Randall wasn't nervous about what he could do to him, he was nervous what Ethan could do to Page. Part of Randall wanted her to stay missing forever, and then the other part of him worried what that would mean for her. He was already worried about her getting in troubles that he couldn't help her with. It was already on his mind.
As Ethan was leaving, Randall couldn’t just let him go, not after what he said and what he’d suggested. Instead, the one thing that Randall had promised his brother he wouldn't do, he did. Randall challenged Ethan from the cell and in earshot of other people. He screamed it as long as he could. Randall wanted to make sure that everybody heard him and there was going to be no mistakes that he hadn’t said it. Ben wasn't going to be able to stop the two of them fighting any longer. He was going to fight for Page if it was the last thing that he did. Randall didn't think that it would be, but he was willing to. He had to get out of there. He was going crazy in the cell and worrying about Page just made it even worse. Nothing else was going to be done.
Ethan turned around with the biggest smile on his face. “I was hoping you would finally get around to doing that. Took you a while to find your balls, didn't it?”
Randall wondered to himself how he had seen things so poorly. He had thought that it would help matters to let it play out, but there was a look in his eyes, something about the way his brother morphed right in front of him, that made him nervous. It felt like Ethan was pure evil, and he had just challenged the devil. He’d had no choice, there was no going back now, but Randall had a very strong feeling that he had just messed everything up. It hit him like a ton of bricks and when he tried to backtrack, it was too late.
“Why don't you wait here? I am going to talk to your brother and get this worked out. If you really want to go upagainst me, I have no problem going up against you. With all of these witnesses, there is no going back now.”
Randall smiled. “Good.” Inside, he wasn’t smiling quite as wide.
Chapter 16
Page
Page tried to ignore how she was feeling. Her stomach kept cramping up and though her first instinct was to go to the hospital, there wasn't a place that she could take herself. What would the doctor think when they saw six or seven babies moving around so freely inside of her stomach? Page knew that the chances of something bad happening if she went to the hospital were high, so her best bet was to stay as far away from that place as possible.
Her next option was to go see a healer. That one was easier said than done, when the two places she could have gone, she now couldn't be seen at. Page had people back home that would help her, even in her current situation, but getting there and making sure that she wasn't found by the wrong person and given to her father was just too high for that to even be an idea. Page was running out of options and before she knew it, she was hoping that things could be different somehow. How though? That was not as easy to understand.
Since the healer was out of the question and so was the hospital, Page could only think of one other place that she could go to get help. It was further away than she thought she could make, but Page had no other choice. Instead of focusing onmuch of anything, she was trying to remember the place she had gone when she was a girl and her mother had been sick. It was so long ago but the memory was so strong that she had never forgotten it. To that day, Page was quite sure that she would be able to find the place. It was surprising to her, but true, nonetheless.
Page packed up what few belongings she had and all the money that she had been able to save. She also had a couple of gemstones and the charm bracelet that she wore. Page was grateful to have that, knowing that the witch would want something a little more tangible for her time. Pieces of paper meant nothing to such powerful beings. She wanted gems that she could turn into more magic and more power. The witch that she remembered was quite old but even then, she was probably hundreds of years into her life. Page worried fleetingly that the old witch wouldn't be there, but she knew deep down that she would be. The witch would likely out live her.
Since the witch lived forty or fifty miles deep in the woods, Page had a long way to traverse that did not have a path. She shifted into her true form, strapping what was needed to her body and taking off at an adequate pace. Before she could imagine anything more, Page was back to thinking ahead to when she found Randall and they were all back together. Then she would have their children and he would be there for it. Page thought about it so strongly that she wondered if she could just manifest it with her mind. It seemed silly at best, but Page truly wanted to have that sort of focus.
Page had to stop a couple of times, because it hurt to move so quickly and for so long. She tried to ignore it as well as she could, but she failed miserably. Her brain could not take much more of it and she had to stop a few miles from the witch’s house and lay out. Page hoped that she would be able to get up againbut at the moment, she wasn't 100% sure that she would be. Standing felt like such a task, standing up, walking, it was more than she could handle.
Page slipped in and out consciousness and she could have sworn when she opened her eyes, the old witch that she remembered, every wrinkle the same as twenty years prior, was standing over her clucking her tongue. Page tried to say something, to tell her that she was there to see her, but it all went black. Was it because of the old witch waving her arms in front of her? Page had no idea, just that with the wave of her arm, Page was no longer in pain and that was one of the only things she could ask for.
***
When she came to, Page was inundated with the smell of fire, smoke and strong medicinal scents that wafted through the air. The room was dark, and the only source of light seemed to be the fire that filled her nostrils. She tried to move, but quickly realized that she was covered in some kind of green, grassy poultice. Her stomach was feeling better, no longer contracting and Page focused on the lack of pain for a moment. She was exactly where she needed to be apparently. The realization came quick and made her relax.
“Ah, you are awake. I was starting to wonder if you made me come all the way out there to get you today just to die. That would have been sad, considering that I haven't seen you in what, twenty years?”
“You do remember me?” Page reveled in the old woman's memory. As the old woman nodded, she wondered how she could remember her as a girl from so long ago. She wanted to ask, to find out all the secrets that she carried, but Page knewbetter. She liked her enough that she was being helped and not killed. She could recognize that at the very least as a good sign.
“It's been that long. I wondered if you would remember me. That was foolish to question it.”
“Did your mother ever find what she was looking for?”
Page felt a pain in her throat and a tightening of her chest from the question, because it wasn't an answer that she wanted to give. Her mother had not made it. “I guess in a way she did find what she was looking for, as at the end she was only looking for peace. She found a way to take the pain away and that was death. So yes, in that respect, she did.”
The old witch sat back in her chair that was pulled next to the bed that Page awoke in. The woman didn't look anymore frail or younger than she had before. She seemed to be caught floating in time, not going forward or backward, just existing. She wondered if that was true, if the old woman was real or not.
“I can feel the pain in you, child. You have always had a bigger weight on your shoulders than you should have carried. Back then it was losing your mother and now, what have you lost this time to make you so sad? You will not lose your babies. If you woke up at all, I knew that you wouldn't. If that would have you filled with such melancholy, know that they will survive, all seven of them.
“Seven?” Page croaked. She couldn't believe it, the number seemed so ridiculously high. How was she ever going to do it alone? Would she have to? She wished that the witch was the type that could see into the future. She knew that she wasn't because when she was younger, she had asked her if her mother would die. The witch was the only one that had told her the truth. The witch had bent down, her bony hands touching her shoulder and whispered that her mother was going to die soon.Page had been shocked at first, moving back like she had been touched unfairly, but the witch had given her kindness that day and again today. Page held on to that kindness.
“You say that they’re all going to live?”
The old white-haired witch smiled. “Yes. This time I have good news to give. I am grateful for that. I'm glad that you came back and this time it is good.”
Page felt better pretty quickly. Glenda told her that her babies were all going to make it and there wasn’t much else that she could ask for. Page knew that there was something else to worry about, Randall for one, but their babies were okay, and Page would hold onto that.
“What was the pain?”
The witch waved her off. “This pregnancy is hard because you are too stressed. You need to find the father and go to him. He needs you right now, Page, but going to him is going to set something in motion that you aren’t going to like. It is necessary though. You have to welcome suffering for a while to get your happy ending.”
