WARNING- THIS IS WRITTEN AFTER THE REDEMPTION SAGA AND CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THE SERIES.
Copyrighted Kristen Banet, 2019 All Right Reserved.
This is a first draft state and completely unedited.
Reupload from original Facebook post
This one is a short story I had on my mind about how James Henry would react the day he knows who his mother is. It has 3 short chapters, James Henry, Sawyer, then James Henry.
James Henry
James dropped his book bag on the ground right next to the front door the moment he got home. He kicked off his shoes, ignoring the wolves bouncing around him. He just wanted to get to his room and lay down. That’s all he wanted.
“James,” his father, Elijah, called. His uncle? He didn’t know anymore and he didn’t really care either. He had five dads or uncles and one mom. Elijah was the one who was always home waiting on him. He saw Elijah’s head poke out from the kitchen. “How was your day, bud? Need any help with homework?”
“I got it,” he muttered back, grabbing his book bag. He should have known just because it was high school didn’t mean they would stop pestering him about it. Homework sucked. It was actually torture. He hated it but he did it, mostly because they forced him to. I’m not a kid anymore. I can do my own homework now, stupid or not.
“You okay?” The worry in his uncle’s voice made him bristle.
“I’m fine. Just the first day of school.” Leave me alone. He walked away before he could be further interrogated. He was half way up the stairs when a hand grabbed him and someone leaned over his shoulder.
“James, when Elijah asks you a question, we expect the truth,” his father Quinn said softly. “What’s wrong?”
“How did you-” James spun to see the most mysterious of his fathers.
“Shade and Scout tell me everything,” he whispered gently. The brilliant ice eyes narrowed, set in a dark, earthy face, one that was unforgiving at that moment. Everyone told him that he looked the most like Quinn, but Quinn was a native American. James was Latino. He always reminded people of that. Then they would say he must take after his mom. He looked kind of like his mom too, but it was coincidence. She was Arabic, or looked like it. Plus, he was adopted. It wasn’t a secret. “You didn’t give them any love when you walked in like normal.”
“It was a bad day at school,” he answered, knowing there was no running from Quinn like he could Elijah. At least it wasn’t Vincent, who would force him to sit down in a rousing game of chess and a long conversation. He was working on something with Mom and they wouldn’t be home until later. “I’ll talk to Mom about it.” Believe the lie, please? I hate lying to you, but please?
“Okay. Go on.” Quinn released him, pushing gently. “We worry when you’re acting strange, James. That’s all you needed to tell Elijah.”
“I know,” he mumbled, taking off to finish the climb to the second floor. No one followed him this time.
He pulled out his homework the moment he got his door shut. He hated his day at school. Everything had gone wrong. He had been really excited, finally in high school, but he should have known better. He was a year or more younger than everyone in his grade. A freshman that should have still been in middle school.
He covered his face as he sat down, thinking of how everyone treated him. What they had said.
“Look, it’s the kid of the Councilman. You know the one who shares his chick with other dudes. Heard he was adopted.”
“Heard his mom is really famous but my parents won’t tell me anything. Says we’ll learn about it in senior level history class and to leave the kid alone. Like, very alone. My mom doesn’t want me even talking to him. Said I could get mixed up in something.”
“I bet they all do her at the same time.”
“Gross, dude!”
James wanted to cry. He tried to stop them, but they only got worse. A teacher had to pull him aside and tell him to ignore it. That they would talk to the other students. He didn’t want to be an outsider. It never happened before. Why now?
He couldn’t bother doing his homework, pulling his legs up to his chest and crying softly against his knees. He had just wanted to be a normal student.
“Is it true his mom was a criminal? Like, not stealing, but killed people?”
“I think the seniors learn about it. Ask one of them.”
James thought about the books in his bag. He had all of his textbooks.
And a history book from the senior’s class. He felt bad for stealing it, but he had to know.
Now he felt like a coward, just thinking about it. I can’t. I can’t look at it. She didn’t kill people. Not my mom. She loves people. She’s a bit reclusive, but she helps kids like me. She adopted me! She loves me. She couldn’t have…
He didn’t know how long he sat there. He heard his fathers walking around but none of them checked on him. If there was one thing he could be thankful for, his dads respected privacy and would wait on him most of the time.
I need to know. He finally couldn’t resist. He reached for his bag and pulled out the Recent Histories book. It was relevant Magi history from the previous one hundred years.
I asked Mom once what it was like for her growing up. How she met my dads but she told me I was too young to understand. I’m tired of being too young. It’s time for me to know! They know. All of them. They know and they…
He opened the book up to the last chapters, knowing it would be the most recent history. He searched quickly. Sawyer Cambria Matthews…He found it and he couldn’t believe what he read.
Assassin. Antonio ‘Axel’ Castello.
That’s Vincent’s last name… How…
His heart wanted to beat out of his chest. He was shocked and underneath that, he was angry.
His mom killed people. She killed important people. There were even pictures. They made him want to throw up.
There was more. How she disappeared. Died. How she was found again and what happened after. Not a lot. The entire section about her in the book was only a few chapters long. It ended with saying how she was evidence that the Magi could do both great and terrible things. He didn’t really understand how the book began to talk about redemption and the lesson to be learned from the story of an assassin they had all called Shadow, believing the young woman was a monster and learning something far different.
My mom killed people.
He pushed the book away, practically falling out of the chair as he tried to stand and walk away. He wanted to be sick. His parents were nonviolent. All of them. They taught him self defense. His dad, Zander, was a training at a gym in the city. His mom helped out there a lot. Vincent ran a private investigation firm with her. Quinn never left home and always talked about the circle of life and how death was necessary for the land but only at the right moments. Jasper was a Councilman against the use of force and fought corruption and for the eradication of criminal activity among their people. Elijah just made art and enjoyed life.
My mom killed people.
His mom, who had a black jaguar that loved to cuddle named Sombra.
James’ stomach turned. Sombra meant shadow.
His mom, who was covered in scars she never wanted to talk about, saying he was too young to understand. Who had a safe she never opened in her closet.
James walked out of the room, not really knowing where his feet were leading him until he was in her room. He went to her closet.
My mom killed people.
She kept secrets. He had always known that. He knew parents did that. Quinn didn’t like to talk about how he grew up either, always saying it wasn’t the way a boy should be raised. His other parents weren’t as secretive. He met Elijah’s parents. He was their only grand baby, they said. Jasper and Zander explained to him how they both ended up orphans, and why they would never let him go once. He told them it was sappy, but he secretly loved how he was their son, knowing they all had the same problem. They didn’t have ‘real’ parents together.
He searched around, keeping an ear out for anyone sneaking up on him. He tossed his mom’s clothing around, not paying attention. He knew she would know he was there. She always knew what he was up to, even if none of his dads did. She was weird like that.
He really wanted to get into her safe but didn’t know the code. He kicked it, knowing it probably had answers.
Underneath some jacket in the back corner, there was a box
.Do you have the answers, little box? James grabbed it. It was an old shoe box or something. He curled into a ball in the corner, hoping no one walked in as he opened it. He found something he wasn’t expecting.
A little boy with Vincent’s olive green eyes and dark curly short hair and a little black cat that was practically a miniature of Sombra.
Sawyer
“Thank god we finished this today,” Vincent said softly as they parked. “Another day on this case would have killed me.”
“At least it ended happily,” Sawyer whispered, staring out the window. “I was worried it wouldn’t.”
“Would you have gone through on your threat?” he asked gently, not moving to get out of their car. She didn’t want to answer but he deserved one. She had made the threat, knowing it would draw his attention, but she did it anyways.
“If the girl wasn’t returned to her family in perfect condition?” She clenched her jaw. “I don’t know.” A small white lie and they both knew it.
He sighed. “No one would have blamed you. You mad at yourself?”
“No,” she answered honestly. “But I figured the threat was all I needed to get what we wanted. Sometimes using the reputation is easier than fighting it. It’s a better cause to get a little girl home than to play it safe and pretend like I’m not who I am.
”He leaned over and kissed her temple. “It’ll happen again, like it’s happened before. You just tell me. Go to therapy, talk to the doctor.”
“Of course,” she replied, smiling. “I’m not upset. Just thoughtful. Now let’s get inside before they start wondering if we’re okay.”
He was chuckling as he got out of the car. Sawyer still took a moment to herself, watching him walk in and hearing him call out to everyone.
Would I have done it? She let the question stew for a moment on the white lie she had said in response to Vincent. No, but sometimes leaving the question in the air for others is better. He knew I was lying. He knows the answer too. They all do.
With a small smile on her face, she got out of the car and walked in to find all of her men standing in the kitchen, looking serious. Even Vincent, who was more troubled than she would have liked since they had just saved a little girl’s life. Sombra wasn’t at the door, which was unusual. Sawyer plucked the bond, frowning as she realized her cat was in her bedroom.
Sitting with James Henry and a box.
“It was going to happen eventually,” she said clearly for them. “I’ll handle it.”
“He had a bad day at school,” Quinn said gently.
“I heard about it at work. One of my assistants has a boy in one of his classes and got a call. His son is going to have detention from the school for two weeks. My assistant asked if I was going to fire him. Apparently, it was very bad.” Jasper began to unbutton his blazer, sighing. “You’re right. This was going to come eventually.”
“I should have told him earlier,” she whispered, looking down at her hands. Hands that had once been covered in the thick, deep red of the blood of those who crossed an evil man who held her leash. The same hands that had showered her lovers in affection and pleasure. Hands that held black daggers.
Tears filled her eyes. Hands that held a little orphan newborn and had fallen in love immediately. Hands that had rocked him and held his bottle.
Hands she still threatened people with, even if it was empty, to protect those who were weak.
Hands that had done it all with her. Except one finger. A reminder of the darkest things her hands had gone through with her.
“I can,” Vincent offered. “If-”
“No,” she said, cutting him off strongly, leaving no room for argument. They called it her ‘mom voice’. “This is mine to do. He’s my son, in the end. It’s my name in the history books.” A recent thing. Jasper had tried to make the WMC wait until they had James through school, but in the end, they didn’t even count his vote. He was obviously biased and she was an important history to the Magi. She knew it was just a few small paragraphs, ones she had read over a thousand times before approving. None of that mattered. She knew her son was smart enough to find it, read, and know. Know, yet not know. It didn’t have many details. “I can do it. I should have told him earlier.”
With that, she turned and walked out, knowing this night had weighed heavily on them for years. When was it the right time to shatter boy’s perception of his parents? He already had the problem of his mom being with so many men and that being misunderstood. How does a boy have five fathers? He did. She knew he loved them, but she knew he kept it somewhat private. They all did, just keeping hold of what was theirs and no one else’s.
But this, she had waited on. It wasn’t something people told young children, but high schoolers, they were old enough to know. She should have known it would blow up. He went to a private school with other rich Magi children. She had like the security of the place from outside threats. She had wanted him to be socialized, which was why he went to school at all. She could have easily convinced Elijah to home school with her, but the family wanted him to make friends that could talk back, not just the wolves and her jaguar, or even the enigmatic raven.
“I should have said something earlier,” she whispered to herself again as she made it to her door. She peeked in and saw Sombra sitting at the closet door, staring in, watching her son. Sawyer couldn’t see him yet, but she knew what he cat saw. James surrounded by pictures he didn’t understand of another little boy and a little black cat with the same gold eyes as the jaguar watching him. Sombra sent her a playback of her finding their boy and how he knew he was caught. Sawyer would have smiled if it was just innocent snooping, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t innocent at all. Her son knew and was looking for evidence and not finding anything like he expected.
“Hi Mom,” he called out softly.
“Hey,” she called back, stepping in, raising her chin. She never ran from anything and there were very few things in her life that had ever made her want to. This was one of them. “We need to talk it seems.”
“You killed people,” he muttered as she made it to the closet door. He didn’t look at her. “You. Killed. People. You tell me all the time that-”
“You’re holding the reasons why,” she said, trying not to snap at the pain his words caused her. The condemnation. It burned her soul. This was why she never told him. “The boy’s name was Henry Castello. He was Vincent’s nephew and the son of a man named Antonio ‘Axel’ Castello, Vincent’s older brother. He was a madman. The cat’s name was Midnight and she was my first animal bond.” She swallowed. Now it was time for her story. Now it was time for her to tell her son exactly who his mother was.
“What happened to them?” he asked softly, finally looking up at her. She could see the red around his eyes. Her son had been crying, probably overwhelmed by what he had learned. He was so young to have to face this. She wished she could have hidden it all, just to look perfect in his eyes a little longer. She went to her knees and took one of the photos from him.
“Axel used them to blackmail me into killing for him…” She met his chocolate eyes. Her beautiful, warm son with a brilliant mind. He was all of Elijah’s loving side and had all of Quinn’s love for nature. He had Vincent’s intelligence, but none of the ability to manipulate. He was raised by Jasper’s moral code and honored it, which she knew was why this was hurting him so much. He also had Zander’s temper sometimes but also the depth of emotion, the ability to feel. Which explained the tears.
He was all of them and none of them, her son. She wanted to hold him and love him until they were both old and right now, he probably hated her for it.
“What happened?” he asked again. “And who was his mom? Was he my-”
“I wasn’t his mother,” she answered quickly, hutting down the idea that Henry was ever hers. “I sometimes wished I was. I was the closest thing he had to one. And… they’re both gone.”
“You named me after him.”
“I did. And I named you James for a hero and the best man your fathers ever had in their life.” She reached out and touched his cheek. “You asked me how I met them a thousand times now.”
“Are you going to tell me?” He sounded so vulnerable and yet curious. He wanted to know, even though it was tied up in a story her intelligent son knew would be hard.
“Will you promise to still love me at the end of it?” she asked, knowing it was a stupid thing to ask. She was in her forties. She knew better, but the idea of her son not loving her anymore was too much to bear.
“You’re my mom! I’ll always… “ he said, crawling to hug her. “I just…”
“I understand,” she whispered, running a hand over his hair and kissing the top of his head. Together, they got comfortable on her closet floor, Sombra coming to put her head on his lap. Sawyer loved her life in that one moment, but she knew it wouldn’t last forever. She was about to ruin it. “Let me tell a story.”
And so, she told him the story of a girl who was once an assassin named Shadow. She didn’t flourish it and make it seem bigger than it was. She had never saved the world. She also didn’t lighten it. She told him the truth as he deserved. She pointed out her scars and let him know where they came from. She told him how she met his fathers and the dangerous journey when they had all fallen in love.
She told him what was in her safe and even showed him.
Black blades and half a black mask, the other half now probably reclaimed by the earth in Italy. Her heart pounded as he ran his slender fingers over the dark visage she once claimed as her own.
“So, you saved the world,” he mumbled.
“No. In the end, I could only save myself, really. Myself and your fathers.”
While she never saved the world, she held her son as tears made her cheeks wet, and knew she never regretted her life. It led to having him and the team downstairs. No longer just a team. Never just a team. Her family. Now her hands only knew good things, like how they were running through her son’s hair as she talked to him.
I hope he understands what these hands would do for him. I hope he realizes he only has the mother he does because of the life she’s live. My life.
James Henry
James was bleary eyed by the time his mother was done. He cried into her shoulder at some points. He hated crying but his parents never made him feel less for it. She held him tightly and felt her tears. The story still made her cry too.
“And when we were back from Italy, we got my pardon, turned in out badges, and walked away,” she finished, sighing. “Since then, it’s been much of the life you know now. Jasper became a lawyer and worked to find himself on the Council. Elijah blacksmiths and makes art. Vincent and I run a business. Quinn goes no where and annoys scientists. Zander works at my gym. Charlie is there, and so is Liam. You know them and all the children there.”
“Yeah…” He did know Charlie and Liam. He knew other adults there too. He’d always wondered how his mom had met so many non-Magi. Now he knew. Now he felt like he knew too much.
They sat quietly. Sombra got up and walked away, Sawyer chuckling as the jaguar left. “Damn sassy brat,” she muttered after her cat.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“She’s hungry and we’ve bored her. She lived through much of that story. She was only here in case you needed to be nipped.” His mom grinned. “I know it’s hard, James.” She touched his chin, holding it. “I know the things I’ve done will always be dark and hard to look at. But there’s good in there too and I wouldn’t be the mom I am right now if it weren’t for all of that. It’s hard sometimes to admit, but it’s the truth.”
“Would you ever go back? Would you ever hurt someone again?” He shouldn’t have asked as he watched his mom’s face pale. She looked three shades lighter than she normally was.
“There’s only one thing I would kill for again,” she answered. “Just one.”
“What?”
“You.”
He couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping. Him? “Mom…”
“Listen to me. People will bully you. People bullied me growing up too. Zander and Jasper. Elijah, who told you about how he grew up and you met his parents. We understand. I would never hurt another child. There’s other ways for me to fix that problem and I plan to.” He knew his mother was serious now. She was rabidly over protective. He broke his wrist once and thought she was going to set the entire forest on fire since he’d been out playing in it when he’d fallen. “But if someone took you from me? If someone threatened your life? Yes. I would do what any mother would do and find you and make them pay for hurting you. But that’s not Shadow, though I would call on those skills. That’s your mother talking, like any mother would. I’m a very dangerous person to play with and I will be until my body fails me. Shadow gave me the ability to be this mother to you and I would do anything to keep you safe from my past, James Henry. Anything.”
She stood up, leaving him on the ground. He followed as she started walking away. Before they made it out of the bedroom, he caught her, throwing his arms around her waist and putting his face against her back.
“I love you, Mom.” He was kind of scared of her now, but his mom had always been kind of scary. He didn’t quite understand some of what she had said during her story, but he was smart. He could understand that everything she had done wasn’t always by her choice. That mattered. His dads wouldn’t love her so much if she had just killed people. He knew they wouldn’t.
So he could keep loving her too.
He heard a small sob as she turned and wrapped her arms around him.
“I love you too,” she whispered into his hair. “Oh, my baby boy, never forget that.”
“How was your case?” he asked.
“We won,” she told him, smiling now. He could see the shining tears in her eyes. “One less mother losing their baby today.” She grabbed his chin and shook a little. He smiled up at her. “Thank you.”
“For what?” He didn’t understand.
“For being mine.”
“Always, Mom,” he promised. Now that he knew her, knew what she had gone through, he would never leave her. No. His mom was strong and he wanted to be her son. He felt honored to be her son.
“Let’s go have dinner,” she ordered. Hand in hand, they walked downstairs and into the kitchen. James was met with all of his fathers standing in the kitchen. “It’s handled. We’re going to have a normal night. James, if you have any questions, you ask any of us, okay?”
“Please,” Vincent added. “Please, ask us anything, James.”
“He was your brother,” James said immediately.
“He was,” his father agreed softly. “But I have better ones now. The family we chose to have ended up being much stronger and more real than any relation I ever had with him.”
“And you all chose me.” Now he really understood his fathers. He was really just his mom’s son, legally, but now he knew them too, or felt like he did. She chose him and they chose him. This family was about choices.
Because my mom didn’t have any for a long time.
“Exactly,” Elijah agreed, grinning. “Did you do your homework?”
James looked away and his mom laughed, rubbing his hair. Zander grabbed his shoulder and began to move him to the dining room table.
“Jasper, go get his bag form his room.”
“Of course,” Jasper sighed out. “Zander and I get homework night…”
“I just had to tell him everything, so deal with it,” his mom retorted. He heard a smack and someone growled. Others laughed. He turned to see who hit mom had just hit.
“Tell me I get one too,” Elijah murmured. Another smack. James could see clearly where that one landed.
James turned away, his face burning, and knew his ears were probably going red. “Gross!”
Zander was now laughing next to him. “You can ignore the gross parents by focusing on your homework.”
“That’s mean,” he muttered, glaring at his dad, the wild redhead crazy one.
“It’s fair.” Zander leaned back in a chair and kicked his feet up on the table. James glared at those too. He wasn’t allowed to do that. Jasper walked back in, knocked the feet down, prompting James to stick his tongue out at his wild dad. Zander playfully glared at Jasper as the homework was unloaded from his backpack and put in front of him.
“Get to work,” Jasper ordered. “It’s going to be a late night if this doesn’t get handled now. And don’t worry about the other kids at school. Your mother is going to shut that down very quickly. I’m going to help.”
“Yeah, I know.” He wasn’t worried about school anymore.