War of the Rose Covens

Chapter 3

Chapter 3Mom wouldn’t leave, and I couldn’t stop crying. She kept rubbing my back. Every moment in contact with her felt worse than the last. I wanted to throw up.

Once she’d broken through, she’d torn the cabin apart looking for the tokens. Nothing had stayed safe from her. If she’d wanted to know everything, she could’ve learned it all. With her obsessive focus on the tokens, at least she still didn’t know much.

“I know you’re upset, sweetie. But you shouldn’t have resisted me. I warned you. And now here we are. It didn’t even work, so we’ll have to do it again. And since it didn’t work, you’re obviously hiding things from me, which isn’t acceptable. You’re grounded until the end of the month. I’ll take you to school and pick you up afterward, and you can’t leave the house without me.”

Finally, she took her hand off me and stood. “If Drew comes here again, I’ll deal with him like I would anyone else who’s hurt my little girl.” She turned on her heel and stalked out of my bedroom.

My head hurt too much to care. Mom had broken into me and ripped me apart. I felt the same as when she’d forced open my aura to give me witch powers. Used. Violated. Broken. Four years after she’d done that, I thought I’d grown past it.

I thought I could handle it.

I cried into my pillow with wild, hysterical sobbing. Why had I thought I could talk to Mom? She didn’t understand anything. When she looked at me, she saw a disaster zone. No decision I made for myself could ever be right.

“Oh, Sophie.” Mom sighed. I didn’t check, but she sounded like she stood in my doorway. “There’s really nothing to be so upset about. How about if I invite some of your friends to come over today? We can have a nice lunch with a full house.”

On the giant list of things I wanted, seeing whoever my mom wanted to invite for lunch ranked below visiting the dentist. At least the dentist cleaned my teeth. Her idea of “my friends” would make everything worse. I didn’t even want to see Ashley.

I didn’t know what I did want.

That was a lie.

I wanted Drew to come and soothe my aura. Since it didn’t happen automatically, I knew the wards blocked him from helping. He probably couldn’t even feel anything wrong with me. The metaphysical space of my private sanctum had used a loophole. In the real world, we had no functional connection through the wards.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes. Get up and get ready.”

As soon as she left, I poured my pain into the pillow. At some point, I lifted my head and wiped my face. Every inch of my body ached, inside and out. I could take some painkillers and smile at everyone as if nothing had happened. Mom would like that.

Wind ruffled the plastic sheeting over the hole in my wall. On the edge of my vision, I could see the ripple of magic from Mom’s warding. The warding had never prevented me from leaving the house before, and I doubted Mom had changed that. With her decision to ground me, she might consider updating it.

If I wanted to leave, I had two options. One, I could wait a month until Mom relaxed the wards and let me out of her sight for five seconds. Two, I could suck it up and run before she had a chance to change anything.

Leaving now probably meant leaving for good. The next time I tried to come back, Mom wouldn’t give me smiles and sunshine. We’d fight, and it would hurt both of us.

Unless I could convince some of the other coven members to help? Two of my aunts, Anne and Stace, had been there when I renounced the coven. They knew what had happened, and they both knew Drew. Neither would attack me. If I asked as a member of the family, one or both might talk to Mom for me.

The rush of a concrete plan shoved all my pain aside. I lurched off the bed and shut my bedroom door. Locking it wouldn’t stop Mom, but it would slow her down, so I did that. I scrambled to find the things I needed most—clothes, money, and school stuff. Spending as little time as possible, I snagged whatever I could find, stuffed it all into my backpack, and climbed onto my desk.

As soon as I crossed the plane of the warding, Mom would know. Crouching on my desk, I visualized punching through and tearing open the plastic. It wouldn’t work. My muscles didn’t only hurt, they had no real strength. Nice girls didn’t lift weights, they did aerobics. According to Mom.

Plastic would defeat me. Of all the things to get into my way, this one seemed like a terrible insult.

Wait. I had scissors. My desk drawer had all kinds of things. I yanked it open and pawed through pencils, pens, erasers, and more to find a pair of scissors. With them open, I took a deep breath.

This act was final. Once I stabbed through the wards and plastic, I couldn’t take it back.

I turned to see the door. How many times had Mom or Dad come to help me with homework or wish me good night? My little brothers had never done anything wrong. What if my leaving meant something bad happened to them?

But I had to save myself. Mom would keep destroying me until she figured out how to break those links. I couldn’t take that again. With the tokens in Drew’s hands, she’d do it over and over until she killed me.

Later, I could come check on my brothers. Drew would help me do it.

Turning my back on the door, I squared my shoulders. I could do this.

Someone knocked on my door. My chest exploded with panic. “Sophie, your friends will be here soon. Are you getting ready?”

“Yes, Mom.” Could she hear the hitch in my voice?

“If you’re changing clothes, you might consider a dress for Gabe. He likes you.”

“Okay.” Part of me yearned to obey. Put on makeup. Wear a dress. Style my hair. Smile. Laugh at jokes. Pretend I cared.

The last boy I thought I liked had betrayed me the first moment he could. As if I would open myself to that possibility again with someone Mom shoved at me. Not that I hated Gabe. He wanted to date me and said all the right things. The guy had that tall, dark, and handsome thing going on, with just enough athleticism to sweep most girls off their feet.

But I wanted a friend, not a boyfriend.

“Don’t take too long. I want you downstairs when everyone gets here.”

“Yes, Mom.”

I heard the floor creak as she walked away.

I could do this. I could do this. I could do this.

As soon as I heard the distant, muffled squeak from the bottom stair, I took a deep breath and stabbed the plastic. My scissors sliced open a hole. I shoved my body through it and gasped at the frigid air. I’d left my coat downstairs, so I wore three sweaters, which didn’t keep me warm enough.

Soothing magic flowed into my aura. I’d half-feared Mom had somehow broken the link without realizing it. Relief washed over me as much as Drew’s power. With his backing, I could resist Mom. She couldn’t drag me inside again. Not without knocking me unconscious.

Scrambling across the icy roof as fast as I dared, I focused on my hands and feet. Mom would come running, I figured. She’d have to climb the stairs again, then break through the locked door.

Never mind her. I reached the corner with a tall juniper and wrapped bands of power around it. The branches reached for me. I jumped into them. Under my command, the plant set me on my feet.

“Sophie!”

Unable to resist the tone of her voice, I froze and turned to see her. Mom had gone to the front door instead of my room. She stood on the porch. Her aura blazed bright enough that I could see it without trying.

She glared at me. “Come back now and I’ll overlook this.”

No, she wouldn’t. This choice had been made. Going back now meant worse than I’d already endured. It meant giving up and giving in again. I’d done that for the last time.

I ran down the driveway.