God.What kind of witch is my mother?
“I will not make you any such tea.You were born to carry Brom’s baby, Katrina.That is your purpose.That is your fate.”She gestures to the school.“All of this is just…filling the time.”
My teeth grind together and I can’t keep the words to myself.“And what if Brom isn’t the only man I’m still sleeping with?”
She reaches out and snatches my wrist, her grip hurting me until I cry out and try to twist away but she doesn’t let go.“Don’t tell me you’re still with Crane?What kind of whore are you?”
Turns out I only like being called a whore when Brom says it.
Rage explodes inside me and I growl at her, pushing all my fiery energy onto her until she yelps and lets go, the force causing her to tumble backward onto the ground, dropping the box, my books spilling out onto the cobblestone.
She stares up at me and I expect her to get back up and come at me, fueled by anger, or perhaps back away out of fear of her own daughter, but instead she’s staring at me with awe, her mouth open, while my hand prickles with electricity.
“Sarah,” Famke calls out, and to my surprise I see her coming out of the building, hurrying over to us.“Kat!”she exclaims when she notices me.“Where have you been, child?What happened here?”
I feel a rush of relief at seeing Famke, though it’s a little jarring given that she’s not a witch and yet has somehow been allowed on campus.Then again, there’s a lot I don’t know about her.Or this school.
“I—I’m fine, I lost my balance,” my mother says, her disbelieving eyes still on me as Famke helps her to her feet.Famke then crouches down to start gathering up the books.
My mother stares at me, wobbling slightly.
I lift my chin to let my mother know I’m not to be reckoned with.
But my mother only smiles in return.
A cunning smile.
The one a fox would have before it corners its prey.
With cold clarity, as if being doused with ice water, I realize I’ve made a huge mistake.
Promise me that when you feel the call to magic, to the strange and the unusual, to power, that you ignore it.My father’s words ring in my ears.
That you will never show it or tell anyone about it…including your mother.
“I knew you had it in you, Katrina,” my mother says in a low voice.“All this time your father made me believe you didn’t have power, but I knew he was lying.I knew this school would bring it out.”
Famke looks up at my mother with concern, and I can feel her eyes on me but I can’t look away from my mother’s gaze, the way she’s staring at me like I’m her next meal.
“Look at you, my dear daughter,” my mother goes on.“You’re ripe for the picking.”
8
Crane
“Such a foul mood Mother Nature is in,” Daniels says as he sidles up behind me.He clamps a hand on my shoulder as he always does, but this time it makes me jump.“Looks like you’re in a mood too.”
I glance at him.I’m standing at the front of the school’s herb garden.I’m supposed to be finding some yarrow to make another poultice for Brom’s almost healed shoulder.I had left Brom in his dorm room since there’s no need for him to be under my supervision until after nightfall.He’s still in some discomfort from being shot, and while opium would go a long way, a healing poultice will have to do.
He doesn’t like me taking care of him like this.It’s like when we first met all over again.In need and hating it, hating that I’m the one to do it.He’s ornery and grumpy and has every right to be, considering what’s been happening to him.But it doesn’t matter how many times he tells me to take a hike, I’m still goingto help him heal.After all, I am the one who put a bullet in him.It’s the least that I can do.
But instead of finding the herbs, I’m staring off into the distance.To Daniels it probably looks like I’m observing the weather, the fine drizzle, the dark clouds above the treetops, hovering above the stone buildings like an ominous hand, the patchy line of fog that travels through the gardens.
I’m not looking at the weather though, nor am I looking for the plants.Instead I’m staring at the female students’ dorm, knowing that Kat is in there with her mother.I should be in there with her.I should be watching over her and I can’t.Kat didn’t want me there and I know Sarah wouldn’t have let me.If she were any other woman I would chalk it up to protective motherly instincts, but I know that’s not the case with her.She’s protective over Kat the way a breeder is protective over their prize broodmare.
“I guess I’m a little tired,” I tell Daniels, forcing a quick smile.“You know, the nightmares and all.Any news about Desi?”
Daniels rubs at his mustache.“Not a word.”Then he shrugs.“Apparently they’re bringing a new linguistics teacher.From Greece.A man again, which is nice.Feels like it’s just you, me, and the custodian against the world sometimes.”He gestures to the school.
