Hope

Chapter Twenty One

Nicholas' POV

I didn't get any sleep last night and it shows. I don't know why but I did this cheesy thing where I just sat and stared at Kathryn as she sleeps and whispered soothing words to her when she got restless because of a nightmare- well as soothing as I can get anyway. But I left when I realized I shouldn't be there and she'll probably throw me out when she remembers that I'm Sophia's son. The Healer did say something about a concussion. And now here I am hoping to wash out my feelings with my second glass of whiskey at Raven's bar.

“It's a bit early to be drinking, don't you think?” Raven, the witch who owns this place, asks. She's beautiful- all witches are strikingly beautiful- with locks of auburn hair skin as pale as chalk and green eyes with no pupils. Her real name is Rioleo, but she changed it in her attempt to be “normal”.

“You shouldn't be complaining,” I reply.

She laughs- the sound resembling wind chimes. “I'm not.” She fills my glass again. “Wanna talk about it?”

“No. Even if I do, why would I want to talk to you about it?”

“Because I know how to listen.” She leans in, resting her elbows on the glass counter. “Also, if it's girl problems I have a portion you can try.” She flashes me a dazzling smile.

I blink. “I'm fine, thanks.” I roll my eyes. She's one of the few people I get along with. She's a couple of centuries old, stuck in the body of a twenty-one year old because of an immortality spell her mother performed on her before she died. Her bar is usually filled but not during this time of the day. She's the richest witch in Prasinis, people only talk to her for drinks and that's where it ends. Because of her inability to have children she's not the most loved witch but she isn't hated either because she's one of the most powerful witches there is.

“I'll give you two weeks and you'll be breaking down my door,” she says.

“I won't take your word for it,” I say, throwing my heading back to take another sip of the cool liquor.

She smirks- even that's appealing. “Won't you?”

I chuckle. “Rioleo, please. I don't trust your portions anyway.”

“Raven, you idiot. The name's Raven.”

I roll my eyes. “I like Rioleo better, therefore I will use it.”

“Argh, you're stubborn as a... what's that animal?”

“Mule?” I offer.

She clicks her fingers. “Yes! That's it.” She smirks again. “Call me Rioleo again I'll turn you into one.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Rioleo,” I tease.

She wiggled her fingers at me, emitting purple sparks. “You're lucky I don't know how it looks like.”

The day carries on like this, me laughing louder with each finished glass. Soon the sun was setting and I was to drunk too form a coherent sentence.

“Yeah, I think you need to go home now, buddy,” Rioleo-Raven-whatever says.

I shake my head. “I don't have one,” my words came out slurred.

“Magnolia won't be too happy to hear that,” she says.

“I don't give a damn about what she thinks.”

“Go home, Nicholas.”

I stare at her, scowling. I attempt to stand up but I just slide off the chair and onto the floor. I curse under my breath before pulling myself up again, using the counter for support. I throw her one last look before stumbling out.

-

After a lot of trips and falls I finally make it back to the mansion only to find Kathryn sitting with her head in her hands on the large tile steps.

She looks up when she hears my loud footsteps and smiles weakly.

I don't return it. “What are you doing outside?” I ask, attempting to sit down but I end up falling on her.

“Whoa,” she says, placing her hands on my chest. “You're drunk.” She helps me to sit down. “Why?”

“Because I drank,” I say, praying that she won't bring up last night but also praying, through my clouded mind, that she remembers that I'm Sophia's son and I don't have to tell her all over again.

She chuckles and the sound eases the stupid knot in my stomach. “I see.”

“Then why did you ask?”

She rolls her eyes. “I wanted to ask why you drank so much,” she says.

“Why didn't you just ask that?”

“Would you have told me?” she shoots back.

I grin. “Nope.”

“Exactly.” She wraps her arms around her knees and I notice again how small she is.

“What are you doing outside?” I ask again.

“I was looking for you, actually,” she says.

“Well, you found me!” I exclaim, leaning back on my elbows.

“Not really,” she mumbles. I don't ask her what she means afraid of her answer. So we sit in silence as I stare at her fiddling with her hands and I ask myself what's so great about it that I can't take my eyes away from her scarred hands.

“Sophia left me in the forest before she ran away with Jeff. I was five,” I start. She looks up at me, confused. “I used to watch her sneak out of the house to be with Jeff when my father passed out from the alcohol he consumed everyday. When he woke up he'd ask where she was and I'd tell him I didn't know and he'd whip me because he thought I was lying, which, in a way, I was. I knew she was with Jeff but I didn't know where, you see? So three years after the war was over your parents ran away, Jeff remained because of Sophia. She took me to the woods, telling me that I'm dead weight and don't belong in her new life. I remember her exact words.” I stop for a moment as the memory returns. I still keep my eyes on Kathryn's hands as I continue, “She hoped I'd get eaten my something, I don't know. I tried to follow her, screaming for her to come back. When I realized she won't return, I started thinking about where I'd go. I somehow managed to get out of the woods. I didn't want to go back to my father but I had to. He whipped me when I came back, of course, demanding me to tell him where Sophia was. I didn't tell him anything. I still hear the sound the whip made as it came into contact with my skin. The scars are there to remind me of the pain...” My voice fades but the memory doesn't. Instead it burns through my mind like the alcohol burned down my throat. For a moment I don't see Kathryn's pale fingers but my blood dripping off the black whip like a leaky tap. I clench my teeth and relax my jaw with a shrug, trying to appear nonchalant. “Anyway, I lived with him for three more years until I heard a kid from school talk about the human world and how he will visit it in a couple of days. I begged his parents to take me with them and promised that they'll never see me again. You can say I was very persuasive, for an eight year old. They agreed and I ended up in New York. I met a couple of friends, lived in the streets for four years and had to survive by crime. I was twelve then and had the mind of a sixteen year old. I got into a fight with one of the kids in our “gang” and I left them. That's when I found out my powers.” I finally look up at her. “That's when Magnolia found me.”

She blinked, processing this. After a long moment she asks, “Why did you tell me this?”

I shrug and get up. “I thought you had the right to know.”

She gets up too and dusts herself off. “I think Jeff deserves to know this more than I do.”

“At least he didn't run away when I told him,” I attempt a joke but she frowns.

“I don't know what happened there... I just-”

“I don't really want to know,” I cut her off and open the large door. But before I enter I ask her, “Oh and can you please keep this to yourself?”

She furrows her eyebrows. “Sure... but why?”

I purse me lips. “Because knowing about my past is accepting to be in my future.”