Prologue
As I look down at my mother’s failing body, I am struck with the reality that I will be an orphan soon. My mother has always been my hero, since she raised me on her own. I don’t know who my father is and probably never will. She says that it was just a one-time mistake and the only thing good she got out of it was me. There was a time when I wondered who my father was but I don’t anymore. I will be eighteen next year and the only thing I worry about now is trying to go on without my mother beside me. My mother has been sick for a long time now and I’m not sure what I will do when she goes. The doctors tell me that she may pass anytime. I have been sitting by her hospital bed watching her for the past week trying to memorize every feature she has. Like how her smile can make you forget all of the worries in the world and the small twinkle in her blue eyes when I walk into the room. This cancer has just ruined my mother and wished I had the ability to take her pain away, to have her well again. I know that I am not able to but that idea stays in the front of my mind just telling me that I could. I am thankful that once she passes, I will still have my best friend with me.
Ashlyn, my best friend who is almost like a sister to me has been my rock through this all. She has brought me clean clothes and food every time that my mom is in the hospital. Ashlyn and I have grown up together, we met the day she moved into our small town, Raven Hallow. She knows I won’t leave her side especially now since the doctor tells me that she is so close to death. I won’t let my mom die all alone. My hand will always be connected to hers. I may not be able to heal her myself but she will know that I am with her.
After a quick shower and a change of clean clothes on me the doctor comes to find me. I look at his sullen face and want to run and hide. I follow him back to my mother’s room and enter to see her paler then when I left twenty minutes ago. I want to see the sparkle in her eyes one more time. Wishing that there was good news at the end of this light, but there’s not.
“Gemma, please come sit by me?” She says patting the spot beside her with her frail hand.
I look down at the bed slowly moving towards her and sit beside her, “Mom, What’s wrong?
“I need to tell you something and I have a feeling you may not like it,” my mother began, squeezing my hand with the little strength she had left. “When I met your father, I thought he was wonderful and I couldn’t get enough of him. Don’t look at me like that, I was in love and my life felt complete when I was with him.” She paused, taking a deep breathe. “Gemma, I’m telling you this because I cannot protect you anymore. I have been keeping a terrible secret from you. You might think I am a bit crazy after I tell you this, but…..”
I quickly interrupt her before she can continue, thinking that she must be too drugged up to even know what she is saying to me. She has never wanted to discuss my father claiming that she didn’t know who he was. “Mom, what are you talking about? You’re not making any sense.” I say.
“You have special powers. You are from a long line of healers and you are the last of your kind. I promised your father that you would be safe and kept you out of the spotlight before and even after you came into the gift. I never thought that I would get sick. You need to make sure no one finds out Gemma! They will be looking for you, they always have been. Promise me. Promise that you will stay safe. Ashlyn will help you. She has always been there for you and I know she always will be.”
I stood up and walked to the window looking out at the flowers blooming while I digested this stuff. My mother has to be a bit loopy because she isn’t making any sense, there is nothing special about me. I’m just a seventeen year old teenager with average looks. I’m just a girl losing her mom. As I turn around to ask her more about my father and this crazy talk the monitor starts to beep. The staff rush in and surround my mom as my tears start to flow.
