EMPIRE: The Rise of A Queen

Chapter 2

I stood there watching him get smaller and smaller for a few seconds before realising I was being creepy and walked back to my car. I put the shoes on the floor of the passenger side and drove to the a store. No idea exactly where I was going but I had googled a store not to far from dad's house and followed the directions on my phone.

I park close to the doors and for a second I think about putting my heels back on but the one that fell in the water was still soaking wet. Thinking 'screw it' I walk into the store barefoot. I take a cart and start walking around in the store. Thankfully there were flip-flops by the entrance and I put them on. It wasn't exactly my style but I needed shoes of some sort so it didn't leave me much of a choice. I put some bread, butter, cheese, milk, juice, fruits, yoghurt and frozen berries in the cart before picking out a six-pack of beers and heading to the register. The young woman working there asked for my ID when she rang through the beers but barely looked at it when I gave it to her. Just as I was about to pay I remembered the slippers and held them up so she could scan them. She looked way to bored with her life. The young boy that was packing up my things as I paid had a bit more life in him but not by much. I thanked him and took my bags from him before walking to my car and put the bags on the seat next to me. I drove to a pizza place on my way home and picked up our usual orders, a hawaii for my father and a vegetarian for me.

I drive around trying to find the right house for about ten minutes before realising that I have driven past it about three times.. I park in the driveway and just as I get out of the car dad comes out to help me carry everything inside. He looks down at my feet and then gives me a confused but amused look. "Getting the LA feeling I see."

"I didn't have much of a choice since I accidentally dropped one of my shoes in the ocean. I didn't feel like going barefoot around the store so." I picked up the still dripping wet shoe from the floor of the car with one hand and the six-pack and dry shoe in the other before walking inside. I dropped the shoes by the door and took the beers with me through the house. 

Dad had packed up some of our kitchen supplies so we could get through the day at least. I saw a blanket on the patio floor with the two boxes of pizza next to it. Finally, food.

"So you went by the beach?" dad asked as we sat down to eat.

"Yeah, you know me. Always loved the ocean."

"Just like your mother. Everything that had to do with nature made your mom so happy. She used to say that it was a part of her, the natural energy." he smiled at the memory of her.

"So.. Are you excited to start your first teaching job?" 

"I did teach in Stockholm and you know I did. It will be pretty much the same, except in English."

"Dad, you had one or two lectures per term and gradeed a few research theses. This is a bit different." 

"I'm not the one that starts her first day as a lawyer on Monday. Nervous?" 

"A little, I mean I'm not as educated in this law system as the others but we both know I won't let them push me around for that or the fact that I'm a woman. I deserve to be there or they wouldn't have hired me."

"That's my girl. You're gonna do great honey."

"Thanks dad."

"So what are your plans for tomorrow?" 

"I thought I'd go for a run and then visit grandma. Are you sure you're okay with this?" 

"Of course I am. She's just a little off, at least she used to be. Just be careful, okay?"

"I always am dad. You know I'm not a little kid anymore right? I can take care of myself." 

"I know, you're just like your mother on that department." I smiled at his words.

Being independent, headstrong and kind was the words dad used whenever he was talking about mom. She was a middle school teacher even if she had higher qualifications and to good to only be a teacher. But she wanted to be close to the children and see each kid for who he or she was as a person. She always said that there were so many bright kids that would do great things if only they had someone to guide them towards that path. She was that someone for these kids. Every student, parent and colleague loved her. I can't think of a single person that ever spoke ill of her. That is what I want to do, help those who need it. And to do that I needed to work for a big firm first to get the connections that will help me do that. I didn't want to rely on my magic to take me places. I have spent most of my life without magic and I'm not gonna make a 180 and trust in it fully. I wasn't that good yet anyway. Some small spells to get out of a ticket, help addicts get clean and find a missing kids parents at the mall but other than that I was kind of clueless. That was one of the reasons I wanted to meet my grandmother, to learn more about the side that my mother kept from me. My magic. We had a nice night after that and talked about everything and nothing, really. I still didn’t have the heart to tell him I’m moving next week. I went to bed that night and couldn’t stop thinking of that guy on the beach, he invaded my dreams, took over my thoughts.

He was still all my mind could think about when I woke up in the morning, I thought maybe a run could clear it out. I had so many other things that I needed to deal with, I couldn’t keep him on my mind through it all. But it wasn’t as effective as I had hoped but when I pulled up to the adresse he went to the back of my minds and nerves about finally meeting my grandmother. I think I met her a few times when I was little, before we moved away. Not that I remember any of it but I’ve seen pictures of me sitting on her lap, laughing and smiling, being all happy. I always wondered what happened that made my mother distance herself from her and the rest of that side of the family. This was my time to get answers, to know my inheritance. I put my car in park and take a deep breath as I look the house over before opening the door and getting out.

I take another breath and walk up the small stairs towards the front door. I Raise my hand to knock on it but it opened instead. In the door now stood a old lady, short grey hair, light blue eyes that were filled with love. Her sun kissed body was covered by a yellow dress that ended below her knees and a shawl wrapped around her narrow shoulders.

”Kendra, I knew you’d come by one of these days.” My grandmother said with a smile.

”Victoria.” I answered only with her name, calling her grandmother to her face seemed weird.

”Come in, come in.” She ignored my cold greeting and stepped aside to let me in the red two story house. ”So you finally moved back. Fred never called.” My dad, they never really had any contact other than a phone call when mom had gotten sick and the day she died. So it would have surprised me if he had called her to tell her we were moving back to the States. We had walked into the kitchen and I sat down on one of the chairs and my grandmother across from me.

”Why didn’t you? I mean you didn’t even come to see her before she passed away. What kind of a mother doesn’t go to see her dying daughter?” My emotions were taking over, I had told myself to not do this but seeing her standing there smiling and questioning my father.. I couldn’t just stand there and take it.

”I know you must be upset Kendra but I tried to reach out to your mother several times over the years but she didn’t want anything to do with any of us.” Her eyes were filled with sadness by her own words.

”What happened that was so bad that she cut her own mother out of her life? And didn’t even wanted to talk to her on her deathbed?” Her words had put more questions about what had happened between them than ever before.

”I don't know what she told you, how much you know but..” I cut her off.

”About the whole witch thing? Yeah she waited until the last minute to tell me.. what a mother she was, keeping secrets from about my own life.” I sounded harsh and angry at my mother and I guess that I was for a little bit at least, she just left me with this huge thing and wasn’t around to help me deal with it.

”She was only trying to keep you safe. When your mother were twelve she and her best friend found themselves face to face with a warlock.” My confused look must have told her that I wasn’t that read in on all the magical creatures in our world. ”Evil sorcerer. Anyway he was ruthless and made hunting them in to a sport. Your mom made it home but her friend, she didn’t.”

”She didn’t want me to end up like her friend? So defenceless and unaware of my magic is a good way to  do that? Really??” The anger grew inside me.

”Her best friend, Kendra. She name you after her, to keep her alive in a way a guess." I was named after her dead best friend? And she never even told me about it?

"I didn't know, she never told me that. But then again she didn't tell me much." I believe that my disappointment was all over my face.

"She was just scared for you." Victoria said and put her hand over mine in a comforting manner.

"If that happened when she was twelve then why didn't she distance herself until.. When I was four or something? Something else must have happened." I had a feeling that there was something else she wasn’t telling me, that she was hiding.

"There was an incident.. You're parents were going out on a date so you were gonna stay the night here. As usual people, warlocks and demons tried to get to me so they could hurt our coven. You got hurt and your mother wouldn't even look at me after that, like I had done it myself. She abandoned the coven and her own magic after that. I guess that's why she didn't mind moving so far away from me, our family." The sadness and regret of the incident was all over her face and I believed her when she said that she didn’t mean to hurt me. I had a feeling something much words would have happened if she hadn’t been there to make it just a cut.. my scar, it must have been from that day.

"My scar.." I pulled down my shirt from my left shoulder to reveal the two inch white scar that I had there for as long as I could remember. "But she always said that it was from falling down a tree and that I scratched it on a branch on my way down." Of course that was a lie as well..

"She just wanted you to be safe honey." No matter what my mother had done or said towards Victoria she still loved and cared for her.

We turned to talk about better memories about mom and some about me as a baby, we looked through a photo album and laughed at how goofy I looked as a kid. I turned over a page and saw a little girl that looked a little like me, we had the same eyes. 

"Who's that?" I asked Victoria.

"That's Maya, your cousin." She answered with a smile.

"Cousin? I didn't even know I had an aunt." I said honestly. It didn’t surprise me that my mother kept even more secrets from me, my whole life was a lie at this point.

"Well Pauline, your mother's older sister didn't approve of her marrying a normasa."  my questioning look told her to explain the word. "Normasa is non magical people, normal people. Pauline didn't think it was fit to put them in harmful, magical situations where they could get hurt or killed. She believes in singa ladha, marriage within the magical community. She is traditional like that. Your mom was dating a another man when she met your father, I never met him but Pauline always talked good of him. I think she was disappointed that your mom chose Fred instead. She had a hard time accepting your mother decision." So they fought over a guy? How can they give up on each other over a boy? And who was this guy that had the power to do this to sisters??

"And they are both a part of the coven? It's like it is in movies and stuff? Like a group of witches that do magic together?" My curiosity peaked about her story, I wanted to know more. This was all new to me, this was a road I wanted to go down. I wanted to learn more, I needed more.

"Pauline and Maya are a part of it. Everyone in the coven are like family, some related some not but blood doesn't make family. Love does. We have each other's backs and we are stronger as a collective than alone. And if you want the coven is always open for you, it's your birthright." She made the coven sound like something I’ve always wanted, a kissing piece of my life.

"Maybe one day. So more about mom, how was she growing up?" I asked with a smile. It was a good thing I went to see her, this was what I needed.