Raven Saga 01 - Raven

his cheeks.
    “Come Sammy, come and sit down with us. Let's make some hot coffee, or tea?” Gabriel asked. We all wondered what he must have survived on all these years and Sammy smiled, “It's been a long time since I had coffee,” he smiled.
    “Coffee it is then,” said Gabriel standing quickly.
    “No Gabriel, I'll do it. You've all got a lot of catching up to do. Let me do it,” said Jo as I walked with her into the kitchen, leaving them to reminisce about the happy times and get to know each other all over again.
    Later that evening, it was decided that Sammy would move in with us. Gabriel's house was close enough to the forest and had easy access should Sammy need more space. And of course, should he need to hide from anybody.
    Sammy shed plenty of tears that night, as all of us did. As I had hoped, he was welcomed back into the family with open arms. All was as it should have been. But there were still so many questions that needed to be answered. Things we needed to figure out together. A future to plan. A father, a son and a brother to find and bring home.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

    The next few weeks were fairly uneventful and seemed to go by quickly. Sammy was a joy to be around and he and Gabriel were developing a close bond. He had even been introduced to the rest of the family, after they had suspected something pretty major was going on. Gabriel knew that it was wrong to keep it from them.
    Meredith's husband John and their son Cormac as well as Wyatt's wife, Sonya, were told of his existence prior to them coming over to our house. They were told that a discovery had been made that proved, contrary to popular belief, that Sammy Morton was innocent. That he had nothing to do with Neleh's murder or Serena's 'suicide'. They weren't told, however, about the shocking curse that had been placed upon him until the small group arrived at the house.
    Because they were aware of the strange creatures that already inhabited our world, they weren't as shocked as I thought they would be. Cormac, however, nearly fell off his chair when Sammy walked in with his huge wings on full view. After a few minutes, though, he declared it to be 'cool' and wanted to know if he could see him fly. Again, the ice was broken and Sammy no longer needed to be hidden from the rest of the family. Who he did need to be hidden from, however, were two men who had been a big part of the family for many years... Ben and Oliver.
    Although it was discussed at length, we all felt the same. With their parents killed by wild animals, they needed to be shielded from the truth. So during those few weeks, I had to prevent Oliver from coming to the house. I knew eventually he would become suspicious but until then, I would go on as normal.
    Unfortunately, things didn't go quite as planned.
    It was an evening in early March. Gabriel had gone out to celebrate an old friend's birthday and Sammy and I were enjoying an evening in alone. We had eaten pizza and were watching an old film on the television. Ever since Sammy had moved in, we had just clicked. After all, we did have a lot in common. We had both spent many lonely years forced to live without so many things. Although I'd had a few creature comforts, there had been none for Sammy.
    We had gone without things like TV and pizza so whenever we had the chance, we would savour every moment.
    That night we were being silly and giggling away when there was a knock on the door. Sammy became nervous.
    “Hide,” I whispered, giving him a few moments to slip away somewhere in the house.
    “Who is it?” I yelled through the door, and as I slowly opened it, there was a beaming Oliver.
    “Happy Valentine's Day,” he said with a beaming smile.
    “But it's not Valentine's Day,” I answered hoping that Sammy had managed to hide himself well.
    He grinned again and produced from behind his back a single rose. Handing it to me, he said, “I know, but as we haven't been able to do much together lately, and we couldn't celebrate Valentine's Day, I thought I'd surprise you tonight. I know Gabriel is at a birthday party so I figured you'd be alone.”
    He bent down and kissed me softly on the lips. My concern for Sammy, however, meant that I didn't respond the way I should have.
    He pulled back and looked at me strangely, “Is everything all right, Lilly?” he asked.
    I nodded but I knew I had never been a very good liar.
    “What is it?” he asked.
    I smiled, trying to think of something to say when we