Anatoli was quiet on the drive to the hospital. Ophelia wasn’t sure what to say to him. However, it was a comfortable silence. So, she didn’t fill it with babbling. They were strangers but it seemed they’d known each other for a lifetime.
Glancing at him for a brief moment, she noted how he watched the buildings and cars go by. Everything was new to him. After all, he’d been trapped inside a glass bottle for almost two hundred years. “Are you okay?”
He glanced at her and from the corner of her eye, Ophelia saw his frown. “It is I who should ask you that.”
With a sigh, Ophelia took his hand and squeezed. “No matter how much I tried to prepare myself for this day, I still can’t believe Gramma is dying. I don’t know what I’ll do without her. She’s always been there for me, guiding me, teaching me, and catching me when I fall.”
Anatoli bought their joined hands to his mouth. He pressed his lips to her knuckles. “We are not meant to live one life, but many. Betty is just leaving this life to plan her next adventure.”
Ophelia smiled. Gramma said something similar when her parents died.
After parking the car at the hospital, she stared at the building. Why was letting go so hard?
“We should hurry.”
Ophelia glanced at Anatoli, wondering if he could sense something she couldn’t. Of course, he probably could. He believed in his magick. Even after everything that happened that night, she still wasn’t sure about a lot of things. Would it come in time? Maybe she was blocking her own power with her fear of the unknown. “You’re right.”
They existed the car and with quickened steps made their way up to her gramma’s room. She’s awake. Ophelia’s heart danced while sorrow threaten to unleash her tears.
There was a young couple inside talking with her. Ophelia nodded at them as she moved closer and extended her hand. “You must be Martha’s son and daughter-in-law. Thank you for staying with her.”
The woman took her hand, then pulled her into a hug. Her large brown eyes twinkled when she pulled out of the brief embrace. “Thank you for ridding the world of that evil…man. We sensed when he was captured.”
“I had a lot of help.” Ophelia glanced at her gramma and her chest tightened. Gramma was so pale and fragile.
This is it. My final good-bye. Her vision blurred.
Martha’s son directed his wife to the door. “Call if you need anything. My mother will know how to get in touch with us.”
Ophelia nodded, unable to look at them because she didn’t want to break down in front of strangers. Anatoli’s deep “Thank you” made her grateful he was there.
Focusing on Gramma, she took her frail hand in hers and sat in the chair next to the bed. “Francois is gone. Well, he’s locked inside the glass bottle Anatoli was in.”
“I know. I sensed it. I knew you could do it.” Gramma glanced at Anatoli. A weak smile lifted her lips. “You’re more handsome in this form, Anatoli. Take good care of my granddaughter. I know you will.”
Ophelia’s heart hammered while her mind whirled with questions. Did she dare question her dying gramma? But there was one that kept bothering her. She had to know the truth. “Francois said…he said I was his granddaughter.”
Gramma sighed and cupped Ophelia’s cheek. “It is true. I only wished to spare you from that evil man. I thought if you didn’t know, he couldn’t use it against you. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
“So he wasn’t lying.”
Gramma shook her head, regret filling her eyes.
“It’s okay, Gramma. I’m not mad. I can understand why you never told me. He didn’t have any compassion. Pure evil. You were right to call him a demon.” Ophelia was rambling, delaying the dreaded good-bye. “Please don’t second-guess your decision not to tell me. I’m glad I know the truth now. He will never threaten me or our family again.”
Anatoli moved closer, placing his hands on her shoulders, gently messaging. She relaxed a little. He gave her strength with every gesture and touch. Amazing.
“You two were fated to be together. I feel it. Soul mates who found one another. And now you mustn’t be separated.” Gramma reached for the pendant around her neck—the amethyst point she’d worn for as long as Ophelia could remember. Gramma pressed it into Ophelia’s palm and squeezed. Then her eyes shimmered as if alive with magick.
Confusion clouded Ophelia’s mind, only clearing when Gramma spoke.
“As I take my last breaths,
I make one last request.
As my mother passed onto me,
I gift to my Ophelia, my heart and power.”
The stone warmed in Ophelia’s hand, then burned. She tried to jerk her hand away, but Gramma wouldn’t let go. Where she got the strength, Ophelia didn’t know.
Tingles of pinpricks crawled up her arm while an invisible...something wound around it, traveling up to her shoulder then spreading to her heart. Power, energy, and magick exploded within her. She gasped. Magick was real. It was alive, inside her.
She was a witch.
No more doubts, not a one. She knew her path and what she had to do going forward.
Gramma’s grip eased, then fell away. Her eyes drifted closed. The heart monitor flat lined with a sorrowful tone. Tears streamed down Ophelia’s cheeks. Then Gramma’s spirit rose from her body and hovered. Ophelia reached out.
Gramma shook her head. “You will carry on the family power. The coven will help you learn. You and Anatoli take care of each other.”
Then she was gone.
Ophelia crumbed, placed her forehead on the bed and cried. Anatoli rubbed circles on her back, comforting the way he had when he was in spirit form.
Her heart warmed and she reached out for him. He instantly took her hand and knelt beside her. “Take your time. I have nowhere else I’d want to be.”
She heard nurses rushing down the hall to the room.
His Ophelia was beautiful and he hated to see her sadness. But she had strength of a hundred souls. Pure and bright, her magickal light shone so strongly now, no one would be able to take it away.
They left the hospital a little after the sun rose. Neither were tired like they should have been. Then again, he was content here on the sofa, holding her.
“She never let me play with this when I was little. Who knew it held her magick?” Ophelia gave a soft chuckle, holding the pendant in her hand.
Anatoli kissed her temple. “The amethyst doesn’t hold the power, it helps balance it. She used it to transfer her power to you.”
“But why? I mean if I had my own, why did she give me hers? Won’t she need it?”
“An old witch tradition. Mothers passed their magick onto their eldest daughter when it was time to pass from one life to another.” He ran his fingers up her arm, loving the feel of her soft skin. “Where she’s going, we can only guess. But her heart is pure like yours and she will have all the magick she needs.”
Every sensation was new to him. The breeze kissing his skin. The smells of fall in the air and the pumpkin and cinnamon candle Ophelia lit moments ago, saying it was her gramma’s favorite.
“I can’t go back to my life now. I had my dream career in a big city. Running from the talk of magick and witches.” She laughed as if she told a joke. “I can’t believe how things have changed in the short time I’ve been here. It’s almost like it was fated.”
“It was. Of that, I am sure. I waited for you, and sure enough, you came.”
“Oh, Anatoli, if only it were that simple. What should I do? I can’t bear the thought of being without you. And honestly, Savannah seems to call to me. It’s like the river is speaking to me—begging me to come closer. Let it wash away all the evils and bring growth and purity to Hemlock Grove.”
“Well, you could stay here. We could stay here. Together. Restore the old house to what it was. Visit the coven and let them help you mature as a witch.” Please say yes. He liked the house, and Savannah was a pretty city with history. And he had a lot of catching up to do.
Ophelia sat up on the sofa and faced him. Her green eyes narrowed slightly. Then the corners of her mouth lifted. “I don’t understand how I could feel the things I do for you and not really know you.”
He leaned forward until their lips were inches apart. “Soul mates.”
“Well, I might as well believe in them then.” She closed the gap, pressing her lips to his.
Desire bloomed within him, making his blood run hot in his veins. He groaned and drew her closer, yet it wasn’t closer enough.
She broke the kiss much too soon. “Okay. Let’s do it. We’ll fix up the house and I’ll teach you all about the twenty first century. I know it’s what Gramma would want, and though it scares me a little to change my life so much, I’m not the same person who works in an office and lives in the city where it snows five months of the year.” She laughed.
“Anything you want, my love.” He kissed her. “And if it snows in Savannah, I’ll be right here to keep you warm.”