Page 15 of His Blazing Witch

"...What about my mother?"

She looks perplexed for a second and looks away from me.

"I... I don't know who your mother is, Clarissa," she says. "Father never said. He just brought you home one day when you were seven or eight years old, saying your mother was dead and you were his daughter, and that was it. I spent half my life seeing him and my mother rip each other's throats apart over their divorce. I never really stopped to research which mistress of my father your mother was."

I take a second to digest it all. That... kind of hurts, even if I don't remember that unknown mother. Since Amy's skin tone is significantly darker than mine, I always figured we may only have one parent in common, but I never imagined even that was pretty much irrelevant.

I drink a bit of water despite my throat feeling tight, thinking about what else I need to ask. I'm really upset about what she just said, but... I can get upset later. I need to get as much information as I can while she’s here.

"So... I just grew up with you?" I ask.

"In the same house, yes. Father always sent you to one private school after the other, and I got my own place as soon as I started working so... We didn't have a happy lunch together every day, basically."

"Then why are you the only one here? How…?"

Amy sighs, and leans against my bed, shaking her head.

"I don't know. When you came back from your latest school, father didn't really care anymore about what you did with your life, I guess. I'm not sure what you did for a few months, I think you just stayed home. Then, all of a sudden, you called me and asked for my help to study in Silver City. You had never reached out or asked for anything from me, ever. Maybe you couldn't reach our father... I don't know. Anyway, I agreed to help you, and that's how you ended up here one year ago. I found you a place to stay, told you to let me know if you needed anything, and since then, we have exchanged a few emails, and that was it."

A real loving relationship between sisters, I guess... As far as I can tell, from a father who doesn't give a damn about one of his daughters being in a hospital, our family is really messed up.

"You don't know why I picked Silver City?"

"I think you just mentioned you liked their university program... I had no idea it was a city with half of its population being werewolves, you never mentioned it. I never asked either."

This is really not that helpful. If only Amy and I had a better relationship before... I'm slowly starting to realize how much it actually means for her to be here. If we were never close, I'm probably nothing but a troublesome half-sister to her. However, she agreed to be my legal guardian, so...

"I still want to be able to go out. I know you're negotiating with that Luna, Selena Whitewood, but..."

"Oh, for fuck's sake, who told you that?" she exclaimed. "Can't they just shut up?!"

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because I don't need to tell you, Clarissa! You're supposed to stay here and rest for a while, why are you so adamant about getting out?"

"I'm an amnesiac!" I yell. "I don't remember a thing about myself! I don't remember you, our family, my mother, my friends! It has nothing to do with whether we were close or not, I'm a completely blank slate! All I had when I woke up was you and Kelsi, and this freaky fire thing! How am I supposed to find the answers if you keep me locked up here?!"

"My God, why did I ever agree to let you stay here. You're so stubborn! All I'm doing is trying to protect you, Clarissa! You have no idea how many people are furious about a witch being here! I don't know if you should stay here or leave, I don't know why everyone is trying to get to you while you're desperate to make things complicated for me by getting out of here!"

"What do the werewolves want with me, then? Why don't you just share with me what's going on?"

"Because you know something about werewolves and witches, perhaps?" she retorts, annoyed.

"Well, I get why they don't like witches, for starters, the previous ones killed their people! That much I can understand! But if I could just–"

"Clarissa, it's not just the previous witches."

"W-what?" I stutter, confused. "What do you mean?"

Amy shakes her head and walks up to the door to close it. Then, she turns to me with a big sigh.

"I lied, alright? I lied and asked everyone to shut up about it. I... It wasn't just you in that fire, Clarissa. Three people died."

...What?

For a few seconds, I'm completely stunned, staring at my sister. What did she just say? I shake my head, unable to understand. Amy is staring at me with a dark expression, making me even more scared that it is the truth. It can't be.

"No, they said I was the only victim," I protest. "They said it was a miracle that I had survived, and there was no one else in there..."

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