Something Witchy This Way Comes (27 page)

“I can’t even begin to cover everything. But I’ll try.” She sat on the bed, taking me with her and slinging an arm around my shoulder. “I’d made my choice. I w
as naïve and believed anything they told me. As the years passed, I rose in the ranks. The more I discovered about our leader and his operation, the more I realized I had to disappear. With my knowledge of their organization, the only way out was in a body bag.”

“Which side did you cho
ose? Fawn texted me earlier to set up a time to meet Boris’s people at Headquarters, but I haven’t answered. I need to answer her soon.”

She rose and wandered about my room. “You know about the rival groups, Jane’s people and Boris’s?”

“Hayden filled me in a bit,” I said.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

I snorted. “Very definitely not.”

She glanced at me over her shoulder, a smile playing at her lips. “But you want him to be.”

My gaze fell to the floor. “He’s not boyfriend material. But I don’t want to talk about him. I need to know which side you chose.” And if trusting Chait was a huge mistake.

“Boris.”

My instinct had steered me well. “I had a feeling choosing them would be wrong.”

“That depends on how you look at it.” Grandma turned and leaned against the dresser in front of me. “Boris is extremely powerful and skilled at manipulation, which makes him dangerous. But Jane’s side has some undesirables too — usually spying for Boris. Even if they aren’t on Boris’s side, sometimes people have their own agenda. If Jane were the greatest leader in history, she’s still only as good as those backing her up.”

“You make both sides seem scary. If you had it to do all over again, who would you choose?”

“I’d hold off as long as I could. I don’t know… maybe I’d run. But I wouldn’t choose Boris.” Grandma roamed the room.

“So you’re working with Jane now?” I asked.

She stopped to lift a framed photo of her and me in happier times. “Yes. But as much as I’d love to say that you can rely on all her followers, I can’t.”

“Which means I can’t trust either side.” My shoulders slumped.

“While Boris is in control of that faction, none of us are safe. Take your meeting with his people but do it in a public place, somewhere you feel comfortable.” She slowly returned the photo to its spot, her gaze fixed to it as is if reluctant to let the memory go.

“I will.” I nodded. “What happened to Zoe?”

Grandma pursed her lips a moment then returned to my side and sat. “Since I wasn’t there, I can only tell you what I heard.”

“She didn’t choose Boris’s side.” I held my breath and paused a beat before my next words. “You think… you think
he
killed her?”

“We’re not so easy to take out, but not impossible. Because of the perpetual war between factions, we generally don’t go out alone, opting to stay in groups of three or four. Zoe—”

“Chait was over at Hayden’s the other night, by himself.”

“I guarantee he wasn’t alone. Just because you didn’t see anyone…”

What Grandma said made sense. Very likely, Chait hadn’t told us everything. The thought filled me with angst. Should I continue to trust him? “Go on. Tell me what else you know about Zoe.”

“She still lived with your parents, which left her unprotected. Ideally, you don’t choose until you’re over eighteen when you can leave your parents. You go straight to your people where there’s safety in numbers. Zoe knew that and kept her loyalties to herself. But they watched and figured it out.” Grandma searched my face, resting a hand on my cheek. “You have to do better than Zoe did. You can’t show any favoritism. Make both sides think they’re ahead of the game. You only have a month before you turn eighteen. They’ll wait, so long as they believe you might choose them.”

I laid my hand over hers. “I’ll be careful.”

“Good.” She smiled and dropped her hand, but kept mine in it.

“If we’re hard to kill, how could they take out Zoe, especially without her sensing them? I suppose someone could setup on the rooftop with a sniper rifle, right?”

“A bullet wouldn’t kill us.”

“Really?”

“Multiple shots might do it but one or two? No. We don’t heal instantly but we heal quickly, which is why we live so long. Our bodies are continually regenerating.”

My phone beeped, alerting me that a text came in and my eyes shot to my purse still on the floor by the door. I would check that later, after Grandma left. I returned my attention to her. “You could go to the roof with a machine gun.”

“Now you’re getting it.”

“But Zoe didn’t die from a bullet. And we sense others around, so it’s tough to take us by surprise. In order for them to kill her, Zoe had to have been alone and outnumbered.”

“Exactly.”

 I had so many questions for my grandmother but one thing kept sticking in my head. I couldn’t shake it. “Why are there so many witches in our family if it’s not hereditary?”

“It’s not passed on through genetics. That’s been proven.”

“But there’s you, Zoe and me. How’s it possible?”

“I don’t know. But…” She looked away. “Tessa, it’s not only the three of us.”

“What? Who else?”

“Your mother.”

“Mom? No way. She looks at least ten years older than you.”

“It’s because she can’t embrace her magic. She won’t allow it to nurture her. But if you concentrate, really focus on her, you’ll feel it.”

The very concept made it difficult for me to think. Mom? Impossible.

“She has the
potential
,” Grandma went on. “Something about her, and I’m not sure what, maybe the death of her daughter, prevents her from tapping into the power.”

“The same way she has trouble connecting to me and Bree?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. Something is definitely off. I had no idea Vivienne would be anything but normal, so I sent her to live with my parents.”

“Because you didn’t want her growing up in the middle of a war.”

 “Yes,” Grandma answered. “Perhaps if I’d been there, I could’ve helped Vivienne with her powers.”

“Mom lived with your
adopted
parents?” I asked.

“That’s right.”

“Do you know anything about your biological parents?” I wondered if they were witches, too.

“No.” Grandma shook her head.

“Did you try to find them?”

“Yes. Nothing so far. I don’t have many chances to research. I haven’t given up though.”

“So you have no clue why we’re different?”

“Until I know more about our family history, I have no way of knowing,” she said.

“Okay. Recap. Everyone in our family is a witch. Even Bree?”

“Most likely, yes.”

“That means…” Different scenarios swirled in my head, nearly suffocating me. “I have to protect her. But by being around her, I also put her in danger.”

“You could leave Bree with your mother until she’s of age.”

“No way. Mom’s incapable of loving us. I can’t subject Bree to that life. She even told me that when I turn eighteen, I can take Bree with me when I move out.” I pivoted on the bed, bringing my knee up and fixing a stare at my grandmother. “You see why I can’t leave her here? I can’t bear to watch her go through what I did the last few years.”

“Sweetheart.” She covered my hand with her own. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could’ve been there for you.”

“You’re here now.” My eyes stung.

“I can’t stay,” she whispered.

“Just a few more minutes.”

She nodded.

“What’s your special ability?” It might be a clue to my own.

“I’m a Healer. And a Detector. I’m an excellent Blocker, too, which is why I was able to sneak in here.”

“More than one specialty? Is that common?”

“No.” She smiled slyly. “As far as everyone knows, I’m only a Healer.”

“That’s two oddities in our family.”

“Yes. I wish I knew why.”

Me too. “If you have more than one specialty, I might too?”

“Don’t give yourself a limit and you may discover you don’t have one.” She smiled and hugged me, then gripped my shoulders. “Whatever you do, make sure only
one
of your specialties is known. Otherwise, both sides will fight harder for you. And the loser will work harder to make sure you can never use your powers against them. Do you understand?”

Crap. That was food for thought. I’d have to practice everything to find out what I did best. But I could only do that around Hayden. I still wasn’t sure how much I could trust Chait. “If you saw Bree, you’d know for sure if she was one of us?”

“She’s so young. It’s hard to tell.”

“It’s not like you can spend time with her either, because you’ve been dead to her world since before she’d remember.”

“Visiting the local school is a great way to meet people.” She grinned.

A slow smile crept over me. “You’ve snuck visits with her?”

“Yes. You would’ve recognized me or I’d have visited you too.”

“I’m so glad you’ve had a chance to see her. Bree’s adorable, isn’t she?”

Tears pooled in Grandma’s eyes. “Yes, she is.”

“It’s up to me to take care of Bree. Somehow.”

“I won’t be around to help you.” She laid a palm against my cheek. “I’m truly sorry.”

“I don’t know if I can do it. I’m making minimum wage.” I sighed. “College used to be the plan. I’m sure I can get a scholarship, but now there’s an apartment and food to worry about. Without a way to make real money, how will I do it?” I met her eyes. “Once I choose sides, will I be able to stay in one place to raise her?”

“It depends. You pick a side and you can lead a fairly normal life. But everyone has a duty within the organization. Everyone. Where you live is your choice — most of the time. The problem is making sure you have protection, others around who will fight for you and vice-versa.”

“Why can’t we do like regular people during elections and just not choose a party? Vote Independent or something?”

“It’s not the way it works. For centuries, we’ve battled each other. It’s never been any other way.”

“We kill each other off. That’s why there are so few of us.”

Grandma nodded. “Yes. In addition to the fact that we’re not very fertile.”

“Doesn’t seem to be a problem in our family,” I said.

“Another mystery. I wish I knew why.” She patted my hand. “You’re not to worry about Bree.”

“But she’s my responsibility. I have to find a way to keep her safe and away from the gunfire.”

“Yes, you do. But I have more money than I could possibly spend, so don’t you fret over that. Use your energy to keep you
both
safe.”

It seemed wrong to make Grandma help me support Bree. “I can’t take your money.”