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“Of course, sir.” He stated. Mr. Abbey nodded and stood up, extending his hand to me.
“Until tomorrow, Raven.” He said, his eyes twinkling as I shook his warm, dry hand.
“Tomorrow.” I agreed, shaking his hand firmly. As terrible as the day had been, I was grateful to finally have some answers.
Conrad put his hand on my shoulder and gestured to the front door. I turned to Meredith giving her a shaky smile.
“Thanks. For having me, I mean.” I felt oddly shy suddenly. She smiled serenely back at me.
“Not at all Raven, it was our pleasure.” I nodded and gave both Meredith and my principal a small wave before turning to follow Conrad out of the witch's house.
14
The sun was setting as we made our way back to his run-down hornet. Mr. Abbey and Meredith stood on the porch as we got into the car. As they waved us off I could have sworn the pumpkin vines waved goodbye with them. Once we were buckled in and Conrad had adjusted the radio to the only station in Toronto that played reggae, he finally turned to me beaming.
“Well, mi tink dat went well.” He said, dropping his sunglasses down over his eyes, despite the ever increasing darkness. Conrad threw on the left-hand turn signal once we got to the end of the street and we waited for the light to change.
I watched a young dark-haired man standing on the sidewalk as he took long lazy drags from a cigarette. He seemed to be watching us carefully and I wished Conrad would use his magick to make the light turn green. I was so tired. All I wanted to do was curl up with my new library book and find the poem that Amon had read to me. It had been such an odd encounter. Well, everything about today had been odd.
And those eyes, they had been so green. So piercing. As if he could see that hand that held my heart. As if he knew who I was. I shuddered and scratched the skin on my chest underneath Meredith’s Triquetra. Amon was dangerous. I needed to remember that.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said, passively. The light turned green, and I watched the dark-haired man get smaller and smaller in Conrad’s side view mirror. “I’m a little overwhelmed though,” I admitted.
“Mi don’t blame yuh. Is nuff tuh take in all at once.” He grinned at me out of the corner of his eye. “Yuh took it like a champ though.” He said as he took his hand off the gear shift to playfully punch me in the arm. I mustered a smile back.
“Yeah, I guess so. I’m just glad I didn’t puke again at Meredith’s house.” I made a face. Conrad laughed.
“Don’t tell me yuh actually puked? When?” He asked. I shrugged.
“At my house, earlier. A lot of…strange things happened, and I thought I was going crazy.” I picked at my nails nervously. “I still kind of think I am.” I felt Conrad’s aura brush against mine, I think as an effort to comfort me. The resulting sensation was comparable to burying your toes in the sand while the tide washed in. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back on the headrest as we drove, Beenie Man’s voice drifting through the speakers. Neither of us spoke again for the rest of the ride.
The familiar bounce and flash of emergency lights greeted us as we pulled onto my street.
“What’s going on?” I wondered out loud, straightening up in my seat. An ambulance and a police cruiser were parked nearly directly in front of my house. I almost panicked, immediately thinking of Clair and Jeremy.
As we pulled closer, I could see that police tape was wrapped around Mrs. Serafini’s house and not ours. Neighbors had started to gather around as Conrad pulled up and parked behind the EMS vehicle. Conrad and I got out of the car and walked over to join the rest of the neighbors.
Two paramedics came out of the house, carrying a stretcher between them. Their slow, somber pace spoke volumes. If the figure on the stretcher had been alive they would have been running down the front steps. I caught a glimpse of Mrs. Serafini’s white hair as the paramedics loaded her corpse into the back of the ambulance.
A woman appeared in the doorway of the house. She was in near hysterics, reaching after the ambulance. I recognized her as Mrs. Serafini’s daughter. The man who must have been her husband appeared behind her and pulled her gently back into the house, whispering comforting words in her ear. I was so engrossed in the heart-wrenching scene that I almost didn’t hear the neighbors whispering.
The neighbors spoke in hushed tones, sharing details of what they knew of the situation. Mrs. Serafini’s daughter had come by after work to visit and had found her mother dead on the kitchen floor. The medics had said she had died sometime early in the afternoon. Heart attack. I did the math in my head.
That shock wave of energy that I had let out. That had happened early in the afternoon. The birds. I had killed all of those birds… Conrad grabbed my wrist as he heard the realization pour through my mind.
“Raven no,” He growled. I looked at him, feeling hot tears fill my eyes.
“Conrad… did I?” I nearly stumbled over the words. He shook his head.
“Is a coincidence,” He murmured under his breath so the onlookers wouldn’t hear.
“She lives right next door. She was home when it happened.” I hissed. The panic was rising in my chest again. He started to usher me towards my house. I heard someone call my name and turned to find Clair rushing over in her scrubs. She must have just finished her shift.
“Raven, what happened?” Clair’s worried face was almost enough to push me over the edge. I stopped to greet her, hot tears sliding down my face. I resisted the urge to completely melt down right there in the middle of the street.
“Mrs. Serafini.” I said, my voice shaking. “She’s dead.”
Clair took in the ambulance and the caution tape that wrapped our neighbor’s lawn. She nodded solemnly and frowned at my tears, no doubt wondering why her death had shaken me up so badly.
