WITCHCRAFT

CHAPTER 29

"Mummy?", the little blonde girl looked up at her mother as they made some tinctures together.

"Yes, darling?", Lucille asked.

"Why do other children have fathers and we don't?", she put down the vial and took her mother's hand.

"Well, my father has really disappointed your aunts and me. And so did yours. So I decided we are better off without him."

"Can we have another one?", her green eyes sparkled as she asked such a beautifully innocent question.

Lucille pulled her daughter into her lap with a chuckle, "I don't think so, my darling, I'm sorry. I believe a mummy and papa should love one another."

"You don't think you can love anyone?", the girl tilted her head.

"No, I do", she smiled sadly, "I lost the man I loved, a long time before you were born. I don't think I can feel something like that again."

The girl gasped, "You don't love us?"

Lucille laughed, "You and your brother are the ones I love most in this world. And one day you might understand what I mean when I say that this is a different kind of love. Until then I'm happy to be most loved by you."

The girl giggled when Lucille nuzzled her face with kisses and tickled her belly, "Stop, Mummy!"

"Say you love me!"

"I love you, Mummy!"

Lucille stopped and grinned at her, pressing one last kiss to her forehead, "And I love you, Jane."

—-

"I can't do it, Mama", the little boy dropped his hands to his sides at his inability to telekinetically lift the book on the table.

"I can help you", his sister stepped up next to him, doing what he had meant to do, the book lifting and flying into Lucille's hands.

"Thank you, darling", she smiled sadly at the frown on her son's face, "Can you leave us alone for a moment, please?"

The girl nodded and skipped away to go to the garden.

"My love", she put the book back on the table and leaned down to be at her son's height, putting a gentle hand against his cheek, "It's all right if you don't acquire any gifts."

"No, it's not", a tear ran down in his cheek as he frowned up at his mother, "You all have them and I don't. I can't do anything."

"That's not true, love, come here", she pulled him closer, hugging him shortly before pulling back enough to look at his face, "Just because you cannot do what your sister can, that doesn't mean you cannot do anything. Look, for your aunt Gen it's been nearly two millennia and she hasn't acquired her gifts. You don't see her giving up, do you?"

He shook his head sadly, fully leaning into her embrace to not have to carry his own weight, "But what can I do?"

"You are one of the kindest, most loving little boys I've ever known, my love. You paint as well as I do, you were much faster learning to read than your sister was, and your skills in mathematics are unmatched", she smiled, "And I know that no matter if you develop any gifts or not you will always be there for your sister."

He nodded, "You're right, Mama."

Lucille smiled brightly, "Of course I am. I'm your mother."

He laughed and huddled into another hug from her, "I love you, Mama."

"And I love you, Alec."

—-

Three days after the execution the authorities let Lucille leave her home again. She stumbled to the town centre to see the post that her children had been tied to, charred and with ashes and dirt surrounding it. She dropped to her knees in front of it and began to sob.

From a distance, three figures watched the scene and two of them were about to run forward before they were caught by the cold hands of the third, "Don't. It's too soon. You are still very likely to hurt her as you are now."

The girl's chin wobbled but tears couldn't fall anymore, "When can we go to her?"

"Oh, you never know with these things, could be months, could be centuries", the man carried a sinister smile but the children didn't interpret it as such, "But don't fret. I'm sure you'll find appropriate parental figures within the coven."

"But we have a mother", the boy glared at him.

"A father, maybe?"

He saw hope flash in the children's eyes and used that as a sign to get them to leave with him. They spared one last sad glance toward their sobbing mother and then followed the man.