Silver Dust

Part 2

By Chibi Hime

Charmcaster had an excellent memory. It was a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because she could remember the way he felt, warm and furry, on a cold night. How he'd looked at her in any form and his blue eyes lit up. How he'd made love to her softly and the feel of his hands on her face. The way he'd convinced her to run away from her home without exacting revenge on her uncle...for promising to take her away from there forever.

She wanted to remember things like that.

What she did not want to remember were the other things.

Her uncle finding out about them...being together, his threats to tear out their baby himself. She didn't want to remember how their struggle to escape had failed. How her uncle had aimed curses at them, but only managed to hit one of them...because a silver light had encircled her, protected her...but not Michael.

She'd tried to reach for him, to save him, too, so they could do everything they had talked about doing.

His fingers were so close, but there was a silver field between them. She couldn't reach him. She never could. There was a flash of light and a crack of energy...

And Charmcaster awoke in her bed, her heart racing.

The dream was always the same. It was always a replay of that day ten years ago. Ten long years ago.

Charmcaster shifted in the bed, her hands tugging at black silken sheets. Her arm stretched out and she felt and empty space in the bed next to her. Her magenta eyes opened wide and she looked around the room.

Empty.

She rolled her eyes and sat up. She rubbed her eyes with her hands and looked around.

Everything was as it was the night before. Why had she expected anything to be different? She frowned and leaned back. Groaning, she blew her bangs out of her eyes, only to have them flop back down into place.

Because even after ten long years...she still missed him. She'd escaped home, she didn't know how, she just knew she did. She'd looked for Michael...or his body, and had not found a single trace of him or found anyone who did. It seemed as though he had dropped off the face of the earth.

Ten years of raising their child had been a challenge, but one made easier by the fact that she was gifted with magic from her mother and not cursed with the power from her father.

Charmcaster shuddered at how agonizing the wait for the next full moon after the child was born had been. How worried she'd been, how she'd shaken and how her stomach had twisted in anticipation...how she'd cried for joy when nothing happened when the silver sphere peeked through the clouds. Baby Celeste had only cooed and turned on her sleep. She would have loved her little girl no matter what, but this just made things like blending in so much simpler.

They'd done alright. Charmcaster had rented a building and opened a small potions shop and the two of them lived on the second floor. She sometimes visited Michael's half brother and his wife and their...child. Devlin was seven and had unfortunately, inherited his father's powers. No one seemed to mind that two or three nights out of the month, there were two abnormally large wolves running around the house, even if one was still a pup. Nevertheless, she didn't pick on them much. They'd helped her out when she'd needed it most and she didn't forget it.

She heard her door creak open and looked up suddenly, drawn from her memories. A slender girl wearing a pink nightshirt walked in.

"Mommy?"

Her blue eyes were wide and questioning and her white hair shone in the early morning sun that filtered in through the window. Charmcaster smiled and patted the bed beside her.

"Celeste? C'mere, hun," she said.

Celeste nodded and complied. Charmcaster wrapped her arms around her and rocked her daughter back and forth.

"You know I love you, right baby?" she asked.

Celeste nodded.

"Would you like to go see Uncle Kevin, Aunt Gwen and Devlin for awhile?"

"Why?"

"Mommy needs to do something and she doesn't want you to get hurt,"

"If...you you say so,"

It was her daughter's response to everything she didn't understand, but didn't want to admit that she didn't understand.

"I'm sure Devlin would love having a playmate around," Charmcaster commented.

Celeste nodded.

"I wish Daddy was here. He'd know what to do to make you feel better so you wouldn't have to do anything dangerous,"

That was her response to everything she couldn't fix. It did not matter what it was.

"Well, he's not and there's nothing we can do about that now,"

"I'm sorry," Celeste said, squeezing her mother's shoulders.

"Sorry for what?" Charmcaster asked.

"I'm sorry I didn't save him for you," Celeste sniffed into her mother's nightgown.

"Oh. Oh, baby. That wasn't your fault. That was someone else's, someone who wanted to do something very bad to your father and I. I'm so lucky you were able to save me. If you hadn't, neither of us would be here. Go easy on yourself, you weren't even born yet. That wasn't even supposed to be possible," Charmcaster ended with a smile, hoping to push away her daughter's self doubts.

It seemed to work for the moment Celeste eased off her mother's bed and went off to her room to get dressed and to pack a small bag for her visit.

..........................................

"Look. I really appreciate you doing this..." Charmcaster started.

Kevin cut her off.

"The kid is family. Or at least, the closest thing she's got to family. She'll never have to worry about having a place here. You on the other hand...what's up? Where are you going?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I've got some unfinished business I need to take care of,"

"Don't do anything stupid like getting yourself killed, alright? I might not like you much, but your kid sure does," Kevin reminded her.

The two of them heard children laughing and looked out the window. Gwen was making a potion in the front yard and Celeste and Devlin were entertained by its changing colors. Charmcaster smiled.

"I'm just...going to look again," she said.

"Maybe you ought to think about what you have instead of what you don't," Kevin stated flatly.

"After this time...I will," Charmcaster told him.

.....................

Out in the yard, Celeste tugged Devlin's shirt and pulled him away from his mother's cauldron. Aunt Gwen shot her a look that implied she knew the little girl was up to something. Celeste merely smiled and waved back.

"Dev! I need your help tonight. I need your nose," she whispered.

Devlin looked suspicious.

"What for?" he asked.

"I'm going to need your help finding my Dad," she answered.

Her younger cousin's eyes bulged.

"Mom won't let me out of the yard on full moon. Besides, I thought your Dad was dead,"

"That's what I thought to, but the other night, I had a dream about him and he was looking for us too,"

"That doesn't mean he's alive. Even if he is, how are we going to find him? We don't even know what he looks like," Devlin questioned.

"I think I'll just know,"

Devlin looked suspicious.

"So..you saw him in your dream and that makes you think we can find him?"

"No, I saw a wolf in my dream, but not a wolf wolf, a wolf like you wolf. I know my dad is one so, I think he wants me to find him. I think it'll be a lot easier to find one of those than an ordinary person. If I can bring him home, Mom won't be sad anymore and he can be with us again. I think he's really lonely,"

"If he's so lonely, why didn't he come back to you and your mom?" Devlin asked.

"Maybe he didn't know where to find us...and he's been looking, just like my Mom. The world is an awful big place," Celeste offered.

"Maybe he doesn't want to be found," Devlin answered.

"Devlin, that's silly, why wouldn't he want to be found?"

"Maybe he'd hiding something from you two he doesn't want you to know," Devlin finished.

"Why would he want to do that?" Celeste asked.

"I don't know. I'm just saying," Devlin mumbled.

"So, will you help me?" Celeste asked, begging with wide, blue eyes.

Devlin groaned. He couldn't say no to his older cousin.

"Sure, as long as we don't get into trouble," Devlin agreed conditionally.

"What trouble could we get into?" Celeste asked.

"Celeste!"

Almost on cue, Charmcaster popped up behind them and both children started.

"Yes?" Celeste asked.

Her mother hugged her and kissed her cheek.

"I'll be gone a few days, but I'll be back soon. Mind Uncle Kevin and Aunt Gwen until then, alright? Take care of your cousin. I love you," she said, hurriedly.

"I know. I love you too, Mom,"

With another hug and a pop of purple light, her mother was gone.

Devlin cleared his throat.

"She said to mind my Mom and Dad,"

Celeste grinned with a glint of mischief.

"They didn't say not to look for my Dad. Besides, we'll be back by morning,"

Devlin did a double take.

"You expect to find your dad in one night?"

"Well, yeah, how many werewolves are there?" she asked.

Devlin groaned.

This was going to be harder than he thought.