Lana nodded and translated “The wind power had only been in the Russian hands. They want that back, along with the fire that you have from your husband.”
“We didn’t marry,” Zoe muttered miserably. She wouldn't trap him legally. It was bad enough they were trapped by mating.
Lana translated, and Bunica went off again.
“What is wrong with you Americans? You have baby, you get married. It is simple. Will he not give your baby his name and his honor or is it as I suspect, he raped you?”
“I love him.” Tears had gathered in her eyes and she blinked them away.
The old woman answered back in a mixture of broken English and Romanian. “There is no love from a warring witch. If you want love, you should have chosen to mate with the healing side of your nature. We understand the heart.”
“It's too late. Will you help me keep my baby or not?” Zoe clenched her fingers into fists and tried to fight back the panic crawling up her skin.
“I must think. This time it may be better to let nature keep its course.” The old lady paced back and forth across the parlor.
“But you helped my mother.” She couldn't believe what she was hearing. After she'd traveled all this way?
“Our clan was going to use your mother's power to protect us from the Russian,” Lana said, translating her grandmother’s words again. “What good did that do?”
Bunica stared out a full picture window onto the vast gardens and was quiet for some time.
Zoe tried to plead again. “Please Bunica, I’ll show you his family online. You can speak to Olivia, a Healer and his childhood friend. She’ll speak for him. Things are different in the US. Please, I already love this baby and love her father. I cannot go on without them. I will not.”
The old woman’s face softened, but she smiled kindly for the first time. Her voice was gentle when she spoke again.
Lana translated. “She says cannot do this thing you ask without speaking to the rest of clan. For now we will keep you both safe. Go rest. We will meet with our clan this evening.”
“Thank you.” Zoe gave a small smile.
Lana led her up a graceful staircase, into a bedroom, and turned down the white comforter. She closed the heavy violet wool drapes, leaving the room almost completely dark.
Zoe sat down, took off her sneakers, and laid her head down on the pillow.
“You are a huge risk to the whole world.” Lana pulled up the blankets, patted Zoe on the shoulder and sighed dramatically.
“I didn’t plan this. It just happened.”
“Go to sleep now,” Lana stated quietly. “I’ll wake you when it’s time to go.”
Chapter 38
Zoe walked up the aisle of the dingy gray auditorium, surrounded by her new family. Noisy clan members sat in well over two hundred metal folding chairs. Some pointed and stared, while others held heated discussions. What little she could translate did not bode well for her baby. She took a deep breath, slowly climbed three stage stairs, and took a seat next to Bunica on the podium.
After one of the witches gave a benediction, it was Bunica's turn. She spoke slowly so Lana could translate.
“So you see, I don’t feel that a decision as great as allowing this baby to survive should rest solely on my shoulders.” Bunica turned her back to the audience and nodded.
Zoe swallowed hard, coughed, and tried to unlock her fingers wrapped around her note cards. The microphone sat, waiting like a cobra with a skinny black stand for a body.
A middle-aged woman spoke up from the audience. “Have her show us what she can do.”
Zoe looked at Bunica who gave her a small nod.
On trembling legs, Zoe stood and made her way to the podium. She raised a shaking palm, created a small tornado, and then extinguished it quickly. Many in the assembly gasped and several people made signs to ward off evil.
A large man with a potbelly stomach stood. “Why would we want more of that in the world?”
Zoe clenched both her trembling hands behind her back and leaned into the mic. Her voice boomed and she jumped. “The baby wouldn’t be theirs. She’d be mine. She’d be raised in love. Surely you wouldn’t deprive her, one of your own clan, at a chance at life?”
