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  “Elizabeth is here?” In our house? I twisted around in my seat. We had left Elizabeth at the gym, which, when I last peeked over my shoulder at it, had black cats, and demon rats, and screaming kids running all over the place. I suddenly had a keen interest in how she had cleaned up all that. And what had happened to Natalie. And what might happen Monday morning at school.

  Elizabeth must have jumped my thoughts -‐‑ it would be fun to know how to do that – because she came around the corner just then. “Hi Logan. How are you doing?” She said it tenderly, like a sister would ask a brother. I guess that meant I was becoming part of the family.

  “I’m okay. As well as can be expected.”

  “I suppose so.” She moved around the kitchen table and went to the counter. I watched as she took a mug from the cupboard and poured herself coffee from the carafe. She moved with a familiarity that made me realize she had been here before.

  More than once, it seemed. She took a seat next to my mother and they both regarded me coolly.

  “Yes, Logan, I have been here before.” She answered my unspoken question. “As you and Serena got, well, closer to one another, it appeared your mother and I had much to discuss.” She considered my mother, who nodded her approval. “I think I’ll let Lily take over from here.” My mom moved closer to me.

  “Logan, Serena and I have something more in common than just you, son. I never meant to keep this from you this long. But then your father died, and I just didn’t know how to tell you.” She dropped her hands down in her lap and just stared at them.

  Elizabeth placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to give her strength to continue. Finally, she did. When she lifted up her face, I noticed tears streaming down her face.

  ****

  Seeing my mom cry shocked me. She cried that time she lost her wedding ring. The only time before that happened at the funeral itself. I remembered that now. They made it a closed casket because I overheard the funeral director saying that Dad’s body had been so mangled in the car wreck that he couldn’t work his usual tricks with the makeup and stuff. He called my mom and told her over the phone that an open casket “wasn’t possible.” I watched her take that call. She had just nodded numbly and handed the phone to my Aunt Janice, my Dad’s older sister. She listened for a minute and the blood drained from her face. She hung up without a word. The day of the funeral service they had to practically hold my mom up as we walked to our seats at the front of the church. She couldn’t stand on her own. And Jade was a mess.

  Barely twelve at the time, I ended up carrying her like a four year old. They both sat next to me with tear-‐‑stained faces. My mom reminded me of that now.

  “Logan, my sweet son. There’s no easy way to tell you this.”

  “Mom, just tell me. You’re starting to freak me out. And it takes a lot to do that to me now, trust me.”

  “Logan, I’m a witch, too.”

  No way could I be prepared for that.

  “Wait. What?”

  “I know you heard me, Logan. I’m a witch. And I suspect your sister Jade has my genes as well.”

  “Did Dad know?”

  “Of course he did. And he married me anyway.” She laughed warmly at the memory. “You get all your stubbornness from your Dad.”

  “So, you get it now. They don’t just want Serena. Elizabeth and I believe the new guard of the Council thinks they may have some unfinished business with me as well.”

  “And there’s more,” interjected Elizabeth. “It turns out Serena may not be the only powerful witch they have designs on.”

  “Jade?” I asked. This couldn’t be more nuts.

  “We think so,” answered Elizabeth.

  I got up from the kitchen table. I needed to move, to think. I started pacing around the room.

  “Are you sure we’re safe here? Mom? Are we?”

  My mom got up and put her arms around me.

  “Logan, I’m the one who put the spell of protection around the houses. Do you think for one minute I would mess around with the people I love? You and Jade, I gave you life, you’re my children, and you mean everything to me.” She gazed into my eyes. “Son, I know you love Serena. I love her too. She and Tabitha and Elizabeth, they’re family now, and I will do anything to protect my family. Anything. I promise you, as long as we are in these two houses, we’re safe.”

  “Okay, Mom.” I started to laugh a little.

  “What is it, Logan?”

  “I just had a thought is all. Earlier, I was worried you wouldn’t believe me. Ironic, right?”

  She ruffled my hair.

  “Yes, Logan. Ironic.” She gestured to Elizabeth. “I think we should all get some sleep now. Or at least try to. Tomorrow will be a pretty interesting day. I still need to talk to Jade and you should get home and bring Serena and Eden and the others up to speed.”

  Elizabeth and my mom embraced warmly, then she left. Wearily, I kissed my mom goodnight and left her at the kitchen table with her thoughts, watching her turning the now cold cup of coffee around and around in her hands. She wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight. I didn’t think I would be either.

  Chapter Thirteen

  LOGAN

  I woke up the next morning much later than I usually did.

  My clothes from the dance were slung over the back of my desk chair and seeing them brought back the events of the previous night. I sat up and rubbed my head, trying to make sense of everything. So, my mom’s a witch too. Oh, yeah, and so is my sister. Jeez, did that leave me as the only one around here who wasn’t? I pulled on some jeans and a t-‐‑shirt and went downstairs.

  The sound of my sister and Tabitha laughing with my mom in the kitchen met me as I descended the steps.

  “Hi Logan.”

  “Hey, big brother.”

  Both Tabitha and my sister called out morning greetings to me. “Hey, you guys.” I grabbed a glass of orange juice and sat down next to them.

  “Good morning sleepyhead.” sang out my mom. She stood at the stove frying bacon and flipping pancakes. She had already made a pile of them for the girls. “Pancakes, Logan?”

  Suddenly, I was starving.

  “Yes, please Mom. And make it a giant stack with lots of bacon. I could eat a whole pig.”

  “Gross, Logan.” My sister made a gagging sound and stuck her finger in her mouth. She and Tabitha made faces.

  “What? That’s not gross. What do you think bacon’s made of?” To demonstrate, I grabbed a couple pieces off her plate and stuffed them in my mouth.

  “Mom!” she wailed in protest. “He just took my bacon!”

  Before I could stop her, she raised her hand and waved it over me.

  Suddenly the chair I’d sat in went out from under me and I fell to the floor with a thud.

  “Jade!” Tabitha shook her finger. “I told you; you’re not supposed to do it from emotion. You have to control it better.”

  “She’s right, honey,” my mom said. “And try not to use twitchery on your brother. It’s not fair to him.”

  “Darn right it’s not fair!” I jumped up, rubbing my backside and mumbled a curse under my breath.

  “Logan!” My mom used her mad voice. “I know a lot of things have changed around here in the last twenty-‐‑four hours, but one thing hasn’t. You are still not allowed to use that kind of language in my house!”

  “Sorry, Mom.”

  “Jade, apologize to your brother.”

  “Sorry, Logan.”

  “Now, let’s all have a nice breakfast together, shall we?”

  “I hope things aren’t going to be like this all the time now, since it seems I’m the only one around here’s who’s NOT a witch.”

  I complained to my Mom.

  “Logan, don’t be so melodramatic. And Jade, if you can’t be nice with your powers, I’m not going to allow you to use them. Do the two of you have to act like toddlers all the time?” My Mom sounded pretty exasperated for this early in the morning. We were saved by the so
und of the ringing phone. Caller ID announced my buddy Dave.

  “What’s up, Bud?”

  “Hey, Dave. What’s up with you?”

  “How ‘bout that dance? Crazy or what?”

  Shoot. What the heck? I thought Serena’s sister would be spinning the web of forgetfulness or some stupid thing. And now here Dave was talking like something went down last night. What should I say? I almost blew the whole thing when Dave solved my mouth problem for me.

  “When the drummer fell right off the stage? Wasn’t that crazy?” “Yeah,” I agreed stupidly. “Crazy.”

  “So, why did you and Serena leave so early? Didja have other things to do, Loverboy?” He must have thought Serena and I left early to go make out somewhere. While I didn’t like him thinking things like that about Serena, the alternative could have been so much worse. I thought she’d probably forgive me.

  “Something like that. You and Tamera have a good time?”

  Maybe changing the subject would work. It did. Talking about Dave happened to be Dave’s favorite subject.

  “Well, she and Patty got into it about some lame thing which pretty much sucked for me and Sully since we double-‐‑dated in the same car. When we left the dance they were barely speaking, but by the time we got halfway home, they had made up with each other and we ended up at Look-‐‑out Peak, if you know what I mean. We thought we might run into you there, but I guess we missed you.”

  Dave said it as though Look-‐‑out Peak qualified as the only place in town to go parking, which, sadly, it did. If Serena and I had gone anywhere, we would have gone there. Interesting thing about Dave’s recitation? Nowhere in there had he mentioned rats, cats, or bats. So Elizabeth’s spell had worked after all.

  “You there, Bud?” I must have drifted out of the conversation, because Dave had commenced to yelling to get my attention.

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

  “I asked what are you doing later? Sully’s dad said he would pay us to help unload a big shipment at the warehouse. Sully asked me to call.”

  “What time?”

  “Around six.” I thought about it. I could use the money. I wanted to take Serena out on a real date sometime and I needed funds for that. Plus, sometimes Sully’s dad gave us first pick of whatever came in on the trucks and some truly cool stuff could be had.

  “Lemme check with my mom.” I covered the mouthpiece.

  And waited a couple minutes in silence.

  “Okay, I’ll meet you at your house at 5:30.”

  “Cool.” said Dave and we hung up.

  I walked back into the kitchen with the phone and hung it up on the cradle. I had no sooner done that than it rang again. I stared at it and snatched it up a second before my sister lunged across the counter for it. She made a face and stuck her tongue out.

  Nice. But the call belonged to me again anyway.

  “Hi, Logan. Are you having a good morning?” Serena. I didn’t even bother asking how she knew my phone number.

  “I am now. How about you?”

  “Me too.” Her voice sounded impossibly bright for this early. I wished I were right there next to her. “We’re just finishing up with breakfast over here. The plan is for me to begin my

  ‘training’ all day today.”

  “Oh.” I couldn’t hide the disappointment in my voice. I wanted to hang out with her, actually couldn’t wait to be with her again. I tried to sound casual. “I hoped we could get together sometime today.”

  “Well, that’s why I’m calling, actually. Would you like to come over for a late lunch? There are some people here that want to meet you. We’ll be taking a break probably around two o’clock.”

  Two? Great! I could get with her, meet her people and still have time to pick up Dave and get over to Sully’s. This could be a perfect day.

  “That’s perfect, Serena. I can’t wait to see you. Can I bring anything?”

  “Just yourself, Logan. That’s all I need.” My heart actually skipped a beat when she said that. I wondered if she even knew the effect she had on me.

  “Hey, before I forget, I got a call from Dave. He doesn’t even remember anything about last night. Kind of spooky.”

  “I know. I jumped a couple minds just to data mine the memories there. Logan, its so amazing…not one student who attended that dance last night has any memory of what happened.

  Well, with one notable exception.”

  “Right. Natalie.”

  “And it’s not official yet, but as of Monday, she will have dropped out of school.”

  “What?”

  “Yes. We have information that she will be dropping out.

  We don’t know what the reason will be yet, just that it will be official on Monday.”

  “Wait a minute. You said you mind-‐‑jumped to find out about the memories?”

  “Yes?”

  “But you can’t do that unless you’re near the person, right?

  Did you leave the house?” She had enough danger without inviting more. “Oh, I didn’t tell you! I’m getting more powerful, Logan. I’ve been practicing all the disciplines and with jumping especially now, I can do it if I have a connection with the person. I don’t have to be standing near them anymore. I have been working hard.”

  “So, a connection could be…what?”

  “I’m finding it could be as weak as knowing what the person looks like. My connection can be emotional or physical.”

  “Serena, you’re the most amazing person I know.”

  “Stop it, Logan.” I knew she didn’t like compliments, but I couldn’t help it. Sometimes she just amazed me.

  “No, I mean it, Serena. You blow my mind.”

  “Well, I might be about to blow your mind again.”

  I laughed. “What do you mean?”

  “Let me explain it when you get here this afternoon. I’ll just say this: I’m about to teach you a new trick.” She blew me a quick kiss and rang off. Man, I was crazy about this witchy chick.

  ****

  I spent a leisurely morning hanging out with my mom and my sister. Tabitha went home right after breakfast. Even with the protective spell in place, I felt better walking her halfway across the street. I knew the spell was my Mom’s, but I just felt better about doing it. I came back and found my mom and sister talking in the living room. They had sat up late into the night last night talking about Mom being a witch and her passing her witch genes down onto Jade. I was exhausted from the looniness of the dance but I did lie in my bed and listen to them laughing and crying, then giggling and crying some more until I fell asleep. I remember thinking that my mom sounded happier than she had in a long time.

  After I walked Tabitha home, I came back in and joined Mom and Jade in the living room. I shared with both of them how I felt about Serena and they hugged me and cried again. Jade especially seemed happiest for me. She told us how she had been experiencing her emerging powers for a little more than a year now and at first she thought she might be going crazy. Then she thought maybe she just had extraordinary luck. She wanted to buy lottery tickets but had a fear of angering unseen spirits using her powers for greed instead of good. While she explained all this to us, I could understand how hard it had to be for my Mom to hear it all, realizing how agonizing it sometimes was for Jade, and how she had dealt with it on her own, without the one person she is supposed to turn to in life, her mother. They kept embracing while Jade shared, and Jade made sure to tell my Mom, pretty much over and over, that she understood why Mom never told us her big secret before now.

  While she talked, I marveled over how, overnight it seemed, Jade had grown up. She still had the appearance of a fifteen year old, and based on our exchange with the stupid bacon this morning, she still acted like a fifteen year old. But while she spoke with my Mom and me about her developing abilities, she seemed so animated and alive, she didn’t come across as fifteen at all. And lately, even aside from the whole witch thing, she seemed to have some secrets of her own as well. And my re
action to her being a twitch surprised me as well. I felt pride. I was proud of my sister for being a twitch. And proud of my beautiful mother for being a witch. And for telling us what so clearly had to be one of the most difficult things she had ever had to do, aside from losing the love of her life, my father.

  Another thing I noticed? My mom had on her wedding band, the one that Serena told me to find behind the dresser upstairs. About to question her about it, Jade interrupted me.

  “Logan, I’m so sorry. I jumped the gun on that one.”

  “But how did you know? I mean…” I had a loss for words,

  “Did you always know I’d find it there?”

  “No, I didn’t. But Tabitha has been teaching me how to mind jump.”

  “Jeez, Jade! You’ve only known her for, like, a few weeks!”

  “I know! But she knew right away what I didn’t.” Jade managed to look chastised and smug at the same time. I wanted to smack her.

  “Do you guys all have a secret handshake or something?” I muttered under my breath, forgetting my mom belonged to the club now, too.

  “Logan,” my mom warned.

  “Sorry, Mom.” I said. Then I looked at Jade. “So, how did you know?”

  “That day me and Mom went shopping? You took, like, an hour-‐‑long shower and when you came downstairs, you just acted guilty of something. All jumpy and shifty. I never forgot that. So when Tabitha started teaching me the mindjumping trick, you were the handiest guinea pig.” She lowered her eyes again, but I knew she did it for Mom’s benefit, not because she felt sorry. “When I knew what you found, I waited till you told her about Serena and the dance, and then I told her.”

  Mom wrapped her arms around me.

  “I understand why you didn’t tell me right away Logan. You must have struggled with the decision. And I respect it.” She kissed me on the cheek. “You always did try and protect your sister and me, ever since your dad passed away. It doesn’t surprise me, you know. The role you’re taking on now? It’s so you, son. It’s just so you. Serena is one lucky little twitch.” I hugged my mom back hard.