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.They drove the hour it took to get to their destination.True to his word, Van had found where Astrid s mother had beenburied.Van had called in a favor to have his ex-wife s memories read.Nothing of the coming was visible in any of her memories, whichadded fuel to the fire that the magical force they were fighting wasextremely powerful.Astrid feared the day when that evil camecalling.Whatever the plan, it involved him, and he wasn t ready tofight that battle just yet.He had found some normalcy in his life.Klaus had retired fromthe council to be near him at Ben s warrior compound in Missouri.Klaus would still assist when the warriors needed, but mostly he andKlaus spent time just getting to know one another better.They talkedand made love like any other couple, and he couldn t have beenhappier.They had come to Texas straight from council headquarters.Heand Klaus had gone to visit Van, and upon their arrival he gifted himwith the whereabouts of his mother s burial site.He had a witch,whose specialty was talking to ghosts, confirm that, in fact, she wasburied in Texas a hundred and fourteen years ago.The witch didn tspeak to his mother directly but read the energy marking the spot.Vanwanted to make sure he understood that she had passed on and wasn twaiting to speak to him from the beyond. 204 AJ JarrettHe pretended that didn t bother him.He would have loved to talkto his mother and thank her for bringing him into this world.Maybein another life he would meet her again.Along with the location was a small photograph of his mother.Van had found it in Ivan s paperwork he had locked in a safe in hisroom.She was classified as trial subject one.Ivan and Constance hadgotten lucky the first go-around when his mother conceived him.Itsaddened him that his mother was reduced to a fucking number, buthe was relieved she had been the only one subjected to their brutality.He wouldn t wish that fate on another living soul.Even now he fingered the small photo he kept in his pocket.Heremembered every detail on the black-and-white photograph.As hesat there he wondered.He withdrew the picture from his pocket and held it in his hand. Iwish this picture was in color. What? Klaus asked from the driver s seat.He didn t answer him.Astrid kept all his focus on the picture heldbetween his thumb and forefinger.As his energy seeped from hisfingertips, the picture glowed for an instance, and then color infusedthe shiny piece of paper.A huge smiled spread across his face as hestared down at the woman who had his eyes.He turned the picture forKlaus to see. Holy shit! You look just like her, angel. I know.Isn t she beautiful? He sighed as he gazed upon everynew colorful detail of the picture.Klaus reached his hand over and ran his knuckles alongside hischeek, and Astrid leaned into his touch. Very, just like her son. He had discovered through practice, any innocent wish he made,he could do on his own.The bigger, more sinister wishes he neededKlaus s assistance in making happen.They only practiced the darkwishes while at the council headquarters, under Van s watchful eye.Van and Klaus wanted to know the extent of his magic and Klaus sinvolvement in granting certain wishes. Astrid s Wish 205Granted, he didn t use his magic often.He liked to ignore that heeven had any.Magic and being able to grant wishes could cloud one sjudgment, and he refused to become a slave to his abilities. We re here. Klaus parked the car along the side of the road.Astrid climbed out and met him at the front of the car.Stretched out in front of them was an open field.Van had boughtthe property so no one would disturb his mother s resting spot.Thesurrounding area was gorgeous.Mountains visible in the distance andfreshly laid grass ran the length of the property.Van spared noexpense doing this for him.A house was being constructed on the property as well.Hisgrandfather thought since they owned all this land, they should have ahome to stay at when Astrid wanted to visit his mother.The housewas in the early stages of construction, and only a skeleton of two-by-fours and some Sheetrock resembled the beginnings of a house
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