Chapter 5

Maddie woke up the next morning and, for the first time in a long time, felt wonderfully rested. She stretched herself and got up.

The group with Raven, Esmee, and Rodolf felt so familiar. She was happy with this new phase in her life. And the magic, it stimulated all her senses. She had also acquired a new image of Raven. Not only did he have a rebellious side, but she had also seen a more mature side of him. The side that made decisions and used spells and magic with a certain carelessness, but was also was protective of her. She couldn't say it didn't affect her. She loved it and it touched something deep inside her. And then those times when he had just put his arm around her. It gave her butterflys in her stomach, remembering it. She got into the shower singing and she song when came out from under it.

She brushed her long red hair until it shone and put on her black dress, with her combat boots underneath. It was a bit of a gothic clothing style, which she liked and knew Raven could appreciate too. And that suddenly felt very important.

She suddenly noticed her cell phone lit up. She remembered shutting it down because at Omem the internet was always hopeless. Twenty messages that suddenly came in one after the other. The first belonged to her classmates, who congratulated her on her eighteenth birthday. But also some of her mother. She quickly scrolled through it. Her mother wanted her to come by in the afternoon. Her feelings were dampened. Why hadn't she checked her cell phone until the evening? Then she would have seen the messages too late. Then there would have been no more time to come by. She walked out of her room, lost in thought.

‘A penny for your thoughts,’ she suddenly heard Raven's voice and there was a laugh.

She turned in shock to see his blue eyes gliding approvingly over her outfit.

‘I have to see my mother this afternoon,’ she sighed.

‘Stay at home then’ Raven shrugged as if he saw no problem there.

‘Then she keeps whining and pushing,’ said Maddie and walked down the stairs.

‘She can't force you, can she?’

Maddie walked into the kitchen with Raven, where omem was just catching the last words.

‘Who forces whom to do what?’ she asked.

‘Mother,’ replied Raven, pointing both hands at Maddie.

Omem looked questioningly at Maddie.

‘I don't feel like it omem.’

‘What exactly?’ asked her grandmother. ‘To see your mother again? To go to her? Or maybe you don't feel like the feeling you get?’

Maddie sighed deeply.

'That last'.

‘Maybe you should tell her how you feel,’ suggested Omem.

‘Oh no!’ Maddie responded fiercely. ‘She doesn't want to talk about anything anyway.’

Raven pressed a mug of hot herbal tea into her hands and exchanged a glance of understanding with Omem, she saw.

‘Shall I come with you?’ Raven bit into a poppy seed bun with cheese and looked questioningly.

Maddie nodded with relief.

'Yes please.'

Raaf and Maddie were together in the local bus on their way to the town where Maddie's mother, Gonnie had lived since the divorce. Maddie's eyes stared into nowhere.

‘We could have taken a shorter route, too,’ Raven whispered in her ear.

She smiled.

‘My mother doesn't like Omem's herbs and salves, let alone real magic.’ She whispered back

‘Isn't her love for your stepfather magic? Besides, how had she noticed if we came through the tunnels?‘

She looked at him inquisitively, nothing in his gaze betrayed his aspirations or intentions. They had to get off at an earlier stop due to road works, according to the info board on the bus.

Fortunately, it was a dry, sunny day. A walk through the small town was therefore a pleasant activity.

Maddie's mother Gonnie lived in the tourist town of Hintlop, one of the smallest towns in Friesland, on the edge of the large lake. There had once been a real traditional costume culture and they spoke their own dialect with many medieval vowels. Their famous painting also originated from that time, Maddie knew. In 1225 it had been granted city rights.

Maddie's mother was married to a purebred Hintlopper, who lived in an old ship in the harbor.

Hessel Zwart was an old love of her mother, even before she married Maddie's father. Because of the difference in faith, they were forced by the family to separate. The following year Hessel married a girl of his own faith.

When Maddie entered the harbor with Raven, she saw her mother already on deck. It irritated her immensely that her mother was waiting impatiently. Raven looked at her questioningly, as if he knew what she was feeling.

‘Maddie dear!’ Her mother disembarked and ran up to her, dressed in a white blouse and jeans. Was her mother wearing white sneakers?

She put her arms around Maddie and hugged her.

Maddie froze.

‘Hi, I'm Raven,’ Raven introduced himself, hoping that Maddie would get some room to recover from whatever it was that overtook her.

‘Hi, Raven. What a strange name. My daughter's friend is always welcome with us, ‘Gonnie rattled.

Raven recognized that nervous trait that Maddie also had. They went on board and were immediately given the grand tour. Halfway through, a tall man emerged from the front, with gray curls in a tousled head of hair.

‘Hey, Maddie, nice to have you here. Your mother had been rejoicing all day. ‘He gave Maddie a hand in greeting and then shook Raven's hand.

‘How nice that you brought your boyfriend.’

Maddie opened her mouth, probably to contradict it, but Raven was ahead of her.

‘Yes, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I let her travel alone, wouldn't I?’ he said.

Hessel nodded in agreement. They went for coffee on the deck, where a cozy garden bench stood in the sun.

‘I drink tea, Mom,’ said Maddie curtly, when her mother wanted to pour coffee.

‘What taste?’ Gonnie smiled, and Raven saw that she was, after all, shocked by her daughter's attitude.

‘I've already brought herbal tea myself,’ Maddie said, pulling out of her backpack, demonstratively, a spice pouch that almost screamed Omem.

‘Do you live with Grandma?’ her mother asked, her voice trembling a little.

‘Yes,’ answered Maddie and looked at her defiantly, ‘I have been initiated as an apprentice witch.’

Raven raised his eyebrows questioningly.

It sounded so harsh, the way she said it. There had to be a lot of pain in her to react like that, he thought.

He could feel it in her energy too and it bothered him terribly. The compulsion to protect her at all times had intensified, and he was not sure why.

But he just couldn't take it if a movie made her sad. And certainly not by the woman, who happened to be her mother. Yet it was not up to him to solve that. And certainly not magical, as he thought he should have done.

  

‘Yes,’ Hessel rose with an uncomfortable look in his eyes. ‘I still have to carry some wood. I could still use a hand. ‘Raven got the hint.

‘Let's see if I still have some hands,’ he said with a chuckle and followed Maddie's stepfather.

There was a strange silence for a moment.

 ‘How is Thom? And your father? ‘Her mother asked.

'Very well.'

‘Alls well here too. Hessel wants to see if we can still go on holiday this year. Because yes, such a renovation also costs a lot of money.’

Maddie nodded. All information that she didn't want to know about.

Her mother took out an envelope with a fifty-dollar gift card in it. ‘

Yeah, I wasn't sure what to do you a favor with for your birthday. Because you also have quite a strong taste in clothes, ‘her mother rattled.

‘If you had still lived with Daddy, you would have known that,’ Maddie blurted out.

Her mother's eyes widened with surprise and there was a touch of pain.

‘You don't talk to your mother like that!’

‘Well, it is, isn't it? You just ran away Mom! You let us down! For what? Your childhood sweetheart? Should I now pretend that nothing happened?’ ‘Maddie! ‘

‘Don't you ever even think about us? You just left Thom and me!

Why do you think Thom doesn't come here? And Daddy was devastated with grief! ‘Maddie had got up and although she saw the pain in her mother's eyes, she just couldn't stop accusing. All the misery and pain she had hidden inside her, came out in a stream of nasty words. It wasn't until her mother got up with tears in her eyes, that she stopped.

‘Basta!’ Suddenly Hessel's voice boomed. He strode toward her mother.

'Stop that! You have no idea what she had to endure! You don't talk to your own mother like that!‘

Hessel's blue eyes shot fire in deep indignation, and he put his arm protectively around Gonnie.

Maddie was transfixed and trembling on her legs. This was partly due to her own outburst, but also to Hessel's booming voice.

She stood motionless as if frozen.

Suddenly there was Raven's strong-arm protecting her.

He led her gently away from the ship to a shaded bench on the water's edge.

Maddie started to sob uncontrollably and Raven put both arms around her in comfort. He pulled her close.

She disappeared against his broad chest, crying with old grief and pain. She cried with deep lashes until it lightened in her. Maddie calmed down slowly.

But he still held her tight, until she got to the point where she found Raven's embrace uncomfortable.

She let go of him.

His black shirt had wet patches from her tears of intense grief.

‘Good plan to talk it all out with your mother Maddie?’ He asked.

‘No, no!’ She shook her head in denial, her hair moving wildly.

‘You can't keep running away from it,’ said Raven, ‘trouble has a habit of tossing around in you until you explode.’

Maddie looked at him with tearful eyes and a desperate look.

‘I'm already fed up!’ she said suddenly. ‘I'm so tired of all that pain and misery!’

‘Then let it go. And leave it where it comes from,’said Raven, biting an apple he suddenly had in his hand,'or does it feel good to blame your mother and hang all your dissatisfaction on it?’

‘Raven!'

‘Isn't it like that?’ he said. 'Grab your chance. Everything is now wide open. Talk to her about all your pain.’

‘That sounds easy!’she said, looking at him with an exasperated look.

‘It's easier than burying that misery in yourself over and over again,’ he said, not really wanting to hear his own words. For a moment a face loomed before him, with dark brown eyes.

She looked at him and he saw the doubt in her. It was as if she was scanning him as if he knew what the outcome of the conversation would be. He so wished he could take her pain away.

‘Maybe it will help you if I get on board first and talk to your mother and Hessel?’ he suggested and threw the apple core into the water far from the shore.

She thoughtabout it for a moment, then nodded with a deep sigh.

Maddie saw how he got on board and, after what felt like an eternity, emerged with Hessel and her mother.

He stayed on the deck while her mother disembarked. She sat down next to Maddie.

Gonnie looked at her expectantly. Maddie saw for the first time in er liver, that her mother and Thom had the same shape of eyes.

‘I want to be honest with you, even if I find it difficult because a mother shouldn't discuss personal matters with her child. But your boyfriend Raven says I should do it.’ Gonnie's voice trembled a little Maddie heard.

She nodded and felt a strange tension in her stomach.

She listened to her mother's story as it unfolded. The child in her did not want to know, the young woman that she was realized she needed the truth.

She heard the story of her mother's first great love, the deep grief she had when the relationship was over, under duress from the two families. The comfort she found in Anton, Maddie's father, a sweet, gentleman.

The shock to discover she was pregnant with Thom and the wedding that followed. She told how happy she was when Maddie was also born and that she hid her true feelings behind taking care of her family. Suddenly she had met Hessel again, who had meanwhile become a widower. She still felt the same way about him but realized that a relationship couldn't be done without taking the happiness of others. One day there was a big fight with Omem who wanted Maddie to grow up with the witchcraft and the magic that went with it. Anton took Omem's side. He thought it might add something to their daughtersl live. Gonnie ran for comfort to the only one who could comfort her, Hessel.

Omem came by afterward. She suddenly knew about Gonnie's relationship with Hessel and made a deal with her.

She only shared herbalism with Maddie until she was eighteen years old.

Then she fell under Omem's care and became her protégé.

With the condition that Gonnie had to return to her family.

Gonnie came back to Anton, until one evening. Omem discovered that Gonnie still saw Hessel regularly. She wanted to break the deal and Gonnie fled in fear. Afraid of Omem and afraid of the magic.

‘Anton wanted Omem to stick to the deal because you were already dealing with enough of the divorce to come,’ her mother concluded.

Maddie tried to understand it all. ‘Daddy knew about Hessel?’

Her mother nodded.

‘And the deal with Omem that you stayed with our family was fine with him?’ Her mother nodded again.

‘Why didn't you ever tell me you were leaving? You just didn't come home. Thom and I thought it was up to us!’

Her mother took both hands of her.

‘Omem was so furious and I was ... I'm afraid of her. The wicca and stuff, witchcraft, I don't understand any of that. I find it scary!'

‘We are your children, aren't we? How could you let us down like this? It hurt so much when you suddenly stayed away! And now I also hear that Dad knew iall about Omem and Hessel.’

Maddie felt tears run down her cheeks and drip onto her black dress. Realizing that what she had thought about the divorce as a child was so much more misery. It hurt her again.

'Sorry. I thought it was better for you. Stay with your father, your own environment, your own school, and your friends. You went to live with o

Omem anyway, I really thought I could save you pain like that. ‘

Maddie also saw the tears in her mother's eyes.

‘I really love you dearly!’ het mother said, her blue eyes looking straight into hers.

‘I love your too, mama,’ Maddie whispered.

They hugged, and finally felt the painful distance between them diminish. Because love flowed again. The pain could slowly be turned into understanding.

At the end of the afternoon, Raven and Maddie said goodbye to Hessel and her mother. Maddie was even able to give Hessel a hug because he made her mother happy. It was a lot lighter in her heart. Raven was thanked very much for what he had done, which he dismissed with a defensive hand gesture.

They walked out of the harbor in silence and Raven headed for the only beach in the town.

‘Quite a nice town,’ said Maddie, looking around as if it were the first time she saw it.

Actually, it was, her gaze was no longer clouded by pain. Of course, not all the pain had disappeared, but she was able to heal and accept all that had happened.

‘Do you think I should talk to Omem?’ she asked Raven cheerfully.

‘You must do what's right for you and for your magic,’ he grumbled.

‘How is it good for my magic?’

He looked at her for a moment.

‘A heavy heart can affect your energy and your magic.’

‘Did you hear that from Omem?’

‘No, experience,’ he said curtly, looking as if he were reliving painful memories. They stopped at the beach and she watched him take off his shoes and socks and walk across the sand to the water. She had never wondered what Raven had been through or why he lived with Omem. What he should have left behind for that. And suddenly she felt uncomfortable about that. She quickly took off her own socks and shoes and ran after him.

‘Sorry, Raven.’

Uncomprehending, his steel-blue eyes passed across her face. 'Sorry?'

‘I never wondered why you came here. In  Omem house, I mean. What happened to you. You were just there and I thought that was a anormal thing, ‘she rattled.

Raven laughed.

His whole face lit up, insted looking quite serious and closed down.

That also made him look much younger.

‘You are one something Magna Luna. Well, luckily I am a normal thing. ‘

'Raven! You know what I mean!'

She looked so guilty and it endeared him.

He leaned over to kiss her, wanted to follow the impulse he'd been feeling for a while. He looked into her pale blue, questioning eyes and suddenly remembered that he had a protective duty.

So he put his arms tightly around her and hugged her, then quickly let go of her.

She looked at him in surprise with a warm glow in her eyes.

He ignored her and so did his own feeling that told him something completely different. She was so in his head it drove him insane now and then. Raven suddenly bent down and splashed her.

‘Cool down a bit,’ he said defiantly, making her answer enthusiastically with moving a lot of water.

Half wet, they were resting in the sand a little later.

Margie's red hair hung in wet wisps around her head and her dress was soaking wet, Raven forced himself not to look at it. Her little bra shone through.

‘I feel so much better about my mother,’ she confided in him, not aware of his feelings.

‘Maybe I still need to talk to my father and certainly to Omem about what I know now.’

 Raven nodded.

‘Come on, let's take the short route home,’ he said suddenly. His voice was short because he was confused by his feelings. Raven had to restrain himself not to put his arms around her and obey the pull that her mouth always exerted on him. It was almost an impossible task. He put on his socks and shoes and got up, she followed quickly.

He led her through the narrow streets and alleys that the town had many, past a small church, until they arrived at a house that had previously been a city farm. It had an old barn door that they painted green with white cones on it. Raven put his hand on it and gave the other one to Maddie, her hand disappeared into his. And again, he was so terribly aware of that.

He muttered a spell and they ended up in an underground passage. His eyes had to get used to the fencer-like light that lanterns tried to expel.

‘Where are we?’ she asked, surprised.

 ‘Somewhere we shouldn't be,’ Raven swore in annoyance and pulled her along. He tried his best to concentrate by closing his eyes and murmured a spell. A door with the symbol of the Alpha and Omega appeared in the center of a circle.

Through that door, they came to the Martini Church, next to the monument. Maddie saw that there was no bum on the bench, but three elderly gentlemen. They raised their hands to Raven who greeted them.

‘Tá gach rud go maith!’ he called to them, it sounded irritated and curt.

Maddie had to run in order to follow his long strides.

‘What did you say?’ she asked, panting slightly

'Everything is good!'

‘You don't walk like that otherwise!’

He stopped and took a deep breath.

'I'm annoyed.'

‘You mean it,’ Maddie replied with a slight sarcasm and smiled at him.

She read in his beautiful eyes that he was really angry.

‘Then what is it, I don't understand,’ she said.

‘My emotion affects the magic. That must not happen, ‘Raven stated briefly.

‘Gosh, maybe you're normal, still a little human,’ said Maddie.

Then a smile broke through Raven's face and he relaxed.

'Do you think?'

‘I'm not sure of course,’ she teased, seeing the smile reflected in his bright blue eyes.

They walked on at a slower pace.

 Now and then he gave her a furtive look, she did that to him too. Their looks meet and it made them both a little uncomfortable. There was a certain kind of magic between them.

When they arrived laughing in the kitchen on Stationsstreet, Silke was sitting at the kitchen table with a sad expression on her face. Maddie always thought she had something of a fairy, with her narrow features and her pointed nose. But with those tearful eyes, she looked completely vulnerable.

‘Raven!’ she cried, ran to him, and threw herself into his arms.

He stroked her hesitantly over her orange-red hair and she sobbed loudly.

There was a strange look in Raven's eyes as he looked at Maddie. Something that Maddie could not identify. It seemed like a mixture of anger and disgust.

He looked at her for a moment and it was as if she were reading an apology in his bright blue eyes.

Omem entered, with a revealing look. It probably meant he had to disappear from the kitchen with that crybaby.

 Raven led a softly crying Silke away from the kitchen.

‘Have you talked to your mother?’ Omem asked  Maddie.

She nodded and glanced at the doorway through which Raven had disappeared. It suddenly bothered her that he had taken Silke with his arms around her, she didn't like it. His arms had comforted her a few hours ago.

‘Yes, it was a good conversation, thanks to Raven's mediation,’ she said as her grandmother was still waiting for an answer.

Omem put the kettle on the fire.

‘Do you want to know from me what my vision of the story is?’ Maddie nodded, surprised by Omem's directness.

‘I knew before you were born that you have a special role in today's magic. It was therefore important that your youth was stable. That's why I made a deal with your parents when things threatened to go wrong. And that's why your mother stayed with your father, at least for a number of years.’She handed Maddie a mug of hot herbal tea.

‘I knew your mother feared anything to do with magic. That's why I could use that in the negotiations with her. You are a smart girl, who has to learn the magic sciences in a shorter time, which can take someone else longer. But I have every confidence that you can. You can still catch up.’

‘And Daddy?’

'Your father? Yes, unfortunately, he is not really cut from hardwood. Your father has weaker energy and I always knew that.‘

‘And that's why he agreed to the whole story?’ Maddie tried to understand.

‘For a while, it was easier for him to believe in the lie of love, than in the truth of parting. Because he did love your mother. But he also knew her history. He knew he was actually her second choice. ‘

Maddie nodded thoughtfully, it sounded a bit like her father. Although she preferred not to admit that either. ‘Omem?’

'Yes'.

‘What about living with you? I thought it was temporary, just for the summer months?‘

Omem looked at her questioningly and Maddie saw her sigh deeply.

‘That's what I mean, with weaker energy. I suppose your father told you that you just came to stay over instead of explaining that you are coming in as my protégé? ‘She shook her head disapprovingly. ‘Typical Anton.’

Maddie met her grandmother's blue eyes for a moment, which looked at her lovingly.

‘Let it all sink in for a moment. Then it will automatically get a place in your head. ‘

Maddie got up and took her tea.

She wanted to go to her room and walked past the library, lost in thought.

‘Maddie!’

She was called by Esmee and entered.

‘Where have you been and what about Silke and Raven?’ Esmee looked at her questioningly. Maddie smiled briefly. Esmee never hid her curiosity.

‘I've been to my mothers and I don't know what's wrong with Silke,’ Maddie answered meekly.

‘Strange,’ Esmee thought, and a ripple of thought formed in her forehead. Rodolf climbed down the ladder, which had led to books that no one could possibly reach. Even If you were almost six feet like him.

‘I heard you went to your mother with Raven. Are you all right? ‘His brown eyes looked gently into hers.

Maddie looked at him carefully. What did he know about what was going on at her home?

‘Do you know what I'm thinking? ‘Esmee prevented Maddie from answering. ‘I think Silke has a crush on Raven.’

‘What?’ Rodolf looked at her puzzled. 'How so? How do you get back to that, ma'am with the conspiracy theories? ‘

‘Well, when she heard that Raven had left with Maddie, she got all upset,’ Esmee reasoned, ignoring Rodolf's remark.

‘What kind of logic is that?’ asked Rodolf. ‘Maybe she's just sad and Raven could help her with something.’

‘Sounds more logical,’ said Maddie.

‘Hm, I don't know,’ Esmee said, ‘I had such a weird feeling about it.’

Rodolf laughed. ‘Yes, that explains a lot.’ And that got him a punch from Esmee.

Maddie went to her room to rest from the rollercoaster of emotions she had felt. She lay down on her bed for a moment, reviewing everything that had happened. Her fingers slid over her necklace with the crystal she still wore.

Her thoughts lingered for a moment, at the beach where she had been with Raven. She remembered his bright blue eyes and the look she had seen in them as he consoled her. The feeling of his strong arms around her, his concern, his determination, and his guidance, which made her finally speak honestly with her mother. He was so special, he was so sweet.

Her eyes grew heavier and slowly closed, she disappeared into a dream world, in which her brain tried to give everything that happened a place.