Declan

Declan drummed his fingers on the island countertop as he waited for the women to come downstairs. He'd tried counting to one hundred, reciting the preamble to the Constitution, and quoting his favorite poetry. None of it distracted him long enough to forget the way Lux had looked wrapped in that shower curtain or how she'd felt in his arms.

Nothing about Lux's physical appearance resembled Leora. Leora had been slim and petite with fair skin, gold hair, and big blue eyes. She was her name personified. Ironically, her great-great niece also bore a name meaning light, but unlike Leora, Lux was all curves, tall, and bronze with eyes like thunder clouds and hair the color of chestnuts.

But there was something Lux shared with her ancestor. It was the same knowing look in her stormy eyes. Perhaps less jaded, but burdened all the same. And Declan's heart ached because he'd hoped for so much more.

"She'll be down in a minute," Phoebe said, walking into the kitchen.

"Is it wise to leave her alone?"

"The potion worked, right?"

Declan nodded. "It did, and it will ward against other psychological attacks. Did you put the dream sachet under her pillow?"

"I did. If you hadn't been here... She wasn't breathing when we got to her."

"It's further proof that Daphne's visions are coming to fruition. That was a powerful spell, and whoever cast it had to know Lux has a gift for premonition."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"That spell takes pieces of a witch's visions and warps them. It turns it into something physical that can harm the seer, but now that I'm awake, my sole mission is to protect her."

Phoebe sighed and offered Declan a sad smile. Even at her age, it was obvious Bella and Lux had her to thank for their fine looks. "I'm grateful you're here. Now, what did you do with my daughter?"

She took a red can from the icebox and popped the top on it before handing it to him. She set another one out for Lux. He took a deep swig and spluttered as the sweet liquid burned his throat.

Coughing, he responded, "I slipped her the suggestio and sent her to work per your instructions. I overheard her telling someone named Dawn that an adverse reaction to the heat had delayed her. I do not know why she has not made it home."

"I may or may not have put a nail in her tire while she was at work," Phoebe admitted. "I needed time to introduce you to Lux, and honestly, I was hoping we might slip Bella another potion to alter her memories."

"I haven't had time to make many since waking, and to brew a potion like the one you need would take more time than a flat tire will buy us. How does she know who I am? You told me she didn't believe in any of this."

Phoebe patted a stray blonde curl back into place. "As a child, Bella was eager to hear the stories of our ancestors. She wanted to be a powerful witch like her great Aunt Leora, even telling me she would be the one to wake the sleeping sorceror. You were hers, she claimed. But then the world got a hold of her and taught her to be ashamed of where she came from. I think it all scares her because she knows it's real."

"But she didn't wake me," Declan began, only stopping because Lux came back in. Her thick, auburn hair now dry and flowing. She wore a fitted tank top and pajama shorts that showed off her long, tan legs. So much skin on display made Declan uncomfortable, but keeping his gaze on her heart-shaped face did nothing to slow his pounding heart.

The doorbell rang again, and Phoebe popped up from her seat. "Finally, the food is here. You two get acquainted; I'll get it." She swept out of the room, leaving Declan to stand awkwardly next to the breakfast island while Lux fiddled with her soda can. He took the time to study the room, if only to keep himself from studying her.

The walls were a soft blue gray color with white trim that contrasted with the dark, distressed wood floors. Columns of exposed brick separated the main kitchen space from a dining nook, and the brick continued into the backsplash. The bottom cabinets were almost black, while the top cabinets were white, with the section over the sink nothing more than dark wooden shelves. His sisters would have been in awe of the simple beauty.

"Are you okay?" he asked as the silence became deafening and the decor lost its appeal.

Blushing, she nodded but refused to look him in the eye when she answered, "I'm fine. I must have gotten light headed and fainted. I didn't drink a lot of water today. Stupid me."

"Oh. Yes, it's boiling outside. Easy to get dehydrated," he said, willing to play along with her excuse if it meant avoiding the truth. Phoebe wanted to be the one to tell Lux about her magic, and he very much doubted the older witch wanted to start by explaining attack spells.

"How do you know my grandmother?" Lux asked, boldly appraising him as she sipped her drink.

"Um," he racked his brain for a reasonable answer.

"He's my brother's grandson by marriage," Phoebe declared as she returned with the bags of food. The foreign spices teased his nose and made his stomach rumble in appreciation. "He's just finished his first year of college, and he's staying with me while he looks for an internship."

"Are we related?" The natural huskiness of Lux's voice disappeared, her words coming out as a squeak.

"No, no dear. Just by marriage, not by blood. You lucky girl."

"Memaw!"

Declan felt his own face heat at the suggestion in Phoebe's words. The woman was incorrigible and reminded him of Daphne. She'd only been ten years old the last time he'd seen the girl, but she was a sassy terror that wore her mother out daily. Leora had loved her little sister's spunk and had talked fondly of the day the girl came into her powers.

"Lux, you will not believe the day I had," Bella shouted as she walked into the house.

The three people in the kitchen froze, each feeling guilty for different reasons. Lux hastily chewed the large bite she'd just taken and gave her grandmother a look of wide-eyed terror. "What do we do?"

"We're caught, it would seem."

"Mama, what are you doing here?" Bella's question was deceptively calm, only the slight narrowing of her eyes giving away her displeasure.

"Well hello darling, I've missed you too."

"We don't play that game."

"Mama, do we really need to do this in front of company?" Lux demanded, waving emphatically towards Declan. "Grab a plate to eat and you two can go after each other when Declan leaves."

"Declan?"

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Godelieve." He held out his hand to shake hers, but she stared at it as though it were diseased.

"Excuse us," Bella said and snagged Phoebe by the arm, dragging her out of the kitchen. Raised voices echoed through the house until a slamming door cut them off.

"Sorry," he told Lux, knowing she wouldn't know the added drama his presence created.

Lux palmed her face before popping a fry into her mouth. She held out a cup of white sauce that smelled strongly of garlic and cucumbers. "Tzatziki?"

His nose wrinkled as he studied the strange sauce. So many foreign foods were commonplace in this time, and he wished for his mother's simple home-cooked meals. Phoebe and Bella's return saved him from responding, and he muttered an apology to a confused Lux as he followed the older woman out the door, barely stopping the wooden frame from striking him in the face.

"Phoebe, wait a second," he said, his long legs quickly lessening the distance between them when she didn't slow down.

"I am convinced that child is a changeling," she growled before stopping and spinning around so fast Declan jumped back to avoid running into her. "Is that a thing? Changelings?"

"The Fae have been known to swap out children, but they would never take a witch child. There isn't much love lost between our people and theirs."

Some of the anger contorting her features faded, replaced by awe. "I remember seeing a few mentions of Fae Folk in the family diaries, but I never really gave it much thought. I was too busy dealing with discovering everything I knew about myself was a lie. What are they like? Faeries?"

Declan shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked at a loose stone on the driveway. He knew Phoebe was using this topic as a distraction, but explaining the Fae wasn't as simple as repeating fairy tales.

"First, I wouldn't call them fairies, though I suppose there is a subset of the Fae that are like the fairies you're imagining. Fae is an umbrella term for many beings. They were the first creatures to inhabit this world. There are shifters, selkies, merfolk, elves, brownies, boggarts, druids, sylphs, and so many more I can't even name them. Humans hunted and feared them until war erupted."

"The war that ended with the creation of the Gateways," Phoebe whispered.

"And the reason I'm back. If we don't have a full Circle by Lughansdah, then the world is doomed."

"And if Lux doesn't become the Priestess Most High, then the world is doomed. Bella is determined Lux will have no part in this." Phoebe slapped her hand on the roof of her car, the metal ping echoing through the night. "Doesn't she see what a hypocrite she is? I at least let her make the choice between being normal and using her magic. She doesn't want Lux to know about any of it."

Phoebe's dissatisfaction was palpable and mirrored his own emotions. Yet, bigger than his fear and frustration was his sense of guilt. A hundred years ago, he'd failed this family, and the effects of that failure persisted into the present. His determination to make things right had only grown since meeting the stormy eyed beauty inside, and if Bella stood in the way, she would have to be dealt with.

"You and I know that's not possible. Unless you bind Lux's powers, not telling her is too dangerous."

Phoebe nodded. "I know, and that's the only thing I'm hanging my hope on. Bella will come around. She's just frightened."

Lights went out in the kitchen of the two story house. Seconds later, the parlor windows lit with a warm glow, and he could see the shadowy figures of Lux and Bella as they moved about the room. From this distance, it was hard to tell who was who, so alike in height and shape were the mother and daughter. Family had always been everything to the Godelieve clan, and these three women were no different, even if the structure of their unit looked far different than it had in the past. Declan didn't want to tear them apart.

"Lux is having a birthday party soon. You need to be there to get close to her. She needs to trust you for this to work."

He turned away from the house. In the dim moonlight, Phoebe's expression was hard to read, but he heard the suggestive tone of her words.

"That's a bad idea for several reasons. The first is that I won't fit in with a group of modern day teenagers."

Phoebe waved away his concern. "Honey, your pretty face will more than make up for any social deficiencies."

Grateful she couldn't see him blush, he huffed before continuing. "The second reason is the most important reason. It can't be like that. You know it can't."

"I'm not telling you to marry my granddaughter. Just flirt with her. She's got a good head on her shoulders, but she's still a hormonal teenage girl. She will follow her heart, and that may be the only way we can get her on our side."

"I don't like it, Phoebe."

She lowered herself into the driver's seat of her car. Keys in the ignition, she didn't move for several seconds; her gaze locked on her family's house. Then, she shook her head, cranked the engine, and reached for the door.

Before shutting it, she looked at Declan and whispered, "I think we're all going to do a lot of things we don't like before this is over with."