Chapter 6
The drive is longer than I expected. I expected them to live near the capital city but they don’t.
“I only live a couple of hours from here,” I say learning we are only a short way from their home.
“Really?” Vincent asks surprised.
“Rose Heights, I read it in your notes but no idea it where it is,” Nicholas admits.
“It’s a town where everyone is over fifty but my parents and me. It’s surrounded by a lake and forest,” I explain they look intrigued.
“It’s hidden, so easy to miss. You have to have a boat to get there and move around. All the buildings are built on little pieces of land but instead of roads we have canals.”
I have only left my town once and that was to go to school but I was taught local geography.
“Lake… You don’t mean Paddlefoot lake?” Vincent asks curiously.
“The forest in the centre?” Conrad adds. Then both look to Nicholas.
“Told you!” He says smugly. It is so unlike Nicholas.
I look to his brothers for explanation.
“We used to go there a lot as kids. Fishing with our dads and uncle. Nicholas used to say he saw a child in the trees in the centre forest.”
“Yes, but we never saw it. So no one believed him.”
I light up. “That was me!” I say excited. “I was the only child in town. I used to climb tree and people watch.”
There wasn’t any children, but I wasn’t lonely. I loved my childhood. But my parents were always reluctant to leave town.
Nicholas seems to smile brighter and hugs me. He is buzzing with happiness.
We don’t speak anymore about it because Cloud wakes up and we arrive at the Forster property. It appears to be huge and gated off. It takes a few minutes to drive from the gate to the house.
Arriving at the manor house, Conrad takes hold of Snow’s box and gets out first with Vincent close behind while Nicholas, Cloud, the driver and I wait in the car.
We can’t risk opening the back and taking out the luggage because Cloud is fast and would very likely escape.
“It’s been a while. He probably needs a toilet break,” Nicholas says and I nod, leaning over to the back to stroke the dog’s back. He whimpering and taps the door with his paw.
“If I let you out do you promise to stay close to me until I say otherwise?” I ask not certain he understands me.
“I don’t think we have much choice, unless we want a mess in the car,” Nicholas says. I agree and both climb out of the car closely followed by Cloud who quickly heads to some bushes and trees.
“I guess I’m going this way,” I tell him before quickly following the dog not wanting him to get into any trouble.
He chuckles and tells me to go ahead. He and the driver start moving the luggage from the car into the house.
I can hear the guys and some other people speaking walking closer towards us.
“You finished?” I ask Cloud quietly. He let out a yap and gives me a toothy grin before stepping out of the brush.
“What the…?! Get back!” I hear a man exclaim.
“Dad, it’s alright,” The guys are trying to tell him but no one is listening.
“No, it’s not. It’s a ceberus!”
I know straight away something bad is going to happen. Cloud must have sensed it too because he bares his teeth.
“No, dad!”
Hearing chanting I step beside Cloud. “No!” I say in a firm tone staring directly at the group.
Panic from the guys as a jolt shots towards me. But before reaching us it hit an invisible shield which seems to absorb it.
“As we were trying to tell you,” Conrad begins to explain. “That is Cloud. He is our intended’s familiar.”
“I made a shield!” I say excited and look down at Cloud who is still on guard but not growling anymore.
“Good job, Kat. See I told you that you could do it,” Nicholas says proudly.
He is with his brothers, a woman and two men. I’m guessing they are his parents.
“Sorry about that,” One says as they all approach me. But stop abruptly.
“Away,” I say to the shield and it disappears. All three of his parents look surprised.
“As I was trying to explain,” Nicholas says in a very proper tone. “This is Katrina, she is our fiancée and is an untrained level ten. She is here for protection.”
His fathers nod but his mother asks, “Protection? What can we do that she can’t?” I know it isn’t meant maliciously.
“I got lucky,” I state. “Last time I tried a protection spell I made a hat.”
“Yes. She’s good at spontaneous magic, not so much at spells.”
I stick me tongue out at him.
“It was very impressive,” One of the men says and his brother and wife agree.
And glance at Cloud who is unsure about the new people.
“This is Cloud.” I stroke his heads making both his heads give big toothy smile.
“He is a good boy. Mostly harmless. But needs training too.” Speaking of which he dashes off and before we realize what he’s doing he is crunching on what appears to be a cat.
“That wasn’t a pet, was it?” I ask nervously as he comes walking back over to me happily.
“No. Don’t worry. It was a wild cat,” One of the men answers.
“Kat, these are our fathers, Lewis and Ryan and our mother, Ellen.”
“Hello,” I greets them nervously. “Sorry, he scared you.”
They greet me, assuring me everything is fine.
Ellen appears afraid of Cloud whereas her partners are more curious.
“You can touch him, he won’t bite you.” He is a lot happier now.
“Are you sure?” Ellen asks and Vincent nods. “He would have bit you already if he was going to.”
I half expected Cloud to bite someone but he is really good. Ellen quickly gets over her fears and is soon all but hugging him. “Mam really loves dogs,” Vincent says amused.
Just to be on the safe side, knowing their pet dog can’t stay in the house the whole time and it isn’t likely Cloud will be in the house much, we decide to introduce Cloud to Suga.
A tiny toy poodle, Cloud appears friendly with the dog. But we decide to be sure to have at least one of us out when Suga goes out, just to be on the safe side.
We tell them about the bad guys trying to find me and they are completely surprised. In fact they are convinced it is a member of staff. Makes sense.
“You only started at the academy this term, correct?” Ellen asks me over tea. I am sat with her in the garden and the boys are walking through the garden speaking to their fathers about me and our return I am guessing.
“Yes, I had finished my formal education when Jules Harington visited my town. Only I didn’t know he was an academy principal until I was offered a place. Nicholas was my greeting party.”
“And it was love it first sight?” She says with a dreamy look.
I can’t help but laugh. “I thought was beautiful alright. But then he opened his mouth and I wanted to do is slap him,” I admit. She is genuinely surprised. “Don’t get me wrong, I do love him, but he can be incredibly arrogant.”
She smiles amused and nods agreeing. “But you must have done something to win him over all those over girls. My boys have many admirers,” She says proudly. She is a little arrogant too, but I say nothing. She seems nice enough. Though every now and then I’ll catch her looking at me strangely.
“He actually pursued me.”
“Truly?” She asks taken by surprise.
“Yes. He sent me love letters, signing them ‘from your secret admirer.’ I had no idea it was him until recently.”
“Oh my goodness,” She exclaims covering her mouth.
“What is it, my love?” The guys have returned.
She turns to her husbands. “Nicholas is such a romantic. Why didn’t you send me love letters?”
His parents all look to him and he looks embarrassed.
“I always got the impression you disliked her, that she annoyed you,” One of his fathers says amused.
“I’ve never disliked her. But she can be infuriating, especially trying to teach her spells.”
“I can do spells!” I try to argue. “The disappearing spell technically worked.”
“That wasn’t a spell!”
“It made it disappear.” He gives me a look I know all too well. He is amused but hiding it behind his strict expression. “My tea spell and dinner yesterday.”
“They aren’t spells,” We continue back and forth like until Conrad interrupts.
“They aren’t traditional spells as we know them, but they are spells and work for her. But I do agree with Nicholas, she needs to work on them.”
“Are you really a level ten?”
“According to the principal.”
“Yes,” Nicholas and I answer his mother at the same time. “She can do magic without saying a word.”
He begins to ramble about me. I don’t think he realised, he has a faraway happy look. Saying how beautiful and intelligent I am, that even my clumsiness is cute. His parents and brothers listen amused. He continues for a minute until my face is red from embarrassment. Noticing my face instead of shying away, he pulls me into his arms.
“Do you still have the letters?”
“I do. Nicholas wasn’t even on my list of possible admirers,” I admit.
She nods understanding. “It is quite a shock for us when the ring disappeared. We had thought the ring was stolen.”
“Nicholas is the last we expected to find our bride,” Vincent says agreeing.
Their fathers agree.
“But then again the other two didn’t seem very interested in any of the women they were introduced to either.”
Their parents are very open with everything. The family hold gatherings and dinner parties where they would meet daughters of family friends. The guys have many admirers but they have never been interested in any of them before now.
This makes me very happy.
Then the questions about my family begin.
“My mother is a vet and my father a doctor in a small village.”
“Any other family?” I shake my head.
“They must be high levels too?” One of their fathers ask curiously.
“Actually they don’t have any.”
“Not even low level?” They appear surprised.
“No. I was the only person with any magic in the whole village.”
They ask about my childhood, education and then finally my surname.
Before I have a chance to answer the final question a man comes around the side of the house, calling to them, “Sorry, is this a good time?”
As he grows closer I recognise him straight away. He is identical to my father, only with longer hair. He even sounded the same. But I know he isn’t my dad. Don’t ask me how, I just do.
My parents always insisted they never had any family. I am almost certain he is related to my dad, but know they must have had a good reason to lie, so hide any sign of recognition.
But seeing Nicholas’s parents glancing back to me I realise why they have been asking so many questions and looking at me strangely all the time. If he truly is related to my dad then maybe these people have met my mother before. I have always looked like her younger twin.
“No, this is a perfect time. They boys fiancée is here.”
He raises his brows and moves his eyes to me. He slows to almost a stop, his eyes gloss over and he looks depressed. But blinks the tears always and easily hides it.
“This is Katrina,” They introduce me.
“Katrina, this Evan Wren, a close life long family friend.” An odd introduction, but then again the family are all a little odd.
