“I changed it back when I turned sixteen,” Olivia murmured.
“That’s when we finally found you. I moved close by and kept an eye on you while you finished high school. Then when you got into the college that I was guest lecturing at, it seemed the perfect opportunity to introduce myself without actually having to explain who I was.”
“You lied to me?” Her eyes were dark and filled with grief. “The last ten years have all been one huge lie?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Mags protested.
“Then what was it like?” Olivia hissed. “At any point you could have told me the truth, but both of you decided you knew what was best for me without even talking to me.”
“Olivia, please.” She winced.
“Why tell me now?” Olivia demanded.
“Because you’re in danger,” she replied. “If the demon rises, he’s coming after you.”
“Why me?”
“I don’t know.” Mags shook her head. “That’s one of the things Evie wouldn’t tell me. I’m not like you both. I’m not a witch.”
“Then what possible use are you to me?” she whispered coldly.
Mags flinched as if she’d been struck. Olivia knew she was being harsh, but she couldn’t seem to help the words falling from her mouth. She’d never felt so betrayed, and in that one moment, she wanted Mags to hurt as much as she did.
“Evie asked me to give you this if the murders ever started again.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a key on a silver chain. “The key opens a safety deposit box at Old Mercy Mutual Savings and Trust. I don’t know what the box contains, but she said you would know what to do with it.”
Olivia took the key from her silently, wrapping her fist around the cool metal, her eyes never leaving the woman she’d thought of as her only family for the last decade.
“Olivia, I am truly sorry.”
“Save it.” Her voice was low and tightly controlled. “I don’t want to hear your excuses or apologies. I trusted you, but it turns out it was all a lie. I never really knew you at all.”
“Olivia…” She took an involuntary step toward her but
Olivia stepped back, shaking her head as she swallowed painfully.
“You should leave. We have nothing left to say to each other.”
Mags sighed. “When you’re ready to talk, I’ll be staying at the Three Broomsticks, the B&B on Bleaker Street.”
Olivia said nothing, just watched her with unfathomable eyes as she turned and headed out the door. They heard the front door click shut, and for a moment, all three of them stood in silence.
“Olive…” Jake took a step toward her.
“No.” She once again backed away, her fist clenched so tightly around the key her fingers turned white. “Just leave me alone... just everyone... leave me alone.” She turned and bolted up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door behind her.
“You know, I’m beginning to wonder how much more she can take,” Jake murmured, his gaze fixed on the stairs. “The knocks just keep coming.”
“She’s stronger than she looks,” Theo answered, following Jake’s gaze.
Jake sighed and turned back to Theo. “I hate feeling useless, I think I’ll go back over all the victims’ case notes from both murder sprees and see if we missed anything.”
Theo followed him to the door with Beau tripping playfully over his feet as he went. He watched Jake climb into his car and pull out of the driveway. He found his gaze drawn to the cruel red letters slashed across the door. His lips tightened into a thin disapproving line, and with his mind made up, he went in search of a bucket and scrubbing brush.
Olivia sat on the window ledge gazing out of her window toward the edge of the woods and the shore of the lake. The key swung as it dangled absently from her fingers. She tried to take in everything Mags had said to her, but it all kept churning over and over in a mess of resentment and anger. Mags was the one person she’d thought she could rely on, and it turned out she hadn’t known who she was at all.
She shivered and glanced up at the sky. The sun had begun to dip low on the horizon, casting long shadows across her room. As she flicked a quick look at the fire-place, it burst merrily into flame, filling the room with warmth. Before her gaze could return to the woods, her attention was drawn by a sudden clatter up the staircase and a scratching outside her door, followed by a low whine.
Unfolding her legs from under her, she dropped down off the window seat and placed the key in the little trinket box on her nightstand. She barely had the door to her room open when a ball of wet, soapy fur raced past her, losing his footing and skidding across the floor and into the opposite wall with a dull thud. Shaking her head in resignation, she grabbed a towel from the bathroom and scooped Beau up into her arms, trying to dry him off as he rolled and fidgeted.
