After the big revelation, Damien and Alexander let Penelope and Caitlin alone. Penny was still trying to wrap her mind around the information about the white witch being related to her.
“It might take time for me to come around to call you Aunt Caitlin,” Penny said, an awkward smile on her face which faltered on her lips.
“You can call me anything you are comfortable with. You can continue calling me Caitlin, Penelope,” the woman said, her brown eyes had softened along with a smile which was upon her lips, “I thought it was only right for you to know than I wait for the right time to let you know about it. If something were to happen in the future, I wouldn’t want to regret it,” there was certain sadness as she said this, retracting her hand back to her side, Caitlin took a deep breath to release it.
“The last time I spoke to your father, we were on bad terms. I was worried for him and had been too harsh when it came to the words I spoke to him.”
“Was it about my mother?” Penny asked, calling the woman as her mother was another thing that sounded odd on her ears and sour on her tongue. The woman was never her mother and if she was it was only in name,
“Actually no, it was about our relatives. I didn’t want to marry the man but everyone found it was the time for me to get married and settle down like the rest of them. After all, people don’t take a lone old woman too kindly,” said Caitlin, her back leaning against the chair she sat in. She looked down at both her open palms on her lap, “Your father was very mad at me and so was I. It was after a few days of me being engaged to the black witch I found out about your mother. I couldn’t let your father know about it and was chased away.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” Penny consoled the woman to see her shake her head.
“It was just bad timing. Though I should say, I didn’t expect him to father a child and to find you. If you wouldn’t have come to visit me again, I would have never known that we were related to each other,” Penny felt her heart full hearing this from Caitlin. It was true.
They had spent the same space in the past but without knowing who and what their relationship was. To think that she had one sane family member who was alive, she couldn’t help but feel her eyes water.
“Our family is messed up,” Penny uttered the words to hear Caitlin laugh.
“Yes. Most of the families are like that. Just turned out our family is much more on the deranged side. Come here,” Caitlin said, opening her arms for a hug. It was slightly awkward but at the same time, Penny was happy to know she had an aunt. She felt Caitlin pat her back gently like a mother would with her child.
She closed her eyes before her eyes would water more at the thought of it. Not once had her mother ever hugged her like this. Even in the happy memories which her mother had left untouched without tampering them, there was nothing loving about it. It made her realize how she never had a mother figure. The right one.
Pulling away, she smiled at Caitlin, “Wait, you told your mother died which was how you ended up with your relatives.”
“She faked it. I think she had something important to do and had gone away for some time before she tried to kill me several times,” the words came out freely from Penny’s mouth. She had gone through it so many times in the back of her head that she could tell it even in her sleep.
A deep frown came to be placed on Caitlin’s face, “Do you know why she wants to kill you?”
She nodded her head that moved slowly, “You mentioned the steps of ritual which the black witches are doing to achieve the unbinding of the black magic.”
“What about it?”
“I saw the list when I was young. I think there was more than one list that I saw which was on her ‘to-do-list’. I am actually not sure but I am guessing that is why it is,” she replied to Caitlin’s question.
“I see,” Caitlin murmured
Penny didn’t know why but she felt as if the list kept growing when it came to who to look out for. She had stayed back in Valeria only out of mere curiosity and had never expected to find out that she was part of the family she was suspecting.
“Does this mean I am an Artemis?” Penny asked and the woman gave her a nod.
Her mother had never told what her last name was but now she understood why. If Penny knew her last name, there was a possibility that she would have tried to find out her father through it which would have led her to Mr. and Mrs. Artemis.
All this while, Penny was only Penelope and not that she knew she was Penelope Artemis, she didn’t want to associate herself with that name.
“What happened to your parents?” Penny asked Caitlin as the Artemis’ family had adopted the two children.
Caitlin replied, “They were burnt alive by the villagers. Humans have been very cruel after the black witches came to existence. They won’t see if people are good or bad. Or if they have a family. If they find they have family, they will burn them together along with them. It is difficult for a white witch to walk on any land and if one can, it is mostly the ones who have joined hands with the black witches.”
“Like Mr. and Mrs. Artemis,” stated Penny. There were more though, one she had met in Wovile who had set her and Damien on fire.
They made their way out of the room, walking out towards the entrance for some fresh when she caught Damien and Alexander who stood outside talking to each other. Damien feeling her presence turned to look at her, a smile instantly coming upon his face that in turn made her smile.
