A gentle breeze flowed over me, and considering I was in a sheltered area deep inside the forest, I was shocked enough by it that I looked up.
I recognized him immediately. Andre Cordelia, the little boy I’d seen in my dreams, but this wasn’t the boy. This was a man.
I froze, terrified he’d attack me like his father had. He didn’t look at me. Instead, he stared out through the forest and across the creek. After several tense moments, he sighed. “This was our secret place after… after my father found out about us. This was where we came. I knew he wouldn’t catch us here.”
The breeze flowed around me again, chilling me to the bone. “I couldn’t go on. Not after. Even after the old man died, he… the man I loved more than I loved anything, he wouldn’t come back. Said he would be arrested if he dared.”
Andre looked at me, his eyes full of unshed tears. “I couldn’t go on, you see. I know it hurt her. I know it made her vulnerable to the wolves, but I just couldn’t.”
A vision flowed through me of Andre’s body lying next to the creek. I gasped and looked over at him. “You… you died here?” I asked.
He nodded. “I know what I did hurt your family. Your grandmother was like a baby sister to me. I loved her and used to watch her as she grew up in the cottage with Maid Elisa and Groundskeeper Jim. And Nanny Inez, what I did hurt her most of all. I never knew how to fix it. Now you’re here, and he’s—”
I nodded, knowing who he was talking about. “Am I safe here? Long-term?”
Andre looked at me and sighed, the uncertainty evident on his face. “We will keep my father away as long as we can, but his hatred of us, of you because you come from her, is strong.”
“My loving Cary? Is that—”
Andre nodded. “My father hated my lover, partly because we were together and partly because he loved me. My happinessenraged my father. You see, he hated me because my mother died giving birth to me. Yes, your relationship with your lover puts you at risk.”
“Should I leave? Should Cary and I both go?”
I could hear the panic in my voice, but Andre didn’t respond to my questions. “If you have a chance at love with someone who isn’t going to leave you, that’s worth fighting for, isn’t it? I lost it and gave up. That decision put everyone I cared about at risk. Don’t make the same mistakes I made.”
Andre’s spirit disappeared, and I was alone again. I knew Andre wouldn’t hurt me, but being in such an auspicious place was enough to send me on my way. That being said, I knew I was going to ask Cary to help me put something here, something to commemorate the man who’d died here and how it had once been a special place for him and his love.
40
Cary
“Did he really meanthat?” I asked the two women who sat across from me.
Both smiled sadly and nodded. “You know he’s going through a lot, most of which I don’t think he’s shared with us,” Al said, while Christie nodded in confirmation.
“You heard him say family,” Christie said. “I don’t think that was a slip of the tongue, and he’s not wrong. What we’re beginning to create here feels very much like a family.”
Al reached over and, in an uncommon show of affection, placed her hand over mine. “Cary, we need to bring Evan into our coven, let him meet everyone, get to know us all. I know he isn’t gifted, at least not in the way we are, but he is becoming part of us. I can see even in how you look at him, you’re already falling in love with him.
“It’s time to bring him in?” I asked, bewildered.
“And,” Christie added as she stood up, “it’s also time for you to stop being daft. You know your place here in this group. If Evan wants you as part of the business partnership, then stopresisting. You belong, and play as much of a pivotal role in this venture as the rest of us.”
All I could do was nod. I could feel Christie’s gift flowing through me, but in a comforting way, making me see how much I belonged. “Thank you, I think I’m going to go find him. I’ll have him back here before he’s needed at work, but I think he and I need some alone time,” I said, winking at the two.
I arrived to find an empty cottage, which made me panic. Had Evan gotten hurt? Had the nasty entity attacked him?
I was just about to scry for him when I felt his presence just outside the cottage. I went to meet him and saw he’d been crying. “Evan,” I asked as I walked down from the porch to meet him, instantly pulling him into my arms. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “Mostly. I just met another of our resident spirits,” he said nervously. “Andre, he was, well, I found the spot where he died.”
“Did he hurt you? Are you—”
Evan pulled back and placed his hand on my chest to stop me from freaking out. “I’m fine. He’s one of the good ones. He’s helping my great-grandmother keep the nasty one contained. For now,” he said. “Cary, I-I…” He paused to gather his thoughts, then continued, “You’re important, and not just because we are, you know… this,” he said, motioning between us. “You’re important to any business we might try to create. I know I’m an emotional ninny, but that’s not because of you, that’s because I’m still processing the loss of my family, and then the whole inheritance thing was thrust into my lap. Give me time, and I promise the emotional rollercoaster will calm down, but also, trust me, whether or not you and I work out long-term, you’re a part of this. I can’t imagine doing anything with the estate without you being part of it.”
I nodded. “I’m getting that. It’s just I don’t want you to feel obligated to include me, okay?”
Evan smiled. “Okay. Now, come on, let’s get back. I want to tell Christie and Al what I learned.”
