find the creaky floorboard.”

  “They’re all a bit creaky,” Killian said.

  She started walking across the floor.

  “Careful; some are loose,” Darius warned.

  “Can’t you tell us which one it might be?” Cal asked.

  “Look, Grandpa, if I knew, I’d tell you. It looked different before when it was filled with clutter and…”

  “I don’t really appreciate being called that,” Cal said, though he grinned.

  “Great-grandpa, then,” she said and they all smiled.

  “Here maybe.” She pointed.

  “What are you looking for?” Timothy asked.

  “A note that’s been here for almost two hundred fifty years.”

  “If it’s paper, it mightn’t have lasted,” Darius said.

  Her heart fell.

  “We’ve found messages in castle walls that were centuries old,” Killian said, clearly trying to comfort her.

  She went to where she thought it might be. They obligingly pulled back that plank and several more, but found nothing.

  “It was a long shot anyway,” she said, disappointed, starting down the stairs and already in tears.

  A few moments later Danhoul joined her.

  “I shouldn’t have told you.”

  “I’m glad you did. Maybe I could summon Aine, see if she’d assist me in saving Faolan and possibly tell me why his memories weren’t erased.”

  “I’ll try to speak to her,” Danhoul said.

  “Why do you suppose the gods haven’t been in contact? Arianna’s going to be giving birth in a few weeks.”

  “I honestly don’t know,” Danhoul admitted.

  She closed her eyes. Danhoul looked at her more seriously.

  “Are you okay?” he asked. “You’ve seemed a little off lately.”

  “I’ve been dizzy. I have yearly tests because of the accident I told you about. I also have congenital heart issues doctors insist on keeping an eye on. I’m overdue getting them done.”

  “It’s serious, then?”

  “I’m fine. Just a little breathless sometimes. I wonder if skipping about through time worsened it or maybe it was that cursed weapon.”

  “Why can’t I read you, Angie? I hear your thoughts sometimes, but I can’t be intuitive with you. Neither can the other witches.”

  “Maybe I’m not actually a transcendent witch.”

  “Of course you are. You can read the book and have powerful magic. Are you sure you’re okay? You’re pale.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You’re definitely not going to move through time even to try to save Faolan.”

  “Would you go for me?”

  “I’ll think about it while I go for a walk. Want to come? Or is that advisable?”

  “You’re the magical healer.”

  “I can’t even sense your health concerns or heal you as I should.”

  “I suspect with this heart anomaly, I won’t live to be an old woman but maybe none of us will grow old if we have to fight in this freaking battle. Maybe there’ll be no world to grow old in, if the battle doesn’t go as we hope.”

  “That’s a cheery thought,” Danhoul said as they started walking.

  *

  They stood by the plaque where the great elm once was. Why was she so drawn to this spot today? There were many spirits here, as usual. But nothing out of the ordinary.

  “Who’s that?” Danhoul asked.

  “I call him Grouchy Gus because he’s so angry and he really doesn’t like me.”

  Angelique looked at the man, possibly early sixties with a worn hat and tattered clothing. Holding a bottle of whiskey as usual, he sat like he was leaning against the tree that was no longer there. It was surely where he’d died. Even as a spirit, he seemed inebriated. Mumbling incoherently, he looked up with narrowed, drunken eyes in his weather-worn face.

  “You don’t understand me.”

  “Because you’re drunk and miserable,” Angelique replied.

  “I gave it all up—lost everythin’, to stay and wait. In hope of bein’ together.”

  She heard him clearer now. She’d never noticed an Irish accent before and her palm burned, which only happened when Faolan was near. She hadn’t been back here since they’d done the blood vows.

  “Maybe an old sea captain that fell on hard times,” Danhoul observed.

  Angelique dared to look closer. She’d only ever seen him sitting. He might be tall enough and would’ve become stooped with age. She’d never looked into his mostly closed eyes. Maybe never wanted to see his despair.

  She dropped to her knees and turned his face to her. He crankily snarled and pulled away.

  “Faolan?”

  He looked up then.

  “You’re feckin’ slow to understand, Angel,” he growled. “I came lookin’ for you, left a note with the secret code. You never came. Every year on that day, I waited here. Finally, I just stayed.”

  “There was no note,” she said.

  “I left it under the floorboards,” he insisted.

  “But, I looked.”

>   “Darius just said the attic was probably added later and not part of the original building,” Danhoul explained.

  “Tell me when I’m supposed to meet you, Faolan. I’ll create a spell and go back.”

  He shook his head, his spectral eyes tortured.

  “Angie,” Danhoul said in warning before she felt a mysterious unwelcome presence.

  “Leave it alone, water witch. You were never meant to be together,” Aine said looking bloody sanctimonious.

  “Maybe not by your design,” Angelique said. “But I chose Faolan as a child. He saved my life. If you want me to fight in this upcoming battle, you’ll let me go back to meet him.”

  “We saved his life as you requested,” Aine said. “Then he saved yours.”

  “That memory’s vague. You didn’t take away Faolan’s memories but left him despairing for the rest of his life.”

  “We believe the pendant you charmed for him made us unable to erase memories. We tried more than once, but recollections of you wouldn’t be taken from his mind even after we acquired the pendant—of which he was much opposed.”

  “Because we’re meant to be together,” Angelique said. “Surely even someone as arrogant and controlling as you must recognize that. He wasn’t meant to wait here driven to becoming a drunkard and dying alone.”

  “Love’s the undoing of many humans,” Aine dismissively said.

  “Let me go back to him or summon him to me. I beg you…allow him to be my guardian; let us fight in the battle together. I told you, I’ll be stronger with him by my side.”

  “No,” Aine simply refused.

  “The book says Ainsley’s able to retrieve anyone from any time. Let her bring Faolan to me.”

  “What makes you think he’d even want you now? Do you suppose he’d accept that you coupled with the Druid Danhoul so soon after you two were parted? He’s a jealous man—like his father.”

  “You don’t know the truth, Aine. I performed a dark spell. It enabled me to go back to Faolan. He didn’t remember me, so this makes no sense.”

  Aine looked stunned at that, as did Danhoul.

  Faolan’s specter looked up at Angelique, this time even more tormented and angrier. He furiously glanced at Danhoul, then simply disappeared.