After the Summerland (The Witches of Spring Hill Book 1) (22 page)

“Dad. I’m letting him
know what’s up and telling him that you guys are coming to the house tonight,”
she says to Xavier, Cian, and Brianna. “You are coming, right?”

Cian answers, “Of
course. We could hardly wait to tell you.”

Chloe looks down at her
phone and reads Liam’s response out loud for everyone, “
I don’t like it. I think something’s up. Of course they can come over
tonight. I’ll bring them back down tonight and pick them back up in the morning
or… and I hope I won’t regret suggesting this… they can spend the
night up here
.”

“This day just gets
better and better,” Xavier says as the first bell rings. “We’ll figure it out
later, but for now let’s plan on walking home to make sure she actually left. Then
if she really is gone, we’ll pack overnight bags and stay the night?” he asks,
confirming with his sister and brother.

“Yes! Yes!” they both
agree excitedly.

Chloe can’t contain her
excitement until her phone signals another text message. “Another message from
dad — he says we have to make the most of this opportunity while Selene is gone
and then he says, again, that he doesn’t like it.” She looks around and reads
the same thing in each of their faces. No one likes it, but they can’t resist
the opportunity to spend time together.

The school day seems to
creep by for everyone. By the end of the day, they are all watching the clock. When
the final bell rings, the Silvans and Alexanders meet up at Xavier’s locker to
firm up their plans. The Silvans will walk home, wait ten minutes, and if the
coast is clear, they will text the Alexanders to come pick them up.

“Do you think she’s
really gone?” Brianna asks again, walking behind her brothers. She has been
feeling somewhat fuzzy for hours. She hasn’t been able to hear anyone else’s
thoughts and she can usually at least pick up her brothers’ thoughts. “I
haven’t heard anything for a couple of hours,” she says voicing her concern out
loud.

“Brianna, your ability
is probably magnified by her presence,” Xavier says. “Remember how when she
first moved in your powers started getting stronger. I’m sure she is just some
sort of beacon that draws them out so, of course, when she moves farther away
from you, your abilities weaken.” He reminds her again, “I saw the plane ticket
and even for Selene I can’t imagine her setting up this much of a ruse just to
see what we’re up to when she’s not here. Can you?” he asks Cian.

“Honestly? I wouldn’t
put anything past her. Especially since she has been acting even more distant
from us than usual,” Cian replies looking around.

“Xavier, you’re not the
least bit worried that she’s lying to us?” Brianna asks.

He doesn’t want to
worry his brother and sister, but he won’t lie to them either. He answers
truthfully, “Alright. Yeah, I’m a little concerned that she’s lying to us, but
I’m also damn tired of hiding out in this house all the time. I’m tired of
being afraid of what she is going to do and am more than ready to talk with the
Alexanders again without the entire school eavesdropping.”

They all agree with him
and continue looking around for any sign of Selene. When they get to the house,
they find a note on the counter and some money for food. They walk around the
house looking for evidence that she’s really gone. They even check the door to the back room, but
it’s locked as usual. Brianna goes up to the second floor, and even though Selene
will probably know she was in her space, she looks in Selene’s closet and
bathroom. Having never been in either before, Brianna can’t be sure, but she
doesn’t see any makeup or other toiletries lying around, implying that she has
them with her… wherever she is.

Resisting the
temptation to snoop around, Brianna backs out of the room and starts down the
stairs, meeting up with her brothers. Even though she is standing directly in
front of them, she decides to text them in case Selene had the house bugged.
She texts that some of Selene’s stuff is gone, which would imply she took it with her. Xavier replies to both of them to pack an
overnight bag and make it fast because he is going to text the Alexanders to
come pick them up.

In the driveway, Chloe
doesn’t even come to a full stop when the Silvans come bounding out the door. Chloe
drives with Cian sitting in the front next to her. Xavier, Kaiden, and Rowan
sit in the back and since Brianna is the smallest, she sits in the cargo area.
Chloe knows her dad would not be happy if he saw Brianna in the far back
without a seatbelt, but there is no other way for them all to fit. The four of
them tried cramming together in the back seat, but everyone was so squished it
just wouldn’t work. Brianna doesn’t mind sitting in the far back, it feels like
a cozy little nook with school bags and overnight bags surrounding her. She
burrows in, more comfortable in the small space than she has been all week at
home.

When they finally make
the turn up the driveway, Xavier, Cian, and Brianna look out in awe at just how
dense the woods are around them. Various rock outcroppings similar to those
they saw on their hike when they first got to town make up a large amount of
the landscape. Flowers are planted near the rock outcroppings, which Cian can
see are planted in a pattern. Although it has been awhile since he studied the
meaning of flowers, he knows that the flowers growing in these planters are
conveying a message. White heather grows in abundance, known for protection.
Dill grows wild and is powerful against evil, and valerian plants grow
naturally, symbolizing readiness.

“Who planted all the
flowers?” Cian asks.

Chloe responds that
many of the flowers have always grown here but adds that she tends them and
plants new flowers closer to the house. Cian nods and realizes that Chloe might
not know the meaning or significance of the flowers or the message they are
sending to anyone coming up the driveway.

When they get to the
top, they all are disappointed when they see Liam’s jeep and Grandpa Marcus’s truck already parked in the driveway.

“That’s weird,” Kaiden
says. “Dad is never home this early. And why is Grandpa Marcus here?”

Although happy to spend
any time together outside of school, they were most looking forward to the two
hours they had alone with each other before Liam got home from work. Collective
sighs of disappointment fill the car as Liam steps out of the house.

Liam makes his way to
the car and noticing Brianna in the cargo area shakes his head in
disappointment at Chloe. He opens Chloe’s door and says “Chloe…”

“Dad, before you say
anything, they all couldn’t fit in the backseat and I drove very carefully.”

Xavier steps out of the
car and Liam claps him on the shoulder and says, “Hey, Xavier.” Xavier reaches
out his hand to shake Liam’s. He distractedly looks around at the house and
gardens directly in front of him. He has never seen anything as amazing as this
property. The dense woods they hiked through when they first got to town, butts
up against the yard, enclosing the house and yard in complete privacy. The
gardens in the back are green and lush, while the air is filled with the scent
of earth. This place is definitely magical and for the first time, he can see
why his aunt is obsessed with it. He wonders if she even knows how amazing it
is, since as far as he knows she has never even seen it in person.

Everyone climbs out of
the car and grabs their bags from the cargo area so that Brianna can get out.

“You all look so
disappointed,” Liam says teasingly. “You didn’t actually think that I would
leave the six of you alone, right?”

He laughs when he sees
all of their faces, “No way.
And
I
made sure to have reinforcements here. Grandpa Marcus and GG Peter are staying
at the house all weekend.”

Chloe, Rowan, and
Kaiden make eye contact with each other, sensing that the Silvans staying at
the house is not the only reason why Grandpa Marcus and GG Peter are staying.
Chloe remembers her dad’s concern in his text messages. He doesn’t believe
Selene is actually out of town, Chloe thinks to herself.

As everyone makes their
way toward the house, Brianna catches up to Chloe and says, “I’m not 100%
convinced that she’s out of town either.”

It dawns on Chloe that
Brianna just replied to what she was thinking. She asks, “Just how much can you
hear?”

Brianna realizes that
she probably shouldn’t have said anything when she heard Chloe’s thoughts, but
she couldn’t resist. As soon as they started making their way up the hill she
tuned back in to everyone’s thoughts. It was the first time since this morning
that she could actually hear someone else so she made the mistake of replying.
She is usually very careful about replying only to words, and not thoughts, and,
in fact usually blocks everyone just so she won’t get bombarded all the time.

Brianna says, “I’m
sorry. It’s the first time all day I’ve heard anyone’s thoughts and so I wasn’t
blocking like I usually do. You should start carrying carnelian; it will keep
me from reading your mind. It’s a pretty, reddish gemstone and I know this
great site online where you can get some if you don’t have any.”

Rowan overhearing the
conversation says, “Actually, I think we might have a few of those. I’ll show
them to you and you can tell us if that’s what they are. I found them in the
box in the attic.”

“Well, if you don’t
want anyone to read your mind, then you should have it on you.” Brianna says as
she pulls the necklace she is wearing from inside her shirt. “I wear this all
the time because I don’t know if my aunt can read minds or not, but I don’t
want her sifting through my thoughts. She already seems to know too much.”

“Thanks, Brianna,”
Rowan says, appreciating how open and honest Brianna is about everything.

She’s not like some
girls who won’t tell you something because they want to come off as better than
you or have plans to one up you in the future. She always seems to help Rowan
and when Rowan acts snotty, Brianna calls her on it. Rowan can’t remember the
last time she had a friend who put her in her place and built her confidence in
the same day. Brianna is becoming a very good friend and Rowan hopes whatever
is going to happen with their Aunt Selene, that Brianna isn’t in the line of
fire.

Once they are all in
the house, and snacks have been put out and drinks poured, they begin talking
excitedly about what they are going to do with the rest of the day.

“Maybe we can look
through the grimoires and books you’ve been talking about,” Cian suggests.

“We can do that later,
because right now I think we should go out to the clearing while it’s light
out,” Kaiden says, lifting his eyebrows. Everyone agrees and Chloe runs
upstairs to get the spell book, stopping in the family room to tell Liam what
they
are going to do.

“Just be careful,
Chloe,” Liam says. “You know I have a bad feeling about Selene. If anything
gets weird I want you to come back immediately, okay?”

Chloe agrees and runs
out to meet everyone else who is standing outside waiting for her. She looks at
Cian walking through the garden with his hands running over the tops of all the
herbs she planted. He looks back and calls to her, “I can feel your energy
here, Chloe.” She smiles sweetly and jogs to catch up with them. She notices
that everyone has paired off; her and Cian, Brianna
and Kaiden, and finally, Rowan and Xavier. It all seems so natural and
comfortable as Chloe leads the way through the gardens toward the clearing.

Chloe stops suddenly
and asks Cian, “Before we get to the clearing, do you see anything about your
Aunt Selene? You know, have you had any visions?”

Cian stops to think
about it and says that like Brianna, earlier he felt a bit fuzzy and couldn’t
see anything at all. But since he’s been on the property, he can feel the
fuzziness going away. Cian closes his eyes, focuses his mind and searches for
anything about his Aunt Selene. Strangely enough, he can’t see anything about
her; however, he did see him and Chloe having their first kiss.

Cian turns to Chloe who
is patiently watching him. “Well? What did you see?” she asks.

“I didn’t see Selene,
but I did see this.” He cups her face in his hands and leans toward her lips.
He pauses only for a second to watch as her head tilts up toward him, her eyes
close, and her lips part slowly, welcoming him. His lips lightly touch hers and
the electricity between them is magic. He kisses her fully and feels a jolt
deep within him, as if someone just started his heart. Her lips are soft and
wet, and her mouth tastes sweet like honey. He melts when her hands touch his
body and for the first time, he worries that the fire burning within him will
start both of them and this whole forest on fire. When they finally come up for
air, still holding her face, he looks in her eyes and whispers, “You know I’m
crazy about you, right?”

Chloe smiles shyly up
at Cian and for the first time finds herself speechless. That kiss opened her
up to the Goddess. She let her guard down enough to feel the writhing, deep
desire that she knows only a woman can feel. She transcended girlhood with that
kiss and saw a vision of their future.

She is secure and confident knowing
that whatever is going to happen with Selene, they both will survive it. They
have a future together. They will grow old together. They will die together. Chloe’s
eyes fill with tears, both from joy and relief. She feels so safe and secure
knowing that she has found her true love and she will never have to live a day
without him.

Just then, Brianna and
Kaiden round the corner and see Cian and Chloe embracing. Brianna says, “It was
only a matter of time.”

“Exactly what I was
thinking,” Kaiden says. He grabs Brianna’s hand and runs on past Chloe and
Cian. “Now we get to be the first ones to the clearing,” he says dragging
Brianna along with him. She laughs and enjoys the playfulness of the moment,
almost forgetting about Selene.
Almost, but not quite.