Memories of what I had done wouldn't leave me alone, despite how long ago it had happened. Three weeks had passed, yet I could still see the intruder's blood soaking my hands. I could smell it, taste it, it's potency making my mind reel like a spiraling grudgby ball. The words made me feel as though I was slowly dying but I kept saying it over and over in my head. I killed him. I killed him. I killed him. You could say I had no choice, that he was going to kill me had I not killed him first. The guards that arrested me thought so. The golden guard, the witch that threatened to hang me for said crime even thought so. Literally no one blamed me but me. But unlike everyone else I was there.
I could have stopped. I could've stopped slamming his head into the table after knocking him out, or as soon as I noticed the blood, but I didn't. I chose to keep going until he was dead. There was no "have to", not to me. I may have been a murderer like my mother, but I would never make excuses for myself. There was no justifying what I'd done. I did something horrible no matter the reason, and now my subconscious was punishing me for it. It wouldn't let me forget.
"What's with that face, sweetheart?". A growl rose in my throat. Not so long ago the witch tried to poison me and now she was calling me "sweetheart". "You're not thinking about that criminal you disposed of, are you?",
"Disposed of"?!" I echoed. "I murdered him, mom! He's dead, forever!".
"Don't be so dramatic". My mother rolled her shining blue eyes. "He was a threat to both you and the family and you stopped him. It's only natural".
"Murder isn't natural!".
"Not for ordinary witches, but for witches of our status killing is necessary".
"And how did killing Edric help the family?". I was just begging for mom to get angry. Usually, she'd scramble in her excuses while refusing to admit she'd made a mistake or shout at me to get over it, but I didn't get either. Instead, mom sank, her confidence melting like eye-scream.
"Emira". For once, her voice was soft in earnest. "You can believe what you want, but if I truly didn't care for your brother, I would've made you kill him". There was an odd feeling of malice behind those words, though who it was pointed at was unknown. All I knew was that scenario was not off the top of her head. She had seen it before.
"How you killed him doesn't make a difference! The fact you even considered killing your child means there's something wrong with you!" I growled incredulously.
"I used to think the same, but fate had another idea". Yet another really odd response. My anger faltered for a moment as my curiosity broke through.
"What are you getting at, mom?" I pressed. She refused to answer. Instead, her ear flicked and she closed her eyes. When she opened back up they landed on me, urgency making them even brighter than they already were.
"The amulet's been broken".
"It's broken?!".
"You let her live with a cursed witch. This was bound to happen sooner or later".
As quickly as I could, I sent my mother back into the ring and burst into the hallway. Despite the part of me that pulled me towards his work room, I rushed right past the basement door. There was no time to tell dad where I was going. I just had to pray to the titan he wouldn't worry too much, though he had a reason to. Depending on how badly the amulet was broken, Amity's form could've been completely shattered. Then she'd be just like Edric, just a breeze forced to haunt the isles forever!
"No!" I silently spat at myself. "You're overreacting! She'll be fine!".
…
"Ah, Emira. I knew you and your sister would be by sooner or later". He meant no harm with his welcome, but Gannet's cheery attitude made me sick to my stomach. I envied him. I wish I could be that calm in this situation.
"Then you know why we're here?".
"Of course. Let me see the amulet".
I crept closer to the table Gannet was sitting at, and delicately dug into my pocket. I gently laid the crumbling gem onto the smooth silk table cloth, the many small pieces resting in a giant crater in the middle of it. Gannet's multicolored eyes locked onto it as he examined every bit and piece of the amulet. I waited with bated breath, each second chipping at my patient like a pic against stone. There had to have been something he could do. The damage was bad, very bad, but that didn't mean it couldn't be fixed. If Gannet couldn't do anything, I'd find someone else. I'd search the entire island. I would find the best crystal ball maker money could buy.
"I can fix it, with time that is".
"Thank titan" I sighed in relief. "How long do you think it will take you?".
"The entire night at least" he hmmed. "And there will still be a lot of cracks and a piece missing".
And just like that, my worry was back. You mean my poor sister had to be stuck in literal pieces for an entire night? But she was in so much pain. She could barely move or speak. Gannet noticed my worry. The white furred witch touched his fingers to the little part of the stone that wasn't cracked and uttered the command. "Amity, rise". .
A familiar flash of fire turned the room purple before it flickered away. As soon as she was summoned, Amity nearly hit the floor. I rushed over to my little sister and offered her myself to lean on. Her posture was almost nonexistent while she propped her body up against mine. There were so many holes in her form and her glowing golden eyes had deeply sunken. They caught my gaze and stared back with the same amount of trepidation. I had to calm myself. If not for my sake, then for Mittens.
"Gannet says he can fix the amulet, but it'll take a lot of time" I told her while leading her to the table. I pulled out the nearest chair for her which she collapsed onto. "I'll stay with you as long as you want me too".
"I'm afraid you won't, miss Blight" Gannet said while summoning a light spell. He stared down at the amulet as he spoke. "You need to go to the ribs".
"Why? What's at the ribs".
"Your old summer home" he answered quite nonchalantly. "Well not yours specifically, but the Mcalesters".
Mcalester was my mother's maiden name, and the Mcalesters were a side of my family I barely knew anything about. Mom never talked about her parents, nor mentioned any siblings. She would always get angry whenever anyone asked about them and insisted that the only name that mattered to her was Blight. The only thing I did know was that mom used to go to a beach house off the side of the ribs every summer, since she tried and failed to spruce up and sell the thing when our grandma died.
"You mean grandma's old summer home?" I asked as a suspicious feeling swept over me. "Why would I want to go there? That place has been abandoned for decades".
"I don't know. That's just where your ancestors told me to send you". There was a moment of quiet before he added, "Take the human with you".
"They told you to get Luz involved too?".
"No. That's my suggestion. I definitely wouldn't go alone, and they said this was no concern of your father's".
My hesitancy made my mind wander. Should I really get Luz involved in even more family drama? On the one hand, she had a lot of other things to worry about. Her and her mom were trapped in a different realm, and she'd been working non-stop to find a way home. Not to mention she had a cursed witch to deal with at that moment. But Gannet was right that I shouldn't go alone, and Luz would probably want to search the old place top to bottom for our family secrets. I guess the best thing to do was to ask the human.
"Do I need to go now?" I questioned while taking a quick glance out the window. The sky was a fiery red as the last of the setting sun's rays scorched the sky. "It's almost nightfall".
"They said you specifically had to go when the moon is in the sky. The full moon is when spirits are most likely to reach you".
"And you're sure you'll be okay without me?" I asked, turning to Amity. The younger witch flicked her ear, then flinched at the sting it caused.
"I'll be fine" she croaked.
"I'll be with her the entire time," Gannet added. "If anything happens, which nothing will, I'll contact both you and your father immediately".
After another moment to think about it, I relented. "Okay. I'll go. But I swear to the titan, you protect that amulet with your life".
"I know of the amulet's importance, Miss Blight. Now go. The moon will soon be rising".
I had to practically force myself out the door into the marketplace. My worry didn't diminish just because I had something else to focus on. It would follow me as close as my shadow. But I did feel the tiniest bit better that Amity was now in good hands. Gannet was a powerful oracle, nearly as powerful as mom was, and I knew I could trust him. I wouldn't have left Amity there if we couldn't, and I wouldn't be chasing his vision all the way to the ribs either.
What was there? Your guess was as good as mine. I had absolutely no clue what to expect to find there other than decaying walls and dusty furniture. And why were "my ancestors" so focused on me? My sister was a ghost stuck to a shattered amulet and Edric was now just a gust of wind. If anyone needed guidance from our long dead family members, it would be them. Besides, according to mom the Mcalester's wanted nothing to do with her or her children. Why were they so interested in the Blight side of their family all of a sudden? I guess the only way to find answers was to look in the old summer home.
I didn't need to go all the way back to the owl house to find Luz. I instead found her searching the woods top to bottom. As soon as she spotted me from a large patch of bracken, she raced onto the dirt path and slid to a stop in front of me.
"Emira!" she shouted. "It's Amity. She–". `
"She's with Gannet" I interrupted. "I found the amulet on the way to your place. He's fixing it right now".
"Oh, thank God! When Lilith told me she lost the amulet, I thought we'd never find her". Luz cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted to the rest of the search party, "we found her!". The two Clawthorne sisters poked their heads from a clump of tangling brush while King scrambled out of the bushes. Another witch I'd never seen before also made her way back out onto the pathway. By how similar she looked to Eda, I assumed she was somehow related.
"I took her to an oracle to fix the amulet" I announced to everyone else. "He says it'll take all night but he's able to do something to help".
"Then I suppose we should be off" Lilith told her sister before turning to the older witch next to her.
"If you're sure you want to go," Eda hmmed. "But if mom drives you crazy, remember there's a place for you here".
I drowned out the rest of their goodbye and brought all my focus back to Luz. Her bright brown eyes caught my stare, a hint of intrigue shining in them. She could tell I had more news for her. "What is it" she pressed.
"Gannet says he talked to some of my dead family members" I explained. "The way dead ones, not the recently dead ones".
"What did they say?".
"They want me to go to an old summer home in the ribs tonight. I don't know why, but there's something important there they want me to find".
"So, you're going to dig up some old family secrets?" Luz questioned excitedly.
"Probably" I answered with a shrug. "You want to come with? I know it's late and you've been through a lot today".
"No, no! I want to go! Just give me a second!". As quickly as she could, Luz bounded towards Eda. The owl lady tiredly faced her, her lack of energy a stark contrast to her apprentice's abundance. "Eda, can you tell my mom I'm going somewhere with Emira? Oh! And do you think we can borrow Owlbert?".
"Yeah, sure, whatever" Eda muttered.
"Hold on" the mother of the two sisters called. "There's something I have to tell you, something I should've told you from the very start".
To give you the short version, there was once another human in Bonesburrow that donated his journal to the library. Since he disappeared out of the blue, there was a chance that he found a way back to the human realm. Luz lit up at the idea, giving her yet even more vivacity. When she raced back over to me with Eda's staff in hand, she was nearly skipping.
"Okay, I'm back" she eagerly said. "Did you hear that?!".
"I heard. Amity should be able to help you find his journal. And if not, we can always break in again".
"I doubt Amity would be okay with that" Luz chuckled as she mounted Owlbert.
"She knows how much getting you back home matters to you and your mom, we all do. We'll find a way to get that journal one way or another".
I hopped on behind her and, with a small kick, we launched into the air. I very faintly remembered where the summer home was. I had been there a couple of times before when I was a lot smaller, but I wasn't really paying attention to how we got there. I wasn't a hundred percent sure we would find it, even with the few landmarks on the way, but my memory served me well and we soon spotted it. It was a huge two-story house on a cliff looming over the beach below. There was a patched-up hole in the roof from mom's attempts to fix the house up as well as a dead garden sitting in front of it. It was no longer white. The paint on the outside walls was badly chipped and muck was smeared against them. It was just as awful as I remembered, if not a little more.
We couldn't get through the front door. It had a protection spell on the chain locking it that neither my nor Luz's magic could get through. The windows on the other hand had nothing protecting it. It was rather easy to smash one open and crawl our way in. The one we'd chosen led to the downstairs bathroom which looked just as atrocious as the outside of the house. The tiles were cracked, the tub was rusted and had old decaying bugs inside of it. And the toilet made me want to retch. The smell coming from it was rancid and the water inside looked like it belonged in the swamps of the toes. But I couldn't focus on how disgusting the place was. I was there for a reason. I didn't know that reason, but there was a reason.
"So, your mom used to come here in the summer?" Luz asked as she cautiously hopped down from the windowsill. As soon as she took in the decaying bathroom, she covered her nose and mouth with her hands.
"Back when it was much nicer, yeah" I answered while walking out into the hallway. While some of the house had been completely cleared, some of it had not been touched since the place had been abandoned. Perhaps that's why I was here. There may have been something that had been left behind I was after. Maybe a family heirloom that my mother refused to take. "If you see something nice, feel free to take it. I'm sure Eda would find some of this stuff very interesting".
"Wouldn't that be stealing?".
"Stealing from who? Everyone who's owned this place is now dead" I answered as I led the way to the foyer. Half of the wooden floor was newer than the other, and the dusty red carpet on the stairs wasn't the original either. The only thing that hadn't been altered was the glass chandelier hanging above us. It was a very odd contorting shape and was covered in dust and cobwebs. It made the room feel a lot older than the house itself as if it had seen the entirety of the savage ages.
"What about the family secrets?" Luz went on. "Where are we going to find those?".
"I don't know. We'll have to look around". I flicked my ear towards the stairs. "I'll look upstairs while you get downstairs".
The four bedrooms and two bathrooms on the second floor were all void of anything interesting other than pieces of jewelry that so happen to find their way into my pockets. I'm surprised mom didn't try to sell them as soon as she gained ownership of the place, even though she wanted nothing to do with it. It wasn't until I found the upstairs office when I found something interesting. The first thing I spotted when I walked in was the photos laying on the desk. They had three different witches in them, only one of them I recognized. Other than a younger version of my mother, there was a tall slender woman with deep blue eyes and dark purple hair and there was a smaller red headed boy covered in freckles. I held up and rubbed my thumb over a portrait of the three of them. I'd never seen my grandmother before, and I wasn't even aware I had an uncle.
I had a thousand questions. Where was my uncle now? What was he like? He wasn't as bloodthirsty as mom, was he? Was he interested in meeting me and Amity? Was that why I was sent here, so I could find and meet my uncle? I grabbed a few more of the photos and looked them over. My father had to have met him before. He would be able to help me find him. I was just about to head back downstairs to fetch Luz when the human hollered.
"EMIRA?!". She slid into the room and shot behind me. Not far behind her, one of the witches from the photo rushed in. Her glowing azure eyes pierced into my soul and posture made me feel small and feeble. Yet I approached her with my chin in the air.
"You must be grandma".
"How dare you bring a stranger into this place" the ghost growled, flashing her false fangs.
"She's not a stranger. She's a friend of the family".
"Impossible. Our family only associates with the highest of witches, not thieves".
"To be fair" Luz squeaked, daring to take a few steps forwards. "I was gonna give the necklace to your granddaughter. I'm kinda her girlfriend".
My grandmother sneered at that, the anger Luz sparked in her doubling when she heard the word girlfriend. Her glower shifted over to me. Despite being across the room from her, I could feel her disappointment plain as day. "I honestly can't believe how your father can allow this. If only the Blights were half the family the Mcalesters are".
"Ah, yes. How dare someone care about their daughters' well-being" I mocked with a roll of my eyes.
"Care is earned, and if my granddaughter is okay with settling with that worthless bunch of skin, then she does not deserve that care".
That wasn't really what I was expecting. I thought she'd double down and insist that she cared about her family and that she only wanted what was best for them. But no. She just admitted that she didn't care about me and my sister because we were unworthy. Is this why my mother never took us to see our grandmother? Did she not care about her or her children from the very start?! My cool smile snapped into a sneer. I showed my fangs back at my grandmother, though mine were real instead of being made of ivory. I opened my mouth to spit an insult, but a flurry of flames burned at my eyes.
I reared back and quickly covered them. My mind whirling in surprise, alarm shot through my veins making them turn ice cold. This couldn't have been possible! I didn't say a word, yet there was the ghost of my mother standing defiantly between me and my grandmother! Her blue eyes were alive with fury and dare I say protectiveness.
"Hello mother" she growled.
"Odalia" my grandmother hmmed back just as coldly.
"How are you here?" I jumped in. "I didn't command you to come out".
"Do you really think Gannet is powerful enough to fully trap me in there?" my mother questioned while temporarily turning to me. "If I truly fought hard enough, I could surely escape".
"Then why haven't you?" I pressed, but it was too late. I had already lost mom's attention.
"For once in your existence, could you act like an actual mother and control your children". The insult did nothing but strengthen my mother's indignation.
"With all due respect, you know nothing of being a good mother". Grandma let out a prim "psh" before responding.
"It wasn't my fault you and Rowan turned out to be a waste".
"You didn't give Rowan a chance! You just slaughtered him like a flying pig!".
"I was not the one who fed him poison, or bashed his skull in and threw him in the river. That was you're doing, Odalia".
"You tricked me into doing it! You told me he was sick!".
I gawked at my mother as if she had just grown a second head. She'd killed family before Edric? I couldn't tell who I was more angry at. My mother was the one who WILLINGLY killed her own brother, but my unloving grandmother encouraged it. Sweet titan, this side of the family was so much worse than I thought! I should have never listened to them and came here!
"That's why you brought me here?" I challenged in utter disgust. "You wanted me to know what happened to Rowan".
"I'm not the one who called you here" my grandmother roughly responded. "If it were up to me, you and your mother wouldn't have ever set foot in here again".
"Then who did?".
"I did". From inside of a wall walked out a witch that was about Amity's age. Despite also being a spirit, the freckled redhead seemed very lively. His glowing hazel eyes shone bright and a pleased smile was stuck to his face. His eyes wandered over to me as he waved welcomely.
"Rowan" my mom gasped as her nerves sharpened. Her brother ignored her.
"You're the ancestor who talked to Gannet?" I asked.
"You're exactly like your mother," he replied simply.
I felt my heart stop for a moment. I wanted to argue with him so badly, but could I really do that? For the sake of Blight industries, I had been trained by my mother to act like my mother. I walked like her, talked like her, and just like her I was now I was now a killer. I may have denied it up until now, but I knew deep down I was turning into a monster like her, and justifying it by saying I had no choice. But I truly had no choice. Blight industries would suffer without all her tactics which means that our family would suffer. We needed mom, and anything mom wanted to do she had to do through me. Amity was right the night she rescued me. I was truly turning into her puppet.
"That's not what I mean" Rowan suddenly said, breaking me from my thoughts. "I mean it in a good way".
"How can being anything like her be a good thing?". Rowan floated closer to me and laid his hand on my shoulder. The both of us locked eyes. Rowan's gaze somehow calmed me.
"When she found out that the medicine mom gave her was actually poison, she swore that everything she does would be for the good of the family".
"But she KILLED her family" I argued,
"She did. She made a horrible decision and refuses to admit that it was a mistake". Rowan's voice grew darker for a moment before he added, "Now it's time for you to learn from your mom's shortcomings. Do everything you can for your family, just like Odalia, but do not make the same mistake she did".
"It's too late for that. I'm already making the same mistakes she's made," I murmured. The memory of the man I'd murdered came back into my head. I could see and smell his blood, hear the sounds of the bones in his face cracking.
"Listen to your family, and I mean ALL of your family, but in the end only you can decide what's right".
The trust radiating from Rowan felt like a campfire in the middle of the knee. All the bad thoughts about the demon I had killed, and all the terrible things mom had done soothed into confidence. Everything suddenly felt okay. Yes, Edric was still nothing, but a gust of wind and I was still a murderer, that would never change, but I couldn't let that effect how I acted in the present and future. I had a family to take care of. I had MYSELF to take care of. And most importantly I had to learn from both mom and my mistakes. I let out a sigh of relief and gave my late uncle a smile.
"Thanks Rowan. I think I know what to do now".
"I know you'll make the right choice" he said as he began to melt into the air. Within seconds my uncle was gone, only leaving behind a strange feeling of family. I felt my heart swell in my chest. Not everyone from mom's side of the family was so terrible, I guess.
"You've found what you need. Now get out" my grandmother suddenly rasped, instantly souring the good feeling in the air. "And leave everything you've taken behind".
Luz and I partially did as we were told. As soon as grandma faded away, we both headed straight for the door, but my human friend was able to sneak out the silver necklace she found, and I pocketed a few of those old family photos. With a running start the both of us leapt onto the owl lady's staff mid-takeoff and raced away from the summer house as fast as we could. Neither of us could see her but we both heard my grandmother's angry shouting off in the distance. Once the two of us were done laughing about it, I pulled out the portrait and looked it over again.
"Turns out your uncle is pretty cool" Luz called behind her.
"I had to get it from somewhere, and I didn't get it from mom and dad" I joked before the moment turned bittersweet. "I wish Mittens and Ed got to meet him".
As if it were responding to what I said, the ring on my finger began to flash and shake. I touched my pinkie to the stone and gave the command, though I didn't see why I had to. She could just pop in and out of the ring whenever she pleased. She wasn't actually trapped, so the commands were all pointless.
"What do you want?" I huffed.
"I want to apologize".