Page 86 of The 13th Daughter
My father wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "You're safe now."
"What is going on?" I asked him dazed. "Everyone was so intent on killing me, now they're..."
He smiled at me. "The rain, Cassie Jayne. Spirit flows within it. It is commanded by your will. You have purged the hatred from their hearts with the strength and love in your own. It will take time for us to begin anew, but we will. You made sure of that."
"But Mom..."
He sighed. "Your mother damned herself when she conspired to kill your sister. I'm not sure anything can heal the darkness in her soul or that she even wants to be healed. I'm so sorry, honey. If there's a way to help her, we can try if you want. It's up to you."
"Everyone's calling me Mistress."
"Because you are, sweetheart. You were born to be the Coven leader. The book chose you a long time ago. It saw in you all the qualities it recognized in the last true Coven leader."
"I don't want this, Dad..."
"I told you once before, Cassie Jayne, it doesn't matter what you want or what you believe. You were born to be the Coven Mistress and you will."
"But I don't know how...I'm not ready..."
"I'll help you."
"I..."
"Shh." He leaned down and kissed my forehead like he used to do when I was little. "It'll be alright."
The town began to clean up the clearing. When they brought Jeff out of the woods, I beat his mother to the stretcher. He was alive. Relief swept through me and the hard ball of fear that had been in my stomach uncurled. I could breathe again.
"Thank the Fates," I breathed and grabbed his hand. "You're alive."
He tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace. The bullet had hit him in the chest. It was a miracle he was still breathing.
"We need to get him to the clinic, Mistress," John, one of the paramedics, gently pushed me away. "He's lost a lot of blood and the bullet is still in there. Doc has a lot of work to do."
"Let me help," I whispered and called upon Spirit once more.
"Spirit, aide me again this night.
Settle into your son and help him find peace and feel your healing balm."
He let out a painful gasp as Spirit invaded his body, but I smiled reassuringly. The Element would keep him alive until Doc could patch him up.
I nodded. "I'll come see you in a bit, Jeff."
My dad wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "You know, sweetheart, love isn't always fireworks and intensity. Sometimes love creeps up on you slowly and hits you when you least expect it."
"Dad," I said in a warning voice. I couldn't deal with this right now. Not yet.
"I know you're hurting, CJ. You loved Ethan, but don't close yourself off from love because of that pain. That boy right there loves you more than life itself. I think he's more than proven that."
He had proven it, over and over again. Truth was, I realized something when I saw him fall in the woods, when I didn't know if he was alive or dead. My dad was right. Love did creep up on you when you least expected it. Over the last month, I'd gotten to know Jeff really well and had seen him for the person he was. I loved him. Not like I did Ethan, but I loved him nonetheless. I just wasn't ready to deal with it yet.
"I know, Dad. I just need a little while to think, okay?"
He nodded. I pulled away from him and started walking away from the clearing. Once everyone was out of site, I ran. Hard and fast. I ran from the screaming in my own head, from the shattering of my heart. My world had cracked into a million tiny pieces.
I ended up falling to my knees under the tree in the park I thought of as mine and Ethan's. It was here the tears finally came. My shoulders shook and I shoved my fist into my mouth to keep from screaming. Ethan was gone...my family torn to pieces...I'd lost everything.
"No, little sister, you haven't lost everything."
