Chapter 20

I probably walked slower than normal but I got there in the end. Just like he said he would, Cameron was standing outside waiting for me. When he noticed me I saw his shoulders relax slightly.

“Are you ready?” he asked once I reached

“If I’m being honest, not even a little bit.” I answered. “You?”

“Absolutely not,” he declared.

I let out a nervous laugh, and I couldn’t help but feel a little ridiculous. His parents were just normal people, and Cameron was with me so what was the worst they could do? Yell at me? Kick me out of their house? It wasn’t like they were mob bosses who could kill me whenever they deemed fit. I wiped my sweaty palms off on my jeans and took a few deep breaths before Cameron led me inside. I followed him turn after turn and once again I could only wonder how they could navigate this house without a map. Eventually we ended up in a living room of sorts, where his parents sat ever so elegantly, waiting for us to arrive.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Mikhale.” I greeted to interrupt the awkward tension.

They didn’t respond, instead they just looked at Cameron and I and gestured for us to sit down. We followed their silent instructions and sat on the couch across from them.

“Cameron said that you wanted to talk to me?” I asked.

“Yes,” his mom answered. “Cameron has clearly expressed his feelings that we were too quick to judge you.”

“It is our understanding that the two of you know what really happened between our families.” his father commented.

“Yes sir, we did. “I nodded.

“Care to enlighten us?”

“Mom!” Cameron scolded.

I glanced between Cameron and his mom before wiping my hands on my pants again and asking, “what would you like to know?”

The only answer his father gave was “everything.”

Cameron placed a hand on top of mine to stop me fidgeting. I honestly didn’t realize I was doing it. I wasn’t sure how to explain everything without out right admitting that my family were witches. Turning to Cameron asked him in a quiet voice if should tell them or not. He told me that that was my choice. I nodded and focused my attention back on the couple sitting across from me.

“Back then, your ancestor Evan and my ancestor Amelia were in love.” began. I told them the story of Evan and Amelia. How Evan was going to flee Wichitan with Amelia and her family. How she was burned at the stake after being accused, how she believed it was Evan that betrayed her and that’s why she cursed him. I told them everything that we found in the letter and how we broke the curse and the risk I took to do so. They sat there listening intently. Not once did they interrupt or ask any questions until I had put everything out in the open.

“You said that there were 2 ways to free Cameron from the curse.” his mom stated.

“yes ma’am.”

“and that the way you chose could have killed you.”

I nodded my head that she was correct.

“If it was so dangerous, why didn’t you go with the ‘safer’ option?” his father asked, eyeing me suspiciously almost like he didn’t believe me.

" I would have, if there was a 100% guarantee that it would have worked.” I answered.

They looked at me a little confused, but Cameron continued talking before they could ask more questions.

“I asked her to go with the safer route,” he said. “It wasn’t until the ritual started that I knew what her plan was.”

“If I had done what Cameron wanted there was a chance the curse would have stuck.” I explained. “But the chance of losing him, especially after losing my dad, was a risk I could not take.”

We spent the next few minutes answering whatever questions they had and putting to rest the lingering suspicions they had. Eventually they seemed to relax, allowing me to release a breath of relief. Once they knew everything they acted like nothing had changed, but the look in their eyes told me they were having a harder time wrapping their minds around it all. I understand, but I couldn’t help but worry that they wouldn’t believe me.

“Thank you for coming and talking to us.” his mom spoke, standing from her seat. “My husband and I will take everything said today into consideration.”

Holding out a hand to her husband to help him stand. He cleared his throat, “Cameron take Wynter home and come right back.”

With that they left, leaving Cameron and I frozen. Throughout the entire conversation I felt like my heart was going to explode from my chest. So now that they were gone I could feel my heartbeat do a sudden drop and was sure at any moment I would black out. I guess I looked like I felt because Cameron placed the back of his hand against my cheek.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I answered. “That was just more terrifying than expected.”

“Let’s get you home.”

With Cameron’s help we made our way outside and began the journey back to my house. Being outside with fresh air helped me start to feel normal again. I made sure to take deep breaths and not rush to much.

“So, do you think we got through to them?” I asked.

"I never know what’s going through their heads,” he answered. “We can only hope for the best.”

I hesitated asking the next question, but it wasn’t a question I could ignore. “What will happen if they don’t change their minds?”

“We go back to plan A. "

“Right,” I responded. “What was plan A?”

He chuckled before answering. “I'll wait it out until I’m 18.”

“I don’t like plan A.” I said, scrunching my nose like I smelled something bad.

“Nobody likes plan A, " he laughed. "That's why people tend to go with plans B through Z.”

Before long we came upon the front door. With a heavy sigh, we went our different ways. We agreed to talk more at school. Even if his parents didn’t want us together, they could keep us apart at school unless of course they pull him and make him homeschool. Knock on wood that that wouldn’t happen. Thankfully, the rest of the night was uneventful and borderline boring. Merlin was thriving so seeing him play with his toys and having him cuddle with me lifted my spirits. Mom asked what was going on, and I answered honestly. I don’t know.

When it was time for bed I was emotionally and mentally exhausted. I didn’t even get a chance to do my homework before all hell broke loose. Hopefully, I can get everything done in time tomorrow. I didn’t hold my breath, however. Who knows if tomorrow would be better or worse than today. Mom told me to look at it like the glass was half full instead of half empty. But I just looked at it like it was a glass, a glass with something unit, and it was unclear what that something was. As I was getting ready for bed I tried to meditate to calm my nerves. I did what I had done before; breathe in, hold, breathe out, and repeat.

I did this until I could feel myself start to fall asleep and hoped I could rest well. I prayed to no one in particular that everything would work itself out. I prayed that even if Cameron’s parents didn’t change their mind, they weren’t more upset. No progress was better than progress in the wrong direction. At least that’s what I kept telling myself. Maybe if I said it to myself enough times, I would start to actually believe it. I tried to tell myself that it didn’t matter what his parents thought. Except it did matter. I didn’t want Cameron to feel like he had to choose between me and his family, let alone resent me later in life because of it.

I got ready for school with a sluggish attitude. I almost convinced myself to stay home and avoid facing reality for another day. But I have to be responsible, plus I don’t think my mom would let me stay home no matter how much I wanted to. I had woken up early so I could at the very least start my homework. I sat in the kitchen after giving Merlin his breakfast with my head in between my hands trying desperately to understand my algebra homework. Needless to say I wasn’t doing too well. Who even came up with math anyway?

“Good morning sweetheart.” Mom greeted me as she joined me in the kitchen.

“Morning.”

“Oh, Wynter, " she said, snapping her fingers as if she just thought of something. “make sure to clean Merlin’s litter box before you head to school.”

I immediately blamed my text book shut. “Anything to avoid my brain self-destructing from too many math equations.”

I booked it upstairs trying to get as far away from the evil book of math as fast as I could. Sometimes I wish I could travel back in time just so I could stop Math from being invented. But alas I was stuck in this timeline. I quickly cleared Merlin’s litter box, washed my hands, and went back down stairs to pack up all my stuff so I could go to school. Gathering up all the courage and bravery I had left I began my journey to school. I was scared to find out if Cameron’s parents had come to a decision or not.

I wasn’t really paying attention to my surroundings, only making sure I was aware enough I wasn’t in danger of getting run over by a car. When I finally got to the school building I didn’t see Cameron anywhere. Thankfully, I got there early enough that I could wait outside without fear of being late. I started to play on my phone while I waited, all of a sudden I couldn’t see any more due to a pair of hands blocking my eyes.

“You have 3 chances to guess who I am.”

I tried to bite back my smile as I pretended to think. I acted like I was having a hard time coming up with an answer. “Kevin?” I guessed, choking back a laugh as I heard an offended gasp.

“First you replace me with your Wizard cat, now you dare confuse me with a man named Kevin?” he raved, taking his hands away from my eyes. . “Who is Kevin anyway?”

“I don’t know, It was the first thing that came to mind. "

“You know I don’t think that makes me feel better.” he said, tilting his head slightly to the side.

I chuckled, “hello Cameron.”

“Thank you for acknowledging me.” he sassed. “so good news, kinda.”

I raised my eyebrows and waited for him to continue.

“So my parents are still on the fence, but they agreed to lessen my punishment.”

"they ungrounded you!?.” I exclaimed.

“No, I am still very much grounded. " he corrected. “But l am no longer a prisoner in my home. ”

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“They are allowing me to go places, but I have an early curfew.” he said. "I have to be home by 8 o’clock.”

“This is a good sign though!” I smiled, “Maybe they’ll come around.”

Cameron nodded in agreement, and we left the conversation there and went inside. We went around to our classes, and everything was going great. But when lunch came around Cameron got a call from his mom. She said he should come home and even asked him to bring me. We were both confused and scared of what was going to happen. Did something happen? If something was wrong, why did she want me there?

Cameron and I left the school and walked over to his house. To our surprise we noticed a familiar car parked in the driveway. We walked in and heard several voices shouting over each other.

“How dare you!”

“Please calm down.”

“Do not tell me to calm down!”

Turning the corner to the dining room we saw a very tense conversation.

“Mom?” I asked. “What are you doing here?”

Hearing my voice she turned to face me, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so angry in my life. “Wynter, come here.”

I followed orders simply because I didn’t want to make her angrier than she already was. “Mom, what in the world is going on?”

Cameron came to stand with me and my mom, which judging by the looks they were giving him, his parents were none too happy about it.

“Cameron’s parents found my number and called me over to talk.” She explained.

Cameron looked between my mom and his parents trying to connect the dots, “So why is everyone ready to rip each other’s hair out?”

This time it was his mother who spoke up. “We just wanted to talk about everything going on between you two and she,” she trailed off pointing to my mother. “Started shouting at us all of a sudden!”

“You sat there and told me that you invited my daughter over after her father died and proceeded to kick her out and threaten her for her last name!” Mom screamed. “Imagine if I called you and told you I did that to your son!”

“Mom please just calm down.” I pleaded.

“I have been nothing but kind and welcoming and loving to your son!” Mom was too worked up to listen to me. “How dare you do that to a young girl who is still to this day grieving the loss of her father! A loss that your son has helped her through this entire time!”

“ENOUGH!” I shouted. Finally everyone was quiet, all eyes turned to me. Mostly in shock, but nonetheless they listened. “Everyone sit down, and we are going to have a conversation like the adults you are.”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Cameron trying to suppress a smile. After everyone was sat down and ready I turned to Mr. and Mrs. Mikhale and asked them to explain why they called us all there.

“My wife and I wanted to talk to your mother before we came to a decision about the two of you being together,” Cameron’s father began. “And against my advice, my wife wanted to be completely open with her about what has been going on.”

I heard my mom scoff, but I elected to ignore it for now.

“What does Wynter’s mom have to do with you wanting to keep Wynter and I apart?” Cameron asked.

I heard his mom let out a dejected sigh. “After we talked yesterday, I was afraid I may have acted too rashly,” Hearing this made Cameron perk up in interest. “So since your mother knew more of yours and Cameron’s dynamic, I thought it best to get her input on your relation with our son.”

“And?” Cameron prodded.

This caused my mom to let out a small laugh; she reached over and patted Cameron’s hand that rested on top of the table. “I have always known you were right for my daughter. You have a pure soul, which is hard to find these days.” Then she turned her attention back to the couple sitting on the other side of the table. “You raised a wonderful young man; one who has only ever treated my family with the utmost respect.”

“Thank you.” The entire Mikhale family said in unison.

“I know I raised my daughter right, which is how I know that she never came into your home with ill intent. So before we continue any further, I believe you owe Wynter an apology for the way you have treated her.” Mom said, raising her eyebrows in expectation. But when she saw Cameron’s parents look away from her she continued. “You took what little biased information you had attached to her last name and let that be your guide instead of seeing her for who she actually is, which is a wonderful young lady.”

I could tell that what mom was saying was getting through to them. For the first time since meeting them, they looked apologetic.

“You’re right, she has been amazingly polite.” Mr. Mikhale spoke. “We were just scared.”

“All we wanted was to protect our son. But it seems that in doing so we hurt him more.” Mrs. Mikhale added. “We can never thank you enough for taking care of Cameron. We apologize for how we behaved.”

“They protect each other,” Mom said, looking at us with such a soft look. “I’ve seen how much they care for each other and how far they’d go just to protect the other. You say you wanted my opinion on their relationship?”

They nodded. “We do.”

“My opinion is, they are two kids in love. Nothing we do is gonna change that.”

We sat there for a little while longer and watched our parents talk, and when we finally went home everything had been worked out. Cameron was no longer grounded, and his parents no longer hated the idea of me in his life. Finally after we moved here, life was peaceful. It felt like moving here was a different lifetime. It had been crazy from the very start, but if none of it happened I couldn’t be where I am now. I just wished that dad could be a part of this, but I knew that even if I couldn’t see or hear him, that he was still here. He was still here watching over us with a smile on his face and so much love in his heart. I like to believe that it was dad that broke through the Mikhale’s walls and showed them that they had no reason to worry. Dad was always the kind of person to bring people together and I think that even in death he was still doing just that.

Weeks passed and everything fell into place. Cameron and I were finally accepted not just by his parents but by the kids at school as well. Merlin was growing more and more every day and has even started to act as my familiar. There were no more spirits of the past haunting our house and instead of fearing the bumps in the night I was able to hear them and know that they were nothing. After everything moving to Wichitan had put me and my family through, I can say with confidence that I finally got my happily ever after.