TUS NUA - ch 24

TUS NUA – ch 24

New Beginnings – Mia and Midnight

(*)(*)(*)

Within minutes, they were standing outside Claire’s apartment door. “Oh, Mia, I’m so excited. I can hardly wait to have my two children back with Kieran and me.” She hesitated, then asked, “Oh, should I just walk in? Should I knock? Oh, Mia, my excitement won’t allow me to think straight.”

“Let’s try this. Knock and call out saying, “Johnny, I forgot my key.” Those few seconds should help you calm yourself a bit more.

“Oh, Mia, I hope so. Well, here we go!”

She raised her hand and as she rapped gently on the door, called out. “Johnny? Are you home? Can you open the door? I forgot my key.”

Her son all but yanked the door off the hinges as pulled his mother in his arms and said, “Mom, mom! I got home as fast as I could. What’s, wait, who’s this?” he questioned as he looked suspiciously at Mia.

Easing out of his arms, Claire said, “Johnny, this is Mia. You spoke with her on the phone.”

Ignoring Mia, he held his mother at arm’s length and studied her eyes. “Mom, what has she done to you? Where is Sybil? She had you say you were in Ireland but I know there is no way in hell you could have gotten from Ireland to New York in thirty minutes.”

Before Claire speak, Mia lifted her hand and said, “John, Johnny, Officer Verne, whatever name you like to be called, can we please just sit down for a few minutes? I can explain everything; just give me the chance.”

Claire grasped Johnny’s arms and asked, “Please, Johnny. Please listen. First let me tell you that Sybil is fine. Better than you’d expect, but you really need to allow Mia to explain.”

Mia thought to herself, “for a man not much older than I am, he can have a hard, scary look in his eyes.” However, she stood her ground. “Johnny, do you want to see your sister, or not? It’s up to you! I won’t kidnap you and take you to her. You either come with me and your mom or stay home. Your choice.”

“Where are we going?”

“Sybil is in Ireland and she’s enthusiastically waiting for you. Are you coming with us?”

“Okay, I’ll play along but if I don’t see my sister in the next ten minutes, I’ll be arresting you. For what? I’ll think of something; probably drugging my mom and having her believe your wild stories and giving her false hope.” Then he looked at his mother. “Mom, where’s dad?”

Claire looked lovingly into her son’s eyes and answsered truthfully, “In Ireland. With your sister.”

Rather than sit, again, John Verne looked sternly at Mia. “I’m not leaving this room until you tell me the truth.”

Mia sighed. “John, have you packed a bag?”

“Yeah, it’s in my room.”

“Please get it.” “A change of plans,” Mia thought to herself.

A few minutes later, he walked back with his backpack slung over his shoulders. Mia asked, “Are you ready?”

He smiled but she could see in his eyes that he didn’t believe anything she said.

Mia slung her backpack that held a few dozen New York bagles over her shoulders and then reached for Claire’s hand and ordered, “Claire, hold your son’s hand.”

With her free hand, Mia reached inside her pocket and grabbed her glimmering orb. John watched her gently toss it in the air and gasped as it slowly descended. By the time his brain registered the thought to call out, the orb opened and they were standing in the gathering room of Tus Nua.

Sybil and her father raced to Claire and John and Sybil almost screamed in his ear. “Johnny, oh, Johnny. You’re really here!”

She laughed and squirmed. “Johnny, stop squeezing so hard. I won’t be able to breathe much longer.”

“Sybbie, I missed you so much. Where the hell have you been?”

Finola walked to the family and said quietly, “Let’s go into my office. There is so much all of you need to know.”

They followed Finola into her room with Tauri following with a tray of tea and scones.

“Tauri, Mo Stor (my dear), can you please bring …”

Before she could finish, her cousin answered, “Yes, Cousin. The men will need it.”

John looked at the striking red head and found himself wanting to swim in her cool blue eyes.

Claire nudged him and whispered, “Johnny, stop staring or you’ll begin to drool.”

Finola bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from smiling and Mia put her fingers over her lips to stop the same thing from happening to her.

A few seconds later, with the bottle of Hennessey and a few glasses set on the table, Finola looked at Mia. “Mo ghra (my love), bring Jules in. She’s a huge part of this.”

After they were all settled, Finola began, “The first thing I must politely deman is that all of you stay calm. There is absolutely no need for tempers or anger.”

They looked at the comely gray-haired woman, and also while they had no idea what they were about to hear, nodded in agreement.

“Good, now the first thing I must say is that aside from all of you, Jules is the only normal human in this room.”

John was about to jump up and declare, “I knew something didn’t seem right!” but his mother placed a hand on his arm and stopped him.

Finola smiled. “Thank you, Claire. I’ll explain. We belong to a community of white witches. We’ve taken an oath to the God and Goddess to harm none. We live, eat, breathe, love, and in all ways but one, act like full humans. The only difference is that we age slowly and die when the God and Goddess feel we’ve outgrown our usefulness to society.”

John paled and asked, “I never thought witches were real. But, yet, assuming in fact that I am in Ireland, I have no other explanation.”

Finola never one to perform what she called “parlor tricks”, waved her hand over the two six-ounce glasses. Before the eyes of the Verne family, the bottle of Hennessey rose, then tilted to pour a bit of the smooth brown liquid in each glass.