Precious Anathema (7 page)

“
So you are a
musician
too
?
Tell me Delilah, is there
anything
you can’t do or does being
perfect
just come naturally because
I don’t have
any
plans of becoming second fiddle to some
frizzy
haired,
tomboy
!” I stood up to confront her;
this was my chance to show this bitch she couldn’t mess with me
anymore. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment to
gain some composure, but as I opened them I saw she had turned and
walked away as silent as she had walked in. I picked up my coffee
and took one last look at the piano to say goodbye.

“
I will be back.” I smiled
and walked into another long hallway. Peeking into doorways I found
two different libraries, one was full of every book known to man on
Herbs, and the other had an impeccable collection of natural
healing remedies and medicines, libraries devoted to specific
interests? I now had a goal to find the one for music, as I walked
farther I found a smaller kitchen and a large study before coming
out into the main sitting room. I hadn’t remembered seeing a
hallway in this room last night, it seemed very strange. I walked
to the couch and something cold on my back made me turn around.
When I did I lost my breath, no hall, no study, no library, just
the wall. I jumped back and ran out of the room as fast as I could,
accidentally taking out Carna as I slid into the parlor.

“
Ella, honey what is wrong
with you. You look like you just saw a ghost or something.” I stood
up and helped Carna on her feet.

“
Carna, I just found a hall
with a beautiful music room and libraries and, I just came out in
the sitting room, only once I was in the sitting room the hall
seemed to, I mean it kind of, I just I don’t know.” Carna laughed
and put an arm around me.

“
Ella honey that is mild
compared to some of the things this house can do, I wish we had
talked to you about this last night so it wouldn’t have scared you
so bad, come on Freya wants all of us to have a meeting in the
dining room.” We walked arm in arm and I was still shaking and
trying to look behind me as we made our way into the room. Everyone
was sitting around the table, including Selene, which reminded me I
still needed to have words with her, but later. Right now I needed
to find out what the hell just happened.

FOUR

Five people talking at once, each one
trying to talk over one another and none of it seemed to want to
sink in. Filling me in from magic, to curses and torture, how we
each have special gifts from generations of magic, and hauntings. I
felt like I was in some crazy teen paranormal movie, I just sat
with my jaw open until I finally couldn’t handle all of them
talking over one another and snapped.

“
Stop it! All you are doing
is making me want to take the first bus back to Nebraska,
today
! Someone needs to
tell me what all of this is and only
one
person
please
.” Freya put her hand up to
hush everyone and leaned over the table to get a closer look at me
as she smiled.

“
Ella my dear, why don’t
you start by asking me some questions and I will answer them, after
that I will fill in the rest.” I took a deep breath and asked the
first question that came to mind.

“
Why in the hell did an
entire hallway disappear after I walked through it this morning?”
Freya smiled again and a chill ran down my spine.

“
Ella, when I was a young
girl I came to live here with my mother and older sister. We didn’t
stay very long after that same thing happened to my mother. My
sister and I had seen it every day that we were here but my mother
wouldn’t listen to us.” Freya began to fidget with a napkin,
looking at the table as she paused, I saw that neither of my Aunts
would look up from the table either giving me concern that I was
hearing a story of fiction as she began to speak again. “The day
she got lost in the south end was the last night we stayed here,
and not just because she got lost. To my mother it meant that all
the stories about the estate and the grounds from the curse were
true, and if that were the case she felt we were not safe from what
haunts the walls.” Freya picked her face up and looked at my Aunts
before continuing. “I can tell you that this house is just as
cursed as all of us are, the grounds, the flower beds and even the
trees can play tricks on you, tricks that no witchcraft can seem to
fight. That’s part of our punishment, our curse but we will teach
you and soon it will seem as normal to you as a tricky toilet.”
Eris laughed and Selene rolled her eyes obviously not impressed. I
just stared at my grandmother, was she serious? She read my mind it
seemed, without missing a beat she lowered her head to look me in
the eye.

“
I am dead serious young
lady, and you are going to have to learn very quickly if you intend
to accept your fate here in the Grace family.” Selene laughed and
Freya shot her a dirty look making her jump in her chair, which led
me to my next question.

“
Freya, do I have special
gifts? And what are all of yours?” I was looking at everyone around
the table for answers to this one. Freya smiled at me again, but it
wasn’t a comforting one.

“
Ella, we have no idea what
your gifts are honey, but we know that unlike any of us you are
potentially the most powerful Grace in over a hundred years, we
just need to tap into that side of you and find out for sure and
then understand what that means.” Just like I had said she was no
comfort to me at all. “Eris has a few gifts; she can make people,
forget things or put ideas in their heads that make them think they
were doing something else which have come in handy a few times over
the years, but it has a time limit. She has only five minutes after
the event to make it work, you see Ella; we all have gifts and all
of them come with limitations. She can also talk to animals and is
pretty handy in the kitchen.” Eris giggled and Freya pointed to
Selene. “Selene here has a few gifts of her own, She can actually
reverse time itself ten minutes if Eris misses her window or isn’t
around. She can mimic the behavior, mannerisms and even the voice
of those around her; she is also famous for altering her appearance
at will to get her way.” Selene shook her head as she looked at the
table, I decided not to ask and looked back at Freya. “I think your
aunts can tell you what is special about them, and maybe you can
figure out how certain gifts can be passed down.” I took a sip of
my coffee as Carna waved her arm at Kali to start.

“
Ella, I can see an hour
into the future, but only if it is something that affects my
personal life. I once saw Selene get hit on the playground at
school during Jr. High and raced over in time to pull her away. The
reason I could get to her before it happened is because I can
project myself into the situation as well. It has its limits as
well and I haven’t mastered it yet, but that’s me Hun.” I smiled
and looked at Carna; I already knew one of her gifts.

“
Ella, as you know I can
read minds as we talked about before but I can also heal illness or
injury and I am at times a walking crystal ball when the need
arises, that’s how we knew where to find you.” Carna put her head
down, almost showing shame as she continued talking. “I saw your
mother when she got really sick but as much as we tried to heal her
she just kept blocking us out.” I dropped my cup and hundreds of
pieces of ceramic flew across the dining room floor under my feet,
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. They knew mom was sick, they tried
to help her, maybe save her life and she wouldn’t let them? My
mother could be here with me today and she chose to die in spite of
their help? Carna gasped at the sound of her own confession, Freya
stood up ushering everyone away. No one spoke as they left the room
and Freya sat next to me as tears of anger and selfishness ran down
my face. I looked up at my Grandmother and tried to speak but my
tears turned into sobs as she put her arms around me, just holding
me and rocking with a special hum like my mom used to do, guess I
knew where she learned that move from now. After some time went by,
not really sure if it was ten minutes or two hours before I really
stopped crying I looked up at Freya and wiped the snot from my
face. She was smiling at me, and I tried to give her one back but
it came out more like a forced burp, she laughed and handed me
another napkin.

“
Delilah, I think I just
discovered one of your gifts.” I wiped my face and sat up straight
filled with curiosity and terror. “The moment you began to cry it
started to rain outside.” I looked out the window, I saw the dark
clouds parting and the patio doors were streaked where rain had
been hitting them. I looked back at Freya more confused than ever,
she smiled and brushed my hair from my face. “It has been raining
since you started crying and only stopped just now when you picked
up your head and tried to smile at me honey.” I felt like I
couldn’t breathe, everything around me began to close in and then
Freya took my hand in hers. “I think you can control the elements
around you which is a huge gift, now we just need to find out what
besides crying can make it happen and what your limits are.” I
looked at the rainbow that had started to form outside the window
and looked back at Freya in disbelief. That could have just been a
coincidence I thought, at that very moment I watched her shake her
head at me.

“
Not a coincidence dear
trust me.” I had just found out one of her gifts too, and made a
mental note to watch what I think around her, all of this was so
hard to take in and it wasn’t even lunch time yet. She took my hand
and stood up at the table. “Come with me Dear, I think I need to
tell you a few things.” I stood up and we made our way out to the
garden behind the dining room, the sun was shining down on us and I
smiled as the rays hit my face and filled me with feelings of
warmth and hope. We sat down in front of a small bridge over a
stream in the wet grass and Freya took a deep breath as she held my
hand tighter.

“
I want you to know why
your mother left and why she wanted nothing to do with us, not the
whole story just yet honey, but if you want to hear some of
it
I would love to tell you about her.” Of course I wanted to know,
this was all so scary and strange to me but I knew in my heart that
if I knew the truth it would help one way or another. As I smiled
and squeezed her hand something caught my eye, a gorgeous young
caretaker had come into the garden and as our eyes met I was
suddenly feeling the heat of the sun with such intensity I fanned
my face and Freya began laughing. “No doubt now honey, you can
certainly bend the elements, and apparently it has everything to do
with your mood and your heart.” She winked at me and I put my head
down, feeling a little embarrassed and a bit like a badass at the
same time. I watched as Freya’s arm waved at Xander and then he
quickly walked away from us. She was more powerful than I could
begin to imagine. The wave of her hand sent people away, put people
in pain, and even shut some up. I had a lot to learn if I planned
to survive this summer with her I could clearly see.

“
Delilah, what I need to
tell you is very important. More important than any bonding you and
I could do right now, because after you hear what I am going to
tell you I think you may want to leave, and I don’t want to make it
harder on either of us, do you understand what I mean?” I nodded
and felt a knot in my gut tighten.

“
I understand Freya, but I
want to know.” She squeezed my hand again and looked up at the sky
before taking a breath and telling me the story of the
curse.

*

“
It all started a little
different than your mother may have told you. My Great Grandmother
times three, Cordelia, was a hard woman, a natural born witch with
great powers that lived here on the grounds with her sister Cora
who was also a witch and her best friend, but sadly no one, not
even Cora could bring her the happiness she desired. Her dreams of
having a husband and a family of her own became an obsession, one
that she tried to manipulate with magic. She met a man from out of
town and things were great for a while, until she found out she was
pregnant, he left her and went back to live with his wife which
threw her over the edge. When my Great Grandmother times two, Emma
was born in the early 1870’s she learned very young to stay out of
her mother’s way and not ask a lot of questions, She had Cora to
help raise her, and nurture her until she was about fifteen and
discovered that she was also a natural witch. Her mother was
furious, hated everything about her, blaming Emma for her love
leaving her and did not encourage her to learn of her gifts. One
night when Emma was seventeen they had a huge fight over a boy she
was seen with and in a rage she threw her hands in the air
screaming for Cordelia to just trust her and love her, only when
she opened her eyes she saw that her mother lay dead on the floor.
There was no sign of a struggle and it was easy for her to say it
was natural, but Emma never forgave herself and lived with the
guilt of first ruining her mother’s life and then ending it. She
learned everything she could from her mother’s books and journals
and by nineteen with Cora’s help she had mastered her craft, her
gifts and her love life, or so she thought. She met Jim while at a
farmers market buying chickens and they hit it off. They were so in
love and she finally knew what real happiness was, until a woman
came to town looking for Jim and with her was a child, Jim’s child.
The people in town told her where she could find him, what they
failed to mention was that he was engaged and his fiancé was
pregnant. She showed up at the door and Emma answered with a smile.
Within five minutes both women were furious at Jim for deceiving
them. Emma was heartbroken that he could walk out on his wife and
child like he did, and then realized he would have done the same to
her. She kicked him out and suffered a deep depression, closing
everyone including Cora out of her life. She knew that after what
happened to her mother and now being pregnant and hurt herself she
never wanted to do to her child what her mother had done to her, so
she created a spell. A spell so powerful that it would stay strong
for years to come, to make sure that no man would ever come between
her and the love for her child, to make sure that her child would
never have to suffer the way she did.” Freya stopped talking and
looked me in the eye to make sure I was listening. “This is the
most important part honey, half the spell was a love spell and a
third was for banishing and some more for binding, and those are
the major ingredients we know of, what happened was that in her
pregnant condition and deep sadness, casting this spell was with
the worst of feelings but the best of intentions and the universe
screamed
no
in a
big way that night. She cast the spell and fell asleep; when she
woke in the morning she had gone from a beautiful fair skinned
redhead to a black haired, blue eyed, cursed goddess. Every Grace
woman that has been born since has looked the same and suffered the
same curse; the Prophecies say that
a
child would be born to look like no mother before her since the
beginning.
When your mother got pregnant
she had a dream of a beautiful red haired little girl running
through the house and she got scared, she told me and I was so
happy that we could finally be rid of this evil, but she wouldn’t
hear of it. Said that her daughter would never know the hurt and
pain of being a Grace the way she did, and no matter what I said
she wouldn’t listen to me. She let me see you once after you were
born and then took you away.” I squeezed Freya’s hand once more and
smiled.