Chapter 2: A Spell Broken; A Scent Renewed

Robyn

After Oma passed on up to the Moon Goddess, Mom and I sat for a moment and quietly processed what had just happened. Mom began covering Oma with a blanket so Oma would appear as if she was just sleeping, then she got up and walked into the kitchen without another word. 

I watched my mom, speechless. The woman we had treated like a mother, a grandmother; my mother just tucked back into bed as if she hadn’t just died and then walked away.

I decided to table my mom’s behavior for another time since I didn’t really know what Mom meant by how much time we would have before we were found. 

So, I chose to focus on my Oma. This sweet white haired, wrinkle skinned, small, old woman that used to rock me on her lap as a pup while we watched my mom work in the garden picking the day’s vegetables and fruits, or planting more for the next crop. 

I quietly said a prayer to the goddess to guide my Oma into peace before I got up and followed after Mom.

“We should go now. If we start after the cave under the waterfall now, we might make it there before anyone is able to target our scent,” Mom suggested as she put the finishing touches on her backpack she planned to bring with us. I had never been to this secret spot that mom was talking about, but she had thought this through long ago and apparently hid there with me when I was first born until she met Oma and Oma took us in.

I was still in shock of everything happening. I knew this day would come, I just didn’t realize what it all really meant until now. I continued to nod and follow Mom’s directions as I grabbed the backpack I had prepared earlier as Mom had instructed me to do and followed her out the back door.

I didn’t know how much time had passed; I was still in a daze when I suddenly noticed that we were about to step over the pack border my mother had taught me to walk and check religiously my entire life. That’s when I snapped out of my daze, realizing I had left the one and only thing I had left of my father back in my room in the cottage.

“Mom! Wait!” I quickly stopped before crossing the boundary. 

“What is it?” Mom looked back at me, concerned.

“Dad’s ring! I left it in my room!” A single tear began to fall down my cheek, “I can’t leave it! I’m going back for it! Wait here for me. I’ll be right back!”

Before Mom could stop me, I turned around and began sprinting back to the cottage. I didn’t pay attention to Mom when she tried to tell me that the cottage was nearly an hour’s hike back and we were losing daylight!

After what felt like forever, I finally got back to the cottage. I quietly stepped back inside the familiar cottage with ivy overgrown on at least three sides of the structure. As broken down a place as it was, it was what I called home for the past eighteen years.  

As I climbed the stairs to my room, I still felt that sadness and longing worry feeling as if you are losing a part of yourself forever. 

“Where is it…” I mumbled, looking around the room until my eyes landed on the ring on the  nightstand. The moment my fingers touched the beautiful golden ring with a crescent moon ruby diamond-like stone I visibly exhaled and relaxed, “Thank the goddess,” I sighed. 

Suddenly, I felt as if a wave of power coursed through me. It felt so strong, that I felt like I almost fell over when the wave hit me.

I’m not stupid. I knew I was taking too much time and I needed to hurry back to my mom. I quickly turned around and rushed to the back door.

‘Robyn, baby. If you can hear me this far away, you need to RUN and never look back! Stay hidden! Trust yourself and your instincts!’

I suddenly heard her through our mindlink.

‘MOM! What’s going on?!’ I shouted through the link.

‘Goddess, I hope you are as strong as your father. He could hear me from this distance. Robyn, I will ALWAYS love you. I will NEVER stop loving you. Remember - STAY HIDDEN!’

That was it. Mom cut the link. Every time I tried to link her back, she wouldn’t answer. An emptiness now existed where I should feel mom’s mindlink to me.

Just then, I began hearing loud howling sounds and they sounded like the wolves were coming closer and closer towards the cottage. 

I panicked and looked in my bag for the scent blocker only to realize my mom had packed a majority of it in her own backpack so I only had 1 bottle, the tester bottle we had originally left behind on the kitchen table. Great.

With a sigh, I grabbed the bottle, began spraying it all over my body, and quickly shoved it in my bag before bolting out the back door, running as fast as I could away from the horrifying sounds headed straight for Oma's cottage, our home no more.

We had been heading to a cave hidden by a waterfall that was nearby. Maybe I could still find it and make it there before the scent blocker wore off? The tester bottle was weak and needed more herbs concentrated in it to completely cover my scent, but once at the waterfall, the water was a natural cleanser of scent.

I would be safe, and completely hidden so long as I stayed inside the cave. 

Maybe I could find some more herbs and roots on my way so I could make a stronger batch before leaving the cave again.

With these thoughts in my mind, I knew I had no other choice than to make it to the cave and hope my mom was there. If she wasn’t, I would truly be on my own for the first time in my life.