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“You won’t see her,” Rachel says. “Only Cheryl will be able to see her.”
She takes her phone out and calls Silas. “Hey. Cheryl has the charm. I’m about to invoke it.”
I look at her. She’s waiting for him to speak to the ghost. A few seconds later, she says, “Great. I’ll see you later.” She hangs up and puts the phone back into her pocket. “He told the ghost and she disappeared. We can invoke the charm.”
Noah looks nervous, and he doesn’t move from where he’s standing by the side of the sink.
I move past him and Rachel invokes the spell.
The charm in my hands warms up and my fingers tingle from the magic inside it.
The vibrant green glow of death magic paints my pale hands a witchy hue of emerald.
I look up, and I see the woman Vi described. Dark hair, short but kind of big. She’s petite and she’s wearing a blue dress. She smiles wanly when I meet her gaze. I don’t know why or how, but I know exactly who she is without having to ask.
“I came to help you save my son,” she says.
“I know,” I tell her, a lump swelling in my throat.
Oscar’s mother didn’t abandon him when he was a child.
She was doing what Georgia did with Leo. Finding him a safer place to live.
I’m sure it would give him some comfort to know this, but it would also mean telling him his father is the man who means to sell him on to a stranger.
Oh, Goddess. Please, help me figure out how to deal with this one.
Chapter Ninety-Three
Cheryl
IstareatOscar’smother, taking in every detail. There’s a definite family resemblance. She’s very pretty, and that hair. I don’t think it’s a root perm or styling products. It just has the same natural volume her son has. Though his often looks messy, hers looks much tidier.
“What can you tell us?” I ask her.
“Oscar’s father is a dangerous man,” she starts. “I didn’t know how dangerous until he took my first child from me when she turned six years old. Back then, he seemed charming. I didn’t know he wouldn’t let me keep Ophelia when she turned out to be an Omega. I was excited when she first used her calming touch on me. I thought he would be too. I thought… I thought he might make me his mate officially.”
I take in what she’s telling me, and I understand why she came to me.
I’m Oscar’s mate. She must know that. She must have been watching us.
“But he didn’t.”
“No, he didn’t. He took Ophelia away. I found out later that he sold her to someone. A collector of rare supernaturals. Oscar was almost four years old when this happened. I was worried he would be taken next. I knew I had to do something to make sure the same thing couldn’t happen to him.”
“That’s why you left him in his adoptive parent’s garden.”
She nods. “We used to be able to leave town to sell the produce we made. I sold pickled beets and onions at the market in the town where that couple live, once a week. They always spoke to me. They always bought something. They were sweet, and kind and I knew they were shifters too. When I was pregnant with Oscar, I saw the woman looking at my bump and I asked if they had family. She said they’d tried, but they couldn’t conceive. I knew immediately that they would take him in and love him like I did.”
“So, you took him to the market with you?”
“I left early that morning and brought him with me. The couple came. He was sleeping in his stroller. I hid him behind the stall so they wouldn’t see him, and I paid the girl in the stall next to mine to look after my stall when the couple started to leave the market. I followed them home. My heart was racing the entire time. I knew I’d have to be quick, and I knew I’d have to be safe. It killed me to leave him there, but I had no other choice. He was sleeping. I left him in his stroller in their back yard, with a note, and I stayed close until they found him. Then, I ran. I closed the stall and went home.”
“You went home?”
“I wanted to find Ophelia.”
Oh, Goddess, this is heart-breaking.
