Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins Page A

that was true. We were at the British Library and requested the same book about the history of witchcraft.”
    I gave a little laugh. “That should’ve been a clue.”
    “Probably,” Mom said. “When I went over to his table to ask if I could use it.…” She broke off with a sigh. “It was such a cliché. He handed me the book, our fingers touched, and that was that. I was a goner.”
    I thought about that first day I’d seen Archer leaning against a tree outside Hecate Hall. “I know the feeling,” I muttered.
    “We were together for nearly a year. And then one day, I woke up early and saw him conjuring breakfast out of thin air. Scared me to death.”
    “How could you live with him a whole year before knowing what he was? Izzy figured out that I wasn’t human after, like, five seconds.”
    Pushing her hair off her forehead, Mom said, “That’s Izzy. Not all Brannicks have the same abilities. I can’t sense the presence of Prodigium the way she can. Anyway, when I realized that I’d been living with the very thing I was supposed to be fighting, I—”
    “Flipped all the heck out?” I supplied.
    “Big time. And then I realized I was pregnant with you, and…well, you know the rest. All the moving, all the hiding.”
    “But it wasn’t Dad you were hiding from.” The last puzzle pieces finally clicked into place. “At Thorne, Dad said that you had your reasons for always moving around.” He’d also said that he was still in love with Mom. I wanted to tell her that, too, but something stopped me. Maybe because I hoped that Dad would still have a chance to tell her in person.
    “I had no idea how my family would react to the news that I was going to have a Prodigium baby. And not just any kind of Prodigium, but a demon. Now I understand that I should have given them the benefit of the doubt, but I was scared. And young. God, I was just six years older than you are now. That’s terrifying.” She raised her shoulder, nudging my head. “Please don’t make me a grandmother in six years, okay?”
    I scoffed. “Trust me, after the Boy Issues I’ve had, I’m becoming a nun.”
    “Well, that’s good to know.”
    We stayed there, dangling our feet over the creek, talking, until the sun was high overhead. By the time we made our way back to the compound, I was feeling a little better. Sure, my life was still intensely screwed up, but at least I had some answers.
    When we got back to the compound, Izzy and Finley were out doing chores. Or what the Brannicks called chores, anyway. Izzy was rearranging the targets on the training field. (I still called it the Ninja Backyard. Izzy laughed when I told her that.) Finley was set up in the converted barn just off the training field, sharpening knives. “You can help her,” Aislinn told me, once I found her. She was down in the basement, changing the sheets on the cots. I wondered why she bothered, but decided not to ask.
    “If it’s all the same to you, I’m not really great with the knives,” I told her. “Is there anything else I can do? Anything less…deadly?”
    Shaking a pillow into its case, Aislinn shrugged and said, “You can go up to the War Room and check our files on Hecate Hall and the Casnoffs. See if there’s any information we have wrong, or details you can add.”
    Ah, yes. Files. Books. Nothing with sharp edges. Perfect.
    “Will do. Thanks.”
    I jogged back up the steps, stopping near the top. “Oh, and, um, thanks for letting me stay here. I mean, after everything my whole existence put you through.”
    When she just looked at me, I hurried on to say, “Finley told me what happened to the other Brannicks. She said it wouldn’t have happened if you’d been their leader.”
    I stood there awkwardly while Aislinn studied me. She had Mom’s eyes, so it was doubly weird to feel myself under such intense scrutiny. In the end, she just said, “You’re family.”
    There was nothing really to say to that. I just nodded and hurried