The Raven Saga Box Set

Chapter 31

“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 grandfather 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 differently. 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 grandfather 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.

I thought of my own father and felt a tug of sadness at the pit of my stomach. I wish I knew the truth. Where was he? Was he alive? Did he desert me on purpose? So many questions and so few answers.

As we had been chatting, we had fallen behind. The rest of the group were quite far ahead, and so we walked on in silence, increasing our pace until we caught up with them.

A few hours later, in darkness, we arrived. It wasn't what I expected.