Frog Hollow (Witches of Sanctuary Book 1) (6 page)

Jade moves to sit next to me, pulling me around to look at her. “Your mother convinced herself, despite the despair she felt, that you would live a much better life with your father. She thought she was letting you have a safer, less complicated life.”

My teeth grit together, and the anger boil inside me. “She was wrong.” I push myself back from the table. “I lived a loveless, lonely, miserable life.”

I dart across the room trying to hide the tears that sting my eyes. I feel their stares on my back, and it only increases the intensity of my emotions. “He left me,” I say to the wall. “I was only a baby, barely old enough to walk. He left me on a street corner, like I was a piece of trash.”

Jade’s voice is worn. “If she had known—”

“If I had known,” Seraphina says, “I would have found you and brought you home myself.”

The tears are on my cheeks now, but I still can’t manage to look at them.

“She made a mistake, Wilhelmina.” Seraphina’s pain matches my own, and it somehow makes it all worse. “And I stood by and let her make it, and for that, I am sorry.”

I wipe my face with the palm of my hand and turn around.

She looks pleadingly at me. “Forgive me.”

“Of course I forgive you.”

Letting go of the anger comes easily, much more easily than I expect. There is something about being here, in this room, with these women, that takes every ounce of resentment out of me and replaces it with something I spent my whole life searching for—love.

Seraphina quickly leaves her seat, and I meet her halfway as she pulls me into a hug. I cry openly against her shoulder as she soothingly hushes my fears. “You’re home now.” She holds me tight. “You are home, and we love you.”

I pull away to look at her, my question still unanswered. “Why now?”

“They found you, Wilhelmina. They told Fiona if she didn’t give herself up, they would kill you.”

“What?”

“It was in my letter,” Seraphina says, tears welling in her own eyes now.

“My mother sacrificed herself for me?”

“Yes. To save you, she would have done anything.”

“Who killed her? Why?”

“I don’t know, sweetie,” she says, holding my letter out to me. “She said she had no choice but to leave and for us to make sure we found you and gave you this.”

I take the letter, running my fingers across my name. Seraphina pulls me back to the table. “Sit.”

Jade guides me into my seat, and this time she joins me on the other side. I tear open the envelope and pull out the stark white paper, unfolding it. I look at the spiraling letters, tears already forming in my eyes. It’s my mother’s handwriting. I say, reading the writing across the top of the page.

“
Far from home we all shall roam, but your spirit will linger near
,” “
When curses fright and mischief delights, a beacon shall appear
.”

I look up, and they all smile at me. “Go on,” Seraphina says encouragingly. I take a breath and smile.

“
Whisper the truce of ages, calling the power of light and fire. Wash away the wicked, and perish the hearts of evil desire
.” “
Come home, sweet child of moon and sun, and claim your song. Find the souls of power that you are destined to dwell among
.”

At the bottom, in dark bold letters separated from everything else is another paragraph, and this time I don’t read it out loud.

Find your sun, Wilhelmina. You need each other now more than ever. I love you. Always
.

Every eye at the table fixates on me, and I can see their minds replaying the words. “What does it mean?”

Seraphina holds up her finger as she leaves her chair. She wanders over to the giant cabinet in the corner, her fingers grazing along the dark wood until they grasp around the handle. She pulls it open and searches the drawers just like Reid did the night before until she finds the one she wants. She, however, does not remove a potion but rather a silver pendant at the end of a thin chain. She holds it around her finger and brings it over to the table.

She pulls my hand out and places the necklace in my palm. “You are an Innocent. Sanctuary is your home, and you will be safe here.”

I turn the pendant over in my hand. “What is this?”

“There are two distinct hereditary lines. This pendant indicates to which one you were born.”

I look up to see Sadie pulling out her necklace, an exact replica of mine. “We are from the line of the moon.” She beams with pride at me. “We’re cousins.”

“And you?” I ask Seraphina and Abby.

“An Innocent, born a child of the sun.” Abby pushes her hair away to reveal a similar necklace except the circle is gold. “There are an equal number of women in each line, because every Innocent has an opposite counterpart. The two are connected. They make each other stronger.”

“Abby and I are connected,” Sadie says, grinning across the table at her friend. “We have more control and energy when we are together.”

I immediately turn back to Seraphina. “So you and my mother?”

Seraphina smiles. “I am the sun, and your mother the moon.”

“And you?” I ask, turning to Jade. “Who is the sun for you?”

She smiles over at me. “You met her last night. Carolyn Hughes, the bartender at Rooster’s.”

I laugh to myself. “That’s how she knew my mother.” Because she is one of the Innocent too. My mind begins to wander, falling on the next most logical question. “But who is my sun? How do I figure it out?”

“That’s why we need to know what color you turned under the moonlight!” Abby bounces happily in her chair.

“Yes.” Sadie stands up, unable to hold in her excitement any longer. “We are all matched by what color we turn. Abby and I both turn yellow.”

“And Mom and Fiona always turned lilac, while Jade and Cari turn crimson red.”

“Oh.” The insistent questioning finally makes sense. “I turn green.”

“Green.” Abby taps her finger against her chin. “Does anyone we know turn green?”

“Julie?” Sadie shakes her head. “Wait. No, Julie turns blue.”

“No one turns green,” Seraphina says, standing up. I feel my face fall. “Yet,” she adds. “Not every Innocent we know has been through the ceremony yet. It’s a rite of passage when you turn twenty-one.”

I don’t want to say it, but the thought is loud in my mind. It would be just my luck that I am the only the one without a partner.

“Don’t worry.” Abby leans across the table toward me. “We will find her for you.”

“We promise,” Sadie adds.

I nod, trying not to let it worry me, because I have a million other things to think about. “So I guess this means I’m staying?” I say it out loud for the first time, even though I’ve been thinking it since I woke up.

“Hell yeah, you are!”

Seraphina rolls her eyes and turns me toward her. “What Abby is trying to say is that you belong here, Wilhelmina. This is your house, and no one, especially my son, can make you leave it.”

“But it’s dangerous,” I say, remembering Reid’s warning. “Reid said my mom’s murderer is still out there, and my being here could cause problems.”

Seraphina holds up her hand. “I don’t want to hear about it. That discussion is over. I’m leaving you with the girls while I check on Reid. I want you to meet us for dinner tonight. I hope you don’t mind eating at Rooster’s Diner two nights in a row.”

I shake my head. “That’s fine. But—”

She clicks her tongue, warning me not to finish my sentence.

“Right,” I say, smiling. “Discussion over.”

We all get up from the table, and Seraphina and Jade each give me a hug. “We will see you soon,” Jade promises. “We have another surprise for you.”

Seraphina playfully smacks her arm. “You never could keep a secret. Now hush, we’re in a hurry. We told Reid we’d be there by now.”

“And you know how cranky he gets,” Abby says, laughing as she begins pushing the women toward the front door. “Now get moving.”

Jade waves goodbye as Sadie closes the door in their faces. She turns around, smiling as she places her hands on her hips. “Now, it’s time for the fun part.”

“The fun part?” I turn to Abby for an explanation.

“She means we are going to interrogate you until we catch up on every single detail in your life that we’ve missed.” She grins broadly at me. “And, in the process, we’ll help you unpack.”

I laugh nervously. “Okay, I guess.”

“Great.” Sadie skips across the room toward me. “Let’s start with how Reid got that nasty knot on his head.”

“Yes,” Abby says excitedly. “Did you really hit him?”

I sigh, rubbing my temples. “That was a complete misunderstanding.”

Abby turns on her heels, holding her hands out from her sides. Every box and cabinet in the kitchen flies open. She glances over at me and winks. “We’re listening.”

I lean against the table and watch a stack of dishes rise out of a box and place themselves neatly in the cupboard. The fear I felt this morning is gone, and I can feel my excitement grow.

“We’re waiting.” Sadie nudges my elbow.

“Okay, okay.” I nod, knowing it’s only the beginning of the questions, so I might as well get used to it.

Normally, I hate talking about myself, but that is only because I’ve never been able to be completely honest with anyone. This is my chance to finally belong, but that means letting them in my life by answering their every question with excruciating detail. I cringe at the thought, but the excitement is still there. “Well,” I say, taking in a deep breath. “I thought he was an intruder, and I had this giant flashlight in my hand.”

Both girls burst out laughing, giving me their utmost attention. I find myself smiling along with them, thinking maybe this won’t be so horrible after all.

Chapter 6

HOME SWEET HOME

The scene in Rooster’s Diner is the same. The place is still packed. The lights are turned down low, and the sound of hooting laughter from the bar fills the room. However, I no longer feel like an outcast among friends. This time I sit in the back at the corner of a long table filled with people who all know my name. I sip on a glass of funny-colored wine, staring at Abby across the table. Her vibrant green eyes brim with laughter as she regales us with a story about how her boyfriend, Grady, found out she was one of the Innocent when they were ten.

I smile, genuinely happy, and it isn’t because I’m losing my breath from laughing at her. I’ve never been this content. I’ve never felt this wanted. It’s hard to believe these women would go through so much trouble and risk their own safety to keep me near. I know this to be true, because I spent the afternoon reliving my entire lonesome existence. It was a difficult story to tell. The pity remains in Sadie’s eyes even now, her gaze constantly examining my face, worrying about me.

All that is behind me now. I’m staying in Sanctuary and living out the remainder of my life in Frog Hollow, however short that life might be.

My entire family, minus Reid, showed up to dinner. Cari joined us as well, with her curly-haired daughter Julie. We are quite a remarkable sight, a table full of loud, vivacious women.

I spend the evening fielding questions from everyone at the table. Seraphina wants to know about my past, the families I lived with through the years, and the friends I made during college. I quickly skip through my life in the foster care system, because between the eight different homes I’d been placed in, not one of them had actually been a family to me. I am enthusiastic, however, to tell her about my college friends, the first people to actually accept me.

Jade, on the other hand, wants to know about college itself. I explain that I majored in business with a minor in public relations, but I still don’t have a clue what I plan to do with it. Cari explains that many college graduates have that problem, but she is more interested in my abilities. It takes only minutes of me listing my skills to realize I need some training, especially when compared to the things Abby and Sadie can do. Seraphina promises I can catch on quickly, and we decide I should have private sessions with her three times a week until I reach my potential.

After dinner, Seraphina, who now insists I call her Sera, and Abby offer to show me around town. Abby’s smile is too bright for this to be a normal tour. I suspect they have something else in store for me. The weather is nice, the sun has long set, and a cool breeze drifts through the busy streets, so I agree without hesitation.

Whatever they have planned, I can’t make myself disappoint them. We walk slowly down the long sidewalks, Abby pointing out different shops and restaurants I need to check out. I’m still amazed by this town and its people.

Sera seems to know everyone.

Almost every person we pass stops to talk with her and stares at me from the corner of his or her eyes. The last person, a dark-haired woman around the same age as Sera, stares so intently at me that I keep walking, too uncomfortable to return her smile.

Abby absently follows me up the street. The square is busy again but not as crowded as the night before. There isn’t any live music tonight, but I can still hear the faint sound of jazz horns from the window of a nearby shop.

“I love this place.” I tiptoe down the edge of the sidewalk. I stop for a moment, thinking of what I want to say. “It’s simple.”

Abby laughs behind me, skipping up to my side to throw her arm around my shoulder. “It’s home,” she says. “You probably can’t feel it yet, but you’re a southern girl at heart.”

I laugh, imagining myself speaking with the slow drawl and elongated vowels like Abby. “At heart, maybe.”

She purses her lips, sensing I am teasing her. “Just wait,” she says, boasting. “One of these charming southern boys will catch your heart, and you’ll never be the same again.”

I can’t help the laugh that escapes me. Then I think of the boy on the balcony. I look over my shoulder in search of the bank, but we are too far down the street to see it. “Let’s hope,” I tell her, turning back around.

“Come along, you two.” Sera strolls past us. “We have things to do.”

Abby tugs my arm, still laughing at herself, and I follow her up the street. The sweet smell of peanut butter and chocolate drifts from a candy shop we pass, and I find myself skipping along next to her. I suddenly feel like a kid again, or rather a kid for the first time. “Where are we going?” I look back at the candy shop. Even with a full stomach, my mouth waters at the smell.

“It’s a surprise,” she says, pulling me along again. “Reid’s been working on it all day.”

“Really?” My shock is genuine. I can’t believe Reid would spend his entire day working on a something for me.

“You sound surprised.” Sera turns around to look at me.

I shrug, trying to stay casual. “Reid and I didn’t exactly leave on good terms last night.” Or any night, for that matter.

“He’ll get over it,” Abby says confidently. “He always does.”

Sera slows down, allowing us to catch up to her. She wraps her arm in mine, pulling me to her side. “Don’t worry about Reid,” she whispers. “He isn’t much for telling people how he feels, but he will always show it.” She pats my arm soothingly. “You’ll see.”

I try not to look skeptical. Abby sprints from my side ahead of us. She runs halfway down the block, toward a small, two-story brick building with all the lights on. She stands in front of the window, her hand cupped around her eyes, peering inside. She turns, motioning for us to hurry.

As we walk up, the first thing I notice is the elaborate writing painted on the giant window.
‘Sanctuary Book Emporium.’
I stand frozen as I stare inside at the mounds of books. I know this place, not by sight, but by name. This store belongs to my mother. I remember reading the name in her will.

A bell rings over the door, and I look up to see Sera holding it open for me. “Come in,” she says, holding out her hand.

I stumble forward and through the door, my senses completely overwhelmed by the smell of crisp paper and fresh flowers. I take a moment to breathe it in, because if there is one thing I love, it’s a bookstore.

“What do you think?” Abby asks, swerving between tables of books. “Isn’t it great?”

I look at Sera as she rearranges a vase of pink and yellow roses on the counter top, and smile. “It’s amazing.”

And it’s true. It’s unlike any bookstore I’ve ever seen. Small and compact. Dark wooden shelves weave at odd angles along the wall, while other shelves hang suspended in the air. The bay window is highlighted by a platform facing the street. A purple velvet chair and cherry red stool sit on top of it, so people can read while they watch the crowds pass by.

I’m momentarily startled by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs in the back, until I realize it’s Reid. The torn jeans give him away, because his face is hidden behind three large boxes in his arms. He sets them down in the middle of the floor, wiping the sweat from his brow. “It’s about time.” The scowl is back. Surprise. Surprise.

My eyes leave his face, down to the plaid shirt that is rolled up above his forearms. It’s sexy.

Like hella sexy.

It catches me off guard. I don’t know why. It’s practically a fashion staple in every Starbucks along the California coastline. Reid isn’t a wannabe hipster, though. He’s just Reid. Grumpy. Insufferable. Adrenaline-inducing Reid.

“I told you six,” Sera says as if she’s singing, deaf to his annoyance. “I’m so glad to see this place alive again.” She bends forward, lifting a yellow rose to her nose.

Reid softens then, walking over to his mother. “The electricity and water are back on, but updating all the stock and balancing the books is going to take some time.”

I wander over to one of the giant shelves and run my hand down the side, reading the names of the different genres painted beneath them.

“Well, then, I guess it’s a good thing Wilhelmina majored in business,” Sera tells him, and I spin around.

“What?”

Abby quickly joins me at my side, an all-knowing smirk on her lips. “This is your place,” she says, squeezing my arm. “This is your bookstore.” My mouth drops open. “Surprise!” she adds, throwing her hands out to her side.

I immediately shake my head in disagreement. “No, it can’t be. I read my mother’s will, line by line. The bookstore wasn’t left to me.”

Sera crosses the room toward me. “A minor oversight,” she says. “Originally your mother borrowed the money from me to open the store, so she initially left it to me to cover the cost of the loan. But she has long since paid off that debt, and unfortunately we never got around to changing that part of the will.”

“But that means it still belongs to you.”

“I want you to have it.” Sera places her hand on my shoulder, comforting me. “I have my own work to do. I don’t have the time to devote to this place to make it what it should be. She would want you to have it.”

My heart thuds in my chest. The sound vibrates in my ears. I’m completely overwhelmed. I haven’t even thought about a job or what I would do with my life here. I’ve been so focused on what I might find, or learn, to worry much about how I was going to support myself. Honestly, I was afraid to think that far ahead, because in my mind, staying here was still just a dream. “I don’t know the first thing about running a store,” I admit. “Business degree or not.”

“We’ll help you,” Abby says. “Right, Reid?” She turns to her brother, who suddenly looks taken aback.

“I’ve done my part.” He motions to the buzzing lights above our heads.

Abby rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “You love this store. You almost reopened it yourself.”

“But I didn’t.”

“Enough.” Sera snaps her fingers, catching everyone’s attention. “Reid, you take Wilhelmina on a tour of the rest of the store while Abby and I take a look at the bank statements and inventory.”

He presses his lips into a hard line, daring a glance at me. It’s obvious that playing tour guide isn’t on his to do list. Ever.

Sera gives him another look.

“Fine.” He sighs. “Let’s go see the second level.”

He walks off without indicating he wants me to follow him. I make an ugly, childish face at him, hoping he has eyes in the back of his head. I wind my way toward the back of the store after him. He stops at the edge of the stairwell and waits for me. He wipes his bronze hair away from his face, the red knot of his forehead visible for the first time. He motions toward the steps. “You first.”

The stairwell is tiny at best. It’s obviously only meant to fit one person at a time. I squeeze by him, my shoulder grazing his chest, and he takes a step back. An entire foot back. When I look over my shoulder at him, he stares at the floor.

He’s really taking this southern gentleman thing too far.

I turn back to the stairs, watching each step as I climb. The steps are painted in opposing colors of blue and white with a name of a famous author. I repeat the names silently to myself as I hop up the incline. Once at the top, the room expands with more shelves and another cozy reading area that leads out onto a balcony. I go there first to peek through the open door. “Wow.” I smile out at the street below. “This is a great view.”

“Yeah,” Reid says softly behind me. “Fiona always loved to sit out here every morning and drink her coffee. Hence the coffee counter I helped her install.”

I turn to see him pointing at the small round counter in the corner equipped with an old-fashioned coffee pot and new shiny cappuccino machine. “You helped her?” I examine the obviously new addition and imagine Reid here working. Shirtless. Or maybe in just that rolled-up plaid shirt.

“Fiona let me work here during my summers off from college. I needed a reason to get out of the house and away from those two.” He throws a glance behind him, indicating he means Seraphina and Abby. “This place was always quiet enough.”

I turn back to the window, gazing at the small metal chairs on the balcony. I could see my mother sitting there, cup of coffee in hand, staring out over the town she loved so dearly. “Thank you for everything you’ve done today.”

When he doesn’t answer, I turn, only to hear his footsteps retreating back down the stairs. I run to catch up to him, skipping down three steps at a time until I can reach his arm. I pull him to a halt just below the last step. “Wait.”

He stops, not bothering to turn around to face me.

“You won’t even let me thank you?” I sound angry because I am.

He averts his face, his eyes avoiding mine. “I don’t deserve one,” he says, his voice strained. “What I did today was out of obligation to Fiona. It wasn’t for you.”

Anger and pain bite so deeply inside me that I feel the need to double over to keep it from ripping me in two, but I don’t let it take me. Instead, I grit my teeth and fight back. I pull his chin around, forcing him to look at me. When his eyes connect with mine, I use my other hand to push his hair away so I can cup it over the exposed wound on his forehead.