Chapter 4: Happy Birthday

The sun filtered through her sheer white curtains. She sat up, her hand outstretched, her fingers curling with another's that were there only moments ago. Nora looked over towards her dresser and caught something in the reflection. She rushed out of bed and scrambled towards it to get a better look. Her eyes. What should have been hazy, hazel eyes looking at her were a dazzling gold. The sun caught them, and they shone with an intensity she never knew before.

'Happy birthday, Nora.' A whisper breezed through her mind. The lilting voices of a dream. Could that be what it meant? Were those eyes a gift from Dream Nora?

"No," she said aloud. "It must be the way the sun is hitting them," she rationalized. 'There's no way. It's just a dream.'

Every birthday she could remember, her parents would wake her with a large stack of funfetti pancakes. A bright yellow candle would sit on top, marking the number of years they were celebrating that day. Then her mom would braid flowers into her hair and they'd have a picnic just outside of Quail Briar Woods. They'd come home and then her dad would pick a movie for them all to watch. As she got older, Kai was mixed in somehow. Every year it was the same. Something told her this year would be different.

She descended the stairs, intent on going into the kitchen. However, a hushed argument stopped her in her tracks.

"I won't do it, Nancy. I vowed we'd put a stop to this when she was born."

"I did too! But we knew there was a chance it would still happen."

"You promised me!" Frank said. Nora thought she could hear him bite back tears. "You promised me that she'd be safe from this, that you could keep her safe."

"This isn't my fault!" Nancy blubbered. "I tried. She's had the dreams. There's nothing I can do anymore now that she went and did it."

Nora had heard enough.

"Did what?" she asked as she stepped into the kitchen. Nancy stifled a gasp as she turned to face her daughter. Frank hurriedly wiped at his face.

"Nothing, baby," Nancy said. "Happy birthday!"

"Happy birthday, Sweet Pea."

"Thank you," Nora answered, but she still wasn't done with the conversation. "What were you two talking about? Me?"

"It was nothing—" Frank began.

"Don't lie to me!" the words escaped Nora in a harsher tone than she had intended. Nancy flinched. "Ever since I cut my hair, you two have been acting strange! Like you're afraid of me!" In spite of herself, Nora began to cry. "I've felt so weird and confused. Everyone stares at me and acts weird around me. Even Kai. Even you two. Why? This can't all be because of my hair."

"Don't cry," Nancy sniffled.

"Then tell me what's going on! It's my birthday," Nora whimpered. In that moment, she wasn't an eighteen-year-old woman. She was small, scared child that wanted to be held by her parents.

"Nothing is going on," Frank said. "You're fine, everything is fine."

"Then why won't you look at me?" Nora yelled. "You haven't looked at me for two weeks!"

"Nora, I—,"

"Look at me!" she yelled again, bringing a fist down on the table. Nancy gasped as her daughter's eyes flashed. The lights in the house flickered, and a gust of air surrounded Nora. The smell of fresh rain and soil permeated the house. Frank's sad eyes looked up at his daughter. He took a tentative step towards his child and took her hand.

"Daddy," Nora whispered, afraid of what had just transpired. "Please look at me."

"I am looking," two thick tears fell down his face. "And I see my baby girl. All grown up."

"What's happening to me?" Nora trembled. Her fingers latched on to her father's hand, holding on for dear life.

"Oh honey," Nancy wailed. "I'm so sorry. I should have just told you years ago."

"Told me what?" The silence seemed to stretch on forever, hanging over them like a sword ready to drop. It was thick, pressing into Nora's chest making it hard for her to breathe. "Please Mom. Say something. I'm so confused. I feel so different. This morning my eyes were different. I know you noticed. And what happened just now... Please tell me. Please." Nora went to her mom and grabbed her hands. "Please."

"You... You're a witch."

"No," Nora responded, backing away. "I'm just me. A human. Like you and Dad."

"Everyone sit down," Nancy sighed. "Nora, it's time you knew everything."

***

Frank paced in the waiting room, longing for any news about his wife and unborn child. Nancy's water had broken, and everything had gone as scheduled. But it had been too long since they asked him to leave. Minutes bled into hours and just as he was about to lose the last shred of patience he could cling to, a nurse called him over.

"Mr. James? This way please." She gestured for him to follow her. His brisk steps echoed in the sterile halls of the hospital. The nurse led him into a room where his wife lay, weeping over a bundle of blankets.

"Nance?" Frank asked. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, Frank. Our baby... I... she... she isn't breathing ."

"No... she's just asleep," Frank reasoned, a frenzied panic rose in his throat. "She's fine. Isn't that right, muffin?" he stroked a finger along the newborn's face. Her skin was cold. "She's fine, right?" he looked up at the nurse, begging for her assure him his baby was all right. When the nurse didn't speak, Frank and Nancy sobbed at the sight of their still baby girl.

"I'm so sorry," the nurse said. She approached them and whispered, "I can help you."

"What?" Frank looked up through thick tears.

"I can save her. But there will be a cost."

"Anything! We'll do anything!" Nancy cried.

The nurse locked the door and slid the curtains closed.

"Hand her to me."

"What are you going to do?" Frank asked. The nurse did not answer but held the baby in her arms. She walked over and placed the baby in the bassinet as Frank and Nancy watched in their stunned grief. The nurse pulled a small jar of dirt, a dagger, a stone, a candle, and a book from her bag. She blew on the candle and it lit.

"You're a witch!" Nancy exclaimed.

"Yes." She placed the items around the baby in the bassinet and held the book. "This is your last and only chance to stop me. Once I begin the ritual, there is no going back."

"What's going to happen to her?"

"If she is who I believe her to be, she will be chosen and be saved. She will become one of us. A Daughter of Elysium and will fight our oppressors in The Great War."

Frank and Nancy urged her to save their daughter. They watched on as the nurse took the dagger and pricked her finger. She rubbed blood and dirt onto the newborn's forehead and spoke.

"Is she the one?" the nurse asked no one. A breeze fluttered into the room, carrying with it the scent of rain and soil. The lights flickered, and the nurse seemed shocked.

"What's wrong?" Frank pressed.

"Night has chosen her."

"What does that mean?"

"It means... your child was gifted to you by the moon. Like The Great Selene, our savior, was. This baby was destined to begin what she started... or to end us all."

"When she came to us at first, we thought nothing of it. You know how most healthcare workers are witches these days. She saved you. But in doing that, she exposed you. To shield you from harm, or being found by dark forces, she placed a spell on you," Nancy continued.

"My hair..." Nora said as the realization dawned on her.

"Yes. It was like a cloak. It would keep you hidden away from anyone trying to find you."

So many things began to click into place. Nora felt the curtains of her mind being pulled back.

"Now you know everything," her father said, his head low.

"That spell kept me hidden from everything. From everyone. I went through my life thinking something was wrong with me. That people didn't care to notice me. That I was insignificant."

"I'm not sorry," her father said.

"Frank!"

"Well I'm not!" he snatched Nora up in a tight hug. "I'm not sorry. I'd do it again if I could. I'd do anything if it meant I could protect my daughter." He pulled Nora out of the hug and held her by the shoulders. "Do you hear me? I love you. And I don't care what that means. I'd lock you away in a tower if that meant you were safe."

"Dad, I—"

"And you can hate me and your mother. But I don't care."

"I don't hate you," Nora answered through her tears. "I just... I don't know how to feel. I don't understand. Why me?"

"We don't know. She never elaborated further than that, and after she placed the spell on you, we never saw her again," Frank said.

Nancy's cries intensified, and she crumpled into a chair. Frank and Nora looked over at her. She was a blubbering mess of tears and wails.

"Honey what's wrong?" Frank rushed to his wife and wiped her tears away.

"I... I know why. I know why. It's my fault." Nancy sobbed.

"How is any of this your fault? We both decided to—"

"No, Frank! I know why Nora was chosen." Nancy looked to her daughter. Nora's heart broke at the sight of her mother's expression. She saw despair, anguish, and regret. "It was me. I was a Daughter of Elysium, and I renounced my coven because I fell in love with your father. And so, I was cursed. They cursed me and said that my bloodline would return to them whether I chose it or not."

"Nancy..." Frank stepped away from his wife, shocked at what he was learning.

"It's why you never met my family. It's why I never talk about them. And... it wasn't the nurse who enchanted your hair. It was me." Nancy wiped her face and tried to compose herself.

"I was there," Frank stumbled over his feet. "I saw her."

"The nurse saved her because I wasn't strong enough to do so myself. The spell to save Nora weakened her, and so when you fell asleep, I enchanted Nora's hair. I made it so that as long it was never cut or altered in anyway, she would be concealed. Witches would never find her, and she would never know of her powers or lineage. But now that you've cut it, it's opened you up to be found... but also to find yourself."

"I can't—" Nora's heart raced as her life crashed around her. The air around her felt thin, and she struggled to breath. "I can't be here right now. I need to leave. I can't be here..."

She backed away from her parents and ran out of the house. She could hear them call out for her, but she didn't stop. Everything she had known about herself, her family, her life had been undone in one conversation. One confession. That's all it took. Nora's bare feet pounded into the ground as she ran. Hot, thick tears blurred her vision, but she didn't care.

'Who even am I? What am I?'