Enchanter (29 page)

Fast forward five generations to your mother, Danica. She
was expecting what we thought would be a healthy baby girl, because all Givers
of Life give birth to girls. Imagine our surprise when, during a routine
checkup appointment, Danica and Lionel found out that they were expecting twin girls.

We had more reason to rejoice, of course, but through all
this happiness lay a concern. We didn’t know if both girls were going to be
Givers of Life or not, and we feared that since a birth of twins to a woman
like Danica was unheard of, perhaps neither would share her unique ability.

Since there was no way for us to know for sure until both
girls were born, we waited for the time of your birth to come. When the day
finally came, Lionel brought Danica to the elder women so that they could
assist with the birthing. Since this birth was sure to be a special event, we
didn’t want to risk having a magical display while in the hospital, so she was
brought to the elder, Bridgette’s, house.

About ten hours later, Danica gave birth to two small but
perfectly healthy girls without incident, aside from a few magical mishaps here
and there. Like any proud father, Lionel boasted about how beautiful his
daughters were. The oldest, who had thick black hair and blue eyes, took after
him. But the youngest and smaller of the twins, had auburn hair and deep blue
eyes and took after Danica and the oldest generation of Parker women.

The second Bridgette, her husband, Nelson, and I saw you,
we knew you were the Giver of Life we had been anticipating. Your sister wasn’t
but, like us, she had the abilities that we have at birth and which grow
stronger with time. The Wright Sisters, as you were later nicknamed by
Bridgette, were beautiful and powerful in their own right. Even as newborns, we
knew you girls were going to be two of the most powerful Enchanter women that’d
ever walked on this earth.

That being said, you being the more powerful of the two,
your abilities began to increase the second you were born. When you were upset,
hungry, tired, or cranky you would cause some sort of magical mishap. This, of
course, strengthened our beliefs that out of the two, you were the more powerful.

Danica, Lionel, and I chose to remain at Nelson’s and
Bridgette’s house even after you girls were born, just so that we could have
magical reinforcement in the event of an attack. Still somewhat weak from
giving birth to twins, Danica was in no condition to travel, so we became
temporary residents.

Despite whatever concerns we had over your safety, we were
all happy with The Wright Sisters’ arrival. It was the best news we had
received in a long while. Your parents were devoted to you both and, quite
frankly, so was everyone else.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end when evil gets
involved. Somehow, Lasher, our oldest and most hated enemy, found out about
your birth and set out to find and destroy you both. He knew about you girls,
but he had no idea which one was the Giver of Life. This information, provided
to us by a trusted Seer, was of utmost importance and we used it to our
advantage.

Aware that the demon lord and his followers would be upon
us soon, we disguised your sister by casting a spell to make her look identical
to you. This was necessary because all daughters of the Givers of Life, who
themselves carried this gift, were born with almost identical physical features
to those of the mother. By making you girls look identical, we could confuse
Lasher and make him think there were two Giver of Life girls instead of one. It
would help to throw off any magical attacks, and it ended up working better
than expected. Unfortunately, it also backfired because Lasher then had to be
in close proximity to be able to tell which of you girls was the one he sought,
and this forced him to make the decision to attack our compound.

 Since a war between us was eminent, I was assigned as
your Protector by your biological father, Lionel. My first duty was to make
sure that if Lasher set his eyes on you, he wouldn’t be able to tell who you
really are, so I cast a spell to bind all your abilities. This was done in pure
secrecy and with only five people present, so that no one else would know the
steps we took to disguise your sister and, more importantly, you. To all
supernatural creatures, you would appear completely human. No one, not even
another Enchanter, could pick up that you’re not only a female Enchanter, but a
Giver of Life, too.

Satisfied that we had disguised both girls, Bridgette and
Nelson fled with your sister and took her to an undisclosed location. The less
we knew the better, so we were not told where they were going to hide with her.
I chose to stay with Danica, Lionel, and you while we searched for a location
to hide ourselves.

We were prepared to flee together, but Lasher found our compound
quicker than we anticipated and as we were being attacked by his army of
minions, Lionel silently recited a spell to send you and me far away.

I tried to stop him, but I was no match for his magic.
Before I knew it, you and I were alone in another place. Not long after we
arrived at our destination, I felt Danica’s death and I knew without ever
confirming it that your parents were both gone. I knew they perished to keep
you alive and thriving like you were supposed to.

Danica wanted a strong magical guardian to protect you,
and that’s why I was chosen. Both your parents stayed behind so that we could
escape, so that I could continue on with my pledge as a Protector and guard
over you for as long as I could. Determined to make the best out of a tragedy,
I traveled back home and took my pregnant wife, Diana, and you as far away as I
could manage without leaving a magical trail for Lasher or his minions to
follow us by.

We’ve been traveling since you were born, moving from
place to place until I was certain that Lasher lost our magical trail for good.
However, I have received news that he’s once again looking for us – looking for
you – and I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before he finds us. Since he
doesn’t know about the spell I cast upon you when you were a babe, you will be
protected. Although Lasher is powerful, he cannot see past the White Veil
shrouding your true identity. Truthfully, no one can, which will buy us more
time when needed.

Although my time is running short, I have taken
precautionary measures to ensure that those looking for me have no idea that
you still exist. As far as they know, Danica’s daughter, Estella, the Giver of
Life, died and Leah Parker is Diana’s and mine.

Now, Leah, you must do this one thing before midnight
seven days after your twenty-first birthday. You must find Nelson Porter and
ask him to meet with you. I know for a fact that he will move back into town
before your birthday and will be waiting patiently for you to contact him. He
has no way of finding you, but you can find him. All you have to do is take the
blue ribbon I enclosed with this letter and concentrate on that name, the
incantation I cast over it should show you where to find him. When you do go to
see him, make sure to take the letters along with the ribbon and show them to
him as proof of who you are.

He will know what to do after that.

And remember Leah, Danica, Lionel, and I love you very
much and we will always be with you. All you have to do is think about us, and
we’ll be there.

By the time I finished reading my father’s words, I was
balling my eyes out and completely heart-broken. I could hardly believe
everything that was written on those pieces of paper. Had I not accidently
discovered who Brandon is, I would have never believed that such things as
Enchanters and Givers of Life even existed. Much less that I was one of them.

The letter confirmed a lot of what Brandon had told me, but
it still came as a shock for me to find out that I was not only an Enchanter
like him, but a Giver of Life too.

As I crumpled the letter to my chest, I recalled so many
incidents before my father had died and suddenly everything made sense. My dad
– and I still called him this because I could not think of him as Uncle Josh
yet – was always edgy, looking behind his shoulder everywhere we went. It was
as if he was waiting for someone. And now I knew he
was
being hunted
down. It had not been paranoia at all.

The reality of his last written words hit me like a brick
wall. Although I knew it was wrong, Diana’s words haunted me. What happened to
my father certainly was not my fault, but it did feel like it. Like my real
parents, he gave his life so that I could remain hidden. So that this demon by
the name of Lasher would not know which of the Wright sisters was the real
Giver of Life. All the years following my father’s death, I wondered whether or
not he loved me enough to even toss a fleeting thought to the little girl he
would be leaving behind once he took his life. Now I knew that he loved me so
much that he preferred to die before revealing the secrets behind my sudden
disappearance and then supposed death.

After finding out that I was adopted, the possibility that
my real parents had not wanted me crossed my mind more than once. As it turns
out, not only did they love me, but they died for my sister and I. Although the
truth invoked a chorus of emotions, I was incredibly saddened by their end.
Danica and Lionel Wright, my biological parents, were just another beautiful
thing that was taken from me by the same evil demon, Lasher.

Red hot anger forced my tears to dissipate and my courage to
surface. I had no need for the spell my father placed on the blue ribbon. I
knew exactly where to find Nelson Porter. Life had a funny way of guiding me to
people who will mean something either good or bad in my life and, unbeknownst
to Brandon, he had taken me directly to the only surviving member of the
Enchanter society who had known my parents.

Determination guiding my steps, I stood, folded the letter
so that it would fit into my front jeans pocket, and hurried to my room to get
my set of keys, money from my wallet, and my cellphone. With them in hand, I
exited the apartment and called for a cab while I waited for the elevator to
arrive at the third floor.

When the elevator finally made it to the lobby area, I
hurried to the exit doors, which led outside, to wait for the cab. According to
the girl I spoke to, the taxi would be there in an estimated ten minutes, so I
planned to take advantage of that time to call someone who I was positively sure
had lied to me about several things. I let her get away once, I sure as hell was
not going to do so again.

As I ambled toward the double glass doors, I spotted the
creepy old woman from 2B standing in one corner, staring at me with those young
eyes of her, but I decided to ignore her as I dialed Diana’s number and waited
for her to answer. She picked up the phone at the same time I set foot out of
the building.

“Hello?” Her voice sounded heavy with either sleep or
alcohol consumption.

“You lied to me!” I spat angrily.

“Leah?”

“Who the hell else would it be?”

“What do you want?” She sounded more alert now.

“Why did you tell me you don’t know who I am?”

“I don’t know anything!”

“Do you know who Dad really was?”

For a good minute or two, I received no response, making me
think that she had hung up on me. But the sound of her heavy breathing let me
know she was still at the other side.

“Okay, fine. You got me,” she said. “I knew who Josh was,
but I have no idea who you really are. He never told me because he said it was
safer that way. I believed him, so I never asked again.”

“What else do you know?”

“Not much.”

“Spill it, Diana!”

“Just that some powerful, but very evil force was looking
for you, so we had to make it seem like the child we were raising
was
our daughter. Josh was adamant that I keep quiet about our secret at all times
and because I loved him, I did just that.”

“What happened to your baby? Dad mentioned in the letter
that you were pregnant.”

“She died in her sleep about a month or so after she was
born.”

“So, you switched our identities?”

“Yes.”

“Wouldn’t that make me older?”

“No, our daughter was born a few days after you. We used the
same documents and just changed the dates of birth to accommodate yours. Your
age is accurate.”

“Did Dad’s lawyer really give you that envelope?”

“Yes, of course he did. Josh warned me that he could be
killed, but he said that he was leaving instructions for me with his lawyer,
that when the right time came I should do as he bid me to do.”

“Is that all you know?”

“Pretty much.”

At least her words confirmed the letter.

Finding the courage to tell her what I really thought about
her, I finally opened my mouth and spat a little bit of venom her way. “You
were right, Diana. You weren’t much of a mother at all. You weren’t even a good
wife, for that matter. Do you have any idea how much my dad gave up for you? Do
you even care? I’m guessing you don’t, since you made his life miserable when
he was alive. You never deserved him at all.

“Unlike you, I loved my dad very much, and I’m glad I had someone
like him to take care of me. His death wasn’t my fault, so don’t ever try to
blame me for it again!” She started to say something, but I interrupted. “I
don’t care what you think! He died doing something noble, which is more than I
can say about you. You didn’t honor his wishes! You could’ve cared less about
me! Now I know where I learned all my selfishness from! You were the perfect
teacher after all.”

I hung up on her without even bothering to wait for a
response.