Silverthorn by Sydney Bristow Page B

hands a second later. Startled by that ability, he turned to me with a look of pure joy. “That rules! I can cancel one ability and pick up another one.”
    “Hey,” Celestina said, her brow scrunching in anger. “That was mean!” She raised her hand toward Brandon.
    But I stood in front of my friend. “Wait a minute. Brandon did the same thing you did to Lulu. So why are you so upset?”
    Celestina bit down hard on her lower lip, doing her best to contain her anger.
    Unwilling to get involved, Brandon tapped his thigh, attracting Lulu’s attention. They left the kitchen and headed to the second bedroom.
    I set my gaze on Celestina. “Free will is the one thing in this world that everyone has. No matter whom your parents are or what they do. I don’t care where you live or what situation you’re in, everyone has a right to make their own decisions. Don’t ever take that from them. Even God wouldn’t do that!”
    My niece looked at me, perplexed. Then she looked side-to-side, as though trying to identify circumstances that would allow her to disregard my statements.
    “Hey!” I said. “Are you better than God?”
    “There is no God!” she screamed with unexpected rage.
    I stood in place, for the first time frightened by my niece. My first inclination was to step back and place some distance between us, but if I did, I knew that it she would draw strength from that standpoint, giving her the impression that she could bully others. Instead, she needed a stabilizing voice of reason, and since her mother wasn’t around to fill that role, I took it upon myself to fill the void.
    To avoid saying something I’d regret, I said, “Drink your milk.” Then I turned around, grabbed a package of Oreo cookies from the pantry, pulled out a few, and placed them on her plate.
    Brandon spun around and his eyes grew large. “Oh yeah!” he shouted with great enthusiasm and appeared beside Celestina and I two couple seconds later. He grabbed an Oreo and passed it side-to-side under his nose while inhaling the aroma. “I’ve been waiting hours for this.” He took a bite and closed his eyes, savoring every second of the cookie. A moan lingered in his throat. “Sweet…beautiful…chocolate.”
    “Should we be on diabetic-coma-alert tonight?” I asked.
    “I love sugar,” he said, snapping open his eyes to look my way. “I love sugar so much I gargle with it.” He scarfed down the rest of the cookie, grabbed four more, and then hurried out of the kitchen.
    I jerked a thumb at his departure and said to Celestina. “He’s the guy the Muppets based the Cookie-Monster upon.” I appreciated the intrusion. It lightened Celestina’s mood. “I’m just saying everyone has free will. You should never take that from them.”
    “What about Granny?” she asked, after finishing her sandwich. “Why didn’t she get free will? I’ll bet she didn’t want Zephora to take over her body.”
    “You’re right. But here’s the thing. Your grandmother contacted the other side in order to communicate with Zephora. She wanted to access Zephora’s power, but she didn’t consider the risks of doing so.”
    “Zephora is evil,” Celestina said, trembling with hatred.
    It became apparent that nothing I could do would settle down my niece, so I relied on humor, “The cookies are about six months old, but they should still taste good.”
    Celestina had just taken a bite. She opened her mouth, showing me a crumbled Oreo on her tongue.
    “That doesn’t look very appetizing,” I said. “But thanks for offering to share.”
    She tried talking with an open mouth.
    “Sorry. All I hear is ‘Aunt Serena is my absolute favorite family member.’” I pushed the glass of milk toward her. “Was there something else you were trying to say?”
    Celestina closed her mouth and gave me an annoyed look. She took a sip from her glass of milk.
    “Now as much as I enjoy your company,” I said, “we should get you home.” Seeing her gulping