My Three Cousins

Chapter Eleven

Either because of the exhaustion after finally finding out my cousins' secrets or because of something in the manipulated medicine Ruth gave me I slept well that night.  I woke up feeling groggy but with a full memory of the night before.  I was once again grateful I hadn't let Helen touch me.  When I tried to get out of bed, a sharp pain in my side let me know that Ruth's pain medication had worn off.  My arm, still wrapped up, felt ok but I was worried about explaining my injuries to mom.  

I snuck into the bathroom where I pulled off my pajama bottoms and looked at the bruises along my leg.  My hip and leg were an ugly blackish-purple shade, and my rip was a reddish-purple with hints of green I had only seen in tv bruises and not on my own body. Luckily, when I pulled on clothes all signs of injury were hidden but the wrap around my wrist.  As I was still deciding what to do, mom knocked loudly on my bathroom door.  "Come get breakfast."

Her knock caught me off guard and without thinking about it I unwrapped the bandage from my wrist.  The minute I pulled the last piece of fabric away pain shot through my arm and for a moment I was stunned by how well Ruth's magic had been working and by the fact that I was here being impacted by magic at all.  "Coming mom," I said trying to hide the pain from my voice as I threw the bandage wrap into the bathroom drawer.

When I went downstairs my cousins were already eating at the kitchen island and Vivian was coloring in a coloring book on the floor.  "Move Vivian," I said as I tried to walk into the kitchen.

"No," she scowled as she kept coloring and I had to painfully step over her.  Ruth looked worried as I winced, then she saw my bare arm and seemed even more concerned.  The only seat available was next to Helen and I took it reluctantly.  Last night must have still been on her mind because she ate cautiously, not even letting her arm brush mine.  "Here, have some milk," Ruth said picking up a glass off the counter and offering it to me.  Mom had bent down to convince Vivian to pick up her crayons, so I felt safe accepting it.  Judging by the meaningful look she gave me and the warmth of the milk I knew she did something to it.  My thought that was confirmed by its slightly medicinal taste, but I was glad for the relief it gave from my pain.

Throughout breakfast my cousins chatted with my mom casually, but I didn't have the energy to pretend the world was normal yet, and, even more so, I didn't have the energy to forgive Joan who sat on her stool as if it was a normal day.  Even with the pain gone, my anger remained.

"You're quiet today, Addison," mom observed at a lull in the conversation.

"Fitz snores," I said, "I'm exhausted."

"You can stay in my room tonight if that will help you sleep," Helen offered.

"No," mom and I said at the same time, both a little too enthusiastically.  I looked at mom questioningly and she looked back at me the same way.  It was only then I remembered that Ruth had said they weren't sure if mom had powers or not, and it finally occurred to me that Mom may know everything I had been working so hard to figure out.

I looked carefully at my mom.  She never came downstairs without a cardigan, her reddish-blonde hair had been streaked by gray these past few years but when I imagined her it was always the orange color it used to be when I was young, and her face was almost entirely free of wrinkles except two perfect worry lines of her forehead.  She would tease Fitz and I, telling us there was one line for each of us.  I couldn't imagine my mom knowing about anything as surprising as magic, she knew about calendars, banking, and the PTA.  She would look silly holding a spell book and I tried to shake the idea from my head.  It made since that carefree Aunt Maggie was a witch and it also made sense that she kept this part of herself from everyone, even her twin sister.

Ruth cut through my train of thought by loudly placing her dishes in the sink.  "I need to get ready, I have a lunch date with Miguel."  She gave me a quick, but significant look before heading upstairs.

"I don't want to miss the hot water.  I'm going to go take a bath," I said, pausing to hug mom, despite the pain, before going upstairs.

When I got upstairs Ruth was sprinkling herbs and powders into a warm bath.  I closed the bathroom door behind me and looked at her quizzingly.  "I really have a lunch date, so I don't have time to explain everything I put in, but it should help."  She then turned to the counter where she had set my discarded bandage, "and you have to wear this today or your arm won't get better."

"I figured if I put it on midday, it would make more sense how I got hurt," I offered.

"Fine..." Ruth seemed skeptical and she turned to leave me to my bath, "sorry you have to lie to her, Addison."

"Thanks," I said before closing the door behind Ruth.  I still wasn't sure about Joan and Helen but over the last seventy-two hours Ruth had grown on me.  The whole situation still felt too confusing to make real sense of, but I was feeling more and more confident that I could trust Ruth.

I slipped into the bath and let the warm water wash away my pain.  It seemed like it really was washing away my bruises.  By the time the water in the bath got cold, and Fitz was on the other side of the door begging me to stop hogging the bathroom, the dark leg bruises of this morning had turned to a brownish yellow color and were only mildly sore to the touch.  I imagined my rib would need more time and I grabbed the bandage for my wrist before I headed out of the bathroom.

When I went to my room to get dressed there was a note under my pillow.  "Can you come down to my room, I really want to talk.  <3 Helen" was written in large, curly letters.  I pulled on clothes that would cover what remained of my injuries without touching them too much, including a hoodie to cover the wrap on my wrist.  Then I sat on my bed, knowing I didn't want to go down to see Helen but also knowing that she couldn't be avoided forever.