Witchling (Curse of Kin) (24 page)

“She didn’t deserve this,” I said. “You know how much she wanted another baby. How could anyone do this to my mother?”

“We don’t know that it was them, girl dear.” Jasper fussed around the kitchen, running his hand over the bench.

“Yes, we do,” Bones said. “We knew they could try this. We talked about it. It’s just too early for them. They have never struck so far ahead of the prevailing moon before.”

“One would have to think that this time they are more than a little worried, wouldn’t you?” Jasper looked sadly at Bones.

“Poor Mom. This is going to be really hard on her. I’m going to take Roman upstairs for a nap. I think I’ll lay down with him for a while. Call me if you hear from Dad.”

“Of course, girl dear, of course.” I saw Jasper exchange looks with Bones and ignored the pull to invade their minds but kept my ears on their conversation.

“Bones, my friend, what a mess.”

“I’m sorry, Jasper. Really, I am, but this is not something any of us could have stopped, even if we had been able to see it coming. You know that.”

I headed up the stairs with Roman, already regretting what I had heard.

“Yes, I know you are right. But can you imagine what Nera is going through now? She probably thinks she could have stopped it if she had seen it. This is going to be a massive blow to her confidence. To say nothing of the heartache the family is going to go through.”

“There is only so much that she
can
see for now, Jasper,” Bones said. “She is still too young to see everything. That will come in time. Some of it we will need to teach her; some will come of its own accord. The same as it was for me. I have my own share of disappointments that still haunt me. They only exist to make us stronger.”

I shut the door to my room and blocked out their voices.

The ringing of the telephone had me slipping away from a sleeping Roman. Jasper hung up as I came down the stairs. “How is Mom?”

“Well, she’s going to be okay. I’m sorry, Nera. She lost the baby,” he said sadly. “I am so very sorry. Your dad will be back later, but your mom has to stay overnight.”

I sat at the table as tears ran quietly down my face. “I can’t do this, Jasper. No matter what my powers are, they aren’t enough, I should have been able to stop this. I’m not strong enough and never will be,” I sobbed.

Bones looked at me, his face blanching at my emotional display. I think he was much more at home with my temper, not my tears. “I think I will leave you to it, Jasper. I’ll be back at the house if you need me. Bye, Nera, sorry,” he mumbled slipping out the back door.

“Let me make you a cup of tea, girl dear,” Jasper said. “I could certainly use another one.”

I ran my hands through my short hair and rubbed my eyes.

“Nera, you can do this,” he said. “You mustn’t doubt yourself like.”

“How can I not when I can’t even help my own mother?”

“There is nothing you could of done, child.”

“This just gets better and better, doesn’t it?” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm from my voice.

Jasper put a cup of tea in front of me at the table and took a seat opposite. Taking a few sips, he watched me try to deal with the day’s tragic event. “You do know that this was one you couldn’t have stopped, Nera. Even Bones would not have been able to stop Hannah losing this baby. It is one of the few things we do not have any control over. I know that we can change things some of the time. You saved Roman for example, but an unborn baby is a totally different thing.”

I looked at him and couldn’t believe what he was telling me. “Are you serious? Bones the great one? I thought he could do anything. The protector, remember?”

“It is said that babies don’t have a soul until they are born, and one chooses them at that very moment they take their first breath. I know it sounds harsh, but that’s just the way it is. You couldn’t have done a thing so stop beating yourself up over it,” he said. “Apart from that, he is
your
protector, Nera, yours alone.”

“I should have been more careful,” I cried. “After the episode with Roman, didn’t either of you think that they might try to hurt Mom?” I looked at him for a moment, letting the thoughts sink in. Surely not… “No, tell me you didn’t just stand by and watch this happen, Jasper? Tell me you didn’t see this coming,” I yelled at him, slamming my hands down on the table in front of me.

“You can’t be serious, Nera. How could you believe that I would stand by and let any of you get hurt?” he asked me. His blue eyes held a mountain of hurt as he turned away. I knew I had wounded him deeply but couldn’t help myself.

“Sorry, Jasper. This is not your fault. I know that. I just wish we could have seen it coming; we might have been able to do something. I feel so useless,” I said.

I heard a noise outside and looked out to see Dad coming up the back path. “Dad.” I ran to him. “I’m so sorry. How is Mom?”

He held me tight for a while before he spoke. “She will be okay, honey. She’s so upset that Dr. Peters sedated her, and she should sleep until morning. Poor Hannah. She really wanted this baby.”

“Let me get you a cup of tea, Jack,” Jasper said, fussing around the kitchen. “What did the doctors say the reason was for her losing the baby?”

“They don’t know for sure. Sometimes it just happens. The best thing for her now is to rest up and get her strength back. We can try again later,” Dad said with a weak smile.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” I said. “I feel that some of this was my fault.”

“How could it possibly be your fault, Nera?” he asked. “These things happen. It is just Mother Nature’s way of giving us strong babies.”

I looked at Dad and then Jasper. I wished with all my heart that I could tell him what we knew, but that was not going to happen anytime soon. I knew we had to keep it a secret.

“I tried to explain it to Nera, Jack, but she still doesn’t seem convinced.” Jasper put Dads tea in front of him.

“It’s true, honey. We can’t do anything about pregnancies this early. Noel will let us know later in the week what went wrong if he can.”

I went back upstairs to check on Roman. Before I got closer to my door I could hear him talking to Hugo. He looked up when I opened the door. “Hey, little buddy. Have a good sleep with Hugo?”

“Yes, we did. I’m hungry. Can we get something to eat please?”

“Sure, buddy. Let’s go down and see Dad and Jasper. There must be cake somewhere,” I said as I picked him up and started down the stairs.

“Dad, you’re back,” Roman said. “Where’s Mom?”

“She will be home tomorrow, young man.” Dad took Roman from my arms for a hug. “Dr. Peters is making her all better so she can come home.”

“Good. Can I have cake now, Nera?” He wriggled out of Dad’s grasp.

The day dragged on slowly without Mom in the house. Each of us quiet and shouldering the blame as if it were ours. I phoned Brie and Sully to break the sad news. It would do no good to have them arrive at Jasper’s to hear it from Bones.

Roman stayed home with me when Dad went to pick Mom up the next morning. When she arrived home, our tears flowed freely. She spent most of the day wrapped up with Dad on the back porch overlooking her garden. Roman and I stayed close to home to be with her and try to keep her spirits up. It wasn’t until the next day that she spoke of the baby to me.

“It breaks my heart, Nera. It truly does. But this was obviously meant to be or it wouldn’t have happened. I believe that. But it still hurts so much.” She cried as I gathered her in my arms and cried softly with her.

“Mom, I love you so much. I just wish that I could help you more. I’m so sorry. I know how much you wanted this baby.”

“Honey, we can try again. Just give me a little time to settle my mind and then we can think about it. If a baby wants to come to us, it will.”

Over the next couple of days, Brie and Sully came to visit, and I had no wish to go anywhere until Mom was well again. We needed to get to Jasper’s, but Mom came first. We would just have to catch up later and work harder. It wasn’t every day that evil slapped your mother in the face.

The third day after Mom came home from the hospital, she insisted that I go out for my run. She knew my body almost as well as I did and claimed that I had hung around the house without exercise long enough. Just the act of pulling on my running shoes lifted my spirits. The cool morning air filled my lungs and cleared the stagnant thoughts from my brain. I had been going around in circles, churning things over in my mind as to what I could have done to prevent this happening to Mom. I alternated between blaming Bones and Jasper too, which I knew was unforgiveable. I was being unreasonable. I hated to make things too easy for anybody, including myself.

On my way home, I promised myself that today I would go over and confront Jasper and Bones. There were too many things that were not clear. I wondered if they were keeping things from me still. I had to find out and after the last few weeks of horror, I was ready to hurt someone if I didn’t get what I wanted.

I made a cup of tea and settled down with Mom while I told her what I wanted to do.

“Just go,” she said. “You don’t have to treat me with kid gloves. I can’t possibly break anymore than I already have. I just need time to get over the loss, and I can do that with you leading a normal life.”

“Are you sure?” I hated it when she tried to put on a brave face.

“Dad is here, honey. Go and enjoy some of your holiday.” She gave me a gentle push, and I threw up my hands in defeat.

“Okay, I’m going over to Jasper’s. Call if you need me.”

I kissed the top of her head and popped into Dad’s office. “Mom has kicked me out. I’m going to Jasper’s.”

Hugo and I headed off down the lane toward our favorite haunt. It was time for me to get some answers. There was still that comment Bones had made before this happened that I wanted to sort out. Surely I wouldn’t have to put up with him for life. That had to be wrong.

C
HAPTER
N
INE

Jasper was in the garden, clipping his roses when I arrived. He took time to ask after Mom before I managed to steer him onto what I wanted.

“Jasper, is there any way I can get rid of Bones, you know, not have him around me anymore?”

He looked at me and a deep sadness filled his eyes. “The only way would be to lose to the Others.”

I looked down, embarrassed. I was regretting this conversation already.

“Why would you want to get rid of Bones, girl dear?”

“I don’t really know, Jasper. I probably shouldn’t have said anything.”

“But you must have a reason, Nera. Otherwise we wouldn’t be having this talk now.”

“Honestly, I don’t know if I can pin it down to one thing. He just, well, you know, makes me feel like an idiot one minute, and then he says something to piss me off. I feel so confused around him. No one else has ever made me feel that way.” I shook my head. “He does it on purpose too. I’ve watched his face as he tries to get me going.” I snuck a look at Jasper and was surprised that he didn’t look angry. “And he takes my decisions from me. I mean, look what happened when I got bashed. I should have been the one to hurt Connor, but no. He had to do it and claim that it was his right. How the hell was that possible, I ask you? That was my right, not his.”

“Calm down, Nera.” Jasper came over to me and put his arm over my shoulders. “You must understand Bones, girl dear. He has waited most of his life for this time. If he seems a bit overbearing—” he held up his hand as I tried to interrupt—”it is only because he is concerned about your welfare. He was here when you were born. He has watched over you for the last seventeen years. You are the sole reason for his existence, and when someone threatens you, he feels he has a responsibility to protect you.”

I felt ashamed of my outburst and for hurting Jasper. Neither of them had done me any harm. It was my weird sense of independence that had me burring up. “Do I really have to put up with him for the rest of my life, Jasper?” I asked softly. “Honestly?”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, Nera, I swear you keep me young.”

“How can you possibly call yourself young, Jasper? But back to the question.”

Jasper gave a small cough, and I looked up to see Bones leaning against the kitchen door, his dark eyes watching us. I had no doubt he knew exactly what I was talking about. I looked back to Jasper.

“You were saying,” I gave Jasper an inquiring look.

“Sorry, Nera. There is nothing I can do.”

I saw Bones coming over to us and felt my skin prickle again.

“Problem here, Jasper?”

“You could say that,” I said. “I was just asking Jasper if I had any way of getting rid of you.” I stared at him, refusing to back down.

“Sick of me already?”

“I just don’t know if I can see myself going through life with you always there. It could be just a little awkward for a teenage girl to have a shadow all the time. I suggest that once I break this curse, you and I go our separate ways.” I stood my ground, willing my body to keep still when my mind was screaming at me to run.