Family Magic, Chloe Price [christmas read aloud .txt] 📗

pissed off, the urge to hit something rising.

“Syd,” Mom said again. “What did you do?”

“I think my eyes changed,” I said. “For a second.”

“Did she see?” Erica sounded disappointed. They had no idea, seriously.

“Yeah, she saw, there was nothing I could do about it. I’m sick of being pushed around.”

I slumped with my hip to the counter, arms crossed over my chest, scowling at the tile floor, my whole body screaming for someone, anyone to get it. I couldn’t take it any longer.

I felt Mom’s hand as she slid her arm around my shoulders.

“Does this mean we have to move again?” Sandra Crossman, eight months pregnant, slid her hands over her huge belly, worried hazel eyes fixed on my mother. She glanced over at her young husband, James. He placed his own hand over hers.

“I don’t know if I can go through another move right now, Miriam,” James’ expression grew anxious behind his glasses, “not with the baby due...”

Mom held up her free hand. Silence fell.

“No one is moving.”

“She flashed power in public!” Dominic was determined to ruin my life. “In front of normals!”

Part of me wondered what was in Mom's eyes that silenced him so fast.

“I highly doubt a change of eye color constitutes a move at this point,” Mom told the group. “And since Syd has agreed to work with us to learn to control herself, I see no reason why we can’t go back to life as usual. That being said,” she turned to me, “Syd, it is now your responsibility to make sure you keep yourself in control at all times.”

“I know,” I said.

“And if we don’t trust her?” Dominic snapped.

Mom turned on him so fast I felt her nails dig in to my shoulder for support.

“You are welcome to sever your ties with the Hayle coven and move on,” she said.

That was the end of that.

The kitchen emptied of all but Erica and Jared. I glared at Quaid as he left. He had the nerve to flash me a wave on his way out. I was so going to figure out a punishment for the traitor, involving acute embarrassment and a couple of days in the hospital.

“First thing tomorrow,” Mom said to Erica, “we dig into the Vegas’ property and see if we can find what triggered today’s incident.”

Erica agreed while Jared winked at me.

“So Syd,” he said, “what would you like me to teach you?”

I stuck my tongue out at him, annoyed at the whole thing, wanting to retreat to the solitude of my room for some peace and quiet.

“I think her dad and I can handle Syd’s education,” Mom said.

“If you change your mind,” Jared grinned, “I’ll do my best to whip her into shape.”

Hmmm. The possibilities of working with handsome, hot-body Jared actually appealed. And, no, I had no interest in Erica’s boyfriend. Not only was he taken, he was 32. Way too old for me. But, still, eye candy for a teacher? I think I was lost in the thought for too long, because Mom and Erica both laughed. Jared wiggled his eyebrows at me.

I hated it when I blushed.

After they left, I stood in the kitchen with my mother and fought the urge to run. She very slowly approached me, but didn’t touch me. When she spoke, her voice came soft and hesitant. I tried my best to not take anything she said the wrong way.

“You did very well today,” Mom said.

I was shocked. A compliment? From my mother? Where were the flying pigs?

“Thanks,” I said.

“You have no idea, do you?” She pushed a stray piece of hair away from my face. “How powerful you are? How much potential... Syd, do you realize you single handedly did what the entire coven couldn’t?”

“I just did something different,” I said.

She laughed and I saw pride in her eyes. Wow, would wonders never cease.

“Syd, with only raw power and no training, you examined the problem, decided on a course of action no witch would ever consider and saved the day. That’s pretty amazing, demon child.”

Demon child. She hadn’t called me that since I was a little girl. She always used it like it was a term of endearment but I stopped taking it that way a long time ago so she stopped using it.

“I guess,” I said.

She very gently took my shoulders in her hands and shook me a little.

“We’ve said and done a lot of things to each other in the past few days, haven’t we? Some hurtful. Some not. Syd, I feel like I’m making a mess of everything with you.” She let me go and sank into one of the kitchen chairs. “I want things to be different but I don’t know how.”

I sat next to her.

“Stop trying so hard,” I said, and meant it.

“What?” She didn’t get it.

“Mom,” I said, struggling to explain, “you try way too hard. The cookies, the battles, the soccer mom clothes, the girly stuff. I’m not any of that. Except maybe the cookies,” I said.

She laughed a little and I did too.

“Look,” I said, “I know I’ve spent most of my life blaming you and Dad for what I am but I think I’m finally realizing I’m just as responsible. If I stop fighting so hard and do what I can to control the power, I can do whatever I want, even if that means leaving you.”

“If you promise to try,” she said, “I will too.”

“What do I have to do?” I asked.

“Study, practice, practice some more,” she answered. “And for once, trust us.”

“I do trust you,” I said, while the little voice in my head screamed, “LIAR!!!”

She must have heard it because she made a face.

“Syd, one of the things your father and I love the most about you is your independence. We raised you and your sister to think for yourselves, to make your own decisions, take your own chances. I tried to give you the life I never had the opportunity to experience. Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing, but no matter what, everything we did, I did, was to help you grow and be a better person.

“The trouble is, we’ve given you so much freedom, you don’t trust our judgment anymore, don’t think we understand. But we do, Syd,” she leaned closer, taking my hands in hers. “And the things we don’t get, we want to understand. But you have to let us in so we can. We want to be there for you but we can’t if you keep slamming the door on the offer.”

I felt crappy, but not guilty, so it was a start.

“Okay, Mom,” I said. “From now on I’ll trust you and listen to everything you say.”

She smiled and kissed me.

“Sure you will, Syd,” she laughed. “And I’ll never yell at you again.”

We grinned at each other. Yeah, right. The lies we tell the ones we love. Chapter Nineteen

Despite the family’s fears and my own reservations, life returned to normal. We ordered pizza for supper and hung out watching reruns of our favorite sitcoms in our pajamas. I felt like the pressure was off. I think the fact I made a decision to do something proactive for myself instead of whining about it all the time settled my mind and gave me some peace.

I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to Uncle Frank about the previous night but I knew he already heard about our little agreement from Mom from the thumbs up and grin he gave me before going out with Sunny for the night.

One of those times I was going to ask him where they went.

I was almost scared to go down to the basement with my mother, but I went anyway.

“I’m not sure where to start,” Mom admitted, taking a seat in the pentagram. I folded down across from her, chin on my knees.

“That sounds encouraging.” Oh snap. But Mom only smiled at me.

“First things first,” she said, sitting up so straight I immediately did the same. “It’s been quite some time since I had a look inside your power. You’ve obviously developed past my previous examination.” Her irony wasn’t lost on me. I think I’d been twelve or so when I let her poke around in my head for the last time.

I held my breath then forced myself to let it out. “Okay,” I said. “I’m ready.”

Her power reached for me, just a thin thread at first, sliding inside my mind and connecting with my magic. My demon squirmed away from her, as uncomfortable with this as I was, even as the nausea rose in my gut from the wrongness of how it all felt.

“Relax, Syd,” Mom’s voice reached me. Only then did I realize I’d closed my eyes.

I tried, I really tried. And I knew how hard this was for her. She’d just been through a massive ordeal herself. Her power was soft around the edges as if she was having trouble keeping the thread solid, her weariness an undercurrent inside her magic.

It felt like fingers in my mind as she allowed more power to flow. Mom was very good at this, I knew from experience. She had a great talent for exploring and uncovering problems in other witch’s magic. So I trusted that at least if something was wrong, she’d find it.

My demon snarled and complained but finally complied when Mom invaded her space. My mother eased my demon’s anger and had her purring in moments, fed by the warmth of the family magic.

I felt Mom glide through all of the facets of my power, from my telekinesis to my powerful telepathy, the energy that controlled my link to fire and the earth magic that grounded me and fed me strength. She even uncovered air power I didn’t know I had, and enough water connection that I could probably make waves on a still pond without much effort. But it was my spirit energy that shocked me the most. The white flames burned inside me, surrounding everything.

If you learn to tap into it, she said in my mind, you will never be powerless. It will feed you and keep you whole even in the most terrible circumstance. Was that a touch of envy I felt? Maybe some fear? It couldn’t be. Mom was the powerhouse, not me.

When I felt her brush against the edge of my discomfort and found myself squirming away.

Mom finally sighed and retreated, her power leaving love behind as it left me.

“You’re perfectly fine,” she said. “I can’t see anything that would prohibit you from full control of your abilities.”

“I’m still having the same feelings,” I admitted. “Upset stomach, dizziness. There has to be a reason.”

Mom nodded. “I might know what it is. For some reason you and your demon have never fully integrated.”

That was news. “What do you mean?” Even my demon was listening.

Mom shrugged. “I can’t explain it,” she said. “I can only tell you what I felt. Whether because you decided not to accept your magic or from a more natural cause, you aren’t able to fully access and control your demon power.” She looked deeply troubled. “That is the source of your lack of control and probably the cause of your discomfort when you try to use magic.”

Something inside me disagreed but her reasoning