Page 32 of A Spark of Something (A Librarian’s Guide to Witchery #1)
R ed walked slowly through the open door and up the stairs. Drawing it closed and locking it with a brief surge of magic, he powered off all of the lights and turned off the elevators as well. Locking and closing the front door as he came in, he also made sure all of the alarms that should be set were.
Red eyes briefly closed the moment he heard the heartbreakingly devastated cries coming from above.
“Ollie…”
He glanced at the grimoire as he passed the table. Red wasn’t sure why Ollie’s book was being so harsh with him, but he could only trust that it was what the man needed.
Padding quickly through the home, he headed into the library and up the spiral staircase to Ollie’s bedroom.
He couldn’t help but wince on finding his witch curled into a ball on the bed.
Jumping up, he gently brushed against him, letting out a low purring sound.
“Go away!” Ollie sobbed, not uncurling in the least. “I-I don’t want you here!”
Red laid down next to him. “Please don’t cry, Ollie.”
“Shut up!” the witch screeched as he sat up, tears trailing down his face. More followed them in an endless stream—the man’s eyes and nose already red. Ollie glared down at him, yet underneath the anger, it was all pain. “You lied to me, d-didn’t you?! Both of you d-did!” The man let out a sad whimper.
“I did what I had to do to stay with you. If I could have, I would have told you everything, even knowing that Rowden would have denied me access to you if I had. My only thoughts, over all of these years, was to protect you.”
“Protect me?!” Ollie cried. “Why didn’t you protect them , Red?!” The witch let out a bitter laugh. “You aren’t even Red, are you?”
“I’m Red. I’ve been Red since you named me twenty-seven years ago,” he said with a sad smile. “As for the rest… As much as I wanted to protect them—” His voice wavered as the memories surfaced, and as the spell on him started to activate. “—I couldn’t. It wasn’t something I could ever protect them from.”
Choices had been made, and what he had wanted… As much as it killed part of him to sit back and do nothing, what Red had wanted hadn’t been important.
Ollie stared at him, with more tears trailing down his face, as the man slowly, in a voice that was barely above a whisper, asked, “How did my parents and grandparents really die?”
Red eyed the young witch, wanting nothing more than to comfort him, to say something that would make it all better, but none of the truths he had would or could, so he did and said nothing. Though, even if he wanted to speak the truth, the full truth, he could not.
Ollie’s face twisted in anger. “Answer me! HOW DID THEY DIE?! You know, don’t you?!”
Red closed his eyes as tears slid down his furry face, and when he opened them again, he said all he had the ability to say. “They died so you could live.”
“Wh-what—What does that mean?!” Ollie screamed.
“I cannot tell you, the binding on me prevents it. I only became free to speak at all when your awakening drew near. The answers you seek, for now, can only be told to you by Rowden.”
“Of course.” Ollie let out a strained laugh before taking a shuddered breath. “Was it… Was it hunters?”
As much as it physically hurt him to do so, he nodded, ignoring the bolts of electricity that slid through his body as he reached the edge of the binding. “I’m sorry, Ollie. I’m so sorry.”
A sob rocking through his body, Ollie curled in on himself again. “Everything’s a lie… Everything’s a lie,” the man repeated. “Who even am I?”
“Oh, Ollie. It’s not all a lie. Parts of it were. And while I don’t agree with all that was kept from you, please trust me when I say that it was done to protect you. But what you are, doesn’t change who you are. You are Ollie Wisteria Cross, a bright, sweet, kind child. A lover of knowledge, a lover of books, of artifacts, of history. You were a skeptic, and now you are a witch. But being one doesn’t change all the rest.”
“It changes everything!” Ollie shouted. “I don’t know who I am anymore!”
Red rubbed against him, letting out a soothing rumble, and this time the witch didn’t lean away. Slowly, Ollie pulled him into his arms, curling fully around Red while he buried his face in his fur.
“I love you, Ollie. I know I’m not the same cat you assumed I was, but you are my family, and always will be. I hope you know that.”
At his words, Ollie just cried harder.