“Oh, a mother and daughter gathering and I wasn’t included,” Leanne said sweetly as she entered the room dressed like she was going out to a club at ten in the morning. “Have you seen my favorite diamond studs?” she then asked me with a pouty frown. “I could have sworn I left them on the dresser last night, but they’re missing this morning.”

I had my guesses on who had moved the earrings. I kept from smiling as I shrugged my shoulders. “I haven’t seen them.”

“Keep up with your shit,” my mother told her in a less aggressive tone than she had been using with me.

“I see it’s a warm and cozy family chat,” Leanne’s syrupy smile was back.

“It’s over,” mother snapped as she sat back down on the sofa. Our conversation was over and now felt as if it hadn’t happened. She reached for her can of Diet Coke and waved her hand holding the cigarette in my direction. “Go, you’re interrupting my show.”

“Awww so soon?” Leanne asked.

“Both of you go,” mother ordered.

I didn’t need another invitation to get out of there. I wished I hadn’t come to her in the first place. But at least I knew now that she was clueless as to who cast the barrier around the house. She also seemed to no longer care about it or the stranger, which made me wonder if she’d felt the barrier or just pretended to.

TWELVE: THE BUDDY

Twelve

The Buddy

Not being able to attend Delvaux University like every Delvaux before me was hard. Even if I were to get student loans or save enough money, I wouldn’t be accepted. The Delvaux family hated my mother, and unfortunately, that hate spread to me as well. Walking around campus was something I had done with my father, and now when I needed to get away from my family, I walked the same paths he had taken me on. Being here reminded me of the good inside of me that the Kamlock blood couldn’t ruin or take away from me. After the odd dealings with my mother today, I needed to feel close to my dad.

My father had loved the campus grounds, and in the fall months, he said it was magical. As a child, I’d loved to think of things being magical. It sounded beautiful and exciting. Although mother didn’t teach us our abilities until after my father was killed, I had always known I was different. Seeing spirits and realizing at a young age that no one else saw them was one of my earlier clues that I wasn’t like everyone else. My sisters, although, older hadn’t manifested any early signs or if they had I didn’t know about it. I was younger than they were and we hadn’t ever been close.