know.” My shoulders sagged. “I really don’t know. I’m sorry.”
“You know my mom. She was annoying as hell. Always going on about how I needed to be a better role model for the kids. The kids .” He sighed and shut his eyes. “Like I never was one. And I always got pissed at her for it, and now…”
“It’s okay, Jason,” I said. “We all get pissed at our parents sometimes.”
“Yeah, but lately I was always pissed off. She knew I’ve been smoking pot. She kept telling me she could smell it on me, so she went through my stuff, looking for evidence.” His voice cracked. “The last thing I told her was to fuck off. Last night. Before the bonfire.”
I’d never heard Jason talk like this before. It was so different from how he usually was. Normally, Jason reminded me of a leaf in the wind, blowing happily along without a care in the world. His greatest goal in life was to make people laugh. No one was laughing now.
“You can’t think like this, Jason.” I squeezed his hands. “You didn’t know this was going to happen.”
“No, but I never should have said it.”
I fell silent, the only sound the whistle of the wind through the trees and Laura’s uneasy rustle through the supplies. The bones in her hands clinked together, a tinkling sound, much lighter than the heaviness that draped over us right now.
“You know, I never told you this,” I said, desperate for the words that could cut through Jason’s pain. “But my mom was sick for a long time. Like, really sick. So sick I thought she was going to die.” I swallowed hard. “Until then, I didn’t realize how awful I was to her sometimes. We’d get in arguments. I’d yell at her. She was always running off on another work trip, leaving me behind to fend for myself. I regretted every single word of those arguments when I thought she was gone for good.”
“But she got better, didn’t she?” Jason’s voice was flat. “My mom never will.”
“I’m so sorry, Jason.” Tears slid from my eyes to join the many that painted his face. “The only thing I can do is banish this spirit to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else in your family. We’ll recast the protection spell. We’ll make it doubly strong. I will do whatever it takes to protect your brothers and sisters. And you.”
He gave me a pained smile. “Thank you, Holly.”
With a quick nod to Laura, we planted ourselves on the cold, hard ground and placed a candle between us. Something rustled in the trees across the street, an undisturbed patch of woods that hadn’t yet been destroyed for housing developments.
Frowning, I squinted at the trees, but the leaves and branches were statuesque. Nothing shifted in the darkness. Not even the slightest whisper of movement. I turned back to the candle and sparked a match just as the sound of heavy boots pounded the pavement. Jason’s strangled yell jolted my heart, and I jumped up to see black-clad men burst out of the woods with guns raised in our direction.
My skin prickled and my heart clattered against my ribs. My hands raised high in the air as my eyes drank in the sight of high-powered rifles, military uniforms, and hard expressions. One man stepped out from behind the others, his weapon lowering and his face registering surprise.
Every muscle in my body went weak.
“Dad?”
CHAPTER 6
“D ad, what the hell is going on?” My heart beat out a hectic rhythm. I jumped up from the ground, my hands still raised. Every single one of the rifles followed my movement, except for the one in my dad’s darkly tanned and calloused hands. How could this be happening?
“Holly?” The familiar frown I hadn’t seen in years made an appearance on his lined face. “What are you doing here? Get away from that house. Now.”
“Why? Tell me what’s going on.” Every cell in my body screamed for more. More questions, more answers, more words, but all I could do was stare at my dad as if I’d just seen a ghost. And I had.
“You know my mom. She was annoying as hell. Always going on about how I needed to be a better role model for the kids. The kids .” He sighed and shut his eyes. “Like I never was one. And I always got pissed at her for it, and now…”
“It’s okay, Jason,” I said. “We all get pissed at our parents sometimes.”
“Yeah, but lately I was always pissed off. She knew I’ve been smoking pot. She kept telling me she could smell it on me, so she went through my stuff, looking for evidence.” His voice cracked. “The last thing I told her was to fuck off. Last night. Before the bonfire.”
I’d never heard Jason talk like this before. It was so different from how he usually was. Normally, Jason reminded me of a leaf in the wind, blowing happily along without a care in the world. His greatest goal in life was to make people laugh. No one was laughing now.
“You can’t think like this, Jason.” I squeezed his hands. “You didn’t know this was going to happen.”
“No, but I never should have said it.”
I fell silent, the only sound the whistle of the wind through the trees and Laura’s uneasy rustle through the supplies. The bones in her hands clinked together, a tinkling sound, much lighter than the heaviness that draped over us right now.
“You know, I never told you this,” I said, desperate for the words that could cut through Jason’s pain. “But my mom was sick for a long time. Like, really sick. So sick I thought she was going to die.” I swallowed hard. “Until then, I didn’t realize how awful I was to her sometimes. We’d get in arguments. I’d yell at her. She was always running off on another work trip, leaving me behind to fend for myself. I regretted every single word of those arguments when I thought she was gone for good.”
“But she got better, didn’t she?” Jason’s voice was flat. “My mom never will.”
“I’m so sorry, Jason.” Tears slid from my eyes to join the many that painted his face. “The only thing I can do is banish this spirit to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else in your family. We’ll recast the protection spell. We’ll make it doubly strong. I will do whatever it takes to protect your brothers and sisters. And you.”
He gave me a pained smile. “Thank you, Holly.”
With a quick nod to Laura, we planted ourselves on the cold, hard ground and placed a candle between us. Something rustled in the trees across the street, an undisturbed patch of woods that hadn’t yet been destroyed for housing developments.
Frowning, I squinted at the trees, but the leaves and branches were statuesque. Nothing shifted in the darkness. Not even the slightest whisper of movement. I turned back to the candle and sparked a match just as the sound of heavy boots pounded the pavement. Jason’s strangled yell jolted my heart, and I jumped up to see black-clad men burst out of the woods with guns raised in our direction.
My skin prickled and my heart clattered against my ribs. My hands raised high in the air as my eyes drank in the sight of high-powered rifles, military uniforms, and hard expressions. One man stepped out from behind the others, his weapon lowering and his face registering surprise.
Every muscle in my body went weak.
“Dad?”
CHAPTER 6
“D ad, what the hell is going on?” My heart beat out a hectic rhythm. I jumped up from the ground, my hands still raised. Every single one of the rifles followed my movement, except for the one in my dad’s darkly tanned and calloused hands. How could this be happening?
“Holly?” The familiar frown I hadn’t seen in years made an appearance on his lined face. “What are you doing here? Get away from that house. Now.”
“Why? Tell me what’s going on.” Every cell in my body screamed for more. More questions, more answers, more words, but all I could do was stare at my dad as if I’d just seen a ghost. And I had.
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