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I stare at her a moment. “You knew I could do what?”
Her head tilts toward the window. “Save Castle Pointe, Hazel. You did what no one else could, and lives are saved, houses are standing, life will continue in a town because of your bravery and persistence.”
I narrow my eyes. “If you knew everything, why didn’t you help me?”
Her smile drops slightly. “Because, Hazel, it wasn’t my battle. I would’ve been useless, gotten in the way. Grandma, the same. We can’t interfere with fate, and fate chose you to wield the sword, not myself, not your friends.You, Hazel.”
“I almost died because of it,” I whisper.
She shakes her head at me. “Never would’ve happened. He never would’ve let it happen.”
My brows furrow. “He?”
Her smile grows once again, and she folds her arms across her wrinkled clothes, as if she couldn’t find the time to find something clean before she came to see me. “Your friend who hasn’t left the hospital since you arrived.”
My eyes widen, and I glance toward the window.
He hasn’t left? Not once?
“Where is he now?” I ask, knowing exactly who she’s referring to.
Her eyes narrow slightly. “I don’t know, honestly. You haven’t spoken with him yet?”
I shake my head. “He saw me awake, got the nurses, then left. Didn’t say a word.”
Her hand comes forward, warm and smooth against my forehead as she traces my hairline. Her touch is warm, comforting, soft. “Sometimes it’s harder to face the truth than it is to just run from it.”
I shift, my arm throbbing in absolute agony. “What truth? Felix doesn’t hide from anything. It’s Felix… he’s an asshole and a damn nightmare.”
Her lips quirk. “Those men have always been afraid to face their true feelings. And fate, for that matter.”
I watch her eyes flicker, realizing that not only is she related to Felix, but also his father. This is all so, so weird.
“So, you always knew we were related?” I ask her, my good arm reaching for the cup of water. She beats me to it, grabbing the Styrofoam cup, lifting the straw to my lips, mumbling at me to sip slowly.
“There are many things I didn’t know… until I did. I have been where you have, a survivor, a winner, a broken Wiccan. You’ll come to realize eventually that history repeats itself, and all we can do is prepare ourselves for the next time hell comes to earth.”
I pull away from the straw, my throat not burning nearly as bad. “What do you mean ‘history repeats itself?’ This has happened before?”
She turns sideways so I can’t see the look on her face. “There’re many things you still don’t know, Hazel. But you’ll figure it out, eventually. It’s all connected.”
She’s making no fucking sense. “What? What’s connected?”
“Everything is. We are. Castle Pointe.” She lets out a sigh. “Quit asking questions, Hazel. You’ve fought your battle, and the rest will come in due time.”
I want to fight her, beg for her to tell me more, when the shuffling of feet rush down the hall, and Vera, Blaire, and Piper appear in the doorway. Then Malik, Levi, and Atticus pop up over their shoulders. They all look a mixture of relieved and worried.
“Perfect timing,” my mom mumbles, and I look over at her with narrowed eyes.
This is not the end of this conversation.
“Malik told me you woke up!” Vera says, barging into the room and walking right up to the bed. She looks me over from head to toe, her eyes crumpling in discomfort, as if she’s the one in pain.
“How does Malik know?” I glance toward him, and all he does is give me a blank stare.
Blaire and Piper glance at each other, while Vera stares at me, not even blinking.
“I’m going to pick up Grandma, and I’ll be back. She was taking a nap earlier, and I didn’t want to wake her. I’ll be back in about an hour or so, okay?” my mom asks, her fingers brushing the hair from my face.
