Nightwish (An Echoes of Eternity Novel Book 1) by Sydney Bristow Read Free Book Online Page A

hand to her chest as though she had trouble breathing.
    “You should have told me.” I couldn’t keep the hurt and disappointment from entering my voice.
    Giant pools of moisture now beaded in Grams’s eyes. “I’m so sorry.” She had difficulty swallowing. Her guilty expression clarified that she understood how her ancestral secrets had almost gotten me killed.
    “So Darius introduced me to a family I never knew I had, and Alexis told me that I have powers I didn’t even know about.”
    “You don’t know because they became available to you today. Only I know the truth: your mother delivered Alexis first. I wasn’t in the delivery room, but I didn’t need to be. I felt Alexis’s power the moment I saw her. But I didn’t tell your mother and sister the truth because I never trusted them. I never told you about them for the same reason: I didn’t want them to distort your good nature.”
    “Why don’t you trust them?”
    “My daughter was always drawn to the darker side of magic. With her ability to commune with the dead, she spent years trying to reincarnate the dead. She never achieved that goal, thank the Lord, but her granddaughter has that gift.”
    “Celestina can revive the dead?”
    “Your niece is the most powerful witch I’ve ever encountered.”
    That reminded me of Darius’s remark about having known Grams since the Depression. “How old are you, Grams?”
    “Far over one-hundred.” She gave that some thought. “Why? How old do I look?”
    “Eighty-four.”
    “Hot damn!” Seeing that I planned to ask how she’d managed to shed at least twenty-five years from her life, Grams said, “One of my three abilities is to slow the aging process.”
    “Wow! But why do you think you’ll be…leaving soon?”
    “Because Celestina has foreseen it.”
    “But that’s only a possibility, isn’t it? That doesn’t mean you have to…move on.”
    Grams elicited a gentle smile. “It’s well past my time. I’ve only made it this long because I refused to leave this plane before I told you the truth about your heritage.” She started down the sidewalk. “I couldn’t even do that. How ironic.”
    I fell in step beside her. “Celestina is a special girl. I feel that she doesn’t want to follow the path Alexis and my mother have laid out for her.”
    “If you feel that way, you’re probably right. Never ignore your intuition. Many humans believe intuition springs from evolution. That may be correct to a certain degree. But that insight is even stronger within our line, since we have paranormal abilities that force us to listen to sensations that humans often ignore because they don’t believe in the supernatural. Even some who aren’t witches have paranormal insight. Psychics, for instance, have a penchant for identifying that which is hidden from normal human senses. They are born with a sixth sense. They’re attuned to magic, and for that reason, they can perform spells. Those who aren’t deeply in touch with each of the five senses cannot do enchantments.” She shook her head. “Humans can read any given spell but they have no ties to the supernatural, so they are not empowered; their words fall on deaf ears. But I suspect you wish to speak about your niece.”
    “Yes. It was immediate and a little overwhelming.”
    “That’s because, as witches, we are attracted like magnets to others with paranormal abilities. Unfortunately, Alexis refuses to let me near Celestina. I suspect it’s because Delphine told her I have malicious intent. Your sister admires your mother so much that she is blind to the influence she exerts over her. That doesn’t mean, however, that she likes her.”
    I stored that away to consider at a later date.
    “But I imagine the way you feel about Celestina is similar to how I feel about you. When your mother wanted to rid her hands of you, I gladly took you in because I felt an immediate connection between us. I also wanted to make amends for failing to guide