Losing her mom at such a young age protected her from sad memories, so she mostly mourned the concept of having a mother.She always told me that Pops had been an amazing substitute, raising her by himself, and when he died last year, every singleone of us lost an important part of ourselves.
Mom never lacked love growing up, but I knew she would always grieve the mother she should have had. “There are some lettersfrom her for you up there as well,” I felt the need to add, already guessing that Mom wouldn’t care.
She smiled at me over the stove, stirring stew in the large silver pot. “Thanks. I’ll check them out later.”
I highly doubted that, but it was her right to do what she wanted with them. Maybe she was afraid that she’d find a new paininside those scented pages. I couldn’t blame her for trying to avoid that. Since that day in the forest, Mom had made a decisionto live in her protective bubble, and as long as she was happy, I was happy.
She knew her limit, and mental health was important, so she’d get no argument from me. She’d managed to exist for well overforty years without her mother’s words, so there was surely nothing urgent in there anyway.
Dinner went by in a flash, and then we were down to our last day at home.
“Tomorrow we visit Blessed Souls,” Mom reminded us as we traipsed up the stairs for bed. “To send our thanks to Selene. Dressnicely.”
Like the twins, Blessed Souls was my top choice for a coven too, and since they rarely took in candidates not fromWeatherstone—the largest sponsor of their programs—I finally had a real shot at the future I’d always hoped for.
Provided a monster didn’t take me out first.
Being home had stoked the fire in my belly. I was no longer content to passively sit back and wait for another attack. Allthe research was one thing, but I’d also decided to start actively tracking Logan through the school. Dad put the idea inmy head, but he was also a professor who couldn’t just hang around students in their private hours. Logan was very unlikelyto show his true colors in classes, or at official events.
Nope. It would be after hours. In the dark. When he thought no one was watching.
Which was perfect. From here on out, I’d be at the parties and behind the scenes however I could. Stalkcaster was about tofind himself with his very own stalker.
Lucky warlock.
I was going to stick to his ass like glue and hope his secrets unraveled before me.
Chapter 25
When we returned to Weatherstone on Sunday, a tingle of energy crashed into me so hard I almost tripped and fell on the cobbledpathway. “Whoa, Pais.” Trevor caught my arm as I stumbled. “Are you okay?”
Straightening, I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to dispel the overload I’d been hit with. “My body appears to have forgottenhow strong the magical energy inside is,” I said, trying to laugh it off. “I’ll be fine once I adjust.”
My siblings stared at me with varying degrees of concern. “I’m fine,” I repeated, with a little more force. “I’ve always beensensitive to the magic here. No doubt because my own magic is a finnicky bitch who wants to keep playing the affinity field.Girl needs to settle down, but she’s just not ready.”
With a soft snort, Jensen took pity on me, removing Trevor’s hand with a flick of his energy. “Leave her alone, guys. Paisleyis more than capable of dealing with her own shit, and she’ll come to us if she needs us.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, getting us moving again. “Thank you,” I murmured, as we joined the crowd of otherwitches and warlocks returning from break.
Dad wouldn’t be back until tomorrow, so thankfully he’d missed my stumble. My siblings’ suspicions were already hard enoughto navigate, but it wasn’t anything new to be affected by Weatherstone’s energy. That one just took me by surprise.
“You will come to us if you need us, right?” Jensen said, for my ears alone. “If you know anything about these monsters, sis, you need to tell someone. Don’t take this on alone. That’s why you have a family, so we can support you.”
He was always able to read me the best of my siblings. “I will come to you, I promise.”
The second I had anything concrete to share with them, I would, but all I had now were questions. Jensen squeezed my shoulders,and we walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence. My family left me at my dorm, and I hadn’t even made it past thethreshold before Belle came barreling at me, throwing her arms around me. “Witch, I missed you!” she cried, and I hugged hertightly.
“I missed you too.”
She followed me into my room and flopped down on my bed, watching as I added the four crystals I’d brought from home to mycollection, along with my new necklaces. I’d also thrown in a pile of the photos, wanting to read through the notes Gran hadjotted on the back of each in her sloping writing.
“Hope you had a nice break,” Belle said. “Mom showed up and it was so good to see her. Dad worked for ninety percent of theholiday, so there was no need to split my time.”
Belle was closer to her mom, and counted India more as home than here. She’d told me she planned on trying to find a coventhere as well as in America, so she’d still always be part of both worlds.
“That’s frustrating with your dad,” I said, dropping into my desk chair. “He works a lot, doesn’t he?”
“All the time,” she grumbled. “Fairly certain that’s why my parents got divorced. Oh, he’s also stubborn and calculating,and able to suppress emotions with the skill of a sociopath. Compounding factors, I’m sure.”
