A Wicca's Tale Book One: Beautiful Magic

Gabriel's Tale

Chapter Twelve: Gabriel's Tale

Her words ran in my ears, "His mother...His mother...His mother...His mother." I rose at the wish of my feet, in a daze I ran from the room outside, but where to go? Where could I hide now that I had been found out? If only I had more time to show her, to explain to Luna that I was more than just Gabriel, more than just human. It was too late now. She'd always see me as different now, not human, not even one of her kind. I was a freak, a mistake, a monster. I couldn't even run away now, I couldn't leave her here alone after we'd been through so much together, but how could she accept me?

I'd been trying to hide it for so long, the magic that was flowing through me. I'd stopped doing almost anything with magic. Fighting off the bandits was the first time I'd used magic in weeks. The overflow must've doubled my power. I couldn't run away from it all, magic was a part of me, I wouldn't have been able to hide it from Luna forever. I sank down onto the ground in front of Mellissa's house and buried my head in my hands. It was all over now, my darkest secret, my mother's biggest mistake. I felt a hand on my shoulder and flinched at her gentle touch. I didn't deserve kindness and I didn't want her pity.

"Gabriel?"she asked worriedly, "are you alright?" I laughed without humor and didn't lift my head. I did not want to show her my fearful face.

"I'm fine Luna," I said. "I've known for a while. The question now is are you fine?" I chocked off barely able to form my next words. "Are you alright knowing that I'm different, an anomaly, a mistake, a freak of nature? How can you stand to look at me?" I was shaking now, quaking with fear at what I would have to say next. "I killed those men Luna. I killed them with my own hands and my power. I killed because I got angry. It's better now that you know though," I told her, "Now you can order me away and I'll understand why. Everyone who once knew me wanted me to leave once they found out, I might as well---."

I cut off when she threw her arms around me. "What are you talking about?" she said hugging me tightly. "I'll never let you go now."I lifted up my head and looked into her eyes. Her brilliant purple eyes that held nothing but warmth for me. Sh was smiling and tears were streaming down her face. "I can't stand the thought of you leaving Gabriel," she said, "This doesn't make me hate you, it makes me like you even more. How could I let you go once I found out how alike we are now?"

She leaned forward and gently kissed me. I relaxed and pulled her into me. All my worry about how she would react when she found out was now gone, I was finally free to show her the real me.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Luna asked. We were back in Mellissa's kitchen. She was serving us the soup that, dispite it's smell, was really quite good.

"I didn't want you to freak out," I said stirring the soup with my spoon. "When people in my village found out who I really was they wanted me dead, and for good reason too."

"But I don't understand," she asked as Mellissa joined us at the table, "How could you have kept your magic a secret? Even I can't keep it bottled up inside me all the time."

"It was hard," I said, "When I first met you I was running from my town, I hadn't used magic in three days, not since the---." I broke off mid-sentence as I felt the pain in my heart, I still hadn't ever talked about it out loud.

"Since the what?" Luna asked.

"Since the fire," I whispered and looked up at her and Mellissa. "I ran from my village the night my house went up in flames. The night my mother died." I could hear Mellissa stop eating and look up at me.

"What happened?" she said extremely suspicious, something in my voice must've tipped her off.

I shut my eyes, "It was my fault she died," I said quietly. "My fault. I caused the fire, I'm the one that killed her."