Raven Saga 01 - Raven

thought about how Vivian had taken my father and me away from our family, and I wondered whether someone like Vivian could have been responsible for Walter's disappearance too. I didn't mention it though; I had already drudged up enough heartbreaking memories. I didn't want to cause any more grief. As I left Rose's house a little while later, I thought that perhaps it was something I could talk about with Gabriel.
    Walking back down the pathway through the trees, I decided to take the scenic route home, stopping along the shoreline to watch a single fisherman catch a small fish off in the distance. I began to think about Oliver and decided that I ought to ask Gabriel for his advice too.
    He was pleased that I wanted his opinion on the matter, because he had practically raised the two boys himself and knew how difficult it was to keep the truth from them.
    “But I am a strong believer in fate, Lilly, and if Oliver is meant to be in your life, then he will be.”
    “But how can he be and not know the truth. Surely he needs to know who I really am. Who we really are. Doesn't he, and Ben, deserve to know the truth about the family that raised them?” I asked, almost wishing for him to just say 'yes, let's tell them the truth'.
    But he shook his head and reiterated that what will be, will be.
    As the afternoon turned into evening, the sky slowly became darker and my family members began to arrive. My worries about Oliver moved towards the back of my mind as I began to feel excited about seeing Sammy again. I was eager for him to be welcomed into the family after all these years. At least that's what I hoped would happen.
    The six of us assembled just beyond the opening to the forest, where I'd followed my mother's ghost the night before, and stood huddled together for warmth as we awaited Sammy's arrival.
    Soon we could hear the soft flapping of wings from above. It wasn't a frightening sound, just like a rather large bird flying down from the sky. Only this bird was a man.
    As he swooped down quite a few metres from us, he came to a gentle halt, before walking very slowly towards us.
    I rushed forward with open arms and as I approached him, I could almost feel the tension from behind me but I ignored it completely, hugging Sammy like the long lost brother that he was.
    “Sammy,” I whispered, “don't worry. I've explained the truth. They know what happened now and they have nothing against you... but it's been such a long time and it might take a little while for them to accept you and to come to terms with everything. Please bear with them.”
    His face belied his body language, which was cool and confident. I could see in his eyes that he was nervous. Scared, even.
    I took his hand in mine, and together we turned to face my family. We walked towards them and waited.
    “Sammy... oh dear Sammy,” cried Rose, “we're so sorry” and she rushed forward and took him into a big hug, sobbing. I could see that she wasn't the only one crying. As I looked closely at all their faces, all were wet with tears and I smiled as they rolled down my own cheeks too.
    This is what my mother and Neleh had wanted. They had wanted the truth to be known. They had wanted me to find Sammy and bring him home.
    Gabriel took his hand in both of his own then and smiled. He didn't say a word, he just stood looking at the man he had once held responsible for the death of two beloved family members. He now knew that he had been so wrong.
    Jo later told me that she had been a little afraid at first. Although she knew of the amazing things our family could do, she had never actually seen anything like him before and had hovered in the background waiting to be introduced, nervously.
    Of course as soon as I'd done so, her nerves had melted and she was won over by Sammy's gentle soul.
    As we huddled together for warmth, we walked back towards the house, checking that there was nobody out and about before we quickly rushed indoors, cautiously hiding that magnificent set of wings. It was the first time that Sammy had set foot indoors in so many years and the simple act led him to break down in tears as he looked around and saw that everything was pretty much as it had been all those years before.
    Meredith patted him on his back before quickly jerking her arm away for fear of hurting him. It broke the ice instantly and he laughed at her reaction, “It's okay”, he said, “they won't break. They're pretty strong,” as he wiped away the tears from