Finding Obscurity (12 page)

I opened my palm to see it was completely healed now and ran my
fingers over where the burn used to be. He was still gripping my hand and my
fingers grazed over his. “I was trapped in a fire in one of my dreams and
thought it was just a premonition of something to come, but when I tried to
escape, I burnt my hand on the doorknob. I woke up with the burn on my hand.”

 
He sighed closing his
eyes. “When did this happen?”

“The night after you left. You were talking about the couple
who died in the fire and then I dreamed of a fire. It just felt so real, but my
premonitions do too.”

He ran his free hand over his eyes in frustration. “I will have
to see what I can find out about this power because I have never heard of it,
and that scares me. Please promise you’ll be careful. I couldn’t live with
myself if anything happened to you.”

“I will.”

The sunlight started to fade while the grass began turning
murky with the color fading and I looked around in uncertainty. “What is going
on?”

“You’re waking up, Lily. Will you do me a favor?” I nodded as
everything started dissipating into mist. Like haze around him, the color of
his silver eyes started swirling, and he kissed my palm. “Even though I hate
saying this, and won’t give up on us, will you talk to Ashton? He deserves to
at least be heard.”

Chapter Fifteen

I woke up to the sound of persistent buzzing and I slammed my hand
down on the phone to silence my alarm. Sunlight was streaming from a crack in
the cheap curtain across the grimy walls, showing every imperfection and
crevice in the drywall. I stretched with a yawn and thought about the dream.
Blake wanted me to talk to Ashton, which I wasn’t sure I was ready for yet, as
it all felt too raw right now. To know Blake wasn’t giving up on a chance with
us was something to think about when I had time to really absorb it.

After I was showered and dressed, I loaded my duffel bag into my
BMW and drove towards the police station I had spoken with a few days ago. If I
was here, then maybe somebody would talk to me, and that’s all I could hope for
right now.

I parked in the lot and headed towards the stark red brick
building. It was one story and looked out of place with all the trees
surrounding it. Several police cars were parked along the front and were
deserted as I walked through the double glass doors. A fat, balding man with a
comb-over was behind the desk. He spit chew in a can before looking up with a
huge wad tucked into his bottom lip.

“Howdy, ma’am. What can I do
fer
ya
?” he said with a thick southern accent.

“I am actually following up on a call I put in earlier this week,
trying to get more information on a fire in the area.” I grimaced at his minty
tobacco breath.

“A fire?” He began looking through a few notes on his desk. “Are
ya
Miss Canton?”

“That’s me. Have you been able to find anything?”

The officer picked up a file and pointed at the utilitarian chair.
“We got a little info for
ya
. If you
wanna
have a seat, I’ll fetch Detective Green.”

I thanked him, taking a seat while he picked up the phone, letting
the detective know I was here. The town was small but beautiful and in no way
different from where I grew up in Indiana, except for the Smoky Mountain view.
Checking my phone, I saw a few more missed calls from Ashton and Carlotta, but
since Blake had spoken with me in my dream, I knew he was sure I was okay for
now. A tall, muscular man in his late forties came through the back and spoke
to the bald man before heading my way. His graying hair was cut in a military
buzz and he was dressed in plain clothes with his badge hanging off his belt.

“Ms. Canton? Will you follow me, please?” he asked with a southern
twang, but not as thick as the man behind the desk.

He led me back into a meeting room that was painted white with a
few scattered blue metal chairs against a plastic table in the middle. There
were no pictures or anything, other than a file folder sitting on the table. I
sat in the cold chair and itched to touch the folder but leaned back instead.

He shook my hand before sitting across from me with wrinkles
stretching to his temples when he smiled. “I’m Detective Green. I spoke with
you on the phone the other day. I have a little bit of information I was able
to pull from the archives regarding the Stone family. Did you know that the
Fire Marshall claimed it was arson?”

My lips parted in surprise, even though Blake and Carlotta had
hinted at it. “No, I didn’t.”

“Why are you wanting information about the fire after all these
years? I think it’s a little odd because nobody came forward with any
information about these people, even after the news broadcasts.”

“Detective, I think they may be family because my adoptive parents
said that my blood family died in a fire in Tennessee. Other than that, I
really don’t have any leads until now. They could be my aunt and uncle or even
distant cousins.”

“You do understand that I’m not sure they could be your family and
don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

I nodded. “I understand. I am grasping at straws anyway.”

The detective opened up the file to show several reports scribbled
in almost unreadable handwriting, and he handed the first one to me. From what
I could read, the fire was started with liquid assumed to be gasoline, and when
they arrived it was engulfed in flames. There were also reports concluding that
it was arson. The second page listed the accounts of firemen as they arrived,
reporting that the roof had collapsed shortly before they drove up. It listed
the deceased would have been upstairs in the cabin when the roof had fallen in,
and I stared at the page in disbelief. There was no way it could be the cabin
from my dream, because I don’t see things from the past, only the future. I
rubbed my palm with my fingers, thinking about the burn.

“I did find a few pictures that barely survived around this file
someplace.” Detective Green flipped through several pages. “Ah, there they
are.”

The three pictures he had were charred around the edges, and one
that was almost burnt all the way through. He laid the first one down of two
young children in black and white from maybe the forties, and the next one
showed a newborn child wrapped in a pink blanket. This was in color and had to
be the baby who died in the fire. It was so tiny and I felt sad to see a life
so young lost. My heart lodged in my throat when the last picture flipped over
to show an older, chestnut-haired version of myself smiling for the camera. I
leaned closer but I could scarcely see the man with jet-black hair hugging her
because of the black soot obstructing the view. The woman’s bright hazel eyes
sparkled at the camera as she held her pregnant belly.

The revelation was so profound, there were no words as I gripped
the picture in my shaking hands. I knew they were my parents without a doubt.
But the real question was if I was the baby in the other photo. I glanced back
up at the detective before turning the picture for him to see. “I think we’re
related for sure.”

“By God!” he said, looking at the picture and then back up at me,
comparing. “There’s no doubt you’re related, but I wonder how. Do you think
they had any other children we didn’t know about? You’re a spitting image of
the woman, aside from the hair color.”

I shook my head. “Not sure. Can I have a color copy of this
please? I would like to take it back home with me if you don’t mind. Maybe
it’ll help me find somebody out there who may know them somehow.”

“I’ll send you home with a copy of all the pictures if you’d like.
Would you like to drive to where the cabin once stood?”

To be honest, I was more than curious to see what would remain of
the cabin in the woods which took my parents from me. There was no doubt in my
mind they were who I believed they were. “Sure. I’ll follow you.”

We drove through winding mountain roads for about ten minutes
before we came across an overgrown driveway that led into a clearing. Parking
the car, I slowly got out to look around the area, trying to find where the
cabin may have been. My skin instantly felt itchy and goose bumps caused the
hair on the back of my neck to stand on end. Something was off here, and I
wasn’t sure what, but it made me uneasy. When my eyes roamed to the left, I
instantly knew where the cabin had been because I could see the image burned
into my mind from the dream. Goose bumps popped up all over my skin as I stared
at the exact spot my birth family had died in a horrific fire.

“It’s over this way.” Detective Green began walking to the left
and up a small hill to a stack of bricks in a haphazard pile. “I’m not sure why
the landowners never rebuilt the cabin because it was beautiful here.”

I could only nod as we made our way up to the pile of stones that
had become overgrown with several trees and bushes growing sporadically
throughout it. There was nothing left to show a log cabin may have ever been
here and the charred wood was long gone after so many years. I wasn’t sure what
I had expected to see here when we arrived, but I was a little let down there
wasn’t more to see. Knowing I wasn’t going to get any more answers staring at
the rubble, I made my way to the back of the woods where I saw the flash of red
hair from my dream.

“Do you know this land used to be owned by Native Americans who
supposedly cursed the property?” the Detective said, following me towards the
trees.

Well that might explain the weird feeling I got the moment I
stepped on the ground. “It feels a little off, doesn’t it? Why did they curse
this area?”

“Legend has it that there was a war between malevolent beings that
wanted to take the land from the Native Americans and they in turn cursed the
land to trap the evil souls from ever escaping. Supposedly at a certain time of
the day you can see the dead that are forever cursed to remain on the land.
Probably just a bunch of bologna if you ask me.”

The more I thought about what he said, I realized it could have
possibly been Conjurers and vampires for all we know. I chuckled. “Every story
has some truth behind it somewhere along the line.”

“It gives me the willies.” He shivered. “When you’re ready to head
back, stop by the station for those pictures. It was a pleasure meeting you,
Lily. I hope you found the answers you were looking for.” He gave me a light
slap on the back before heading back to his car, leaving me staring at the
woods.

When no evil ghosts came to visit me, I headed back to the car,
taking my time driving back to the station. The mountains were beautiful here
and the weather was just a tad bit chillier the higher you went, so I turned up
the heater and blasted the radio. Sure, I had found the answer to who my
parents were, but it had opened up so many more questions that I couldn’t
answer. Was I the baby in the photo? If so, how did I escape and why did the
investigators think I perished? How did my parents end up adopting me if nobody
knew I had been alive?

One way of getting more answers about how I became adopted was not
something I wanted to face in my lifetime, so I ignored the thoughts of
contacting my adoptive parents for now. I would just have to find different
ways of finding out the answers I needed.

I connected the Bluetooth in the car, dialed, and when Blake
answered, I blurted out, “I found out who my parents were.”

“Lily? Where are you?” I could hear somebody talking in the
background and Blake’s muffled voice as he had a hand over the earpiece. “I
don’t know if this is such a good time. Ashton is with me.”

“Why is he with you? I thought you guys hated each other.”

Blake sighed. “Let’s just say we had the same interests in keeping
you safe.” There was a rattle and more muffled arguing before he came back on
the line. “You said you found out who your parents are?”

“You’re not going to believe this. I’m pretty sure my last name
used to be Stone.” There was silence for a few moments and I thought I might
have lost them. “Hello?”

“Are you sure?” Blake finally said.

“Pretty damned sure. I have a picture, and it’s uncanny how much I
look like this woman.”

“You’re in Tennessee,” Blake breathed. There was some more muted
arguing before I heard the phone crash to the floor and more clattering.
 
I could just picture them fighting over
control of it.

“Liliana,” Ashton spoke softly.

I felt the tears surface at his deep voice and blinked them away.
He didn’t deserve my tears at the moment. “Ashton, I’m not ready to talk to you
right now.”

“I know you’re mad at me for keeping such a big secret from you,
and I’m so sorry. We need to talk this through.”

“That’s one hell of a secret to keep from me. I’m so mad at you
right now. How did you think it would be okay to hide this?”

He let out a breath. “I never wanted to hurt you, Lily. I just
thought if I kept what I was from you then you would like me for who I really
was, and not what I am.”

“I should have never heard it from somebody else, Ashton. That’s
what makes me feel so betrayed. If I promise to talk to you when I get back
into town, will you let me speak to Blake again?”

I could sense the hesitation on the other end of the line as he
debated it. “Okay. Please come home soon. Tennessee isn’t safe for you.”

“What do you mean it’s not safe?” There was clattering again when
the phone was handed back.

“He’s right, Lily,” Blake said. “We think you’re relatively safe
right now, but if whoever murdered your family finds out you’re alive and there
–”

I cut him off. “How do you know they were murdered?”

“There were rumors about it, and even though we don’t know if it
was vampire or Conjurer that set the fire, it’s best if you don’t stay to find
out.”

“Blake, what if they aren’t here anymore? There’s no way they
would know who I am. Besides, it was so long ago.”

“If you really are their daughter who was supposed to die, then it
really wouldn’t be a good thing if anyone found out. Whoever did this never
wanted you to live. Think about that for a minute.”

He was right, and I never thought about that before. But why would
they want me dead? I had more questions now that I knew who I truly was, and
that was something I just couldn’t give up on. The fire was meant to destroy
every ounce of evidence that these people existed, and I was living proof that
they did. “It doesn’t make sense. If I supposedly died in that fire, then how
did my adoptive parents know that my real family died in a fire?”

“Do you think they had special abilities?”

“Blake, there’s no way they had abilities like us. I would have
known growing up and they never hinted at knowing I was different until after
my sister died. They hated me for some reason, and I would like to know why.”

“Maybe you need to ask them yourself. It may be the only way for
you to find the answers you want.”

I growled. “There’s no way in hell that I am going to speak to
them again after they basically threw me to the curb.”