The World Walkers: Raenarin: Rachel: Becoming Human (part 3)
Part 1
Part 2
“Tell me,” Rachel said, even though she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted him to.
Niall stared at her, as though he was trying to see into her soul, and it was hard not to let her discomfort show. The last time she’d been studied like that a witch had changed her into a cat. She didn’t think he had the ability to be able to do something like that, but that didn’t stop her from worrying that he wasn’t as nice as he appeared to be. Maybe he’d already got in contact with the witch to let her know the spell had failed and was just stalling Rachel until she could be turned back into a cat.
“Okay.” Niall sighed. “A family consisting of two parents, two little girls, and a boy who appeared to be about twelve was found in the ruins of a house that one of the nastiest witches of the local coven was seen coming out of. It fell down literally the moment she left, as though she was the one who caused it to happen, and people ran to try to help the people they knew must be trapped within. There was some eyewitnesses who said that she was carrying a small black cat with her, but it wasn’t something that could be really mattered at the time. No one thought there might be another child until a picture was found of the family. There were three daughters, but the third, the eldest daughter, was never found.”
“Until now.” Rachel bit her lip. “Were they rescued?”
“I wish they were, Rachel, so I had some good news for you, but no one, apart from the witch and the cat, came out of that house alive. To be honest, from the pictures I saw, they didn’t seem to have suffered, which I know probably doesn’t make you feel any better, really, but they didn’t die due to the house falling on top of them, and no one worked out what had actually happened to them. Unfortunately that’s what happens when you are killed by magic.”
Rachel nodded. She wasn’t entirely sure how she felt, hearing about the death of her entire family, and it wasn’t as though she hadn’t grieved for them when she first became a cat, because she was certain she would never see them again. That was, however, due to what had happened to her. A part of her had believed that the witch would have seen what she did to her as enough of a punishment, but apparently that hadn’t been the case. No, the witch made the choice to kill three innocent children, as one man, one very stupid man, had done something to make her angry. Rachel just wished she knew what it was.
“Do you know why I’m here?”
“Well, if you are who I think you are, then the witch who turned you into a cat died about three years ago, during one of the coven wars, so everything that she owned was taken by the coven or, as I would think happened to you, given to one of the shelters. From what I read she had a number of cats and knowing what happened to you…”
“A witch who punished people she was angry with by turning one of their children into a cat.” Rachel couldn’t help smiling, but it faded quickly. “I just can’t work out why she would have hurt the rest of my family if she’d got what she wanted.” She shook her head. “My siblings were innocent, although I can’t blame her for hurting my father. There were times when I hated him, because he wasn’t a nice person, but why would his choices lead to her killing three innocent children.”
“There are stories about witches who have fallen in love with men and found themselves getting jealous with them for moving on, so maybe that’s why the witch made the choices that she did.” Niall shrugged. “I doubt there’s any way you’ll ever be able to find out for certain and asking questions that you’re never going to get answers to doesn’t make any sense to me. All you can do is move on, try to make a new life for yourself, and leave the past where it belongs, because you aren’t going to be able to change anything now.”
“Niall, it’s easy enough to say that, but you aren’t me - you haven’t just turned into a human after spending over a decade as a cat, found out that a witch killed your entire family for some unknown reason, and had to come to terms with the fact you have nothing. No family, no qualifications, no money, no shelter…” A tear trickled down Rachel’s check. “If I had a family then I’d at least be able to get them to help me with what my next step should be, but my father moved her from another territory and my mother was an only child. Even if I do have aunts or uncles somewhere I doubt they even know I exist, as my father never talked about them or sent them holiday or birthday cards, so I have a feeling he left them behind for good, although I don’t know why. Maybe that’s just me reading into things more now that I’m looking back at the past.”
“Right now, Rachel, none of that matters. You can stay here for as long as you need to and I don’t mind helping you out with clothes or finding out what you want to do with the rest of your life. Once you’re in a position to start looking into who your father was we can go to the local council office to find your birth record.” Niall bit his lip. “As long as you were born in this territory.”
“I was, because my mother was born here and never left. Being the unwanted daughter of a witch, due to her lack of magic, limited her options.” Rachel shrugged. “Maybe it was her mother, my grandmother, that father angered, although I don’t know why a woman would kill her own child for the mistakes of someone else.”
“Witches kill their children all the time. If a child is born the wrong gender they don’t have a chance at life, because they might become seers, and for some reason the covens are terrified of seers.”
“According to Mum it had something to do with the assassination of the Witch Queen, because her son saw what was going to happen before it did and it gave the Queen a chance to protect some of her family. The rest chose not to leave her behind, as there was a spell the Queen had to put in place before she was killed, so her son, two eldest daughters, and consort chose to stay, while she sent her youngest daughter and her siblings to worlds where they would be safe.”
“Most people think the Queen was just a myth.”
“I know, but Mum believed she was real and that one day the Queen will return to take her throne back. My sisters always used to ask for stories about the Queen before bed and every time Mum had a new story for us. She probably made half of them up.” Rachel sighed. “Now I’ll never be able to hear them again.”
“Did you sisters ever ask to hear about Mira?”
“Occasionally, and Mum would tell us wonderful stories about the heir of the Queen and the life she was living with the sorcerers, because the Queen had turned to them when she needed help and they’d offered to protect her daughter. In the end she married and had her own children, even though she always missed the family that she’d lost, and she made certain to tell them stories about their brave grandmother. Those stories would be passed down from generation to generation… until the time when the Queen returns.”
“When will that be?”
“Mum thought it would be soon, maybe in the next hundred years or so. It’s already been two Millennia since the assassination and the covens are always fighting each other, so it would be good to have someone take control again, although it isn’t a job I would wish on anyone.”
“That belief might have been why your Mum was killed, Rachel. Maybe the witch wasn’t mad at your father, but she was angry with your mother, and wanted the woman to stop telling her children stories about the Queen, stories that could easily be passed on. It’s no secret that the covens hate any mention of the Queen, even though most people don’t think she was real, so anyone doing what your mother did would have been a target, especially as she believe Mira survived.” Niall shrugged. “Another worry could have been what seemed to be her connection with the Queen’s family. Even if she was making up the stories she told you the fact she was telling you about Mira’s life with the sorcerers and her children… they aren’t the sort of stories I’d be telling my children if I wanted to live.”
“When I was watching the witch she did seem to be angry with my father, rather than Mum, but maybe he was supposed to be shutting her up and didn’t.” Rachel ran her tongue over her lips as she tried to work out what had happened that day. “But if that was the case why did the witch turn me into a cat. It would have been much easier for her to leave me where I was, so I could have died with the rest of my family.”
“However your mum was the daughter of a witch, which makes you the granddaughter of a witch, and maybe the reason you were kept alive in cat form was because you had magic. Maybe she had plans for you in the future that she never got around to actually using because she died earlier than she was expecting too.” Niall shrugged. “Once again we are back to talking about things that we will never truly understand, Rachel, and as much as I think it’s helping you to come up with theories that is all they are. We have no one to ask if they’re true or not.”
“No, but I can go to the council offices to find out about Mum. If she was born to a witch then I’ll be able to find out more there and I think it’s important that I find out if my grandmother is still alive. Maybe she’ll be able to help me.”
“Or turn you back into a cat.”
“Thank you for the optimism.”
“I’m sorry, but a coven witch is not someone you simply walk up to and say ‘hi, I’m your long lost granddaughter. I was a cat, but now I’m human, and I need your help. Oh, yeah, a witch turned me into a cat. I’m not sure why, exactly, and Mum did used to tell me stories of the Witch Queen, so it could have been because of that…’”
“Niall, that wasn’t what I was planning on doing. I’m not stupid, but if I do have family I want to know, and right now that’s the most important thing to me. Yes, I know you’re going to tell me I should be focusing on rebuilding my life, but how am I meant to do that with nothing…” Another tear trickled down Rache’s cheek and she scrubbed it away. “At the very least I should be owed compensation for the death of my family and spending a decade as a cat.”
“Even though you were ten you should have some idea what the covens are like, Rachel.”
Rachel nodded. “I’ve got to try something though. You’ve been kind to me and I appreciate that, because it would have been easy enough for you to toss me out on the streets, but I can’t accept charity from you until I’ve looked into all of my options, even though I don’t have many.”
Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.