AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The traffic jam seems to break loose then, and finally, we’re moving, gaining speed as the freeway lanes open up, giving us a clear path to our destination. As if he senses the urgency, Leif drives offensively, changing lanes again and again to pass the other cars until we reach our exit.
The motel sign is visible from here, and knowing we’re so close has my anxiety rising again. They have to still be here. They have to answer all of my questions.
I’m leaping from the SUV the moment Leif shifts the vehicle into park. My eyes scan the numbered doors, and I feel Jesse right behind me as I follow the ascending digits.
One-nineteen.
One-twenty.
My whole body seems to be set ablaze.
One-twenty-one.
If my heart could beat, it would be pounding against my ribs.
One-twenty-two at the end.
Here we go. Just around this corner.
“Wait,” I say as I slow my steps, seeing nothing but the brick exterior for several yards.
And the next door? It’s room number one-twenty-four.
Did I miss it? I backtrack, ready to go back and see if I somehow missed a door before we turned that corner, but my feet stumble to a halt when a familiar scent wafts up my nose. My eyes scan the brick wall before me, narrowing a bit when I realize it’s too wide. There should be a room here with a door and a large window just like on the other side.
And the scent of decomposing flowers is a dead giveaway that my parents’ magic is hiding that door and that window so no one, including me, can find them.
Jesse and Leif just watch me silently as I step closer, sniffing the bricks like a bloodhound on the hunt. I step to the right and the scent grows stronger, so I reach out a tentative hand to touch the wall. My fingers brush over the rough bricks, then I freeze as they encounter a smooth wooden board I can’t see.
I focus as my fingertips follow the line of it up and down, then continue on their original path to the right. There’s a dip, then something firm and flat. I press my palm against it as I move a couple of feet more, then brush my hand over it in small circles until my fingers close around a metal handle.
“This is it,” I whisper to the others, then without waiting for a response, curl my hand into a fist and bang the side of it against the invisible door.
The scent of old magic intensifies, nearly choking me with its sickly sweetness, then dissipates just as quickly as the brick mirage fades, revealing the door with a small metal placard that reads “one-twenty-three.”
I meet Jesse’s gaze as a loud click heralds the unlocking of a deadbolt, and he gives me a shallow, encouraging nod. Then the door swings open, and my knees go a little week as I come face to face with the woman from the pier, her eyes filled with pride as she steps aside to invite us all in.
“I should’ve known you’d be able to find us,” she says, her voice nearly rocking me back on my heels.
It’s not the magically-altered voice of a stranger. It’s the voice of my mother.
Jesse and Leif remain stoic and silent, moving to one side of the room and my parents move in beside each other, forming a united front before me as the magic that masks their appearance fades away, showing me their true selves.
“Mom? Dad?” slips from my lips in a strangled whisper as I take them in.
I don’t know who moves first, but a blink later, I’m in their arms, all of us hugging and laughing as tears pour from their eyes. Mom pets my hair as Dad grips my arms, looking me over like he hasn’t been watching me since their faked deaths.
The thought sobers me, and I step out of their collective embrace to look at them with a stern expression.
“I need answers, and I need them now,” I say, and Dad nods with a look of surrender.
“We’ve hated every minute of this, Eden,” Mom says, “but we didn’t know what else to do to protect you.”
“Protect me from what? The prophecy?” I ask, impatience lacing the words.
“From the people who believe the prophecy means the destruction of all witches’ lives as we know it,” Dad answers.
“What does that even mean?” I ask, feeling even more frustrated. “What does the prophecy say, and why does the Desertwillow coven want to kill me over it?”
