Clan of Redemption (38 page)

“Sydney, oh Sydney….I am
so sorry that this has happened,” My Mom said as she knelt on the
other side of her.

"Grace, I was hoping I
would see you in the afterlife. I must be dying.” She reached up
with her hand and touched my Mom’s face.

“It’s me and you’re not
dead yet. I was taken by the goddess Artemis, she rescued me before
the assassins could finish the job. I wanted to tell you, but I
couldn’t. I’ve missed you so.” My mom cried softly has she held the
woman that had raised her, that she has called mom her in heart,
while she died.

“I’m just glad that you
are truly alive. I have dreamt of you many times and when I awoke I
so believed them to be true.” Sydney didn’t have much time
left.

“Oh Sydney they were real,
I had to see you. I missed you terribly and it was the only way I
could talk to you.” My mom held Sydney’s hand to her
face.

“Jayden needs you and I
need you to take my place. Our clan has to have a medicine woman; I
knew there was a reason for my teaching you. The goddess has truly
blessed us.” Sydney smiled for the last time. My mother lay down
with her as I rose to meet my Great Aunt.

Out of the corner of my
eye, I spotted Logan and Blake stunned but no worse off than I was
feeling. The council and my Great Aunt hadn’t noticed our return
yet, which gave me the opportunity to take a very deep
breath.

“You can do this, you can
do this.” I started chanting to myself.

My mother grabbed my hand.
“Jayden, let’s do this together. I have been sheltered for many
years and I wouldn’t want my first moments with you to be with
death around. She killed my Mother and we will take her down
together.”

“Ok” Was all I could say,
because I still couldn’t figure out how I was going to kill this
woman.

Xavier was one of the
first council members to notice our arrival. He looked shocked but
seemed to recover quickly.

“Grace and Jayden, it
seems the goddess has had a hand in our future. Please come up and
let’s discuss this,” Xavier said.

Gasps and a sudden
irruption of discussions began to take over the room. I guess I’m
not the only one still in shock. It was happing to me and I
couldn’t believe it.

We walked together up to
the long table the council was hovering around, and my Aunt was
pushing her way through to get to us.

“It can’t be you, you died
years ago. What kind of trick is this?” My Aunt was shaking her
fist, like a child.

“Oh Aunt Catherine, the
only trick that anyone has played is the one you did on our family
years ago. You took my Mother from me, you took that away from me
and you took that away from my daughter. I am only alive because
the goddess saved me, but she couldn’t continue to save me from
your attacks so I was forced to live with her until now. I’ve
missed my daughter growing up, crying for me in the night. I use to
wonder how it was that you didn’t have the heart, the compassion to
care of others, until one day I just decided that you were born
without one,” my Mom said with fierceness in her voice.

“Daughter, if that truly
is you; I have no idea what you are talking about. I am Catherine,
not my dead sister.”

“How about how you killed
my Mother right after she gave birth and took me as your own child
and lied to my Father and our people, making them believe you were
the clan leader.”

“Even if that were true,
you couldn’t prove a thing. I am the rightful clan Chief and I will
not have your weak daughter take what is mine. These are my people
and you are no longer part of this clan. You chose to walk away
from us.” I could see my Aunt trying to think of a way to kill my
Mother before anyone could react.

“I can be the proof, I
have a journal, and in those journals are pictures of you both and
one of those pictures you and your sister Catherine were in your
bathing suites. If you can lift up your dress and show the council
the birth mark on your right thigh then you truly are Catherine.” I
had goose bumps running up and down my body, I had no idea how I
had put those bits of information together, but I was now hoping I
was right.

I saw my Grandmother
frantically searching out Stewart.

My grandfather stepped up
from around Xavier. “Darling, Jayden is right. I would love to tell
them myself that what she says is lies but you haven’t let me into
our shared bed since Grace was born so it looks like you will have
to show everyone in order to prove you are truly Catherine.” My
grandfather turned and winked at me.

“I will not lift up my
skirt for anyone. I am Catherine McCormick and you will do well to
remember that.” She seemed to stomp her foot again. I was realizing
she was more of a child then a grandmother.

The hall doors blew open
and a small group of people walked into the room. I only recognized
one person, and as soon as I recognized her, my shoulders realized
the tension it was holding.

Sully!” I ran to her and
hugged her until I almost knocked her off her feet.

“Ok, ok, that’s enough. I
tried to tell you I was ok,” she said as she pushed me off
her.

A man stepped forward and
held out his hand.

“You must be Jayden
McCormick. My name is Clint, I’ve wanted to meet you from the
moment I found out you existed, but I was told to wait and I’m glad
that I did. So you’ve decided to take on your role as Chieftain
which makes our group very happy.” Clint stood a wee bit taller
than I did which put him at about 5’ 11” wide shoulders, dark brown
almost black hair speckled with gray. He didn’t seem old but he
carried himself like my Grandfather, very proud.

"Are you the ones that
kidnapped Sully?” I said as I started to get angry
again.

“Yes we did, but we never
meant her or anyone any harm. I needed to find out what your
intentions were with our clan so that I could step up if you
weren’t going to do it. We have suffered to long in the hands of
your family and we refuse to continue this way.” He sounded like he
might be threatening me, but I can only imagine living under this
woman would be like.

“Clint, you have been
outcast from our clan for many years, what right do you have at
this meeting?” my Aunt said as she tried to make herself stand even
taller.

“I beg your pardon
Catherine, but Clint is a part of our clan, only you threw him out
not the council,” Xavier moved to get in front of Aunt
Catherine.

“I am your Chief; you
can’t do this to me. My family has been head of Clan McCormick for
hundreds of years, who are you to take that away.”

“I am! I need you to show
me this birth mark and if you don’t that will be proof enough for
me.” I moved in front of all that stood before my Aunt.

“I refuse to lift up my
skirt you snotty little brat. I should have killed you too,” Aunt
Catherine shouted.

“The goddess took me from
your presence, she gave me back my Mother, and she told me that I
have to kill you. In our laws, somewhere, you have commit crimes
against your clan and your family. You...You…you have to be
killed,” I blew out the last part not too sure if I could actually
follow through with it.

“You little girl, couldn’t
hurt me, you are weak.” As my Great Aunt had finished her sentence,
I saw her pull another dagger out of her gown. Where is she getting
all these knifes, I liked to see under that dress?

I was blocking all my
loved ones; I knew that I couldn’t stop the dagger once she pulled
it. At least my mother is alive; my Dad is going to be so
happy.

Something sharp glazed my
check and burned as it whizzed by. I raised my hand to my face as I
saw the arrow glide through my Aunt’s chest. I was so close to her
that I swore I heard the tissue separate and her heart blow like a
popped tire.

I turned around and saw
Sully holding a bow and she winked at me like the chest shire
cat.

“There was a reason I was
skipping our swim meets. I just couldn’t tell you,” she said as she
gave me a shrug.

“What you were secretly
learning secret spy stuff?” I rolled my eyes at Sully. Leave it to
her to sneak behind my back and learn how to use a crossbow. “How
to train to be a killer?” I said under my breath. Sully scared me a
little how she could detach her feelings so easily.

After thirty seconds or
so, the room went completely silent. Everyone seemed to be in a
complete shock faze. By looking around, I wasn’t sure if there was
going to be an uprising and should I start scouting towards the
exit. My Mom must not have felt my apprehension because she reached
for me and hugged me as tight as she could.

“It’s ok Jayden, no one is
upset that she is dead, and for those that are well they will just
have to deal with it. She has rained terror on our clan for so long
that it will take everyone awhile to get comfortable what freedom
feels like,” she said as she kissed my forehead.

How I had longed for her
touch and comfort, I still couldn’t believe that it’s
happening.

I couldn’t take my eyes
off her, she was always so angelic to me, and her skin like the
color of cream, her eyes sparkled with tears on the verge of
spilling. I know I should be worried about my friends but my heart
had finally not hurt so much just to look upon her face. So many
nights I had lay in bed wishing that she were still alive to take
care of me when I was sick, had bad dreams, or just to sit and
watch me swim. She had missed so much.

I had missed so
much.

And then another thought
hit me.

OH...shit!

“Mom! We have to call Dad.
He needs to know right away,” I said while getting so excited and
nervous. How would he react? His whole life was getting ready to
implode. "He's going to be pissed!" I yelled.

NOT the End!

Thank you for reading my
book! This one sat on a thumb drive for almost nine years, then
when life gave me an opportunity I finally finished it. It's my
first book (but not my last) and it's not as polished as it could
be but I really liked where the characters take me. It's not the
end of Jayden's story and I know I left a ton of things unanswered,
but the next book will start right where it left off and answer all
the questions that are up in the air. I'm currently working on an
adult series with werewolves, magic, and other intriguing
creatures.

Reviews help so if you
could take a few minutes of your time to write one that would be so
appreciated.

Until then, keep on
keeping on.