Page 9 of Warwick

I grinned at the warlock. “It is,” I told him.

Timothy had joined the council from Master Edison’s previous coven in Amherst for the sole purpose of being on call to move people to and from the mountaintop. It was my understanding that he hung out in the cabin during the day, and later at night, he just popped in from his own place when someone needed to go up or come down from the mountain.

“Tell me something,” I said.

Timothy nodded, reached out, and touched my shoulder, and then my stomach swirled before we were suddenly standing in the transport building by the council building.

“What is it that you’d like to know?”

“Do you ever worry about someone getting hurt when you’re transporting them? Like on Star Trek when they weren’t beamed up properly and they were lost in space.”

Timothy chuckled while shaking his head. “No, I can’t say I’ve ever worried about that. I’m over two hundred years old. I pretty much have teleporting down, I’d say. But what is this Star Trek you speak of?”

My eyes rounded in shock. “You’ve never watched Star Trek? Not the show or the movies?”

Timothy shook his head. “No. My One and I much prefer other activities in the evenings and weekends. But if it’s something worthwhile, we could go searching for it.”

I sighed. “No, if you’ve not ever heard of it, and you’re as old as you say you are, it’s probably not something that would interest you,” I told him. “Thanks for the lift.”

I waved as I walked out of the door. It was a fifteen-minute walk to my great-grandparents’ place, but it was early October, and the weather was still nice. It would be much cooler this evening when I left, but that wouldn’t bother me.

My phone chimed in my pocket again, reminding me that it had chimed as I was entering the cabin as well. I juggled the container of cookies while digging out my phone. I saw I had two text messages from Grandpa Lev. My heart sank when I opened them and read the first.

Grandpa: Heads up. Your parents arrived about 30 minutes ago.

Grandpa: You don’t have to still come to dinner if you are uncomfortable. I didn’t know they were going to be visiting, and neither did your grandfather. They just showed up unannounced. Nobody else in the family knew they were coming either.

I froze in my tracks. Did I really want to go face my parents? In front of everyone else? I wondered how they even got up here but then remembered that, as family members, they were already cleared because they’d not been banned. But still. This was my place. I’d been here for over a year, and this was where I felt safest. This was my sanctuary away from them.

I realized that my mistake was believing that anywhere I had family was safe from my parents. They would simply do what they’d just done—show up unannounced. I sighed, trying to decide what I should do. I knew that Grandpa Lev was trying to give me a heads-up and let me know they were here. He didn’t have to do that.

I thought about letting him know I wasn’t going to be joining them, but maybe it was time for the others in the family to see just how my parents could be with me. Maybe it was time to open up about the years of treatment from my parents. My siblings were all already gone before I came along, so they never witnessed it. I was incredibly torn. But in the end, I decided to go ahead and show up at my grandparents’ place. I had made cookies, and I wanted to see them.

Despite working not far from Grandfather, I didn’t see him often. There had been a few times that I’d been out running and had come across him and Grandpa while we were all shifted. I lingered around them a bit but then always moseyed away. I couldn’t communicate with them, and I didn’t want to interrupt their together time. I knew there was a lot of stress on Grandfather with everything going on with the council, and the last thing I wanted to do was cause him and Grandpa to lose out on any of their time alone.

With my mind made up, I continued on to their house. It was nice out, and I couldn’t help but look around at the scenery as I made the walk to their place. There were very few trees on the mountaintop that weren’t evergreens, which didn’t really make for changing fall scenery like we had down off of the mountain. But they were pretty just the same. Especially in the winter when they were covered in snow. There was just something about a bunch of evergreens that were in the midst of a winter wonderland that called to me. Perhaps it was because of my bear, I wasn’t sure.

I was so lost in thought, and thankful that I seemed to know the way on autopilot, that I found myself standing in front of their door before I knew it. I took several deep breaths before I raised my hand and knocked. I could do this. I had others here that would support me. I wasn’t alone with them, and I was ready for whatever they threw at me.

I heard footsteps inside, and when the door opened, I wasn’t sure who to expect. It was a relief when I saw the friendly eyes of Grandpa Lev. Immediately, he leaned close and hugged me. “We had no idea they were coming. Vitomir is trying to find out why they’re here.”

I hugged him back with my free arm and then pulled away. “It’s all right,” I said quietly. “They’ll either show their true selves, or they’ll do as they’ve always done and hide it by behaving because others are around.” I shrugged. I wasn’t the only person to have a terrible relationship with my parents. I wasn’t even the only paranormal to be in this type of situation. But I’d simply given up so long ago because of how they treated me. There was no escaping them.

As far as I knew, my parents weren’t bad people. They just didn’t necessarily want me. I had somehow messed up their plans.

“Well, I’m not sure what all has gone on between the three of you, but nothing but good things will happen today. Your grandfather and I will accept no less.”

I grinned at Grandpa Lev. “I appreciate it. I love coming to your dinners. Not only are you an amazing cook, but I enjoy the company.” I stepped into the house as Grandpa Lev moved back. After he closed the door, he was giving me a look I didn’t quite understand. I was still pondering about it when we entered the back room of the house. It was huge, something that I didn’t quite understand since it was just the two of them in the place, but then again, most created ones had large families.

I saw that I was the last to arrive, which had me questioning my memory. Had I gotten the time wrong? I was actually early, I had thought, but apparently not.

“Cecil is here, everyone. And from the scent, he’s brought chocolate chip cookies.”

That had the kids all running toward us, and I couldn’t help but smile at their enthusiasm. I liked cookies just as much as they did though. But unlike them, I could always make a new batch when I got home. They were at the mercy of their parents.

“Only one until after supper,” Grandpa Lev said as he passed out cookies. They were all shifters, and there was no way one cookie would ruin their appetites, even with as young as some of them were.

I continued to smile as I looked around the room. It wasn’t difficult to spot my parents. They were against the far wall, talking to Grandfather. It seemed as if he was upset, and I absolutely did not want to be in their shoes. I knew he loved all of us, and he and Grandpa Lev still mourned the loss of their son Sergey, but that didn’t change the fact that Grandfather could most certainly be gruff and harsh.

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