Page 34 of Witches of Honeysuckle House
“I was speaking to your sister.”
Evie decided the best course of action was to simply repeat herself. “I asked if you cast a spell on him like you did on us.” Her mother stared at her, and in the ensuing silence, Evie’s stomach turned over, forcing out more words. “The curse,” Evie said, her ears ringing with the word. “Why didn’t you want us to know about it?”
Evie expected a shout, but her mother’s voice came out low and soft and somehow that was so much worse. “He told you?”
What Linda did next happened so fast that Evie felt it before she processed it. One minute, her mother was sitting in the chair in front of her, the next, she was standing in front of Evie with her hand in Evie’s hair, her mouth twisted in anger. There was a sharp tug at Evie’s scalp. She had to rise to her tiptoes to follow. She cried out, tried to twist away, but any move she made sent pain through her head.
Florence was on them within moments.
“Let her go!” Florence shouted as she pushed against their mother.
The floorboards rocked beneath their feet. Linda lost her grip on Evie, but not before she took a fistful of Evie’s hair with her. Evie scrambled back behind her sister.
“Run,” Florence said.
Evie turned and started out of the kitchen, Florence on her heels. She shot out the door and down the hallway. Her heart raced, her scalp burned, her eyes stung. She took one look over her shoulder. Their mother was only a few steps behind them when she grabbed for Florence.
“Florence!” Evie shouted.
Linda gripped Florence by the arm and threw her against the hallway wall. Florence ricocheted off the plaster, sending a family photo to the floor. Glass shattered. Evie reached for her sister. At the same time, the rest of the frames fell from the walls. They landedbetween her mother and Florence—none of them quite hitting Linda, but in that moment, Evie wished they had.
Evie grabbed her sister’s hand, and together they rounded the corner to the stairs. With each step they cleared, the house flattened it out, giving their mother no purchase to follow. They ran for Florence’s room. As soon as they made it through the door, Florence slammed it shut and turned the lock. Then she pulled Evie close, holding her tight as they stared at it.
Within a few moments, their mother was pounding on the other side. The handle rattled, and Evie trembled against her sister’s arms. Linda’s voice came through the wood muffled.
“Let—me—in,” she huffed, voice strained as though each word was an effort.
Honeysuckle vines peeked under and through the seams of the door. What Evie couldn’t see was the wall of greenery the house had summoned up on the other side. No matter how many vines Linda tried to tear free, more kept coming, blocking her from her daughters.
Chapter Seventeen
Florence, 1999
Florence and Evie stayed behind the wall of honeysuckle for the rest of the evening and into the morning. They had peeked through the keyhole more than once, but they couldn’t make out much of anything through the vines. A bruise bloomed on Florence’s shoulder where she’d collided with the wall, and every time she noticed the patch of red on Evie’s scalp, her heart caved, the sadness and anger all too much. It was the first time Linda Caldwell had ever laid a hand on her daughters. Yes, there’d been the time with the broken flowerpots. But that had been Florence’s doing, Florence’s fault in the first place, the sort of discipline good girls needed. Until tonight, all of her mother’s violence had been secondhand. Now, they’d crossed some sort of bridge, and Florence didn’t think there was any going back.
She and Evie ate the rest of the candy for dinner, played all the board games Florence kept in her room, and then Florence held her sister until she fell asleep. All the while, Florence kept her attention on the hallway, listening for every creak of a floorboard or opening of a door.
Part of it was fear that after their mother had given up and trudged away, she’d return. Another part of it was hope her father would wake to get a glass of water or a midnight snack and Florencecould tell him everything. Then she could convince him to get in the car and drive far away so they’d be safe.
By the time morning broke through the curtains, Florence still hadn’t slept. The window opened, but not even the crisp air and golden sunlight streaming through the maple leaves outside were enough to ease her dread.
She released her hold on her sister and slowly slipped out of bed, before pulling on a pair of loose jeans and a flannel. She gently pushed against Evie’s shoulder. Her sister’s eyelids fluttered open, and she stretched her arms above her head.
“Happy birthday!” After a few moments her eyes darkened. She took a sharp breath and glanced at the door. “Mom …?”
Florence shook her head. “She hasn’t come back. Get dressed and wait here.”
Evie scrambled out of bed wearing one of Florence’s T-shirts. She shook her head. “I’m coming with you.”
“You’ll be safer here.” Florence had been wracked with guilt all night that she hadn’t gotten to Evie fast enough, that she hadn’t predicted what her mother was going to do. That it hadn’t beenherhair Linda ripped out by the roots. She couldn’t let something like that happen again, not today. Not ever.
But Evie wouldn’t hear it as she wriggled back into yesterday’s dungarees. “I’m not staying.”
Florence knew there was no point arguing with her. With a heavy sigh she said, “Let’s find Dad and get out of here.”
“Because of the—”
Florence clapped a hand over Evie’s mouth gently. No time for ringing ears.
