Crest (Book #2,Swift Series) (9 page)

Overall, the flight wasn’t as bad as I had expected. The in-flight movie helped pass the time and keep my mind off what I would have to do when I landed. As I fought my way through the crowd towards the baggage claim in the Heathrow Airport, I took a deep breath in and blew it out, hoping to ease the anxiety that was lingering in me. This was, by far, the craziest thing I had ever done and I had to admit that my nerves were on edge… actually that wouldn’t even come close to describing how I was feeling right now. My stomach was such a mess on the last few hours of the flight that I could hardly eat the food the flight attendant placed in front of me.

From what I had found on the internet before I left my house, the address Ms. Donaldson had given me was only a short cab ride from the airport. My nerves were high as I looked out the window of the cab and saw the vision of the large, unfamiliar city of London flash before me. If I had said that it was overwhelming, that would’ve been the understatement of the year. The expansive city was a far cry from the small town of Marblehead. My heart hammered against my chest and I wondered, now more than ever, if I had made the right choice in coming here.

After the shortest twenty minutes of my life, the cab pulled up to a two story, Tudor-style home. The white stone house was covered with ivy that grew all the way up to the grey, slate roof. I sat there staring at it, motionless—not able to take my eyes off of it. The doubt in my decision of coming here was at its peak. Was this the right choice? Or should I have found another way to contact the council? Or maybe I should’ve just stayed in Marblehead and waited for the Harpers to come for me?

“Miss, we’re here. This is the address you gave me.” The cab driver’s voice was impatient as he craned his neck to look at me.

“Oh, sorry.” I pulled out my credit card and handed it over to him.

“Enjoy your time in London,” he said robotically as he handed me my receipt.

“Thanks.” I got out of the cab and pulled my suitcase out after me.

He drove off and I stood there in the middle of the street, feeling like a complete fool. I was too scared to turn around and face the house, let alone walk towards it. Come on, Meredith. You can do this. This should be simple compared to what you’ve gone through over the last few weeks. This doesn’t even come close to crossing time, fighting off dark magic, or being separated from the ones you love. This should be a piece of cake. Somehow, without even knowing it, my courage took over my frantic mind and I found myself standing at the door, knocking.

A few moments passed with no answer.
It wouldn’t be the most disappointing thing in the world if she didn’t answer
, I thought to myself. It would give me a reason to not have to face her, without me chickening out. I glanced around and noticed the manicured flower bed to my right and a small gnome statue on my left. It was still hard to believe that this was my mother’s house growing up. Just knowing that made me feel a little more at ease because, without even trying, I could sense the energy from within the house. It was a powerful feeling, one that I had never felt before.

Then I heard a muffled noise from behind the door and before I knew it, it was opened. The lady that stood before me looked nothing like my mother. Her hair was more of a strawberry blonde, nothing like mine and my mother’s dark brown and her deep blue eyes were a huge contrast to our green ones. I wondered for a moment if I had the right house.

“Hello, Meredith. I’ve been expecting you.”

I guess I did.

It was strange. I couldn’t move or speak. Maybe it was shock. Maybe it was fear. Whatever it was, my mind went completely blank.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” the woman said. “You’ve been traveling for a while now. You must be exhausted. Why don’t you come in?” She pulled the door open a little farther, gesturing me inside.

“Thank you,” I somehow mumbled. Shouldn’t have I been saying something like, ‘
how did you know I was coming’?
Or,
‘it’s nice to meet you; you must be my mom’s sister, Jackie.’
Yet, nothing else came out of my mouth as I made my way across the living room, set my things down on the floor and took a seat on the couch.

“Don’t look so alarmed. Patricia called and told me you were coming.”

I looked over to her. My confused expression must have said it all.

“Patricia Donaldson from Marblehead?” she continued. For a moment, she looked to be as confused as I was as she walked over and took a seat in the chair across from me.

 “Oh, umm... Ms. Donaldson. Sorry, I didn’t know her first name.” That thought made me sad. The woman had helped me in so many ways and I didn’t even know her first name. “Sorry. It’s just—I didn’t know what I was going to say to you when I first saw you, and then, when you opened the door and said you were expecting me, it totally threw me off.”

She smiled gently. “Well, I guess Patricia thought about it and didn’t want me to be surprised when you showed up on the doorstep. I guess she thought I would slam the door in your face or something.” She rolled her eyes. “She never liked me much; that woman. Your mother was always her favorite.”

I swallowed hard at the mention of my mother, not knowing quite how to respond.

“I’m Jackie, by the way. It’s nice to finally meet you, Meredith. I have always wondered if the day would come when we would meet.”

It was the first time my ears actually noticed her strong British accent. My mind must have been too distracted before now. “It’s nice to meet you, too.” I fidgeted in the seat, crossing my legs to the right and then back over to the left.

“Can I get you something to eat or drink? You must be starving or tired from the trip. Or we can talk; whatever you’d like?”

“Um, something to drink would be great.”
Anything to help quench the dryness in my throat
, I thought to myself.

She nodded and then led me into the next room where she asked me to take a seat at the dining room table while she prepared some tea.

As she left, my eyes wandered around the room, seeing a few pictures on the hutch behind me, but not knowing anyone that was in them. I’d noticed that most of her furniture was old, as if it had been passed down for generations. Then I wondered... had my mother once sat at this table, on that couch in the living room, or in that old rocking chair in the corner?

It was just a few minutes later when Jackie came back with a pot of tea and some cheese and crackers. “So, Patricia wouldn’t give me the details on why you made the trip,” she admitted, setting down a cup of tea in front of me. “She said that you should be the one to explain it all.”

Oh great, I hadn’t thought about that part. My mind had been too preoccupied on our introduction. “Well, I have a situation and I’m hoping... Well, Ms. Donaldson thought you may be able to help me, or maybe know of a way to help me,” I mumbled and then took a sip of tea.

“Really? I’m intrigued.” She sat back farther in her chair, looking perplexed. “I’m shocked that Patricia would recommend you coming to me for anything.”

“She’s just trying to help me and thought you were the person I should ask.”

“Well, let’s not drag this out any longer than we have to. Tell me, what is it that you need?”

I took in a deep breath, hoping I had enough courage to get the next few words out. “I need to contact the council.”

She began to laugh, a little at first and then, before I knew it, she was in hysterics. “I’m sorry, give me just a minute.” She spoke through her laughter.

This was not the reaction I was expecting or hoping for. Being curious or maybe even an outright refusal, sure, I had been prepared for those, but this was not even close to the outcome I had imagined.

After a long minute, she had composed herself enough to speak coherently. “Okay, I’m sorry. Really, I am. It’s just, that was such a bold statement and you said it with such confidence.
We
don’t contact the council. The council contacts
us
, if they need us. I’m not saying that it can’t be done, it’s just that I’ve never done it and I’m not sure I could, even if I tried.”

I sat there, not knowing what to say. Deep down, I feared that this would ultimately be the response I would get, but I also had hope that my deepest fear would be wrong.

“Would you like to tell me why you need to contact the council? If I was able to find a way to help you, I would want to know the reasoning behind it.” She looked at me expectantly, awaiting my response. It was a question that I knew would eventually come, and understandably so, but I still wasn’t sure what to say.

I exhaled loudly, not even realizing I’d been holding my breath. “Well, my reasons are private for now and I’ll understand if you can’t help me because of that.” There were just too many things that I would have to explain if I told her my reason for wanting to contact the council, and I was still not sure how much I could trust the stranger in front of me, aunt or not.

Jackie cleared her throat and sipped her tea, looking me up and down, almost as if she were examining me. “I can sense the power in you—a great power, I might add—but it also feels young and not fully developed. This tells me you have chosen your destiny. Now, let me ask you, are you ready to own it forever, or give it up after a few years, like your mother?”

That felt like a slap in the face and if I was being honest, I wanted to slap her across her face. She was speaking about my mother in a negative way and I didn’t appreciate it. My mother had her own reasons for giving up her powers and wanting a life outside of magic. It was her choice and I felt like she shouldn’t be judged for it, especially since she wasn’t here to defend herself. In fact, after seeing what magic was capable of, I completely understood my mother’s choices. Magic brought a lot of great things, but it also brought a lot of danger and evil, as well. I sat there for a moment, contemplating on how to respond, but before I could think of what to say, Jackie spoke up.

“I’m sorry to be so harsh. You’ll have to excuse me. Sometimes I say things I shouldn’t. The last thing I want to do is get off on the wrong foot with you. Your mother and I never saw eye to eye on things, but those things went far beyond magic. We tried to get along over the years, but eventually, we just agreed to disagree, realizing that we would never be close and loving sisters. After she left, I just couldn’t have a relationship with someone who was willing to give up on their destiny. However, it would give me no greater pleasure than to have a relationship with you.”

I had only spent a small amount of time with this woman, but it was clear that Jackie was very blunt and had a much more aggressive personality than me. She said what she wanted, when she wanted, and didn’t hold anything back. A part of me wasn’t sure we would get along and the other part of me wasn’t sure if I even wanted to. Despite that, as selfish as it sounded, right now, I didn’t have any other choice except going along with it, for now.

“I would like that as well,” I said, smiling timidly.

“Great.” She returned my smile. “Well, I don’t think I’ll be of much help in contacting the council, but I may know of someone who can help us. He is known as sort of a rebel to clean magic around these parts, but doesn’t go as far as practicing dark magic. He really just likes to experiment a little here and there. He’s very powerful and is always on the hunt for a challenge. Right now, he’s traveling and won’t be back until next week. In the meantime, I would love for you to stay here with me and for us to get to know each other a little better. Does that sound good to you?”

“Really? You’ll help me?” I was a little surprised that she had offered to help me so easily, especially after I refused to tell her my reasons for wanting to contact the council.

“Of course, and what can I say? I’m always up for a challenge, too.” She paused and looked at me directly. “Because I can tell you that contacting the council will be a challenge and may I suggest that we keep this just between the two of us for now. Like I said before, contacting the council is rare and I don’t know how people would react if they knew what we were trying to do.”

I shrugged. “That should be easy, seeing as I don’t know another soul in this country.”

She smiled. “That brings me to my next point. I think while we’re waiting for my friend to return, you should keep working on developing your powers. Since you’ve had your powers summoned, you must have a teacher assigned to you, am I right?”

My heart squeezed at the word teacher, seeing the image of Abby’s face pop into my head caused my breath to catch. Things had been moving so fast, I hadn’t had much time to think about the Harpers, even though my only reason for being here was to find a way back to them.

Jackie was waiting for my response and I knew that I needed to think of an explanation quick. “Yes, I had a teacher.” I paused, struggling for the words. “But... she... um, she can’t teach me right now. Something came up and she had to take a break.”
Great, like that sounded believable.

She had a curious expression on her face, but didn’t ask any more questions, which I was thankful for.