Page 2 of Enemies By Fate

Who was my real mother? What happened to her?I shrug off the unbidden thoughts, hating that they pop up at the most inopportune times.

“No? You want to keep having bad dreams?” she barks at me. “You really want to torture yourself like that?”

“They aren’t that bad,” I insist, hating that I’m lying to her face.

I can tell she sees right through me, but I don’t want her to block the nightmares—because I know they aren’t nightmares at all. They’re memories, memories I’ve been trying to piece together for a year now. If she gives me a blocker, I’ll never uncover the truth about my family in its entirety.

“Fine,” Sadie relents, sensing that she’s not going to get anywhere with me this morning, at least not when she has to get to work. I barely hold back a deep, relieved exhale.

“Get dressed and come help me downstairs. I have to get going early today.”

I arch an eyebrow as she heads back toward the door. “Busy day at the hospital?” I ask. The moment I ask, I recognize how ridiculous the question is.

It’s a full moon tonight.

“These damned full moons are the bane of my existence. Humans never know how to behave themselves and get into all kinds of ridiculous accidents. It blows my damned mind.”

My heart skips at the mention of the lunar phenomenon, and I nod quickly, turning my face away before she can read my expression. I shouldn’t have forgotten. I’ve been counting down the days to tonight, but not specifically for the full moon itself.

“Are you coming?” Sadie asks impatiently.

“Yeah, I’ll be right down,” I promise.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Sadie’s concerned look, but she doesn’t speak again as she leaves, closing my bedroom door behind her. I exhale in her wake, grateful she let me off the hook this time.

Pursing my lips, I face myself in the full-length mirror behind the bedroom door and stare at my serious face. My sapphire irises are darker than usual this morning, the splay of Tennessee sunlight filtering through the half-drawn blinds, catching flecks of gold in my tussled strawberry-blonde mane. I feel like my intentions are written all over my face, even if Sadie hasn’tmade a comment… yet. But I know her well enough to know she suspects something.

I can’t overthink this, and I shouldn’t leave her waiting when she’s already on edge with me.

Skipping my morning shower, I dress casually in a pair of leggings and an oversized rock band shirt before joining my adoptive mom in the kitchen.

Crystals and dried plants hang innocently over the kitchen island as she pours our coffee, scrawling a list for me. The comingling of sage and chamomile fills our quaint mountain kitchen as the sun pops over the horizon.

“I doubt I’ll be back from the hospital in time for the ceremony tonight,” Sadie tells me, flipping the notepad around on the wooden countertop. “But you can take my place at the coven tonight if I’m not there. I left a list of things for you to bring in case they call on you to do a ritual.”

I balk, eying the note. “Uh…” I mumble. “Sadie, they won’t call on me, if they let me in at all?—”

She cuts me off as if she’s been expecting my objection.

“Stop it!” Sadie interjects sharply, annoyance flashing in her eyes. “Of course they will. You’re my kid, and you’ve never had trouble accessing the coven before.”

I stare at her, deadpan, but this time it’s Sadie who avoidsmygaze. A spark of pity overcomes me, and I swallow my feelings, not wanting to give her a hard time. She’s done so much for me, but she has to know better by now. Why won’t she let this go?

I’m not a witch, and the coven is never going to accept me as one, especially not after what’s been happening to me over the past year. Before I started shifting, Sadie convinced them that I belonged among them, but now?

“What, Poppy?” Sadie snaps when I continue to stare at her.

“You know what,” I reply flatly. “It’s like you said earlier—I’m not a kid anymore. You don’t have to protect me.”

She picks up her coffee mug and turns away, pretending to busy herself at the sink with the dishes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I roll my eyes and slide onto one of the stools next to the island, reaching for my own coffee mug. “They’re not going to let me in without you,” I tell her again. “Not during a full moon ritual.”

“You don’t know that unless you try,” she insists, but I change the subject before we can dissolve into a full-fledged argument on the matter.

“Anyway, I have other plans tonight,” I tell her honestly.

Glancing over her shoulder, she arches an eyebrow skeptically. “Oh yeah?” she fires back sarcastically. “Hot date?”

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