Chapter Thirty-Four
Echo
My parents’ room was a bust.
Just their clothes, Mom’s jewelry, and some naughty things in the nightstand I wished I hadn’t seen.
Asher, however, found some things he thought to point out once I descended the stairs.
“Found these.” He handed me a yellow flyer, and a letter with my name on it, scribbled in my mother’s handwriting.
“Where’d you find this?” I set the flyer down, determining it wasn’t the main priority right now.
“It was in a hidden compartment behind the bread cubby in the kitchen. I could feel trapped energy there and found that.” Asher looked concerned as I slowly broke the seal and pulled out a long letter written by my mom. As soon as I started reading, my legs gave out. Asher caught me, bringing me to the dusty-as-hell couch. He didn’t say anything as I read on, hearing her voice in my head with tears brimming.
Dearest Echo,
My sweet mountain nymph.
I pray this letter is never needed, and after your sixteenth birthday, there will be no reason to keep it since your father and I will have had the chance to tell you everything. If this letter was still behind the bread cubby then we failed you.
I’m sorry for that. So much more than you will ever know.
You have always been a special girl, but if you’re reading this then you know you are undoubtedly more special than anyone could imagine. We learned you were going to have powers when I was pregnant with you. A young man who came with his family to convert us to the ways of Christianity pulled me aside and told me about you. He had the power of divination. He told us of the wonders you would do for mankind and beast alike once you turned sixteen. He told us that the burden placed on your shoulders would come with a price. He did not say what, but after we left their tent, we decided we wanted you to have a normal childhood, and we would tell you on your birthday when the change would come.
I’m sorry we didn’t get the chance to tell you about your powers, to tell you that I was like you. We knew there was a chance that you wouldn’t have any gifts in your genes, with your father being simply human. But after speaking with that man, we knew you had taken after me.
We love you so much and know that whatever you set your spirit on, you will succeed. Live strong and love hard.
With all the love we possess,
Mom and Dad
P.S.
My animal was a bear, and no matter how long I’ve been gone, know that my bear is strong within you, keeping you safe like us mother bears do.
I sobbed.
I sobbed so hard that all I could do was hold onto Asher and drench his shirt with tears.
My mother could change into a bear, my favorite animal form to be in.
Asher rubbed my head soothingly as I cried for my parents, for my past, and for my future. I wished I would have known why they’d kept this secret about my powers from me. I wished I’d have known about hers, and what they knew of my future. Her voice was still fresh in my memory from reading the letter, and I didn’t want to ever forget it. She was there with us in that moment, I knew it. Whether there was an afterlife or nothing at all, I felt her spirit with me. Smiling at me, knowing that at last I’d found the truth.
Once the tears began to dry, my resolution began cementing itself to my soul. I sat up from Asher’s torso and began thinking about my next move.
“Badass mom, just like her badass girl.” Asher leaned in to kiss my forehead, and I instantly felt better.
“Thank you for finding this for me.” I would never be able to repay him for this treasure from my parents, but I also knew I would never need to. He did it out of love, with nothing wanted in return.
Asher loved me, and I knew it. I tasted it on his blood when we first had sex in the woods. He hadn’t told me yet, but I knew anyway.
“The flyer.” The memory struck me that he’d handed me a flyer, too, which must have been important as well if he singled it out from all the other things in the house.
“Yeah, that,” he commented and retrieved it.
He handed it to me, and I knew my face relayed my puzzlement as I read the flyer.
It was about an event at the river, a baptism for those who had lost faith and wanted to be wiped clean of their sins. Seahill Community Church.
“Wasn’t that the name of—”
“Sarah and Robert Burke’s current congregation. Yep. Looks like I have a connection after all.” While it may not be the Burkes since they weren’t there at the time, there was still something going on down town and I was going to get to the bottom of it.
Asher and I left my childhood home and drove back toward the city just as dusk descended. A time of transition, and I could feel it in my bones that something big was coming. Changing, molding the world for night.
I would be there to stop it.
But first we had a party to attend.