The Rosewood Prophecy

Chapter 19

Madeline had the nerve to look heartbroken. "You remember," she said. "Well I'll admit that I fell in love with your father. After all, he was the smartest and kindest guy in our class, not to mention the most handsome guy in the whole school." Wait Katherine's parents went to school with Madeline? What?! I was getting so confused.

"But when you arrived at our doorstep my father was married and had two kids! Two! You couldn't have just left us alone!" Katherine shouted. I could tell that she was still upset and angry over this. I could almost see the memories flashing in her mind.

"I apologized, didn't I? I saved both you and your sister's lives too. I was young and foolish back then, okay, and totally lovesick. You can't just let that go?" Madeline looked legitimately hurt. For a moment, she transformed into what she would've looked like at in her twenties. Oh my gosh, she was so pretty. Enchanting. Katherine's dad must've had a lot of willpower and love for her mom to not fall for that.

"I saw you, Madeline," Katherine said, her voice dangerously low. "I saw through your plot and who you truly were the moment you stepped through our door. You almost succeeded. Almost. I bet you want to know how you failed, especially with so much power?"

"In fact, I do. I've always wondered how I failed, when every other man would've fallen in love with me at step one!" Madeline said, pain flashing through her eyes briefly. She morphed into a young, defeated girl, wearing a long black dress and a heartbroken expression. Behind Katherine, on the wooden wall, I saw that same figure riding from town, tears streaking down her face. It was like a movie, except it was a playback of memories. How did she do that? Was I the only one seeing this? Turning around to look at the people in the inn, I saw that they were just as captivated by the playback as I was. We all saw it. We were meant to see it.

"For one thing, your magic only worked on men, so neither me nor my mom was fooled," Katherine began. "My dad was immune to your magic, however, because of one thing—love. The thing you tried to get was the same thing that sabotaged your plan. My dad loved my mom deeply. He would never leave her for another woman, no matter how pretty she was."

"I know that. But I still don't understand—"

"You still don't understand why your love potion didn't work?" Katherine interrupted. "The potion that had never once failed?"

Madeline's eyes widened. "How did you know?" she whispered. On the wall, I saw a desperate younger version of Madeline flipping through her books, stopping on the page that read A Failsafe Love Potion. I saw how she scanned through the page, recognized how hard it would be and how much power it would require, and closed the book in determination. She was going to do it, no matter what it takes.

Katherine laughed, though her laugh bore no humor. "I was a child, and children are always curious. I knew something was wrong when you came to our house, so I was especially careful to keep an eye on you. I saw you sit in the guest room and flip through all of your books frantically. When you guys were all talking at the dinner table, I excused myself and wandered upstairs to take a look."

"But you were only like four years old. You couldn't possibly understand what it said," Madeline said in confusion.

"I know. But fortunately, I knew enough words to recognize 'love' and 'potion' to know what you were up to, Madeline." Katherine replied. On the wall, a toddler version of Katherine waddled into the guest room and climbed on the chair. She opened the thick-leather bound book of spells and potions and flipped to the page. Her brows furrowed as her chubby finger trailed over the title. Her lips slowly formed the words 'love' and 'potion'. Realization dawned in her eyes.