The Moreau Witches Trilogy
Part Two
Healer
by Julien Gregg
Copyright © 2025 by Julien Gregg
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact the author by email. The link is below.
The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
Eleven
The days leading up the twins’ fifteenth birthday were strange. Many things were happening that caused Quinn to sit up and pay attention. Seamus Macreavy died and so did Rodrick. There were six mysterious deaths in Starlight. Maggie Macreavy, the youngest daughter of Seamus took over as High Priestess of Starlight and things began to go dark in that coven very rapidly. Shane Macreavy, Maggie’s oldest son had left Starlight and moved to Buffalo. Others were leaving and coming to Moondance with requests to be initiated into the coven and get away from Starlight.
The kids were saying things about how dark the coven had gotten. Their information had come from the kids of Starlight that they hung out with at times. Quinn had told his twins to cut ties with the children in Starlight. Pierre was upset about that because his best friend, Danny Mack was the son of one of the priests of Starlight. Quinn allowed him to talk to Danny but he warned him not to do anything that Danny or his father told him to do. Pierre told him he wasn’t that stupid. Quinn hoped he was right about that.
Gossip spread through Moondance with the arrivals of so many from Starlight that Starlight had gone dark. Quinn didn’t want to believe it but with what he was being told was happening at the Starlight Compound he had no choice but to believe it. Starlight had gone dark and the years of reciprocal cooperation were now at an end.
Quinn had also healed four people. Two with pneumonia and two with cancer. None of them had left him so tried that he couldn’t stand on his own two feet. The cancer patients had caused him to nap afterward but a hot meal from Philippe or Marcel guided by Charlie always had him back on his feet in no time.
He’d taken Marcel with him to heal the cancer victims. He’d told the boy to look inside the patient and watch what he did. Then he’d set about healing. It had taken five hours for the one that Marcel was watching but he healed every part of her that was riddled with cancer. She was cancer free when he let go of her and sat back. Marcel was almost as tired as he was when it was over.
He told Marcel that he’d have to watch a few more and the he’d let him help with the healing. Marcel was happy with that. He told Philippe all about it. Philippe was so excited for his brother that it got a bit warm outside. Quinn had to help him meditate to bring the temperature back to normal. It had gotten away from him again.
Twice more the power had gotten away from him. He grew frustrated by what was happening at Starlight and caused a storm to break out on a sunny day. Quinn had to help him meditate to take the wind out of the sails of that storm. Instead it was just a rainy day when it was supposed to be sunny and clear. What bothered Quinn was that the storm had reached Buffalo and the surrounding towns. That hadn’t happened before. Philippe was getting stronger with his power. It was becoming more dangerous.
For their fifteenth birthday they had a birthday circle and then got gifts from everyone connected to the circle. Most were things that could be used in school. Quinn got them both brand new coats, each got a laptop computer, and meditation guide books. Revanche and April got them handheld video games that they’d been wanting. Pierre and Tom got them a video game system to hook to their television. They now had three of those.
They had cake and ice cream. There were two cakes and two sets of fifteen candles so that both could make a wish and blow out the candles. Quinn was happy that they had reached fifteen but not so happy about how fast their powers were growing. Marcel had helped Quinn heal a cancer patient already. He’d done half the work. It had left them both tired but functional when it was over.
Danny Mack was there with his father, Ryan Mack. Danny looked a lot like his father with the same dark hair and dark eyes. Quinn believed it was called Black Irish. Quinn, Revanche, and Pierre watched Ryan like a hawk. He was Maggie’s right hand man when it came to the darkness. They didn’t trust him as far as they could throw him. Quinn also noticed that Ryan could see and talk to the dead. He was watching Charlie’s ghost telling the twins how much he loved them and how happy he was for them. That made Quinn a bit angry that Ryan would be able to intrude on such a private moment.
Ryan and Danny left shortly after cake and ice cream. Quinn was happy about that. He noticed that his brothers walked them to their car and watched them drive away. Then Quinn relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the party. It broke up around ten that night and he and the boys went back to their house.
The boys were hyped up about birthday gifts. They spent a long time playing video games and Quinn left them to it. He went to bed and slept the sleep of the dead until the next morning when he found them at the kitchen table waiting for him.
“What’s up, boys?” he asked as he got himself a cup of coffee.
“We got to the point in your book when our mother cast the spell that killed Aunt Giselle, Charlie, and our cousin Corbin,” said Marcel. “You killed her for it.”
“Yes I did,” he sighed. “How does that make you feel?”
“You had to kill her,” Philippe said. “She was crazy and she’d have kept casting spells to hurt those you loved.”
“That’s exactly right,” Quinn said. “I don’t kill just for the killing. There has to be a reason. I killed Maria because she was trying to kill me. I killed Constance because she was trying to kill me. I killed Josephine because she wouldn’t stop until everyone I loved was dead.”
“We understand, Dad,” said Marcel. “We’re happy that you killed her. She wasn’t a good person.”
“No she wasn’t,” Quinn agreed. “But I want you both to know that this power that Marcel and I share doesn’t make us gods. Every death at our hands is a mark against our soul. I heal because I spent the first nineteen years of my life using my power for destruction.”
“We get that,” Philippe said. “Dad we’re sorry that our mother did all of this to you.”
“Thank you, Buddy,” he said touched. “I was worried about what you boys would think when you got to the point in my book where I killed your mother.”
“She wasn’t our mother,” Marcel said. “She’s just the woman who gave birth to us. She’s also the woman that turned one of our fathers into a ghost and killed our aunt.”
“If that’s the way you see her then I understand,” Quinn said.
“It is the way we see her,” Philippe said. “We hate her for what she did.”
“Hate is a strong emotion that can cause you to do and say things you never meant,” Quinn cautioned.
“We don’t say it without levity,” Marcel said. “We say it with conviction. We hate what she did. I feel sorry for her that she was so mentally flawed that she saw nothing wrong with what she did.”
He was blown away by how smart his sons were. They’d articulated exactly how they felt and made themselves understood rather succinctly. That they were on his side touched him in ways that he couldn’t put words together to express.
“Thank you boys for seeing that I had no choice,” he said.
“We see that, Dad,” Philippe said. “We’re just sorry you had to live through such a catastrophe.”
“It also makes us understand why you want most of us to cut ties with the Starlight witches,” Marcel said. “Josephine was dark and she killed three people. Starlight has gone dark and many have died already. You’re afraid for us.”
“Yes, I am,” Quinn said. “Your friend Danny Mack was at your party. His father was there, too. We watched his father like a hawk because he is a dark witch.”
“That blows my mind,” Philippe said. “How could Starlight go so dark so quickly?”
“Maggie Macreavy,” Quinn replied.
“She killed her father and brother?” Marcel asked.
“We think she did,” Quinn corrected. “We don’t know that for sure.”
“Was Maria a dark witch, too?” Philippe asked.
“Yes,” Quinn replied. “A witch who uses his or her power for personal gain in the way that Maria and Maggie have are dark witches.”
“We don’t use magic that way,” said Marcel. “We use magic to help things grow or to communicate with Charlie. We don’t have anything in our lives that we think can’t be obtained without magic.”
“That’s a good thing,” Quinn said. “Always remember that getting things through the use of magic brings terrible consequences for the witch who casts those spells.”
“We know that,” Philippe said with a smile. “Pierre taught us that in novice classes.”
“I’m sure he did,” Quinn said. “Your uncle Pierre is a pure soul who loves unconditionally and teaches with conviction.”
“He sure is,” Marcel said.
“All right,” he sighed. “You two sit there and I’ll make waffles.”
He got all of the ingredients together and started to make the batter while the waffle iron got hot. They talked back and forth as he made the waffles. He stacked the finished ones on a plate. The boys took one apiece and spread butter and syrup on them. Quinn made six so each of them could have two. Then he cleaned up his mess and sat down at the table with them to eat the waffles.
Later that day Quinn was in meetings with Sheryl, Pierre, and a few of the teachers from the school. They were talking to him about the twins and how fast they were learning. He was proud of how fast they were learning but was finding out that Sheryl and Pierre had run out of things to teach them. The teachers were running out of things to teach the boys as well. In the end it was decided to let them graduate from school and let them be initiated into the coven a year early.
They set up the initiations and got through them quickly. With it so cold outside the robes were put on over coats and clothes. There was no way he was letting them be skyclad in the field with snow on the ground. There was also a lot of interference in the circle. Pierre cast spells to expel the negativity and things got better. But they wondered just where the interference came from.
After the initiations were complete they had cookies and cakes in the center with juice and coffee for drinks. The coven celebrated the induction of Philippe and Marcel and shared power spells and rituals with them. They each had a book of spells for the twins. This was done sometimes but it was done special this time because these were the sons of the heir and one of them was the heir in waiting.
Then the elders of the coven came together to discuss the interference in the circle. They knew it had to be from something Starlight was doing but they weren’t yet ready to believe that Starlight had it in for them. There had to be another explanation.
Quinn was of the belief that it was Starlight trying to interfere in their circles. It happened again at the belated Yule circle. Both Quinn and Pierre were hard pressed to cast up protection spells to ward off the interference. The circle went on but it was evident that someone was actively trying to interfere.
The elders of the coven of which Quinn was one of met the following day to discuss the interference. Now there was no dissent in the ranks. They all knew it was Starlight. They were discussing what to do about it. In the end they decided that they’d post strict guidelines on who was told what when it came to the kids. Protection spells would be cast before the circle was closed. Many other restrictions on the kids were coming down the pipeline as to what they could and what they couldn’t discuss with the kids from Starlight.
Quinn was even more convinced that the kids should cut ties with their friends. Clearly someone was giving information about the circles to Maggie Macreavy and she and her coven were trying to destroy their circles. That couldn’t be allowed to continue.
They stopped having circles on Thursdays and Saturdays. Now they were on Tuesday and Friday. Those circles went off without a hitch. No one was allowed to tell anyone when the circles were being held. It was a secret now. Quinn hated this but he knew he had to do it this way.
Philippe and Marcel were told not to tell Danny about when the circles would take place. They were told that Starlight was using the information to interfere with the circles and trying to make them dark. Philippe took it harder than Marcel and a storm broke out again. Quinn meditated with Philippe but the boy was upset and there was no stopping this particular storm. Thankfully it wasn’t out of control. It was a normal thunderstorm. Still with initiation Philippe should have had a lot more control over his power.
They took to having three witches go with Quinn and Marcel when they went to a healing. It was completely out of hand but there was nothing that Quinn could think of to stop all of the extra protection from being needed. They each now wore a protection amulet like those in the days of Josephine and Angelique. Quinn was incensed about this.
Then they moved a lot of activities of the coven into different days. Everyone was keeping the secrets to themselves and the circles and other events were now clean again. However there was a lot of gossip with the kids that we are wrong about this and that. Danny Mack warned Philippe that a new attack was on the horizon. They had to keep it down so that it didn’t work. They had a lot of talks with the youngsters about how they were now being used by Starlight. Once they understood several cut their ties with the kids from Starlight.
That worked out in a way that Quinn hadn’t imagined. This was going to be a hard time for the coven because they were used to being in contact with people in Starlight. Starlight and Moondance were cooperative covens that hung out with each other quite a lot. They’d even shared circles. Now Starlight was dark and they couldn’t have what they’d been accustomed to.
But something else was pulling Quinn’s attention away from the protection of the coven. Charlie was now talking about going to the Goddess to be reborn. Quinn didn’t know why he was doing this but he was happy for him. He spent a few nights crying about losing him once again but he tried to keep it away from Charlie.
Charlie had talked to both of the twins who had a harder time keeping their grief from Charlie. They lined up in the kitchen where Charlie said he could see the light. He stepped into it and his soul glowed with glorious light. Then a grimace crossed his face and he disappeared. The Goddess had rejected him!
Quinn went through the house looking for the ghost but couldn’t find him. He was beside himself about this. Where did Charlie go when the Goddess rejected him? He couldn’t be reborn and now he was gone. Philippe and Marcel were crying. Quinn realized he was crying also.
“Where is he, Dad?” Philippe asked.
“I don’t know,” Quinn replied.
They spent a somber night together. Henri even came to the house to be with them. Revanche and Pierre heard about it and came to be with them. Quinn’s heart was broken again and this time he knew it was going to be for a while. Charlie was gone, punished by the Goddess.
They talked about what had happened. Had the Goddess destroyed his soul? Surely she wouldn’t do that. That he couldn’t be reborn was punishment enough. Surely she’d make him roam the Earth without any hope for rebirth. That was a serious punishment but to destroy his soul was much worse. Quinn sobbed as they talked about it. He was gone now forever and Quinn had no idea where he was. He refused to believe that the Goddess had destroyed his soul for not going into the light fifteen years ago.
People began to hear that Charlie was gone and started to bring food to Quinn’s house like they would when a loved one died. Quinn was touched but still far too upset to show it. Lilly and Donetta came to dish up food for them to eat. To reheat this and bake that. They hugged the boys and Quinn a lot.
Quinn did Legacy work and showed Philippe how to do it but neither of their hearts were in it. They were in mourning now that Charlie’s soul was gone from their lives. Yet Quinn showed him the marketing reports and how to read them. He told him that he should pick business and marketing classes at college. Philippe told him that they hadn’t thought about college yet.
He told him that they didn’t have to go to college to be part of the coven but if they wanted to further their lives and get good jobs within the family businesses they had to go to school. Philippe said he understood.
Then there was a serious talk about schools. Of course there were the schools there in New York. The boys could commute on weekends and be there for circles and such. They didn’t have to go to school in New York. They had time to think it through.
Things kept moving even though Quinn’s heart was broken. He kept thinking about all that they’d said to each other before Charlie had tried to go into the light. He racked his brain trying to remember the last thing he said to Charlie. Was it that he loved him? He couldn’t remember and that was tearing him apart.
Then they were going to heal another woman with cancer. Quinn told Marcel he’d need him. Marcel was happy to go along and help but he was still heartbroken as well. Three witches went with them and Henri and a few others stayed with Philippe who had kept it raining lightly with his tears.
They drove to Buffalo and to the medical group. They stood in the room designated for Quinn to do his healing. It was a room with peach walls and teal tile on the floor. There was an examination table in the room with several peach plastic chairs with shiny metal frames throughout the room.
Quinn and Marcel sat in two of these chairs to await Aubrey Miller, a ten year old with a genetic disorder that was preventing him from breathing normally and would eventually kill him.
This was a bit advanced for Marcel but Quinn wanted him with him. He’d been spending so much time with Philippe going over legacy stuff that he felt he was leaving Marcel out a lot. This was his way of doing things with Marcel. This was a bond they shared that Quinn could not share with Philippe.
Aubrey Miller and his parents arrived. Aubrey was a blonde haired boy who was so thin and wispy. He was in a wheel chair because walking tired him out more than sitting and riding. His blue eyes were clouded and he looked like a stiff wind would blow him away. Marcel looked at him with pain in his icy blue eyes.
Mr. and Mrs. Miller were both blonde with thin builds and blue eyes but a darker shade than Quinn and Marcel’s eyes. Pierre began to tell them what was going to happen and Quinn and Marcel put their hands on Aubrey and looked inside him. They found the genetic disfigurement and started to move things around, burning this and that with their killing power and coaxing cells to grow with their healing power.
They pushed the liquid in on itself in his lungs until it was gone. Aubrey breathed a bit easier. Then they set to righting what was wrong in his lungs, forcing new cells to grow in them and make right what was wrong. It was a long and arduous process. When they finally got one section of the lung right another would show up. They worked hard and steady burning away scar tissue and coaxing new cells to grow in their places.
Finally they sat back and took their hands off of Aubrey. He looked at them with his now clear blue eyes and smiled. That smile warmed Quinn’s heart. He took a deep breath and started to laugh. His parents began to cry. Quinn looked up at them and told them that he shouldn’t have more problems. If he did to call the hospital and ask for Bastien Moreau.
They were making their way home from the hospital when Quinn saw it. There by the gate to the compound stood Charlie’s ghost. He and Marcel sat up in their seats. He told Pierre to stop at the gate.
“Charlie,” he said as he got out of the car. Marcel was behind him.
“Quinn,” Charlie said. “I can’t get past the gate.”
“What do you mean you can’t get past it?” Marcel asked.
“I’ve been stuck here for days trying to get through the damned gate,” Charlie said.
“Pierre,” Quinn said. “Run your athame over the gate and see if you find anything.
Pierre got out of the car and squatted down with his athame. He ran it all over the gate and stopped at the top center of the gate. He swore under his breath. He looked at Quinn and sighed.
“It’s a rune to ward off spirits,” he said. “It has Ryan Mack’s mark on it.”
“Can you unmake it?” Quinn asked, excited.
“Sure,” Pierre said and began to unmake the rune.
Suddenly Charlie went through the gate and disappeared again. Then the sun came out and the clouds were just gone. That told him that Charlie had made it to the house and Philippe was seeing him.
They got back in the car and drove to the house. Then Quinn and Marcel went inside with Pierre right behind them. Philippe was telling Charlie how happy he was to see him. Quinn was smiling through tears. Then he remembered what Pierre had said about who had placed the rune.
“Philippe did you tell Danny Mack about Charlie?” Pierre asked him.
“Danny’s always known about Charlie,” said Philippe. “He can see and hear him too.”
“I’m asking because Danny’s father placed a rune on the front gate to the compound that wards off spirits,” Pierre told him. “Charlie has been stuck at the gate trying to get back to you guys.”
“Why would Ryan do that?” Philippe asked, and the sun was gone.
Quinn went to the window and looked out at the gathering dark clouds. He looked back at his son and saw that he was getting more and more upset as he talked to Pierre. Before he could say a word the sky opened up and rain fell hard on the ground. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled.
“Philippe you have to calm down,” Quinn said. “You’re making it storm.”
This storm was bigger than any he’d ever caused before. Tree limbs were falling and the television picture flickered. They were talking about this freak storm that had power lines down and caused several accidents. Philippe took one look at the screen and sighed.
“I didn’t mean to cause this,” he said.
“You have to make it stop,” Quinn said. “Can you pull it back?”
“There’s nothing to pull back,” Philippe said. “The storm has to burn itself out. I could try to make the sun shine again but it would be useless until the storm burns out.”
“He’s right,” Pierre said. “This is so much different than when he makes it rain lightly or the sun come out and the temperature heat up. This is a storm and it has to burn itself out. There’s no stopping a storm like this. It’s going to be one for the record books but it has to burn itself out.”
They had breaking news about a truck that was overturned by a large amount of water running down the side of the hills outside Buffalo. There were three people in the truck and they’d been rushed to the Moreau Medical Group in Buffalo. Another car was struck by a fallen limb and the driver, seventeen year old Adam Taylor was sent to the Moreau Medical Group with severe injuries.
“We’ll heal them,” Marcel said to Philippe as the boy looked distraught.
“We’ll head out right now,” Quinn said.
“Quinn, you’re both tired from the healing you just did,” Pierre said in protest.
“We have to, Pierre,” Quinn said. “The storm that Philippe created is doing this. We have to heal them.”
They got in Quinn’s SUV and headed back to the medical group. Pierre and Philippe followed close behind them. They got there in record time. Quinn made it to the floor where Adam Taylor had just died from his injuries. Quinn’s heart fell. Then Charlie was telling him to follow him.
He walked down the hall to where Charlie led him. He saw Maggie Macreavy standing in the hall with Ryan Mack and another man from her coven that Quinn didn’t know. They saw him and suddenly Maggie was in front of him. He was looking into her dark eyes that were heavy with dark makeup. Her blonde hair was curly and her small form was encased in black. There were rings on her fingers and an upside down pentagram suspended from a chain around her neck.
“Quinn Moreau,” she said. “You can heal! Please heal my son. They say he could die from this.”
“Quinn come in here,” Charlie said.
Quinn walked around Maggie and into the room just in time to see the spirit of Shane Macreavy go into the light. There was nothing he could do for him now. But then Charlie’s spirit merged with the body! He didn’t know if this was possible or not. He stepped closer to the body as he watched.
“Quinn you have to anchor me,” Charlie said in his head. “It’s the only way for me to have a body. The Goddess rejected me, Quinn. Please don’t make me wander the earth as a spirit forever. Give me this.”
Quinn made his decision on the spot. He put his hands on the body of Shane Macreavy and willed Charlie’s spirit to fuse with the body. He could see a stump that looked like something had been torn away from inside the body. Charlie was trying to anchor himself to that spot. He used his power to help him and before he knew it Charlie was in. He’d possessed the body of Shane Macreavy! He moaned and turned his head.
Then there were doctors in the room and they told Quinn and Marcel to wait outside. Quinn hadn’t known that Marcel had been there and seen it all as it happened. It had happened though. Quinn had helped Charlie take possession of the body of Shane Macreavy.
“You healed him,” Maggie said. Quinn stood there speechless. “Look, I know you had no reason to do this for me. We’ve been awful to your coven, interfering with your circles and painting runes on gates. Thank you so much for doing this for me, Quinn. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said for lack of anything else to say. That wasn’t Shane in there anymore. It was Charlie. He couldn’t tell her that.
He looked at Marcel and saw that the boy’s eyes were open wide. He was staring at his father as if he’d never seen him before. He just stood there and looked at him. Quinn squirmed under that intense gaze of his.
“Did I see what I thought I saw?” Marcel asked. “Is it even possible?”
“It happened,” Quinn said. “I didn’t know I could do that.”
“He went into the light,” Marcel said. “He was gone and Charlie went into the body. You helped him. Oh, Dad. You helped him. Charlie has a body.”
“What are you talking about?” Pierre asked him, looking at him hard.
“Charlie went into the body after Shane went into the light,” Marcel said. “Dad helped him take possession of the body. Charlie has a body.”
“Mon deux,” Pierre said, stepping back. He looked at Quinn with a wild look in his eyes. “This isn’t supposed to be possible.”
“Pierre please,” Quinn said softly.
“Quinn, what you’ve done is impossible,” Pierre said. “No one can know about this.”
“Immediate family can know,” Quinn said.
“Only those that we can trust,” Pierre said.
“What are you guys talking about?” Philippe asked, looking from one to another of them and back again. “Where’s Charlie?”
“Charlie is in the body of Shane Macreavy,” Quinn said to his son.
“Oh my God,” Philippe said. “He has a body?”
“Yes, Philippe,” Quinn said. “But I don’t know if he’ll know who he is or not.”
“What? Why?” asked Marcel. “You healed him.”
“But this has never been done before,” Quinn said quietly.
“But he has to know who he is,” Philippe said.
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Pierre said.
Maggie and Ryan were back and that ended their conversation. The doctor came out of the room and told Maggie that Shane was going to be fine. Of course she knew this already. Doctor Porter, a dark haired man with green eyes told Maggie that Shane was awake but asked that they keep her and anyone connected to her out of his room.
“That’s understandable,” she said. “He hates me.”
“I’m sure it isn’t that serious,” said Doctor Porter.
“It is,” she said. “What about my other two children?”
There were more? Of course, he thought. The truck with three people in it. He suddenly remembered that Maggie had three sons. Shane, Taylor, and Jesse. Had they all been at death’s door?
“Taylor has a broken arm and a bump on his head,” said the doctor. “We’re keeping him over night for observation. Jesse has a head injury but he’s awake and responding to stimuli. We’ll take him to surgery soon.”
“Quinn,” she said. “Can you heal another?”
“Of course I can,” Quinn said. “Take me to his room.”
“Excuse us, Doctor,” Maggie said.
Quinn was well known and what he did was well known by almost all of the hospital staff. Dr. Porter was among those who knew so he let them go. Marcel, Philippe, and Pierre followed them.
Jesse Macreavy looked a lot like his oldest brother. They had the same dark hair and dark eyes. They had that one unruly eyebrow that turned up at the center on the left eye as well.
Quinn walked in and put his hands on Jesse’s head while Maggie told him to hold still and let Quinn work. The boy sat there and Quinn set about righting the head injury. He knitted the skull back together and made it solid. Then he started on the flesh. There was nothing wrong with his brain but Quinn could see the white lace in his brain. The boy had power. Then there was nothing to heal. He took his hands off the boy’s head and stepped back.
“He’s good as new,” Quinn said.
“That’s two of my sons you’ve saved,” Maggie said, looking at him with a new look in her eyes. “Why did you do it?”
“It’s what I do, Maggie,” he said. “I heal the sick and hurt.”
“But you did this for me,” she said. “I’ve given you every reason to spit in my face. But you did this for me.”
“Like I said, this is what I do,” he said again.
“All right,” she said. “We’ll leave your coven alone. You’re far too powerful for us to mess with.”
“Good day, Maggie,” Quinn said and turned to leave the room.
“Quinn, wait,” said Jesse. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Jesse,” Quinn said with a smile. Then he left the room.
“Why did you heal him?” Pierre asked.
“I don’t know,” Quinn said. “She asked and I did it. Maybe I did it to make up for Shane.”
“Whatever,” Pierre said. “We have to get out of this hospital.”
“We can’t leave Charlie here,” said Philippe.
“He has doctors to look after him,” Marcel said. “Pierre’s right. We have to get out of here before Maggie comes to her senses and decides to attack us.”
They went back to the compound and Quinn sat in his living room. Pierre left but returned about twenty minutes later with Revanche, Tom, April, Lorette, and Franklin. A few minutes later he was explaining to them what he’d done to Shane Macreavy.
“Shane died,” Quinn said. “We saw him go into the light. Charlie went into his body and I anchored him in it. Charlie has a body.”
“You mean he possessed the body of Shane Macreavy?” Lorette asked.
“That’s exactly what I mean,” he said. “He is inside the body of Shane Macreavy.”
“This isn’t possible,” she said, looking at Franklin.
“He’s the most powerful witch in the family,” Franklin said. “If he says he anchored Charlie’s spirit with Shane’s body I’m inclined to believe him.”
“But what about the Goddess?” she asked.
“The Goddess doesn’t seem to have an opinion of it so far,” said Revanche.
“Who’s to say she won’t have one in the near future?” Lorette asked.
“Look, it’s done,” Quinn said. “I won’t undo it and don’t think I could if I wanted to. The point is Charlie Bennett is in the body of Shane Macreavy at Moreau Medical Group on the third floor. I also healed his youngest brother, Jesse. He had a head injury and a scalp laceration. I healed that and he’s going to be fine.”
“But Shane is Charlie,” she said.
“Yes,” he said. “Shane is Charlie. I don’t know if he remembers that he’s Charlie though. His eyes opened while we were standing there. He didn’t seem to recognize either of us though.”
“Well maybe he was dazed,” said Marcel. “He had just gotten into the body. Who knows what kind of fog that can cause in the brain.”
“This isn’t supposed to be possible,” Lorette said again.
“Possible, impossible what is impossible with Moreau witches?” Quinn asked. “We can do things that other witches could only dream of.”
“And what about Maggie Macreavy?” she asked.
“She thanked me for healing her sons,” Quinn said. “She said she’ll leave our coven alone because we’re apparently far too powerful for her to mess with.”
“What is she going to think when Shane figures out that he’s Charlie?” she asked.
“Charlie isn’t stupid enough to say he’s Charlie and not Shane,” Quinn snapped.
“I’m sorry, Quinn,” Lorette said. “I’m a little shocked here.”
“I get that,” Quinn said. “I’m bit shocked as well.”
“I know you are, Honey,” she said. “I have to think about this.”
“When will he remember who he is?” Franklin asked.
“I don’t know,” Quinn said. “It could be the rest of his life that he won’t know. I’ve never done this before.”
“I know that but I was hoping you had an idea,” he said. “Thank you for telling us. If he remembers and comes home we’ll be happy to see him again.”
“Thank you, Franklin,” Quinn said.
Lorette and Franklin left the house after that. Revanche and April were still staring at Quinn like they’d never seen him before. He didn’t know what to say to them to make them understand why he’d done it. He loved Charlie for the Goddess’s sake. He tried to be reborn and was rejected by the Goddess and then he found Shane Macreavy’s body and possessed it so he could live alive again.
“You helped him do this?” Revanche asked, looking shocked.
“Revanche I had to help him,” Quinn said. “He’s my soul’s mate. If he can live again through Shane Macreavy’s body then I will accept him.”
“I know that,” he said. “I’m just shocked. I can’t wait to see him as Charlie when he starts to remember.”
“He could never remember,” Quinn said.
“Oh he’ll remember,” Revanche said. “The Goddess wouldn’t leave him without his memory.”
“From your lips to her ears,” Quinn said.
“When can we go see him?” Philippe asked.
“I think we should wait on that,” Quinn said.
“What? Why?”
“Because he doesn’t know who he is right now,” Quinn said. “We’d just overwhelm him with information that he can’t remember.”
“But I want to see him,” Philippe said.
“Now don’t go causing another storm,” Quinn said quickly. “You have to wait for him to remember who he is. If he doesn’t I’ll take you to him soon enough. Now stop.”
“Right,” said Revanche. “We don’t need another record breaking storm.”
“I’m not causing a storm right now,” Philippe said.
He wasn’t. Quinn realized he could no longer hear the rain. It had stopped. The storm had burned out. Philippe was as calm as he could be. For that Quinn was thankful. He didn’t think he could handle another storm.
“I’ll take you to him soon, Philippe,” Quinn said. Then he looked at Marcel. “Both of you.”
“Thank you, Dad,” said Marcel.
“Yeah, thank you, Dad,” said Philippe. “We’ll see him soon.”
“Yes,” Quinn said as his phone rang. He answered it. “Hello, this is Quinn Moreau.”
“Quinn this is Doctor Porter at Moreau Medical Group,” said the doctor. “Shane Macreavy is demanding to see you.”
“I’ll be right there,” Quinn said and hung up.
“Where are you going,” April asked.
“Back to the medical group,” he said. “Shane wants to see me.”
“Maybe he knows he’s Charlie,” Philippe said.
“Maybe he does,” Quinn said. “If he does he’ll be coming home with us soon enough.”
“Okay,” he said.
Quinn drove back to the medical group with hope in his heart. He hoped that Charlie knew who he was and was pretending to keep them from finding out what had happened. If he didn’t know who he was he didn’t think he would be able to handle it.
He arrived and went inside the building. He took the elevator to the third floor and walked into Shane’s room. Shane was sitting up with his tray table in front of him and a lunch tray on it.
“Quinn!” he said excitedly. “Don’t let my mother in here.”
“You told the doctor and he’s alerted the staff,” Quinn said. “She won’t come in here.”
“I don’t know her really, but I’m terrified of her for some reason,” Shane said. He sat there looking at him with his dark eyes, his upturned brow and his dark hair. He was the polar opposite of Charlie but he was Charlie even if he didn’t know it.
“They said you wanted to see me?” Quinn asked.
“You healed me, right?” he asked. “I heard the doctor telling one of the nurses that Quinn Moreau had been here and healed me.”
“Yes, I healed you,” Quinn said.
“Then why can’t I remember anything?” Shane asked.
“What do you remember?” Quinn asked.
“I remember opening my eyes and everything was blank,” he said. “Then I had what I thought was a memory but it can’t be.”
“What was it?”
“Quinn have I met your sons?” he asked.
“Not that I know of,” Quinn said.
“But I think of them as Sweet Philly Phil and Marcel Man,” he said.
Quinn nearly cried. Those were Charlie’s nicknames for the boys pretty much since they were born. He remembered that? It was a good sign. Maybe he’d remember more with time. Quinn hoped so.
“Well those were Charlie’s nicknames for the boys,” Quinn heard himself say.
“Charlie Bennett,” he said.
“That’s right,” Quinn said. “He was my husband.”
“Was?”
“He died many years ago,” Quinn said.
“Well then I haven’t met him but the name means something to me,” he said. “When I said it I almost had a memory flash.”
“Would you like to see a picture of him?” Quinn asked, reaching for his wallet.
“Yes and your boys if you could,” he said.
Quinn found the picture of him and Charlie and handed it to Shane. He stared at it for a long moment and then looked up at Quinn again. Quinn took the last picture taken of the boys and handed it to him.
“There they are,” Shane smiled. “Where’s Henri?”
“Henri isn’t my son,” Quinn replied.
“No but you raised him like a son,” he said. “He used to get so mad because he couldn’t see me.”
“I have a picture of him here,” Quinn said and handed it to Shane.
“That’s Henri all right,” he said. “Why do I know these kids and what did I mean by him being so mad because he couldn’t see me?”
“I’m not sure,” Quinn lied.
“Could you heal me again?” he asked. “Maybe wake my brain up?”
“Sure,” Quinn said. Could it be that simple?
He placed his hands on Shane’s head and closed his eyes. He saw the pulsing white lace and nearly backed out. He sent his healing power into Shane’s brain but there was nothing to heal. Instead he let his healing power flow into his brain until it wrapped completely around the white lace. Then he sent energy into his power and slowly pulled his power back.
Shane blinked at him and then the bed levitated. “Woe,” he said. “I could never do that before. The most I could lift with my mind were stones the size of eggs. What did you do to me?”
“I tried to heal you again but there was nothing to heal,” Quinn said.
“Well then it isn’t the head injury at play here,” he said. “I figured it wouldn’t work. When you heal it’s pretty much all or nothing.”
“Yes it is,” Quinn said.
“Why do I know that?” Shane asked. “Why is it that I know that you have a birth mark on your inner thigh up by your scrotum? I’ve never seen you naked have I?”
“No,” Quinn said. “As far as I know when I healed you was the first time you saw me.”
“Huh,” he said. “I have all of these thoughts about you. I’m not gay but I think I’m in love with you.”
“Well it isn’t from the healing,” Quinn said with a shaky voice. “I heal lots of people and they don’t fall in love with me.”
“Well I’m serious,” he said. “Get Revanche in here to read my emotions if you don’t believe me.”
“You know what Revanche’s power is?” Quinn asked.
“I don’t even know Revanche,” Shane said. “I know that his power is empathy and Pierre’s is mind reading like Ryan’s. Philippe can manipulate and create weather, and Marcel has your powers right down to the flowers.”
“How do you know all of this?” Quinn asked.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I remember some things though. I remember Josephine and how bent she was on loving you. She stole your condom and got her mother to help her get pregnant with magic. That’s sick.”
“Yes it is,” Quinn agreed.
“Then she killed me, Giselle, and Corbin,” he said and his eyes got large. He breathed heavy and looked around the room. “Oh Goddess I remember!”
“What do you remember, Shane?” Quinn asked.
“Stop calling me Shane,” he said. “My name is Charlie. I’m your husband.”
“Yes but everyone has to believe that you are Shane Macreavy,” Quinn said, beside himself with joy. If he really remembered then all was not lost.
“I can understand that,” he said. “No one has ever done what we did before.”
“No not that I know of,” Quinn replied.
“If I’m healed can I leave the hospital?” he asked.
“I’m sure you could,” Quinn said. “You want me to get the doctor?”
“No,” he said, pushing a button on his rail. “I got it.”
A rather tall male nurse came into the room. He had dark hair and icy eyes so Quinn knew he was family but he didn’t know who he was. He just stood there and let Shane talk to him.
“What can I do for you, Shane?” asked the nurse.
“Is Doctor Porter still in the building?” he asked.
“Yes,” said the nurse. “He’s actually with your brother, Taylor.”
“Well I would like to be released,” Shane said. “I’m fine now.”
“I’ll tell him,” said the nurse. “I couldn’t figure out why you were still here. We released your little brother hours ago. If Quinn healed you then you don’t need to be here.”
“Quinn can you heal Taylor?” Shane asked. “He’s eighteen and probably won’t leave the hospital because Mom wants him back at Starlight. He doesn’t want to go there.”
“I can heal him,” Quinn said.
“Well I’ll get Doctor Porter for you, Shane,” said the nurse. “Bye Quinn.”
“Goodbye,” he said.
“You go heal Taylor and I’ll talk to Dr. Porter,” Shane said.
“Okay,” Quinn said and walked out of the room. He knew which room Taylor was in because he’d talked to Maggie about Shane and Jesse outside of Taylor’s room.
He walked in as the doctor was walking out. Dr. Porter nodded to him and kept going. Inside the room there was a dark haired young man with a bandage around his head and his arm in a sling. He had the same dark hair and eyes as his brothers and the same upturned brow on the left eyebrow.
“You’re Quinn Moreau,” Taylor said, smiling.
“That’s right,” Quinn said. “How do you know me?”
“I saw you when you came to heal my grandfather’s arthritis,” he said.
“Okay,” Quinn said. “Your brother sent me in here to heal you.”
“Please,” he said.
Quinn put a hand on his head and one on his broken arm. He looked into his body and saw the reset broken bone in the arm and healed that. That was simple. The head wound was a bit more serious. Taylor had a concussion. Quinn healed the bump and sent his healing power flooding into Taylor’s brain until it covered the white lace. He fed energy into it and slowly pulled his power back.
“There you go,” Quinn said. “You can be released now.”
“I don’t want to go back to Starlight,” Taylor said.
“Then come to Moondance,” Quinn said. “You’re brother is coming to Moondance with me.”
“All right,” he said. “Just get the doctor back in here. Did they release Jesse to Mom?”
“Yes, hours ago,” Quinn said.
“We have to get him away from her,” Taylor said. “I know what she’s plotting and Jesse isn’t safe.”
“We’ll go to a judge tomorrow,” Quinn said. “I have a few that owe me.”
“Good,” he said.
“I’ll send the doctor back from your brother’s room,” Quinn said and left the room.
He went back to Shane’s room where Shane was getting dressed. He almost went back out of the room but Shane started to talk to him as soon as he came into the room. He said something that Quinn didn’t catch.
“Say again?” Quinn asked.
“I said did you heal Taylor?” Shane said with a grin.
“I did,” Quinn said. “He wants the doctor to release him. You’re both going home with me.”
“Okay,” Shane said.
“You can’t let Taylor know you’re Charlie,” Quinn said.
“I won’t,” he said. “Do Philippe and Marcel know?”
“Yes,” Quinn said. “That might be a problem. My brothers and aunt know about you, too.”
“Well can Taylor stay with someone else on the compound?” Shane asked.
“Probably,” Quinn said. “I’m not really set up for two more people in the house anyway. I’ll call Henri and ask if Taylor can stay on his sofa.”
“Okay,” Shane said. He was dressed now.
“Oh and Taylor said we have to get Jesse away from your mother,” Quinn said.
“We can work on that tomorrow,” Shane said. “Just get us both away from the hospital before my mother comes back up here.”
“You’re calling her your mother,” Quinn said.
“I remember both being Charlie and being Shane,” he said. “I can pretend to be Shane because I remember all of his experiences. I can be Charlie because I remember all of his experiences too.”
“That would be confusing,” Quinn said.
“I’m choosing not to allow it to become confusing,” Shane said.
Quinn hoped they could pull this off.
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