Page 10 of Magical Academy for Delinquents
I pushed harder, letting my light beams flip over from visual light to the UV spectrum and grow brighter; I tried to ignore when Claude’s grunts turned into yelps of pain.
I recalled the first day I’d met Claude. The first time he’d seen my Darklight power, he’d just laughed and called me rainbow girl. Until I’d used my darkness to take away his sight. I spread my hands apart and decided he’d had enough light. My beam disappeared and blackness filled the room. I could see perfectly, but I knew the change from light to dark would blind my stepfather.
His grunt proved me right.
And right then I wanted to crow at him, to lord it over him that I knew about him. His stupid affair was only the tip of the iceberg. I knew about the Alchemiken studies he oversaw. I wanted to tell that fucker that I could see every fucking encrypted Pinnacle email about shields and amulets he was sending. The fucking asshole had only gotten a council seat by riding my father’s coattails and then taking—
“You worthless piece of shit, Hayley,” Claude moaned. “What a waste of potential, that could be put to better—”
“Worthless? Which of us can’t see well enough not to piss on their own shoes right now,Claudia?” I taunted.
“Your mother’s right. You’re fucked in the head.” The words hit me like a nine-iron to the gut. I didn’t even notice when he lifted his hand and a tiny jet of flame, as narrow as a laser, shot out at me. He burnt a line onto my stomach, through my shirt.
Damn! The fire cut right into my skin and it felt like I was getting stabbed. I twisted away and the flame sputtered out. But the scent of burnt flesh remained. My fury rose like an inferno. “You want to see fucked in the head?” I screamed. “Dad!”
My father appeared. Thank God, Dad’s face appeared clear and not blank this time. Or I might have lost it. I pointed a shaking finger at Claude—the man we both despised. Without another word, Dad rushed at the man and forced his way into Claude’s body. Claude couldn’t see Dad—Claude still couldn’t see anything with my darkness clouding his eyes, but he would be able to feel the cold, haunted, vulnerable feeling that went along with being possessed by a ghost.
I walked forward and latched onto Claude’s hair. I yanked his head back. “Did you want to repeat yourself,Claudia?”
A sudden gust of orange-tinted wind pushed me over with the strength of a hurricane and flattened me against the marble floor. “Hayley! What the hell are you doing?” My mother’s voice echoed throughout the foyer as I lost my grip on the darkness and the gaudy chandeliers restored themselves. Dad leapt out of Claude’s body and bolted for the sky, like he always did whenever Mom came into a room. Even after all these years, he couldn’t bear to see her with someone else.
Mom strode forward, her hand still outstretched to pin me down as she checked on Claude, clucking over his sunburns.
My teeth clenched when I saw that. Not once did she ask who started it. She wouldn’t believe me if I told her anyway, so what did it matter? I’d spent the last two years convincing her I was a rebellious shithead. And she might love me, want a better future for me, but when it came to me or the Clod? There was no competition. Only one of us funded her habit. Staring at me only reminded her of what she’d lost.
I ground my teeth together and stayed put as she yelled for Maria to grab some Aloe vera.
Only after she’d safely closed Claude back in his study, with a bottle of Aloe and a promise to check on him, did Mom turn to me. My mother stared down her straight nose, her brown eyes flashing, but only with a quarter of the fire she used to have. She saw the burn hole in my shirt and came forward. She checked it over. “You’re lucky he has good control. This is minor. Doesn’t even break through all the layers of skin. Hayley, why must you attack him? That’s the third time I’ve seen you physically go after him.”
I didn’t bother to argue. I wouldn’t win.
Mother shook her head, patted her perfect French braid, and turned to stride out of the room, her beige heels clicking against the marble floor. She didn’t even ask me to follow her. She just expected me to do so. I rose slowly, taking a long and careful inhale to refill my lungs with air. My mother was a Force—like Grayson Mars. After any face off with her power, I was always left a bit breathless. I walked slowly, giving myself time to counteract the light-headedness.
Mom sat down in a chair in the living room, smoothing out her dark brown dress, a dress chosen to match the exact shade of her hair, before turning to me. The bags under her eyes looked deeper than the last time I’d seen her. I wondered if the track marks in her elbow were worse. I guessed they were. She’d been taking Calm spells for years now, and it was showing, despite the spells she wrote to slow her aging and enhance her appearance.
“Well?” she demanded an explanation, folding her fingers. But I saw them tremble, despite how she tried to hold still.
My heart drooped a little, thinking she might be worse than I knew. Calm was a mellowing spell, but typically, the signs didn’t emerge unless you were doing it more than twice a day.
She was bad—she’d just gotten home, and withdrawal tremors were taking over. I pretended not to notice. Noticing would start a fight. Discussion would start a fight. Mom hated fights. Only one thing would work on her. I responded with stony silence, just like she expected me to.
Mother’s nostrils twitched and she wrung her hands just as I tended to do. She closed her eyes for a moment and chose her words carefully. “I can’t do this anymore, Hayley.”
This? What—parenting? The bitter part of my mind wanted to lash out at her and tell her she hadn’t done it for years, but I didn’t. I stayed silent. Mom hated uncomfortable drawn out silence. She’d fill the void, talk, think I was agreeing, and then finish with a hug.
She gave a harsh laugh. “God, I wish this wasn’t happening. I wish you had gotten knocked up or something—”
“Mom!” I scolded. She’d actually shocked me.
She smiled ruefully at me. “Teen pregnancy is an issue I know how to deal with.” She shook her head, referring to the fact that she and Dad had gotten pregnant with Matthew way too young.
She never talked about the past. She must have been feeling down. I couldn’t help but want to make her smile, even if it was just for a second. “Well, I’ll get right on that then,” I told her. “If you’re so desperate to help me raise a baby—”
“Shut up!” She gave a broken cackle that turned into a half sob.
Hearing her cry hurt. I knew that mom was just as full of jagged glass inside as I was. I wasn’t trying to make the pain worse. But she didn’t understand. She’d been part of the problem, turning away from life after Matthew’s accident, after Dad died. She’d abandoned Dad’s business, encouraging the Clod to sell off the research division to the Pinnacle. She’d sent me off to the first of many boarding schools.
I went over and sat next to her. I gave her a side hug, pulling her against me and realizing how rail-thin she actually had become.
