Chapter 18

He stood by the school gates waiting for me to arrive. He scrolled on his phone not paying attention to what was happening around him.. “Good Morning.” I greeted. he put his phone in his pocket with a smile. “Morning.” he greeted in return. Once I got close enough he pulled me into a tight hug.

" What was that for?” asked once he let go.

“Well, you may have replaced me with a cat; " he started, making me laugh. “but there was a Wynter sized hole in my weekend that couldn’t be filled so easily.”

I shook my head smiling, “you’re being dramatic”

“Says the one who replaced me with a cat "

" that cat is named Merlin FYI.”

“Okay, you replaced me with a Wizard cat.”

I just rolled my eyes, amused by his antics.

“Anyways, what happened during your weekend?” he asked, beginning to walk into the school by my side.

I signed, “Amelia showed up.”

" I thought she found peace; You know after you broke the curse.” he said confused.

“So did I.” I said. “But turns out she can’t move on until Evan Mikhale leaves.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, as we reached my locker.

“Turns out he won’t leave us alone, so Amelia is worried for our safety since he has so much spiritual power.” I explained. “she won’t move on until she knows we’re sate from him . "

“Do you know what he wants?”

“He wants to talk to Amelia, but she won’t do it,” I answered. " So we Have to figure out what he’s tethered to and where his energy is coming from.”

Cameron nodded his head in understanding, “I’ll try to do some searching about him after school, I’m sure we have at least some information about him tucked away somewhere. "

“Thank you” we went to his locker next and hung out until the bell rang and we went to our classes. Ever since Emily and Sarah tried to dowse us in “holy water” people treated me just like everyone else. I guess they gave up on the whole witch thing Much to my delight. Lunch came around and Cameron and I ate in peace, making light conversation. I showed him all the pictures of Merlin and he agreed that he was cute, and he forgave me for ‘ replacing’ him. Then the topic of conversation shifted to what happened with Evan and Amelia yesterday.

“He said he loved her.” I said

“could it have been a tactic to get you to open the door?”

“He sounded sincere actually. Like legit heart broken.” I shrugged.

Cameron contemplated this information for a moment before it seemed like A light bulb went off above his head. “This may sound crazy but hear me out "

“Okay?”

“What if the thing that’s keeping Evan here, his tether, Is Amelia?” He offered.

My eyes widened, “that actually makes a lot of sense.”

“Don’t sound so surprised.” he replied in mock offense.

“What if something else happened the day Amelia died?” asked, mostly Talking to myself. “We need to figure out not just how Evan lived, but also how He Died.”

Lunch ended soon after we had this epiphany and went to class until art came around. We discussed Evan more while we did the assignments waiting for the bell to ring. When we walked out of the school unfortunately we had to go our separate ways. We would probably get home around the Same time but if his parents saw us together, he would be in even more trouble. However he said he would call after he arrived. And then to his word, he did. “Hello?” l answered.

“Do you think Evan had journals like Amelia?” he asked.

“Hi Wynter, how are you? Did you get home okay? Why yes Cameron thank you for asking.” I sassed.

“Sorry, hello Wynter. Do you think Evan kept journals like Amelia?”

" Most likely, almost everyone probably kept journals during that Time.”

I could hear him shuffling through something on the other end of the phone, it sounded like he was looking for something.

“What are you doing?” I questioned.

" trying to find Evan’s stuff. Who better to learn about Evan from than Evan himself.” " how do we ever know that your family even has his stuff?” asked.” I mean, wouldn’t your family have given that stuff to the museum or put it in storage?”

" I asked my dad about it, I told him it was for a school project,” he grunted. “he said my great grandma was a family history buff.”

Suddenly over the phone I heard a loud crash and a groan of pain.

“Oh my god, are you okay?!” I exclaimed. " what happened?!”

“Turns out I’m bad at Jenga,” he replied.

“What?”

“I may or may not have tried to climb a shelf to get a box unstuck, and I may or may not have fallen. "

“Cameron, I swear you almost killed me.”

He snorted out a chuckle, “I almost killed myself.”

I rolled my eyes even though I knew he couldn’t see me. I swear sometimes boys survived evolution due to sheer dumb luck.

" Was it worth near death? " I sassed.

“ I don’t know if you tell me,” he said with a smirk in his voice. " is a box full of Evan Mikhale’s stuff worth it?”

He may have posed it as a question, but he certainly didn’t actually want an answer. I rolled my eyes,” what did your near-death experience give you in that box?” I asked.

“Um, looks like some documents, some Old books, and…,”.he trailed off. “and?” I asked. “A letter,” he responded. “Addressed to Amelia. "

“Amelia?”

“It says ‘to my beloved Amelia.’”

“Why would Evan have a letter written For Amelia?” I questioned. “Can you read it to me?” “yeah, it says: My dearest Amelia, I am writing this after you were stolen from this world. Stolen from me. An eclipse is just a few days away and I well know what fate awaits me, a fate that I welcome because it is one you have bestowed upon me.it kills me knowing that in your final moments on this Earth you believed me a liar and a traitor, though I cannot blame you for coming to the conclusion you did. I am heartbroken that I never got the chance to tell you what truly happened the night you told me your secret. I am not the one who accused you of witchcraft, I am not the one who sealed your fate to a horrid fiery death. I truly planned to run away with you, I still would if I had the chance. When I went home to pack my mother and father were waiting for me. They asked where I was going and told them I was going to run away with you, run to a place where we could marry and start a family of our own. This enraged them, they screamed that they would rather die than see me go with you. I tried to escape them, to come to you, but mother had already run to the council. She told them that I said you were a witch, that I had broken free from your enchantment and pleaded for help. It was my mother that took away our chance to be together, I want nothing more than for you to be my wife. In your heartbreak you cursed any Mikhale who love a Morgan to die during an eclipse, the same kind as when I confessed to you my love. Though you may not believe me, my heart beats only for you. I welcome the chance to join you in death and prove to you my love, even if it takes till The World comes to its end, I Will find you so we can finally be together as we were always meant to be. With the love of a million stars, Evan..” To say I was shocked would be a gross understatement . If this was real, this Changed everything. But at the same time it explained so much, why Evan Was So distraught when Amelia wouldn’t Talk to him, And why he won’t Give up.

" Oh my god ,Did your grandmother get the letter Authenticated?” I asked. “She did, according to the letter of authenticity. It's real.” he said in disbelief. “So what do we do with this information?”

" I think the next course of action is summoning Evan.”

“But you said Amelia warned you that he wasn’t safe.”

“Amelia also believes Evan was the one that sent her to her death.” I reminded him.

" Okay I'll be over Ina few minutes.” he said as I began to hear rustling over the phone.

“You’re grounded.” I stated.

“eh, sneaking out doesn’t hurt anyone.” he joked. “and I’ll bring the letter.”

With that he hung up, how he was going to sneak out unseen was a mystery to me. Though I’m sure the story of it will be hilarious, I couldn’t help but worry about the consequences that sneaking out would bring. Nonetheless I began gathering the supplies we would need, candles , incense, etc. I also put Merlin in my room with some food and water so that if this went wrong he’d be safe. I was coming downstairs when there was a knock on the door.

" don’t worry it’s me!” I heard Cameron call out.

I let out a sign of relief and promptly opened the door. There he stood, letter in hand and a smile on his face. Opened the door wider to let him in.

“Ready to summon a potentially dangerous ghost?” he asks, handing the letter to me.

" eh, we’ve done worse.” I joked.

“That we have, " he replied while capping his hands together. " let’s do this "

Together we walked over to where I had already set up everything we needed. Carefully we Sat down and opened the letter; the handwriting was beautiful longhand, however my eyes immediately focused on little water droplet stains along the edges. Were they tear stains? He must have really loved her. Setting the paper down gently, lit the candles and grabbed Cameron’s hands in mine.

“This will be a bit different than when we did the seance.” I explained. “In the seance we summoned Amelia into a confined space, but we’ll be summoning Evan to have free range of the house. "

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Cameron asked.

“no, but it would be a worse idea to try and confine him with all the energy he has.” I shrugged. “ Let’s begin. ”

Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and began thee ritual:

“Evan Mikhale, spirit unseen

I summon you here and offer you sanctuary. "

Opening my eyes I watched as the flame of the candle rose and fell in time with my breathing. Slowly the image of Evan Mikhale started to form by the front door. I waited to break the ritual until after he anchored himself to the space. Once his form was solid I dropped Cameron’s hands and put out the candle. “Where am I? How did I get here?” He asked. “Evan Mikhale, you’re at the Morgan family estate.” I explained keeping my voice gentle so as to not set him off. “We know you’re innocent, and we want to help.”

“I just want to talk to Amelia,” he said.

" you will,” I promised. " but first I need to know where you’ve been drawing energy from.”

“my ring.” he said. “I draw from the one wearing the ring”

“The rug has been passed down for generations.” Cameron mumbled.

“That’s why he has so much energy, he’s always had an unlimited power source.”

Cameron came to stand by me, putting himself in between myself and Evan. He kept his eyes trained on Evan as he walked around searching for something. Suddenly there was a shift in the air and a very angry Amelia appeared. “What is he doing here?” she snarled. “I told you he cannot be trusted.” Evan turned to face her with awe all over his face. “Amelia, " he gasped.

“Amelia?” Cameron asked, trying to spot her.

“She’s here. She's angry I let Evan in.”

“Amelia please, I didn’t betray you.” Evan pleaded.

“Liar!” she screeched.

“He’s telling the truth!” Cameron said although he couldn’t see or hear Amelia.

Amelia’s head snapped to look at Cameron and I. " Here read this letter “I said, pointing to the letter that still sat on the floor.

In a flash Amelia was next to us, completely ignoring Evan who did nothing to hide how heartbroken he was. His eyes pleaded silently for her to listen, to believe him. Reluctantly she squatted down to read the letter.

“What’s happening? " Cameron whispered.

“She's reading his letter.”

“How’s that going?’

I simply shrugged; I held my breath as I watched her eyes scan through the letter. I watched her eyes widen and tears fight to escape, she placed her hand over her mouth to stop a sob from ripping from her throat.

“I never would have left you if I had known what would happen. " Evan said, coming to stand by her. “Please tell me you believe me.”

“Evan…” she cried and threw herself into his arms “I love you.”

“Jesus Christ! Where did she come from?” Cameron exclaimed.

“What? Can you see her now?”

“He can see me now because I am now connected to Evan. " Amelia explained, not taking her eyes off of Evan.

“We can finally be together, my love.” Evan told her, resting his forehead against hers.

“I am so sorry for blaming you all this time.” Amelia apologized.

“You know the truth now,” he smiled. “That is all that matters to me.”

They both turned their heads to look at Cameron and I” thank you.”

Hesitantly, Amelia leaned forward bringing her lips to his in a kiss that they have waited centuries to share. When their lips finally met a bright light enveloped them and when it was gone, so were they.

“Where did they go?” Cameron asked

I smiled. “They finally found peace.”

Cameron and I went up to my room, both of us couldn’t contain our happiness that it was finally over. When we opened the door Merlin immediately came up and started rubbing against my leg. Picking him up I formally introduced him to Cameron. “Well isn’t it my replacement,” he chuckled. “I must admit he is cute.”

“Told you!” I laughed. “He might just become your replacement.” He joked, taking Merlin out of my hands. Merlin seemed to have no qualms with this and instantly snuggled up to him. We went over and sat on the bed and started to play with Merlin. “So,” he started. “Now that we’ve brought the ghosts of our dead ancestors peace, what do we do now?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Get you UN-grounded?”

He snorted, “Any ideas on how to achieve that goal?”

I thought for a moment before responding. “Think your parents would accept a bribe?”

This made him throw his head back in a chest rattling laugh. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing along with him. I wanted nothing more than for every day to be like this. I want every day to be as easy as laughing with Cameron, and hopefully it’ll be like that sooner than later. We hung out in my room for a couple of hours before it was time for Cameron to sneak back home. We said our goodbyes and he said he would call me when he made it home. Hopefully, he could sneak back in without being caught. Even after he was gone there was nothing I could do to remove the smile from my face. Mom came home, apparently she met with her agent at Charlie’s cafe, with pizza in her hand for dinner so she didn’t have to cook so late. She didn’t question why I was so happy and instead told me how her meeting went. Tomorrow I would tell her everything that happened when she was gone. But right now I just wanted to bask in our victory for a little while longer.