The Coven Page 4

  They all stared at me as if they had come home to find a

  stranger in their kitchen.

  "Morgan," said my dad, clearing his throat His eyes looked

  red rimmed, his face drawn and older than this morning. His

  thinning black hair was brushed tightly against his scalp, too

  long on the ends. His thick, wire-rimmed glasses gave him an

  owlish look.

  "Yes?" I said, marveling at the cold steadiness of my of

  my dad to ask.

  It was such a ludicrous question, but it was so like my dad

  to ask.

  “Well, let's see,”I said coolly, not looking at him. “I just

  found out I was adopted. I've been sitting here realizing you've

  both been lying to me my whole life.”I shrugged. “Other than

  that, I'm fine.”

  Mary K. looked like she was about to burst into tears. In

  fact, she looked like she had been crying all morning.

  "Morgan," said my mom. "Maybe we made the wrong

  decision in not telling you. But we had our reasons. We love

  you, and we're still your parents."

  I couldn't stay cool any longer. "Your reasons?" I

  exclaimed. "You had good reasons for not telling me the most

  important to of my life? There are no good reasons for that!"

  "Morgan, stop," Mary K. said, her voice wobbling. "We're

  a family. I just want you to be my sister." She started crying,

  and I felt my own throat tighten.

  "I want you to be my sister, too," I said, standing up. "But

  I don't know what's going on anymore—what's real and what's

  not." Mary K. burst into real sobs and threw herself on Dad's

  shoulder.

  Mom tried to come over to me, to take me in her arms, but

  I backed away. I couldn't stand her touch right at that second.

  She looked stricken.

  "Look, let's not say anything right now," Dad said. "We

  need some time. We've all had a shock. Please, Morgan, just

  hear me on one thing: Your mother and I have two daughters

  who we love more than anything in the world. Two daughters."

  "Mary K. Is your daughter," I said, hating hearing my

  voice crack. "Biologically. But I'm nobody!"

  "Don't say that!” Mom said, looking devastated. "You're

  both our daughters," said my dad. "And you always will be."

  It was about the most comforting thing he could have

  said, and it made me burst into tears. I was so exhausted,

  physically and emotionally, that I stumbled upstairs to my

  room, lay on my bed, and began to drift toward sleep.

  While I was half dreaming, half awake, my mom came

  into my room and sat on the bed next to me. She stroked my

  hair, her fingers gently working through the tangles. It

  reminded me of my dream, my other mother. Maybe it wasn't a

  dream, I thought. Maybe it was a memory.

  “Mom,”I said.

  "Shhh, sweetie, sleep," she whispered. “l just wanted to

  say I love you, and I'm your mother, and you've been my

  daughter since the first second I laid eyes on you.”

  I shook my head, wanting to protest that it wasn't true,

  but I was already too close to sleep. As I drifted off Into a

  deep, blessed numbness I was aware of warm tears soaking

  my pillow. I don't know If they were hers or mine.

  The next morning was bizarre in how ordinary it seemed.

  As usual, Mom and Dad got up and went to work early, before I

  was even awake. As usual, Mary K. yelled for me to hurry as I

  drifted through my shower, trying to brace myself for the day.

  Mary K. looked pale and pinch faced and was unusually

  quite as I gulped down a Diet Coke and threw books into my

  backpack.

  "I want you to stop what you're doing,” she said so softly,

  I could barely hear her. "I want us to go back to being how we

  were."

  I sighed. I had never felt jealous or competitive when it

  came to Mary K. I'd always wanted to take care of her. I

  wondered if it would be different now. I had no idea. But I

  knew that I still hated seeing her hurt.

  "Its too late for that" I said quietly. "And I need to know

  the truth. There have been too many secrets for too long."

  Mary K. raised her hands, and they fluttered for a moment

  in midair as she tried to think of something to say. But there

  wasn't anything to say, and in the end we just got our

  backpacks and headed outside to Das Boot.

  Cal was waiting for me at school. He walked over to my

  car as I parked and met me as I opened the door. Mary K.

  looked at him, as if to measure his involvement in all of this. He

  met her gaze calmly, sympathetically.

  “I'm Cal," he said, holding out his hand. "Cal Blaire. I

  don't think we've really met."

  Mary K. looked at him. "I know who you are," she said,

  not taking his hand. "Are you doing witchcraft with Morgan?"

  "Mary K.!" I started, but Cal held up his hand

  "It's okay," he said. "Yes, I'm doing witchcraft with

  Morgan. But we're not doing anything wrong."

  "Wrong for who?”Mary K. sounded older than fourteen.

  She slid past Cal an d got out of the car. She was

  immediately surrounded by her friends, but she looked

  unhappy and withdrawn. I wondered what she would tell them.

  Then Bakker Blackburn, her boyfriend, came up. They walked of

  together.

  "How are you?" Cat asked, and kissed my forehead. “I've

  been thinking about you. I called last night, but your mom said

  you were asleep."

  I saw people looking at us, Alessandra Spotford. Nett

  Norton, Justin Bartlett. Of course they were surprised to see

  Cal Blaine, human god, with Morgan Rowlands, Girl Most Likely

  to Remain Dateless Forever.

  “Yeah—I think my brain just shut down. Thanks for

  calling. I'll tell you about everything later." He squeezed my

  shoulder, and together we walked up to where the to where

  the coven—we were a coven now and not just a group of

  friends—hung out, on the cement benches by the east side of

  the school. The redbrick building looked reassuringly familiar

  and unchanged, but that was about the inly thing my life that

  was the same today.

  Seven pairs of eyes were on us as we came up the

  crumbling brick walkway. I sought out Bree's face. She was

  studiously examining her brown suede boots. She looked

  beautiful and remote, cool and aloof. Two weeks ago she had

  been my best friend in the world, the person f loved most

  besides my family, the person who knew me the best

  Something in me still cared about her, still wanted to

  confide in her, as impossible as that was. I thought about

  telling my problems to one of my other friends, like Tamara

  Pritchett or Janice Yutoh, but I knew I couldn't.

  "Hi, Morgan, Cal," said Jenna Ruiz, her face as open and

  friendly as ever. She gave me a sincere smile, and I smiled

  back Matt Adler was sitting next to her, his arm around her

  shoulders. Jenna coughed, covering her mouth, and for a

  moment Matt looked at her in concern. She shook her head and

  smiled at him.

  Hi, Jenna. Everyone,'' I said.


  Raven Meltzer was looking at me with open dislike. Her

  dark eyes, heavily rimmed with kohl and sprinkled with glitter,

  glowed with an inner anger. She had wanted Cal for herself,

  like Bree. Like me.

  "Samhain was amazing," said Sharon Goodfine, crossing

  her arms over her ample chest as if she were cold. She gave

  the word its proper pronunciation: Sowen. "I feel so different I

  felt different all weekend." Her carefully made up face looked

  thoughtful rather than snobbish.

  Without thinking about what I was doing, I cast my

  senses out, gently, carefully, feeling for the emotions of the

  people surrounding me. It was like what I'd experienced during

  the circle in the cemetery, but this time I directed it. This time I

  did it on purpose.

  It occurred to me only in passing that perhaps my friends'

  emotions should be private, belonging only to them.

  Jenna was just as she appeared; open, good-natured.

  Matt seemed the same, but deep within him I sensed a dark

  space he kept to himself. Cal... Cal glanced at me In quick

  surprise as my sense net touched his mind. As I scanned him I

  felt a sudden, hot rush of desire from him, and I blushed and

  pulled back quickly. He gave me a look, as if to say, Well, you

  asked..

  Ethan Sharp was interesting—a colorful mosaic of

  thoughts and feelings, tightly held distrust, poetry and

  disappointment Sharon had a stillness to her, a calm center

  that seemed new. There was also a hesitant half-embarrassed

  tenderness—for who? Ethan?

  Beth Nielson, Raven's best friend, mainly seemed bored

  and wanted to be somewhere else. My best friend after Bree,

  Robbie Gurevitch, was startling: a mixture of anger, desire, and

  repressed emotion that didn't show at all on his face. Who was

  it directed at? I couldn't tell.

  But it was Bree and Raven who almost blew me off the

  bench. Deep, intense waves of fury and jealousy came from

  both of them, aimed at me and, to a lesser extent, Cal. With

  Raven it was all jagged, snaggletoothed edges of anger and

  frustration and hunger. For all her reputation of being easy, she

  hadn't actually ever been linked seriously to anyone. Maybe

  she had wanted Cat to be the one.

  If Raven's feelings were barbed wire, Bree's were

  smoldering coals. Instantly I knew that as much as she had

  loved me two weeks ago, she now hated me to the same

  extent. She had been desperate for Cal. Maybe it wasn't real

  love, but it was a powerful desire, that was certain. And she

  had never before wanted a guy without him wanting her back.

  Cal had deeply wounded her when he had chosen me over her.

  All these impressions had taken only a moment A

  heartbeat and the knowledge was within me.

  It struck me that none of these people, the people in my

  coven, knew about my adoption, except Cal. It was such a

  huge, momentous thing, so life changing, so frightening, yet it

  had all happened in one day, yesterday. And yesterday had

  been just another Sunday for them. It made me feel disoriented

  and strange.

  "So," Bree said, breaking the silence. She didn't look at

  me. "Did your parents enjoy their new reading material?"

  I blinked, if only she knew what her revenge had begun.

  All I could do was shake my head and sit down. I didn't trust

  myself to talk.

  Bree smirked, still gazing at her boots. Cal took my hand

  in his, and I held it tightly. "What are you talking about, Bree?"

  Robbie asked. He took off his thick glasses and rubbed his

  eyes. Without his glasses he looked like a different person. The

  spell I had performed two weeks before had worked better

  than I could have possibly imagined. His skin, once pitted with

  acne scars, now was smooth and fine textured, showing a dim

  outline of dark beard. His nose was straight and classical,

  where it had been swollen and red. Even his lips seemed

  firmer, more attractive, though I couldn't remember how they

  had been before.

  "Nothing," Bree said lightly. "It's not important.”

  No, it was just the destruction of my life, I thought

  "Whatever," Robbie muttered, rubbing his eyes. "Damn.

  Anyone have some Tylenol? I have an incredible headache."

  “I've got some”said Sharon, reaching for her purse.

  "Always prepared," said Ethan with a smile, like a Girl Scout''

  Sharon shot him a look, then gave Robbie two pills, which he

  took dry.

  Our coven had united cool kids with losers, brains and

  geeks and stoners and princesses. It was interesting to watch

  people who were so different from each other Interact

  “I had a good time on Saturday night," Cal said after a

  pause. "I'm glad you all came. It was a good way to celebrate

  the most important Wiccan holiday.”

  “It was so cool,”said Jenna. “And Morgan was amazing!”

  I felt self-conscious and gave my knees a tiny smile.

  “It was really awesome,”said Matt. “I spent most of the

  day yesterday on the Web, looking up Wiccan sites. There's a

  million of them, and some of them are pretty intense.”

  Jenna laughed. “and some of them are so lame! Some of

  those people are so weird! And they have the cheesiest music.”

  "I like the ones with chat rooms," said Ethan. "If you get

  one where people know what they're talking about, it's really

  interesting. Sometimes they have spells and stuff to

  download."

  "There's a lot about Yule coming up in a couple of

  months," said Sharon.

  "Maybe we could have a Yule party," I said, caught up in

  their talk. Then I saw the looks that Raven and Bree were

  giving me: superior, snide looks as if I were an annoying little

  sister instead of the most talented student in our coven. My jaw

  set, and at that instant I saw a large, curled maple leaf that

  was drifting lazily earthward. Without thinking, I caught it with

  my mind and sent it floating over Raven's head.

  I kept my gaze on it, holding it in place while it hovered

  over her shiny black hair. Then it rested, ever so lightly, on her

  head, and it became a ludicrous, laughable hat.

  I laughed openly, pleased with myself, and Raven's eyes

  narrowed, not understanding. She couldn't feel the large leaf

  perching there like a flat brown pancake, but it looked absurd.

  Jenna saw it next then our whole coven was looking at

  Raven and grinning, except Cal.

  "What?" Raven snapped. "What are you looking at?”

  Even Bree had to bite back a smile as she swept the leaf

  off Ravens head. "It was just a leaf," she said.

  Flustered, Raven picked up her black bag just as the

  homeroom bell rang.

  We all got up to go to class. I was still smiling when Cat

  leaned over me and whispered, "Remember the threefold law."

  He touched my cheek softly and then left, heading toward the

  other school entrance for his first class.

  I swallowed. The Wiccan threefold law was one of the

  most important tenets of the craft. Basically it
stated that

  anything you sowed, good or evil, would come back to you

  threefold, so always put good out there. Don't put bad. Cal was

  telling me (I) he knew I had controlled the leaf, and (2) he

  knew I was being mean when I did it. And it wasn't cool.

  Taking a deep breath, I pulled my backpack strap over my

  shoulder.

  As soon as Cal was out of earshot, Raven said nastily,

  "Okay, so he's yours—for now. But how long do you think that's

  going to last?"

  "Yeah," Bree murmured. "Wait till he finds out you're a

  virgin. He'll find that pretty amusing."

  My cheeks flamed. I had a sudden image of his hand

  under my shirt yesterday morning and how I had Jumped.

  Raven raised her eyebrows. "Don't tell me she's a virgin?”

  "Oh, Raven, leave it," Beth said, brushing past her. Raven

  watched her for a second in surprise, then turned her attention

  back to me.

  Bree and Raven laughed together, and I stared at Bree.

  How could she reveal such a personal thing about me? I kept

  my mouth stonily shut and kept walking to homeroom—-which

  I shared with Bree, of course.

  "Come on, Raven," said Bree, behind me. "Anyone looking

  at her can tell that isn't why he wants her."

  I couldn't believe it. Bree, who had always told me I was

  too negative about my looks, who insisted my flat chest didn't

  matter, who had worked for years to get me to see myself as

  attractive. She was turning on me so completely.

  "You know what it is, don't you?" Raven sniped on. Did

  either of them have any clue that I was ready to kill them both?

  I wondered. "Cal saw her, and it was witch at first sight"

  I ran to class, hearing the echoes of their laughter

  floating behind me. Those bitches, I snarled to myself, u class I

  sat for ten minutes, trying to calm my breathing, trying to

  release my anger.

  For just a moment I was glad I had been mean to Raven. I

  should have been ten times as mean. I couldn't help it I wanted

  to wipe Bree and Raven out I wanted to see them miserable.

  6. Searching

  January 9, 1980

  They found Morag Sheehan's body last evening. Down at

  the bottom of the cliffs, by old Jowson's farm. The tide would

  have taken her away and none of us the wiser, but it was a low

  tide because of the moon. And so she was found by young Billy

  Martin and Hugh Beecham. At first they thought she was the

  charred, rotted mast of a ship. But she wasn't. She was only a