Page 33 of Counting Quarters

“What's up?”

She hesitated, her eyes moving around the large mural behind me to avoid my gaze as she began. “You know you can trust me, right?”

I only nodded.

“I mean, Remy is my Quarter and there's this wild connection between us that makes it hard to keep anything from him. But you're my best friend, and I'd never betray you.”

Her gaze dropped from the wall to the worn-down table and my thoughts immediately went to last year, when she betrayed me and my family to steal the Quarter's Book of Shadows from Grammy's study. They took that turn because that was where Storie's thoughts led them, and for some reason, I couldn't control my gifts around her.

Her guilt was so strong, I could taste it.

I knew now that Grammy actually manipulated that situation herself, but that was beside the point. Storie hadn't known she was being manipulated at the time, and she still made the choice.

More guilt pooled into my churning stomach. It grew so intense, I had to look away from her and recenter myself to stop her reactions from infiltrating my body.

With a deep inhale, I pushed her thoughts and emotions out of my head and focused on only feeling my own.

“I know that I can trust you,” I finally offered, attempting to ease her mind so it would stop torturing me.

“Well, Remy and the guys came across something recently in the Book of Shadows that I found kind of peculiar. They haven't figured it out yet, but I have.”

“Okay. What is it?”

She scraped away at the chipped wood on the table, once again avoiding eye contact with me.

“There's talk of a fifth Quarter. One that can harness the powers of all four elements together. They're supposedly the most powerful…”

My heart sank.

No.

“A fifth Quarter…?” was the only lame attempt I could make to buy time. But she wasn't having it.

“Blaire, I know it's you.”

A nervous chuckle blew out through my lips as my hand found my braid and my fingers went to work on it—a nervous tick I'd always had.

Storie noticed my discomfort and quickly rushed out, “I don't want you to feel like I'm attacking you. I guess I'm telling you so that you know you aren't alone. And to warn you.”

That gave me pause, briefly silencing the storm that was taking over my head, either from her emotions or my own. I couldn't tell anymore.

“Warn me? Against what?”

“Well… they aren't too happy that there's a possibility someone might be stronger than they are. They seem to go between being afraid and being pissed.”

My cheeks heated with my frustration.

What did they have to be pissed about? It was my family that was forced to live in the dark to protect their egos. It was my family that had taken every blow to our name and reputation since their ancestors cast us out for being more powerful than them. For being women who shared gifts they believed only men should possess.

I was practically baring my teeth and ready to pounce on her for being so ignorant on the subject, when the barista called out our names and I was forced to shove it down. All of it. The anger, the betrayal, it wasn't her cross to bear.

Storie walked up to the counter to grab our drinks while I centered myself again. It was getting harder to control my anger, but I had to keep trying.

When I was sure that I could speak without venom in my tone, I said, “There's a lot more to it than anyone knows. I'm not surprised you put it together, but I hope I can rely on your discretion until we figure out how to explain it to them.”

In a way their pea brains will understand, I left out.

“Of course.” There was a brief pause as I sipped the cold drink, hoping it snuffed out the embers left over from my rage. “This changes everything,” she added.

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