Blood Prophecy (Witch Fairy) (12 page)

A retort is on Dad’s lips when the phone rings.  Closing his mouth in a grim line, he floats to the voice activated phone and says, “Answer,” followed by, “Hello.”

“Where is Athear?” an angry voice demands through the speaker phone.  “What has that horrible daughter of yours done to her?”  Ah, the loving voice of my grandfather.  I might make cookies with Grandma someday, but I’m pretty sure the fishing with Grandpa is a definite no go.

Grandma shakes her head in disgust even though Grandpa can’t see her.  “Sveargith, quit being foolish.  Your granddaughter has done nothing to me except welcome me into her home.”  Well, I sort of did.

“Beren called me from the airport.  He said he can’t scry for you – all he gets is a blank wall when he tries.  And he said that girl showed up.” 

That girl?  He won’t even call me by name?  I guess he’s going with the theory that if he doesn’t personalize me, it’ll be easier when the time comes to kill me.  Or maybe it’s the whole saying a Fairy’s name thing.  I don’t really care which it is.  Either way, he’s still an idiot.

A smug smile plasters itself on Grandma’s face and can be heard in her voice.  “How wonderful to know the spell worked so well.  You should be very proud of your granddaughter for being able to wield such powerful magic at such a young age!”

Grandpa’s voice comes through as a growl now.  “Proud of her?  She almost killed Beren when she came to him and Maeva.”

“Wow, is that your lie or theirs?” I ask, dumbfounded that things got blown so out of proportion.  “I didn’t even touch him.”  Okay, my belly button light did, but still.

“The only lies that are being told, young lady, are yours.”

I turn to Dad.  “I know I’m supposed to respect my elders, but would you mind terribly if I told Grandpa to go suck a rotten egg?”

Dad shakes his head.  “Nope, you go right ahead.  Why don’t you tell him that for me, as well.”

“Of all the impertinence!  Do you know who you’re talking to, young man?”  Young man?  I’ve never heard my father referred to as that before.  But Grandpa is pretty old.

“Sveargith, I believe you’ve lost all hope of having anyone here garner any respect for you,” Grandma tells him. 

Grandpa’s quiet for a moment.  Finally, with more pleading in his voice than he probably meant for there to be, he says, “Athear, please, you have to understand.  You know why this has to be done.”

“Hang up,” Grandma tells the phone and then Grandpa’s gone.

Chapter 9

The next hour is spent eating breakfast, during which Mom and Grandma spend the entire meal reminiscing, much to the chagrin of Dad, and then they show me the talismans and amulets Grandma made the night before.  Apparently, they’re the standard stuff – Witch bottle repellents, see beyond the magic disguise necklaces, etc.  Honestly, I stopped listening after the tenth or eleventh one.  Yes, I probably should be paying attention, but my mind can’t seem to concentrate on the details.  I feel on edge, understandably, I’m sure, and I’m practically crawling out of my skin.

After half an hour of continuous fidgeting on my part, Mom finally asks, “Xandra, what on earth is wrong with you?  You aren’t listening to a thing we’re saying.”

“I am too,” I say defensively pointing to what’s in her hand. “You just said that’s a Witch’s ladder like the bracelet you gave me before.  If you untie the knots, you let loose the magic.”

“That was five amulets ago,” she says holding up a necklace on a leather string that clearly has no knots in it.  “This one prevents love spells.”

I scrunch up my nose.  “Love spells?  Why would we need that?”

There’s a hard glint in Grandma’s eyes when she answers.  “Because Maeva is not above using something so underhanded.  Not to mention Midar.”

“One of them might try to make me fall in love with them?”  Eew.  “I think I can fight that off without an amulet.”

Kallen’s sitting on the kitchen counter observing us.  “Just think about me if you get hit with one of those.  No one else will seem attractive to you,” he says with a wink.  Color rushes to my cheeks, even if he is only teasing, but I can’t help a small smile, either.  Mom rolls her eyes but I catch the corners of her mouth trying to move upwards as well.

Dad happens to be floating by during the exchange. He just came in from doing what he and Kallen called a ‘perimeter check.’  Dad watches too much TV.  I don’t know what Kallen’s excuse is.  “Same goes for you,” Dad says as he swoops down and gives Mom a kiss on her pale check.  A full-fledged smile breaks out on her face now.

Hmm.  I wonder if Kallen and I will still like each other if we end up as spirits.  I hope we don’t have to find out any time soon.  Looking up at him, I say, “What if I’m not the target of the love spell, you are?”

He shakes his head.  “Can’t happen.  A Witch can’t make a Fairy fall in love with her with magic.”

I narrow my eyes in doubt.  Turning to Grandma, I ask, “Is that true?”

“In a way.  You need to have some aspect of the person who is the target of the spell.  A piece of hair, something.  Since none of these Witches has ever met Kallen, they wouldn’t have anything to draw on.  And it is very difficult to work a love spell on a Fairy.”

“But I’ve never met them, either.  How could they do a spell on me?”

Grandma’s lips purse together for a moment before she answers.  Finally, she says, “Because your grandfather may have retrieved something while he was here.  It only takes one hair to work a love spell, not to mention many other spells.  He could have taken some from a hairbrush, or even gotten some on his clothes while he was in the house with you.”

My jaw drops open as I turn to Mom.  “He’s that sneaky?  I thought he originally came here to help?”

Mom looks embarrassed.  “I’m not sure.  My father is a much different man than I remember.  He may have had ulterior motives.”

I shake my head in disbelief.  “And they’re worried about me?  They’re the ones who are scary.”  And right on cue, I feel a zap.  This is getting old really fast.  I close my eyes and there’s that belly button light again.

This time, I’m outside my house near the first oak tree that I marked.  And standing about fifteen feet in front of me is my grandfather.  He’s standing next to the car he parked on the side of the mountain road, probably because the protection spell wouldn’t let him get closer.  He’s around six feet tall with a thick head of gray hair, and he’s dressed in a tan overcoat over black dress pants and shoes that are so brightly shined, they reflect the light of the snow. 

I don’t know which one of us is more shocked.  I guess the upside is that he didn’t lie to Grandma about coming ahead of the others.  He just got here sooner than she expected.

Grandpa looks at the rope of light that is now entwined around his hands and then looks back up at me.  I think it’s hurting him but I can’t tell for sure.  He has a really good poker face.  “What is this?  How are you doing it?”

A laugh of disbelief escapes me.  “You expect me to tell you so you can try to counteract it.  I’m young, but I’m not that naïve.”  Okay, I don’t really know how I’m doing it, but even if I did, I wouldn’t tell him.  Just to add a little salt to his bad mood, I say smugly, “Grandma taught me how to do it.”  Sort of.

Wow, his skin can’t seem to decide if it wants to turn red from anger or green from the idea that his wife is working against him.  He ends up this weird orangish brown color.  “What have you done to my wife?”

I roll my eyes.  I don’t know how much more of this drama I can stand.  I’ve never had drama in my life before.  “Grandma’s fine.”

He points a shaky finger at me.  “If you hurt her…” he threatens.  It’s hard to look intimidating with a rope of light around your hands that extends from someone’s belly button, though.

I sigh heavily.  “You know, if you would have taken half a minute to get to know me, you’d have figured out that I don’t want to hurt anybody.”

His whole body is shaking now as he shouts, “You opened the gateway between realms!”

“Yeah, to throw a couple of Fairies back through it.  I didn’t let any out!” I shout back.

“Then that wasn’t a Fairy you brought home with you?”

“He’s my boyfriend!  And he’s not here to hurt anybody.”

“All Fairies are evil, treacherous beings.  None of them can be trusted.”

“Yeah?  It seems to me that except for my mother who renounced your ways, all Witches are evil,
murderous
, and treacherous.  That’s from my own
personal
experience.  How many Fairies have you personally met?”

Grandpa is speechless for a moment as my words sink in.  Finally, he blusters, “Witches are noble and…”

I cut him off.  “You can say whatever you want, but do you honestly think I care what a man who tried to kill me – twice – has to say?  How can you possibly be a representative of how good and noble Witches are when you want to kill your own flesh and blood?  My God, you’re a walking Shakespearian Tragedy.”

His face turns beet red now but he says more calmly, “The prophecy says…”

“Yeah, yeah.  I know the prophecy: A Witch’s child of Fae is born when spirits of the realms are torn.  Into the world destruction she brings while children cry and Angels sing.  None may survive the vengeance of she, and immortal her soul is to be, to remedy the world of its natural discord,” I recite from memory.  Kallen had told me about the prophecy.  It’s why everyone is so afraid of me.  “So? Maybe it’s you who brings the discord that forces me to destroy the world, did you think of that?  Maybe it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

I think I might have stumped him.  He opens his mouth to say something several times but no sound comes out.  I’ve had it with him and I throw my hands up in the air.  “I’m going back inside.  You can stay out here in the cold and figure out what you want to say to me.  Just give me a shout when you have it all worked out.”  I’m not actually cold because my body isn’t really here; I’m just making a point. 

I think about the rope light retracting back to me and it does, just like it did at the airport.  This time I don’t yank on it, though, so Grandpa doesn’t fall down.  Even though I probably would have gotten some satisfaction out of that.  It’s amazing how petty you can become when the world is out to get you.  Well,
worlds
in my case.  High road, I have to take the high road, is becoming my mantra. Or as Mom would say, live and let live, fairly take and fairly give.  Ignoring Grandpa now, I close my eyes preparing to bring my mind back to my body.

“I melt this wax as I melt your will.  Child of darkness, your body be still.  I bind these hands as I bind thee, a force unbreakable ties you to me.  Sprung from seeds I’ve sown, your will is my own.  Cast aside your desires, consumed by my fire, as I control your mind and bring justice to our time.  As I beckon, come to me, your will is no longer free.”

My eyes open back up and I glare at Grandpa as I slowly start walking towards him.  A shadow of fear is in his eyes, but as I get closer, it’s replaced with a smug satisfaction.  Looking at the small likeness of me in his hand that he’s holding a lighter against, I say, “I see Annika has been busy.  Did you steal a picture from our house while you were there?” He doesn’t answer me and he looks guilty, so I’m pretty sure that’s what happened.

Squaring his shoulders, which causes the buttons of his overcoat to strain over his expanding waistline, he says, “It pays to take precautions.”

“So, stealing as well as murder is okay.  Wow, if those are the morals Mom grew up with, I’m surprised she didn’t turn out to be a homicidal kleptomaniac.  Oh, but that’s right, she ran away from you and your morals.”

His eyes flash with anger, but he holds his tongue in check, satisfied that I’m under his control now.  Finally, I’ve breeched the fifteen foot gap between us and I’m directly in front of him.  He walks to the passenger side door of his car, opens it and says, “Get in.”

“No.”

“I command you to get in the car,” he practically barks.

“No.”

Now he’s really mad.  “Your will is mine, you will do as I say!”

I can’t help but laugh.  I reach out and snatch the likeness from his hands.  “My will is nobody’s but my own.  Now, as I said before, you can stay out here in the snow, but I’m going back inside.”  I close my eyes on Grandpa’s wide eyed, open mouthed shock and bring myself back to the kitchen.

A gasp causes me to open my eyes quickly.  I look up to see everyone staring at my hand, which now holds, in my opinion, a pretty poor wax likeness of me.