Page 56 of Haunted Hearts

I wait a heartbeat or two longer before letting go of the fury. Willow is here now, and over the course of the next few weeks, months, and years, we’ll have to train with her until she’s comfortable with her new power, and we’ll stop the warlock. The sound of my heavy swallow is loud in the small room.

“You’re right, I won’t let it happen.” I pull her into my chest.

Willow’s body doesn’t relax completely against me. With a sigh, I pull away. All I have to do is raise both brows for Willow to roll her eyes and say,

“Yes, ok, there’s one more thing on my mind.”

Her eyes leave my face to land on the scrying pool. “I need to speak to my mother. I just don’t know what to say.”

I flinch hard. That’s right, Willow promised Death that she would speak to her mother. But whatisthere to say? What will her mother want to know? How will she take Willow reaching out to her?

“We should have made it a priority for you to speak to herbeforewe got here,” I murmur.

Willow sighs. “I’ve been avoiding talking to her for a while, it wasn’t anyone’s fault but my own that I didn’t make the time.”

“Why?” I ask, “I would have loved to talk to my mother and my sisters if we were allowed to.”

Willow looks back at me, frowning.

“She just worried about me all the time. It was getting to a point that whenever I called, she’d beg me to come home. It’s partially my fault. After college I did a lot of moving around, and it only got worse when the Veil refused to open. She knew that I would constantly get chased out of town, or threatened, and hated how I lived in my car for weeks, sometimes months at a time, because no one wanted a powerful necromancer living nearby. I learned pretty quickly to stop telling her those things, but the damage was done. I just couldn’t stand how she wouldn’t relax and just let me live.”

I hum as I turn to look down at the milky water.

“What does that mean?” Willow demands.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Just because you didn’t open your mouth doesn’t mean you didn’t communicate. You know thatIknow that better than anyone else, so spit it out. Say what you want to say,” Willow orders, leaning in so she can watch my face.

Thankfully, the monstrous face she stares at isn’t as expressive as hers is. “It’s nothing. I was just making a mental note about the things I’m learning about you.”

“Like what?”

I tilt my head to the side to consider her for a moment. “Well, you just confirmed my theory that you’re fiercely, maybe even dangerously, independent. And then there’s the fact that I just found out that you’re uncomfortable with people actually caring about you.”

Willow scowls at me and opens her mouth to deny everything I just said, but I cut her off.

“Instead of coming to one of us to tell us about your fight with Brock, what did you do? You decided to stew over it by yourself. And what is it that he said to you? Oh yeah, he expressed hisjustified concernabout the people you have around you. Now I just learned that because your mother had genuine concerns over her daughter’s wellbeing, you cut her off.”

“I didn’t cut her off,” Willow mutters. “I just limited our interactions. That way she won’t worry, and I won’t have to lie.”

The stiffness in her shoulders, caused by my accusation, eases as she buries her face into my chest. Tightening my embrace around her, I lower my head and kiss the top of her hers.

“I really am difficult, aren’t I?” Her voice is muffled as she speaks against me.

I chuckle, “If it makes you feel better, Viktor still has you beat.”

Willow giggles into my chest. She can’t see it, but I grin. I’m glad I can make her laugh.

“He’s coming around,” she objects when it dies down.

“Because of you.”

“I’ll see to it that he thanks me for it later,” she teases. “But in the meantime, I suppose I should thank you for pointing out my stubbornness. I'll work on it.”

“Instead of thanking me, why not call your mother?” I push gently. My eyes flicker to the bowl. “Why doyou need a scrying pool, by the way? Can’t you speak to her like you would with a spirit?”

She shakes her head, “I can’t contact people if they’re living. Neither can my dad, which is why he built this room and had this brought in, I’m sure of it.”

---