Page 5 of Baneful Magick

SATURDAY

My hands were still burning, and no matter what we did, nothing helped. The pain made it hard to do much, so Ma helped me cancel my appointments to look at apartments.

Magick and poison radiated from my hands, and Cassius hinted that my cure would probably be found at Greywood. ‘There is always a price for magick,’he’d intoned when I questioned him. The conservatory had claimed part of me when I unintentionally accepted a spot at the school, or so I’d learned. I grumbled at the voice in my head, but besides a mocking laugh, he remained frustratingly quiet.

Mom didn’t say anything when I told her what happened. In fact, she didn’t say anything at all to anyone after getting home. She pressed a kiss to the top of my head and went straight to bed without a backward glance. Ma reassured me that we would all talk that night, and everything would be fine.

She was wrong though.

It was almost midnight, but Mom still hadn’t come out of their room.

Unable to deal with my rising anxiety, I went to my garden, and focused on weeding the beds and savoring the rich earthunder my fingers. The earth seemed to be the only thing that took the edge off the pain in my hands. My mind wandered to my earlier conversation with Demir. He had called to ask when I’d be free for lunch, and it made me remember that I hadn’t told him about Greywood.

To say Demir was surprised would have been an understatement. He was speechless and silent long enough that I pulled my cell back to make sure the call hadn’t dropped. He’d promised he’d be home soon to celebrate, but so far, no brother had shown up, and Mom wasn’t filling me in either. It was turning out to be a shitty and painful day all around.

“Little bat?”

I froze when Mom called out to me. Rocking back on my heels, I turned to see her standing outside of my garden, watching me with an apologetic expression. In her hands was a cup of boba tea, a silent apology for the wait or maybe the silence… Either way, it was a start.

“I didn’t mean to accept the invitation,” I told her quietly, not moving to take the olive branch she was offering. Hurt was clear in my unusually soft tone, but I pushed down my natural response of anger at her trying to act like a drink would solve everything. “Giving me the cold shoulder for something that wasn’t my fault isn’t fair.”

Mom’s shoulders drooped, and her smile wavered for a moment before she released a long sigh. “Giving you the cold shoulder wasn’t my intention. I needed rest after work, then I needed to get my words straight before I said anything I’d regret. I’m sorry it came off that way to you. I’m trying my best.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise, silently waiting to see what else she had to say. Mom usually wasn’t afraid to own up to her mistakes and apologize when necessary, but needing to take almost an entire day to find the words to make that apology… That was new.

Mom held up the tea again, and I stood up slowly, rubbing the dirt from my hands on my black t-shirt. I had more to worry about now than any mess I might be making of my clothes. Slowly, I made my way over to her and carefully took the cup. No need to accidentally give her a reaction to any of the plants I had been touching in the garden.

“Where’s Ma?”

“Inside, cleaning up some mess from Ariah. I heard something about a flooded bathroom and rushed out here.”

I chuckled at that while simultaneously wincing at the mess the baby had probably made. That little siren was already a handful considering this was the third time something happened with the bath… this week.

“You guys should set up an outdoor bathroom for her, make it heated or something, then you don’t have to worry about the clean-up.”

Mom cocked her head to the side and hummed. “That’s not a bad idea at all.” She smiled at me in thanks before her expression sobered up as she sighed. “But I don’t want to get sidetracked. I owe you an explanation.”

I took a long sip of the drink she’d brought me, savoring the refreshing peach flavor that hit my tongue. I was nervous to hear what could have upset my usually so put together mom.

“A woman I knew a long time ago went to Greywood.” Mom’s voice was husky, thick with pain, and she stared out into the darkness of falling night instead of meeting my gaze. “She went missing, and I never found out what happened to her. She sent letters for months until they suddenly stopped. When I expressed my worry, our hive leader dismissed my concern. Unwilling to accept that, I went to Greywood myself for information, but the school turned me away while refusing to even reassure me that she was alive. She was an adult, and whatshe decided to do with her friends was not their concern, or so they told me.”

Mom’s voice remained steady, but when she turned to face me, I could see the warring emotions in her dark green eyes—pain, love, grief. My breath caught in my throat, and it hit me. This woman she spoke of, she hadlovedher. I knew that my parents were hundreds of years old, but to me, it had always been Mom and Ma together, no one else. But this pain… There was no other explanation.

Her lips curled up on the right side. “It was a long time ago, Isla. Your ma has my heart.”

“I’m sorry you lost her like that,” I replied, reaching out to touch her shoulder before catching myself. My hand fell just short of her before I let out a ragged breath. “There’s new technology now, though. We can stay in touch.”

“Greywood has its own rules,” Mom replied ruefully. “But maybe you’re right, and that will help. Amara was so happy when she got the invitation, bursting with excitement. She danced the night away after getting offered a spot. It’s one of the last clear memories I have of her.”

“I’m not a dancer,” I replied, trying to lift the mood.

A surprised laugh escaped her, and she focused on me with a new light brightening her face. “Too true. I’ve seen you try, and it’s definitely not in your skillset.”

“Hey!”

“I’m just agreeing with you!” Her eyes twinkled with good humor. “But really, I’ve lived through centuries and seen dance evolve from Victorian dances to raves… You’re not a dancer.”

I gasped in “outrage” before I lost it. Tears slipped down my cheeks from laughing too hard, and Mom’s husky laugh joined me. Eventually, we managed to settle down, with only a few lingering laughs sneaking out as we tried to get ourselves together.

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