Returned (29 page)

“Mum, this is Jack, you know him but I’m introducing you officially.”

Jack managed a weak smile and a lame hand wave.

“Will you be staying for tea, Jack?” Cora's mother inquired.

He looked at Cora, shocked didn't come close to how he felt. Invited for tea? Surely this woman knew what he had done to her daughter? How he'd treated her? Cora was looking at her mum with eyes the size of saucers. A silent conversation seemed to pass between them as he stood awkwardly looking from one to the other.

“I’m sure he can stop, can’t you, Jack?” Ayden slapped a heavy hand on his shoulder. It felt like a boulder had dropped there.

“Sure, if it’s okay with Cora?”

“Of course it’s okay with Cora. Don’t mind her; she has moody fits
all
the time.”

“Mum!” Cora hissed and looked mortified.

Jack couldn’t hide the tiny smile. He watched as little flecks of pink brought colour to Cora’s otherwise pale face. The infusion of pink made her skin look softer, less harsh.

“Thank you, Mrs Hunt.”

He couldn't recall ever being invited to someone's house for tea before.

“Oh, none of this Mrs Hunt business. What is it with your friends, Cora? They persist in calling me that,” she said, laughing, “it makes me feel like an old married lady, you can call me Laura.”

“You don’t look like an old lady, you are more of a...” Ayden whispered close to Laura’s ear drowning out the comment.

“Oh my God, please stop,” Cora moaned and received a smirk from Ayden. “Jack, you can head to the living room. I’m going to get my book.”

He watched as she strode up the stairs stomping on each step. She seemed annoyed at Ayden and her mother. He could only guess she wasn't exactly over the moon about their relationship. No, that wasn't it. He'd watched her for weeks and felt like he knew her. He thought back to the look on her face. She wasn't mad, he realised; she was worried.

“Would you like a drink, Jack?”

He averted his gaze back to Laura and found that her hazel eyes were watching him. He blushed, realising he'd been watching Cora walk up the stairs. “Urrrmmmm... no, thanks, I’m okay.”

“Nonsense. I'll get you something.”

She walked off leaving him stood with Ayden. He glanced once in his direction but the fire coming from Ayden's eyes had him looking at the carpet.

Ayden grabbed the collar of his coat and pulled him forward, the brute strength nearly lifting him off the floor. He didn't resist, he knew it would cost him a lot more if he did.

“You will be careful with her,” Ayden whispered, his voice was ice cold. It hadn't been a question. “You will be careful; otherwise you will have me to deal with. If you put one foot out of place, even your little toe, you won’t recognise your face when I'm done with you, understood?”

He nodded.

“I assume you remember where the living room is?” Without waiting for his reply, Ayden dropped his coat from his bunched fist and followed Cora’s mum back into the kitchen.

Christ. He'd eaten his own heart.

             
He walked rather shakily to the door nearest his right and opened it.  He'd seen this room once before when Cora’s mum had fed them during a training session. He liked the warm coffee colour splashed with beige. He sat down on the cream sofa pushing the coffee and orange dusk coloured pillows to the side. He sat facing the large television that was fixed to the feature wall.

             
The wall was covered in a darker brown paper, the horizontal lines across the length of it made the room appear wider. The room, he'd noticed previously, didn’t have any baby pictures; there was nothing to suggest that Cora had ever been a toddler. Just like him he supposed.

“Right, I have my book. Obviously you didn’t bring yours but I guess we can talk about what you did read.”

She dropped the heavy book on the little oak coffee table in the middle of the room and crouched down tucking her feet under her bum on the floor. A cloud of dust had escaped the book and was now flouting above her head. He leaned forward to look at the book, it was blue instead of the black one he had and, as he bent down closer to Cora, he was engulfed by the sweet smell of strawberries.

“So, what did you see in your book?”

He composed himself and tried to ignore the way the strawberries made his mouth water. Where was he meant to start? Which news should he tell her first? It was all bad news anyway. The door swung open as Laura entered. Laura pushed Cora’s book to one side ignoring Cora’s protesting tut. Several cans of pop, a plate loaded with biscuits, slices of what looked like angel cake and two packets of crisps were piled high on a tray.

“Just a little snack to keep you both fuelled,” Laura said and quickly left the room.

“She calls that a snack?”

She shrugged. “Yeah, she likes to make sure people are full when they leave the house. Full... sick, same difference.”

He smiled and picked up a can.  He didn’t particularly feel thirsty but it was a good way to stall for time. Cora ripped open a bag of crisps and stuffed a handful in to her mouth whilst she mulled over a page in the book. He smirked behind the can and watched her eat. Her eyes were flicking back and forth reading.

“Can I see what entries are on your page?”

She nodded with her head still down and the crisps going into her mouth at a steady rate. He crouched down next to her, the smell of strawberries making him breathe in deeply. What did she use to make her smell this way? She moved the book across the little table so he could share. He looked but the page was blank.

“Cora, are you actually reading this?”

She swallowed the last of what she was chewing and looked at him. He couldn't judge the expression that was plastered on her face. He knew some of her expressions but he didn't know all of them, yet. He tried to hold back a smile as he spotted a lone piece of crisp hanging on for dear life at the corner of her mouth.

“Yeah, why?”

He lifted his hand and thumbed the crisp away. His thumb froze where it was. What the hell had he just done? Her eyes pinged wide in shock. He could sense that she had jolted with surprise, could feel the way her body sat upright. He quickly pulled his hand away shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

“I can’t see anything on the page, Cora. There are no words.”

She looked at him, her cheeks a deeper shade of red, her full lips open, her eyes wide. She remained sat upright. He'd done something stupid, already. He shifted his gaze so he could focus her attention back to the book. His hand rested on the page.

“Cora...?”

“You can’t see anything?”

“There are no words.”

Her gaze flicked between him and the book. She grabbed her phone from her pocket and dialled.

“Tab, yeah. Jack is here and we are looking at my book and he can’t see anything....yeah, even though there are things in it about him...”

Cora knew things about him from her book? He bit his tongue swallowing his questions and listened to the conversation.

“That is what you said. So, what do we do? Okay, see you soon.”

“Jack, you need to ring your coven. Tab said she needs all of them here and then we can sort this out.”

He pulled his phone from his pocket. He'd had Eli's number on his phone since moving here, not once had he used it before this moment. Eli picked up on the first ring.

“Jack?”

“Eli, I’m at Cora’s. I need my coven here as soon as possible.”

“Clay?”

“Yeah, him too.”

He didn't want Clay to be part of the coven. He'd been mad that Clay had taken off with the enemy but now that he knew Cora wasn't the enemy, why was he still angry at Clay?

“Right, we will be there as soon as we can.”

“’kay.”

He clicked off the phone, picked up the can and took a sip.

“Mum!”

Pop sprayed out of his mouth.

“Sorry,” she apologised, smiling like butter wouldn't melt.

He mopped up most of the spill. Luckily his t-shirt had caught the majority of it.  Laura popped her head around the door. “Yes, love?”

“Tab, Ember and Jack’s coven will be coming over at some point this afternoon. You may need to do more for tea.”

“That’s fine, love. Ayden, you need to go and get some more...”

The door closed leaving Cora and Jack in silence. What was it like to have a parent who was so giving? Who altered their plans to suit their child's?

“You want to watch TV? There's no point in discussing things now and then later when everyone is here.”

This was the very reason why Cora was perfect in this situation. She understood. She wouldn't make him repeat the nightmare story more than once.

“Sure.”

He knew how hard it was going to be telling everyone the news he’d found out. He was sure a holiday in hell would have been more relaxing.

Chapter 39

HEARTBREAK

The kitchen had never been so busy. Everyone she knew was squashed rather uncomfortably in their small kitchen. She surveyed her surroundings as she filled her mouth with the delicious chicken stir-fry. She was almost sat on Tabitha’s lap as they shared one small chair. Half her bottom was balancing on air. Tabitha, Ayden, Jack and Eli were also crammed around the small table, a table that was advertised as a piece of furniture that c
omfortably
allowed seating for two people. Well, it was right; there was nothing comfortable about cramming an extra three people around the small pine table.

             
Ember was stood leaning against the counter. She looked out of place in her flowing copper dress with her vibrant hair pulled back into a high messy bun. Little wisps of hair had escaped, cupping her beautiful face. Clio and Clay were sat on pillows that her mother had taken from the front room.

             
The kitchen was silent as everyone demolished their food. She mopped up the remaining sauce on her plate with some bread; if she'd been alone she would have picked up the plate and licked it dry. Glancing at the kitchen clock she noticed it was already 7.15pm, they really needed to start otherwise they could be here all night. She didn't know how long this was going to take; she didn't know what Jack was going to say. 

She cleared her throat which made everyone look at her. She bit back the embarrassment. “I think we should really start discussing things?”

She looked at Jack for confirmation but noticed that his face was now bloodless.  His eyes were down cast whilst his hand, resting on the table gripped his cutlery. The white of his bone was popping through his, now blue, flesh. Clay and Clio stood collecting people's used plates. She watched as Ayden, the man of the house now, walked to the cupboard, took out all the small plates and started slicing the cheesecakes. She decided after seeing how delicious the cheesecake looked that she could eat and talk at the same time.

“When I first looked through my family book I thought every page was empty. I haven't really looked at it since Tab first gave me it. But today I found my mum’s page.” The loaded plate landed in front her. She popped a strawberry in her mouth and continued. “The book has all the facts about everything that happened in her life, including the witch trials. It reads a little like facts, not a story, but you can piece everything together because it appears in chronological order.

             
“When Jack came here, after I told him to look in his book, he tried looking at my book but he couldn't read it. This confirms what Tab said about the book only being read by the descendants of the family. Does that sound about right, Tab?”

“Yes,” Tabitha agreed.

“So, anyway, I figured if anyone has any questions after we've spoken about both our books then we can answer them the best we can from the information we have. I think Jack wants to say something first.”

A fork dropped to the table. The shock on Eli's face was clear. The chewed up cheesecake in his mouth was also there for everyone to see. Jack was staring at his piece of cheesecake with sudden interest. She had a feeling whatever Jack was going to say wasn’t going to be good.

“Jack?” Eli spoke after swallowing. “Have you found something in the book?”

“I...urrrmmm.” He took a deep breath and poked the cheesecake with his fork. “I looked at the book today. After Cora rang and said the book had all the answers I wanted to see if it was true. I thought she was trying to mess with my head,” he smiled at her and shrugged. “Sorry but I thought you had a bigger plan... Anyway, I've not really gone that far into the book before.”

Tabitha tutted. Cora nudged her. It was hardly fair considering she hadn't looked at the book before today.

“We have been rather busy, Tabitha,” he scowled. He looked at Tabitha maintaining eye contact.

Averting his gaze back down to his cheesecake, he took a deep breath and continued. “I found out some different information than Cora. It corresponds to the same events, I'm sure. The book describes their last days, my sister's and my mum's. It also describes how Cora’s mum helped.” Jack stopped and looked at her now. “Cora’s mum, Alizon, was the one who tried to save my sister, your wife, Eli. It said in my book that Alizon and my mother were imprisoned because they took the responsibility for the crime held against my sister. It didn’t work; they stood and faced death together on that platform.”