Page 94 of Enspelled

She pulls her hand from mine and I don’t even feel her do it because I don’t recognize this person with Aunt Mel’s face. Her eyes are so cold and hard that I want to take a step away from this unfamiliar person who scares me more and more the longer she talks.

“How can you still be alive, Aunt Mel?” I ask. But I think I know.

“I’m alive because the body they pulled from the tearoom was Layla Markham, the most poisonous spider in this town, weaving her malice and spite over everyone.”

“Because of the tearoom?”

“Because of my whole life,” she snaps. “There was not one day I didn’t have to deal with some sly comment or her sneering face. Condescendingbitch.”

I flinch.

Aunt Mel gentles her voice and lets out a slow breath, as if to calm herself down. “But I was never strong enough to do anything about this town, or anyone in it.”

“So why didn’t you just leave if you hated it so much?”

She sneers. “And leave them alive? No. This is my home. She wasn’t chasing me away. And then your mother came along.”

When dread forms in the pit of my stomach, I curve my arms around myself. “What does my mom have to do with this?”

“She said she was a witch—an elemental with powers that didn’t always work well—but I knew what she was when you were born.”

I lean against the tree for support because I have a feeling I’m going to need it. “Why would she say that?”

Aunt Mel shrugs. “Maybe so Diana Calla wouldn’t force her to join her coven. Who knows? It isn’t important. But with her gift, I knew I could finally make Layla pay.”

“What was she, if she wasn’t a witch?”

“A phoenix,” she says.

Why does my head feel like it’s going to explode?

Lifting my hand, I rub my aching temple. “I don’t understand.”

“The demon was supposed to hold her. Just until I could work the spell to take her power. But something must have gone wrong.”

A flash of memory hits. Dad is gripping my arm and shoving at me. Telling me to run. “They saved me.”

Aunt Mel blinks. “They sacrificed themselves for you. So that’s how you survived.”

“You summoned a demon to kill my parents,” I whisper.

She tuts. “Notkillthem. I needed her power so I could take on Layla.”

“Then why didn’t you just send the demon after Layla?” I snap as something hot and sharp snakes through me. Something that feels like rage. “If she had done you so much wrong, why did you send it after my parents?”

She tuts again. “That would be too easy. No, they needed to suffer. This whole town needed to suffer, and they did. Layla died in agony, Diana lost everyone she loved before you so helpfully killed her for me, and Keane ripped Vera apart. And with that explosion, the green witches are dead.Allof them.” She grins. “It was perfect.”

“You killed my parents. You caused the explosion.” My lips feel numb.

My entire body feels numb.

“I just wanted her power, Briar. That’s all.”

“And did you get it?” I don’t care. Not really. But it’s better than thinking about the lengths Aunt Mel has gone to for revenge.

I didn’t explode the house and kill them. All this time, I believed it was me.

“No. She died. But not you.” Her gaze sharpens.

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