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

it or warn her.”

“I guess,” he said. “I had no idea they were such jerks.”

“It’s high school,” I shrugged. “Eat or be eaten.”

I might as well have hit him.

“It shouldn’t be that way,” he said.

“Tell them,” I answered. We both knew exactly who I meant.

“Well,” he said, straightening up a little, “I’m not doing it anymore.”

“Sorry?” I said.

He squared his shoulders. “I’m quitting the football team. And all of them, too.”

The very fact Brad Peters dumped the pops blew my mind.

“But, you’re a Senior, captain of the team. Aren’t you up for a football scholarship or something?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I told my dad. He wasn’t very happy. But I don’t want…”

“What?” He couldn’t throw away a chance at a great school over this. Talk about a sudden awakening. Part of me wanted to put him back to sleep until high school was all over.

“I don’t want to turn into them,” he whispered.

Was my internal conflict spilling over onto other people or something? This was the second person in two days who came to me—me—for life-altering advice. Talk about overwhelming.

“Brad,” I said firmly, wanting no misunderstanding between us, “you will never, can never, be one of them. Ever. End of discussion.”

“Really?” He seemed like he wanted to believe.

“Never ever,” I told him. “Trust me, I have been to more junior and senior highs in the last five years than I care to admit and I have never met anyone like you who has ever turned into one of them.”

Couldn’t say it any clearer than that. I was pretty sure it worked because his whole body relaxed. He leaned back on the bench.

“Bet you’re going to be a psychiatrist when you get older,” he said.

If he only knew.

“Guess we’ll wait and see,” I mumbled. “Please don’t give up your chance for a scholarship.”

He thought about it. “Maybe you’re right,” he said. “Maybe I should play, to spite them.”

“They aren’t worth it,” I said. “And from what I hear, college is way different.”

“Thanks, Syd,” he said.

We stood up and continued walking, more because I felt restless all of a sudden than because I wanted to.

“I was hoping we could see more of each other,” Brad said.

I hadn’t prepared for this talk, but he wasn’t about to give me the chance to change the subject. He grinned at me like he knew I was uncomfortable, his soft blonde hair falling over one eye.

“I’m not pushing you,” he said, “and I don’t want to freak you out. There is something about you, Syd.” He stopped and faced me, transparent green eyes seeing only me.

I stared into those eyes, drowning in the color, and I knew I had never seen anything in my life quite so amazing. I could feel the two of us getting closer, drawing together. I was unable and unwilling to fight it. He stood so close to me I could feel his breath on my cheek. I knew in that instant if he kissed me, really kissed me, I would pass out at his feet.

Saved by the crazy lady. Gram’s cackle snapped my head around. I had to dive for her as she hustled past me, hands outstretched, making a beeline for a parked car. I could feel her on the edge of her aura. I knew if I didn’t act right then, Brad and I would not only be witness to a light show but would probably end up in the hospital, or worse, if I didn’t manage to stop her.

“Gram!” I grabbed her and hauled her around, panicking as I realized I had neither of her vices on me as enticement. I pushed against her spell as hard as I could. My demon obliged. I pushed so hard, in fact, Gram staggered and slipped from my grasp, landing hard on her butt on the sidewalk. I was surprised this time the nausea and dizziness wasn’t so bad.

Maybe I was getting the hang of it after all.

Gram glared up at me as if she was seeing me for the first time.

“Thief!” She shrieked at the top of her lungs. “Give it back! It’s mine!”

That old line again. I felt her power build and gritted my teeth. Viciousness radiated from her in waves, and I knew a blast of power had to be a short breath behind. I saw motion next to me. Damn. Brad was still there. Unable to do anything about it, I glared at my grandmother and shoved her magic down, smothering the air energy with as much earth as I could pile on her, acting on pure instinct. I took a moment to make sure my eyes were normal before I glanced at Brad. He stared, mouth open.

“My grandmother,” I offered as way of an apology. “I’m sorry, I have to get her home.”

Thank goodness nothing we did so far magic-wise was visible to normals. I would be forced to have someone in the coven wipe his memory and I worried they might take too much. I wanted him to remember he was going to kiss me. Weird thing to think about while trying to keep my grandmother from totaling half the block, but hey, I was a teenager.

Brad watched Gram as she struggled, snarling and spitting from her sprawl on the ground. She made heavy grunting noises, her face twisting in frustration.

“Is she okay?” He asked.

“No,” I said. “She’s nuts. I really have to go.”

I started pulling on Gram, hauling her to her feet, using my demon to help. She clutched at me, eyes blazing. I considered knocking her out, but Brad was still there. He was such a gentleman, I knew he would frown on that sort of thing. I had a flash of his lips and had to fight my way back.

Focus, Syd, focus.

Gram turned on me, hissing.

“Can I help?” Brad frowned, clearly worried.

“Thanks but no thanks,” I said, tugging her toward home, winning a little. Thank goodness we were only a block away. “See you!”

He waved and turned to leave, glancing back once or twice. When he was far enough away, I released my demon and let Gram feel my full power even though I had no idea what else to do with it.

“Okay, Gram,” I growled. “We can do this easy or hard. You pick.”

She pouted like a petulant child caught doing something naughty. “You have it and I want it back.” Her lower lip quivered. I felt like leaving her there.

“Look, I don’t have it, whatever it is, and I never have.”

Tears welled in those pale blues, but I knew better than to feel empathy. She could turn on me like a wild cat in a flash.

“Can we please go home now, or do I have to make you?”

“I don’t want to go back there,” she pouted.

“Tough,” I answered. “We are going back, end of discussion. How do you keep getting out?” The last was more a question for myself as I steered her up the street.

I didn’t even bother to try to listen in on her one-sided muttered conversation as we walked the rest of the way home.

I checked around to make sure there were no witnesses. A huge, black dog watched me from a nearby driveway. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It wasn’t like he really counted or anything. Besides, he seemed friendly enough, tongue lolling out as if he was laughing at us.

Stupid dog. Chapter Twenty Six

The very fact I managed to get Gram in the driveway amazed even me. I should have been alarmed by the number of cars outside our house but I was so focused on getting my grandmother safely inside before she did something we’d all regret, it wasn’t until I had her physically in the kitchen that I saw there were more people in my house than there were when I left.

At least a dozen coven members had a mixture of surprise and relief on their faces. Mom rushed forward, hugging us both at the same time. We both fought her, but for very different reasons. Gram managed to extract herself and stood there, weaving and humming, lost to all of us. Mom hugged me harder. I stopped struggling.

“Oh, Syd,” she whispered.

“It’s okay, Mom,” I whispered back.

She gave me one more squeeze and let me go. Mom went to Gram who picked her nose, a huge, happy grin on her face.

“Mother,” Mom said, pulling her hands down. “How do you keep escaping?”

Gram ignored her, making smacking noises with her lips, eyes crossing and uncrossing.

My mother turned to the gathered witches.

“I’m so sorry, everyone,” she said to them, making it very clear to me she had no idea Gram had even been missing. “Please forgive the interruption.”

Somehow, I had the feeling they weren’t there because she invited them. There was a strange feel to the whole thing raising the small hairs on my arms. I resisted rubbing them to make it stop.

Erica pasted on a smile. “Well, this show is over then, and no harm done.”

A murmur ran through the others. None of them seemed certain. I knew every face but wondered as they stared at my grandmother, if I really knew them at all.

Trust my mother to know the perfect thing to do.

“Not this time,” she said softy to Erica, “but we do need to get to the bottom of this.”

The answering murmur was positive. I could feel their energy reaching for Mom. I shuddered, hoping I would never have to try to play her role. I knew I would fail.

“I’m here because the others thought we should come to you.” Celeste Oberman, one of the stronger witches and always a leveling presence, shook out her long, brown hair, a nervous habit. “It’s clear there is something going on that is out of the ordinary, but your claim that we are under some sort of an attack seems outlandish.”

I wanted to cut in that Uncle Frank’s near demise wasn’t exactly his own idea but held back. I knew I wouldn’t be helping Mom’s case any.

“I’m not comfortable leaving anything to chance,” Mom said. “If there is something going on,” and we both knew there was even if Celeste and the other witches felt like sticking their stupid heads in the sand, “I want to get to the bottom of it before it turns into something dangerous.”

Too late. Meanwhile I marveled at Mom’s skill. She was so good at handling them. Aside from Celeste, the others did seem to be taking what Mom told them seriously.

“Fine,” Celeste said, glaring down her nose at me before turning her attention back to Mom. “What would you like to do?”

“We’ll call the twins,” Mom said.

I shivered. The twins. Okay, I knew it was serious, but nobody called the twins unless it was a last resort. They just didn’t play well with others.

“If something is going on,” Mom said, “they will be able to tell us. If not, I for one will be the first to put these odd occurrences behind me.”

“I’ll call them,” Celeste said, going for the phone.

“No,” Mom said, again very softly. The control in her voice made everyone stop. “I’ll call them myself.”

So there, I silently snapped at Celeste. Her cool hazel eyes flashed at me but she backed off immediately. I