10
EMBRY
It’s all just too fucking much. More secrets, more lies, and not one bit of trust. It’s why I left the vampires, and now I’m faced with the reality that the witches are just the same.
My heart races as I head to the edge of the Mystic Forest, rounding the bend knowing that soon I’ll be able to see the cavern. At least it’s a safe spot where no one can come in unless I invite them to. Until I decide how to get Raven out of this mess.
She may not have been honest but whatever they’re hiding, she wanted me to know. Raven may not be able to tell me for fear of Devora but I’m going to find out the truth one way or another.
The trees are tall and dense. I make my way one to the other, suddenly very much aware that I’m alone and any of the night dwellers could come out and decide that I will make an incredibly good meal. And as though conjuring it in my mind, a large set of white eyes meet mine in the night. A large white wolf slowly walks out from the cover of the trees. “Sheba!” I cry, racing toward the kindly wolf.
“Shh … you must hurry. Follow me and stay low to the ground. Devora’s sent the ghouls to circle the forest. Rupert and his family are keeping them busy while I get you to the coven.Now hurry.” He turns, making his way through the dense forest, weaving skillfully in between tree after tree, staying low, under the canopy of old overgrowth, some of the half dead branches almost whipping me in the face in our haste, yet providing us cover along the way.
I spot the coven door across the clearing. My eyes trace up the hillside, taking it in. It’s just like the witches’ cavern that we uncovered with the vampire masters while searching for the rogues not so long ago. Yet Gramma wasn’t a witch but a psychic, at least that’s what I’ve been told.
Now it’s just a matter of getting from here to there without being seen. “You can’t transport in, but you can get yourself to the door. Once you touch that door, it should let you in again. Devora isn’t strong enough to change the spell that’s been placed on that door for you.”
“She could just hide it from me?”
“Exactly,” the wolf says.
My head whips around to ask him more, find out what he knows, but the white wolf is gone, disappeared as quickly as he came. Damn all these secrets all to hell. I’m half grateful to him and half cursing his name as I transport from the edge of the forest until I’m standing at the witch’s door. The one that is magically a safe haven for me, and according to the wolf, cannot be changed.
The minute I touch the door handle, a voice from inside says, “come in,” causing my heart to clamor once again. “Gramma.” I open the door, and the chair begins to gently rock. I swallow down the initial fear and close the door solidly behind me hoping that Sheba’s right and that nothing has changed and no one can come in unless invited. That’s the lore, it’s what I’ve been told, and I can only hope it’s true and it will keep me protected from Devora.
The room stays dark, even when I reach for the light switch. “Gramma?” I ask, walking softly towards the rock of the chair, my keen night vision kicking in amidst the darkened room.
Gramma’s voice is soft and somewhat raspy with age. “The storm is brewing; the stories of the old lands know it’s almost time.”
“Time for what, Gramma?”
“Your grammas for generations and generations have known the secret of the witches and the vampires. We’ve always known where the sacred stone etchings are that tell the story of the sacred land between the witches and the vampires and who it really belongs to. We are the true psychics, Embry, you and me. No matter what they want to call us. We have a gifted power.
I died with that secret because your mom was not a believer. Sure, she put up with the ramblings of her mother, but the gift and the secret was always to be passed from one granddaughter to another. You simply weren’t old enough to carry the secret when it was time for me to die. But you’ll learn it soon.”
Raven knocks on the door and the minute I open it the rocking of the chair and all signs of my gramma cease to exist. “Raven, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be with Romano, safe and protected. I’ve made things such a mess.”
She crosses the room and hugs me tight. “You have done nothing wrong, you never did one thing wrong, Embry. All you did was put yourself in jeopardy and fight for all of us. I’m so sorry that we didn’t do things differently. We wanted to bust you out that night, but we couldn’t.”
I nod, choked with the emotion of the night. “I know that now, but it’s just all such a mess again and everyone probably thinks it was all because of my meddling in affairs that don’t belong to me and this time, they are probably right.”
“Last time, even though not one person, vampire or witch alike, really thought you were guilty of anything but helpingthe vampires, we had to be sure, Embry. This time, everyone knows exactly what you were doing, and that it was to help the vampires. If anyone is to blame, it’s me, for not telling you and the vampires what should have been shared a long time ago.”
The emotion makes it hard to speak and I think Raven takes it that I don’t understand and that I’m still upset with her for what happened after Lucas. Now, it just seems like so long ago.
Raven’s eyes water. “I know it’s hard, but you have to understand. If you were in our shoes, you would have done the very same thing, but it still doesn’t make me feel any better when I think about the hurt it caused you.”
My chest tightens listening to my friend. “It’s okay, Raven. I don’t blame you really, it’s just everything happened all at once and then after everything I did the vampires in the community turned on me. It’s starting to feel less and less painful now.”
“A very few bigmouthed vampires who have no clue what they’re talking about turned on you. The rest of the community wants you back. We love you, Embry. And I’m not sure why you were chosen to have the shadow books, why you are the one, but you are. Your gramma brought you here for a reason. She led you exactly where she wanted you to be. Your future was set a very long time ago.”
Raven shrugs. “Take these, Embry. Read them, decipher them, and if you need my help, you know where I am, but the minute Devora finds out you have the books she’s going to come unglued so my suggestion to you is to leave. Get as far away from here for a while as you can, okay?”
I shake my head. “No, Raven. How am I supposed to just leave? What about you?”
Raven laughs and her bright green eyes turn kaleidoscope in color and begin swirling around. “Seriously? I can handle myself and Auntie Devora too. Besides, Romano holds his temperbecause he promised me a long time ago, but if she were ever a real threat to me, I swear that vampire would burn her alive.”
I hug my friend tight. “Thank you, Raven. We’ll leave tonight. In fact, it will work out well. I told Corvinus that I’d go back to Chicago, and well, try to work things out with the others. Maybe working on the shadow books is something we can all do together. You know, a common goal to help the vampires could help bring us back together.”
