Oceans of Fire (17 page)

“My Jefferson made me feel that way,” Carol said. “Of course you wanted to be with him.”

“We spent the day together and then stayed up all night talking. It was like there was always so much more to say. I loved the sound of his voice. His smile, the way his eyes lit up when he looked at me.” Abigail blinked back tears. “In a million years, I never thought I’d ever feel that way about someone. He didn’t know anything at all about me. He didn’t know I was a Drake. That I had magic, that I had talented, beautiful sisters who all had made names for themselves in amazing ways. He saw me. Abigail. And it was enough.”

There was a silence in the room. Abigail knew her sisters were empathic and they could feel the sudden pain knifing through her. Libby crossed her arms over her stomach and Elle huddled into a little ball.

“You have to tell us, Abbey,” Sarah pressed. “What good does it do to hold it to yourself? We’ve all known you’ve been unhappy. You can’t be near us and not have us feel it.”

Abigail shook her head. “I did something so stupid. So wrong. I don’t know how to tell you. I used my gift in a way that I shouldn’t have and a man died. He didn’t deserve to die, but he did. I’ve always known I couldn’t wield what was given to me. It was always more than I could handle. I blurted things out in school and kids were hurt by it. Teens got in trouble, and even last Christmas look what happened. I knew better than to use it, but I wanted to please him. I wanted to be so much more in his eyes.” She covered her face with her hands.

Carol slipped her arm around Abigail. “You aren’t the first Drake to be overwhelmed with the power we wield. It’s such a terrible responsibility. Have you read the prophecy? Really read it? I think each of you girls should. It was written several hundred years ago and serves as both a warning and a foretelling.”

Hannah waved her hands and candles leapt to life throughout the downstairs, flickering and dancing. Scents wafted through the house, mingling together to provide a semblance of peace. In the kitchen the teakettle whistled merrily. Hannah jumped up, her tall, elegant body encased in pencil thin blue jeans and an oversized white silk shirt. “I’ll make you a cup of tea, Abbey, something soothing.”

“Thanks, Hannah,” Abigail replied, managing a smile. Next to Libby, Hannah and Elle were the most empathic of the sisters.

“I think we all avoided reading the prophecy too closely when we made the pact to stay independent,” Sarah explained. “I was fifteen at the time and we all thought getting married meant being under a man’s thumb. We were watching all our friends in school turn silly and giggle and basically act like idiots and none of us wanted to be like that so we swore off relationships.”

“Not just being under his thumb,” Kate clarified, “but making fools of ourselves. We felt our friends were changing who they were and what they believed in just to have a boy like them. And we grew up with the boys—they just weren’t all that attractive as boyfriends to us.”

Carol fluffed her hair and winked at Abigail. “I should have taken you girls in hand a long time ago. Being a woman is just plain fun, and flirting is half the fun. And it shouldn’t have prevented you from studying the prophecy. I have a few things to say to your mother when I see her.”

“We read the part about the gate swinging open in welcome and so we padlocked the gate and put the prophecy in with the journals,” Kate admitted. “And we didn’t say a single word to Mom about our pact. She was pushing us to learn the language in some of the journals and that was so annoying.”

“At the time,” Sarah qualified. “Since then, we’ve learned a few hard lessons about why we should have listened to her.”

Hannah returned with the cup of tea. “This will help, Abbey. I worked on the combination of herbs and I think it really relaxes and helps soothe.” She pushed the teacup into Abigail’s hands.

Abigail forced a faint smile as she looked up at her sister. If there were favorites within a family, Hannah would be everyone’s. Abigail felt closest to her and she was fairly certain her other sisters felt the same way. It wasn’t that Hannah was saintly, not by any means; Hannah had a definite mischievous streak, but she was so compassionate and caring. And her painful shyness made it necessary for them all to stay connected to her in order to allow Hannah the freedom of a career. No one had thought when she’d first taken a modeling job that she would soar to the top and become such a success, but they were all proud of her, especially knowing what it took for Hannah to appear in public. “Thank you, Hannah, even the aroma is soothing.”

Carol glanced at her watch with a small frown. “I’m going to have to cancel my meeting so we can finish this talk.”

“What meeting?” Sarah asked curiously. Carol hadn’t been back in Sea Haven more than a day.

“I belong to the Red Hat Club, dear, and we’re having a bit of fun today. I was so pleased that they had a chapter here in Sea Haven. It will give me a chance to reestablish old friendships. I want to get to know all the ladies in town again. We can wear our red hats and purple shirts and walk barefoot on the beach. Inez Nelson is very involved and hopefully she can pass on news as to how Gene is doing. I haven’t heard yet.”

Sarah nodded. “Inez is always a wonderful source of information. She cares about Sea Haven and is very active in the business community as well as with all the programs for theater and dance. She was here a few days ago getting consent to have Kate, Joley, and Hannah’s names used for the write-up on Frank Warner’s big event. If Frank had asked, Inez knew they would have turned down the invitation to attend.”

“It turns into a freak show,” Hannah said, making a face. “It isn’t quite so bad when Kate and Joley are there.”

“Especially Joley,” Kate added with a quick grin at her sister. “You seem to be a huge draw. I think people want to know if the tabloids have all your exploits right.”

Joley laughed. “Aw, if only I had the exciting life the tabloids write about.”

“We’d have to disown you,” Sarah said.

Abigail pressed a hand to her chest. Sarah didn’t mean to hurt her. She couldn’t possibly know how those teasing words would cut so deep.

“Abbey.” Sarah rose instantly and knelt in front of her sister, putting her arm around her. “No matter what, you are our sister, loved and cherished always.”

Abigail shook her head. How had she had failed the gifts handed down to her through centuries of generations? Never once had she been told stories of magic failing. Of one of the sisters so flawed she caused the death of an innocent man.

Sarah was so good at everything she did. Kate was magical, bringing tremendous peace to those in need and showing such courage when elements got out of control. Libby saved lives over and over. Hannah’s gift was powerful and she gave of herself without reservation to her sisters. Joley had the voice of a spell singer and she was able to use her gift for good. Elle was the most powerful, holding all gifts within her, yet she was humble and steady and always ready to help. Only Abigail was flawed, unable to wield the power of the truth. Unable to use the voice given to her. Unable to bring forth pure magic. Because of her weaknesses, her gift was twisted and uncontrolled and wreaked havoc on those around her.

Chapter 7

“ABIGAIL.” Carol’s voice was very gentle. “You can’t hold something like this in. If you don’t trust your family to love you and help you through the worst times in your life, you’ll never be able to trust anyone.”

“It isn’t a matter of trust, Aunt Carol,” Abbey explained. “It just makes it all the more real if I talk about it. I always feel so apart from everyone else.”

“Abbey,” Sarah said, “life is to be lived. If you’re living, you’re going to stumble along the way.”

“All the time?” Abigail leapt to her feet and began to pace. “I have such a bad temper and when I was in my teens, I wasn’t above using my gift for revenge. None of you did that.”

Joley slowly raised her hand, sliding down in the chair as she did so. Hannah followed suit, although she didn’t look in the least remorseful. Sarah shrugged her shoulders and raised her hand and glared at Elle, who just grinned sheepishly and put up a couple of fingers. Carol tossed her head and waved her arm with gusto.

“You did
not
!” Abigail said, shocked.

“We aren’t angels,” Sarah pointed out. “Especially Hannah and Joley.” She gave them both a stern look.

“Like I’d let those girls be mean to me or any of you,” Hannah said with a little disdainful sniff. “Once Sylvia Fredrickson said right in front of Anita Monroe that she could have
any
boy in town. Including Jonas Harrington, by the way.”

“
Jonas
?” That got all of their attention instantly.

Hannah nodded, her hands on her hips. “She really made me mad the way she was talking about him. He was in college, but came home as often as possible. Remember when his mother was so ill? Sylvia claimed she was going over to his house that night and sneaking in his bedroom window.”

“What did you do, Hannah?” Abigail asked, unable to prevent herself.

“Nothing much. I just stirred up the wildlife in the area a bit. The yard and particularly Jonas’s room were overrun with anything reptilian. She has a very loud scream,” she added with satisfaction. “Not that it taught her any lessons. And that oaf Jonas suspected I might have done it out of retaliation for his obnoxious comments when we met earlier in the day and he referred to me as a cutesy little Barbie doll.”

Kate and Libby exchanged a long look. “I don’t think this is very fair,” Kate said. “In fact I’m jealous that I couldn’t use my talent for anything but good. I had a few people who weren’t so nice in school I would have liked to do something to.”

“Me too,” Libby agreed. “The rest of you have all the fun.”

“Don’t worry,” Hannah said. She, Joley, and Elle exchanged a long, satisfied grin. “We were looking out for you. No one ever suspected your younger sisters.”

“And I don’t believe for one minute that the two of you never used your gifts inappropriately,” Carol said. “Confession time.”

Kate’s grin widened. “I am not about to lose my halo. Suffice to say, I did experiment a little.”

“I just don’t believe this.” Abigail looked at Libby. Libby was the middle child, gifted with healing. She always managed to look serene, even in the middle of a crisis. She wore her heavy mane of jet black hair short and her eyes were a startling, very intense green that gave her an otherworldly appearance. Of all the Drakes, she was the one the local children called witch when they wanted to be cruel. Abigail had never seen her react, although once in a while she had cried in her room and that sent Hannah, Joley, and Elle whispering up on the captain’s walk. “Elizabeth Jane Drake. Not you too? I swear, all my illusions are being shattered.”

“I admit to nothing.”

Laughter bubbled up in Abigail. At the same time she wanted to weep. At every crisis within the family as far back as she could remember, her sisters had pulled together. Her mother and the aunts had always been the same, as had her uncles and cousins. She was very thankful for the wonderful legacy of family devotion handed down to her.

“Oh, dear,” Carol said just as Sarah jumped to her feet and went to the door.