Daughter of Chaos

Chapter Eleven

My dad had already left for work when I got up the next morning. I know, because I lay awake waiting to hear the car engine turn over and pull away before I ventured downstairs. Avoidance seemed like the best policy right about then. I had hoped to have the house to myself, but I wasn't that surprised to see Mom in the kitchen.

"Oh, good, you're up. I made muffins." Mom handed me the steaming basket of cherry and chocolate chip muffins, and my mouth watered.

"Thanks. And thank you again for—" She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture and blushed, so I trailed off. Hopefully, she knew how much her gift meant to me. She smiled at me, and I sat down at the table.

"Did you want any coffee? There's still some left from Dad's breakfast."

I shook my head. She seemed surprised. I usually wouldn't turn down coffee, but for some reason, that morning, I didn't want to be jittery. I had a feeling that I couldn't afford a caffeine crash, although I wasn't sure why.

"What about some tea? I was just about to boil water."

"No, but you go ahead." I bit into a muffin and burned the roof of my mouth. Mom looked at me for a long second before turning to put the kettle on the stove. She rustled around in the cupboard for a minute, then took down a box of loose-leaf green tea.

Mom sighed softly as she sat down, and I looked at her. "Lena, you know Dad loves you, right?"

That was not at all what I had been expecting to hear, and I stared at her for a minute without reacting. She took my silence as denial, and pressed on.

"He's just shocked, that's all. Even though your father seems happy as a Green, I've always thought he walked awfully close to the White path."

"What does White or Green have to do with any of it?"

"Surely you've noticed that White and Black Witches don't tend to be aware of"—she smirked slightly—"gray area, if you'll pardon the pun."

I nodded slowly. Taking Justin and Rochelle into consideration, I saw exactly what she meant: neither one of them seemed capable of finding any middle ground. I'd always thought that was just part of their personalities, but maybe it ran deeper than that.

Mom continued, pouring water over the herbs in her mug. "Greens have an easier time seeing balance, since that's one of our purposes, to balance White and Black magic. But for some reason, your father isn't able to see anything in this situation but the danger." She stirred her tea and I took another muffin.

"Why won't he listen?"

"He's scared, sweetie. I'm scared, too, but remember, I saw Persephone that first night. I know there's more going on here than all the legends and rumors. But Dad doesn't know that."

"Why don't you tell him?"

Mom sighed and looked at me sadly. "You know better than that, Lena. Can you ever get Justin or even Rochelle to believe anything once they've set their minds on something else?"

Mutely, I shook my head. She had a point.

"Your father makes up his mind very quickly, and sometimes he never unmakes it. But we have to be patient."

I coughed on a chunk of cherry. "Mom, I can't be patient. Whether or not Red magic is as bad as he thinks, I better learn how to control it, and fast. I don't want to be responsible for any more deaths!"

"I know. But whatever you plan to do, be careful. Hecate is not someone you want to directly oppose."

"Mom," I said thoughtfully, "Justin and I came up with a plan—"