#Chapter 53: Searching for a Lost Soul

AVA
I must be out of my mind. That is what I kept thinking when I walked into that store. But I was determined. If I wanted to learn more about my mother; about my past I needed some guidance.
As I walked into the store i heard the chime alert the woman at the counter she could not have been any older than 35 but her bright smile and her demeanor told me another story. With multitoned colored braids and a dark complexion I saw her step behind the counter to greet me.
“Good evening sister, how may I assist your journey?”
“My journey?” I asked. I looked at her and saw that she wore a bold red, brown and yellow tunic dress that flattered her shape.
“Yes everyone that enters my shop is on a journey of discovery or of renewal. The question is what do you seek?” her voice was like music that lured me in. I thought it was just a sales pitch until I looked into her eyes.
“You’re a witch,” I mumbled. I was acting like we were not the only two people in her store. She laughed at my reaction and gestured to her tattoo of a symbol that I was not familiar with.
“And so are you but I feel as though you are a novice to your own heritage. Why is that?”
I looked down sadden. “Is it that obvious?”
“We leave ourselves open that our emotions are easy to read. But yes I can tell; what ails you?”
I looked up at the woman and let out a frustrating groan.
“I found out that my mother was a witch my entire life. I found out that I am one too, but I want to know more about her, but I do not know where to start.”
The woman nodded at my explaination and turned around toward the back of her shop. “Give me one moment I will be right back,” she said as she went to the beaded door that was behind the counter.
I peered at everything that was in the shop before me. In glass cases there were charms and liquids in bottles labeled for remedies that I had not heard of. I looked at the jewelry and saw bracelets and stones that gleamed in the sunlight.
“Here it is,” she said coming from the back with a book in her hand. She grabbed my attention as she motioned for me to come to the front counter.
“This is a grimoire that has been handed down for generations in my family. We only bring it out for ourselves and wayward witches that have lost their place in the world. In this book is the ritual and spell you can use that will help you.”
“What is it?” I asked as she flipped through the book.
“It is a memory ritual.”
“But there is nothing wrong with my memories.” I said. I was a little disappointed by her words.
“Silly girl you are not looking into your memories. This speel helps you visit the memories of a soul that is close to you. You are going to see the memories of your late mother.” She said as she stopped at the page she was looking for.
She began to writer down the spell on a blank sheet of paper. Then she gathered the necessary ingredients for the ritual. As she rang everything up she explain to me that I had to be some where that she and my mother where closest to. I needed to be away from any electronic devices and the ritual had to be done at night.
I was shocked at how helpful she was and how much she was willing to help a novice such as myself. I had figured that witches were in hiding like wolves. But she had assured me that our kind was celebrated through out the generations as the times became to grow.
As I left the shop I gave the woman a hug but before I left I spoke with her once more.
“I am sorry with all the talking I never asked your name.”
She smiled. “My name is Shanti and what is yours my sister?”
“Well my name is Ava but my given name is Avalyn.”
“I hope you will come back and tell me what you have learned about your self young halfling,” Shanti said as she waved good-bye.
As Ava exited the building she was shocked to realized that hardly anytime had passed while she was in Shanti’s store. Then she realized something else.
I never told her that I was a half witch.
I wasted no time teleporting myself to the studio that started my career. As a child my mother and I visited this place to spend time with one another. Now that it was owned by Moon Entertainment I was able to access the building without raising any suspicions.
I started to prepare for the ritual just as Shanti instructed and then I felt my phone vibrate.
it was a message from Elijah inviting me to visit his pack with him today. Even tough I wanted to I had to decline. I wanted to know more about my mother and about my past. I needed this.
I aligned the symbols on the floor and began to light the three candles that represented the triangle. I was not to speak the incantation but to visualize the last time I saw my mother. As I closed my eyes I could hear her voice.
Come on my little airplane let’s go get some ice cream.
I opened my eyes to see that I was not in the hotel lot anymore, but in unfamiliar room. There was a bed that a woman was sitting in with her leg bouncing up and down nervously.
I heard the door and she and I both looked up at the same time to see a large man enter the room. Without any indication I knew he was a wolf. His face was stern and his eyes glowed a bright yellowish green. His dark curls were trimmed short that they stop just below his ear.
He wore a loose fitting dress shirt and black slacks.
“Harmony, you have to talk to me,” the male said. “You cannot keep yourself couped up in this room.
Harmony, that’s my mother. Her brown hair was cut into a pixie updo. I could not see her eyes but somehow I still remembered that her eyes were hazel. She wore a long sleeve red cropped shirt and a pair of blue jeans.
He lowered himself down and put his head in her lap. I turned to see her smiling down at him. But she was crying.
He brushed his thumb to wipe the tears from her face.
“I’m pregnant,” she whispered.
The man looked up at my mother and frowned. “Is it for him?” The sound of the wolf’s voice brought a chill down my spine. Grayson had mentioned that my mother had escaped an abusive relation but I could not fathom how difficult it must have been for her.
However she shook her head and stared into his eyes. He smiled. “The baby’s mine,” I could hear his tone quickly change to match his smile. It hurt me to think how his reaction almost mirrored Elijah’s.
My mother shook her head and spoke. “The baby is your but Ramon, your pack will not accept a halfling into the pack.”
“My child is our child and my pack will follow me through anything, because you and my mate. Halfling or not”
His pack…I looked at the man that was bent down in front of my mother. It cannot be.
I woke up with a jolt and shook me to my core. I felt my body tremble from the cold that hit my body. I felt as if nothing could have prepared me for what I found out.
Not only was my father a powerful wolf, he was an Alpha. My mother was mated to an Alpha wolf.
Shanti had told me that the spell would take a lot out of me but I never would have imagine how much it drained me. I looked at my watch. When I arrived to the lot it had been a few minutes after nine however when I looked at the time three hours had passed.
I gathered the material and threw a the bucket of water on the markings and symbols. I had prepped the water for clean up earlier during the ritual. I did not want to leave any trace of what I had done.
With the last bit of strength that I had left I mustered up one more teleporting spell and as I dropped to the floor I realized I screwed up the spell I brought myself to the wrong house.