After the Summerland (The Witches of Spring Hill Book 1) (31 page)

Brianna wraps her arms
around Kaiden and cries, both in relief that their awful Aunt Selene is gone
and in mourning for her abilities, which seem to be gone. Rowan walks over to
Brianna and asks her to stand up. Brianna, a bit surprised at Rowan’s tone,
does as she is asked. Rowan grabs both of Brianna’s hands, closes her eyes, and
chants a spell, returning her powers to her. “They were never gone, Brianna. I
just needed to borrow them so I could predict Selene’s behaviors.”

As soon as Rowan
releases her hands, Brianna can suddenly hear everyone’s thoughts bombarding
her. She can’t help but giggle when she realizes everyone is thinking the same
things.

“What’s funny, Sis?”
Cian asks.

Brianna smiles and
says, “It’s just that everyone is asking the same questions in their minds. We
all want to know how Rowan borrowed my abilities, how Kaiden started the
protection amulet on fire, how Xavier was able to physically push Selene, what
happened to Selene’s body, did you and Chloe see all of this beforehand and what
happens next?”

“All good questions,”
Liam says, looking around. So much has happened here that the sooner they leave
the clearing the better. Liam had no idea how powerful the land was with all of
them here. “It’s been a long day. Let’s head back to the house and we can sort out
everything there.”

On the way back, Liam says,
“Cian, Xavier, Brianna — I’m so sorry about your aunt, and your parents. I want
you to know that even before this happened, I was considering the possibility
of bringing you three into our home. I know you can probably convince a judge
that you can be on your own, since you are 17, but you should know that you
are welcome here…”

“Thank you Liam,”
Xavier says. “We’ll definitely talk about it. Without access to our trust funds
until we are 18, we may just have to take you up on that offer.”

Cian interjects, “Yeah,
we don’t need to talk about it. I already had the vision. I know it is going to
happen. So thank you, Liam. Without knowing of any other family, we would have
likely ended up in foster homes for the next year. We much prefer being here, together,
with all of you.”

Xavier looks at his
sister and brother and feels a deep sense of relief. The heaviness on his soul
that he has felt since his dad died has finally lifted. When Xavier heard
Brianna explain how her burns healed, he realized that the darkness he felt
hanging over him was a spell cast by Selene. Now that she is dead, he feels
more like himself again. Although he can’t shake how close he came to hurting
innocent people, he can revel in the fact that he has the rest of his life to
make up for it. He begins to think about the future — something he hasn’t
thought of since his mom and dad died.

Brianna thinks of her
dad’s voice guiding her in the house. The pain of his loss is as fresh as it
was a year ago. The abuse she suffered from her Aunt Selene has finally ended,
but the pain of what Selene did to her parents lingers. She looks at Kaiden
walking ahead of her and is glad that he will be there to help her work through
everything. As if reading her mind, he falls back and grabs her hand.

Cian will always miss
his parents, but somehow now that the woman who caused their death is dead, he
feels a sense of peace. He realizes had things been different he might not ever
have met Chloe, his soul mate. He could not imagine life without her and knows
that everything really does happen for a reason. He squeezes her hand. She
looks over at him, smiles sweetly and squeezes back.

Back at the house,
everyone collapses into chairs around the table. Though Marcus suggested waiting
to have the conversation until the following day, once everyone has had time to
let everything sink in, the kids all look at each other and know this
conversation has to happen now. Since Rowan’s abilities finally manifested,
they all look to her to begin. Rowan starts by explaining that ever since the
night Xavier saw the pentagram glowing in her eye, little things have been
happening, but it wasn’t until earlier when Selene came to the house that Rowan
knew for sure her abilities were manifesting.

“When Brianna showed up
with burns on her arms, I knew she wouldn’t be in any shape mentally to fight
Selene. I wished I could borrow Brianna’s ability to read minds, just for the
night, so I could use it against Selene. As quick as I had the thought, I
realized I was hearing Brianna thinking about the key and journal. So I asked
her about the journal, but I guess because she was in so much pain, she didn’t
even realize that she had never spoken about the key and journal out loud. I
just knew that my ability had manifested. I knew that I could channel and use
other witch’s abilities.”

Rowan isn’t sure how it
happened, since all she did was think about Brianna’s powers, and then she had
them. “I don’t know if everything was aligned just right, or if it was because
Brianna was weakened, but all I know is I thought about borrowing Brianna’s ability
and suddenly I was able to read minds.”

Chloe considers what
Rowan said and then tells her, “Even though Brianna didn’t notice that she
didn’t say anything out loud about the journal, I did. I didn’t know you took
Brianna’s abilities though; I just thought your ability was mind reading. It’s
pretty amazing that you can borrow abilities, Ro. We’ll totally work together
to figure out how you did it.” She grabs one of the grimoires and adds, “I
haven’t come across anything in any of the books about it yet, but we have so
many, I’m sure we’ll find something.”

Chloe explains that she
had a vision showing Rowan manipulating the weather, so she sent Rowan to
return the journals, and left a grimoire open to the page about controlling the
elements. She had hoped Rowan had gotten the message and understood what Chloe
was telling her. Then when the storm moved in so suddenly, Chloe knew that
Rowan believed that she could do it. “Although my vision wasn’t precise, I knew
that Rowan would be the one to defeat Selene, with a little help from Kaiden.”

Kaiden smiles and says, “It was pretty amazing
actually. When Selene lifted the amulet from her neck, it glowed red. Did
anyone else see that?” When everyone shakes
their
heads no, he adds, “I knew that it was a sign for me to burn it. I didn’t
hesitate or even wonder if it would work. Somehow I just knew that it would.”

Cian pops in and says,
“I’m glad you knew, because I never got a chance to talk to you about it. When
we were searching for proof that Aunt Selene was out of town I came across the
amulet in the pocket of her jacket. I picked it up and immediately had a vision
of her holding the amulet away from her neck. She was surrounded by fire. When
I learned your element was fire, I knew you would be the one to burn it. I knew
that was what the vision was telling me and I just had to make it glow at the
right moment. When Selene pulled it out, I focused my energy and bent the light
from the circle to make it glow.”

Kaiden nods, “Well, it
worked, Cian. If you would’ve told me beforehand, I don’t know if I would’ve
believed it. I still can’t believe no one else saw it though. What
I
want to know is how the hell you
physically pushed Selene, Xavier?”

Xavier shrugs his
shoulders, “I just focused my energy toward her and pushed,” he says leaving it
at that. Brianna looks at her brother closely, and then nods her head. Xavier
realizes she just read his mind and knows the whole truth, she knows how he
feels about Rowan.

“Hey, Rowan,” Kaiden asks, “What spell did you
cast at the end?”

Rowan looks at her
brother and cautiously says, “When I was returning the book Chloe left for me,
one of the grimoires fell open and I happened to read that when a witch dies,
if you cast a spell, you can harness her energy. Then, when I set the grimoire
down for Chloe out there, the page fluttered open to a spell to absorb a
witch’s powers. I knew what I was meant to do, so I simply chanted the spell
until I could feel Selene’s energy start pouring into me and I didn’t stop
until she was gone.”

What Rowan doesn’t tell
them is that at the end she saw what happened to Selene’s soul. The gate Selene
had opened slammed shut with Selene’s spirit caught on the other side. Rowan sifted
through Selene’s memories and saw that Selene offered her soul to open the
gate, never expecting that she would die and be stuck in hell for all of
eternity. No Summerland for her.

She shudders when she
thinks about it, and instead focuses on the power coursing through her veins.
She wonders if this is what her sister and brother have felt from the
beginning. She feels giddy with power and it reminds her of how she felt at
school when all of her friends flocked around her, multiplied by a hundred. The
power! Oh, the power! She can’t wait to see what she can do with all of this!

While she was looking
through Selene’s mind, she saw glimpses of the conversation between Selene and
Grandpa Marcus. She knows that Selene was the reincarnation of John Scott and saw
everything that led up to her wanting this land back. She realized that the
journals are going to help her understand so much more than she ever thought
possible, including what she can do with these powers. She has the strongest
desire to learn everything, right now.

“Well, thank you,
Xavier. Thank you, for protecting Rowan. Thanks to all of you, really, for
protecting all of us,” Marcus says amazed at everything he saw and experienced.

“I have to say, I’m impressed and proud of each one of you for working
together,” Liam adds, though he is also very concerned. Marcus makes eye
contact with Liam, who understands his meaning. They both stand up and head
into the family room to talk.

Once Marcus and Liam
are gone, Brianna looks to Rowan and whispers, “I’m sorry I read your thoughts,
but I want to read those journals, too. My dad left me a locked journal when he
died and now that I have the key, maybe together we can find answers to help us
understand everything.” Rowan nods, and they agree to learn more about their
families together.

Cian overhears and
says, “Brianna, I have a book from Mom. Mine needs a key to open it, too. Maybe
the key will work for both.”

“Maybe. I wonder if
yours is the second or third book. Dad showed me if I hold the book up to the
light, I could see writing etched on the spine. Mine says 1 of 3, which do you
have?” she asks Cian.

Xavier can’t help but
feel slighted when he hears the conversation and finds it curious that he has
never heard of the books before, nor was one left to him. Sensing his brother’s
discomfort Cian asks, “Xavier? Do you have a book?” When Xavier shakes his
head, Cian says, “Maybe Aunt Selene has it and was supposed to give it to you…”

“You’re probably right, Cian. It will likely
turn up when we are cleaning out Selene’s stuff from the rental house,” Brianna
says to Xavier reassuringly. Everyone chatters about what kind of magic they
can create now that they will all be together.

Marcus and Liam sit in
the living room in silence. There is so much to say, but they are exhausted,
both emotionally and physically. They just need a moment to let everything that
has happened in the last 24 hours sink in, but they know all they have is a
moment. They don’t need to say what
they’re thinking, which is that they’re both a little
afraid of what happened here today. Between the death of Peter earlier in the
day, and the spilling of Selene’s blood at the clearing, the land just became considerably
more powerful. The fact that Rowan, of all of them, absorbed Selene’s powers is
another cause for concern. It is way too much power for an almost 17-year-old
girl to have and they have no way of knowing just how much of Selene, Rowan
absorbed.

When the Silvans move
up to the property, the land will only become more powerful, making all of their
abilities stronger. The more witches who live and practice here, and the longer
they do it, the power of both the land and the witches will increase. The
thought makes Liam cringe. The silver lining is that it will get in their
blood, and home will always call them back no matter how far they roam. On the
flip side, they will not be able to contain the power of the land, making it even
more desirable to other witches. If Selene told anyone about the land, anyone
at all, there could be dire consequences.

Liam can’t help but question
if he can even protect all of them anymore and knows for sure he can’t do it
alone. For the first time in a long time, Liam wishes he had someone who could
help him navigate through all of this. He finds himself asking if he can
effectively serve as their protector anymore, when their power far exceeds his
own. He has to acknowledge that all of this may be more than he can handle.

For now, Liam and
Marcus can only sit back and observe everyone, and hope that they can fulfill
their duties to them as soul guardians. They will continue to do their best to guide
them to make the right choices, so they can stop the reincarnation cycle and
stay in the Summerland.

Look for the second book in The Witches of Spring Hill Series, coming early summer 2013.

When a sexy stranger and her grandmother move to Spring Hill, all is not as it seems. Will Amber break the bond between Chloe and Cian or will Rowan and Xavier discover the truth about these strangers before it’s too late.

Patricia Proctor lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and cats. She has a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science and has had a love of books and reading her whole life.
After the Summerland
is her first book and she is busy writing the second book in the series.
Visit author website:
www.patriciaproctorbooks.com

To my husband, Brad. This book is dedicated to you because you believed in me and made it possible for me to write, write, write. Thank you for patiently listening to me talk about the story, the characters, and my dreams — nonstop.