“You mean the heavy fist that molested my face?” I seethed through a clenched jaw.
“Zephyr Goody,” he continued without a hitch, “a descendant of Norse Woods’ five founding families. The element of air.Yourbrother.”
I felt my face get hot.
“Julian Blackwell, a descendant of Norse Woods’ five founding families. The element of spirit.Yourbrother.”
“I’ve heard enough of this.” I turned, wanting to find Adora and leave this town once and for all.
“Then there’s you,” he said, stopping me. “Danvers, the descendant of Norse Woods’ five founding families. The element of earth.Theirbrother.” An ache swam inside me, and he continued, “And the lost Heathen who’s been missed and grieved dearly by your coven for over a century.” I looked at him, a drum beating in my chest. All I’d ever wanted was to belong somewhere and be a part of something. And I did. There was an entirecoven, and they missed me. Why had my mother taken me away? “Tell me, Danvers. What did your mother call you?”
My jaw was locked tight.
My eyes were nailed to Ocean’s face.
My chest was heaving.
“Stone.” A whisper.
I was doing all I could to hold myself together.
“Stone Danvers,” he repeated as though he wanted to test it out and see if it felt the same leaving his mouth as he’d always imagined. “The last known Danvers, which I’m assuming was your father, was Forest Danvers. Your mother, Clarice Danvers.”
He was mistaken. “No, my mother was Clarice Woolf.”
“Smart woman. After she fled, she took her maiden name,” he said, eyes gazing at the dead cornfield. “Either way, you’re Heathen blood, through and through.”
“And if I refuse?”If I instead leave this town to avoid getting attached, only to be disappointed all over again, what then?I thought, unsure if I could endure much more.
Ocean stroked his scraggly peppered beard. “Up until about six or seven weeks ago, you had a cursed face, yes?”
How could he have known? I hadn’t told a soul. Not even Adora.
“Your brothers agonized through the same,” he said, and I felt my throat close up with emotion. “Despite your differences, you five share a suffering no one can understand. You’re in pain, they’re in pain. The Heathens are lost without one another. You can’t refuse what’s in your blood. It’s why you’ve always felt as though something was missing before you arrived here in Weeping Hollow. They’ve felt the same hollow their entire lives.” Ocean glanced back at the Goody Estate in the distance. “Desperation never looked good on anyone, but you will find forgiveness for what they did. You won’t be able to deny it. And once that time comes, you will understand the power that comes with the brotherhood of the Heathens.”
I tried to speak, but there was nothing.
A mouthful of empty rooms.
I didn’t want to trust him, but a profound thing moving about my blood compelled me to do so. An unearthly bond thicker than my stubbornness to a tiny, bearded man who was burying me in an avalanche of information.
Unlike Adora, who’d never wanted to be seen, heard, or understood by me until I deserved it, Ocean jumped at the opportunity to tell me everything as though he’d waited his entire life for this. He was a library of knowledge Mother had deprived me of, and the intelligent thing to do was exhume all I could while I had the chance.
I shoved my hands into my pockets, keeping myself balanced and unaffected.
“You know a healthy amount of information about me because you’re my keeper,” I said, stepping forward. “What is a keeper?”
We continued our walk along the gate surrounding the cottage, Ocean to my right. “A keeper is a guardian who protects a bloodline. Every Heathen has one. Eleanor’s bloodline is the keepers of the moonchildren. An entirely different breed. My family ...” he trailed off, either finding the right words or hesitating. “My family stuck around for as long as they could, waiting for the day a Danvers would return. If only my father could see you standing here.” He looked up at me with sadness curving his eyes. “If I ever thought this day would come, I would have given marriage and children a second thought, made something of myself. For that, I’m sorry. I failed you.”
Failed me?“Hardly, though all is forgiven,” I said, trying to ease his guilt even though I had no clue of the severity of his responsibilities. “Why must someone like me need a keeper?”
“Earth is a revolving door, but for you, this door has been torn right off its hinges,” he explained. “It’s why you can hear the trees speaking to you this very moment.”
It was then that the wind swept up my chest and caressed my face.
I thought back to all the times I’d hunted. Branches swayed in a single direction to guide me. The earth vibrated beneath my soles to motivate me. Leaves tumbled and breezed past my ears to console me. The earth had always loved me as a mother should love a son.
“You have the power to see the past and manipulate the future by bringing back the dead,” he said, interrupting my thoughts. “Your bloodline must go on, and I’m here to ensure that.”
