Witches in Training (#2 in the Witches Trilogy) [rewrites ongoing]

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Skywalker Truth

VERA

"What do you mean, your sister?" I gape.

"Girl born from the same parents as I was? My family? That kind of sister?" Kieran offers dryly.

"But-but-you said your sister was dead! You said she and your parents were killed!"

"Er-yeah... I kinda lied."

"Kinda?"

"It wasn't entirely a lie." Kieran protests infuriatingly. "It was a partial truth." He sticks out his lower lip in an attempt to look innocent, and given his small size and golden halo of hair, he would have succeeded if I didn't know him so well.

"Nice try, but no. Explain."

"Raelynn killed our parents and left the same night. My parents were killed-the Raelynn I knew was killed. So in a sense, I wasn't really lying."

I stare at him, lightbulb going off. "Wait a minute. Oh, no. Oh no you didn't. You did not just pull an Anakin Skywalker on me."

"A what-a-who-er?"

"Anakin Skywalker. You know, Star Wars. Obi Wan said he died but he really didn't and-oh, what the heck." I stop, seeing Kieran's completely and utterly blank look. "You know, when we get out of this, first thing I'm gonna do is give you a cultural education." I mutter. "You're absolutely hopeless." I look down for a minute, thinking, then back up. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I understand about the bond, but why not this?"

Kieran nibbles on his lip. "I didn't want you to judge me because of it." He says finally.

"I don't judge people based on their sisters, Keets." I say, the feeling of finally understanding that nickname bittersweet. "I judge people based on what they do. And what you've done is pretty dang awesome."

Kieran smiles but rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Now-I need to contact the fairy realm, stat. So excuse me. Oh, and Kami shouldn't wake up for another fifteen minutes, and Shaun hasn't come back yet, so keep an eye out for me."

"You know I will. Go have your super important discussion."

Kieran's face grows serious and he conjures up his scrying screen while I half watch and half keep an eye on Kami. He frowns. "That's weird. I'm sensing your sister... I think she's back at the fairy realm."

"Ooh, cool. Can I talk to her?"

"Yeah, sure. Just a sec." Kieran keeps his word and waves me over, but the first thing I see-and hear is-

"VERA. GET AWAY. NOW."

VINNI

So in terms of big time revelations, I've had plenty of experience. But this one... this one has got to take the cake.

We're all around Joshua with varying degrees of lingering suspicion, with Arc being the lowest and mine being the highest. Daryl probably picks up on my hostile gaze, so he gestures for me to follow him a little way off.

"You still don't trust him." Daryl observes.

I shake my head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. One betrayal can ruin years of trust."

"Except I just met him this year."

Daryl shrugs. "Josh is incredibly easy to trust."

"Well..."

"And he's the right person to trust." Daryl informs me. "He proved that just now."

"How do you know he wasn't faking it?"