Ivory

NINETEEN*

In no time I was standing outside of an arched doorway that opened to the only study that I thought Edna would willingly use. Tentatively I knocked on the door and heard her muffled voice bid me to enter.

I opened the door and saw her sitting in one of the giant brown velvet chairs that my mum had made my dad buy for this room. She had one of the older books cradled in her lap, her sea blue eyes scanning through the aged pages. For a second her gaze landed on me before quickly focusing on the page she had been reading.

Her eyes widened and then fastened on me again. A mixture of emotions flitted across her face before a giant smile curved her lips. "As I live and breathe," she says, placing the book on the table and walking towards me. "Been here over a week and you don't come see your dear aunt Edna?"

I laugh and close the remaining distance between us and giving her a quick hug. "Sorry, I've been busy," I apologised, even though there was really nothing that I should be apologising for.

She huffed and waved a hand through the air. "Of course you have. Training this ninnies must be absolute torture, especially after what your mother's told me. Mated to my dead-beat son, such a waste."

"How did you know he was my mate?" I asked. I remember that I hadn't told my mother who my mate was. If she had found out, I really didn't want to know what would happen but I was certain that sharp objects and the cone-of-shame would be used.

Edna paled a little, but placed her hand in my elbow and led me to the second chair. "It's nothing. She just found a jewellery box in Brettly's room," she said quickly, so much so that I hardly heard her. But I did. And I knew that I was going to die at the hands of my mother. "But that's not important. What brings you here on such a day like this? Don't get me wrong, I'm honoured that you took time out if your busy birthday schedule to come and see me, but I can't help but wonder why?"

And to think, these four years I had completely forgotten how much my dear aunt Edna loved to talk. It was a mystery how she had given birth to such anti-social children.

I cleared my throat and shifted my body so that I was sitting taller. "I was wondering if you could help me figure out how someone would go about..." I trailed off, not really knowing how to phrase it, "placing a protective field around a territory?" Yeah, I guess that would do.

Curiosity accented her eyes as she leaned forward and crossed her arms over her knees. "Well, that would depend. Whoever did it would need to have an unlimited power supply, especially if they wanted to maintain it for a long time. They would also have to be able to keep their energy up through the entire thing. Why do you ask?"

"Well, there may or may not be rogues out searching for a friend of mine that may or may not be currently in an energy boosting flower bud by the waterfall right now," I replied, keeping my gaze anywhere but at her.

She was silent for a minute, which made me worry. Edna wasn't known for her silence, if anything she was the one that always had something to say. I quickly shot a glance at her and she had one of her nails in her mouth, chewing away like it was going out of style. She had a calculating look in her eyes and her knee was bouncing up and down like crazy. She was thinking, that was not a good sign.

"The only person that I can think of," she said after a strained few minutes of silence, "is the girl from the prophecy. The one about the reincarnate of Mother Nature, but there was no telling where that person might be."

I felt a lump grow in my throat. "What qualifies as being a reincarnate of Mother Nature?" I asked. A part of me didn't want to know the answer, was scared about what it may open for me. Making life changing decisions had never really been my strong suit, the only one I had ever made was when I left, but other than that my life had stayed rather constant.

"Well, they would have to be able to control all four elements, using nature as their outlet for power and they would also need to be at ease with how they were, almost peaceful like. They would need to be strong and independent, also able to teach people the ways of the world like it was first nature."

I suppressed a sigh. That absolutely was not me. I wasn't anywhere close to at ease with myself and I was far from strong. Maybe physically I was, but emotionally I was pretty much a wreck.

She sent me a look, one that said she knew what I was thinking. And she probably did, with two kids of her own. "But, if they were born in recent years than there would be no telling if they were peace with themselves. Particularly if they had a life like yours."

Way to burst my bubble dear aunt Edna. But there was no way that it was me. Nope, not happening. But the gnawing feeling in my gut was telling me otherwise. I didn't want it to be me. I didn't want to have all that pressure on me to be something that I wasn't. I didn't want to be a prophesied person, I wanted to be as normal as a werewolf could be in a human’s world.

"Marguerite," Edna said softly, taking both my hands in hers, "what you need to know is that what you’re planning, there's a risk."

"What risk," I asked, dread filling my system.

Her eyes shone with remorse and she squeezed my hands gently.