The minute her finger touches the paper, the words unwind themselves.
“My granddaughters, the most powerful witches I’ve ever seen, calling the corners and setting the ward.”
Tears prick my eyes, and I run a finger over the back of little me’s head, knowing the way she spent that night crying her eyes out.
“You said you remember this day,” Posey says, her voice hushed.
“This was the day Mom and Dad left.”
Twenty
“You guys are freaking me out,” Hazel calls from up above. “Tell me if you’re okay. Tell me what’s going on down there.”
Posey licks her lips and stares at me before answering.
“We found something. We’ll bring it up — we’ll be right there.”
“I don’t remember this at all,” Rose mutters, her hand on the picture as though that can summon the memory of that awful day.
“We were all little,” I say. “Look at Hazel. She can’t be older than three or four.”
“Why do you remember it and we don’t?” Posey asks.
“I need to know what you’re doing. I can’t stand the suspense.” Hazel’s voice sounds tight.
“Look at the water,” I say. “Just behind Hazel’s head. Do you see it back there?”
“See what?” Posey asks, peering at the picture.
Caleb steps closer.
“The kraken,” he says.
I nod excitedly.
“Exactly. This picture has something to do with it.”
I push down the sadness, and it surprises me how angry I am now that I’m older. Angry at my parents for leaving the four of us, for calling once a week, then once a month, then whenever they remembered we existed, I suppose.
Without a shadow of a doubt, I know it’s because of what happened the day of this picture.
I remember the fear on their faces. The horror in my dad’s eyes. The way they spoke in hushed, angry tones to my grandmother. The sound of the door slamming behind them.
“This spell has something to do with what’s happening now,” I say. “I’m sure of it. I can feel it in my bones.”
“You’re right,” Rose says, tapping the picture frame with her fingernail. “I feel it too.”
“What is happening down there? Y’all are killing me. Don’t make me hobble down those steps. I don’t want to, but I will,” Hazel hollers from upstairs.
“We’ll be right there,” Posey yells. “Sit your ass down and ice that ugly foot. OnlyFeet will never let you pose there if you mess it up worse.”
“You’re a dick, Posey!” A pillow falls down the opening.
I can’t laugh, even though I can see the humor in the situation. There are too many big feelings going through me for me to pretend like I’m fine.
For a split second I’m jealous of my sisters.
They don’t remember this.
