“Listen to me, Blaire.” Grammy sensed my doubtful thoughts. Her tone had dropped so low, I almost couldn’t recognize her. She was angry. Or afraid. Or both.
“There’s going to be a lot of things that shake up what you thought you knew. You’re an ignorant, naive girl…” She inhaled a deep breath, preparing for her next words, which I knew were next to impossible for her to utter.
“That’s our fault. Your mother and I have only been trying to protect you, but we’ve failed at doing that, and now we need you to pull up your big girl panties and follow along.”
I wanted to mouth back. To show her that she couldn't speak to me like a child anymore. Instead, I bowed my head and waited for her to go on. I could swear that, as if it were waiting for me to realize its presence, the impossible power they spoke of came to life and tingled beneath my skin.
Waiting to be released. Wanting to retaliate against anyone that doubted or wronged their new owner.
Grammy's words faded into the background as a dark mist crept into my mind. Thoughts and memories flashed behind my eyes of every instance I was ever treated poorly. Each time I'd been wronged by those around me, including the two women sitting before me.
These powers were ancient. They were unsettled and potent and awoken. The more my family spoke, the deeper they rooted until I, too, felt the rage at every injustice. Not just against myself, but against every Granger woman who possessed them and was snuffed out by those egotistical Quarters and our spineless coven.
There was an ice that filled my veins.
No, it was colder than ice. Yet, it burned hot at the same time. It was the powerful force of wind creating tsunami waves—of oxygen igniting volcanic flames over barren land. I knew everything and nothing at all. I was the alpha and the omega—the beginning and the end.
The emotions coursing through me were swift and dynamic and not entirely my own. I wanted to scream at the sensation. But deep, deep down, something told me to hold it in. To let them think I was the same girl who walked into this room.
For there was power in ignorance.
I hardly managed to get through the rest of Grammy’s lecturing. She was over-explaining and simplifying things that I suddenly knew more about. I wondered if she had ever experienced the shift and if she noticed when it happened to her.
Had Mom ever gotten her chance to wield the Granger gifts, or had Grammy kept it from her somehow? I couldn’t imagine she would have ever allowed her mother to treat her this way if she had. It’d been less than an hour and I already wanted to breathe fire down the old woman’s throat.
The gods had mercy on her, though, because just as I was about to correct her for yet another skewed fact about our family’s history, she rolled her eyes and turned toward my mother.
“I think we should stop. She seems to be checked out,” she impatiently huffed.
I didn’t have the energy to argue. Instead, I nodded my agreement and stood from the floor, walking off to my room without bothering to offer my help with cleaning up.