The Courage to Love: The BraveHeart Series Book 2

Chapter 9 - Jehlani

My Nana would always talk about the resurrection spell and how difficult it is to do, but what I just accomplished would've made my Mother Ancestors proud. Amazingly, I was able to successfully locate Thema's mother and bring her back from the brink of death. The dark magic that was used to incarcerate her was treacherous to reverse, but my determination to save my family granted me the power needed to crush the slab. She was sealed in an enchanted pine box that was made to torture her slowly until she withered away to nothing; it was also double-wrapped with two, heavy-duty cast iron chains and a matching lock. I used my powers to incinerate the lock and chains, then I jumped into the shallow grave to open the coffin; in each corner of the grave was a fresh lobelia bulb that reeked of the same stench that inhabited the caves. I touched the lid of the coffin and it flew open followed by a light so bright, I thought I would melt. I used levitation to get away just before it gave off a second explosion of blinding light. Once the light dimmed, I was still floating in the air, but an older woman that shared Thema's looks was floating beside me. Surprisingly, she was calmer than I thought she would be, considering how long she'd been locked away.

"Where am I? What's going on?? Where's my baby???" She was frantically asking questions back-to-back leaving me no room to answer them.

"It's the year 2017. If my calculations are correct, you've been buried for about twenty-two years." Just as I was about to place our feet on solid ground, she wanted to start tripping.

"WHAT?!?! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!! WHERE'S MY BABY??!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BABY??!!" Her hands turned into fists, and electricity crackled through them as she tried to storm me, while we were floating in the air. Can you believe that shit??!!

"Farabalẹ!!!" (Calm down!!!)

I outstretched my arm and paralyzed her so she wouldn't do anything stupid. While she threw her fit, I took in the fact that her child was the first thing she mentioned. I also observed how young looked; she could pass for someone in their mid-twenties. Soon as our feet touched the ground, the forest disappeared, and we were back in my dungeon. Shelah stopped her hollering and took in everything around her. Her mouth fell open and she looked at me in bewilderment as she saw my body glow from making a portal hole to my bedroom. I stepped through the portal, but before I allowed her to walk through, I laid down the ground rules.

"I understand that you have a lot of questions, and I will answer every single one of them to the best of my ability. Now, I am going to let you go, but you must respect my house and remain calm, or being sealed in a hole in the ground will be deemed a fucking cakewalk. Am I clear?" With tears in her eyes and a quivering bottom lip, she slowly nodded her head in agreement.

"Tu silẹ..." I released her from the invisible barrier, and when she stepped through the portal, she fell to her knees and wept. My first reaction was to drop the tough act and comfort her. I grabbed her hands and helped her to her feet, then I led her to the sofa so she could calm down and catch her breath.

"How could he do this to me?? THAT SON OF A BITCH!!!!!" She threw her head up to the ceiling and screamed at the top of her lungs, then her head fell into her hands and she bawled even more uncontrollably.

"What is the last thing you remember?" I had to know if her version was the same as Thema's because so far, it seemed like there was a huge lie going on.

"I was telling Oren that I was taking the baby and leaving Georgia. I had an opportunity to study Pre-Med upstate, and I wasn't about to let his psychotic plans of a hostile takeover ruin my child's future. I wanted him to go with me, but he refused. Next thing I know, I'm being dragged by my ankles through a forest and thrown into a dirt hole."

I knew it. From the moment Thema arrived and ruined our reception a year and a half ago to now, I knew there was something gravely wrong with her story. A witch abandoning her children is highly unlikely. Just like wolves, a metaphysical bond is made in utero; it's deep and intangible.