Family Magic (27 page)

I went up to my room and collapsed on my bed.
Crap, I had history homework I hadn’t finished. I fished out my
stuff and started reading, but the words all ran together. After my
tenth time reading one sentence, I tossed the book aside in
frustration. I started doodling on a piece of loose leaf. My mind
drifted to Brad. I thought about his hair, his eyes, his lips so
close to kissing mine. Before I knew it I covered a page with big
hearts, ‘Syd and Brad’ in the middles of them. I rolled my eyes at
myself and giggled, knowing I would burn that piece of paper before
I would let anyone see it.

I sat up, book forgotten, as I felt the huge
build-up rising toward me. Something was really, really wrong and
the demon in me would not let me sit it out.

I barely reached the bottom of the stairs
when I heard the first scream from the basement. I recoiled
physically from the whiplash of released power, passing through me
and out of the house. I started running. I wasn’t the only one, but
I was the first at the top of the stairs and didn’t hold them up on
the way down.

I hit the basement floor and skidded to a
halt only feet from Mom. She crouched over the still forms of the
twins with her back to us. Her whole body shook. A strange noise
came from her. I went to her and knelt, trying to understand what
happened.

Mom turned to me, face flushed, hands
trembling. She wept, her terror so vivid on her face I wanted to
flinch from her. She clung to me, making the feeling of fear all
that much worse as it washed over me from her, shaking so hard I
had trouble hanging on to her.

“Mom,” I whispered.

She continued to sob against me. I felt Erica
kneel close by. I knew she was checking the twins. My expression
asked the question my lips didn’t want to. “They’re alive,” she
said. “Just unconscious.”

Mom’s eyes were huge. “Are you sure?” She
reached for Erica, grasping her hand so tight they both turned
white. “I felt…”

“Mom?” I tried to pull her free of Erica.
“What did you feel?”

She turned back to me, a desperation in her I
never saw before, a scary emptiness that made me think of Gram.

“I felt them leave,” she whispered.

I felt Erica’s power reach out, out… and
found nothing. Mom was right.

“How could this happen?” Celeste stepped
forward, breathless and afraid, her full brown skirt swirling up
mustiness from the basement floor. Her plain, tanned face glared,
uncompromising. “Miriam, how could you let this happen?”

My mother shook her head, unable to speak. I
spun on Celeste with my demon in my gaze. It was getting easier to
let her out. I didn’t care even a little that they all saw it.

“Give her a minute,” I snapped.

Mom gripped my hand. She took large gulps of
air, pulling herself together. The others backed off but they were
waiting for answers. I just wanted my mom to be okay.

Mom struggled to rise. I helped her. She
pulled herself erect, using me for balance and faced her coven
deputies. Her eyes were still haunted and I had a weird feeling
something within her changed, was wrong, weakened and smothered,
but I couldn’t put my finger on it and had no way to do anything
about it.

“I don’t know,” she said. “The twins cast the
spell, but it… failed… came back at them somehow, and they… they
were taken away with it.”

Celeste checked around with the others for
support before speaking.

“You were here, Miriam, couldn’t you stop
it?”

Mom shook her head, still clinging to me. She
was so weak, so unlike my mother, I almost shrank from the
desperate grip she had on me.

“It happened so fast, the recoil, there was
nothing… nothing I could do.”

“Can’t we bring them back?” I asked her. The
sparkle that never left my mother’s eyes no matter how mad she was
at me, no matter how bad things were between us, vanished.

“No, Syd,” she said very softly, though
everyone heard her. “I’ve lost them. They’re gone.”

She started to cry.

***

Several hours and dozens of witches later, we
had no more answers than when the twins collapsed in the first
place. Mom tried to remain as the focus, but I saw her wavering,
leaning on Batsheva Moromond who arrived in a flurry shortly after
the incident, claiming she felt it down the block. Erica didn’t
seem happy her position as second was taken over by the loud and
portly woman, but I was happy as long as Mom had someone to lean on
until she had her feet under her again.

I hunted privately for a hopeful thread of
the green magic but there was nothing left, nothing to follow and
since I really had no idea what I was doing, I quickly abandoned my
search but not my frustration.

The attack took a huge toll on my mother to
the point where she was not only physically drained, but her power
limited as well. By the end of it, Batsheva supplied most of the
magic guiding the search for the women’s missing spirits.

She turned to Mom, round face crimson with
effort, lipstick running into the little lines around her mouth so
badly she had clown lips. “We’ve done what we can for them,
Miriam,” Batsheva said. “Our power is done, for tonight at
least.”

Every eye turned to my mother. She felt so
frail, like a delicate shell was all that held her together. I was
terrified for her. But she was still leader enough she gathered
what strength remained to her.

“Very well,” she whispered. “Have them taken
and put into protection until we can figure this out.”

Batsheva waved two members forward before
taking my mother’s elbow, guiding her to the stairs as the chosen
witches prepared the empty bodies for magical stasis. They would be
preserved for as long as the coven existed. But I was hoping their
spirits would find their way home first.

I followed the weary and defeated group up
the stairs and into the kitchen. Erica made a half-hearted effort
at coffee and cookies but no one was interested. Jared stopped her
by taking her hand and pulling her to him. He looked drained. They
all did, beaten down a little more by what happened.

I thought about making my way to Mom but
Batsheva still had a firm hold on her. I wasn’t sure I wanted to
face her for control. Her eyes settled on me. I saw a flicker of
something nasty, like satisfaction.

“What happened here today was a great
tragedy,” she said. “Two wonderful witches, powerful sisters, have
been silenced and we, as a coven, are lesser for it.”

It was a punch to the gut and the ego. It was
not her place to speak. That was my mother’s job. What was wrong
with Mom? I glared at her, trying to force her to snap out of it
with will alone, but she just stood there, beaten.

I was so disappointed in her, ashamed she was
my mother, I looked away, disgusted.

So much for the great family Hayle.

Celeste was willing at least to stand up for
Mom if she wouldn’t do it for herself.

“You presume a great deal,” she said to
Batsheva. “You don’t speak for this coven.”

The rest of the gathering agreed, although an
undercurrent in the power still connecting them felt like fear and
anger. It didn’t help Mom’s case any.

Batsheva bowed her head to Celeste. “Neither
do you.”

Celeste gasped. The air in the room tightened
and turned really heavy really fast, to the point where weaker
witches checked for the exits with longing. No one wanted to be in
the middle of that thing when it blew up.

But Batsheva wasn’t about to let that happen.
I could hear her little mind spinning, manipulating the situation
to her own advantage. I recognized Batsheva for what she really
was—a grown up mean girl looking out for number one.

“Now Celeste, everyone,” she said in her most
soothing tone. “You know we are all here for the same reason. For
the good of the twins and our coven.”

Celeste backed off.

“Our dear leader seems to be in such a
horrible state since the incident,” Batsheva said. “She needs our
strength and support right now. Isn’t that right, Miriam,
dear?”

My mother gazed at Batsheva for a whole two
seconds before bobbing her head slowly.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I only need… a little
while…”

“There,” Batsheva said, “you heard her. Now,
we need to let Miriam rest. In fact, we all could use some, yes?”
The weary witches murmured their agreement.

I was surprised Dominic was so silent all
along. That was about to change.

“I want to know what happened,” he blustered
to no one in particular. Everyone tensed, the simple plan of going
home and getting some sleep banished by his bravado.

Stupid jerk.

Batsheva smiled at her husband, but it wasn’t
pleasant. “We’ll investigate more tomorrow, Dominic,” she said with
an edge to her voice. “When everyone is fresher.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, little
pig eyes full of stubborn anger.

“I want to talk about it now. Because I know
what happened. We all do.”

They were clearly confused. Was he crazy? Or
maybe he loved the sound of his own voice?

He glared at me. I knew what he was going to
say.

“That child,” his index finger pointed right
at me, “is a menace that has brought this coven to the brink of
ruin because of a doting mother too weak to rein her in.”

No one said a word. Not to agree, but not in
my defense either, the cowards.

“Excuse me,” I said. “I’ve managed to save
the day a couple of times, thank you very much. So point that thing
somewhere else.”

I would never have spoken to an adult who
wasn’t my mom that way under normal circumstances but he was
severely pissing me off.

He wasn’t about to let it go. “My point
exactly,” he said, as though I showed some evil mark proving I did
it.

“Could you explain, please?” Celeste
said.

“Idiots,” he snapped. “Don’t you see? The
child has been stirring up the trouble herself and fixing things to
make herself seem innocent. Well, she doesn’t look so innocent to
me.” He glared at me with a smug expression.

Where did he get off? He wasn’t even around
when it happened. It was like he was deliberately trying to stir
the coven against me, blaming me for every single thing that
happened. I was getting tired of being his default bad guy.

Thank goodness Meira was at her friend’s for
the day. I was glad she didn’t have to listen to this crap. I
wasn’t so fortunate. Still, I was the new and improved mouthy Syd
who didn’t take talk like that from anyone.

I wound up to lay a good one on him when my
mother beat me to it.

“Dominic,” she said, her voice steadier than
it had been all day. “Don’t ever accuse my daughter again.”

I felt relief flood through me. Just like
that, my mom stood there, not the shell she was a moment before.
Something about her changed, as if a switch had been thrown.
Batsheva scowled at her husband. I heard a gasp of air and caught a
glimpse of Jared sagging against Erica, the pressure of the day too
much for him.

Dominic refused to back down.

“I demand she be tried and punished!” His
color was high. He took a step toward Mom and, in doing so, me.

Not smart. Not smart at all.

Not only did my mother react, but everyone
else there, including me, leapt to her defense, flooding her with a
surge of power. It lit her up like a torch. Her back straightened
as Dominic stared at her. Miriam Hayle, coven leader, stared
back.

“As I told you once before,” she said very
softly, a threat in her voice, “if you are unhappy with the way
this coven is run, you are welcome to leave. My daughter stays.” I
could see the old Mom shining in her eyes.

Now I really needed to get her alone.

Mom pulled free of Batsheva as though she
only then noticed the other woman held her. Batsheva backed off,
but not without another glare at Dominic.

“We all need rest,” Mom said. “Everyone,
please, go home, get some sleep. Ward your homes,” she added,
“every window, every doorway. To be safe.”

“Miriam,” Celeste said. “What are we going to
do?”

“We are going to get to the bottom of this,”
my mother answered. “And we’re not going to stop until we do.”

The family dispersed, not quite healed but
less afraid than before Mom’s return to herself. I saw her shake
her head as if trying to kick a headache. I went to her as the
coven members continued to file out.

“Mom,” I said, worried about raising my
voice, “are you okay?”

She reached out for me and pulled me close,
hugging me hard. I could feel her heart pounding as she held me in
silence. I understood her need to show strength so I stood next to
her and gripped her hand. Celeste paused in front of us, her eyes
drifting over me. She bowed her head to Mom before disappearing
into the darkening day.

Finally, it was me, Mom, Erica, Jared and
Batsheva. She had rushed Dominic out already, whispering to him in
a fury as she shoved him out the door. She came to us, a sad, weary
smile on her face that felt so fake I wanted to slap her.

“Miriam,” Batsheva said, “if there is
anything I can do, please, call. I can be here in minutes.”

I felt my mother’s hand tighten in mine but
her face didn’t show it. “I’m perfectly fine, Batsheva,” she said,
“if upset about all of this. But, I’ll get to the bottom of it, I
assure you.”

The two faced off. I watched the cheer fade
from Batsheva’s face. She left without another word. The door
clicked shut behind her.

“See ya,” I said. “Can you believe that
crap?” Mom was still collected, poised. She turned to Erica and the
very pale Jared.

“Erica,” she said, “could you do me a favor
and run over to the Patrick’s? Meira must be ready to come home by
now.”

“Of course,” Erica said. “Miriam, can
I…?”