Winter

“Wait, James is your brother?”

“Yes, he is and I’m sorry he did this to you.” I nodded accepting her apology not that she needed to apologize for anything. “Is there anyway you could help us or maybe you can tell us what really happened between James and Lady Blackwood.” I know it was a long shot but we could really use a break and if I was correct James was somewhere in this town.
“I owe you that much, let sit down at the Inn and I will tell you about them. I waved Niall over and she was shocked to see the spitting image of James.

“James?” She sounded really confused right know but could you blame her. “No this is Niall; he is my husband.”

“My god, he really did it. I will tell you everything I know Winter, please follow me.” I followed her in and sat down at the table she was sitting on. Niall had followed us quietly and sat down by my side. “So I think introductions are at order right now. I’m Catherine Horan, sister of James Horan and we come from a long line sorcerers.”

It’s nice to meet you, I’m Winter and this is Niall and we come from the 21th century and we have grown up knowing that there are no such thing as reall magic so how can this be?”
“The sorcerers must be hiding, I really can’t tell you because this has never happened before, so I don’t have any knowledge of your time but I can tell you something about James his past and please know that I will do everything in my power to get you back to your own time. I nodded and motioned for her to continue.

“James was the first born, which automatically means he is the strongest, what you must understand is that he wasn’t always this way, he was the nicest boy you would ever meet. He wouldn’t even kill a fly and he loved to play and even sing but that all changed when he got his powers. My dad wasn’t a nice guy and in his eyes it was time to grow up, the minute you got your powers, so when James was around his 8th birth year he starting getting his powers, which he tried to hide but when a sorcerer tries to ignore his powers it will only lead to one burst of power, which happened. The thing was that this happened when he was with our mother.”

She stopped to drink and I was already guessing that he killed his mother, when this burst of power happened and I felt sad for the little boy.

“I think you already guessed what happened. When his power burst she was sitting next to him, as he was in pain, she tried to sooth him and at one point it was too much. There was an explosion of thunder and when my father saw this from his study he started running, I was too young to do anything but stare, later I was told that he froze me, so I couldn’t get hurt but I was 5 at the time there was nothing I could do and when he ran into the barn, I heard him scream and that scream went through my body. I can never forget that scream as it was one of despair and next thing I know James is flying out and smashes into a tree. He can’t do a thing as vines are constricting him and that’s when my father walks out with my mother in her arms and there is actually a glow around him.

I looked over at Niall and his mouth had dropped. I wasn’t sure what to think off this because it really sounded as if we walked into a movie. I turned my face back to Catherine who was miles away. I put my hand on hers to let her know she can tell us whatever she needs to tell me.

“My dad brought my mother back into the house and that’s the moment I could move again. I wasn’t sure what was going on and the fact that I had witnessed such a rage wasn’t calming me down. I know I was running towards my brother but he stopped me with just the smallest lift of his hand. It was a warning to stay away and I listened. I did stay with him until my father came back out, he was still having a faint glow as he made his way over. He was undoing the vines and James smacked to the ground. He tried to crawl away from my father but he wasn’t quick enough and that’s when my dad lifted him up by his neck and I remember screaming but there was nothing I could do, I watched him drag James to his study and that the last time he was just my brother.

The time he came out of that shed he had lost all his warmth, there was nothing but coldness surrounding him. When he looked at me he did not smile anymore and he never played with me again. My father focused only on James and never saw how I was doing. I was raised by my grandparents because my father didn’t have time for me as he had to train James into the greatest sorcerer that had ever existed, at least that is what my grandmother told me.

James was cut off from the world and didn’t know we had company, as he lived in the forest in his own personal study. Father had build this for him, so he wouldn’t be bothering anyone. I was walking outside with Lady Blackwood when time seemed to freeze, at first I didn’t see what was happening but James had froze everything, the minute he saw Lady Blackwood, what he didn’t seem to notice was that I was still walking.

I saw the look in his eyes when he saw her and I knew I had to protect her no matter what but I wasn’t strong enough and even though I warned her to stay away from my brother, it was like she was deaf because the minute her eyes fell on him, she was a lost case and they spent so much time together that I almost never saw her again. I wanted to stop it but then I saw James eyes, he got back his warmth and he was actually talking to me again.

I was his sister again and he even socialised at the balls we were giving. He was dancing and being charming. He danced with me, with Lady Blackwood and he was just James again so I didn’t do anything, I let it go and stopped watching them even though my gut feeling said this wouldn’t end well.

Their romance was in full bloom when her father showed up with this laird. I knew from my upbringing that this could mean two things, or he was doing business with the man or this would be a suiter for Lady Blackwood and my biggest fear became reality when I knew it was the second option.

The man introduced himself as Duncan McLochlan, he was a laird of a big village north and I know he too had lost his heart to Lady Blackwood when his eyes fell on her but she didn’t want him. She even put up a fight against her father. It was ugly and James grew distant again and I saw the hate for Duncan in his eyes. I was afraid of what he could do to him, so afraid even that I made sure he had a protection spell around him, which eventually led to the fact that James grew impatient because he couldn’t kill the bastard.

It didn’t take him long before he found out it was me who was protecting him and that’s when he started to get cruel. He even went as far to poison me but it was already too late because the minute I fell to the floor with severe poisoning, Lady Blackwood and Duncan McLochlan were already married. This changed him for good. He became a hermit and now I know what he has been doing, he was trying to find a way that he could break the spell and now he has found it in you two.”

Niall and I exchanged a look and I could tell he was as shocked as I was. It was an impossible story but then again, what if she was telling the truth and there was actually sorceress amongst us. There was something I didn’t understand though.

“Okay let’s say you are telling the truth, why are we still here then?” I asked her because James got what he wanted but that didn’t explain why we were still here and why he was that evil.

“I’m not sure but it has to do something with your connection to each other but as long as Duncan is still alive.” I shook my head and that when she let out a gasp.

“Duncan is dead but that is not possible unless. Did Lady Blackwood and he get split up for some unknown reason?” she was aiming this question at me and I felt instantly guilty because he did came after me.

“Yes, there were separate for a night. Duncan thought I was his wife and he followed me, we spent a night together in a cave to shelter from the storm. Lady Blackwood spent this night with Niall.”

She nodded as if that explained everything. I didn’t like the way she was looking right now. She was as white as a sheet and the worried expression was all over her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“The reason why you two aren’t back at your time is because you are tethered to them.”

“what does that mean?”

“That means that you can’t return without them dying.”

Notes