Raven (28 page)

“
Gabriel was in quite a bad way, but he's recuperating with
the Elders. They sent one of their raven friends to tell us what
was going on. But at that stage, we didn't know that Vivian was
involved. So I'm so relieved you're okay Lilly.”

“
Thank
you for coming so quickly. But how? When did you learn to
transform?” I asked.

Jo
explained that the family's only chance of getting someone here
quick enough was for her to change into a raven. “I couldn't wait
for it to happen naturally so Rose helped me make it happen for
myself, that was this morning,” she said proudly.

I was
amazed at her transformation, and even more amazed that she had
taken it upon herself to come and help us.

“
Sammy
wanted more than anything to come and help but it's daylight. It
was too much of a risk. We practically had to tie him up to stop
him from following me,” she said.

“
A few
of the Elders are on their way now. They should be here soon. Come,
let's wait for them outside.”

We tied
Charlie up and dragged them both out into the sunlight where we sat
on a large boulder as we awaited the arrival of the
Elders.

As we
sat, I saw that the other raven and the owl were waiting patiently
with us and so I stood up and walked over to them. Bowing my head,
I thanked them for all their help, “I don't know if you can
understand me or not, but I just want you to know how grateful I
am.”

Both
birds nodded their heads at me and I knew then that, through some
kind of magic, they could understand my every word.

“
I
know Meredith can occasionally read minds but I thought that was
just when we're close,” I said to Jo as I returned to her side,
“how was she able to do it this time?”

“
This
is the first time that she's been able to pick up on something so
far away. I think the fact that Sammy was picking up on the same
feeling helped,” she answered.

“
So
were your mum and dad okay with you coming all this way to
help?”

“
They
were obviously really concerned about you and Gabriel. They were
worried sick when I told them I wanted to come but they understood
that it was something I had to do. They were really proud that I
finally changed though,” she said.

As we
sat chatting to each other awaiting the Elders, I was developing a
horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had been trying to
ignore it but it just wouldn't go away. Some of the things that
Vivian had said had crushed me and no matter how hard I tried to
push them to the back of my mind, I struggled to keep them
there.

As I
watched Vivian still sobbing to herself, I thought of the evil
things she had done, not just in my lifetime but way before that
too. She had taken the two loves of Rose's life and ruined any
chance of her finding love again.

Rose had
no idea what had happened to Walter and Lori, but now it seemed
that her husband was probably dead and her daughter could be
anywhere in the world, probably never to be found again. She was
just a baby when she was cruelly ripped from Rose's life – just as
I had been when I had been taken, so she would probably have no
idea as to the true identity of her real mother.

Rose
would need answers and Vivian was the only person who would be able
to give them. Once she was handed over to the Elders, perhaps the
answers to these questions could finally be resolved. I hoped so.
Not just for Rose's sake, but for Lori's too. Wherever she may
be.

I worked
out that Lori would be in her late forties now. Perhaps she had
children of her own. I hoped Rose would find her one day. She
deserved to know the truth. Just as I had deserved to find out the
truth about my life. But my father had escaped Vivian's clutches
and left me behind. He'd abandoned me and now I didn't know if he
was dead or alive.

If he
was dead, was he finally resting in peace with his beloved Serena
and Neleh? If that was the case, wouldn't he have come to me in a
dream, just as they had? Perhaps the Elders would be able to help
solve the mystery.

As I sat
there with Jo, my mind quietly wrestling with itself, I noticed a
small group of people approaching in the distance. The owl and the
raven immediately withdrew from their branch and flew towards them.
We knew it must be the Elders and so we stood up and waited for
them to come closer.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

They
were a group of five; three men and two women. An odd-looking
bunch, but I wouldn't have expected anything less.

The
eldest was an old white-haired man who ambled along slowly with a
walking stick. What I noticed most about him were his massive grey
eyes. He resembled a caricature rather than a real person. But they
were friendly eyes that twinkled and smiled at us, even though his
mouth, initially, did not.

Walking
slightly behind him was a younger man, of about forty years, with
red hair and green eyes and covered in freckles. His pale, almost
translucent skin suggested he didn't venture out into the sunlight
very often. But again, he had a friendly and, despite the colour, a
warm face.

The
third man was barely twenty years old and I knew he was a
changeling – I guessed a werewolf. His strong attractive features
and golden eyes gave him away. He was quite tall but very stocky
and, although wolf-like, I wasn't afraid of him. I could tell he
was trying to appear fierce but I could see right through him. He
was a softy at heart.

The
eldest woman was probably in her sixties and she commanded a
certain presence. She was more striking than beautiful and had
shoulder length grey and black hair. I could imagine her as a
school teacher, strict and bossy. A little bit
intimidating.

And the
last woman was a bit of an enigma. Her face and body suggested she
was around the same age as me yet she had grey hair, short and
spiky. For some reason I was drawn to her, there was a certain
familiarity to her. I could tell she was feisty, rebellious...
fun.

“
Lilly, my dear child. We are so relieved to find you safe
and well,” said the old man with the large eyes as he held out his
arms and pulled me into a gentle hug, “your grand-father is also
safe and recovering well, so you need not worry too much about him
now. Hello Jo. It's good to see you again. You won't remember me
though as you were just a toddler when we last met,” he chuckled,
hugging her softly too. “I am one of the Elders. I am Finley. We
came to help but by the looks of it, you are not really in need of
any assistance. You appear to have everything tied up rather well,”
he said, with a wink, as he approached the two sorry creatures and
gave them a prod with his walking stick.

When
Vivian lifted her face from her knees, Finley did a double take
before turning his attention back to us. “Oh, let me introduce you
to the others,” he said as they all stepped closer as if they had
been awaiting his instructions.

“
Rupert here is our newest addition to the Elders,” he said
as the red-headed man stepped forward and shook my hand. “Good to
meet you Lilly... Jo,” he smiled, shaking Jo's hand too before
stepping back.

“
And
this lovely lady is Ursula. She has been with us for many years,”
and the older, slightly frightening looking woman stepped forward,
nodding her head at us both before stepping back.

“
And
our other friends here are not members of the Elders but were with
us when we heard about what was happening and they wanted to come
along and offer any assistance. I think they're perhaps a little
disappointed at missing out on all the action,” he
laughed.

The two
stepped forward and smiled at us, clearly pleased to see some
younger people.

“
Hi.
I'm Tabitha and this is my boyfriend, Zoltan,” said the young woman
with a grin, “we had hoped to get in on a bit of action. There
hasn't been much going on lately,” she laughed and I felt
immediately at ease. So these were the people Charlie had seen
arguing at Christmas. Zoltan stepped forward and shook Jo's hand
and then he turned to me to shake my hand but as our hands touched,
he let out a deep snarl and snatched it back.

I
immediately felt defensive and took a step backwards, pulling Jo
with me.

“
Don't
worry about Zoltan. I got the same reaction from him when we first
met too. You've probably realised that he is, in fact, a werewolf?”
asked Tabitha and I nodded, “Well sometimes the wolf overpowers the
man and that kind of thing happens,” she laughed, “but you'll find
that he's pretty harmless... to us, anyway.”

He
turned to look at me and smiled apologetically. I forgave him
easily.

While we
had been talking, the others had been into the cave to investigate
what was there. I heard them whispering to each other about how
they had not known of the cave's existence. How a witch had been
under their very noses and they'd not seen what was going on. It
perturbed them, which in turn, worried me a little.

When
they came back out into the sunlight, Rupert pulled both Vivian and
Charlie up from the ground, ensuring the ropes were tied tightly
enough and then we prepared to set off towards the Elders' home. I
grabbed our bags and we began our hike back up the mountain. Jo
walked ahead with Finley and Ursula; Vivian and Charlie were pulled
in the middle of the group by Rupert, and I walked behind with
Tabitha and Zoltan.

Tabitha
was eager to know what had happened and so as we walked, I relayed
our adventure to her. When she commented on my British accent, I
also told her about my life before and how I had managed to find
myself in Canada in the first place.

She was
intrigued by my tale and impressed that we had managed to capture
the witch. “I would have probably killed her,” she said.

“
Well,
I was pretty close but, as Jo told me at the time, I'm not a
killer. Vivian needs to take full responsibility for the evil
things she has done. The Elders will make sure of that,” I
answered.

“
Yeah,
I guess you're right. You've got more self control than me though,”
she added.

“
I
doubt that. I'm sure had it been you, you would have been able to
stop yourself.”

We
continued to tell each other about our lives and I discovered that
Tabitha had been raised in New York but had moved to Canada as soon
as she was old enough to fend for herself.

“
I
always felt like I had some connection to this part of the world
you know,” she said.

“
Well,
it's not difficult to connect is it? Just look how breathtaking it
is,” I said as we stopped momentarily to take in the utter
magnitude of the view surrounding us. Tabitha laughed then and
agreed with me but I knew she had meant it in a different way.
There was some kind of pull that brought her here. She didn't know
what or why but she wanted to find out.

“
But
how did you find the Elders? How did you know about... you know...
all this supernatural stuff?” I laughed, not knowing of a better
way to describe it.

“
My
mother told me actually. She had a lonely childhood, brought up by
a strict mother and a father she rarely saw. When her father took
off one day, her mother went crazy and started casting crazy
spells. My mother freaked out and managed to run away. But after a
few days, she decided to go back and when she did, she found
nothing. Her mother had gone too. She'd just upped and left. Never
to be seen again,” she explained.

“
So
that's how your mother learned?” I questioned, thinking it wasn't
really enough to make you believe. But Tabitha shook her head, “Oh
no... God no. It was when her father returned one day that she
finally understood about it all. He was different. Mum told me that
he actually scared the hell out of her. He was so incredibly pale
and his eyes would change colour from yellow to red. He told her
that he had been made a vampire.”

“
Oh,”
I exclaimed, “well, that would do it.”

Tabitha
smiled, “My grand-father was a vampire. He told my mum he loved her
more than anything else in the world but that he had to go away. He
said it was too much of a risk for him to stay near her. He
couldn't bear her being in danger.”

“
Wow,
that must have been hard,” I whispered.

“
She
knew he was telling the truth and so she accepted it. She started
doing loads of research into the supernatural, paranormal...
whatever you want to call it. Eventually she started discovering
all kinds of freaky stuff. So I learned all about it from a very
young age, I guess.”

Her
mother had never married and still lived in New York. Tabitha was
the result of an intense affair she'd had with a very wealthy man
who had adored her. “But my mum didn't want to settle down, she
likes her own company and she likes to travel a lot... for research
purposes. My dad never married either, so occasionally they get
together. He's been very good to her, and to me. He's a good man,”
she said.