He sniffled and rubbed his face, then pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped at his eyes, then nose. “I’m sorry,” he finally wheezed out.

  Sid sighed, walked around his desk and sat back down. I just stood there, arm on the back of the leather wingback I had been sitting in earlier. “Sorry for what?”

  “For being such a horses ass. I know better, but my worry for your father – my boy – has me leaning more towards my animal side than my human.”

  “And so you’ve been more animal than human every time you see me?” Sid said.

  “She has a point, Grandpa.”

  The old man leaned back and sighed. “Do you know how many twins were born into this family? Five. Over the last hundred years. Every pair of twins were both males.” He shook his head. “Your father not only gave me mutant grandchildren, he couldn’t even give me both males. Total waste of his genetics.”

  “Are you freakin’ kidding me right now?” I said, staring at the man I had admired and loved. Sid had a much different reaction. Standing, she moved past the desk to the bookshelves at the end of the room. She reached up, tugged on the copy of Jack London’s “Call of the Wild” and the bookcase slid to the right, revealing the safe.

  “What do you think…” Grandpa started to say, and I turned to face him.

  “I think you need to be quiet,” I said.

  “You children need to stop.” He started to get up out of his chair and Sid turned, flicked her hand in his direction, and a force spell slapped him in the chest and pushed him back into his chair.

  I snorted a rude laugh and shook my head. “Like I said, be quiet and just sit there. It’s healthier for you.”

  Sid opened the safe, stepped inside and within a few minutes, she was walking out with our wooden trunk floating behind her. “It’s still warded,” she told me.

  “Good,” I turned to our grandfather. “Now, the bank account information.”

  “I’m not about to give…”

  “Yeah, yeah, we know. You’re not about to give a damn about us because we’re mutants. But you are about to give us the account information for those trusts you set up for us instead of using them as threats to hold over us. We’re past legal age, more than capable of handling our own finances, and not interested in having to deal with you again.”

  He got to his feet and went into the safe. A few minutes went by and he came out with a soft black leather bag zipped shut. He handed it to me, so I zipped it open. Inside were two account access packets and a couple of bound bundles of money. I zipped it shut and nodded to Sid. “We’re done.”

  Sid headed out of the office, the trunk floating behind her. I started to follow, then stopped and reached into my pocket. I pulled out the two keys for the house that he’d given me a couple of years back and tossed them onto his desk, then followed my sister out to the car.

  Our grandfather didn’t say a word. I mean, what could he say?

  * * *

  Once we were back on the road, I turned toward the lighthouse.

  “Thanks,” Sid said. “I want to go see if there are any traces there, too.”

  “Then we go to Grandma’s place and see Mom.”

  “Definitely. I need to see that she’s okay.”

  It was only about ten minutes up the road from Boudreau House to the lighthouse on the point. No one was there that we could see. No cars and no hikers as we parked and made our way up to the house and tower. There was a new padlock on the lighthouse door, but a whispered word of power and the lock popped open. Inside the ground floor of the tower, a dirty blanket lay on the floor. Bloodstains marred the plaid fabric and the scent of blood and salt was in the air. Sid picked up a broken branch from some debris in the corner and lifted the blanket, revealing a salt circle underneath.

  I wandered the room and found herb bundles scattered in the dead leaves and brush. “Whoever brought Mom here, tried to heal and protect her. I guess that’s a good sign?” I said.

  “There’s a lot of blood on this blanket. You got a trash bag in the car? I don’t want to leave Mom’s blood here for someone to maybe use.” Sid said.

  “I’ve got a better idea,” I told her. With a gesture and a word of power, some of the brush and leaves swirled into the empty fireplace.

  Sid kept the blanket on the stick and brought it over, stuffing it into the pile. She checked to make sure the flue was open, and I lit the fire with my magic. It didn’t take long to turn the blanket into ash. Sid and I stood there, watching until it was gone. I put the fire out and we left.

  It was time to go to the Fortin side of town and see Mom.

  Chapter Five

  Sid

  Sin pulled up the gravel drive between the gardens and past the cottage herbal shop. We drove past Auntie Sett’s little blue cottage covered in ivy and morning glory vines, past the pale green cottage that used to be our Mom’s before she got married and parked in front of the main farmhouse. A Victorian in a soft yellow with blue and green trim and gingerbread detailing sprawled amid flowers and herbs. Hanging pots of ferns and flowers decorated the wrap around porch, shading the padded wicker seats. The differences between the Boudreau home base and the Fortin home base were stark.

  I got out the minute the car stopped but Sin called me back.

  “Sid, wait a sec. Come sit back down a moment.”

  I slid back into the car and looked up at him. “What’s up?”

  “We need to ward this, and the car, before we go in,” Sin said.

  “Oh, yeah. Let’s make it fast. I want to see Mom.” We got it done quickly and slid the bag into the glove compartment, got out, sealed the wards, then headed inside. When I got to the door, Auntie Sett pulled it open and tugged me into a hug.

  “She’s better. She’s going to be okay,” Auntie Sett’s voice cracked, and I hugged her back good and tight. Mom was the older of the two sisters. There had been four of them, the Fortin sisters, but the two eldest had died in the last shifter-witch war. Bernadette and Marie-Sidonie were about two years apart, then twelve years between Marie and my mom, and three years between Mom and Cosette. Auntie Sett barely remembered Bernie and Marie. They’d died when she had been five years old. Grandma had checked out for a few years after losing two of her kids, so Mom had helped raise Sett until Grandma got her head screwed back on straight.

  “She’s tough, Auntie Sett. She’s not going to let some racist asshat take her out,” I said. My attempt at reassurance. Hey, I was pre-law, not in law school yet. The art of subtlety had never been mine.

  Sin rolled his eyes at me and nudged us both back into the house, a hand on Auntie’s shoulder. “Who’s her healer?” he asked.

  “Evelyn Rue,” Sett told him, an arm looped around my waist as we headed down the hall to the kitchen. “I was just getting tea ready to bring in. You go ahead, Sid. I want to ask Sin’s advice on some of the herbs. He’s better at them than I am.”

  I kissed Sett’s cheek and slipped past them to the hallway. I knew Mom would be in the sick room in the back. It was a bright and airy guest room with its own bath, a door out to the patio, and across the hall from the apothecary room. The door was open, and I gently tapped before I pushed it open a bit more. “May I?” I asked as I stepped a pace in.

  “Siddie,” my Mom said, lifting a hand to me.

  I glanced at my grandmother for a moment and she nodded, so I rushed over to the bed and knelt beside it. I took Mom’s hand and kissed her fingers. “I’m so glad to see you.”

  “I’m pretty glad to see you too, daughter mine,” Mom tugged my hand a little and I leaned up and kissed her forehead.

  “How are you feeling? Sin and I went to the lighthouse and burned the bloody blanket. Didn’t want to leave that around for anyone to use.”

  “Smart girl,” she murmured as she stroked my hair. “I’m feeling a lot better, but I’m going to need some time to get my strength back.”

  Evelyn cleared her throat, “As soon as Cosette brings the tea and Amelia drinks it, she needs to rest.”

  Grandma Fortin moved to the bed, leaned over and kissed Mom’s forehead. “I’m going to talk to the kids, Melly. You drink your tea and rest. They’ll be here when you wake up.”

  I kissed Mom again and got to my feet. “Definitely, Mom.”

  Sin came in with Sett and he carried the tray for her to put it on a table before he headed over to Mom. “Hey beautiful mother of mine,” he said as he leaned over to kiss her forehead.

  “There’s my Sinclair. Hello, son. You and your sister are the lights of my life.”

  “And you are the light of ours, Mom,” Sin said as he handed her a cup of tea and helped her sip it.

  Evelyn took the cup from Sin and sat beside Mom to help her drink the tea.

  “We’ll see you after your rest, Mom,” I told her and headed for the door.

  Grandma walked out with us and we hugged. “I’m glad you two came here. You’ll stay for the night, so you can spend time with your mom?”

  “Sure, Grandma. Thanks for asking,” Sin said.

  “We’d like to stay, Grandma. It’s been a really crappy day,” I told her.

  Dark hair coiled in a braid around her head, Grandma Fortin was a tiny powerhouse. Elegant demeanor and fine manners in cargo pants, chamois shirt and a t-shirt with a broom on it that said: “I Drive Stick”.

  “Well, come into the kitchen. There’s a big pot of chicken soup on the stove and Sett made her cheddar herb bread.”

  “Oh, bless you both. I’m starved,” Sin said as he moved to kiss the top of Grandma’s head.

  We all sat down at the table and Jolie, Bernadette’s daughter, put the food on the table. Jolie’s father had sent her to Grandma when she was thirteen and started showing her magic. She’d lived here, worked with Grandma on the farm and helped around the house since then.

  “Hi, Jolie, how are you?” Sin asked as she set a pitcher of iced tea on the table.

  “Good,” Jolie said, tone short and cold. She went back into the kitchen and left us alone.

  Grandma sighed. “I’m sorry about that. You’d think she’d have learned by now.”

  I put my hand over hers and squeezed lightly. “It’s fine, Grandma. We’re used to it.”

  “You shouldn’t have to be. You two didn’t ask to be born special and your parents fell in love in spite of it all. A person can’t choose who their heart picks.”

  I thought about her words while I ate my soup with the bread. Mom had told me when I was younger that she and Dad had met while he was on an investigation. They’d been friends for a couple of years before they realized they wanted more than friendship. Both had dated other people but couldn’t get each other out of their heads so they ended up together and were happier that way. Sin and I had only dated humans so far, trying to play it safe. The last thing we wanted was to upset one side or the other by dating a gifted one.

  Sin’s spoon rested in his empty bowl as he reached for more bread. “Grandma, did Mom say anything about Dad?”

  “She only said that they were split up after the first two days and she didn’t see him again.”

  “Our grandfather Boudreau said that Dad escaped and had gone back to the house. They burned it down, hoping to get him, but no bodies were found in the rubble, so he’s still out there, somewhere,” I told her.

  Grandma’s expression tightened, “Do you believe him?”

  I shared a look with Sin, and he answered. “We believe him about that, at least. But we won’t be voluntarily socializing with him again. Not after today.”

  “I won’t ask what he did this time,” Grandma said. “He’s always been a racist, misogynistic asshole, so I’m assuming it was something along those lines.”

  “You called it,” I said.

  “I do feel for him in that his child is missing. I’m grateful mine is alive and back with us, so I can give him that much. But if he treated you poorly, Siddie, then that’s all he gets. My sympathies for his worry over his child and nothing more.” Grandma reached over and poured us more tea before she continued. “He spoke down to your mother once, in front of me, and I gave him a case of hives that made his life interesting for a little while.”

  “Grandma,” I gasped, then burst into laughter.

  Sin choked on his mouthful of tea, trying not to spray it as he laughed.

  Grandma shrugged. “Well, men tend to like to scratch their privates a lot. I just gave him a reason to be doing it.”

  It felt good to laugh with Sin and Grandma like this. We’d not had a lot to laugh about the past few days. Knowing Mom would be okay was a huge help too. Now we just needed to find Dad.

  “Sin, could you call Benny and tell him about Dad? Maybe they could keep an eye out for him. We know he liked to run the woods around the lake.”

  “Sure, sis. I’ll take care of that. Let me go do it now,” Sin said as he got up and put his dishes in the kitchen.

  Grandma reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You two are doing well through all of this. I’m proud of you, Siddie.”

  “Thanks, Grandma. I’m just trying to do my best, is all. Most of our friends are planning for graduation and we’re trying to keep our parents alive.”

  “I know this has been a sore subject before, but have you considered getting more training?”

  I sighed. “We’ve been talking about it. I still want to go to law school and Sin wants medical school, but if there’s another war coming, we need to be better prepared.”

  “I pray to all the Powers That Be that there will not be another war, but I, too, am seeing the signs of unrest. I think being better trained would help you two stay alive longer. You know I’m a blunt speaker and having you two as targets isn’t going to change.”

  “I know. This mess with Mom and Dad is just the worst we’ve had to deal with so far.”

  “Just think about it, Siddie. I’ll support you no matter what your decision. You and Sin are smart kids and will make good decisions about this.” Grandma gave me a kiss on my forehead, and it felt like a benediction.

  Sin jogged back into the room, “Sid, we’ve gotta go. Benny said someone tried to get to the cabin and Stefano got hurt.”

  “It never triggered the wards,” I said, trying to understand what he was saying.

  “They never got that close. Candace and Stefano were on patrol and caught them before they got into the yard.” He paused and looked at Grandma. “They were witches, Grandma. Can Auntie Sett come to help us?”

  Grandma nodded. “I’ll get her. We’ll also get your things. You two can live in your Mom’s cottage for now.”

  “Wait, Grandma…” I started to say and Sin shook his head.

  “No, Sid, she’s right. Who knows what crap Grandpa will pull now that we’re standing up for ourselves. I’ll ask Benny if we can get a couple of guys and a trailer to move the garage stuff. You focus on the house stuff. But for now, let’s get over there and make sure Stefano is okay and find out what happened.”

  Grandma left the room while we got cleaned up and ready to go. Before we left, she handed me a set of keys. “These go to the cottage. The others are to the storage barn out back. You can put stuff in there. It’s climate-controlled for the herb packages.”

  “Thank you, Grandma. Let Mom know we’ll be back if she wakes up?” I asked.

  “Sure, honey. You two get a move on. It’ll be dark soon.”

  * * *

  We pulled up to Benny’s garage first, to check on Candace and Stefano. Out behind the garage was a small clinic that he used for the pack when needed. There were a couple of vehicles outside the clinic, so we pulled up there.

  “Sin, do you think we should stay at the cabin or go to Grams?”

  “Go to Grams. We have the finances now, and let’s be honest, the wards at Grandma’s place are better than anything we could put up.”

  “True, because they’ve been built on for generations. Hundreds of years.”

  “Do you want to stay here and just let me go in?” Sin asked me, expression worried.

  I shook my head. “No, I’ll go with you. I need to get past this block of mine sooner rather than later.”

  We got out of the car and headed to the clinic. A pack member stood by the door inside and nodded to us when we went in. I took a deep breath and all I could smell were shifters and blood. My hands started to shake so I shoved them in my jacket pockets and followed Sin into the next room.

  Stefano lay on a table with the doctor standing over him, checking an IV that fed into the patient’s arm. Candace was seated beside the table, holding her husband’s hand.

  Benny came up to us as we stepped into the room and urged us back out. “Hey, you two, he’s going to be okay. Whatever the witch did to him, it forced him out of his shift and knocked him unconscious. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “Hey, Benny. Glad to hear he’s going to recover. Our Aunt Cosette is coming by to help if you need it. She is going to stay out in the car until you say it’s okay. We don’t want to step on any toes,” Sin said.

  “She might be able to ease whatever aftereffects the spell attack left behind and make sure there aren’t any nasty surprises that pop up later,” I told him.

  “Geeze, I didn’t think about that. You two and your Mama are the only witches I ever got to know. Is your Aunt cool like you?” Benny asked.

  I laughed a bit. “Auntie Sett is the coolest person ever. We wouldn’t have brought her along if she wasn’t, Benny.”

  Sin looked at his phone. “She’s parked outside. Want her to come in?”

  “Let me go check with the doctor and Candace,” Benny said. He disappeared back into the clinic while Sin texted Sett.

  I leaned against the wall, practicing my breathing. I had to stay calm. See, Sin was pretty comfortable with his shifter side. He’d been training with Grandpa B for years, but I had to work with what Sin remembered, and then eventually, with Dad. Dad had worked so much, he wasn’t around enough to train us when we were small – and he thought Grandpa was training us both. Yeah, not so much. When I hit puberty and the urge to shift got to be too much, I did it alone, in the garage. It was traumatic and when I shifted back, I refused to shift again, until it got to be too much. We were supposed to shift a couple of times a month, at a minimum. Something about the balance of our human and animal sides. It wasn’t a moon thing, more of a yin-yang thing. I still hated shifting. Being around more than one or two shifters made it hard for me to control the urge to shift, so I spent more time with the witch side of the family or just mundanes.

 

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