Family Magic (26 page)

“Thanks, Syd,” he said.

We stood up and continued walking, more
because I felt restless all of a sudden than because I wanted
to.

“I was hoping we could see more of each
other,” Brad said.

I hadn’t prepared for
this
talk, but
he wasn’t about to give me the chance to change the subject. He
grinned at me like he knew I was uncomfortable, his soft blonde
hair falling over one eye.

“I’m not pushing you,” he said, “and I don’t
want to freak you out. There is something about you, Syd.” He
stopped and faced me, transparent green eyes seeing only me.

I stared into those eyes, drowning in the
color, and I knew I had never seen anything in my life quite so
amazing. I could feel the two of us getting closer, drawing
together. I was unable and unwilling to fight it. He stood so close
to me I could feel his breath on my cheek. I knew in that instant
if he kissed me, really kissed me, I would pass out at his
feet.

Saved by the crazy lady. Gram’s cackle
snapped my head around. I had to dive for her as she hustled past
me, hands outstretched, making a bee-line for a parked car. I could
feel her on the edge of her aura. I knew if I didn’t act right
then, Brad and I would not only be witness to a light show but
would probably end up in the hospital, or worse, if I didn’t manage
to stop her.

“Gram!” I grabbed her and hauled her around,
panicking as I realized I had neither of her vices on me as
enticement. I pushed against her spell as hard as I could. My demon
obliged. I pushed so hard, in fact, Gram staggered and slipped from
my grasp, landing hard on her butt on the sidewalk. I was surprised
this time the nausea and dizziness wasn’t so bad.

Maybe I was getting the hang of it after
all.

Gram glared up at me as if she was seeing me
for the first time.

“Thief!” She shrieked at the top of her
lungs. “Give it back! It’s mine!”

That old line again. I felt her power build
and gritted my teeth. Viciousness radiated from her in waves, and I
knew a blast of power had to be a short breath behind. I saw motion
next to me. Damn. Brad was still there. Unable to do anything about
it, I glared at my grandmother and shoved her magic down,
smothering the air energy with as much earth as I could pile on
her, acting on pure instinct. I took a moment to make sure my eyes
were normal before I glanced at Brad. He stared, mouth open.

“My grandmother,” I offered as way of an
apology. “I’m sorry, I have to get her home.”

Thank goodness nothing we did so far
magic-wise was visible to normals. I would be forced to have
someone in the coven wipe his memory and I worried they might take
too much. I wanted him to remember he was going to kiss me. Weird
thing to think about while trying to keep my grandmother from
totaling half the block, but hey, I was a teenager.

Brad watched Gram as she struggled, snarling
and spitting from her sprawl on the ground. She made heavy grunting
noises, her face twisting in frustration.

“Is she okay?” He asked.

“No,” I said. “She’s nuts. I really have to
go.”

I started pulling on Gram, hauling her to her
feet, using my demon to help. She clutched at me, eyes blazing. I
considered knocking her out, but Brad was still there. He was such
a gentleman, I knew he would frown on that sort of thing. I had a
flash of his lips and had to fight my way back.

Focus, Syd, focus.

Gram turned on me, hissing.

“Can I help?” Brad frowned, clearly
worried.

“Thanks but no thanks,” I said, tugging her
toward home, winning a little. Thank goodness we were only a block
away. “See you!”

He waved and turned to leave, glancing back
once or twice. When he was far enough away, I released my demon and
let Gram feel my full power even though I had no idea what else to
do with it.

“Okay, Gram,” I growled. “We can do this easy
or hard. You pick.”

She pouted like a petulant child caught doing
something naughty. “You have it and I want it back.” Her lower lip
quivered. I felt like leaving her there.

“Look, I don’t have it, whatever it is, and I
never have.”

Tears welled in those pale blues, but I knew
better than to feel empathy. She could turn on me like a wild cat
in a flash.

“Can we please go home now, or do I have to
make you?”

“I don’t want to go back there,” she
pouted.

“Tough,” I answered. “We are going back, end
of discussion. How do you keep getting out?” The last was more a
question for myself as I steered her up the street.

I didn’t even bother to try to listen in on
her one-sided muttered conversation as we walked the rest of the
way home.

I checked around to make sure there were no
witnesses. A huge, black dog watched me from a nearby driveway.
There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t put my
finger on it. It wasn’t like he really counted or anything.
Besides, he seemed friendly enough, tongue lolling out as if he was
laughing at us.

Stupid dog.

***

The very fact I managed to get Gram in the
driveway amazed even me. I should have been alarmed by the number
of cars outside our house but I was so focused on getting my
grandmother safely inside before she did something we’d all regret,
it wasn’t until I had her physically in the kitchen that I saw
there were more people in my house than there were when I left.

At least a dozen coven members had a mixture
of surprise and relief on their faces. Mom rushed forward, hugging
us both at the same time. We both fought her, but for very
different reasons. Gram managed to extract herself and stood there,
weaving and humming, lost to all of us. Mom hugged me harder. I
stopped struggling.

“Oh, Syd,” she whispered.

“It’s okay, Mom,” I whispered back.

She gave me one more squeeze and let me go.
Mom went to Gram who picked her nose, a huge, happy grin on her
face.

“Mother,” Mom said, pulling her hands down.
“How do you keep escaping?”

Gram ignored her, making smacking noises with
her lips, eyes crossing and uncrossing.

My mother turned to the gathered witches.

“I’m so sorry, everyone,” she said to them,
making it very clear to me she had no idea Gram had even been
missing. “Please forgive the interruption.”

Somehow, I had the feeling they weren’t there
because she invited them. There was a strange feel to the whole
thing raising the small hairs on my arms. I resisted rubbing them
to make it stop.

Erica pasted on a smile. “Well, this show is
over then, and no harm done.”

A murmur ran through the others. None of them
seemed certain. I knew every face but wondered as they stared at my
grandmother, if I really knew them at all.

Trust my mother to know the perfect thing to
do.

“Not this time,” she said softy to Erica,
“but we do need to get to the bottom of this.”

The answering murmur was positive. I could
feel their energy reaching for Mom. I shuddered, hoping I would
never have to try to play her role. I knew I would fail.

“I’m here because the others thought we
should come to you.” Celeste Oberman, one of the stronger witches
and always a leveling presence, shook out her long, brown hair, a
nervous habit. “It’s clear there is something going on that is out
of the ordinary, but your claim that we are under some sort of an
attack seems outlandish.”

I wanted to cut in that Uncle Frank’s near
demise wasn’t exactly his own idea but held back. I knew I wouldn’t
be helping Mom’s case any.

“I’m not comfortable leaving anything to
chance,” Mom said. “If there is something going on,” and we both
knew there was even if Celeste and the other witches felt like
sticking their stupid heads in the sand, “I want to get to the
bottom of it before it turns into something dangerous.”

Too late. Meanwhile I marveled at Mom’s
skill. She was so good at handling them. Aside from Celeste, the
others did seem to be taking what Mom told them seriously.

“Fine,” Celeste said, glaring down her nose
at me before turning her attention back to Mom. “What would you
like to do?”

“We’ll call the twins,” Mom said.

I shivered. The twins. Okay, I knew it was
serious, but nobody called the twins unless it was a last resort.
They just didn’t play well with others.

“If something is going on,” Mom said, “they
will be able to tell us. If not, I for one will be the first to put
these odd occurrences behind me.”

“I’ll call them,” Celeste said, going for the
phone.

“No,” Mom said, again very softly. The
control in her voice made everyone stop. “I’ll call them
myself.”

So there, I silently snapped at Celeste. Her
cool hazel eyes flashed at me but she backed off immediately. I
wondered at the fact she even overstepped herself at all. I
recognized every high-ranking witch in our coven, with the
exception of the Moromonds, was there. Every one of them near in
power to Erica, if not my mother. No one was close in strength to
my mother but me.

What was going on?

Meanwhile, Erica guided Gram out of the room.
I could hear Mom’s voice murmuring on the phone as she carried the
portable out into the hallway for privacy. The air in the kitchen
hung thick, oppressive. There was a tension to it, a discomfort I
never felt with the others before. No one looked at anyone, no eyes
meeting, and no one would look at me. Something was definitely
going on. I knew whatever it was, it involved me or my family and I
wasn’t going to like it one bit.

Mom came back into the kitchen before I did
something drastic to break the tension and make someone, anyone,
talk to me. I felt her power reach out through the room, diffusing
our frustration and anxiety, soft and comforting, supportive and
strong. The tension eased before dissipating altogether.

Didn’t want her job. Ever.

Mom made coffee and invited everyone to the
living room. I helped as much as I could. I tried my best to get my
mother alone to grill her about what was going on, but it never
happened. I know she did it on purpose. By the time they settled
with coffee and cookies, I was sick of the calming energy she
radiated and shook free of it.

Mom’s expression begged me to behave.

Syd
, I heard her voice brush through
my mind.
Please
…

Fine
, I snapped back.
But I want
answers.

Her magic left me with the impression I would
find out everything soon enough.

The assembled witches started chatting among
themselves. I began to think I was worried about nothing after all
when the doorbell rang.

Everyone froze. All eyes turned to my mother.
Mom rose gracefully from her seat, a reassuring smile on her
face.

“That must be the twins,” she said. “Please
excuse me.”

Silence reigned until she left the room. As
soon as she did the chatter started again. This time there was an
edge to it. We all knew how deadly serious things were with the
threat not just to me, like they cared about me. More importantly,
the fact that whoever was behind the attacks seemed to keep making
it past the family wards and into our house. No one felt the need
to hide it any longer.

Mom reappeared at the door with guests.

“Everyone, make our sisters welcome.”

I felt my heart stop. It’s not that the twins
were overly impressive to look at or anything. They were identical
in every way, right around five foot four, with ordinary brown hair
and brown eyes. They dressed as average, normal people in simple
jeans and sweaters and neither of the fifty-year-old women wore a
stitch of makeup. They both had tight, pinched faces, like
stereotypical shrews. You could tell by the feel of them they were
both single and happy about it.

It wasn’t their appearance that overwhelmed.
It was the fact both of them refused outright to hide they were
witches. They oozed power. On their own, Esther and Estelle
Lawrence were rather weak, disjointed and unfocused. But, as often
happens with identical twins, especially girls, together they were
a force to be reckoned with. Considering their specialty was
uncovering secrets others wished very much to remain hidden, they
made the rest of us very, very nervous.

Every time I saw them I had the feeling I was
guilty of something. This time was no exception. I squirmed under
the doubled gaze as their eyes passed over each and every one of us
with slow deliberation.

I wondered if they made my mother feel like a
naughty six-year-old or if it was just me.

From the expressions on the faces of the
other witches, it wasn’t. But if Mom felt it, she was way too good
to show it.

The group murmured a welcome. The twins
simply nodded.

“Coffee?” Erica held out the pot.

“We have work to do,” Esther said—or was it
Estelle? “No time for idle chit-chat.”

The twin who had spoken—I was pretty sure it
was Esther—turned to Mom, face even more pinched and tight than
usual as she focused on the task at hand.

“Miriam, if you would allow us?”

My mother bowed her head to the twins. “Thank
you for coming so quickly,” she said.

“We answer to the call of the coven,” Estelle
said with piety. The twins exchanged a look. “The coven’s troubles
are all of our troubles, no matter who is causing them.”

They had the nerve to focus on me. I scowled
at them as Mom gave me a sharp shake of her head.

“I would be honored if you would use my place
of power,” Mom said. “Please, follow me.”

She led them away. A sense of relief went
around the whole room. I glanced over at Erica and mouthed, ‘What?’
at her. She offered a sad smile and turned away.

I felt suddenly unwelcome. I stood up and
walked out, knowing I was stiff, knowing they all watched me,
getting madder and madder that they blamed me for the stuff that
happened so far. Some gratitude for saving their collective
butts.