Thankfully, the cab finally arrived and I directed the
driver to my next and most urgent stop of the day, Nelson Porter’s house.
****
Although the commute to Nelson’s house was about a twenty-minute
drive, it seemed as if it took hours. I was so anxious to get there, I did not even
protest at the over-the-top price tag the cab driver charged me, and paid
without even batting an eye.
Once I was at the front porch, I knocked with renewed
enthusiasm, hoping to God that the old man was home. I had not bothered with
thinking on whether or not he was around, but now that I was standing on his
front porch, knocking on the door as if I wished I could knock it down, I was
terrified that I made the trip to his house for nothing.
I let out a silent prayer of thanks when the door swung open
just as I was getting ready to assault the wooden frame with another set of
punches, which were likely to harm my knuckles, and saw a surprised Nelson
Porter staring back at me.
“Leah? What are you doing here? If you’re looking for
Brandon, he’s not—”
“I didn’t come here looking for him. I came looking for
you.”
He seemed genuinely surprised by my words. “For me? Why?”
I reached into my front pocket, took out the pieces of paper
and blue ribbon, and practically shoved it into his face.
The second he saw them, Nelson gasped out loud and stared
back at me as if I had grown a second head. “How did you…? I can’t believe it!”
“Neither can I.”
“Come on in.” He moved aside to allow me passage into his
home and hurried to close the door and lock it before turning toward me. “When
did you get this?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
“Why didn’t you come to see me then? I thought you would
never come.”
“You knew who I was the first time you met me?”
“No, of course not. I had no way of knowing.”
Exasperated, I let out a sigh of frustration before saying, “I
need explanations, lots of them.”
“Sit down first.”
I sat on the huge couch and waited in silence for him to say
something.
“Something to drink?”
“No, I’m fine. The only thing I need right now is an
explanation”
“Well, I suppose the letter is pretty self-explanatory.”
“It is.”
“But you need me to confirm it?”
I shrugged. “I guess so.”
“Up until five seconds ago, I didn’t think you would show up
at all. I’m as surprised as you probably were when you read that letter.”
“The letter says you knew I would come to you. How?”
“Aside from being born an Enchanter, Josh was also a Seer.
He could see into the future.”
“The letter says nothing about that.”
“I’m guessing Josh Parker wrote down what he felt was more
important for you to know. But the truth is that Josh was a Seer and as he had
visions of what was going to happen, he took steps to prevent them. That’s how
he stayed one step ahead of Lasher and his minions for as long as he did.”
“Then how come he ended up dead?”
Nelson sighed heavily as he leaned against the recliner he
was sitting on. “Sometimes the future holds things that cannot be changed,
Leah. Josh knew this, but he did his best to prevent Lasher from finding you.”
“He succeeded.”
“He did.”
“Why does he ask me in this letter to find you before
midnight tonight?” I asked as I waved the pieces of paper in front of me.
“Because if I don’t reverse the binding spell before
midnight tonight, you’ll never get your powers back.”
Talk about a wakeup call. “What?”
“The spell is not the kind that wears off. Only the people
present when it was castcan reverse it before it becomes permanent.
Unfortunately, there was also a time-lapse to it and unless it’s reversed
before that time ran out, the consequences would be dire.”
“Well, it’s a good thing the letter found me in time then. What
do we do now?”
“Now that you’re here, I need to reverse the spell so that
you can learn how to use your abilities.”
“I have a few more questions though.”
“Fire away.”
“Enchanters lose their abilities if they take a human as a
partner. By not telling me who I was, Josh practically—”
“Josh was a Seer, Leah, he knew you wouldn’t—”
“He knew I wouldn’t have sex with anyone before finding out
who I am?”
Nelson’s eyes grew as I said that, nearly forcing a burst of
laughter out of me.
“Well, yes, I suppose he knew.”
“That was still a pretty big risk.”
“Yes, it was. But Josh’s vision never failed him, so he
trusted his ability,” Nelson said.
“Okay, I have another question, and this one is really
nagging my brain.”
“All right, ask away.” Surprisingly enough, Nelson appeared
quite comfortable with my prodding for information, although he was probably
expecting it.
“My dad was a Seer, right? So, did he see that my real
mother, Danica, was going to have twins instead of just one child?”
“No, he did not see that coming. Then again, not everything
in the future is certain. Like I told you once before, things happen.”
“Yeah, well, I got the full meaning of that a little while
ago.”
“You thought your future was already mapped out and then,
voila, it completely changed from one moment to the next.”
“Funny, how the world works.”
“I would say so, Leah. Or should I call you by your real
name, Estella Wright?”
“I’ll have to get used to that name first before I start
using it. That is, if I can ever call myself by it. I’ve been Leah Parker for
so long that allowing others to call me by any other name just feels... weird,”
I protested.
I watched as the older man bobbed his head up and down. “I
understand.”
“Does Brandon know about the real Giver of Life?” I subtly changed
the subject – or, more accurately, directed it to my real point of interest.
“I don’t think he does.”
“The day we stopped by, why didn’t you tell him?”
“I tried, but you interrupted. Don’t you remember?”
Oh, right, the moment I rose from the couch and introduced
myself because things between Natalie and Brandon were getting a little too
cozy for my comfort. “I remember.”
“I had no idea you are the child I’ve been waiting for.
There’s nothing about you that screams Enchanter to me, but then again, the
spell Josh cast upon you is one of the most powerful ones out there. No demon,
wizard, witch, voodoo priestess, vampire, werewolf, so on and so forth, can see
past it. Before I took your sister away from our home, Josh told me I should
move back into town before your twenty-first birthday. He told me you would
come
alone
to see me and would produce the items I needed to see in
order to recognize you. When you showed up with Brandon, I had no reason to
even think you could be the Giver of Life.”
“Where
is
my sister?” I asked, although by this
point, I suspected the truth.
“You met her the other day.”
“Natalie is my twin sister?”
“Yes.”
I nodded, accepting his answer. “Speaking of which, where is
she right now?” I was actually quite surprised that she had not emerged yet.
“She’s out with…” Nelson paused, obviously hesitating.
“With Brandon?” When he nodded, I jumped off the couch in an
instant. “Don’t tell me they ran off to elope!”
“You’re terrified of losing him, aren’t you?”
There was no point denying the truth because he could
probably see it on my face anyway, so I said nothing.
“Rest assured that they are not participating in any kind
of… indiscreet activity. They just went out to the park to spend some time
together.”
The truth behind those words stung more than a slap to the
face. Brandon had no idea that I was an Enchanter, and since I had asked him so
many times to fulfill his destiny, that was exactly what he was doing. However,
the fact that Natalie and he were alone, and that he had not bothered to answer
my calls, upset me and made me want to go in search of them.
Unfortunately, I could not do that. I was in Nelson’s place
because I had something important to do, and I could not leave until that duty
was finished.
“Why?”
“Why else? So that they could get to know each other
better.”
Forcing myself to push Brandon away so that he could fulfill
his destiny was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. Accepting that
he was not for me, but for someone else, had broken my heart, but I had done it.
And now things had just taken a drastic one-eighty turn. Not only was I an
Enchanter, but the Giver of Life he had sworn to protect.
“That won’t be necessary now that I’m here.”
For a second I thought I caught a brief smile cross the
older man’s features, but it was gone so quickly I was not entirely sure.
“You really have a thing for him, don’t you?”
“Oh, it’s more than just a thing,” I assured him.
“Natalie is quite fond of him too, you know.”
“I don’t care. I saw him first.” Such an immature thing to
say, but I did not give a damn.
“Why don’t we get to work reversing the spell before you
decide to pull your sister’s hair out?”
“Sure, I can do that.” Not that I had much of a choice in
the matter.
“I’ll be needing that ribbon.”
“This thing? For what?” I eyed the strip speculatively
before handing it over to Nelson.
“This is not just an ordinary ribbon, my dear. Here lies the
key to reversing the spell. Although I’ll be needing a few drops of your blood,
too.”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you cut your finger when you were opening the
envelope?”
“And how do you know that?”
“Josh was good at what he did, and he wasn’t going to leave
an envelope behind with this—” Nelson lifted the ribbon and waved it before him
several times. To my utmost shock, I watched as the once small and thin strip of
blue ribbon magically turned into a rectangular-shaped piece of blue paper with
some strange black symbols, similar to the ones Brandon had painted on top of
the charm he gave me, written on one side of it, “—magical spell behind for
anyone to easily find. The envelope was surely protected by an incantation that
would allow for only you to open it.”
“The manila folder disintegrated when a drop of my blood
fell on it.”
Nelson nodded. “Yes, that would have done the job nicely.
Had anyone else tried to open the folder they wouldn’t have been able to.”
“What if they tried to burn it?” I argued.
“They would have gotten one hell of a show.”
Not bothering to elaborate, Nelson gestured for me to follow
him to the kitchen before turning on his heels and strolling away.
Curious to see what was going to happen next, I followed Mr.
Porter to the kitchen, where he once again gestured for me to sit, this time on
one of the dining room chairs. I did as he instructed and watched as he
disappeared into the living room only to reemerge a minute later with what
looked like a wooden musical box.
The rectangular chest was black with blue symbols, also
identical to those on Brandon’s charm and the blue paper that was once a
ribbon, painted over all sides of it. The elaborateness of the detailed carving
along with the beauty of the mystical symbols took my breath away.
As I watched in silence, Nelson placed the chest on the
table and opened it before removing a silver dagger with a short, black handle
from within. The dagger was also covered in ancient-looking symbols. The silver
part of the blade had symbols engraved into it, unlike those on the handle,
which appeared to have been hand-painted on the surface of it.
The entire length of the blade could not have been more than
six inches long, but it was incredibly intimidating.
“You’re not going to stab me, are you?”
Nelson smiled. “Don’t be such a baby. I’m just going to dip
the tip of this blade into your finger, deep enough to draw blood. That’s all.”
Did he just call me a baby? The nerve! Let me wave a
dagger that size in front of his face and see how he’ll react!
“That’s all?” My eyes widened. “I already have a cut.” I
raised my hand to show him the paper cut on my index finger.
“Good, now I know where to start.”
Oh, hell!
“Is this really necessary?”
He scoffed. “What do you think?”
“Fine, let’s get it over with.”
Nelson reached out for the finger that’d had its battle with
the manila folder earlier in the day, and inserted the tip of the blade deep
enough for the cut, which was still red and puffy from earlier, to reopen and
blood to resurface. As soon as the first drop of blood slid past the opening in
my skin, Nelson grabbed the blue paper with the strange symbols written on it,
and began to chant in a language I had never heard before while holding on to
my hand with one of his and the paper with the other.
It took only a few seconds for my body to begin to feel as
if someone had dropped a boulder on me long ago and it was finally, with
Nelson’s guttural chants, being lifted off of me. In a flash, a current of ice
cold air appeared out of nowhere and rushed through me several times before
disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. Although the breeze was gone, the
temperature in the room dropped drastically.
Despite this sudden change in atmospheric condition, I felt
anything but cold. I was warm enough that my body began to sweat as if I was
inside a sauna. The contrast between the room temperature and my own confused
me. I began to wonder how it was that Mr. Porter seemed unbothered by anything going
on around him.
I mean, my discomfort should have been apparent to anyone,
but Nelson did not appear to notice at all. He was so busy chanting away that
not once did he actually pause to look at me. He remained focused on the piece
of paper and the inscription written on it the entire time I was struggling to
control the heat emanating from within me and which was trying to force itself
out.