The Eldritch Trials

Chapter 13: The Truth

Nel

Of course they won't let me in.
"Give Anita Soren the message, 'it's about your son'," I sigh, they make me wait on the step. I've never been in the front entrance of great house, but it's as Shane described. Oozing with old magic. Forest fairies poke their heads out of the trees to stare at me. And I wait.
Finally, a servant leads me up.
Anita Soren looks much better than the last time I saw her. She's got her dark curls pulled back, and she's in a neat sweater, ever elegant, and composed. I suppose I look nothing like when we met either.
She recognizes me instantly.
"What do you want?" She asks, fear in her voice.
"To help you, can we be alone?" I ask, looking around at the servants.
She nods, dismissing them. Of course no one needs to hear of what we've done.
"What is it?" She asks, folding her arms, "If this is about Gale—,"
"It is. Partially. I know he went to complete the trails. And I know there's no way he can," I say, flatly.
"His father is going to get him, he's fine," she says, her voice tight, "I take good care of him."
"I believe you," I say, I want to as well. Even as this dark and quiet house seems to crush me. Where my son grew up. Is it so sad to him? "I'm not here to talk about Gale. I'm here to talk about the child you carried."
"Why?" She asks, her voice catching.
"Because he didn't die that night in the hospital. They let me take him home to die, to hold him. I'd just had a baby, that's all I asked, to hold him and ease his passing. That's all I intended when I had no child of my own," I say.
I already see tears in her eyes, "I see. They told us—,"
"He would die that night. I know. He did not. I held him for the entire night, and next day, and I tried healing spells to ease his pain. They worked somewhat," I go on.
"Why are you telling me this?" She asks, "Now?"
"Because he never died. Day after day, year after year we went on. I cast a Mother's Love spell to help him breath, I breath for him even now, though the doctors swear he won't live to be eighteen," I say, feeling the pain in my own voice.
"What?" Her voice is shaking, "He—,"
"I know I should have told you. But you had my son. And I had yours, the trade was done, and by the time I was sure he was healed for at least a few years, then I knew you would never have given my baby back to me. So I would have lost both boys. And I was selfish, I didn't want to lose this second child," I say, "He is still going to die. But now it will probably be completing that stupid quest. So that's why I came. Because it doesn't matter because he is dead. He just lived longer than you thought. And Gale will survive because someone is there who can work the amplifier."
"He lived?" She's crying now, "He's—you—,"
"He and Gale are friends, of course."
"Does he—,"
"Mac and I, and now you, are the only knows who know the full truth of the switch. Shane doesn't know I told him nothing, he thinks Mac is his son," I say, "I'm not here for that. And I'm not here to take Gale away from you. That would do no good. You are his mother, and I'm Mac's, we just carried each other's children. That's no business of their fathers in the end. And in the end you still have the boy who gets to live. And I the boy who gets to die."
"We have to—no, Alec's going to fetch them—,"
"And it will kill Mac to work the amplifier. He knows the truth, and he knows he's dying anyway," I say, heavily.
"He knows you said—,"
"He knows you're his biological mother, yes. Of all the people caught up in this, I felt he deserved the truth first. That way if he did want to meet you, or leave me, he could. He did what he wanted with the truth, which is nothing. But he's only a boy, that's all he ever gets to be, but you once thanked me for giving you my son. So I now thank you for giving me yours. He gave me more than—either of us anticipated," I say.
I expect rebuke. Or anger. But instead all she whispers is, "Thank you."
I frown.
"You saved his life, I couldn't—thank you for saving him," she says, "He really—he really knows? And he never— he must hate us."
"He's a boy he's busy thinking about weapons and flirting and getting out of school work," I say.
She sobs, then steels herself, "We're bringing them home—Alec is—,"
"If you tell your husband he'll tell his brother. They're not going to be pleased with each other, Shane will be angry," I predict.
"I'm angry."
"You gave up your baby. There was no clause that said if he lived longer than expected I had to give him back. You gave him up for a living, healthy child, you got that. You still have it," I say.
"We deserved the truth and you know it," she says.
"And I deserved one of the boys. Tell me honestly, would you have given me Gale back if I'd shown up with Mac a year, two years—it's was four years before I knew he'd live past ten, four years later?"
"No, I love him," she says, "But—,"
"We can love them both but we can't have them both. Again, it was your choice, not mine to switch them. You were just expecting him to die, well he did not," I shrug, "It only matter so much as he will soon die."