Raven (19 page)

“
I had
never known that Neleh was... was different,” he
stuttered.

“
Different?” I asked.

He
looked at me, his wings finally slowly closing behind him, while he
appeared to wrestle with something within his head. He nodded and
asked me if I knew anything unusual about my family. A family
secret, he asked.

It was
then that I understood. Neleh had the gene. She could change – the
family just hadn't realised because it hadn't happened before she
died. At least if it had, she had never had the chance to tell
anyone about it.

“
Yes,”
I nodded. “I understand what you mean. Could... could Neleh
change?”

“
I
never knew about it until that day. In fact I'm not even sure that
she knew herself. I'd heard tales of such creatures but believed
them to be nothing but fairy tales. We'd ventured a little further
into the forest. Neleh was so happy because you'd just been born –
she'd always wanted a baby sister and so we were just hanging out
together, having fun on our own. We'd left the hospital because we
thought Serena and Jack should spend some quality time with you. We
had taken a different path than usual and decided to investigate
the area a bit more. That's when we found the run-down old cottage,
well hidden within the forest.”

“
Neleh
was so excited so we'd approached it, assuming it to be empty but
it wasn't. When we got closer we heard a woman's voice chanting. I
remember Neleh saying the voice was familiar so we'd looked through
the window and we'd seen that nurse from the hospital. Vivian. She
was wearing a long black robe and was reading from a thick heavy
book. It wasn't your average book, either. Some kind of spell book,
I'm guessing now,” he said, sighing as he gently threw some more
wood onto the fire.

“
What
was she saying, Sammy?” I asked.

“
None
of it made any sense to me. It sounded foreign. Latin, perhaps. We
wouldn't have really thought that much about it but then we saw the
photos... all those photos,” he cried. “They were all over the
cottage. Photos of Jack, your father. She was clearly obsessed.
Neleh became angry and wanted to confront her. I tried to stop her
but it was too late. She burst through the door and shouted at her.
She was asking 'What the hell are you doing?' over and over. Vivian
was taken aback but she just laughed, saying 'He's mine'. Neleh
shook her head and said, 'Never. He loves my mother. He'll never
leave her'.”

“
What
happened next?” I asked, afraid to hear the truth.

Sammy
looked away from me for a moment and closed his eyes, shaking his
head. I placed my hand on his shoulder to reassure him. He turned,
smiled sadly and continued.

“
Vivian's eyes. They ch... they changed – they became
completely red, like the devil's and she just said, 'Well I'll just
have to get rid of her... and you'. Vivian lunged forward and
grabbed at Neleh's hair. She must have pulled out a handful of it
because she yelled in pain. Vivian started laughing and laughing.
This evil laugh. I'll never forget it. I tried to pull Neleh away
but she suddenly became really strong. Then she changed. Neleh
changed right in front of my eyes. She became this... this... big
cat. She swiped at Vivian and caught her face. But Vivian killed
her. She threw something at her, uttered a few strange words and
the cat, Neleh, she just fell to the ground. She was dead. As I
picked her up, she suddenly changed back into human form. But she
was dead. She was dead,” he cried, devastated.

Tears
slowly fell down my cheeks too as I realised that the woman I had
thought was my own mother for years had actually been responsible
for the brutal murder of my only sister.

“
How
did she do this to you? How did you get these wings?” I asked,
horrified.

“
I
don't remember exactly what she said to me but I do recall her
saying that she had something 'special' in store for me. She lunged
at me and pulled at my hair. But I was so devastated about Neleh
that I couldn't do anything. I didn't even try. I just picked up
her body and walked out of that cottage. She didn't even try to
stop me. I carried on walking until I got to Gabriel's house. When
he opened the door and saw me there with her dead body, I know he
thought it was me. I knew he thought I was responsible. I could
tell from his eyes. I laid Neleh's body on the bed and I left.
Gabriel was crying by her side and he didn't notice me go. That's
when I decided to go back and see if I could catch her myself, but
as I walked back through the forest, the most horrendous pain
started in my back. It lasted for hours and hours and I couldn't do
a thing. I couldn't move. I've never experienced pain like it,” he
said.

“
You
were growing the wings,” I added and he nodded.

Sammy
explained that he knew perfectly well that he could never return to
the town, nor go anywhere near civilisation. Already people thought
he was a killer and if they saw his wings, it would have just made
things even worse. They would see him as the devil
himself.

“
Sammy, I'm so sorry about what happened to you. But we must
tell Gabriel the truth. He will believe you now.”

“
Perhaps he will but I can't go near the town. Not like
this.”

“
But
you did when you rescued me,” I said hopefully, “Why did you do
that?” I asked, not having realised the implications
before.

“
I
couldn't save Neleh but I'll be damned if I let anything happen to
her sister,” he said, with a smile.

I leaned
my head on his shoulder, “Thank you”.

Sammy
told me that occasionally he would fly or walk a little closer to
town, keeping himself very well hidden where he would listen to the
conversations of hikers, just to feel human again. One day he had
heard two women talking about a young girl who had returned to live
with her grand-father in Powell River. “When they mentioned Gabriel
by name I knew it was you,” he said.

“
Sammy, did you know that my mother had died too?” I
asked.

He
nodded, “She was murdered too. I think that was the spell Vivian
was casting that day. She was trying to get rid of your mother and
she succeeded. I'm so sorry, Lilly. If only I had managed to stop
her.”

I
reassured him that it would have been impossible. Nothing could
have stopped her. Nothing at all.

For the
next few hours, Sammy and I talked about what life had been like
for the two of us over the years... me growing up in a kind of
prison but not realising it until recently and him living in his
own prison, hiding in the forest. We felt like life would begin to
change again for us both, now that we had found each other. He was
an important part of my family and I had to convince the rest of my
family that this was so. But more importantly, I had to convince
them that he was no killer. That Vivian was responsible for much
more than just taking me and my father away from them.

But
first, I had to get home.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

“
Hold
on tight, Lilly,” said Sammy as he put his arms carefully around
me. His wings flared out to his sides and with a simple jump we
moved skywards. Although terrifying, flying through the dark night
was exhilarating.

The
higher we flew, the colder the temperature became and I found
myself shivering to such an extent that my teeth began to
chatter.

“
Don't
worry, we're almost there,” Sammy said softly above the sound of
his moving wings. I couldn't look down for fear. But soon enough,
we were home. He swooped down, staying within the confines of the
forest. I recognised the area and knew I was close to
home.

As we
came to a standstill, he gently released his grip on me. “Are you
all right?” Nodding, I hugged him tightly and told him that soon we
would all be together again.

“
How
can I contact you though?” I asked, wondering how he would know
when it was safe to return.

“
I'll
come back and meet you here again tomorrow night as soon as
darkness comes. I'll stay hidden until I see you. Until then,
Lilly. Keep safe. Good luck speaking to the rest of the
family.”

I nodded
as I watched him gracefully leap off into the sky again. I could
hear his wings gently beating in the wind and wondered if, one day,
I would be able to fly like that. I hadn't forgotten that I might
possess the gene that could give me wings of my own. Or furry paws.
But I was still waiting, nervously, for it to happen.

“
Gabriel, Gabriel... wake up,” I said, gently shaking his
shoulders as he slept peacefully, blissfully unaware of what had
just happened to me.

As he
came to, he suddenly sat upright and asked, “Lilly, are you all
right? What on earth is the matter? Did you have another bad
dream?”

I told
him that I needed to talk to him urgently but I also needed to
speak to Rose, Wyatt and Meredith... and Jo. “We must call them now
and tell them to come over straight away. Something very important
has happened.”

He
turned and looked at his bedside clock. 4.57am.

“
Perhaps it might be pertinent to just wait a couple of
hours, Lilly. We don't want to worry the rest of the family...
unless absolutely necessary. Is it, Lilly? Is it absolutely
necessary?”

I
thought for a moment and agreed that perhaps it could wait a few
more hours. After all, it had waited fourteen years, what was
another two hours?

I
debated whether I should tell Gabriel about Sammy first but decided
against it. I knew how he felt about the man and there was a
possibility that he just might go a little mad at the mere mention
of his name. At least with the others there, particularly Jo, they
would help calm him down – that was my plan, anyway.

Gabriel
wanted to know what was so urgent but I said I couldn't tell him
until the others arrived. He wasn't delighted, of course, but he
was understanding. Gabriel was always understanding. It was one of
the many things that I loved about him.

We
decided to telephone the others at 8am – it was a Sunday morning
and Gabriel had said calling any earlier might have panicked
them.

Fortunately he hadn't noticed my unusual attire by then so I
decided to go to my room and lie down for a while. It gave me the
chance to remove Sammy's over large boots and hide them until the
truth was revealed later.

Adrenaline pulsed through my body as I lay there, darkness
disappearing for another day to be replaced by a gentle light as
the sun slowly began its ascent. I thought about Sammy. He had
spent fourteen years completely alone. Even though I had felt
lonesome during my childhood years, I could have no idea what it
must have been like to have had absolutely no interaction with
other people during that time.

I
wondered how he had managed to hang on to his sanity. Hidden from
the world like some kind of freak, when that couldn't be any
further from the truth.

This man
was a gentle soul who had suffered more than any of us had at the
hands of a truly evil witch. It saddened me more than words could
describe that he was not part of this family. The family that would
have been his had Neleh lived. He would have been my
brother-in-law. In my eyes, he was and would always be Neleh's
husband.

The
others arrived as soon as they could after the phone call. Wyatt
had also brought Jo, as I'd requested. The last to arrive was Rose
at five to nine.

They all
appeared to be consumed with worry but it wasn't too difficult to
get them to calm down. They could see for themselves that I was
safe and happy.

I had
wondered about Meredith. I knew at times she had been able to read
my thoughts but this time, she seemed totally oblivious as to what
was going on in my head. I asked her about it and she told me that
it's not something she can do all the time.

“
It
only happens occasionally and only when you are very close to me
but I'm not getting anything at the moment,” she sighed, clearly
wishing she was.

After
I'd made them all some hot tea, and requested that Gabriel bring
the box of photos they had shown me before, I asked them all to sit
in the living room together.

Gabriel
handed me the box and I emptied it until I found the photograph I
was looking for. The one of Sammy and Neleh happily
together.

“
I
don't want any of you to worry, especially you Gabriel,” I said,
“and I don't want you to say anything until I've told you
everything.”

Gabriel
sighed and I continued, “Please, Grand-father. This is more
important that anything. Not a word, okay?”

He
nodded and smiled as best he could, unsure about what I was about
to reveal.

“
A few
nights ago I had a dream and when I woke up, I discovered that it
had caused me to sleepwalk.”