Time's Tragedies- The Books Of Beginning [2]

42. Cowards

Or maybe, said a more charitable part of her mind, the part that maybe was starting to believe in promises and hope again, they'll learn from their mistakes. Maybe the pressure got to them once and they would refuse to let it happen again. Maybe the Wibberly family would come out stronger for all of this.

Her inner cynic snorted. That was wishful thinking. And yet, that small optimistic part of her that she could never seem to kill (especially when Lili was there with her belief in love and family and magic bringing it out) refused to relinquish hope.

"Eternity," Wilamena said quietly, guiltily, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, you don't have to tell me that," Eternity said, in her best 'I don't care' voice, the voice that was clearly a hollow lie, one that she refused to acknowledge, "it's Lili you need to talk to."

There was a loud scraping sound as Emma stood from her chair. Eternity's gaze flicked to the woman who had been uncharacteristically silent during all of this, "where are you going?"

"To think," she answered, "apologies have never been my strong suit, and I want to get this one right."

Then she was out the broken hole where the door was, leaving the room in silence. Well, at least until Eternity broke it with a snort, "alright, glad to see my 'you're acting like idiots' lecture had an effect. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna get some yogurt from the fridge."
.......................................

Abby was in the front yard, sitting on the porch, the energy she had gotten from experimenting earlier having faded. Jake was up in their room, recording their (very successful) results in a notebook, and that left Abby to a moment of fending off mosquitos and dealing with her own thoughts.

She heard the front door swing open and recognized the heavy footfalls of Emma's practical, militant style boots. Abby looked up to see a surprisingly serious look on her aunt's face, and while part of her told her it would be kinder to leave the situation alone, her curiosity got the better of her, "is the meeting over already? And was it that bad?"

"Oh. Hey Abby, didn't see you there," Emma said, "and I don't know if the meeting is over or not, I just am trying to get my thoughts together. I'm not the best at apologies, but, this one needs to be good."

Abby frowned, "what happened? Did you get in a screaming match with Uncle Michael again?"

Emma's lips twitched upward, then fell, "do you think I'd be apologizing for that? No, it's- Lili's going through a hard time right now, and instead of respecting that, I said some things that really hurt her feelings."

Abby's frown deepened, "that's not cool."

"No, it's not. Believe me, that has been made clear," Emma said, "but I'll apologize, I just, need to figure out how."

"You'll get there," Abby said mildly, "apologizing is brave, right? Well you're one of the bravest people I know."

"Well, thanks Abby. I have my faults and I make mistakes sometimes, but, I'll do my best to make you proud. Now tell me, what's got you looking all solemn," Emma replied.

Abby sighed, "it's not a big deal, it's just, me and Jake were practicin' magic, and I froze up and couldn't deflect the hex. It turned out fine, but this always happens, I always freeze and it just makes me feel so useless and scared and sometimes I worry I'm nothing but a coward."

Emma's eyes widened. Suddenly, she understood just how hard this was hitting her nieces and nephew, how their lives had been shaken to their foundations. No wonder none of them had faith in themselves, no wonder none of them were ok. How could they, they were basically as young as Emma had been when she discovered magic, and she had definitely not been ok for some time after that.