SHE FOLLOWED ME HOME ch 8

SHE FOLLOWED ME HOME – ch 8

Mo deas

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Mia dreamed the hours away as she sat by the window and watched the storm. Unlike many a young child, she wasn’t afraid. The loud rumble of thunder and bright flash of lightning mesmerized her.

The house her parents now owned wasn’t a small cottage, as were so many in their little part of Wicklow, Ireland. Her great Aunt Finola saw to that. It had all the modern conveniences anyone could need – except for a generator when a fierce storm knocked out the electricity.

Mia heard her father, Brian say to his wife, “Morena, one thing we’ll definitely look into is one of those new emergency generators, you know the ones? The electricity goes off but the lights don’t? Maybe if Ian and I approach a company about buying two, we can get a deal. What do you think?”

Morena replied, “Brian, I’m going to leave that to you and your brother. Frankly, I don’t mind the power outage, after all, how long can it last?”

Out of the blue, Mia answered, “Mom, the electric should be back in about one hour.”

Morena and Brian looked at their daughter as she continued to stare at the storm.

Brian said, “One hour, even a day is okay but we’re in a semi-remote part of town. What if we lose power for a week or more. We don’t know, yet, the kind of storms that blow through here. Ian and I will go into town tomorrow and ask around. That should help us decide.”

Morena placed her fingers on her chin, looking around the kitchen and said, “You’re right, Brian. A day or two would be fine but more than week and we might have a problem, especially with the perishable food. As romantic as living by candlelight seems, this is the twenty-first century and we’ve gotten spoiled with our conveniences.”

The murmur from their daughter’s lips was so faint, if they’d been normal people, they would not have heard it, but with their Elfin hearing, it came across loud and clear. “

Mia continued to stare through the clear glass window and said:

“Clouds of gray with lightning bright,

I need a bit of nature’s sight.

Wind so strong to cause trees to sway,

Can you tell me when you’ll blow away?

I ask this now, so reverently,

So I desire it; so mote it be.”

Silence filled the room as Morena and Brian stared at their daughter until Morena finally whispered, “Mia, where did you learn that? Who taught you that?”

Mia turned suddenly to face her mother. “Mom, what?”

“Mia, where did you learn that spell?”

“Mom, are you mad at me?”

“Oh, no, sweetheart. I’m not angry at all, just curious. I know you never heard anything like that from your dad and me, so you just amazed us.”

“Mom, I have no idea where those words came from. I heard you wonder about when the storm would blow away and then before I knew it, the words were just there. Mom? Dad? Did you hear that?”

Her parents shook their heads and Brian said, “The thunder? It’s been thundering like that for the past two hours.”

As Mia turned back to look at the storm, she said, “Mom, the clouds just told me the storm will end with the final two flashes of lightning. The sun is setting but we’ll have a beautiful twilight-kind of night.”

Brian said, “In the meantime, since we have the hearth, I’m going to heat some milk and make you some hot cocoa. How about that?”

“Dad, that would be great!”

Brian looked at his wife and whispered, “Morean, I think I’m going to pour myself a small glass of Hennessy. How about you?”

Morena just nodded as she continued to stare in wonder at her eight-year old little girl, who seemed to be no longer a “little girl”.

“Dad, Uncle Ian is about knock on the door. Aunt Liz and Mickey are with him. They’ve gotten rained on and are dripping wet.”

Brian put down the bottle of whiskey and as Morena took grabbed some towels from the cupboard, Brian walked to the door. He opened it just as Ian raised his hand to knock.

“Brian, should I ask how you knew we were here?”

“No, brother, but I’ll explain, anyway. Ian, how well were you listening when Aunt Finola said Elves and witches can and often intermarry?”

“She had me mesmerized, why?”

“I know that she married a witch, but I can’t help but wonder if there is witch blood more direct in our family. Mia is beginning to show signs of being a witch as well as an elf. That’s how I knew you were about to knock. She told us.”

There was what seemed to be a sudden explosion in the sky and Mia said, “That’s one.”

As Liz passed the towels to Ian and Mickey, Morena handed her husband two large mugs of hot cocoa topped off with cold whipped cream. “Here, Brian, take these to the children inside. Come Liz, Ian, let’s sit by the fire. We’ve a few things we need to talk about.”

Liz smiled and grasped the hand of her sister-in-law. “I’m glad you feel that way because there are few things I need ask and some of them are probably things only Mia might know.”

Morena poured the Hennessey as Brian took his seat next to his wife and she placed her hand on his. “Brian, I know you’re aware that I’m an elf but what I should have mentioned is that my clan is part of the Fey.”

Everyone in the house heard the thunder and saw the bright, unmistakable flash of lightning and heard Mia call out, “Storm’s over and the twilight begins.”

The adults looked at each other, then without a word, each took hold of their small glass of Hennessey and in one gulp, swallowed the smooth, brown liquid.