Free Spellbound by Samantha Combs Page A

story filled in holes about my mother’s early life I had never heard about.
    “Your mother knew true love. And nothing would stand in her way.” I gasped, wide-‐-eyed. So did Elizabeth. And we were both on the edge of our seats.
    “What happened?” I asked, breathlessly, my fatigue all but forgotten.

    “Well,” said Eden, “They did what all star-‐-crossed lovers do when no one approves of their love. They ran away. Heath,” she spoke directly to me, holding my gaze captive; I could hardly breathe. “So like your father. He knew about your mother’s powers and he knew the Council; he knew they would never allow them their happiness. And your mother knew it too. So they ran as far away as they could. They were already with child.” Her face glazed over with tenderness at my sister, who had tears in her eyes. She reached out and they joined hands, both thinking, I know, of the fear and the journey of the two doomed lovers who were my parents.
    “They settled in a small town in England,” she closed her eyes and stopped speaking for a few seconds, then slowly opened them. “I forget where, and busied themselves with the business of raising a family. They had a sweet little girl, a precious blond,” she gestured toward me, “whom they named Serena, and completed their family with a scamp of a redhead…”
    “Tabitha!” I burst out.
    “Yes, Tabitha. They were so happy. So in love with each other, and with you girls. They thought nothing could invade that perfect joy. Lucinda should have realized that couldn’t have been further from the truth.” Eden’s face darkened. “My dears, your father, Heath, he could never be one of us. He could not have understood. There is a code of conduct among witches, girls. The Council hasn’t enforced it for centuries, not since the time of those embarrassing witch trials in Salem in the 1600’s, but there have been some grave and disturbing changes in the Council that have many of us concerned.” Eden got up from her seat and began to pace around the small sitting area, circling the couple chairs and table.
    “Leadership has changed hands and they did not take kindly to the fact that a promising witch had left her coven for, well, for a mere mortal. They set it to a vote and unbelievably, incredibly,” Eden paused, swallowed, and when she spoke again, she almost whispered, “they decided.”

    “Decided?” Elizabeth and I both asked in unison.
    “What got decided?” I demanded.
    Eden again circled in front of the small lounge couch. She appeared defeated at my question. She sat heavily, the weight of my inquiry visible on her shoulders.
    “They decided that your mother should answer for her insolence and your father should be…be terminated.”
    “NO!” I screamed and sobbed into my sister’s arms. She held me tightly even as I felt the tears falling from her own face.
    “How could they do that?” I wailed into my sister’s chest. “They had children!”
    “In discussions I’m told they felt if they handled it when you were younger it would be easier for you to overcome.”
    “Easier!” My sister spat the word. “Younger! They weren’t younger! Serena still remembers the smell of his flannel shirts!
    Tabitha still has the memory of waking up and hearing them laughing together in the morning, making breakfasts before any of us were awake! I still recall walking in on them kissing and looking into each other’s eyes! They were so happy! Overcome! I’d like to speak to the genius who came up with that piece of snap psychology!” I’d never seen my sister so mad before. She punctuated every word with a punch in the air with the arm not holding me in a death-‐-grip. Her eyes flashed.
    Eden acted like my sister had actually hit her.
    “I’m so sorry. I didn’t come here to upset you girls. I came here only to warn you.”
    “Great,” I muttered, disentangling myself from Elizabeth
    “my second one today.”
    “What do you mean?” asked