Chapter 9.26: Dear Diary, the Who & the What

From the Diary of Sophie Woodbury-Noble:

Dear Diary, Sebastian and I went to Gerrard’s last evening to bring Amy home, but she refused. She was still so full of anger and venom toward me that Seb convinced me to leave without her. He said one night away might calm her down and that maybe we all needed a break from one another.

We thought she might come home on her own today, but that wasn’t the case. In the past, she’d always been so reasonable and easygoing. Now that she knew the truth of her true parentage, perhaps she would always hate me. Would it be even worse if I forced her to come home? How could I even do that?

I went upstairs to my bedroom and closed the door. All I wanted was to be alone for the time being. The thought of how much Amy now despised me quickened my pulse so much, I thought I was having a heart attack. My breath became short and tears coursed down my cheeks, dripping off my chin.

The door opened behind me, and I flung around, fire already flaring in my eyes.

“I want to be alone!”

Sebastian closed the door behind him, crossed the room, looking outside at the ocean. My face reddened as he finally faced me.

“I understand you want to be alone, but we need to talk now. It’s almost time to pick Gil up from soccer.”

I couldn’t see myself, but I knew there was an unwelcome tightness in my expression.

“Fine.”

He took a deep breath before starting in.

“I understand why you’re angry, Soph. Gerrard had no right to tell Amy all those things. And I’m sorry I lit into you the way I did. I should have supported you and your right to tell Amy yourself. I guess I was just relieved she finally knew. Still, what Gerrard did was wrong.”

What he said took me by surprise and completely deflated the ire I’d been harboring toward him. Even so, I wanted to make sure he really did understand my side of the argument.

“I only want Amy to be safe.”

He nodded, then said, “I know that, and I want the same thing. The problem is, we’ve seen her powers awakening for some time now, and Gerrard is unwilling to use hypnosis to suppress that in her now that she knows.”

“That bastard,” I hissed, my fingernails leaving half-moon imprints in my palms.

“I don’t know why he suddenly refused to help us. Whatever the reason, he isn’t telling me. But have you considered we have an even bigger problem than just the fact he won’t help us anymore?” He paused, and I could tell he was making sure I was listening.

I turned from him, staring out at the ocean, not really seeing it.

“Soph, her powers could be double what Laris and Gigi had. She’s their daughter after all. They were the most powerful beings I’ve ever seen. If Amy has even a quarter of what they had, she could be dangerous.”

“I know!” I yelled, finally admitting out loud what I was afraid to think.

“She does not know how to use these abilities or how to control them. Without the diary, she’s blind.” Then his voice lowered, and he stressed, “Think about it. Your sister barely understood how to control her powers and she was surrounded by people helping. Without Gerrard’s help, she could really hurt someone if she lost control. Someone like our son.”

“I know,” I repeated, softer, realizing he needed to hear me say I got his point. As parents, we couldn’t take any chances.

Seb said, “Gerrard is powerful too, and like it or not he can guide her. Right now, we’re dependent on him.”

I turned around, facing him once again. “I can’t stand that! I hate that for her.”

His eyebrows were drawn together, and he was biting his lower lip. Oh my, he was just as worried as I was.

“I get it, I hate it, too,” he said, nodding slightly. “I think if we’re being honest with ourselves, we knew this day would come.”

Nodding, I said, “I didn’t want to believe it. I was hoping Gerrard would always suppress this and her powers would wane if they weren’t used.”

But not only was it stupid to trust in Gerrard, it was just as dumb to believe in a fairytale ending. Tears once again welled in my eyes, but my chest was aching, and I couldn’t cry or speak around the enormous lump in my throat.

Sebastian pulled me into his arms. All at once, I collapsed against him, my hot tears giving way again, dampening the collar of his police uniform.

He let me cry it out, rubbing my back as if I was a small child until I was finally done.

“I’ll give her the diary. It’s time.”

He let out a small sigh of relief, wiping the teary wetness from my face with his hands. Tenderly, he kissed me.

“Once she reads the diary, she’ll understand why you did what you did,” he assured me. “You did the best you could and sacrificed your teen years to raise her when you should have been going to parties and having fun. She’ll get it.”

My head nodded, but deep down, I wasn’t sure. The way it seemed right now, Amy would be mad at me forever.

Seb gently took my chin in his hand and raised my head till our eyes met.

“I promise, she will,” he said.

From the Diary of Amy Noble:

Dear Diary, this is McCalmont House where the man I grew up thinking was my grandfather lived. Little had I known that all of his eccentric ways were because he was a vampire.

Gerrard McCalmont, vampire.

It’s crazy, isn’t it? Am I crazy? Because I’m thinking I’ve lost my mind. Or rather, I wish I’d lost my mind because maybe a psychiatrist could bring me back from the brink.

But no, this is reality now. I am Amelia Noble and my parents, Laris Bloodgood and Georgia (“Gigi”) Noble were my magical parents. Sebastian was a vampire and called Gerrard, the man who’d turned him, “father.”

Only yesterday, I’d healed my horse’s broken leg, although I don’t know how. I just felt something boil up inside until it exploded out of me like a gun going off and whatever it was, it went into my horse and healed her.

A nervous laugh erupted from me as I continued to ruminate about it all.

I don’t know how long I’d been hugging myself and staring into the fire. No matter where I went in this mansion, my body shook with a chill.

Why didn’t my mom want me to read the family diary? What was in it she was so afraid for me to know?

Perhaps the powers I had were bad. Was she afraid I would turn into some kind of villain? Was I evil now?

I wrung my hands repeatedly as I stood there, shivering. Somewhere around here, I’d left my sweater, but I couldn’t think about that right now. All I could do was think about what I was becoming.

Would I change in some way? Was my real mother wicked? Had she hurt someone?

“Ah, there you are,” Grandfather said as he entered the library where I was.

“I’m so cold.”

The corners of his mouth curled downward as he embraced me. We’d never had a huggy kind of relationship, so it felt really awkward to be in his arms. I realized then I’d rather have the chill than his hugs.

He pulled away and stared into my eyes.

“That Wexler boy approached me today and told me an interesting story about you and Duchess.”

“OMG,” I moaned.

Grandfather held his hand up as if to tell me not to worry about it.

“Nevermind,” he said, “I hypnotized him and now he doesn’t even remember seeing you yesterday.”

My eyes widened, my hands went all clammy, and I couldn’t stop my chin from shaking. “Is he okay?”

“Of course. Vampires have the ability to… deeply influence mortals. I thought you knew.”

My eyebrows went up. “Y-you did that to me, didn’t you?”

As the realization hit me like a brick in the face, I spun around, grasping the French doors to keep from falling to the floor.

He seemed confused. “Well, we couldn’t have your magic just shooting out all over the place, could we? As soon as you started showing… symptoms, it was agreed we would-er, I would suppress your abilities.”

“What kind of powers do I have?”

He grimaced. “You don’t have a disease, dear child. What you have is wondrous.”

“But-but what do I have, Grandfather? What am I?”

He smiled, his eyes alive with excitement. “My dear, you are the most wondrous creature ever created. You are a combination of your parents.”

“Yes, but what does that all mean?”

“You are wolf, vampire, witch, and fairy. There is no one else on this earth like you.”

It felt like my heart had stopped. Was I breathing? I collapsed onto the nearest couch, sitting there like a statue.

I don’t know what shocked me more, his claim that I was a mixture of wolf, vampire, witch, and fairy, or the terrifying fact that I was all alone in who I was.

Forever.

Special thanks to Bee (Stories by Bee / Poses by Bee) for the poses used in this chapter: Family Fighting-Updated!, Convo/Emotion Poses – Set 2, Wedding Poses, and Convo/Emotion Poses – Set 2.

Thank you so much for reading, liking, lurking, and commenting!



Other Credits:
World: Winchester Farming Community
Lot: Woodland Cottage, Hill House