18-1
After several cups of tea and a bit of food
into her, Skye reclined in her chair at the table with yet another steaming mug
in her hands. Maury had already made it back with two big bags of clothes for
himself and Chase. She could only imagine what else was in them. While they
were setting up the sleeping arrangements with Cyrus, Gertie wandered around
the house with a smudge stick made of Sage claiming she needed to purify the
house.
Skye was too tired to care but she tracked the
woman with her ears as she wandered around the house. The past few days had been much of a
nightmare for her but if it was one thing she knew she did well it was adapt.
Before Cyrus had gone to go and pick up his sisters Chase had given him a story
about how they were going to have company staying with them for a little while to
fix up the attic and make it a working home office for Skye and since they were family it was ok for Chase and Maury to be there.
She had no idea how to explain Gertie to
the girls, so they decided to say that she was a friend of Dominic’s that
needed a place to stay for a few days. Even though Maury almost choked on his
laughter at the “friend” part of the story, they all agreed that simpler was
better as well as it being Maury’s job to watch the witch while Chase was on what
they were calling multiple personality watch. Dominic would stop by regularly
and work with Cyrus on his development.
Skye knew that Kyra had heard what was said
the night before and wasn’t clueless to the situation, even if they didn’t
understand exactly what was happening they knew things were different and Kyra
would know that the extra people in the house was not because of the story they
were going to be told. She almost hoped that it would get Kyra talking but held
out no real hope for that.
Weighing on the other side of her mind was
the appointment with the bank and how she was going to come up with the money
they needed…soon. Dominic was a thought to help but now with everything else
going on she figured she would give it some time before she found it necessary
to talk to him. Maybe there would be something good sold at the shop that could
buy her some time. Just the thought of losing the store made her think of Anna
and Leigh and how her family were not the only ones affected. Leigh had her kids and an ex in jail so there
was no support coming from him. The realization made her feel sick as she held
her rapidly cooling mug of tea.
With a groan she set her mug down on the
table, slowly leaned forward and banged her head lightly off the oak table top.
Maybe she would rattle the other person in there with her.
Chase had approached silently as usual, pulled out the chair that was next to her, making her jump and almost knock her
tea over. He couldn’t hide the small half smile that appeared on his lips while
she tried to regain control of her speeding heart and glared at him.
“For a big man Chase, you sure are quiet.”
She said softly staring back into her mug. All he did was shrug. Just looking
at him reminded her of Deacon. Even though they had different hair and eye
colours the shape of their faces were similar and the set of their eyes was how
you could tell they were related. Chase was bigger than Deacon but not by much.
He had about 3 inches on his cousin in height and width and it was all muscle
for both of them. She looked up at him and shook her head slowly.
Chase knew by the way Skye was looking at
him that she had something on her mind. He could sense her anxiousness and the
slight tinge of fear that came off of her but he waited patiently until she was
ready to say whatever she needed to. She took a breath and exhaled but the
words never came so he sat back, crossed his arms over his broad chest and
looked at her, really looked at her.
He had seen that face for many, many years,
centuries even and he knew that this time things were different for her. They
were different for all of them and a small part of him was glad for it because
it wasn’t going to be the same thing this time. He had to step up for his cousin’s
family, Deacon was gone and she was left here with kids in tow and a whole new world
she knew nothing about. He took in her features, her hair and the way she had
it tucked behind her ear, the deep colour of her eyes and the sadness in them
on top of the fear but there was something different about that. Not only was
the scent of fear coming off of her but underneath that there was sense of
something that he couldn’t quite pin point and even though he couldn’t figure
out what it was he could feel that it was even more serious to her than what
was going on now. It was at that point that he realized he was still staring at her.
After forcing his gaze away from her, he
focused on the open glass door and the dogs sunning themselves on the lawn, listening to the ticking clock on the wall. It
felt like forever had passed when she finally spoke. “Can I ask you something?”
she said in that same soft voice. “If Deacon was here, would I have found out
any of this?” Chase turned his attention back to her and uncrossed his arms so
that he could lean on the table.
He looked into her eyes steady and true he
meant every word he said. “Yes, you would have.” Skye sighed and nodded. “He
would have told you;” he continued “He would have had to because she would have
found you either way.” In his mind he tacked on that she wouldn’t have had time
to be scared, she would have been gone.
He watched as she tapped her fingers on the
table, her nails making a ticking noise as she sorted through her thoughts. The
minutes seemed like hours as he waited for more questions to come, but they
didn’t. Without another word about it she picked up her mug and stood. Before
she left the room she put a hand on Chase’s large shoulder and gave it a gentle
squeeze. “I’m going to shower.” Her
final words to him and he couldn’t help but feel the tug of her sorrow and
exhaustion even though he knew she was strong enough to handle the road ahead,
when she needed them they would be there.
His
only impending regret was that she wouldn’t be with them long now that she knew
the truth. It was only a matter of time before the woman walking away from him
was gone and the vengeful spoiled brat was back.
He leaned back in the chair and closed his
eyes and sighed.
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