Wiccan, A Witchy Young Adult Paranormal Romance (28 page)

“
You asked,” I said. Then,
after a deep breath, I went on. “Anyway, skip ahead to the first
day of college. I was walking to school when it happened again. I
watched it. I mean, I’ve sorta gotten used to it over the years. It
wasn’t until I saw Lisa Bauer
alive
in class that I really started to freak
out.

“
I didn’t really know what
to do. I knew people would think I was crazy if I told anyone.
Couldn’t tell Lisa. Couldn’t tell the police. But then, it started
bothering me so bad I
had to go
to the cops. Long story short, that’s when I met
Grayson. He didn’t really believe me either. Until Lisa turned up
dead, that is.

“
After that, I started
having these dreams. I didn’t know it at first, but they were of
the man who’s been killing the young girls uptown. So, I’ve been
telling Grayson everything that I dream of so maybe he can catch
the guy.”

“
Then why haven’t they
caught him?” Mom asked.

“
It’s not that easy. He’s
been smart and careful and the only break Grayson got was when the
guy left some evidence behind, evidence I think he left on
purpose.” I took another deep breath before launching into the next
part, the most difficult part.

“
But why would
he—”

“
Let me finish,” I scolded
gently. “He’s been leaving messages. For me, I think. And when he
left the last one, he knew they’d look at his blood in comparison
with mine and then they’d see that we’re related.”

Mom gasped. Dad stood stoically up
against the sink.

“
Related?” Mom was pale as a
ghost.

“
Either my biological father
or possibly a brother.”

Mom closed her eyes against what I was
saying.

“
I know this is painful for
you guys, but I’d rather you hear it from me than from someone
else. And I have no idea how this could end up, how public my part
in it could become.”

Mom opened her eyes and looked at me.
There was pain mingled with determined devotion shimmering in their
depths. “Mercy, we love you no matter what. And we’ll stand by you
no matter what.” She reached over and squeezed my hand.

I didn’t expect how much better that
simple statement would make me feel. “I know, Mom, and I appreciate
it. You know I would never want to hurt either of you. You’ve been
so good to me and I could never repay that. That’s part of the
reason I kept this from you to being with.” I looked at Dad as I
spoke, too. He was just watching me with a curiously blank
expression. I think he was in shock.

“
We love you, Mercy. You’re
our daughter. Nothing in the world could change that,” Mom said,
smiling her sweet smile.

I returned it.

“
So what’s next?” she
asked.

“
Grayson is going to see if
he can dig up at least my mother’s identity and we’ll start
there.”

I knew Mom wouldn’t like that and I
could tell by the change in her expression that she
didn’t.

“
Well, you do what you have
to do to make sure that psycho is taken off the streets,” she said,
nodding encouragingly. Then she looked up at me as if something
terrible had just occurred to her. “Mercy, are you in
danger?”

“
No, Mom.”

“
Are you sure? Would you
tell me?”

“
I’m sure, Mom. And, no, I
probably wouldn’t tell you, but we don’t have to worry about that
because I’m not in any danger.”

That might have eased her mind a tad,
but not much.

Dad cleared his throat and finally
spoke, pushing himself away from the sink. “Well, young lady, you’d
better start telling us when you’re running around with this
Grayson. I want to know where you are and what you’ll be doing. You
might be eighteen, but you’re still my little girl,” he finished,
reaching out to tug on one of my stray curls.

“
I will, Dad. The only
reason I didn’t tell you before was because I was afraid of what
you’d think. But now that you know everything, there’s no reason to
hide it from you anymore.” I stood to my feet, suddenly exhausted.
“You just can’t tell
anybody
anything that I tell you. It might compromise the
investigation and Grayson would kill me,” I said with a
grin.

“
Grayson, huh?” Mom said
with a devilish gleam in her eye.

I just smiled. I wasn’t going to hide
that either.

“
I say we all go to bed
before the sun comes up, ok?”

“
You go on, sweetie. We’ll
just be a few more minutes,” Mom assured.

I knew they’d have to stay
up and discuss me and my crazy life for a while longer
without
me there
listening.

When I crawled into bed two minutes
later, it was with a lighter heart than I’d had in a long
time.

********

I was sure I’d just fallen asleep when
the phone rang. Blearily, I shuffled to the end of the bed and
grabbed my cell off the dresser. I made a mental note to start
keeping it on the nightstand.

Without looking at the screen, I knew
who it would be.

“
Hello?”

“
Rise and shine,” Grayson
said playfully.

“
What time is
it?”

“
Almost 11:00.”

“
How do you function on no
sleep?”

“
Eh, trick of the trade,” he
replied. “Listen, how would you feel about a road trip?”

I perked up almost instantly. A road
trip? With Grayson? What I wouldn’t give…

“
I could be convinced,” I
teased.

“
I found your mother,”
Grayson said soberly.

My lighthearted mood went straight out
the window.

“
Where?”

“
Why don’t I just tell you
about it on the way?”

I didn’t really like that answer, but
it might be something that was better discussed in person so I went
along with him. “Alright.”

“
I’ve got to take care of a
few things here before we go. How about I pick you up in, say, two
hours. Oh, and pack an overnight bag just in case,” he said
casually.

My stomach didn’t react casually,
however. A legion of butterflies started flapping their wings all
at once and I felt all warm and gooey inside.

“
Ok. I’ll be
ready.”

“
See you soon,” he said and
then he disconnected.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and
looked at it. That was almost a goodbye. He really was
learning.

I hopped out of bed, energetic all of a
sudden, and went for a granola bar and coffee before I got into the
shower. When I walked into the kitchen, Mom and Dad turned to look
at me. They were both almost exactly where I’d left them hours
before. The only thing that had changed was their
clothes.

“
Did you guys sleep at all?”
I reached for a coffee mug and poured some hot brew from the pot
Mom had on the warmer.

“
Some,” Mom said vaguely.
That meant none.

“
Well, just to let you know,
Grayson called and he’s located my biological mother. We’re going
to see her today. It’ll probably be an overnight trip. He didn’t
say how far away she was, but he did say to bring a bag, so...” I
trailed off as I sipped.

“
Do you want us to come?
Maybe we’d—”

“
I don’t think that’s a good
idea, Mom. This is an ongoing investigation. If I weren’t a
material witness or whatever they call me, he probably wouldn’t
even be taking me.”

Dad pulled his phone out of his pocket
and walked into the living room.

“
I doubt Dad would be good
in a situation like that anyway,” I whispered. “He might try to
attack her or something.” I grinned.

“
I wish he would,” Mom said
seriously.

In all actuality, Mom would
probably be the more likely of the two to try and beat my
biological parents to death. She was like a momma grizzly. She
didn’t want
anybody
messing with her cub!

I was munching on my granola bar when
Dad came back into the kitchen.

He sighed. “Looks like I’m going to
have to fill in for Bob Aldrin at a meeting in Philadelphia this
weekend. Leave today and come back Monday night.”

“
What? Why?”

“
His wife’s in the hospital.
That was John calling just now. They’re desperate.”

“
I didn’t even hear your
phone ring,” Mom said, obviously disappointed. “Do you have to
go?”

“
It was on vibrate. And yes,
I have to go. I hate to do it with all that’s going on with you,
Mercy,” he said, turning his attention to me. “Do you think you
could reschedule with Grayson?”

“
Dad, do what you have to do
and I will, too. There’s nothing that you can do for me by staying
here.” And then I thought of Mom. “Mom, will you be alright for the
night by yourself? I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“
Oh, gosh, Mercy. I don’t
know. I’m only forty-nine years old and you expect me to stay a
whole night by myself. What will become of me?” Mom didn’t wear
sarcasm well.

“
Ha ha,” I said
dryly.

“
I need to pack,” Dad said,
glancing at his watch. “Mercy, what time are you
leaving?”

“
Grayson will be here in two
hours.”

“
You’ll leave before I will.
Come get me when he gets here.”

“
Dad, please
don’t—”

“
I’m not going to embarrass
you. Just come and get me.”

“
Alright,” I said, rolling
my eyes.

********

Two and a half hours later, I was
buckled into the passenger seat of Grayson’s Charger and we were
speeding along I-83.

“
So are you going to tell me
where we’re going or just keep me in suspense for the rest of the
trip?”

Grayson resituated behind the wheel,
leaning toward his door a little and turning his body to face mine.
He was relaxed behind the wheel, guiding the car with his
thumbs.

“
It took some digging to get
to the right people at the hospital, but I finally found a woman
who remembered you being dropped off there. Evidently she knows
your parents,” he said glancing at me.

I nodded. “Was it Irene
Tuddle?”

“
That’s the one,” he
confirmed. “You know her?”

“
I’ve never met her, but Mom
went to school with her I think. I’ve heard them talk about
her.”

“
Well, she was very helpful.
She remembered you because of the way you looked when your mother
brought you in,” he said carefully.

I’m sure he was trying to be delicate,
thinking I might not know. I hadn’t told him about my conversation
with Mom the other day, when we’d talked about this very
thing.

“
I’ve already heard about
the markings and the bruises. Go on,” I prompted.

“
She managed to get your
mother’s name. Apparently she was pretty frightened and didn’t know
much about Safe Haven Laws. She’d brought you in for medical care
when she ran into Irene.”

“
Medical care? For the
bruises you mean?”

“
No. According to Irene,
your mother thought someone was trying to kill you and may have
poisoned you so she brought you in.”

I’m sure Grayson was
thinking something similar to what I was:
this just keeps getting better and better
.

“
Great!” I said. “So had I
been poisoned?”

“
They found no evidence of
poisoning, but your mother was- she was pretty, um—”

“
Crazy,” I
supplied.

“
Well, that’s kind of what
they were thinking. Irene said that she was paranoid and saying all
sorts of strange things. Said it was easy to talk her into leaving
you for Safe Haven. Told her it was best for you, for your
safety.”

“
Irene talked her into
leaving me?” My mother hadn’t wanted to dump me off just anywhere
so she wouldn’t have to keep me? That was a nice
surprise.

“
So it would seem. Irene
said that she really pressed your mother to leave you to ensure
your safety of course, but also so that your mother could get some
help. Said she told your mother that she had the perfect couple in
mind that would take good care of you.”

“
My parents.”

“
Exactly. Irene said your
mother was hesitant at first, but she finally agreed to do it if
Irene promised not to tell anyone who you were with. She said she
didn’t want ‘him’ to find you.”

“
Him?”

Grayson nodded.

“
Meaning, who? My
father?”

“
That’s what I think, but
only one person will know for sure.”

My mother. “So where is
she?”

Grayson hesitated for a fraction of a
second before he told me. “She’s in the Scenic Vista Mental Health
Facility in Scranton.”