28. Anna

28

Anna

"Nobody can be trusted, witches included."

I stilled at the sound of my mother's voice, but Jax squeezed my hand. Katherine walked out of the shadow and through the scene that had become frozen in time. "This is the first time you've actually made it inside the den. Those creatures were not of my doing, you know. This was never supposed to be a nightmare."

"Who did it?" Jax asked.

Katherine glared at him and sighed. "I don't know, although it's got the Darkwyn Coven stink all over it. I imagine the three of them did it to make sure that you never saw them. Ironic since they would have approved of what I've done."

"Approved?" My eyes filled with tears. "You seem like you love me. How could you do this to me?"

"Andrea, my baby. I did this because I love you. As long as you didn't know who you were, you were safe. I gave you a chance at a happy life, but someone just had to chip away at something he didn't understand. Who taught you to read, Anna? " Katherine mimicked, her voice dripping with acid. "He trapped you here."

"I unknowingly triggered a nightmare waiting to spring in her mind," Jax said darkly. "You put it there."

"I don't regret it." Pulling herself up to her full height, she stared down at me. "There were multiple triggers set and they all had to be released to get you here. This was the last chance to keep you safe, Andrea. When your father…well, you'll see what happened to him. You'll see everything, and I know that you'll make the right decision. You'll stay here where it's safe. No one can pull you out. That's the beauty of this spell. No one is going to let you die. You're too valuable. There's no one else who can do what you do. You'll be happy here. I'll make you happy here."

"No. I won't leave Jax."

Her eyes darkened as she stared at him. "If he loves you, he'll make you."

She disappeared, and I screamed in frustration. Jax kissed the top of my head. "She's not important. She'll do or say anything to keep you here. We need to think. Your wolf is gone, but that's impossible. She's still inside you. I can feel her through the mating bond. And Lunessa says you have to harness the magic, so you can't just nullify this magic. It's your own."

"So find my wolf and take control of my magic. How are we going to do that when we can't escape from any of the scenes?"

"Maybe we just watch it all play out. The witch said you'll make the right choice. Maybe that means you'll have a choice to make."

Red pill or blue pill?

I couldn't imagine anything that would keep me trapped here when all I wanted was to be in Jax's arms again. Really be in his arms.

"Sanctuary," Dirk said in a tired voice. "Please. We need sanctuary."

"We don't allow wolves here," the Crone said in an icy voice. "Something we made very clear to Katherine when she married you."

"The Maiden is not to marry," the Mother said in a sad voice.

"Certainly not to a wolf. You have to leave. If you try and enter again, I will bar the door against you, Katherine. You turned your back on us and now you come begging for help!"

There was a moment of silence, and the Crone suddenly stared at the empty space next to Dirk. "Why would your daughter need sanctuary from witches? She is a wolf. I can sense it from here."

"She is much more than that," Dirk said, pride striking in his voice.

Seriously, who was this man? How the hell had he become the monster who'd tortured the child he'd once loved? What had happened to him? It was so frustrating to know but not be able to remember.

"She's a what?" The Crone gasped. "No. That is not possible. There's never been a null wolf. That would be an abomination."

Whimpering, I stepped closer under Jax's arm. He growled. "Maybe I'll kill that bitch, too."

We watched as the Crone knelt down in front of the empty space, and put her arms up, like circling them around the globe. I couldn't help it. I broke free from Jax and knelt.

The Crone's hands were around my head.

"I'm dead, you know."

That wasn't the Crone. In fact, she was frozen, mid-scene, and it wasn't my mother talking.

It was the Mother.

Too many damn people had control over my mind. It was getting tiresome.

She walked over to Jax and looked him up and down. "Well, at least you found a good-looking one. Decent, too. Good man. I've been waiting to meet him."

"I'm in the middle of something here," I muttered, and Jax laughed softly.

"Yeah, well, I'm the one who put the nightmares in your head. Figured you might want to yell at me for that. She made me do it." The Mother stared at the Crone. "I followed her in everything that we did. Agreed with every step until you came along, and then you unraveled everything. Every night, I dreamt of darkness."

That caught my attention. "No. The Crone has vision of the darkness."

"We both did. My sight is a little better than hers, although she'd never want to admit it. Bitch. Katherine was our Maiden. Sworn to the den of witches, to live in line with our magic and never betray it. She was with us for nearly ten years before she met Dane." The Mother stopped and curled her lip up at him. "Asshole."

Jax chuckled even more, and I turned around and glared at him. "Do you mind?" I hissed.

"The memory will continue to play, Andrea, when I'm good and ready for it to play. Your mother needed help to lay this spell. I bet it's taken even more witches to get him here," she said as she jerked her head. "She never saw me make a few edits while I was here. My gift of sight is pretty damn strong. Like I said, I've been waiting for you to come with him."

My legs were starting to hurt, so I sat and stared up at her. "What's your name?"

"We lose our names when we become part of the coven. Katherine wasn't her real name. He gave it to her when she left the coven to marry him. I suppose you can call me Miranda. I've always liked that name."

"You're dead."

"I am. I'll die while I'm still inside you, just after I finish helping your mother. Or, rather, I did die. Tenses are a little confusing to me. Anyway, I've foreseen my death. I made my peace."

Horrified, I stared at her. "Did I kill you?"

Miranda cackled. "Heaven's no, child. Dane killed me. Or Dirk, as he goes by now. Not terribly creative with the renaming, is he? Andrea becomes Anna. Katherine became Cara. Dane became Dirk."

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I've caused so much death."

"And you'll cause more before it's all over, but there's nothing you can do about that. Even if you stay trapped in your own mind, as your mother wishes, people will die fighting over you. You really are special."

My gut tightened. That didn't sound special. It sounded horrible. "That can't be your message to me."

"Oh. Right. I almost forgot what I was doing. It's hard to focus when your death is only hours away. I laid the monsters at the Crone's behest because I saw that you would come to them again, after I was dead, I might add, and she didn't want anything to trigger your memory, only I knew you'd make your way eventually. Didn't tell her. I kind of wish I could see her face when she figures that one out. Anyway, Anna, I can't see how this ends for you. Your path is split by a hundred different factors. There are several roads that would lead you here, and I don't know which one you've taken, but it doesn't matter. If you're here, with me, then there is hope."

"Hope for what?"

Miranda smiled. "Hope that everyone has been wrong about you. Katherine loved you, but your father's betrayal broke her and made her forget about hope. The Crone is so old, she's forgotten about hope. And I suspect you have forgotten what it means to hope."

I stared up at Jax. "I had, but I have hope now."

"Good, because where there is darkness, there is always hope. You just have to find it."

She walked back to her original position, rather than fade away like Katherine, and I frowned at her. "Wait, are you serious? Have hope? That's what your vision led you to say? How about telling me how to get out of here? Where is my wolf? How to I take control of my magic?"

"Sorry, Anna. And that is who you are now. Anna. A woman made of scrap and triumph. There's no cheating to get out of this trap, but don't worry. You'll come to realize how important this message was. Or maybe the Crone was right, and my visions are shit. Sometimes I enjoy the mushrooms a little too much!"

"What?!" But she was already gone. The past version of Miranda stared down at me as the Crone's eyes began to glow. Suddenly, Jax's hands were under my arms, and he was pulling me away. "What is she doing?"

"Well, I think she's checking you out," Jax said quietly. "And it's not real. Remember that."

Suddenly, the Crone's eyes snapped open. "Kill her," she hissed. "Now."