chapter 20
“I feel a little funny lying on the couch with all of you watching me,” Selene commented later that night.
“What? You don’t usually sleep with twelve people staring at you? It’s so much fun! Not awkward at all,” Nate joked.
Selene chuckled. At that moment, Lucy entered the room with a tray of steaming white mugs. “Everything’s always better with hot chocolate,” she said, as she offered the tray around. Once everyone had taken some, Lucy retreated to the corner where Hugh was snuggled in a sleeping bag waiting for her.
“How did the two of you find each other?” Selene asked. It was something she’d been wondering for a while.
Lucy glanced back at Hugh, and they exchanged fond smiles.
“It truly was fate,” Hugh answered, giving Lucy a squeeze. “We knew each other as children in England. This is… what now… almost six hundred and fifty some-odd years ago? I was born in 1347 and Lucy is only two years younger. We just barely missed the Black Death, which happened only about two years before I was born.”
Lucy nodded with a grimace.
“Let’s see…. Who was King then?” Hugh rubbed his chin, lost in thought.
“Edward III, I think.” Lucy answered. “But I remember Richard II better.” She turned back to Selene. “We grew up in the same small village close to York. Hugh’s father was the local butcher. My family moved there when I was only five… too young to remember much. We were bakers.”
Lucy took a sip of her hot chocolate. “We didn’t have anything as wonderful as this for decades. Back then, chocolate was an expensive luxury only for the rich. A treat discovered in the Americas.”
Lila and Adelaide exchanged smiles. Their mother’s family’s baker’s roots shone through these many years later.
“I don’t remember meeting Lucy,” Hugh continued. “She was just always there, a part of the village. One of the children we all played with on occasions.” He scratched at the stubble on his chin again. “Actually, it was a bit of an accident that we discovered we both had powers. I was about twelve when my abilities first manifested. My father sometimes acted as a doctor for the village, and one day someone brought him a baby. It was blue… unable to breath. My father asked for my help to hold it, and as soon as I touched it, I felt this warmth pass from my hands, and the baby started breathing.”
“Who did you inherit from? Your father?” Selene leaned her cheek on her hand.
Hugh nodded. “I believe so. Though his ability was very subtle. In fact, I don’t think he ever realized that he was ‘gifted.’ I was old enough to know what they would do to a suspected witch back then, so I kept my secret to myself.”
“So how’d you discover each other?” Selene asked.
“Well, first of all, I knew long before I came into my abilities that it was possible,” Lucy answered, her green eyes clouded. “My mother was burned at the stake for witchcraft. It’s why we moved to Hugh’s village – to get away from that. She claimed she could see people’s souls. According to my father, it was very black and white for her. From his descriptions, I think that she saw evil or good, but nothing more.”
“I’m sorry,” Selene murmured. Having lost her own mother fairly young, she felt a small connection with Lucy.
Lucy smiled, the corners around her eyes crinkling. “It was a very long time ago, sweetie. And my father was kind and supportive. Although I do think that he was relieved that my ability was a subtler version of hers. Less apt to get me into trouble.”
“How did you find out about each other then, if you were both hiding your gifts from those around you?”
Hugh gave Lucy’s shoulders a quick squeeze. “I fell in love with Lucy when we were only twelve years old. I felt drawn to her warmth. She took care of everyone around her. I know now, of course, that it was the te’sorthene bond growing between us. But we were too isolated to be aware of such things back then.”
“He basically stalked me. Everywhere I went, there was Hugh,” Lucy laughed.
“One day, when I was about eighteen and she was around sixteen, I was making sure she got home safely. It was mid-winter and storming. She slipped on some ice and cut her hands up pretty badly on some rocks,” Hugh said.
“He ran right up to me. The only reason I wasn’t frightened was that I could see that his intentions were helpful.”
“Without even thinking about it, I healed her hands. Where anyone could see us.”
“And that’s when I saw into the heart of who he was. Someone so kind and honest and true. And who loved me entirely. How could a girl resist that? I leaned over and kissed him right there in the street!”
Hugh smiled. “We were married a year later.”
“That’s lovely,” Selene sighed. “What a beautiful story. And you’re so clearly still in love.”
The wistfulness in Selene’s voice caused Griffin to give her a curious glance. But she ignored him and snuggled deeper into her blankets. “Time to sleep, I think. Usually I have no problem crashing right out.”
“No kidding,” Ramsey muttered. Catching a couple of looks he said, “What? She goes out like a light. I’m jealous.”
“Well, I’m afraid tonight I’m just too strung up,” Selene admitted ruefully.
“Want me to help speed things up?” Ellie offered.
“Really? How?”
“I can’t. But Lila will be able to eventually, by making you relax to the point of sleep.” Lila waggled her eyebrows at Selene over Ellie’s shoulder.
“You ever get tired of finding out what you can’t do yet?” Selene wondered aloud.
“All the time,” Lila responded, followed by a round of “Yeah!” and “Seriously!” from Adelaide, Nate, and Ramsey. Alex wisely kept his own council.
“Hey!” Ellie protested with a good natured grin.
“We love you, Elle!” Lila teased, reaching over and squeezing Ellie’s shoulder affectionately.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ellie grumbled. She turned back to Selene. “So, you interested?”
“Yes. The sooner I fall asleep, hopefully, the sooner we get this over with.”
Ellie knelt down and Selene held out her hand. Ellie, using the full potential of Lila’s power, created a sense of such peace and serenity in Selene that she quickly fell asleep.
The nightmare started almost immediately. Selene knew she was already a wolf since she could see her pale front legs and paws as she trotted through a darkened forest. She tried her best to look around and notice any landmarks. Although she tried to follow Ellie’s advice and act the same as always, she really didn’t have to pretend… she was truly bewildered and terrified.
Just as Selene was about give up on seeing any recognizable landmark, she spotted a sign for a motorhome park. She looked directly at it, knowing Griffin and Ellie could see it too. Selene continued on, winding her way through several homes until she reached one on the far outskirts of the community. There were two Chinese lion statues on either side of the front entrance. Selene briefly paused, giving Ellie and Griffin a chance to memorize their distinctive features.
As Selene trotted around the back side of the home, she saw an old man sitting in a lawn chair smoking a pipe. A growl ripped from her throat, one that she couldn’t control. She saw the terror in the man’s eyes as he dropped his pipe and scrambled away from her. Just as she was about to lunge for him, her body was suddenly completely frozen still. And then everything went dark.