Yule was just as somber, everybody was lost deep into their thoughts, and Katy waited until after Yule to tell Riley about their mother. The day after Yule Katy went to the room Riley shared with Jerome, though most were convinced that Riley no longer posed a threat to Katy. “Jerome, can I have a few minutes with Riley really quick?” Katy asked, as she stood at the door, wringing her hands in her hoodie. She had taken to wearing beanies and hoodies almost all the time since September.
“Sure, I am going to take Deen to Marcus’s Village later, did you want to go?” Jerome asked as he left the room.
“Sure, after I talk with Riley.” Katy said and waited to close the door until Jerome left.
“What’s up little sister?” Riley asked, he could not read her thoughts, but by the look on her face he knew the news was not good.
“Riley…” Katy did not know how to tell him the truth.
There as a knock on the door. “May I come in?” It was Edgar.
“Sure. What is going on?” Riley asked, he shot a look to Katy.
“Katy was going to tell you something, but someone else would like to explain what is going on.” Edgar stated and moved to allow the other person to enter.
Headmaster O’Cuinn swished into the room. “Hello Katherine Lillian and Riley James. This discussion, it seems is long past due.” Headmaster O’Cuinn stated and swished his wand in the air and created himself a chair and sat down.
“What discussion?” Riley was confused. Katy just had a stern look on her face and was kind of on the verge of sparking. “Katy what is going on? What is wrong? You should calm down.”
“Yes, that would be wise Katherine Lillian.” The headmaster stated, as he looked at the new teenaged witch.
Edgar shook his head and came over a placed a hand on Katy’s shoulder. “Calm down. I understand but you have to keep calm.”
Katy knew he was right and took a deep breath; she tried to steady the rage within her. How dare he now come and explain everything? Why now? She had to find out on her own, and now he would just hand the information over to Riley. “Fine. Explain Headmaster.” Nobody could miss the disdain in Katy’s voice.
“Katy…” Riley started again.
“No let her be. She has the right to be angry at me, young Riley. A very good reason. For the last two years she has sought answers, for the last two years I have made those closest to her keep those answers from her. No longer, it seems; she knows more then she should. More than I am ready for her to know. But that has not stopped the knowledge from presenting itself to her. Even the creatures of our world have taken the opportunities to seek her out to inform her of information they feel is correct. Though they have no proof. Nobody has proof.” Headmaster O’Cuinn glared at Edgar.
“Proof, the wand isn’t proof enough? How about the bloody banshee queen that came to my house! Goodness sakes Oeric, a dragon that nobody could understand, she understands, he spoke to her, told of war. A war is coming! Katy has seen visions of it! The judge of the beyond sent her back! Nobody has ever come back! NOBODY! The Judges of the Beyond do not make deals, Oeric! No proof? What more do you need! The charm around her neck, the charm your sister gave her, glows when she feels like crying, it burns when she is angry. I am sure if I look out the window there are more fairies here than ever have been! They feel her, Oeric! It rained around the world the day she found out the truth! What more proof do you need Oeric?” Edgar yelled; he was done with people sticking their heads in the sand.
“I didn’t say I didn’t believe it, I just said that when they started seeking her out there was no proof!” Oeric yelled back. “They are dragging her into this war! It is not fair!”
“Life isn’t bloody fair! She knows this better than anybody…” Edgar would have continued, but Katy sent a ball of fire around the room as a warning.
“STOP FIGHTING! We can’t be fighting amongst ourselves!” Katy yelled, and then she continued in a whisper. “If we do Darkness wins, she wins… she did this… the woman… I can’t believe…” Katy’s heart broke; she hated to actually have to say it out loud. It started to storm; the rain pounded against the windows. Little balls of light hovered around the windows, the fairies affecting the weather; they felt her sorrow, her pain. Confirming the fact her mother was Darkness, it was different when she was told the information, different before the shock that the woman she thought was good, thought was her hero, was her greatest enemy. It had not killed the love, even though Katy knew how this would end, she could not stop loving her mother. “She was my mom… and I will have to kill her…” Katy started to sob heavy sobs.
Edgar pulled her close and held on to her and let her cry. “See Oeric, she knows what is expected from her and it kills her, but she still knows it must happen!”
“It is killing her that is why I wanted to wait!” Oeric yelled as he stood up. “SHE IS STILL A CHILD! No matter her intelligence, her power, her choices, she is still only just thirteen! A CHILD!” Oeric took a breath. “I wanted that to last. Just a bit longer.”
“STOP IT!” Riley yelled. “You heard what she said, we can’t fight. What is this about her killing her mom…? Our mother is dead. What is going on?”
Oeric stopped and looked at him. “Fine, I will explain.”
“No,” Katy stated. “I was going to tell you. You can’t just come in and tell him. You wouldn’t tell me!”
“I didn’t want you to find out… and now that you know… there is no reason to hide it.”
“Do you know the story of Goodness and Darkness Riley?” Edgar asked, as he sat down on a chair he conjured. He took control; he wanted to calm Katy down. Antonio was out buying gifts and Sandra had been called to the hospital. He looked down at Antonio and Sandra’s new daughter and never thought when he met Antonio over two hundred years ago their families would be so connected to the war to end all magical wars.
“No… never heard of it.”
“It is a creation story.” Edgar stated and proceeded to tell him the same version he had to Deen and Katy not so long ago.
“So…” Riley’s thoughts were confused.
“It’s real Riley.” Katy stated. “There is a being that is Darkness reincarnated and a being that is made…”
“That is Goodness…” Riley stated as he let things click in his mind.
“Yes,” Oeric stated.
“Katy…” Riley started.
“That is the thought of many;” Oeric answered.
“Yes…” Katy started; still nobody said the words out loud.
“That means mother…”
“Is alive. Aunt Aaliyah is innocent.” Katy stated, confirming the thoughts she knew he was having race around his mind.
“Aunt? We have more family?”
“Yes. You have me and Lua, as well as Aaliyah. You know this, yet you put it from your mind. You don’t question everything like young Katherine Lillian. You know there are reasons you are not with Lua or me. I should have seen what your mother was turning into. At first, I thought it was just Solomon, he was teaching at the school when she started there. By the time she was fifteen she was in love with him. Before she even graduated there were plans for their wedding, our mother gave them permission to marry before she was of age, and of course I was against it. I was teaching at the school as well, and I knew the Solomons. I thought it was their darkness that corrupted her, but she was… She is Darkness.”
“What?” Riley was confused. Darkness, Goodness, why? How? His thoughts were jumbled.
“It may be wrong.” Katy stated again so that way she could deny that she would have to destroy her mother. She still hoped beyond hope that what was happening was not real. That she did not have to kill her mother. That someone else had to kill the being known as Darkness. That the White Being was not Senka Poe-Solomon. That she had another daughter somewhere that would have to bear this. But then Katy felt guilty and knew she did not truly wish that in her soul. She could never wish that pain on anybody. Not even Richard Solomon, who was determined to kill her.
“Wrong?” Riley asked, confused. “Yes… Wrong… The fates wouldn’t push this on Katy. Yes, this is just myth…” Riley tried to convince himself, but he knew Katy would never lie to him. He knew if his mother was alive, to allow Katy to be homeless, to allow him to remain with his father, and for her to allow her sister to remain in Ghastly, the witches’ prison, and then she was evil. “To allow the things…” Riley could not continue it hurt. “She would have to be Darkness.”
“Riley…” Katy started, but she did not want any of this to be true and if she just ignored the truth then it would not be real. “Riley, I think we need more proof.”
“Yes, proof is needed, major amounts of proof. I mean how could someone not know that our mother is evil reincarnated before now. I mean how can anybody be one hundred percent evil. No, you are right we need proof. Lots and lots of proof.” Riley replied in one breath as he tried to ignore the details he had just been told.
Katy looked at all of them; all of them had the same empty feeling in their soul. They knew that there was too much truth. They knew who Katy was; they knew how her life would end. Katy sighed and started to walk out of the room. “You know I am a mature child, a mature teen, beyond my years; I don’t want any more secrets between the families. Secrets will be our undoing.” Katy stated and walked away. She knew that time would come where she would lose one of them, or maybe all of them, but until that day she was going to do everything in her power to change that.
Kris Charles - Author 