Chapter 45

“Aunt Sam? Aunt Sam!”

The small voice drew Sam’s attention and she turned to find Lily standing on the steps staring at her, a sad look on her face. Sam hurried to her and scooped her into her arms. “What’s wrong, Lily? Are you all aright?”

Lily put her good arm around Sam’s neck and hugged her. “I don’t like it when you are sad, Aunt Sammy.”

She pulled back and stared into Lily’s face. “That’s sweet, Lily, but I’m not sad.”

“Yes, you are. The light went out and that means you’re sad.”

Sam gave her a puzzled smile, turning her head to one side. “Light?”

Lily nodded. “Yes. When you are happy, there is light all around you. It’s very bright. Sometimes it has glittery stars in it. But when you are sad it goes out. I don’t like it when the light goes out.”

Her breath caught in her chest and she had to put the child down for fear she would drop her. She sank down, onto the top step and put her head on her knees. Exactly what, she wondered, were Lily’s abilities and where did she get them?

“I’m sorry, Aunt Sam. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She raised her head and covered her face with her hands, propping her elbows on her knees. “Lily, can you go get your mother for me?”

The child darted into the house, calling her mother as the screen door slammed behind her. In moments, Lillian hurried out onto the porch, Lily at her heels. Samantha spoke before Lillian had a chance to say anything. “I’m fine, Lil, but I need to talk to you alone. Now.”

“Lily, I want you to go to the kennel and help your father, please. Tell him I said I needed you to stay with him for about an hour.”

“Mama. . .”

“Go, Lily. You can come back in one hour. Tell your father.”

She trudged off toward the back of the house, glancing over her shoulder as she rounded the corner. Samantha smiled and waved.

Lillian sat down next to Sam and draped her arm across the other woman’s shoulders. “Now, what is it that has you so sad.”

She shook her head. “You know, I didn’t know I was sad until Lily said I was.”

Shocked, Lillian pulled back and laughed. “Lily?”

“Lily,” she nodded. “Lil, how much do you know about my abilities as a seer.”

There was no response from Lillian for the space of three breaths. Sam noticed that it seemed as if the birds had all fallen silent at that moment as well, as if holding their breath for Lillian’s answer.

“John has not talked with me in detail Samantha. I know the basics, that you see when people are going to come through the mist. I don’t know much more than that.”

“And do you know about my father’s sister?”

“Isabel? Yes. She appears to have the same ability.”

She looked at Lillian and tried to keep her voice steady. “And Lily?”

Lillian gasped and paled and pulled her arm away. She refused to look at Sam and stared at her feet instead, clutching her skirt in both hands. “What about Lily?”

“What is she able to do, Lil?”

Lillian shook her head and looked away. “Nothing. Lily is a normal child.”

“I didn’t say she wasn’t. I was a normal child, Lillian.”

“You’re wrong. Lily has no gifts.”

Sam clutched at her sister-in-laws arm, squeezing with out thought until Lillian twisted away in pain. “Lillian, you have to tell me. I can’t protect her if I don’t know.”

Rubbing her arm where the imprint of Sam’s fingers darkened, Lillian stood and moved away from the steps, into the yard, facing Sam. “No, she doesn’t need protecting. Lily knows nothing. She’s fine. There is no reason for you to protect her.”

She tried to think of how to make Lillian understand but she couldn’t. Her voice broke and she could barely speak above a whisper as she pleaded. “You don’t understand the danger, Lil. You have to tell me.”

Lillian’s face twisted and she dropped her arms, clenching her fist at her sides. Sam barely recognized her sister-in-law and friend. “NO! You don’t understand. I won’t have you make her a pariah. I won’t have her corrupted by this. . . this. . . horrible thing. My Lily is good, she’s pure. You’ll not turn her into one of you!”

Lillian had been her friend and confidant for over a decade, since she was little more than a child. But this woman, she didn’t know. Sam stared in horror at the woman before her. The anger that rolled out at Sam was hot and fierce but it wasn’t the anger that bothered Sam the most. It was the pure hatred that surrounded Lillian twisting her face and blackening her eyes that terrified her.

A scream tore through the afternoon jerking both women around. Lillian reacted first, horror washing over her, driving back every other emotion and followed by remorse. Lily had slipped back around the house and crouched just out of sight below the porch. Lillian realized instantly that the child had witnessed the outburst and she ran toward her daughter with outstretched arms. “Lily!”

Sam jumped up. “Lillian, wait!”

But she didn’t. She raced to Lily and reached for her and Lily went wild. She scrambled back, away from her mother, screaming louder and louder. She cowered against the ground, clawing at the dirt with her good arm while holding the splinted arm up as if to ward off an attack from whatever demons she had seen in her mother’s face. And Sam knew that Lily had seen into the pit.

John came running across the lawn, fear etched in the lines of his face. He dropped to the ground and gathered Lily in his arms. She clawed at his chest, both burying her face against him and looking over her shoulder at her mother. Lillian stood in shock with outstretched arms.

“Lily, my baby! I’m sorry. Lily?”

The sobs coming from Lily twisted like a knife deep in Sam’s heart. Lillian was a good mother and she adored her children. For Lily to act as if her mother was a monster had to be tearing her apart.

“John,” Sam spoke quietly, “Take her in the house and get her calmed down. She’s seen something that frightened her.”

Lillian turned on Sam in fury. “How dare you!” she began.

Lily’s screams renewed. “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! Make her stop!”

John was obviously confused but he stood and gathered Lily up in his arms. He gave his wife a hard look. “Lil, settle down. I don’t know what has happened but you need to stop. You are frightening her.”

She turned back to face him. Her voice broke when she replied. “John, I didn’t do anything. I. . .”

Forcing a calm she did not feel into her voice, Sam interrupted. “Lillian, you have to listen to me. Let me explain what I just found out myself. Please. Don’t frighten her anymore with this.”

Lillian watched with tears streaming down her face as John carried Lily up the front steps and into the house. The child’s cries went on for several more minutes until they faded away. He had either carried her upstairs or he had quieted her.

Only then did Lillian turn to face Sam. Sam stepped back in shock. There was no friendship, no kinship or anything else of family in her eyes. The look on Lillian’s face was raw and personal. In that moment, Sam realized this was what her aunt had faced over and over and over. Every relationship affected by her gift. Either hated or loved and no way to predict which it would be. No middle ground.

“Lily sees emotions, Lillian. She knows things are going to happen. She is a seer.”

“Liar!”

Sam turned and walked to where her horse was still tied. “Ask her what she saw around you . . . if she ever speaks to you again.”

She mounted her horse and rode out of the yard without looking back. There was nothing to see.