Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (47 page)

“Hello me darlin’, didn’t mean to give you a scare, Catherine dear, but you looked a little frustrated.” The strange little man’s voice had an accent that she determined was Irish.

“Hi, I’m sorry, but do I know you? Have we met?” Cat asked, pretty sure she hadn’t met him before, but wanting to be polite.

“No, I don’t believe we have, but everyone in Wedgewick Village knows of ye, Ms. Colvin. And it’s my pleasure to finally meet ye.”

“Thank you, I guess. Could you possibly help me? I seem to be having some trouble getting in,” she said, pointing ahead of her into the never-ending archway of trees.

“Well that’s easy to solve, me darlin’. Let me.” The little man held on to a stone hanging from around his neck and said, “
Revealius Indrogorum
.” The forest in front of them disappeared and the entrance to Wedgewick came into view. She could see the village sign in the distance. It still amazed her every time it happened.

“There ye be, young lass, now drive on. Gretchen be waiting for ye.”

“Thank you, Mr. …?”

“Almos Watch at your service,” The little man replied with a formal bow. “Now off you go, I still have a lot of salting to attend to, yes I do.” With that he bowed again and then reached into a huge bucket, which Cat hadn’t noticed before. She watched as he brought out a handful of salt and walked away letting it trickle from his fingers.

“Uh, if you don’t mind me asking. What exactly are you doing? With the salt, I mean.”

“Oh this? This be a wee precautionary measure, my dear,” Almos replied.

“Precautionary measure? Salt?” Cat asked confused.

“It wards off dark magics, and acts as a whatchamacallit…a barrier. Yeah, that’s it, a barrier,” he explained. “Though our village be hidden, it’s not impervious to the wicked folk who pine to enter. Hence the salting. Now ye better get a move on, the opening will nay stay open forever,” he joked. 

“Right. Thanks again,” she said.

“Pleasure be all mine, my dear.”

Cat quickly put the car in drive and headed up the winding lane toward the Wedgewick Village population sign, which promptly switched from 998 to 999 as she drove by it. She parked in the open field next to the village and then trudged through the snow toward its entrance. The town square resembled a ghost town, with only a few people wandering around. As Cat made her way to The Purple Door, she was completely oblivious to the occasional person who would stop and stare at her when they sensed her anger as she passed by.

The tinkling of bells announced Cat’s entrance to The Purple Door. Several people in the store turned to look at her and quickly parted as she made her way to the register. A very tall woman was the last to move aside, revealing Gretchen. She was dressed in a purple gown, and her long silver hair was pulled back revealing her grave expression as she watched Cat move to stand in front of her. Some of Cat’s anger diminished as she saw Annie and Aylah standing off to the side with worry in their eyes. “I know why you have come. Shall we retire to the back room?” Gretchen asked, her peaceful voice engulfing Cat. “Annie, may we have some calming tea, please?” she asked quietly, missing Annie’s vigorous nodding. As Gretchen was closing the door Cat heard the customers quietly murmuring to each other.

“Please, have a seat. I know you’re very angry and I don’t blame you. Spirit told me this morning that you had finished reading the journal.” Gretchen sighed as she sat down across from Cat. “I want to tell you the truth about what you read. Please allow me the chance to finish, and then I’ll answer any questions you might have. First of all, I never met the young person from the journal. If I had, maybe things would have turned out differently. As you’re probably aware, I’m very old, Cat. I’ve been around for many centuries.” Gretchen cocked her head to the left, “Hush up, Spirit, I’m trying to explain! You can stay, but only if you can keep your mouth shut!” Turning back to Cat, “Now, where was I?”

“
You were saying you were old, very old. Oops, sorry, shutting up now
,” Spirit whispered in Gretchen’s ear, causing her to glare to her side again.

“Even though I may be old, that does not mean I’ve always been wise in my years. I’ve trusted the wrong people, and made my fair share of mistakes. But, Cat, you must trust that it was not I who betrayed this Childe. It was Quintance. All those years ago when this Childe met my sister they thought they were meeting a kind older woman. But of course they were wrong. To this day I still cannot believe Quintance can be so evil. And all of the acts she performed during the Cleansing horrify me. This youngster was not the only unfortunate that came her way. There were many.”

“The Cleansing? You mean like the new Robert Craven novel?” Cat asked.

Gretchen fumbled with her words, “No, no my dear, that’s a mere coincidence,” she lied, feeling Cat was not ready to handle that side story. “The Cleansing is why you were put into hiding. Why your mother gave you to the Colvins for safe keeping.”

“
Tell her about the prophecy already
!” Spirit yelled in Gretchen’s ear.

“Oh Spirit, if you don’t be quiet, I’m going to have you cast away! I’m getting to the prophecy!” Gretchen shouted while looking behind her.

“The prophecy?” Cat asked confused.

“Well, you see, your kind was foretold to bring ruin to the vampire race,” Gretchen explained.

That was written in the journal Mildred gave me
, Cat thought, remembering the passage.

“But the problem is no one knows the origin of this prophecy, or whether it was based on facts or lies. But still it proves quite dangerous that such a main conspirator in the Cleansing now knows of your whereabouts. That is why salting has become a daily ritual around the village. Quintance will not get through so easily next time. What am I saying? I hope there is no next time,” Gretchen said with a wobbly smile as she took Cat’s hands from across the table. “I’m truly sorry you have so much to bear, Cat. I promise that we’re going to do everything in our power to protect you. In fact, last night Amaya salted your house. Now no one associated with dark magic can cross into your home unless you allow it.”

 “What would Quintance or any dark witch want with me anyway?”

“Well, dark witches are collectors, and a Childe is like a priceless treasure to them. You see, during the Cleansing it was commonplace for your kind to be used as a form of barter to gain an upper hand against the vampire race. The vampire Parliament used to be the ruling body until the Cleansing lost them a great deal of power and control due to Childe trading. It was the vampires that sought to destroy your kind at any cost, and many took advantage of this by trading Children for their own selfish means.”

“So what you’re saying is that vampires are out to kill me, and dark witches want to collect me?” Cat asked, and then leaned back into the chair with a grim expression on her face.

“And I wish I could say that my sister, her coven, and the vampire Parliament were the only forces out there you have to contend with, but I’m afraid there are many things out there that you have yet to encounter. And of course, as you know, there are things happening in your own backyard. Those poor misguided girls. I know you wish to learn about Linda, but I can’t see what will happen to her or the others. I still only know that the one whose blood transformed her must be destroyed. You must be vigilant, Cat. Trust your intuition and it will not steer you wrong.” Gretchen could sense Cat had a question. “There’s something else you want to know isn’t there?” Cat hesitated.

“You knew my family members were…werewolves, didn’t you?”  Gretchen nodded. “Why did you keep it a secret?”

“We all have our secrets, dear. Besides, it was not mine to tell. There are things that one needs to find out for himself or herself. If your family had meant you harm, I would have told you, but all I saw was the massive amount of love they have for you. You’re a very lucky young lady to have them behind you, but you already knew that, didn’t you?” Gretchen sat back in her chair, “Now that we’re being honest. I have one other little tidbit to let you in on.”

Cat groaned, “Please don’t tell me that
you
aren’t what you seem?  I don’t think I could handle that.”

“No, my sweetest, I am what you see. It is Aylah.” As Gretchen spoke her name, a falcon flew into the room and perched on the back of the chair next to Cat. “Cat, I think you know my falcon, Aylah.”

“Your falcon is named Aylah too?” Cat asked, watching the majestic bird shake its feathers. Her mouth gaped open and her eyes grew wide as she saw the bird transform into Aylah, the woman.

“Definitely didn’t see that one coming,” Cat blurted out.

Gretchen chuckled. “Cat, Aylah is my familiar.”

“Your familiar?”

“Her guardian animal to be exact. I have been with her since she was a young girl,” Aylah explained.

“So, do all witches have a familiar?” Cat asked.

Gretchen laughed slightly. “For the most part yes, but technically anyone can have a familiar, my dear.

“Huh,” Cat replied. Turning to Aylah, “So, when Amy said that you’d be flying in shortly, she really meant it?” 

Aylah giggled. “Yeah, it’s kind of our running joke around here.”

“I told Ryan you were a smart bird,” Cat said and Aylah smiled at her. “I don’t know what to say. I feel so stupid now. Especially since I was coming here today to blame you for what happened to the Childe in the journal. And I was so scared of the fact that I’d have to hate you. Which is definitely not something I’d like at all. But thank you for telling me the truth.”

Gretchen stood up from the table, as did Cat, and she opened her arms to give Cat a huge hug. Aylah wrapped her arms around them as well and squeezed.

“I think I’m going to cry,” Spirit said in Gretchen’s ear.

“Well, if you’re going to cry, could you do it in someone else’s ear?” Gretchen groaned.

“What?” Cat asked, looking up at her.

“Oh no, not you dear, it’s Spirit. He’s quite the drama queen you know,” Gretchen remarked, squeezing Cat and Aylah tighter in the hug.

A knock came at the door and a red-faced Annie peeked into the room. “Uh, Gretchen, about that calming tea, we were out, so I went and searched the whole village. It was all used up, remember? Trouble at the big witch convention last month? I hope friendship tea will be okay, because that’s all we have,” Annie rambled on.

“That will be just fine, Annie, just fine,” Gretchen said with her arms still around Cat and Aylah.

On the drive home, Cat missed the car parked on the side of the road. She wouldn’t have recognized it anyway. The occupants, yes, but not the car. Duffie and Leif watched as the orange Jeep moved down the forest road.

February 2nd, Cat’s birthday, was sunny but very cold.  She lay in her warm comfy bed not wanting to leave it. Cat wished it was Saturday or Sunday instead of a school day.  Grumbling, she threw back the covers and made her way to the bathroom to get ready.

Bounding down the stairs a half an hour later she found her family sitting in the kitchen, all grinning from ear to ear. Nothing like last year when she thought everyone had forgotten her birthday. It was supposed to be a surprise, but then she ruined it all by passing out and missing her party.