Family Magic (4 page)

“Have you ever seen a witch stripped?” His
face turned intense, even for a Persian, eyes glowing. “Cleaned
out, reduced to nothing?”

“No.”

“I have,” he said, “the last time the magic
changed hands. To your family.”

I settled back on the bed, curious. “You were
here with the Tremere’s?” Even I knew basic history. But, I always
thought Sass was a Hayle addition.

He snorted. “You have no idea.” He pulled his
paw back. “None. Of what they can do, what they are capable of. Of
the interference a change in power can attract from the High
Council. Of the disruption it can cause in our world and to the
normals. It’s not a small thing, Syd. Not a trifle, not something
to be tossed away simply because you don’t want it. There are far
more serious repercussions in this than your parents have been
willing to tell you.”

Okay. He had me curious, I was willing to
admit it. And a little afraid, to be honest. “Then fill me in.”

He glared at me again, silent. Sassafras
stood and turned away, curling up with his back to me.

“I thought you weren’t interested.”

I groaned. Stupid cat.

“Sass…”

“Forget it,” he said. “Go on your merry way
and forget we all exist. Let your coven fall to ruin, your family
be stripped bare and left to pick the bones of its own carcass.
You’ve always been selfish, Sydlynn. Why change now?”

“Selfish!” I gave his tail a firm tug, so
hard he leapt up and spun on me. “You rotten little fuzz ball!”

“Selfish! Petulant, childish, ignorant,
arrogant—“

“Oh,
I’m
arrogant!” How dare he, the
puffed up, self-important snot? “I just want to be normal. Unlike
you, mister nose-in-the-air, better than anyone else!”

Sass sat and wrapped his thick tail around
himself, pulling his best perfect Persian.

“It’s in the breeding,” he said. “Obviously,
you were a throw-back. Pity, really.”

“Like you even give a crap,” I said. “You
know how using my magic makes me feel.” My hand went instinctively
to my stomach as memory flashed and my stomach tightened in
answer.

“Ah, yes.” He flicked his ears at me. “Poor
Sydlynn’s dear tummy troubles. Tell me, little girl, do you need
your mommy?”

If I could have, if I thought I would get
away with it, I would have dunked his fluffy butt in a full tub of
water just to see that smug smirk wiped from his face. But, he
would use magic on me and we’d end up attracting unwanted attention
over a stupid fight I knew I couldn’t win.

Instead, I chose a subtler means of attack. I
reached out and gently stroked his fur from head to tail.

His gaze widened a little, narrowed, lids
drooping as I found a sensitive place to scratch. A soft purr
escaped him. His eyes half closed. They snapped open a moment later
and the purr stopped.

“Don’t try to change the subject.”

“Would I do that?” I continued to stroke him,
my fingers finding the itchy place behind his left ear. The purr
started up again, rumbling louder. His lids closed all the way. I
smiled as he leaned into my fingers while trying to continue the
conversation.

“Your mother… knows what’s best for… little
to the right, please, yes perfect… for the family… for you… the
chin is really bothersome tonight, could you…?”

I grinned and followed his instructions. His
body relaxed completely. He half rolled onto his back so I could
rub his furry tummy. His whole posture was a study in pure
contentment. His eyes drifted open and closed, clouded by
pleasure.

I couldn’t help it. I giggled. Sass snapped
back to himself and twisted free, pinning me with his hot demon
glare.

“Damned cat body.”

It really was impossible to resist. I giggled
some more.

Sassafras leapt to his feet and sniffed at
me, at his most pompous.

“Fine,” he said, “be a child. Betray your
family, your history, but don’t come crying to us when you change
your mind and nothing can be done.”

Sassafras gathered himself up and jumped from
the end of the bed. I watched him sashay across the carpet to the
closed door. He paused, staring at it. I stifled a huge grin. He
sighed with great regret, not looking at me.

“If you don’t mind,” he said. “It’s very hard
to make an exit when I can’t reach the door knob.”

“How’d you get in?” I knew the answer. His
glare turned flat and chilly. “Use your magic,” I said at my most
innocent.

He growled softly under his breath. “You know
it’s against the rules,” he said very slowly, very carefully.

He was so transparent. Heaven forbid I ever
see him do magic. He used the excuse he wasn’t allowed, which was
kind of true seeing as pure demon magic interfered with ours, but I
knew the truth. From what I had been able to get out of my mother,
the act of using his power put him in an embarrassing physical
position. He was, after all, a cat, not a demon anymore. The idea
of it often kept me up nights, devoured by curiosity, but I had
never been able to catch him at it.

I went to the door and opened it for him,
still trying not to laugh.

“Thank you,” he said at his most aloof.

Head high, tail at full mast, and with as
much dignity as he could gather around him, Sassafras waddled his
fat cat body out of my room.

I barely had time to close the door and fling
myself onto my bed, before breaking into laughter, smothering most
of it in my pillow.

I laughed for a good minute, tears soaking
into the cotton case as I let the last of the tension leave me
completely. I rolled over onto my back when I regained control and
let go of a cleansing breath, staring at the hideous light fixture
my mother hung for me despite my protests. Stupid pink chandelier
with its stupid pink crystals and sparkly stars. Who did she think
I was? I really hated it, I think more so because Mom insisted. The
story of my life with the Hayle coven. Do what’s good for you
because we said so. The more I turned it over in my mind the more I
totally understood it wasn’t so much my ability but the absolute
weight of expectation, a literal force of gravity on my shoulders,
pushing me down into a mold of their making.

I had a chill at the thought of my family
reduced to nothing because of my decisions. I finally shook it off.
Sass just exaggerated to try to make me feel bad.

At least, that was what I told myself.

***

When I woke up in the morning, two things hit
me. One, I wasted my sunny Sunday on being stupid and two, now it
was Monday and I had to go to school. I groaned and covered my eyes
with my arm to block out the cheerful sun. Surely there was a way
to rewind the last day and do it over again?

Somehow, I didn’t think Mom would get the
concept.

I pulled myself out of bed. One great thing
about our new house, I shared a bathroom with Meira and she was too
young to appreciate it.

I tried to avoid looking at myself in the
mirror, knowing I wouldn’t like what I saw staring back at me.
Despite the fact I was still a little peeved at my mom, I knew I
overreacted. I just didn’t know what to do to fix it. If I tried to
apologize, she’d get all squishy and cry and want to hug me and
tell me she loved me. Whatever. But if I let it go on too long… oh,
the guilt would be legendary.

I decided to bite the bullet as I attacked my
teeth with my toothbrush, managing to finally look myself in the
eye. I wanted to get it over with so at least one dreadful part of
the day could be done before the true horror started.

I dressed carefully, neatly even, not my
typical weekend fare of ‘who cares if it matches’. I wasn’t
dressing for Mom’s benefit or even my own. I selected only those
items I hoped would help me pass as normal. Designer jeans just the
right rise, a logo t-shirt that fit a little too tight, trendy belt
I wouldn’t normally be caught dead in and high-heeled sandals—see
belt. I checked my makeup and hair in my mirror and added a touch
of pale pink lip-gloss before tossing the tube in my up-to-date
book bag. I’ll say one thing for Mom, she would buy me anything I
asked for. Thank goodness she stopped insisting on helping me pick
out clothes. If she had her way, I’d stand out even more than I
did. Might as well have tattooed ‘freak’ across my forehead. Bad
enough most normals can ‘feel’ a witch’s aura even if they don’t
know what we are. Most normals feel uncomfortable around us and
don’t know why. Everything I did screamed average, ordinary,
All-American girl and I was still labeled as an outcast at school.
If I pushed down my power any further, I’d fall asleep.

I inspected the final ensemble and shrugged.
Best I could do.

I made it to the kitchen before Meira went to
the bus. I forced her to at least hug and kiss me before leaving,
though she squirmed and made faces the whole time. She wouldn’t
meet my gaze and I could tell she already spent some time that
morning in tears.

Meira donned her human appearance and ran to
catch her ride to school. She made normal seem so easy. She could
cast the illusion of pale white skin and dark blue eyes, smudging
out her cute little horns in the process so the other girls in her
grade didn’t run screaming. Her real appearance would have sent the
whole school screaming, for that matter. I watched out the window
as she waved at a pair of other little coven girls and took a seat
next to them, talking rapidly and laughing as the bus pulled
away.

“No fair,” I whispered. Meira was better at
all of it than me. Not to mention the fact most of the other kids
in the group were either way younger or way older than I was. So,
no instant friends for me, but at least she was able to feel like
she fit in somewhere.

By the time I turned around to talk to Mom
and get it over with, she had already left. I stood there in the
streaming sunlight. I tried to find balance between the normalness
of the modern kitchen and the secret of our real lives. How to
compare gleaming stainless steel appliances covered in Meira’s
drawings, bright, cheery cupboards and whimsical mugs painted with
daisies against the reality of magic? What did lace curtains have
to do with who we were? China and place settings? Why was there
such a divide for me between who I wanted to be and who I was
forced to pretend to be? I had never been able to find a balance,
to accept the melding of the two and knew it was part of the reason
I struggled so much with being a witch.

That train of thought took me nowhere. I
shook it off and briefly considered tracking my mother down. I
decided to leave it until after school. As it was, I barely had
time after my excessive primping routine to grab a granola bar and
my lunch bag and hit the pavement to make it the six blocks to
school before the first bell.

October was already almost over. The quiet
town of Wilding Springs, Pennsylvania, displayed cute ghosts,
witches and carved pumpkins on every doorstep. The weather was
still perfect, warm during the day, cooler at night, but I saw the
trees turning colors on my walk to school and regretted the coming
of winter, mostly because it meant the end of the outdoor soccer
season.

Wilding Springs seemed like a typical small
town, with one exception. The place was so clean it sparkled. Old
brick buildings filled the historic center, all trimmed in pristine
white. Cobbled stones polished with age made up the main street,
perfectly maintained despite having been there for well over a
century. Cute shops stuffed with offerings from local artists,
homemade baked goods and touristy trinkets lined the picture
quality little town square. There wasn’t a mall to be seen, the
closest one a twenty-minute ride on the interstate. Any outward
appearance of modern life hid gently behind history and tasteful
cheer. It reminded me so much of a movie set I kept looking around
for the camera crew.

This was also the first town we lived in I
felt had an air of the supernatural all its own. I knew my mom
checked it before our last move, but I couldn’t help but get the
feeling we now lived in the land of make-believe. The residents
were too much, their lives too charming. Everyone had a home that
looked like gingerbread cutouts of cuteness, scrolling detail at
eave and doorway. Each neat, tidy lawn freshly mowed, the people
friendly to a fault.

Everyone else assimilated nicely, even
commenting on how sweet and lovely Wilding Springs could be.
Everyone except… okay. Never mind. We had only been living there
for a month, but I already established myself as the weird Junior
who tried too hard. At least, that was my impression. I stopped
smiling at people on my walk to school and adopted the blank
expression I saw on the faces of the other students. Problem with
moving to a small town, everyone knows everyone and no one wants to
hang out with the weird new girl who didn’t fit in anywhere, least
of all her own coven. Sadly enough, I didn’t want to hang out with
me, either, so I could hardly blame them.

I was way past tired of moving from town to
town and being forced to start over. Just another of the things I
swore to myself I would put an end to when I turned eighteen and
was on my official ‘list of things Syd will never do to her own
kids ever.’ But when you live in a family of witches, weird stuff
happens, stuff which might accidentally involve the neighbors,
which means a quick move in the middle of the night to a whole new
state so no one gets arrested.

Normals usually don’t want to know magic is
happening across the street, but if you shove their noses in it,
things can get ugly. Last time was Gram’s fault. A little mid-day
spell at the local hairdresser. I’m sure the blue eventually washed
out of that lady’s hair. Served her right, though, for being
nasty.

The time before that had been my mom’s doing,
but she was defending Meira so I totally got it.