She took several more steps back away from me. I saw the terror in her eyes and I wondered, once again, what could terrify my mother. “Is it the stranger from the wedding? Is that what this is about? He is after me and you know who he is? Or is this a trick to get me to give into the power of three?” I was starting to think this was more than a manipulation. Did she truly believe someone was after me and might harm her?

She shook her head. “No. That’s over. He’s here. There will be no power of three this generation. My choices years ago cursed it, and now, it’s back to haunt us all.”

She was talking too fast for me to make sense of all the stuff she was spewing. She was becoming hysterical. “You want me to take my things and leave here? Not come back? You no longer desire the power of three that your daughters would possess? I find that hard to believe,” then I added, “Where do you expect me to go?” it wasn’t that I hadn’t planned on leaving soon, but not at this moment, without a job. I had money saved but not enough to make me feel secure. I also didn’t plan on leaving with my mother demanding I go, immediately.

Her eyes flared wide, and she pointed at the distance. “Just go. Far away from here. Don’t return. Zephyr has Leanne with him until you are cleared out and gone.”

I stood there, staring at my mother, seeing no emotion other than fear in her expression. There was no sadness, no pain, no concern for me, no love. Nothing. I’d always thought maybe deep down she had some form of motherly affection for me. She’d never told me she loved me, but then she’d never said that to my sisters either. I just thought she had to care for us somewhere under it all. It seemed she did for Leanne and probably for Geneva… but not me. I was being tossed out. I had tried way too hard in this life to get any connection from this family. Nothing but pain came from being here. Hanging onto a hope that I might belong somewhere was a childish dream that I had let go of mentally but not physically. This place held memories of my father. Leaving that behind would hurt, but leaving the emptiness would be easy. She was demanding I leave, and she was right. It was time. We no longer needed each other.

“Mea est enim omnis,” I called out.