Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) (28 page)

Caroline was not exactly happy with how the meeting had gone. “So that went well,” she said sarcastically as they drove back to the cabin.

Patrick sighed and leaned his head against the seat. “I don’t know, I think it went about as well as could be expected. I don’t think my brother really believes me, but at least he’ll let me speak to Sabine. She’s going to be the key to finding this person.”

Caroline looked at him sideways. “Do you have an angle here?”

“What do you mean by that?” he asked, his voice cautious.

“You know what I mean, Patrick. I love you, but I’m not stupid. I believe that Hannah is your kid, but is this Sabine thing just a way to break her out?”

He huffed out a breath. “I really can’t believe you just asked me that. I have never lied to you, Caroline, not once. I’m serious when I say that Sabine is the key to finding this guy. I’m kind of angry you would even ask me.”

“Look, I had to know for sure. I’m in this now, Patrick; I left my family for you. I know that there is a good person in you somewhere, but I also know that there’s someone who isn’t afraid to hurt people. I just want you to always be honest with me, no matter what the circumstance.”

He nodded. “I can understand that. You can trust that I’ll never lie to you. There are things about me that you may not like, but I am who I am. I’ve been this way for a few hundred years. I can promise that I will always love you and treat you accordingly. Are we okay, now?” He looked over at her hopefully.

She smiled. “Yeah, we’re fine.”

“Good. We need to pick up Drew on our way home.”

Caroline groaned, “Why?”

“I know you don’t like him...”

Caroline cut him off. “It’s not just that, Patrick. There’s something about him I don’t trust. How do we really know we can trust him, anyway? He gives me the creeps, always skulking about. How well do you know him?”

“I know him well enough; and as long as I trust him, that should be good enough.” It was times like these that made Caroline hate being in a relationship with a man who was hundreds of years old. He always had the final say.

The next day, Jilly found Alex in the kitchen reviewing the spell they were going to use later in the day. Everything had sort of gotten derailed the day before, thanks to Patrick’s revelations.

“Do you think you’ll be able to pull this spell off?” he asked her when she walked over to him.

She shrugged. “I guess I’ll have to, right? Besides, when Will and I do spells together, they usually work.” She smirked a bit, knowing how conceited that sounded. “Plus, we’ll have Emily if we need her. When can we do it?”

“After sunset is best. That’s usually when they’re the easiest to see.” He paused for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. “Are we sure that Patrick is telling the truth?”

Jilly looked at him for a second before replying. “William believes him. That’s enough for me. He would know if Patrick was lying.”

“Sorry, I had to ask. I don’t want to go through all of this crap for nothing.” He shot her a sheepish look. “I’ve got some things to do in preparation for tonight; I’ll find you before we need to begin.”

Jilly nodded as Alex swept past her and up the stairs. She grabbed her mom’s journal and sat by the fireplace.
February 10, 2001

I was doing some research on the witches in the family line and I came across some information that doesn’t seem like it should be possible. There are one or two witches who keep popping up throughout history, and one of those witches is my mother. I want to confront her about it, but I don’t have all the facts, yet. What if I’m just imagining all of this? What if it’s just women with similar appearance?
Jilly has been disappearing in her sleep. On several occasions, when I go in to check on her, she’s not in her bed. I look everywhere in the house for her, but she’s nowhere to be found. On one such occasion, I waited in her room to catch her sneaking back in, and she appeared in her bed out of nowhere. The weird thing is she’s still asleep. I don’t know what to make of it.

March 13, 2001

I confronted my mom but did not get the answers I wanted. She stonewalled me, and she asked me how I could possibly think something so preposterous. I know I’m right though, I just need to prove it now.

Jilly stopped reading, unsure of what to think about what she’d read. Was her grandmother amaranthine? If that was true, then how did she die in the accident with her mom? She couldn’t sit still. She felt as though electricity were coursing through her veins. She jumped up from her seat and paced around the kitchen. That was how William found her when he came in a few minutes later.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

She gestured to the open journal lying on the chair and he picked it up to read the open page.

“Is it possible?” she asked quietly.

He cocked his head to the side, thinking. Finally, he shrugged, “Anything’s possible, Jill. You should know that by now.”

“I went to her funeral, though. If she’s amaranthine, where is she? How on earth could she put us through that?” Jilly sat down with a huff.

“If she is amaranthine, and I’m not saying that she is, she may be in hiding. How else would she have explained the fact that she did not die in the accident with your mom? What’s your grandmother’s name?”

“Violet, but she’s also been called Viola,” Jilly replied.

William’s mouth dropped in surprise. “Her name is Viola Proctor?” he asked incredulously. Jilly nodded.

“You know who that is, right?” he asked her. Jilly shrugged and shook her head.

“Viola Proctor is Liza and Mary’s mother. I can’t believe I didn’t make that connection before.”

Jilly’s face went white. “I guess we have our answer then, don’t we?” she said quietly.

“Yeah, I guess we do. What do you want to do about it?”

“Nothing right now. We have way too much on our plate as it is. I don’t really know what to think about it, either. On the one hand, I’m happy she may be alive; but on the other, I’m pissed as hell that she put us through all this crap. I was so lost after my mom died. I needed someone but there was no one here to help me. Caroline was off pretending that her life was great in New York and my dad and I had to pick up the shattered pieces of the life we once had. It was a terrible two years for me. If it weren’t for Emily and her mom, I wouldn’t have made it through.” She shook her head, trying to chase away the demons that had come to light with the memories she had shared.

William pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, love. When this is all over, we can look for her if you want. I’m sure you’ll have questions for her.” Jilly nodded against his chest, breathing in the familiar scent of his cologne.

At 4:30, everyone gathered outside, behind the house, gearing up for what was to come. Hannah paced back and forth on the porch, looking down on everyone. Jilly glanced up and saw the worry in her eyes.

“Hey, I’ll be right back,” she said to William before climbing the stairs to smile at Hannah.

“You know, if you keep that up, you’ll walk right through the deck.” Hannah laughed and stopped her pacing. “I’m just nervous. What if this doesn’t work?”

Jilly had been asking herself the same question all day, but she put on a strong smile. “It will. Alex is confident it will.” Hannah nodded and sat down on the bench against the wall. “I’m going to go back down. Will you be ok up here?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. You go ahead and do what you need to do.”

“Kat will be up here with you when everything happens, so you won’t be alone.” Hannah let out a sigh of relief. She was terrified of the shadow wraiths and the thought of calling one was not a pleasant one for her. Jilly kissed the top of her head and bounded back down the stairs to join the others.

“Hey, Kat?” she called when she walked over to everyone.

“What’s up, Jilly?” Katya replied.

“I think you should go up as soon as you can. She’s putting up a strong front, but I can tell she’s scared.”

Katya glanced up at the young girl on the bench and saw worry etched into her face. “Let me finish what I was doing and I’ll go right up.”

Jilly smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” Alex was standing in the center of a big circle they had made out of large rocks. It was thirty feet across--large enough for Jilly, William and Emily, plus the wraiths. They still needed to make the smaller circle in the center, where they would stand when they called forth the wraiths. The idea was to trap the wraiths in the larger circle, while the others stayed safe in the smaller one in the center. Once the wraiths entered the circle, they would not be able to leave it until they were persuaded to abandon their mission.

Caroline had a nervous feeling in her bones. Something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on what.

“Will you please stop that? It’s driving me nuts,” Patrick said from the kitchen table. She stopped her pacing and sat down next to him.

“Sorry, I guess I have too much energy to sit still.”

“Do you want to tell me what’s really bothering you?” he asked with a sigh.

She smiled. “I don’t know, or I would tell you. I just have a bad feeling something’s wrong.”

“Call your sister. I’m sure this has something to do with them.” His tone was somewhat disdainful.

She sighed. “Look, I know how you feel about them; but Jilly is my sister. If something’s wrong, I’m going to help them whether you want me to or not. Besides, this could be about Hannah.”

He scoffed and said something under his breath that she could not quite hear. “What? Do you have something to say, Patrick?” Her voice laced with venom.

“If I truly believed that Hannah was in danger, I would go. I cannot understand why you would go against my wishes.”

“This isn’t the dark ages. I have free will to do whatever it is that I want.”

“I understand that, Caroline, but why would you want to do something that displeases me?”

“Displeases you? What? Are you my father all of a sudden? Have you forgotten that William is your brother? Why would you not want to help him if he was in trouble?”

“Have you forgotten that he imprisoned me in a tomb for hundreds of years?”

Caroline sighed in frustration. “I thought your little fight in the woods cleared up that mess.”

“There are some things that cannot be forgiven, Caroline. I will not run to his rescue. He’s a grown man and he can take care of himself.”

Caroline grabbed her purse and keys off the table and walked towards the door.

“Where are you going?”

She looked back at him. “I’m running to the rescue,” she said and walked out the door. Once she was in the car, she called her sister.

Jilly answered on the third ring. “Caroline?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Is everything okay? I’ve had a bad feeling all day.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. We’re getting ready to do a summoning spell at sundown.”

“I’m coming over.”

Jilly was silent for a minute. Finally she sighed. “Is that a good idea, Caroline? I mean, we’ve got a lot going on. I don’t want any tension.”