Ch. 7

06/23/2010

Chapter 7:

Damian woke up to the sound of his grandfather's voice flowing up from beneath him. He sat up straight in the bed, rubbed his eyes a bit, and shot out of the door and down the stairs. He found his aunt sitting with both of his grandparent's around the dining-room table.

“Hey, guys. Nay-Nay, I thought you were going to wake me up early?” He asked, with a hint of a smile on his face. He walked slowly up to his grandmother and kissed her on the cheek.

“You were sleeping so soundly; I wanted to let you rest as long as you needed to,” Neveya replied.
He went to her, kissed her cheek as well, and shook his grandfather's hand.

“Well, why don't you help me serve dinner? Get the plates and silverware and I'll bring the food.”

“Sounds good. So, Pop, how was your time in town?” Damian turned towards his grandfather.

“It was great! I can't believe how much everything has changed. You could almost consider this a city!” Charlie chuckled.

Damian glanced at him and smiled, “Yeah, right.”

Once Damian and his aunt had finished setting the table they all sat quietly, enjoying the scrumptious dinner in front of them. As soon as they had cleaned their plates of everything but the bones from the pork chops, Neveya stood up.

“I think we should move this on to the living room. We’ll have a little more room and be more comfortable in there.”

They all stood and walked into the next room, drinks in hand. Neveya sat on the small loveseat, while Charlie took the recliner in the corner. Ruth and Damian shared the couch in the middle of the two.

“Well, we're not going to draw this out any longer, we all know how anxious you are to know what happened, Damian,” Charlie said. He sat up in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees and placing his chin in his hands. His eyes were stern, and Damian knew they were about to have an immensely serious discussion.

He swallowed hard and prepared to hear the answers to questions he had been asking for the last three years.

“The day we left you at your parent’s home, we headed straight for the airport. We boarded immediately on the plane heading to Paris, France,” Charlie began.

“Paris? I thought you said you were going to London?” Damian questioned.

“We had to tell everyone that, Sweetheart. We couldn't let anyone know where we were going or what we were doing,” Ruth spoke calmly, attempting to comfort him.

“So, what were you doing then?” Bitterness laced his voice.

Neveya turned to Damian, staring into her lap. “Damian, I want to warn you. This will not be an easy thing to grasp, and it is quite possible that you will not believe your grandparent's at first. I need you to open your mind and let them finish before you say anything at all, okay?”

“Uh, yes, ma'am.” He was confused and would have been scared had he not been so curious.

Charlie looked deeply into Damian's eyes. “Son, you were born into a very unique family. At least, it's unique and quite rare these days. You were born to a family of witches. No, none of us wear funny hats or go flying around on brooms, but we are witches.”

Damian sat back, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, “So, this is how you repay me for deserting us years ago? You lie to me? There's no such thing as witches.”

“Damian, I believe I explained this part to you already. You may not understand, but you must listen to everything your grandparents have to say before passing any kind of judgment on them,” Neveya’s face was somber but her voice showed the depth of her emotions.

“Continue,” Damian spoke shortly to his grandfather.

Instead, his grandmother held his large hand in her small one and said, “I know it can't be easy to learn something like this, but please let us explain. Your grandfather and I went to Paris to fight for a very good cause. We are very much witches, just as your grandfather told you. Our people in France found themselves in the midst of a war with the witches of Germany. There are many disagreements when one witch travels to another's territory. Some of them are not very good with sharing.

“The war lasted for two and a half years. We were going to wait until your birthday to come back, but with the horrible events lately, we couldn't put it off any longer. We wanted to make sure that you know we are here for you, and we won't ever leave you for that long again. You can tell by our appearance that we are getting a bit too old to be fighting new, young magic. So please, let this all sink in for a moment before you speak. You need time to rationalize.”

Ruth sat back against the couch, letting Damian pull his hand softly away from her. They all sat staring at Damian, seemingly waiting for him to say something. He could not figure out in his mind how he could possibly address this information at all. He knew there was no such thing as witches, but he could never remember his grandparent's telling him anything dishonest unless it had something to do with his safety.

“I don't know what to say. I mean, witches in the middle of a war? I can't even pretend to comprehend the possibility of that in the slightest.” He sighed, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.

Charlie stood up and walked to him. He pulled Damian's hands away from his eyes and knelt down in front of him, showing a side of his grandfather Damian had never saw before.

“Damian, I understand this is hard for you. I remember when my parents brought me into the loop. There's one more thing we have to tell you and then we will leave you to manage your thoughts.”

“There's more?” Tears welled up in Damian’s eyes, threatening to spill at any moment.

Neveya broke in, wanting to be a part of the conversation as well. “Your mother was a very talented witch. I've never seen anybody who could do the things she did. Your father, on the other hand, was completely human. We all have examined you very closely over the years and tested you in our own ways. You are not a witch. I'm assuming that your father's gene was the strongest to be passed on to you. You do have a slight gift of knowing. Many times you have known something was going to happen without any of us mentioning anything to you. You are special, Damian. It is rare to be able to specialize in one single gift.”

Damian looked around the room at all of the concerned faces and felt lightheaded. The room started spinning and the dizziness intensified. Everything began to slowly fade before he was suddenly engulfed in blackness.

When Damian regained consciousness, he was laying on the couch with his aunt standing over him. She was pressing a cold washcloth to his forehead and rubbing his hand soothingly.

“Hey there, feel better?” Neveya asked, brandishing a lovely smile.

“What happened? Where are Gran and Pop?” He asked, when he realized he didn't see them sitting in the room anywhere.

“They're outside getting some air. They wanted to give you a little time before making you talk about anything else.”

“You mean it wasn't a dream?” He had hoped that it might have been a figment of his imagination.

Neveya composed her face and looked deeply into his eyes. “Listen, this really isn't that bad. I know it's new to you and very difficult to understand, but you will come to feel comfortable with it after you have some time to adjust. We love you, and we felt that you had the right to know.”

Damian sat there for a few moments, staring at the blank television in front of him. In mid-confusion, he heard the screen door open and turned to see his grandparent's walk back in the front door.

Ruth ran up to him and kissed his forehead. “Are you feeling better, Sweetheart? I'm so sorry if this has upset you. We never meant to hurt you, only to help you understand.”

“I know, Gran,” Damian responded. “Some things are just a little too much to deal with sometimes. I'll be fine; I just need time to think.”

“Neveya, why don't you walk us to the car, Honey? I think we should go for now. We might stop by tomorrow. We have a few more things to do but we will be able to work it out.”

“I thought you had to go back out of town?” Damian asked.

'Well, we looked at a few houses today. We're hoping to move back into town. We found a beautiful house near the river that really suits our needs,” Charlie smiled.

“That's great. I hope it works out for you. It would be wonderful to have you two around more often.”

Ruth leaned down to kiss Damian on the head once again. He said his goodbyes to both of them and Neveya followed them to the door.

“I'll be back in a minute. I sat a glass of water on the table behind you. You should drink some; it will help clear your head,” She said, and then followed Charlie and Ruth out of the door.

Damian stood slowly so he wouldn’t lose his balance, and crept to the window. He watched his family members talk for a few minutes. Neveya was facing towards him so he made sure to hide from her. When he saw the vehicle pulling away from the house, he quickly took a seat back on the couch. The front door opened, revealing Neveya who walked slowly to the recliner where his grandfather had been seated moments before.

“I have to go home,” Damian said, eager to get back to his normal roommate and his normal life. He wanted to leave behind all of the madness until he could bear to face it.

“Oh, no you don't. Not after this. You're staying until tomorrow at the latest, and I think you should consider moving back into town.” Neveya replied.

Damian just looked at her, trying to figure out what he was going to do to get out of this. He had moved a good one and a half hour drive away from this town because he couldn't stand it any longer. The small town bothered him; it seemed like everyone knew everybody's business. But as he sat thinking, he couldn't help wondering if it wouldn't be better for him to come back to Kinderfeld. When he moved away, he had plans to go to school and do something with his life. That didn't seem to happen, though. All that the city brought him was loneliness and boredom once he lost his motivation to go back to school.

“I think you need to sleep on it. Go upstairs now and we'll talk more in the morning.” Neveya said after a slight silence between them.

“Well, if I'm going to stay tonight, I think I should go over to the house in the morning and introduce myself to the new family. Maybe I can help them learn the area.” He replied.

“I'm sure they would greatly appreciate that. Let me know when you get up and I'll fix you something to eat before you head out.” Neveya turned to him. “I love you. Don't you ever forget that, you hear me? Your grandparent's and I knew that you deserved to know what was going on. Please, do not run away from it. Embrace it. It is a wonderful gift that you should enjoy every minute of.”

“I love you, too, Nay-Nay. I understand, I just need time. Please let me have it. After what happened to mom and dad, it's just too much to take in. I have to move slow, so I don't lose my mind.” Damian said. He kissed his aunt on the cheek, after grinning slightly at her, and made his way upstairs.

Once he entered the room, he let out a long sigh of relief. He didn't have to talk to anyone else until morning. Therefore, no one had the ability to give him anymore insane information. He changed into his night clothes and stretched out across the bed. Within a few minutes he was dreaming the night away.