The Raven Saga Box Set

Chapter 14

I told her that I did understand the reasons behind the decisions, and I didn't hold it against her. It was irritating at first but not any more.

“I so wanted to tell you about your mother.”

“You can now, though,” I responded hopefully as we wandered through the trees along a winding pathway that had probably been created by my family over the years.

It was what she wanted to hear, and so she began to tell me what my mother was truly like. Beautiful, honest and playful. From childhood until her early death, she was the same. Devoted was another word she used. “Devoted to me. To our parents. To Neleh. She was devoted to you the whole nine months she carried you, too, Lilly. You mustn't forget that. Although you didn't have the chance to know her, you two developed a bond during that time, and that's a bond that can never be broken. I think this is why she is able to get through to you so strongly in your dreams. You need that bond to be able to do that.”

That simple sentence meant the world to me. Even though I had never had the opportunity to know this remarkable woman, I did have an unbreakable bond with her. She was my mother. She gave birth to me. She loved me, and she would never forget me. Not even in death.

“I was always very envious of her thick dark hair. She only ever had it trimmed – so it grew very long over the years, and she didn't have a single grey hair!” Rose reminisced. “Whereas I had grey hair from my early twenties,” she laughed.

“But isn't that because of the cat... business?” I asked.

“That's a good way to put it, dear. Cat business,” she laughed out loud again, a graceful deep sound that matched her own grace and beauty.

“I guess you're right. It must be the siamese in me,” she chuckled as she unlocked the white wooden back door of her house. Four of the cats were already with us, they had joined us in the forest a good few hundred metres away. The others gathered in the kitchen as we walked in. When they had first seen me, they hadn't appeared interested at all. Now, they all made a point of brushing up against my legs, purring loudly. It was as if they were welcoming me.

“I told them about you, dear. They know you're a part of this family now.”

I stuttered, thinking of something to say in response but I honestly couldn't think of anything suitable. Nothing that made much sense anyway.

Clearly, being part cat, part human had its advantages when you wanted to communicate with your fellow felines.

“In time, you'll be able to speak with them too. For now, though, they'll be happy with a stroke and a nice warm lap to sit on,” she said, suggesting I sit down in the only well-worn comfy armchair next to the breakfast bar.

I did as I was told and immediately a cat that was so black he almost looked blue jumped up onto my lap. He stood there for a few moments looking deep into my eyes, before hopping onto the armrest and curling up. I patted him gently on his back before a second one leapt onto my knees too. This was the one that resembled Rose and was the one that had greeted me when I had first laid eyes on her. She was an off-white colour with a faint grey pattern all over her. The best way to describe her was that she looked like she'd been run over by a car and had a tyre print across her back. Her eyes, like Rose's, were so dark, yet as I had seen outdoors in the sunlight, were bright blue.

She did as the black cat had, stood and stared into my eyes. Her head dropped slightly to the side as if she was really looking into the depths of my soul as if she was reaching inside of me to see what was really there. Once she had come to some sort of conclusion, she began to purr. It was as if a smile crossed her face. It was hard to describe but not only did she remind me of Rose, but she reminded me of... me. I liked her, and she clearly liked me too, judging by the way she curled up on my lap and began to pummel me with her paws.

“She's happy,” said Rose, “she's very fond of you. Her name is Scully.”

“As in the X Files?”

She nodded, and I remembered the book my father had given me once. It was a book from the TV series, hence me knowing the name. Having never watched television, I wouldn't have otherwise known.

“Why did you call her Scully?”

“It wasn't my idea. Ben came up with it actually, and I liked it so it just kind of stuck.”

Scully had been found wandering the streets of Vancouver when she was just a few months old. Someone had rescued her and taken her to the local vets – it just happened to be the vets where Ben was training at the time.

“You're a lucky cat, Scully, to have found a home here of all places.”

I probably imagined it, but she appeared to nod at me as if she was perfectly aware of how lucky she was.

“I believe they all came here because they were meant to come here. Some divine force brought them to me. I'm quite a strong believer in that,” said Rose, as she put the finishing touches to two tuna sandwiches and two glasses of milk. Leftover tuna was placed into a large bowl on the floor to where all the other cats rushed to get in on the action.

Scully remained comfortably seated on my knee, so I had little choice but to eat my lunch where I sat.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Rose began to tell me more about my mother. Even though she had Neleh at an early age, Serena never dropped out of school – continuing until she graduated before getting a part-time job at a local museum.

“She loved that place. She felt like she really belonged there. You should go and have a look around it one of these days. It may also help you understand a bit more about Canadian culture.”

Apparently, the museum was almost exactly the same as to the day she died, so it would be nice for me to see what the place was like where she spent quite a lot of her time.

Wondering what her life must have been like before I was born, I asked Rose where she, my father and Neleh had lived. Was it nearby?

“They actually lived with Gabriel for a few years before renting a small cottage on the outskirts of town. A few years before she died, Jack bought a plot of land. It took him a long time to save up enough money to build a house on it, but he had scraped enough together and was planning to start construction just before you were born. Sadly it was never built because of what happened.”

“But he had started to build it?” I asked curiously.

There wasn't much to it apparently. Just a concrete base and some wood had been delivered. Rose told me that nothing had been touched since Vivian took us away. Keen to see the house where I could have spent my childhood, I asked Rose if she could give me directions so I could go and find it myself. After we'd eaten our lunch, she drew a rough map to help me get there. She did offer to take me herself but understood when I said it was something I felt I should do alone.

I heard more about my mother as we sat amidst the cats that afternoon. Rose told me some funny stories of how naughty Serena could be when she was a child and how she had made their parents feel young again. Theirs truly was a happy family and even when their parents died within a short time of each other, the mourning period didn't last so long because they both believed that their parents continued to be together, soul mates forevermore. It was the stuff of fairy tales with happy endings, until of course that terrible day when Neleh had been killed. A tragedy which led to such heartbreak for everyone... except Vivian.

“Is there any way of finding out more about Vivian? Is there nothing we can do to try and find her? I feel certain that my father is still alive, and I wish I could do something to help him,” I asked.

Rose explained that Gabriel was currently doing everything in his power to do just that. He had found out a few things about her, and he hoped to be able to inform the family more about her when he had gathered sufficient relevant information.

“But in the meantime, you shouldn't worry about any of that. You're still only thirteen, Lilly – nearly fourteen, I know! You should be enjoying your life as much as you can. I understand that it is difficult to do so when there is so much tragedy surrounding you, now and in the past. I also understand that you have been told such overwhelming news since this time yesterday, so you need to just take some time to let it sink in. You must come to terms with it before you throw yourself in at the deep end, my dear. You've got nearly fourteen years worth of fun to catch up on. And besides... I understand you've got a date tonight. You should be preparing for that,” she laughed.

Meredith had obviously told her... and probably the rest of the family too, but I didn't mind. It was wonderful having people actually caring about me.

“Perhaps you ought to do something with your hair,” she half-joked. She did have a point.

I left Rose's house soon afterwards so that I could have some time alone before my date with Oliver. I'd never been on a date before and wanted to look as good as possible. This was something that was a bit difficult considering I had chopped my lovely hair off and dyed it peroxide blonde.

It was a while ago now, and my hair grew fast. My black roots and white ends were not a pretty sight. How Oliver had found me cute with a hairstyle like that, I've no idea. I decided my best option was to get some hair dye and change it back to the way it was meant to be. Black. Like Gabriel said to me when I'd first arrived – I'm naturally dark-haired like the rest of my family and should be proud of it.

It was particularly chilly as I walked along the roadside into town and so I wrapped my knee length-parka tightly around my body and pulled my black beanie further down my face in an effort to warm up, but I needn't have worried too much because I was soon offered a ride by Ben who was on his way back from treating an injured horse.

“Hey, Lilly. What are you doing here? How come you're not in school? Can I give you a lift?”

I hopped into the passenger seat with the eagerness of a person about to pass out from hypothermia, and he laughed and turned up the heat to help warm me up.

To keep up the charade that Gabriel had begun with the school, I explained I'd not been feeling so great emotionally and needed some time alone. But I told him I was feeling better now and was glad of his company.

He told me about his latest patient. It was a horse that had a mysterious injury to his leg and that his owner couldn't understand how it had happened, especially since the animal had been locked in his stable overnight, and had been perfectly all right the previous evening. He had called Ben immediately to attend to the b****y mess, but he could offer no explanation either.

“I mean, this poor horse had looked as if it had been attacked by a wild animal. Yet there was no way he could get out of his stable and no way any animal large enough to do the damage could get in,” he said with a creased brow as if he was still trying to fathom the mystery out.