“
Tab?” he
asked.
He leaned over
to Tabitha who was writing things on a pad of paper. Tabitha pulled
a cup from her bag, threw something in it, put the cold water in
the cup and moved her hand over it. Within seconds the cup was
steaming, and the smell of hot chocolate and cinnamon hit
her.
“
Thanks,” she
said to Tabitha as the cup was passed over.
That gave a
whole new definition to instant hot chocolate. “Where are we?” she
asked, looking out of the window at the green blur.
“
We’ve just
stopped at Carlisle, so you’ve been out for a while. We only have a
few more stops to go.”
She took
another bite out of the bacon sandwich and watched the world go by.
Taking a sip of the hot chocolate, she turned around to look at the
quiet coach. Her heart hitched as she caught Ayden looking her way.
She gave him half a smile and turned before he was able to
react.
God, what is wrong with me?
She felt so bad about how things were with Ayden.
But as time moved on, she found it more and more difficult to
address it. Tabitha was right, she needed to sort this
out.
“
I’m just
going to talk to Ayden,” she muttered nervously.
“
No
problem.”
She caught the
flash of surprise in Jack’s eyes before he was able to smooth it
over. She handed him the rest of his sandwich which he pushed into
his mouth as he picked up his iPad.
Standing up,
she felt a spasm run through her burnt leg. She got that a lot
recently, too. Cora had to keep moving it, otherwise her leg liked
to seize up. She reached absently across to Tabitha and squeezed
her hand. She let go and walked to Ayden.
Ayden was sat
at a four table on his own. Her throat locked and squeezed, cutting
off much needed oxygen when she thought of the reason he sat alone.
He wouldn’t be on his own if her mother had been here. Her mother
would be sat with him, happy and smiling. Cora swallowed, wishing
she’d brought the chocolate with her so she had something to do
with her hands, and also to dislodge the rock in her
throat.
She pulled her
lip into her mouth and looked at Ayden as she came to a stop in
front of him. “Can I sit?”
“
Of course,”
he whispered.
She sat and
suddenly realised she didn’t know what to say. She fumbled with her
hands until her brain kicked into action.
“
I’ve been
distant lately, and I’m sorry for that.” Ayden started the
conversation which helped her.
“
No, Ayden,
you’ve had every right to be distant. What happened to...mum
was...” She stopped. Choking on her words. “I’m sorry I wasn’t
there with you, after everything...”
As tears
filled his eyes, she could do nothing to stop her own sliding down
her cheeks.
“
I’m sorry,”
Ayden murmured. “I just wish... I know we can’t turn back the time,
but God, I wish I had more time with her.
Laura was an
amazing, kind and beautiful woman.” He stopped and wiped the tears
that fell down his cheeks. “I will always miss the child that I
never got to meet, but you have to know; the months I was with your
mother, you were a daughter to me. You still are, and I know you
are our High Priestess, but to me you are my daughter. A daughter
to the woman I love and a sister to her unborn sibling and my
child. I miss her dearly, every second of everyday, but do you know
what gets me thorough it all?”
She could only
shake her head in reply. The tears had taken away her ability to
speak.
“
You. I focus
on you, because she loved you dearly, as do I. I want to be here
for me but also for your mother. I let her down in the weeks after
her death by not being there for you, and that stops now. Your
mother wanted to live her life to the fullest. She wanted good
things for you. So we will live and enjoy life for your
mother.”
His hand
lifted to wipe away her tears. He wiped his wet hand on his jeans
and pulled a face. She laughed as a sob escaped her mouth, making
her sound deranged. “I’ve missed you. I knew that she loved you,
I’ve never seen her act that way with a man before you. You were
good for my mum. As much as I wouldn’t want to admit it at the
time, you were the perfect couple. I saw that too late, and I'm
sorry.”
“
Thank you,
Cora. It’s never too late to say the things that mean so much. Go
back to Jack. He’s good for you, I can see that now too. I don’t
want to fight anymore, not about the things that don’t matter. I
don’t have it in me. I can see that he feels a great deal for you,
and I just want to make sure he has the right intentions. That he
isn’t going to hurt you.”
“
Something a
father would do, I get that” she added.
“
Yeah, I can
see that he means no harm.”
She smiled and
gave his hand a squeeze. He kissed it as she stood and headed back
up the coach towards Jack.
All eyes were
on Cora, letting her know her whole coven had been listening into
their conversation. She gave each of her coven members a small nod
and smile, and they continued with their tasks. Ember picked up her
book. Clay was sat doing something on his phone. You could see he
missed Clio’s company. They had been best friends, and now he
didn’t have that. Again, she felt guilt join the mess of emotions
swirling in her gut. Cora hadn’t been able to save Clio
either.
Eli returned
his attention to his laptop, and Tabitha continued scrawling on the
paper. Jack looked at her, the smile on his face making her insides
squirm. The ache in her chest had become less intense now she was
talking with Ayden again. Cora knew that the ache would always be
there, that it would never go. She knew that she could learn to
live with it. Bit by painful bit.
Cora would
live her life to the fullest. Life goes on, no matter what. It was
the nature of things. The dead were dead, they couldn’t live life
anymore. Therefore, the living had to make the most of their lives
and live for those that couldn’t.
7
WELCOME TO
EDINBURGH
Cora tugged
her suitcase behind her along the thin walkway off the train. Jack
walked in front of her, making his way to the door. They were here.
Edinburgh. She wasn’t feeling too excited about it. In fact, she
was struggling to muster up any enthusiasm about this trip at
all.
Jack stepped
off the train and dropped his suitcase near his feet. Turning, and
nearly knocking the air out of her lungs with his lopsided smile
and the dimples popping in his cheeks, he took her case and set it
down.
“
Come on,
beautiful.”
Cora smiled
and placed her hands in his. In one swift move, partly due to the
levitation she felt pull around her and his strength, she was fused
to his side and enjoying the feel of his lips and his breath on her
ear and neck. The rest of her coven tumbled out of the carriage and
stood around them.
“
So, what
now?” Clay asked.
“
I do not
know. Alastair did not say anything. I'm sure someone will be here
to greet us. Otherwise, what would be the point of summoning us
here?”
Tabitha did
have a point. Alastair wasn't just going to tell them to come to
Edinburgh and then ditch them. He had some other ulterior motive.
This made her nervous.
It was
freezing as they walked along the platform, and this time she
wasn’t to blame. The wind whipped around them, biting and snarling
at exposed flesh. She gritted her teeth and pushed her way with the
rest of them to the exit, or what she assumed was the exit. They
were just following the light and the bodies who seemed to know
where they were going. She shivered and huddled closer to
Jack.
They walked
out onto a bridge. As soon as they emerged, the sound of loud
bagpipes assaulted her ears. Standing where they were, they
assessed their surroundings. Directly in front of them, positioned
on a steep incline, was a landmark that dominated the skyline. One
that everyone knew. Edinburgh castle. She wouldn’t actually mind
seeing it, if they had the time. If they weren’t forced to fight,
again.
A tall, brown
gothic monument stood a little closer to their right. The stone
used to create it didn’t look smooth to her. The angles looked
dangerous, with its spikes of sharp steel and its high arches. She
liked it. But then again, she liked most weird things. She surveyed
the sea of people who battled against the harsh winds with their
heads down. She watched one woman walk into another, their hats
obscuring their view as they moved quickly against the wind. No
matter where you were standing, it felt like you were fighting
against the wind that hit you as hard as a car would hit a wall at
high speed.
A tall, skinny
man with long straight ginger hair that hung down to his waist,
caught her attention. His face was tight and drawn, but he didn’t
look malnourished. He just looked skinny. As he neared them, Cora
noticed the man had a good helping of freckles that were sprinkled
along his narrow nose and cheeks. His pale blue eyes smiled at
them. His black leather coat flapped around his feet as he came to
a stop in front her.
“
Awrite, ma
names Tavish Gordon. Hou are yer?”
“
Ermmmm,
fine,” she stammered. She was seriously going to struggle with the
Scottish-ness. They spoke so fast. “How did you know I was the
person you were looking for?”
“
It wisnae
hard, lassie. That one there is a witch.” He pointed at Tabitha.
“Yer seen her robes?” he said with a grin.
Well, he did
have a point. Tabitha stood out a mile in those robes. They were a
burnt copper colour today. According to Tabitha, this was toning
the whole witch thing down.
“
Okay, so what
do you want? Do you have a message?” Jack asked with an air of
impatience.
Cora tried to
hide her smile. Jack hated cold weather, and standing in it for
this long was probably annoying him, as did the strange man, she
could see that too.
“
Alastair sent
me tae yer, he got caught in a meitin’. Haur yer gae.” Tavish
passed her a map. “Yer gaun need that. Yer hotel is the Balmoral,
gae straecht, then turn reit and yer will find it.”
“
Thanks.”
Surprisingly, she’d understood all of that.
She opened the
map and looked down at it. “Do we have reservations
made?”
She looked up
and found that the man had gone. This didn’t concern her initially.
The thing that put her on alert was the way Jack’s back suddenly
shot bolt upright, like he was waiting for an attack. The man had
seemed nice. He didn’t look like he was going to attack them, but
then again, how much did she really know about him? Going by recent
events, she couldn’t trust anyone but her own coven. “Where did he
go?” She asked no one in particular.
Before anyone
could answer, Tavish popped up in front of her. Cora squeaked as
her hand went flying out to hit him. She managed to rein in the
gust of wind that very nearly pummelled Tavish in the
chest.
“
Sairy lassie,
ma gift is that of blendin’. A cannae help it sometimes, it just
happens,” he said with a shrug.
“
I suggest you
be careful next time,” she snapped. “I'm a little jumpy, and stunts
like that can get you hurt.” She forced the wind to settle. The icy
jabs from the cold elements in Edinburgh and her own was really
starting to hurt.
“
Right, yer
will hurt me,” he chuckled at her as Jack growled. “Cheerio,
Alastair will be wi’ yer shortly.”
She watched
him walk away and then pop into nothing.
She didn’t
particularly like him. If that was their welcome, she might as well
get back on the train to home. Something about this was making her
feel very nervous.
“
We need to
keep our eye on that one,” Ayden said to their group. She agreed
but did so silently.
Cora’s coven
followed her lead, which wasn’t their best decision. She headed
straight, following the witch's instructions. Hopefully the witch
hadn’t led them on some sort of goose chase. They pushed their way
through the onslaught of people who seemed in a hurry to be in the
opposite direction to where they were going. Her group walked past
a man who was standing on the corner of the bridge wearing a
patterned skirt. Long, knee-length red woolly socks covered most of
his legs. His cheeks were bright red, matching his hair. The noise
from the bagpipes almost deafened her. She’d never realised how
loud they were.
As they
approached a set of traffic lights, she could see that dozens and
dozens of shops lined the street. The road itself was a mess; it
was dug up with metal fences restricting people.
“
There’s the
Balmoral Hotel,” Jack said, pointing at a high towered building
with a clock that looked much like the Westminster clock. “Let’s go
in because I’m bloody freezing.”
She grinned at
him as he huddled closer to her. He wouldn’t find any heat from
her. Tabitha was the one to go to for that.
Her heart
thumped a little harder as they approached the hotel. She may look
at ease on the outside. However, she was trying to keep up the calm
appearance for Jack, Tabitha and Ayden. They were watching her like
a hawk would its prey. They couldn’t see that her insides were a
mess. They didn’t know why they were here in Scotland. Nothing had
been explained to them other than she had to take over every coven
in the country. This thought sent butterflies flapping crazily into
her chest. She took a deep breath and told herself to get a grip.
She would face whatever came her way. She had to.