AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It's not your job to look after her. She has her own coven now. It’s their job to look after her now and we both know we’ll be leaving her in very good hands and with capable people. We both trust them or there’s no fucking way that we would have sent both Isobel and Baxter here to stay with them for safe keeping.”
Ariel looked at her dad and there was a heaviness there that didn’t belong on someone so young but spoke volumes about what she’d been through so far in her young life.
“It’s my job to look after all of them,” she snapped back at him.
Good Christ.
Did she really feel that way? That was a heavy burden and in no way her responsibility to carry.
Rain’s face softened and he cupped his daughters jaw. “It’ll never just be your job alone. It’s something we all agreed we’d do together. And I know you feel responsible for everyone since what happened with the Council but that wasn’t your burden to take on. The entire witch community is not your responsibility.”
“The Council is gone because of me,” she whispered in a small voice.
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re putting a better one together,” I said, cutting into their conversation. As much as I wanted them to leave I didn’t like the thought of Ariel taking all of that on herself. “And Autumn already agreed to be on your Council. You’re doing good things and soon enough you’ll have plenty of other good people that you know you can trust helping you look out for everyone. So it’s not just all on you.”
“If you can trust her enough to ask her to take a spot on your Council then I think you should be able to trust her enough to make the right decisions for herself,” Liam said to Ariel.
“She’s smart,” Gunner put in. “She knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go for it. And what she wants is to be here with us. She’s officially joined our coven.”
“She’s exactly where she needs to be,” Scout told her. “And she needs to get used to her new normal. I love how dedicated you are to looking out for her and I thank you for it. But you don’t live here and she can’t rely on you to be here with her every day. You are only going to be a phone call away and she has to get used to that.”
“This is not a bad thing, Ariel,” Mason said in a gentle, kind voice. “It’s good. She’s heading in the right direction and we don’t want her thinking you being here all the time is normal. She doesn’t know what’s normal and what’s not and we don’t want to confuse her. Her normal was living in the woods amongst those horrible people. We want to show her a different and better life than that. But we also don’t want to hurt her in any way. I’d like to avoid that at all costs. So she needs to settle in without you hovering because she can’t rely on that. If that makes sense?”
“It makes perfect sense,” Rain murmured as he watched all of us carefully.
“And, Ariel, I already promised her we can catch a plane at least once a month to come and visit you, if that’s something she wants.” I promised her. “But this is hard for her. She’s never had to say goodbye to people she cares about before. I need you to not make this any harder for her. Please.”
“Baby girl,” Rain said in a quiet voice. “Just look at them. Tell me you’re seeing what I’m seeing right now and then you tell me you’re still worried about leaving her here with them. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’ve got this. It’s time for us to get out of their hair and head home.”
Ariel nodded reluctantly. “Alright,” she agreed on a sigh. “We can go home now.”
I sighed in relief.
Thank fuck.
32
Autumn
I had promised myself that I would be strong and I absolutely would not cry.
Now I wasn’t so sure I was going to be able to keep that promise to myself.
“They told me they gave you your own cell phone,” Ariel was saying to me. Repeating herself, actually. “It’s supposed to have all of our numbers in it. Not just mine and Rain’s but everyone in both of our covens. Please, don’t hesitate to text or call any of us for anything.”
It didn’t occur to me until just then that perhaps Ariel was going to have just as hard of a time with this goodbye as I was.
Because I meant just as much to her as she did to me.
That thought warmed my heart.
She was a real friend. She wasn’t afraid of me and she'd never ever do anything to harm me in any way.
“Will you text me pictures of Isobel’s daughter when she’s born?” I asked hopefully.
She nodded as she grinned at me. “My baby sister. Yes, of course. You’ll get to meet her for yourself though. Hopefully not too long after she’s born. I don’t know shit about babies but they grow fast and are always changing. You don’t want to miss out on anything.”
She was right. I certainly didn’t want to miss out on anything.
