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“Caitlin,” she whispered as her eyes studied my face.
“Mom?” My voice was unsteady. I never thought I would ever say that word out loud to another human being. I thought my opportunity to call someone my mother had been irrevocably lost when I was five years old. But here she was, alive and looking at me like she would never let me out of her sights again.
When Simon was able to finally release her wrists, I tentatively moved toward her. I wanted to hug her, to feel for myself that she was real, but I didn’t want to scare her. She had been through unimaginable torture for so many years and I didn’t know if she would welcome my touch. My question was answered when she embraced me in a fierce hug, her arms strong around me even though I knew she must be incredibly weak.
“I never gave up,” she whispered. “I always knew I would see you again. It’s what kept me alive all these years.”
I couldn’t stop the tears from coming and for the first time in my memory, my mother held me while I cried. It was the most beautiful moment of my life.
*************************
We got out of there as quickly as we could, but not before Simon made quick work of cleaning the scene of our prints. I was amazed that even with everything that had happened to him, Simon was always thinking ahead.
It was hard to leave Ryan’s body behind, but I knew I had no choice. We were hoping that the police would think it was a disagreement turned deadly and that they wouldn’t look beyond the four bodies lying in the barn.
We were forced to leave Ryan’s car behind since we didn’t want any questions of it being found elsewhere, although we made sure to clear it of our belongings, as well as our prints. It was a long walk in the cold, especially since none of us were in the best condition.
It took two hours but we finally reached a gas station, and by that time we were frozen solid. Simon had lost his cell phone during his ordeal and my battery was dead, so we were grateful to use the payphone. He called a cab and we waited inside the small store for it to arrive. My mother didn’t say much throughout all of this, but she would periodically take my hand and squeeze it as if she had to reassure herself that I was really there.
We took the cab to the nearest motel since we had nowhere else to go. I was just grateful that we had money; otherwise I didn’t know where we would have gone. I called Sarah to let her know what had happened, although I didn’t go into detail. She was silent for a few moments after I was finished, and then burst into tears and begged me to come back to Rochester immediately. I told her I would call her the next day but that, for now, Maxwell was on the backburner.
We spent the next few days recovering at the motel. We stayed in one room with two beds without having to discuss it. I think we were all scared to have each other out of our sights.
Simon explained how he was finally able to wriggle free from the rope t
ied around his wrists. He had lifted himself out of the noose just in time to stop Philip from shooting me.
Simon was enraged when I finally revealed the truth about Ryan. I think a part of him regretted that he hadn’t been the one to end his life. I reminded him that in the end, Ryan had sacrificed himself for us, but that didn’t placate Simon in the least.
I explained how Cecelia had been able to see and hear everything I had experienced while under hypnosis. Neither of them laughed or doubted me when I told them about hearing Jenny’s voice before I lost consciousness. I knew that she had helped me defeat my father. Somehow she had known that Cecelia was able to hear everything and had tricked them into believing that my father could use the palladium and iridium disk to overtake humans and become immortal. Instead, the metals mixed together had worked against him and destroyed him when he had tried to push out my soul. I wondered if the other things she had said were true; that it could be used to kill even the strongest vardogers and that it could also free humans that were trapped in bodies along with their vardogers by expelling the shadow without hurting the human’s soul. I kept the metal disk close to me because I was determined to find out the answer in the future.
Simon pointed out that I hadn’t been wearing any iridium when I had resisted my father from overtaking me, but I didn’t know whether that had more to do with the mix of palladium and iridium destroying my father rather than my own powers. But the thought of me not needing iridium to use my powers was a heady thought, and it was hard to contain my excitement when I tried to funnel my energies without it and felt the familiar thrumming of power gathering. If my life was going to be dedicated to fighting vardogers, not having to worry about wearing iridium just made it easier. I doubted I would get many breaks in the future.
My mother slowly opened up during those days. She didn’t want to talk in detail about what she had gone through all those years, but it was enough to know that she had suffered deeply. Yet, there was still warmth and humanity in her eyes and I vowed that I would never let her be hurt again.
I told her about seeing her in my dreams and while under hypnosis because I was curious if she had really been sending me messages. She told me that she had thought of me every day and prayed that I was okay, but she had no powers beyond motherly love and hadn’t sent any messages. Despite her words, I was beginning to realize how powerful maternal love could be, and I couldn’t completely dismiss that it had been her thoughts that had reached me.
I questioned her about the palladium coin that I had found at the scene of her supposed accident. She confirmed that the car crash on the bridge had actually happened with a helping hand from my father. She told me that the coin had been given to her by Aunt Brenda. She didn’t believe that my aunt knew anything about the powers of palladium because she had found it during one of her many frequent scours through antique stores and had given it to my mother simply as a pretty necklace for one of her birthdays. Whether she knew anything about the powers of palladium or not, it was another instance of my aunt helping me and I thanked her silently, convinced that she would hear me.
The police ended up calling me although I wasn’t sure how they had gotten my cell number. They were appropriately somber when they told me my father had been murdered in some kind of scuffle that had gotten out of control. I was relieved that they didn’t seem to suspect anything beyond that. There were too many strings that tied me to the situation. I not only was connected by my father, but Ryan had been staying with me at Maxwell. The police in Rochester knew that since we had been questioned in Jenny’s death. I doubted that they had to dig deep to find out that Cecelia had been a friend of my aunt’s. I just prayed that they shut the case without following the strings that led to me. I declined going to the morgue to identify his body, explaining that we were estranged. While they sounded surprised, they accepted it without question. They told me they would be in touch if they needed me.
I was in constant contact with Sarah to reassure her I was okay. Simon called his family and pretended that everything was fine and that he was still in school. I felt guilty that he had to lie to his family but there really wasn’t much of an alternative.
Days turned into weeks and we began to realize that we couldn’t stay holed up in the motel forever. We needed to continue on with our lives, whatever that meant. It was daunting to step out into the real world but I was ready to face my future and whatever it brought.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Morning,” Simon said as he turned off the alarm clock. “Time to wake up.”
I groaned as I burrowed my head under the covers. Morning had come too quickly and the last thing I wanted to do was go to class.
My sleepiness vanished when I felt Simon’s hand moving beneath my shirt and stroking my stomach. I was wide awake when I felt his hand move higher until he was caressing my breast and teasing me with his fingers.
I pulled my head from out of the covers. “I’m awake,” I said breathlessly as my body reacted to his touch.
“Hmm, I can see that,” he teased as his fingers continued to arouse me. My breath caught in my throat when he lifted up my shirt and replaced his fingers with his mouth.
“I’m going to be late for class,” I protested weakly, but that didn’t stop me from arching my back to encourage him. He didn’t need much encouragement and soon there was nothing between us except the heat of our feverish bodies as we explored each other with our hands and mouths.
