Authors: Trish Milburn
“You said your name is Pherson,” Toni says. “There were no Phersons killed in Salem.”
“Not according to the official history books, but what you don’t know is that in addition to those innocent people, there were eighty-nine others who were murdered. They didn’t get trials. Vigilantes came to their homes and burned them, entire families of men, women, even children perishing within minutes. One of those families was Olaf, Genya and Bennie Pherson, my ancestors. I wouldn’t be here today if Olaf and Genya’s oldest daughter, Etta, hadn’t managed to escape.”
“How could something like that happen without us knowing about it?” Toni asks.
“How many Native Americans, who we know nothing about, do you think were killed during America’s westward expansion?” I pause, looking out into the darkness of the yard. “The people of Salem and the surrounding areas made a pact to never speak of the witches who were killed without trials. And in so doing, they made us what we are today, a race that lives for retribution.”
I return my attention to them. “Our people were tired of being helpless, of being victims. So they said, ‘Fine, you think we’re something to fear? Then we will be.’ The major witch families made their own pact. They drew on very old and dark forces, things I don’t fully understand. I’m not sure any of the modern witches do, not even the leaders of the different families. But it had something to do with gathering at certain spots around the world, places where this dark energy bubbled up and escaped into the world to menace mankind. But no one had ever harnessed it, not until the witches decided to try. Some died in the effort, several in fact, before the families figured out how to take the power into themselves.”
I look up at them from where I’ve been staring at the floor. “And when they did, their level of power wasn’t the only thing that changed. They didn’t just harness darkness, they became it. They killed as our kind had been killed, they still kill.”
“Do
. . .
have you?” Toni’s nervousness makes her voice tremor.
I shake my head. “Witches are forbidden to kill until we reach our seventeenth birthday, when we come into our full powers. Then it’s . . . it’s expected. It’s not totally indiscriminate anymore. It’s more targeted, though that doesn’t make it okay. It’s all horrible.”
“If what you say is true, and your people took on all this dark power, why aren’t you evil?” Toni asks.
I glance at Keller and realize he isn’t convinced that I’m not. My heart squeezes.
“I don’t know. But I won’t lie. Sometimes the urge to do bad things is there. The two encounters with Stacy, that day in the cafeteria and after school at Squeaky’s, I felt the darkness rising in me then. That’s why I left. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“Stacy saw it,” Keller says. “She was scared of you.”
“I know.”
“You’re only sixteen,” Toni says. “So you’re going to get more powerful?”
“Yes, if I live that long.”
“What do you mean?” Despite everything, Keller sounds like he might actually not like the idea of my demise.
I latch on to that ridiculously small sliver of hope.
“I’ve had to live a lie my entire life. For as long as I can remember, I’ve known that the way the covens live is wrong. And I wanted no part of it. I had to get away before my seventeenth birthday, when it’s kill or be killed. For two years, I’ve been plotting my escape. Saving money, searching the country for the perfect place to hide, creating a false trail for my family to follow. All I’ve ever wanted is to live a normal life, to have friends, to go to a real school, to
. . .”
I look up at Keller, my heart breaking.
To date someone.
He breaks eye contact, and it feels like he’s hundreds of miles away, on a different continent.
“My aunt sent me out to run an errand one day about a month ago, and I just kept going,” I continue. “I bought my car with cash from a guy too drunk to remember me. Then came the little RV from a couple too old to remember me.
“I could have erased their memories like I did the woman who posed as my mom, but I was trying not to use my power. Each time I do, it leaves a signature like a fingerprint, sort of like a disturbance in the air, making it easier for my family to find me. The more powerful the magic, the stronger the signature.
“That’s why I had to get away from the store tonight. If my family is able to track that burst of power, I can’t be around you. I can’t endanger you like that.”
“But you don’t think you’re endangering us just by hanging out with us?” Keller asks.
“Keller.” Toni’s voice is sharp with reproach. “She saved my life tonight, you twit.”
He shifts positions. “I know, and I’m thankful. But it sounds like we could be in even bigger danger now.”
“I haven’t sensed anyone nearby,” I say. “I’ll know if they come anywhere near here.”
“What happens if they find you?” Keller asks.
“They’ll kill me.”
The shock on his face is apparent, even in the dim light. “There’s got to be a way to stop them. How can we kill them?”
“What?” I nearly screech, fear lacing my words.
“Don’t worry.” He pauses, stares at me. “You’re safe for now, until you give me a reason to believe you shouldn’t be.”
“Keller,” Toni warns, whether in defense of me or to protect him, I don’t know.
I stare right at him. “Our physiology is human. We
are
human, just with enhanced power. If the guy at the store had shot me tonight, I would have been as dead or injured as any of you.”
“So we have a bunch of loaded guns ready,” he says.
“It’s not that simple. Yes, a bullet can kill us, but getting the bullet to us in the first place is what’s difficult.”
Keller eyes me with more wariness. “You have shielding powers?”
“Yes, against human weapons. And we have the speed.”
Keller curses, letting fly with a string of words his father would no doubt heartily disapprove of. “What, you’re like one of the X-Men or something?”
“No, I don’t have the tight black leather suit,” I shoot back at him.
“Nice. That sense of humor come with the forces of darkness package?”
Toni surges to her feet and plants herself between us. “Stop it, right now. We’re on the same side here.”
Keller keeps staring at me past his cousin. “Are we?”
“Yes.” I whisper the response, forcing it past the enormous lump in my throat. He’s being an ass, but what can I expect?
“I think you’d better go home now,” he says.
“She’s spending the night here.”
He glances at Toni. “Not a good idea.”
“She’s not going to hurt me.”
“Maybe not directly, but she admitted that being near her could put us in danger. Your mom already lost your dad. She doesn’t deserve to lose you, too.”
“You’re right, and she’s not going to.”
“Toni,” he says.
“Keller, I think you’re the one who needs to go home.”
“He’s right.” I stand. “I should go.”
Toni reaches out and grabs my arm. “No. You’re staying here tonight, and that’s the end of the discussion. Keller, go home and sleep off this pissed-off mood. And don’t say a word to your dad about Jax.”
“I can’t promise that.”
“You will or you’ll never be welcome in this house again. Don’t you get it? If Jax were all Miss Evil, she wouldn’t have
saved my life
tonight. But she did. You might be able to forget that, but I can’t.”
“Fine. I’ll stay quiet, for now.” He looks past Toni again and meets my gaze. “But know that I’m going to be watching you carefully. And I’m going to be ready if your relatives come to town.”
“If they do, you have to let me deal with them. You’re no match for them.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” His long stride takes him from the gazebo across the yard.
I want to yell at him that I’m just trying to save his ungrateful life, but I don’t have the energy. I can’t remember ever being as tired as I am now.
Despite my warning, he’s no doubt going home to start amassing an arsenal. I have to make sure he never even tries to use it. He would lose, and it’d be my fault.
And I can’t live with that.
Who would have thought fighting against tears would be harder than keeping my power in check? But it is. I swallow, determined not to cry no matter how much it hurts to watch Keller walk away, to know that being in his arms tonight might have been the one and only time I’d feel that pleasure.
And knowing, deep down, that it’s probably for the best. At least safer for him.
After Keller disappears around the corner of the house, Toni extends a hand to me. “Come on, let’s go inside. I’m beat.”
I hesitate. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go home?” I should just go without even asking, but at the moment I’m weak. I don’t want to be alone.
“Don’t listen to him. He’s a guy, and guys are routinely stupid.”
“He’s not, at least not about this. It is dangerous to be around me.”
Toni turns to face me and places her hands on her hips. “You said you’d sense your family if they showed up in the area, right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you sense them now?”
“No.”
“Then until you do, stop worrying. It’s not like you’re a vampire and you’re going to suck my blood in the middle of the night.”
Moments before, I’d felt like I might never smile again, but I manage a small one at my friend’s comment. That’s still so amazing to me, to call someone a friend, a real one. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Standing up for me.”
“Honey, I have a feeling you can stand up for yourself fine without my help. I’m just thankful Keller’s attitude didn’t get him toasted like that video surveillance camera.”
“You saw that?”
“I was as bug-eyed as a frog, seeing everything like it was in slow motion in a movie. Not every day some kook points a gun at me. I’m really glad you’ve got that Supergirl speed.”
“Me, too.” I realize it’s the first time in a very long time that I’m actually thankful for my powers. For so long, I’ve considered them a burden, things to be fought, oddities that link me to the kind of life I don’t want. If I could only use them for good purposes, they’d be great to have. But I can’t use them, no more than absolutely necessary. And not only because I don’t want my family to find me. Part of me is afraid that I’ll succumb to the inherent darkness if I tempt it too much.
Toni nods toward the house, and this time I stand and follow her. When we reach Toni’s room, she steps into her closet and comes back with a set of pink silk pajamas. “They’re part of Mom’s ‘Let’s make Toni more feminine’ collection.”
I hold them up. “At least they match your hair.”
“Ha ha.”
“Why does your mom think you’re not feminine? I mean, you didn’t exactly buzz your head or start wearing all black.”
Toni flops down on her window seat. “Let’s see. Mom thinks the pink streaks should go. I should wear frilly little blouses instead of T-shirts and throw out all footwear that resembles a boot or Doc Marten. Oh, and I should try harder to get a boy interested in me. She’d also go into paroxysms of joy if I’d allow her to call me Antonia. She loathes calling me Toni. It’s the one thing she can’t forgive my father for starting.”
I sit on the end of the bed, the pajamas in my lap. “Maybe she’s lonely and doesn’t want you to be.”
“I’m not. I like my life.”
I look up at her, feeling a swell of love for this girl who has become my dearest friend in such a short time. “Is that true?”
Toni looks away, sighs. “You can’t read minds, can you?”
“No, just control them,” I say in an even, matter-of-fact tone.
“Oh, yeah, that’s comforting.”
“Toni?”
“Okay, okay. Would I like to have a date? Sure. Have I met anyone I want to go out with? No. I have lots of guy friends, but I don’t click romantically with any of them. In case you haven’t noticed, you got the pick of the Baker Gap litter.”