Frog Hollow (Witches of Sanctuary Book 1) (5 page)

I heave in breaths, the adrenaline kicking in, my mind turning in circles.

“You are one of the Innocent.” The sadness is still so evident in his worn voice. “Only a descendent of them will glow under the moonlight after drinking a shot of Jade’s Witchy Whiskey.”

It was a test. He wanted to confirm what I’m sure he suspected the entire time. “Does that scare you?” I hold out my glowing arms for him to see. “Is this why you want me to leave?”

I had to ask, even if I really don’t want to hear the answer. I don’t think I could blame him if that is the reason he wants me to go, wanting to protect his family from someone like me.

“No.” Guilt. It’s brief, but I catch it on his face before he knows I’ve seen it. “All the women in my family are descendants of the Innocent.”

I shake my head, confused. “Are you saying we’re related?”

“There are two distinct lines.”

My emotions betray me as I let the hope brim to the surface. There are more people like me. I’m not the only one. Does that mean I’ve been right all along? My mother had abilities too? I want to be excited. I want to ask him a million questions, but there are other things we have to deal with first. “If you’re not scared of me, why do you want me to leave so badly?”

“It’s complicated.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

He watches my face, and when I don’t back down, his worried expression turns to defeat. “Wilhelmina.” He sighs my name like it’s the most tragic thing he’s ever had to say. “Your mother didn’t die from some kind of illness. She was murdered. Someone took her life because of what she was, because she was one of the Innocent.”

I’ve thought about it, the reason for her death, but not once did I imagine her life had been taken from her. I’m shocked by how quickly the anger sets in. Like I’ve actually been robbed. I lost the chance to ever know the one parent who might actually accept me.

Reid walks closer, urgency on his face as he continues to speak. “It isn’t safe here. Especially for you. Before tonight, no one knew you existed outside of our family circle. If they find out about you, I don’t know what they might try to do. I have too much to worry about without adding you to it.”

“Who are you scared of?” My hands shake, and my voice cracks. “Who killed my mother?”

“If I knew that, they’d be dead already.” He’s angry too. “We don’t know who we can trust, which makes it all the more dangerous. That’s why you need to go now, while you still can.”

“No.” Tears well up in my eyes. “I’m not leaving.”

I can’t leave. Not now. Not after finally knowing the impact of my loss. I can’t give up what I have left of her. I can’t leave her house to sit empty like she never existed. I only have this little bit of her left, and I’m not giving it up.

“You don’t have to worry about me, okay?” I manage to sputter out. “I’ll take care of myself. But I can’t leave. I have nowhere else to go.”

“It’s not that simple.” He paces back and forth. “You can’t stay here and think people won’t find out about you. Besides, there won’t be any going back now that Abby and Sadie have seen you.”

“I won’t speak to them.” I start to panic, my anger turning quickly to fear. “I’ll stay away from you too, if that’s what you want. I just need to be here. I need to be where she lived. I have my own reasons.”

He shakes his head violently, gripping his hands in his hair. “You don’t get it. They won’t let you do that. They love you. Every single one of them. They don’t even know you, and they love you. If something went wrong, they would all die to protect you. Don’t you get that?”

I don’t get that. I don’t know what it feels like to have someone love me so much. It seems impossible.

He steps closer and clutches my shoulders. “Whoever wanted Fiona dead killed her because of who her family is, and trust me, around here, who your mother is means a lot.”

I look down, but he tilts my chin back up to look at him. “What do you think they’ll do when they find out Fiona has a daughter who can step up and take her place? They will come after you, Wilhelmina. They will try to kill you too, and whoever else might stand in their way.”

It isn’t fair. I’ve already lost so much, and now to find out if I stay here, I’ll be putting not only myself, but also other people in danger. I don’t even know these people, but it doesn’t change the obligation I feel to protect them or the ache in my chest at the loss of never getting the chance to know them.

The ticking bomb inside me goes off, and my emotions explode. I cry openly, without shame, not in hope of changing his mind, but because it feels good. The relief of finally putting a name to my abnormality, knowing it’s inherited, while the weight of the burden I might be placing on them now because of it is too much to handle. My chest starts to heave as my tears blur my vision.

“I don’t mean to scare you.” His words are muffled through the sound of my own sobs.

I am scared, but not for the reason he believes. I’m not scared to stay here and die, but rather to leave. I’m afraid of having to live life somewhere other than this place where my existence finally makes sense. I sink to the ground, my knees too weak with grief to hold the weight of my realization. I cry into my glowing hands as I feel the wind pick up around me. My hair blows off my shoulders, and I know I am losing control. He bends down on his knees. “Calm down.”

I shake my head. It’s too late. The wind blows harder. The leaves rustle in the trees behind me.

“Calm down,” he says again.

I continue to shake my head. I can’t stop it now. My emotions are too strong. The wind whistles as it hits my face in swift gusts.

“Stop.” His voice is stern, but his touch is gentle as his fingers tip my cheek. It feels cool against my flushed skin. I flinch, but he only increases the contact, placing his entire palm against my face. “Concentrate. Calm down.”

The salt from my tears sting my tongue as I bite my lips, trying to force myself into submission. Truthfully, I don’t want to stop. It feels too good to let it all out. However, I don’t want to frighten him. He was at least nice enough to tell me what I am, even if it was to cure his own curiosity.

My chest continues to heave uncontrollably as I squeeze my eyes shut. I try to force my emotions into my tears instead of letting them run freely through me. It isn’t an easy task, but it helps having his skin against mine. It gives me something to focus on. The wind eases, but the intensity of my tears increases. “Wilhelmina.” He pulls my face up, but I resist.

“I know,” I croak, my voice thick with misery. “I have to go.”

“I wish it didn’t have to be this way. You should be glad you’re able to still opt out of this.”

I push his hand away from my face as I stand. I ignore his sympathy as I try to straighten myself up. He has no idea what I am giving up with this decision. I know I can’t put these people in danger, which means I am left with much less than a day to try to figure out the reason my mother brought me back here.

I’m reminded of the letter.

I glare at the green light around me. “I’m glowing like the Jolly Green Giant over here. How do I opt out of that?”

“It goes away.” He steps away from me, shoving his hands in his pockets. “After you get out of the moonlight.”

Tears streak down my face as I continue to cry. I wipe my forearm across my cheek, slightly afraid the green light will somehow spread. He stares curiously at me as if waiting for a tornado.

I shrug away from him, heading back toward the house. He follows quickly. I snuff again as he holds the screen door open. It’s amazing how well he understands how my abilities work. I don’t necessarily know if I am capable of creating a tornado, but a hefty windstorm will be assured if I don’t calm down. It’s comforting having someone here who doesn’t run away screaming, who understands my out-of-control emotions are to blame. It only proves why I desperately want to stay here. As much as it pains me to say it, I need to know more people like Reid Thomas.

It’s silent once we enter the house, and I can feel him waiting for me to speak. I stare at the room, all the former hope and excitement this house brought to me stinging in my chest. Now it will be just another house, a temporary home, like so many others before it.

Reid remains silent in the doorway. Patient.

“You’ve accomplished your goal.” I glare over my shoulder at him. “You can leave now.”

It takes him a moment to speak, but when he does, his voice is cool, lacking the emotion it showed only minutes before. “It’s better this way. Easier for both of us.”

“Leave.” I spin around to confront him, but he’s already gone. The screen door bounces noisily against the frame.

I look over my shoulder at the letter taped to the cabinet. Anger. Disappointment. It all hits me and threatens to cripple me. If I were weaker, the shell of my heart not hardened, I might have succumbed to it.

Instead, I stumble halfheartedly up the stairs to the bedroom. My giant four-poster bed stands in the middle of the room, lacking sheets and all other necessities that make this place feel like home. I crawl on top of the bare bed, laying my head in my arms. My mind swirls around me, dragging me down deeper into my misery. As my wet eyes flutter closed, I accept the fact that maybe some people simply aren’t meant to belong.

Chapter 5

THE BREAKFAST CLUB

I wake up squinting. Sunlight beams through the open window. A grainy tongue laps its way across my face. I rub my eyes as I push a fur-covered body away from me. I lean back to see the giant blue cat purring inches away from my face. I groan at it, which only encourages it to leap forward and paw playfully at my nose.

“How did you get inside?” I sit up to evade its attack.

“I let him in,” a soft voice explains. “He’s been waiting on the doorstep all night. I figure such devotion should be rewarded.”

I jump back, banging my head against the metal post of my bed frame, but I’m too shocked to register the pain. A slender woman with flowing chestnut hair and high, pointed cheekbones sits on the corner of my bed, smiling at me. Fear strikes hard at my heart as my mind begins contemplating hundreds of different reasons for her existence, the most prominent one stemming from Reid’s warning last night that my life could be in danger.

“Calm down.” She flashes her brilliant smile. “I’m Seraphina. I was your mother’s best friend. I love you dearly, and I’ve missed you more than you’ll ever know.”

“Seraphina?” My mind rolls the name over and over again, assuring myself that is indeed the name Reid used, but the panic continues to course through me. It might be a trick. She could be lying to me.

Noticing my doubt, the lady scoots forward and places one single finger on the tip of my toe. “Calm down,” she says again, but this time her touch flushes my entire body of every ounce of tension and clears my mind of all its worry.

I jerk my foot away from her as I try to catch my breath. I scrunch myself into a tiny ball, wrapping my arms around my knees. For the very first time in my life, I understand why everyone avoids me. Experiencing this odd ability of mine is very different than producing it. I stare blankly at the finger that touched me, imagining the possibilities.

“Squeamish of our power.” She nods thoughtfully. “Fully noted. I won’t use it again until you’re ready. I promise.”

She looks at me with her fluid green eyes willing me to believe her, and I do, but it isn’t because of her promise. I recognize those eyes. I’ve seen them twice already in Reid and Abby, and I am finally positive this is Seraphina sitting on my bed.

“You shouldn’t be here.” The memories and my own promises rush back to the front of my mind. “I need to go. I told Reid I would leave. He won’t be happy you’re here.”

Seraphina lets out an ill-amused chuckle and stands from the bed. “You will not be leaving.” She brushes a piece of her hair over her shoulder, a casual dismissal of my words. “This is your home. It’s where you belong.”

“But Reid…”

She takes a step forward, the long tunic blouse blowing away from her body in her haste. “My son does not make the decisions for this family.” Her stare is full of steel, and I sense the raw power of it. “No matter how obligated he feels to try.”

“I don’t want to put you in danger.” I tighten my grip around my legs.

Her eyes soften, but the determination is still there. “Reid thinks he is doing the right thing for you and for us, but unfortunately he doesn’t know all the facts. I so graciously informed him of them this morning before whacking him over the head with my newspaper.” She reads the surprise on my face and smiles. “Don’t worry. I made sure to avoid the knot you gave him.”

I gulp loudly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt him, but he—”

“Deserved it, I’m sure.”

I think I smile, but I can’t be sure. My sense of awareness seems dull. I pinch my leg to make sure I can still feel it. It seems like a dream, an extension of the nightmarish turn my luck has taken. It’s too good to be true, that a form of hope has returned, giving me a last chance at happiness.

“Wilhelmina.” She looks directly into my eyes, forcing my attention to her. “I need you to listen to me. I want you to forget whatever reasons Reid gave you to leave. I want you to consider what I have to say.”

I nod. I want to listen. I really want to forget.

“Your mother wanted you here.” She touches my leg again. This time I feel nothing more than comfort. “She brought you back to us.”

“What?”

“You are not the only one she left a message for in her will.”

I wait a moment, trying to comprehend her words, but after a minute of my silence, she gives up and continues. “They already found you,” she says. “It will do no good to leave. The safest place for you now is Sanctuary. Here with your family. You should have read your letter.”

“You’re the one who taped it to the cabinet?”

“She wanted to make sure you received it. I wanted you to have time to read it and process it for yourself before I intervened. I didn’t realize my son would beat me to the punch.”

“Who is this threat you talk about? Who found me? Why did they kill my mother?”

Seraphina lets out a long sigh as she twines her fingers into mine. “Breakfast,” she says, forcing a smile. “Let’s eat breakfast, and we will figure this all out.”

I smell the scent of bacon and fresh maple syrup in the air. My head jerks toward the open bedroom door as my eyes register the sound of voices downstairs, along with a sound of food sizzling on the stove. Multiple questions rush to my mouth, but none of them manages to escape. “I don’t have electricity,” I say instead, even though now I plainly see the light over my head, shining brightly through the room.

“That was yesterday.” She flicks her wrist. “I made a few calls this morning.”

Like with Cari last night, I get the feeling everyone in this town does exactly what Seraphina Thomas wants—no questions asked.

I follow her over to the door, running a hand through my tangled hair. “Who is down there?” I peek around the corner, listening.

“Your family.”

I give her a knowing look, which she understands.

“Minus my son, of course.” She winks at me. “I sent him on an errand. He’ll be busy for the remainder of the morning.”

Still, I look down at myself and cringe. I’m a complete and total disaster. “Does the shower work now too?”

She nods, stepping back to allow me access to the bathroom. “Take your time. We’ll have breakfast ready when you’re done.”

I don’t want to wait to find out the answers to my questions. I’ve waited long enough for that, but I also don’t want to meet my family looking like the orphan I am. “I’ll make it quick.”

I grab clean clothes out of a box and run for the bathroom. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a shower so much in my life. As much as I want to stand under the water and soak, I keep my promise and make it quick. I manage to make myself look presentable in under thirty minutes. I bound down the stairs, coming up short at the edge of the kitchen. I peek around the corner to take in the scene.

I spot Seraphina first. She sits at the giant kitchen table drinking a cup of hot tea. She smiles at the two girls standing at the oven. I recognize them immediately. Abby holds out plates while Sadie scoops eggs into each one. Standing opposite of me across the room is a petite lady with opal colored eyes and midnight hair. She notices me at once and smiles.

Her face lights up. “Wilhelmina.”

Every head in the room turns to me, and I feel the blush creep into my cheeks. “Good morning.” I give an awkward wave to the room.

The lady rushes toward me, and I stick out my hand to properly introduce myself, but she grabs me into her arms instead. “I’ve missed you, sweetheart.” She squeezes me tighter, and I give Seraphina a confused look over her shoulder.

She finally pulls back and looks at me like I am some kind of prize she just won. I smile as nicely as possible. “And you are?”

“Jade.” She hugs me again. “Jade Lawson.”

Right, I should have known that. Jade is Sadie’s mother, I remind myself. “Nice to meet you.”

The girls instantly surround me, and I feel more arms encircle me. “I knew it was you,” Abby says excitedly. “I knew it as soon as I saw you last night. You look just like Aunt Fi’s old pictures from high school.”

“We are so happy to have you home,” Sadie adds, bouncing on her toes. “Please tell me Reid hasn’t run you off.”

“I’m still pissed at him,” Abby says with a groan. “Not only did he try and run you off, but he performed the moonlight ceremony without us.”

“I know.” Sadie fakes anger. “So tell us, what color did you turn last night?”

“Girls,” Seraphina interrupts, “give the poor child some room to breathe. I hate to inform you, but Wilhelmina doesn’t have a clue what you’re talking about, and I think she deserves an explanation before we start hounding her with questions.”

The girls back away, but Abby remains determined. “What color did you turn?” she asks seriously, dropping her voice as if that would help the scowl on Seraphina’s face.

“Abner.” Seraphina’s face matches the warning in her voice.

Abby wrinkles her nose. “We just want to know the color. The rest can wait.”

“It all can wait,” Jade adds. “Let her eat some breakfast. She has to be starving. I didn’t see a speck of food in this place.”

“I have a box of Cheerios upstairs,” I say, but my body drifts toward the food on the table.

They follow me over, and I sit next to Seraphina. The girls bring plates for everyone and join us. Jade stands behind me, her hand never leaving my shoulder. Seraphina waits until I gulp down half a plate of eggs before she speaks.

“I think we should start from the beginning.” She taps her fingers steadily across the edge of the table. “It will make things easier for all of us.”

I nod, noticing the impatient glances from the girls. I can’t help but wonder why they want to know I turned green last night. However, the bacon and Seraphina’s voice quickly distract me.

“You are a descendent of the Innocent, Wilhelmina,” Seraphina says, smiling at me. “According to Reid, he proved that to you last night.”

I nod again. “I glowed under the moonlight after drinking some kind of blue liquid he gave me.”

Seraphina throws Abby and Sadie a warning glare as their mouths drop open to ask their repetitive question. They quickly close them, irritated.

“Do you know what that means?”

“No,” I admit.

“Every female in our two families is born with our distinct abilities, which means you received the trait from your mother, Fiona.”

“Every female?” I consider the implications. “Does that mean Reid isn’t like me?”

Abby blows eggs of out her mouth trying to hold in her laughter, while Sadie unfortunately snorts them up her nose. Seraphina clears her throat, a clear sign for the girls to behave themselves. “That is right,” she says, still glaring at the girls. “Reid is perfectly normal.”

I stay silent, letting myself think it through. Mostly, I try to decide what question I want answered first. “Why did my father take me away?” It’s weird to ask the question knowing I will finally get a response. “And if my mother had abilities too, why didn’t she use them to find me?”

Seraphina nods, knowing I would ask again. “Your father found it very difficult to believe, and it didn’t help that your mother kept it a secret. He didn’t know about our special circumstances until the night of your birth. You were born here, in this house, during a treacherous thunderstorm that was completely your mother’s doing.”

“Your birth was sudden.” Jade shifts behind me, her hand on the back of my chair. “We didn’t have time to get her to the hospital to relieve the pain of natural childbirth. She couldn’t focus her energy.”

That sounds familiar. Too familiar.

“It scared him,” Seraphina says with a sigh. “The thunder rattled the windows. Books flew across the room.”

“What did he do?” I ask, even though I already know the answer.

She leans forward, meeting my intense gaze. “He panicked. We explained everything to him. We honestly thought he would be okay. For days, he pretended everything was fine, and life went on.”

“We were too caught up in the enjoyment of finally having you here, Wilhelmina. We didn’t realize what he had planned.” Jade looks apologetically at me.

“He took me.” My voice starts to crack. “He stole me away from my family, and he ran.”

Seraphina nods. “Fiona was devastated.”

“She could have found me.” I croak with the pain of it. “Just like now, she could have led me back here.”

“She wanted to. Believe me, she wanted nothing more than to bring you back.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

The room falls silent. The girls stare down at their empty plates, and Jade’s hand leaves my shoulder for the first time.

“Reid was right about one thing.” Seraphina scoots closer to me. “Our life here isn’t easy. Being who we are comes at a price, as does any kind of power.” Pain flushes her face. “Fiona experienced the death of her mother, Carolina, at the hands of our enemy only weeks before you were born. The loss of her was still fresh in her heart, and she knew they would come after her next.”