Authors: Samantha Combs
Spellbound (30 page)
Serena seemed okay with Elizabeth and Skylar, so I went to find her. I was anxious to talk to Jade. I found them standing and talking with Aisling and Echo.
“Hey, Mom. Hey Jade.”
Jade jumped into my arms.
“Logan! Oh my spells! Thank you, thank you, and thank you. I knew you would save me, big brother. I kept telling Sully, don’t worry; Logan is going to come through. I mean, after I had to tell him about the whole, we’re all witches thing, he pretty much believed anything I would tell him. And you would think as long as you and he have been best friends it would have been easy for him to believe that one, but I had to convince him you were up to it. That’s weird, right. Hey, where is Sully anyway? Oh, there he is!” I gently put my little sister down and followed where she was pointing. Sully sat slumped against the front barn door, looking a little shell-‐-shocked. Poor guy. I couldn’t blame him. I kissed my mom on the cheek, who said, “Go check on your friend, honey, we can talk later. I’m so proud of you. So proud.”
I walked over to Sully. He seemed so dazed he didn’t even notice me. I leaned down and clapped him gently on the shoulder
“Hey, Sul. How’s it going?”
Sully looked up sluggishly.
“Oh, hey, Logan. How you?”
He seemed to stare right through me. I waited till he made the cosmic connection. It took a minute, but he came back to me. He registered me and I watched fear, horror, and disbelief march across his face. Then I watched relief finally settle in his eyes.
“Is it over, Logan?”
“Yes.”
He sat silent for another minute.
“Are you a witch too?”
“It’s called warlock if you’re a male, but the short answer is yes, I am, I guess. In training.”
“I love her, you know. Your sister?”
“So I’m told.”
“You okay with that?”
“Yeah, I think I am.”
“Okay, then.”
“Okay.”
“Can we go home now, Logan? I miss my mom.”
“Yeah. We can go home.”
And we all did.
Chapter Thirty-‐-Four
LOGAN
It had been a beautiful day for a wedding. Serena told me she had dreamed about this day and the day in her dream matched this exactly. The garden had been in bloom and both sides of the aisles were alive with the gorgeous colors of spring flowers. The sun shined brilliantly like that first day that I met Serena and her sisters at the school. The guests were packed in the pretty white folding chairs patiently waiting for their first glimpse of the bride. I couldn’t believe how many guests were attending! The whole town had come to the wedding. The groom’s side seemed jammed as the bride’s side, although, truthfully, the groom’s side magically had more seats than the bride’s.
And speaking of the bride, here she came. She had never been more beautiful. After all the planning, the dress shopping, the countless hours spent thumbing through the millions of bridal magazines, the final candidate dress had been narrowed down and in my humble opinion, to perfect choice.
Logan!
Serena caught that and chastised me in mindspeak.
Seated next to me, I thought she had never been more beautiful.
She had chosen a pretty yellow dress to wear to the wedding, strapless, with a matching shawl and shoes. Knowing Elizabeth’s penchant for couture, I thought surely she had conjured this outfit up for her. I didn’t care how she got it; I thought she dressed gorgeous. She told me she didn’t want to wear anything to overshadow the bride.
Good luck with that.
I reached down and held her hand. I hoped she would be too occupied with the wedding vows to pay attention to anything I was thinking now. Because I kept thinking I couldn’t wait until she would be marrying me. I couldn’t wait to be her husband.
After the St. Patrick’s Day dance, I found it hard to say goodbye to everyone. Eden officially took over as the leader of the Council and by a silent midnight vote by the active witches of North America she had been voted in unanimously. Not surprisingly, the Council’s tyrannical actions of the last thirty years were not met favorably by many more than just Serena’s coven sisters. And then, suddenly, we had to say goodbye. One by one, we said farewell to the strong, unbelievable women who had become more than just friends to us. They had become like extensions of our own bodies, like second hearts. They all had their own lives and their own stories and now we were interlinked together for the rest of our lives. I knew we would always be in touch. But Skylar, he would stay with us. He and Serena had been apart for the first part of their lives and for now at least, they would be together. Tabitha was overjoyed at the idea of having a brother and treated him much like a new toy. She had been upset that she had been too young to take part in any of the coven activities, so getting a new brother seemed like a door prize for her. For Serena, it meant receiving a piece of her parents back. She couldn’t have been happier. And I loved making her happy.
My mom represented another person I loved to make happy.
Since Jade came home, she was happy all the time now. She told me that since all her children were home and all her secrets were out in the open now, she could lead a full and happy life. It got a little ridiculous. I mean, she hugged me all the time. After all the coven sisters had left, Eden remained as one of the last ones left. I came down the stairs at home one day and overheard her and my mom talking.
“Lily”, Eden said, “I told you one day your Logan would change from a boy to a man.”
“Yes. You did. And I think we can all agree that happened the night in the barn.”
“We can. But I wanted to share something else with you.
Something Prudence shared with me before she left. As you remember, Prudence has the gift of clairvoyance.”
“I do. What did she say?”
I nearly fell down the stairs because I wanted to know too.
“Logan’s destiny is not yet fulfilled. He is yet destined for greatness in the witch world.”
“How?” Lily wanted to know.
“Prudence didn’t know.”
“I understand. But is there something more you’re not telling me?”
“There is. But it’s a good thing, not bad. Prudence could foresee that Logan will not be alone. I hope you love Serena as much as Logan does, because she is his chosen one, his destiny.
Together they have a pre-‐-ordained future.”
“Oh, Eden. That’s so amazing. And don’t worry. I adore Serena. I welcomed her as a fellow witch, I welcomed her as my son’s girlfriend and I will be thrilled to welcome her as my daughter-‐-in-‐-law, when the day comes.”
Okay, now I did nearly fall down the stairs. I barely caught the banister in time before I rolled down into the hall. If that gave me away, they pretended they didn’t know, to spare me any embarrassment.
“Lily, it’s time for me to go now. Please believe me when I tell you, it has been my great pleasure to know you and your family. Your son is your great gift to us and we are grateful to you, his mother, for him.”
“Thank you, Eden. And I am so happy to know you. Please stay in touch and visit often.”
“You know, I believe, I will. There is a special place in my heart now for Lancaster, NH. Goodbye, Lily. Goodbye, Logan.”
That startled me, but I recovered. However, I got caught.
Did I forget they were witches?
“Um, goodbye, Eden. Travel safe.”
“I always do.” And with that, she was gone.
That had been three months ago. I kept my secret to myself.
It took a while but things got back to normal. I graduated high school and my mom, Elizabeth, Jade, Tabitha and Serena, were there. Sully graduated with me. He’s been pretty cool about the whole witches’ thing. Every so often Jade has to throw a spell on him to button his lips, but he’s doing the best he can.
Dave and Tamera’s wedding had always been scheduled for two weeks after graduation. And now here we were. Serena poked me in the ribs and I stopped reliving the last few months just in time to watch them say: I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride. I watched my best friend since I’d been a kid kiss the girlfriend he’d had since they were in diapers. Serena started to cry. I handed her a tissue and she dabbed her eyes.
“Hey silly, this is supposed to be a happy ending.”
“I know, Logan. I am happy. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
I glanced at my beautiful, crazy, witch girlfriend and I realized, I couldn’t have been happier, either. I wasn’t sure what might happen in the future, or what the future might hold for us, but I knew one thing. I would be with Serena. She represented my destiny. Prudence had seen it, and I believed it with every ounce of my being. And if I had to defend her again, I would, any time, any place. I hoped one day to be her proud husband, and stand by her side. Until that day came, I would be bound to my twitch, by our common destiny. Until that day, and every day after, I would remain spellbound.
About the Author
Samantha lives in Southern California with her husband and two beautiful children. When she’s not writing, she works full-‐-time, reads anything she can get her hands on, and enjoys the Food Network Channel and most reality television. She is also fascinated by blogs, has an irrational fear of Facebook and, if there was a flood, she would grab her lap-‐- top first, and her slippers second.
She loves to write paranormal romance (because there is nothing paranormal about her life at all) and she is working on Book Two for Spellbound. She currently has two other finished manuscripts in the paranormal genre, and one Middle Grade horror novella, written for her son, who loves the Goosebumps series. She looks forward to the day when she can write full-‐-time (and maybe pay the cable current, too!).
Astraea Press
Where Fiction Meets Virtue
www.astraeapress.com
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
