Page 22 of Stalked

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” he said.

Yeah, no kidding.

“When I saw you weren’t healing as fast as you used to, I realized you had no idea what power you held. I believe that the closer you get to your birthday, the more magic will return to you. My other thought was that since your mother was taking your powers from you your entire life, you didn’t know what you were and were unable to tap into the healing abilities.”

Wait, what? My mother?

“What do you know about my mom?” Just the mention of her caused my heart to race again. I clenched my fingers together so Caleb couldn’t see my hands begin to shake.

Let it go. My mom is locked away.

Beneath my feet, the room started spinning as I closed my eyes tightly. I couldn’t keep my eyes open long enough without feeling like I would topple over.

I heard him speaking, but I couldn’t look up. “I believe Daniella was using her own magic to take away yours so you could have a normal life.”

“None of this is making sense to me.” I looked down, pulled the robe back a little, and touched the soft, pink ridge of flesh on my chest. “My scar,” I said, remembering the blade slicing open my chest and the wound taking a few months to fully heal. “This is where my mother stabbed me, Caleb. The wound didn’t unnaturally heal itself. I have a scar.”

“She must have laced the knife with magic or silver. It’s the only way it could have penetrated your skin the way it did without your body healing around the blade.”

I removed my hand from my scar.

Hearing the wordspowersandmagiconly caused my mind to race again. I felt myself disassociate and stared at the wall as if I wasn’t even in the conversation anymore.

My head was so out of focus I hadn’t noticed Caleb was now standing right in front of me until I heard his voice. “Mercy, are you okay?” he asked, leaning down toward me and lifting my chin with the tip of his index finger. I quivered at his tender touch—the same way he had touched my skin at the cove. There was also a genuine concern in his eyes.

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I took a few deep breaths to help slow down my heartbeat and finally found the question I’d been too afraid to ask.

“What am I?”

The smile on his face was of pride and sincerity. “You’re an entity created for this Earth to bring balance to magic. The world calls us witches. Just like your mom. Just like Lily and Joel. Except Lily hasn’t used elemental magic in years. Not the kind of power she was born with, at least.”

I blinked at him several times and leaned back. Hysterical laughter spilled out over everything he had shared and how stupid I felt for listening to it.

“I’m going crazy like my mom,” I said, almost in a whisper. “I was right. You’re just a figment of my imagination. I might be seeing shadows. The witness said I walked out of my car and wandered into the woods. So, I must have hit my head, and you aren’t really here.” I pressed the back of my head against the window. “I’m turning into my goddamn mother.”

He kneeled before me and carefully wrapped his long fingers around my wrists. “You’re not your mom.”

At his touch, I felt something flow into my arms and toward my chest. The strange, warm feeling made me laugh even harder because I had finally reached the breaking point. Magic wasn’t real. Absolutely none of this was real. I was finally having a complete mental breakdown and was hallucinating.

Caleb whispered, “Mercy. This is real, and you know it is. That power inside you that you’re feeling, even now, as I touch you, that’s magic. You’re not only feeling your own powers, but you’re taking in mine like a sponge. Something you will crave the moment I release our touch.”

Sure. Green magic from my fingers. I get it now.

A small part of me wanted it to be real, but it was foolish to believe it. I wanted so desperately to escape from reality that I was willing to cling to anything else. I was ready to stick to the thought that he might be right just so something in my fucked-up life made sense.

“Magic isn’t real,” I said.

He released my wrists, stood up, and paced in front of me.

Just like that, the energy I had felt simmered down, but only slightly—I still felt my own. Or what Caleb wanted me to believe was mine. There had to be an explanation for what was happening.

Maybe he knocked out Lily.

The neighbors would have heard her scream.

He must have done something to the walls, something high-tech. A sort of soundproofing using blue lasers.

How? It defies all the laws of science.

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