AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Willow smiles again, sweet as pie, before approaching a resistant Raven. Taking her hand, Willow bares her all, “He tried to take me.”
Gasps all around fill Raven’s ears but she isn’t moved. She gazes through the thick green smog between them, barely even able to see her sister’s face, definitely unable to make out her intentions. She plays along though, “What happened, love? Are you okay?”
Willow embraces her now, squeezing so tight, Raven feels choked by the green wisps trying to infiltrate her lungs, but squeezes back anyway.
She doesn’t give up her pursuit though, “How did he get to you? How did you get away? Where is he now?”
Willow’s face falters again, almost imperceptibly, but Raven sees it before she corrects it with a wounded look, “I’m so tired and it’s hard to talk about just yet. Think I could have a little time to settle in with you all before we get to the storytelling?”
Giving Willow her kindest eyes, Raven nods. Of course, she’ll give this stranger time to come up with a story. It will give her the chance to piece together the truth and figure out how to stop whatever it is they’re trying to do.
Callie has been watching Raven since that first summer all those years ago. It was like she had never really seen someone until she saw Raven. Callie knows every detail of how Raven looks in every moment. The way her whole body relaxes after the first sip of coffee every morning. The way she chews her bottom lip when she’s nervous. Her eyes get really big and she starts to zone out when she’s hungry. Singing in the kitchen means it’s been a good day. A red face and teary eyes mean she’s mad at you but doesn’t want to hurt your feelings. This face right now? Those tightly pursed lips, stone cold stare down? That Raven isn’t buying the bullshit.
The rest of the room is flocking to the returned sister. Callie began to do the same, but then she saw Raven. Raven loves her sister more than words describe. They are connected in profound ways. If Raven is skeptical of her return, they all should be.
As inconspicuously as possible, Callie beams at Willow, shares a hug, and turns to Raven, “Can I see you for a second?”
Willow answers for her, “Enjoy a moment with your lover, Raven. I’ll catch up with the girls.”
As if snapping out of a trance, Raven turns her squinted eyes toward Callie and nods. The pair slip off into the room, feigning a romantic interlude, both somehow on the same page without any communication.
Once safely behind a closed door, Raven bursts out in a hushed whisper, “You see it too, don’t you?”
Callie smiles, momentarily lost in her love’s eyes, “I don’t know what you saw, but I saw you. What’s happening?”
Raven huffs out her anger, throwing her hands in the air, “I don’t know!” Her words are dripping with exasperation, “Something… is just…”
“Off,” Callie finishes for her.
“Yes!” Raven exclaims with a wide-eyed stare.
But what? They ponder in silence. Callie wants to be the one to fix this. She wants Raven to love her again and will do whatever it takes to get that. She racks her brain, grasping for any clue, any possible answer. And then… all thoughts stop circling in her brain and she focuses in on that one teeny tiny detail. That one thing that set off internal alarm bells within her whether she realized it or not. Just one word from Willow’s lips but said in such a familiar way.
“You’ve got something. What is it?” Raven implores.
Callie stares back at her beautiful Raven, knowing how ridiculous the implicated accusation is, “Well, she called me your ‘lover’.”
Raven turns it over in her head and makes a connection of her own, “She wouldn’t cross the salt line.”
They lock eyes and both know they have the answer.
Irritated. Frustrated. Mad.
These are the only words Sam can find to throw like daggers at the door Callie and Raven are hiding behind. Here they all are, gathered together for Willow, and those two are having girlfriend drama in the middle of what should be a celebration. They should be out here.
Excusing herself, she marches up to the closed door and takes a deep breath before walking in, fully expecting to see the two either fighting or licking each other’s faces. Sam is taken aback when she instead sees Raven furiously flipping through old leather-bound books and Callie yanks her into the room by the wrist. Wide-eyed, Sam stares at the pair deep in research mode, “What is happening?”
The paramours lock eyes and exchange knowing glances. Years of secret conversations pass between them but they remain silent.
Sam is bursting with irritation, “Tell me right now.”
Callie sighs, “Have an open mind.”
Rolling her eyes, Sam spits out, “I’m standing in front of my friend who is a witch in the house where a ghost has repeatedly tried to kill us. Open-minded is a foregone conclusion.”
Raven pours it all out, “We don’t think that is Willow.”
All the color drains from Sam’s face, “Shit.”
