Raven Saga 01 - Raven

to finish high school and then I'm going to return to live with Carmelo and help with the Elders,” she said and Gabriel smiled.
    “That is a wise decision, my dear. It also gives your parents a few months to come to terms with this situation and to accept Carmelo into the family... but don't look so worried Jo, I believe that your parents will understand. After all, this family has a long history of love at first sight,” he chuckled.
    His earlier words hadn't gone amiss with me and I asked nervously, “But what about you, Gabriel? What do you mean you need to decide what to do?” as I remembered that the Elders had invited Gabriel to live with them in the mountains.
    “We will leave you two alone for now, Gabriel. So you can talk,” said Carmelo as he, Jo and Tabitha walked out of the room.
    “So what did you mean, Gabriel?”
    “Lilly, I already knew that I would one day come and be with the Elders. I just thought that it wouldn't be for a few more years but since this has happened to me, I feel like an old man. I don't think I will ever fully recover from the fall. I think you know that too,” he said sadly. “This is my destiny and I have therefore decided not to return home with you.”
    I sobbed, not just because he wasn't coming home, but because Vivian had hurt us once more. She had injured my grand-father and although he would recover, his body would never be as it once was.
    “What am I going to do without you?”
    “You'll be fine. You'll be absolutely fine. And with your amazing ability, you can come and visit me whenever you want to, okay?”
    I nodded sadly. “But what will I tell the people in town?”
    “I will give you letters to give to my close friends. I will tell them that I had to move away to take care of an elderly relative in the north. They will understand.”
    “But what about Ben? He'll be devastated,” I whispered.
    “I will tell him the same thing. He will get over it. He is young.”
    I knew he would, but he would be hurt not to see Gabriel for one last time. Not to be able to say goodbye. I knew how he would feel and I didn't want him to have to go through that.
    “Through you, we can exchange letters. Then it won't be so bad for him, okay?” and I agreed.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

    Three days later, we were ready to set off home but there was one thing I needed to do before I left. I asked Carmelo if I could see Vivian. Although he wasn't keen, he did understand that I needed some kind of closure. And since coming to Canada, I had changed. Not only was I becoming a young woman, but I had also become much stronger and I felt the need to stand up to her once more.
    “It is very cold where she is being held beneath the mountains. You will need a cape or a coat to keep you warm,” said Carmelo.
    “Here, have mine, Lilly. I'll wait for you up here,” said Jo as she removed the coat she had put on in readiness for our departure.
    I took it and wrapped it around my shoulders before I followed Carmelo and a few others deep down into the mountain where she and Charlie were being held until their trial.
    “What will happen to Charlie?” I asked him.
    “Some of our witches are working on a spell to try and undo the curse she has placed on him. If we can do so, we will return him to his original self and he will be set free, although he will have no memory of what happened to him.”
    I wasn't sure I liked the idea. He was responsible for seriously injuring my grand-father after all.
    “Lilly, please remember that this poor man was not really responsible. He has been changed at the hands of one of the most evil witches we have ever seen. If we change him back, he will be a different man. However, if we cannot reverse the curse, we will have no choice but to hold him accountable with his mistress, Vivian.”
    Charlie was being held in a cell beneath the mountain. It was clean and comfortable and he was being fed and looked after. As I peered through the tight bars, I tried to see him as the man he used to be. An Englishman who had been kidnapped and cursed and forced to do the most evil things. I suddenly had a vision of London all those months before when my father and Vivian had vanished, I had a flash of a newspaper headline, 'Entrepreneur Charles Austen Missing'. I wondered if this could be the same man.
    “Charles? Charles Austen?” I said gingerly, hoping for a response.
    Charlie looked up and for a second there was recognition in his eyes.
    I explained this to