Chapter 66- Whispers In The Wind

“This is a disaster, as soon as we heard the news about Crystal, we should have taken the girl under our wing,” Seth paced the floor of the drawing room. Everything had gone to pot. The key had been taken and the Starlight community had been burnt to the ground.
“Where is Levi?” he demanded, waiting for his wife to offer him an explanation.
“The path in which we shall take, as already been set. Let the universe do what it must,” Mary said casually as she twisted her knitting needles.
“Mary! I don’t need your cryptic words. I need answers!” he yelled at his wife who sat calmly unaffected by his outburst.
“Answers I cannot give you. Time will reveal all,” she replied gently in a soothing voice.
“We don’t have time Mary,” Seth sighed as he took a seat on the plush white couch. Christmas was fast approaching. He feared he would never go home. It wasn’t Athens itself he wanted rather the magic he had been born with. When he was cursed, he lost his power. Having magic was a part of him, his birth right. He needed it back. He was born to be king, to rule. Without his power he was reduced to nothing.
“Do you think I did the right thing?” he asked Mary. She was his voice of reason. He didn’t need to say what he was referring too. Mary always knew. At times he could swear that she could read his mind. She was an amazing woman and his rock.
“You have given the Starlight Coven a home, a place to stay until the mess we are in is sorted out. Yes, I believe you have,” he gave her a small smile.
His people had kicked off and turned up their noses to the Starlight Coven staying within their walls. After all those very witches had accused them of the recent killings, which had caused hostility between them. Seth just prayed that the rift between them wouldn’t grow and that they could get through the next few weeks without any incident. He grunted and leaned back. He was just kidding himself. There was too much bad blood between them all. Enchilada had made sure that they were divided.
“Jeanette will be the one to suffer the most,” Mary said, and he lifted his head to look at his wife and her random words.
“She has lost everything,” Mary whispered, and Seth nodded. She was right. He couldn’t help but feel the guilt well inside him. He had contributed to some of her pain and suffering.
***
Crystal stepped out of the cottage and waved to Peter who still sat with his arms and legs crossed.
“What is with the Giant?” Levi asked her.
“He says he will stay until I don’t need him no more,” Levi let out a puff of air and draped his arm over her shoulder.
“I am glad you came,” Crystal whispered as they walked towards the back of the cottage.
Levi gave her a gentle squeeze as he led her to a bench that overlooked rolling hills.
They both took a seat and silence settled between them. Crystal could feel the tension building and when she looked into Levi’s golden iris, she knew he was about to shatter the bit of happiness she held in her heart.
“Have you ever wondered what has made your mother the way she is?” he asked her, and she played with her fingers nervously in her lap.
“She was born evil,” she stated without an ounce of feeling.
“Crystal I am being serious,” she turned away and took in the beautiful view.
“So am I,” she said softly.
“Our past plays a big part of the people we become. We learn from our mistakes and sometimes by watching others,” Levi used the words his father had used with him.
“What as that got to do with my mother,” she demanded. She hated the woman with a passion and talking about her only brought the raw anger to the surface.
“She was once a young woman who was happy and bubbly. She was engaged to my father and all set to marry him,” Crystal whipped her head in his direction.
“What?" she asked in shock.
“Your mother showed immense potential, so my grandfather had arranged for her to marry my father. Jeanette was delighted and couldn’t wait to marry my father. Until she learned that my mother was pregnant with me,” he lowered his head.
“So, they didn’t marry because of you?” she asked, not grasping what he was telling her.
“No that wasn’t the sole reason. My grandfather still wanted my father to marry your mother. My mum was from a lower-class family,”
Crystal sighed she didn’t want to know about the hidden secrets of the past. What was done was done. She stood up and began to walk towards the trees.
Levi grabbed her arm and spun her around. “Crystal, the forest is more dangerous at night. Please listen, I have more to tell you,”
“I don’t want to know,” she whispered.
“It’s important that you know,” she nodded her head reluctantly agreeing and sat back on the bench. Perhaps it was the mystery of her mother’s past or simply curiosity that she didn’t put up more of a fight.
Deep down she wanted to know. But it was the fear of coping with any added information that scared her. She already had so much to deal with. She couldn’t handle more.
“Your mum had a twin sister. Her name was Josephine. When your mother had caught my parents and heard of their secret. She refused to make the journey to her grandmother’s home. So, Josephine set out one day and never returned,”
“My mother had a twin?” she asked wide eyed, and Levi gave her a slight nod.
“A search party was sent out and they never returned. Then a rumor began that she had entered the Danger Woods. It’s a part of Athens where immortals can go to commit suicide and end their immortality. Only if you go there, there is no coming back even if you change your mind. Your soul becomes corrupted. The souls of those who have died in those woods haunt them. They are angry and unable to move on,”
“I don’t get it. Why are you telling me this?”
“Because your mother went into those woods. She spent five days searching for Josephine alone. She is the only one that as ever made it out alive.
On that same day, my grandfather died, and my parents married a few days later. Some say she made a deal with the devil and that is the reason she still lives,”
Crystal laughed. “So, it’s all hearsay?” she couldn’t believe him.
“No, I don’t think it is. Your father Crystal appeared out of nowhere. No one knows where he came from or the Starlight coven. No one knew of them until your mother announced that she would be marrying the leader of that coven,”
“Then where did my father come from Levi?”
“I don’t know, they say he is a demon that was gifted to her, a part of her deal,” he replied letting out a puff of air.
“Athens is a big place,” she shrugged but something about his story hit a nerve.
“Did they ever find Josephine?” she asked him to change the subject.
“No, but your mother says she is still alive. She says they have a twin connection, and she would just know if she was dead,”
Her mother had a twin who had ventured into a part of the woods where immortals commit suicide. Her father and his coven had shown up out of nowhere and rumor had it that her mother had made a deal with the devil.
“What are you not telling me?” she asked.
“Crystal, something’s are best left alone,”
“Please,”
“You have been marked by a demon. Demons can’t willingly cross into Athens unless they have a bounty for another demon,” She pulled a face at him. What the hell was he talking about….
“Teke Teke?” she whispered. She had followed her to Athens.
“She crossed into this world Crystal. You are her bounty,” Crystal stood shaking her head frantically. What he was saying made sense now.
“It’s not true,” she said in a panic. Levi touched her arm and she jumped back.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed at him.
“Crystal I am sorry. You need to listen to me. The only way to defeat Teke, is by the power of love. The light you hold inside you is your strongest weapon,”
“What light? You have just basically told me that my father is a demon!” she spat.
“Crystal that doesn’t change who you are,” he said in a calm and soothing tone.
“It changes everything,” she whispered before walking away. She knew that Teke was following her. Yet she had reacted as if it was new to her why? Perhaps it was that he had confirmed what she had already thought was true.