Raven (20 page)

The
others all looked at each other with worry.

“
It's
okay. That night I woke up inside the house and nothing happened to
me,” I smiled before going on, “but last night something very
different happened. I had the most vivid dream I have ever had and
I sleepwalked... right into the forest.”

“
Goodness, Lilly... you could have...” Rose began but I
interrupted her.

“
Please Rose, let me finish. I was led there by the ghosts
of Serena and Neleh. They took me deep into the forest. I walked
for a long time before I woke up but when I did, I knew that they
had been trying to show me something. Well, not something, but
someone,” I whispered.

I could
tell my family were all biting their tongues, except Jo who was
clearly excited and desperate to know the full story.

I held
up the photo of Sammy and Neleh and said, “Last night I met Sammy
Morton.”

Gabriel
stood up so abruptly that he knocked his cup of tea to the
floor.

“
Lillian Tulugaq. What were you thinking? You could have got
yourself killed. And then what? Then what?” he yelled and stormed
out of the room.

That was
exactly the kind of reaction I had dreaded, which was one of the
reasons I had wanted the others to be there with me for
support.

As I'd
imagined, Wyatt stood and followed him, as did Meredith who
returned a moment later with a sponge and began mopping up the tea.
She was soon followed by the others. Gabriel was obviously forced
to bite his tongue, again.

I said
nothing until everyone was sitting quietly.

“
Sammy
is not what you think he is. Sammy is not a killer.”

I could
hear Gabriel huffing and trying so hard not to speak so I continued
quickly.

“
Sammy
was a witness to my sister's death. Vivian is the true
murderer.”

Although
there were gasps, I could tell the information was being mulled
over by them all.

“
And
he told you this, did he? And you n
aïvely
believed him? Oh Lilly,” said Gabriel softly.

“
There's more to it, Gabriel,” I said, “Sammy has been in
hiding all these years. Not because he was involved in the death,
but because she cursed him. She prevented him from being able to
return home. She cursed him with wings. Two beautiful big black
wings.”

Everybody suddenly began to speak at once and I waited a
moment before hushing them so I could continue, “Sammy was the one
who saved my life. He rescued me and you still have that feather to
prove it... don't you, Gabriel?”

He stood
then, his face white as a sheet and he walked into another room,
returning with the feather that proved what I had been telling them
was the truth.

“
Goodness. All these years,” began Rose, “all these years he
has been persecuted in so many ways. He was never even given the
benefit of the doubt.”

“
That's not all,” I said, “Sammy and Neleh saw Vivian
putting some kind of spell on Serena. He believes that he was
putting a spell on her to get rid of her. That's how Neleh was
killed. She confronted Vivian and she was murdered, but not
before...” I took a breath.

“
Not
before what Lilly?” asked Jo eagerly.

“
Not
before Neleh changed into a cat.”

Rose
smiled then, “So she did carry the gene. And I thought I would
never know the truth.”

“
The
scar that Vivian had on her face in this photograph was put there
by Neleh. She managed to swipe at her with her claws seconds before
she died.”

We all
sat in silence for a few moments, letting the news sink
in.

“
So
where is Sammy now?” asked Gabriel at last.

I
explained that he'd created some kind of a home within a cave in
the forest, far from the town. He couldn't risk being seen by
anybody. “He knew that if anyone saw him, he would be taken away
like some kind of freak. He is such a gentle man. Even now, after
all that has happened to him. Even after being so alone for all
these years, he is still a truly wonderful, gentle man. He should
be a part of this family. The way he was meant to be,” I said
sadly.

Gabriel
finally conceded and nodded, “I feel absolutely terrible. How could
I not have known this?”

“
He
hid from the world. He didn't want anybody to know,” I
replied.

“
But
the Elders. This is something the Elders should have known. We must
go and see him,” he said.

Again, I
explained that it would be very difficult to find his hiding place
but told them that he had said he would return not far from the
house that evening.

“
He
wants to meet with you all too,” I whispered, as a tear rolled down
my cheek, knowing that he would finally be welcomed into our home
with open arms. Fourteen years later than he should have
been.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

That day
had turned out to be one of the most surreal days I had spent in
Canada so far. For me it hadn't been so hard to understand what had
really happened all those years ago, because I had only learned the
truth about myself a few short months before. I knew it was tougher
for the rest of the family though as they had old beliefs that had
to be undone.

Of
course they believed me when I'd told them what had happened –
there was no reason for them not to. But it would be when they met
Sammy again that the truth would really sink in. When they saw how
much suffering he had been through, not just physically, but
emotionally too, they would take him in with open arms. I had no
doubt about that.

And it
was this reason that I couldn't wait for the reunion to take place.
I willed the hours to pass by, for darkness to fall.

There
was another problem I had to deal with though. As much as I craved
to be with Oliver that day, I knew I couldn't. He would have known
there was something going on. Something big. And I couldn't tell
him what it was. Oliver was as innocent and naïve about the truth
of this world as I had been on my arrival to this magical place. If
I told him that there were such things as witches who could cast
evil spells, he would think I had gone completely mad. Wouldn't
he?

When he
had phoned me that morning to organise a time to come and pick me
up, I had to make excuses not to go out with him, and that hurt me.
I hated lying to him. But what choice did I have?

It was
then that I began to wonder whether our relationship would survive.
As much as I was falling for him, I knew that if he was kept in the
dark, our relationship would predominantly be based on lies. And
what relationship can survive that? But more importantly, it wasn't
fair on him. There was love, but a really successful relationship
had to be based on many things. Yes, love was at the top of the
list, but it was followed closely by trust and honesty. No
relationship could survive without all three.

I was
forbidden to talk about our family's raven gene and the fact that I
had been raised by a witch. I couldn't tell anyone that I knew this
world was not just inhabited by normal animals and human beings,
but also by werecats, werewolves, vampires, halflings, changelings,
shape-shifters and so on. I had to keep the secret, even if it
meant ruining my own chances of love.

Sadness
overwhelmed me but I wasn't ready to give up just yet. I had to try
and be a normal teenager. Surely over the centuries, other half
human half creatures had successful relationships with other
humans... hadn't they?

I needed
to find out and so later that day, I broached the subject with the
person I knew would offer me the wisest words, Rose.

“
I
knew this subject would come up at some stage, dear, and it's a
difficult one to answer. Sure, there have been relationships
between changelings and humans. But not all of them have survived,
I'm afraid. Yet others have,” she said with a sad smile, as I
caught the remnants of a memory flashing across her
eyes.

“
What
about you, Rose? Did you have someone once?” I asked, eager to find
out what she had been thinking about.

We were
standing in her conservatory where she kept a number of beautiful
flowers. As she spoke she sprayed them gently with water, carefully
breathing more life into the stunning different specimens of
roses.

Her face
lit up immediately as she said his name. Walter.

“
He
was the love of my life,” she said as she placed the water bottle
down and turned to face me. She then opened a cupboard and pulled
out an old photo album, the pages had become slightly withered with
age.

She
handed it to me and as I opened it, I could see it contained photos
from many years ago. Most were black and white. The majority of
them were of a very handsome young man with fair hair. There were a
few which showed him standing very close to a stunning young woman
with dark hair and very familiar cat-like eyes. It was Rose.
Although she had aged, she was instantly recognisable. About half
way through the album, the pages became empty. I felt a pang of
pain for her; I guessed that he had not lived past his thirties,
perhaps not even his mid twenties, judging by the
images.

“
What
happened?” I asked, intrigued.

It was
clearly, even after all these years, still painful to recollect but
she spoke gently, “He just disappeared,” she said, taking my hand
in hers.

So that
was why it was painful for her to talk about it – because she knew
it might be painful for me too. She knew that her words would
reverberate with me. He simply vanished. Just as my own father
had.

As she
spoke, she flipped to the back of the album where a single
photograph had been glued down. This one contained the image of not
just the couple in love but of a tiny baby too.

“
One
day he took her out in her pram for a walk and they never returned.
Nobody saw them. It was a complete mystery,” she stuttered, trying
to hold back the tears.

“
Rose,
I'm so sorry,” I said wishing I could do something but knowing full
well that I couldn't. When my father had disappeared it must have
been absolute hell for poor Rose. It was as if she was re-living
history.

I felt
her pain. Not only had she lost the man she adored, but she had
lost their only bond, a tiny little daughter.

“
How
old was she?” I asked.

“
Six
months exactly,” she said as she blotted her eyes with a white
cotton handkerchief, “her name was Lori.”

“
When
did they disappear?”

“
A
long, long time ago, my dear. He was 30 years old. I had just
turned 21,” she answered before closing the album and putting it
back in its resting place, before continuing, “we had known each
other for many years and had begun dating when I was 16. Some
people weren't so keen on us being together because of the age gap
but we didn't care what they thought. We were so in love. We were
soul mates and little Lori was the icing on our cake. That's what
we used to say,” she said.

“
Did
he know about your... your 'abilities'?”

She
chuckled then and nodded, “Things were a little different back
then. I didn't know I could change until I was eighteen and it
wasn't because I was told. It was because it just happened one day.
I was terrified. I didn't know what was happening to me. Luckily it
happened while I was at home and my mother was visiting. Walter was
out at the time and my mother had heard a commotion in my room. She
walked in and I was no longer Rose the teenager. I was Rose the
Canadian Lynx. You can imagine my shock when she began speaking to
me softly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. She
calmed me down though and I soon changed back to my human form. It
was while I was changing back that Walter came home.”

“
I bet
that gave him the shock of his life,” I said and she
nodded.

“
It
was the only time I have ever seen a man faint,” she laughed. “When
he eventually came to, he thought he'd had a strange dream but then
he saw my ripped clothes and knew it hadn't been a dream at all. He
took it surprisingly well. It was a shock to the both of us on the
same day, and so we had to come to terms with it
together.”

“
So he
accepted that it was a part of who you are?” I asked eagerly,
thinking that perhaps Oliver would do the same.

“
I was
very lucky,” she nodded before slowly adding, “but his parents
weren't killed by wildcats.”

The
excitement that had been building within me was ripped out of me
and I slumped back in the chair, closing my eyes and fighting back
the tears that threatened to break loose.