I almost spun and went back into the staff room. So. Close.But Evie spotted Gram waving, Mom's attention to me, and rushed forward, eyes alight."You must be Sydlynn's mother." Okay, I knew we looked a little alike. "She is your absolute clone, my dear. Are you sure you're not her sister?"Gag.Mom laughed, her deep, surprised but delighted laugh, one hand rising to her gorgeous black hair. "Quite sure," she said, a new sparkle in her gaze.Eyeroll."Tell me you're here to let me do something with this amazing hair!" Evie's gushing would get old fast, but Mom didn't seem to mind.Until Gram poked her and grinned at my boss."Mine!" She danced her jig, around and around while Evie smiled and nodded."Of course, darling," she said, patting Gram's shoulder when my grandmother fell still. "And you're Syd's aunt, yes? Or young cousin?"Gram giggled behind her hands, wicked joy in her faded blue eyes. Winked.Oh boy.My stomach a knot of anxiety already, the ball of stress grew
And, as usual, it somehow came back to being my fault in the end.Mom arrived a short time-okay about five seconds-after the kerfuffle was over, fury in her face and power crackling, ready to erase memories of the normals in the salon. It was only Evie's continuing ravings about being a witch that saved her and her clients, Blue and Madge included, from having their minds wiped.While Mom was glad the boy's echo had moved on, she was furious I had failed to watch over Gram. From the startled look on her face when I told her what Gram had done, Mom wondered herself why she'd even considered leaving my grandmother in my care. As though it hadn't been her idea at all.Another thing to make me go hmmm about Gram.My grandmother fell into her worst lapse of sanity yet, barely able to focus on anything and I had to wonder if she'd somehow used up part of who she was, the woman who remained intact deep beneath the crazy, to help Evie and Alex. I felt terrible for her, guessing such was th
Book One: Family MagicI batted at the curl of smoke drifting off the tip of my candle and tried not to sneeze. My heavy velvet cloak fell in oppressive, suffocating folds in the closed space of the ceremony chamber, the cowl trapping the annoying bits of puff I missed. I hated the way my eyes burned and teared, an almost constant distraction. Not that I didn't welcome the distraction, to be honest. Anything to take my mind from what went on around me.Being part of a demon raising is way less exciting than it sounds.The bodies of the gathered coven pressed close, shrouded in the same black velvet, the physical weight of their presence making it hard to breathe. I struggled to censor my clichéd thoughts and focus on the task at hand. The glow of other candle flames floated around me, barely lighting faces, enough for a serious case of the creepies. A low hum sounded from every throat, filling the room with an almost physical presence. I participated half-heartedly, wishing I was
There was a certain presence to my father, a weight, a physical feeling to being around him that always made me uncomfortable, especially when the door first opened. I hated to admit it, but I think it made me feel that way because I was afraid it could be me someday traveling between worlds.Haralthazar took the time to look over us. His chiseled face creased in a soft smile, gentle even, welcoming. Hard to believe, but true. My dad was a nice demon. Forget the whole pit of burning despair thing. Demons simply come from another plane, a different realm of existence. There are good guys and bad guys like here on Earth. Lucky for us, when my Mom decided to go unconventional after the attack leaving her own mother crippled, she fell in love with Dad.He raised one arm over Mom. She stiffened as the energy rippled out of her in visible strings of light, flowing over the pentagram and back into each of us. I flinched as the thread hit me, out of breath and more than a little dizzy. Dad a
Someone had to switch on the light. I found the sudden brightness oddly offensive. And, what's worse, the slender thread holding us snapped and I shivered in my robe, empty and cold. It bothered me I could get so wrapped up in the illusion of candlelight. When it broke and reality came back it was always disappointing to find myself in an ordinary basement.Not that the magic was a sham, quite the opposite. In fact, it was way too real for me, always had been. Ever since I could remember I resisted who and what I was. Moments like the one I just shared gave me the creeps, even if they felt good at the time. What was I thinking? Normal. The ultimate goal was to be normal. My parents might be able to force me to do this song and dance for a couple more years, but eighteen here I come.I winced as one of the men stumbled against a cardboard box marked "China." A soft tinkle whispered of something delicate shattering. I guess it was fitting.The crowd dissolved into a group of 'just fol
I spent the whole of the rest of my evening fuming and avoiding my mother, in that order. I think she must have been feeling the same way because we only bumped into each other once in the kitchen. I did ten minutes of my covenly duty at the party before heading for my room. I tried not to feel sorry for myself when I felt the rush of departing magic when Dad went home to Demonicon. It totally sucked. We didn't get a whole lot of time with him anyway. It took so much energy to bring him across that his visits were short and usually scheduled. And I'd missed most of it.Mom came up from the basement while I headed for the stairs. Neither of us said a word. I have no idea if she tried to make eye contact because I absolutely refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing I cared if she looked or not. Yes, I know, childish. If that was what it took.I didn't even have the distraction of soccer. My team wasn't playing which meant I was stuck for an excuse to get out of the house.There
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 guess I must have made it obvious I wasn't in the mood for bullying. Despite Alison's parting remark, a typical fair warning of nastiness to come, I made it through the day in peace and quiet. In fact, unlike most days when I normally had to force my way through the crowd in the cafeteria to get a milk or the push of kids to reach my locker, the way seemed to part before me in a rippling wave of retreating humanity. I'm not sure if they didn't want to have any contact with me in case I turned contagious and would bring Alison's wrath down on them too, or if I radiated 'don't mess with me.'Probably a little bit of both.I finally toned back my new badass aura when two freshmen ran away from me with tears in their eyes. Talk about going from one extreme to another. I had to be oozing magic to raise a response like that. Time to pull the reins back and get myself under control. But if the past couple of days taught me anything, I knew I wasn't getting anywhere doing the same thing ov