Witch {Book One} [UNEDITED]

XXXIX: Story Time

The words had only hit me when Sammy burst into my room. I swore loudly, startled at her approach. Annie backed up against the wall, looking afraid, and disappeared in a shimmer of silvery-red. 

"Sammy?!" I exclaimed, looking from the wall where Annie just was to Sammy and back to the wall. I put my fist to my pounding heart and backed up to my bed. I sat down and tried to slow my heart down. Useless.

"S-sorry," she muttered, running a hand through her hair. "You . . . I . . . Annie . . ."

"I wasn't s'posed to hear that, right?" I asked, looking at my scarred and tattooed hands. "I wasn't s'posed to know that Ada ain't Annie's momma?" Sammy shook her head--very, very, very slowly--and sat down next to me. 

"Story time?" She asked. 

>>>

"Story time!" My first grade teacher said in her over-cheerful voice. My whole class gladly ran to the carpet and sat down crisscross-applesauce and intently looked up at our teacher--Miss Larrabee or something weird like that--while she chose a picture book to read. I slowly trudged to the carpet and sat in the back corner. 

Miss Larrabee chose a book and started reading, oblivious to me in the back corner. 

My momma had put my thick black hair in pigtails and dressed me in a silver dress with silver jelly sandals and I hated it. Even at six years old, I would have preferred to wear jeans and a t-shirt and little kid Doc Martens. Lucy gave me a look (she was wearing all black and I swore the kid was wearing eyeliner) and stuck her tongue out. She turned back to Miss Larrabee. 

Halfway through the book, I raised my hand. 

"Yes, Adelaide?" Miss Larrabee asked, setting the book on her lap. 

"I gotta go to the bathroom," I lied. Before Miss Larrabee could answer, I got up and walked to the bathroom. 

More like, I walked past the bathroom, past the main office, outside, and home. 

"Momma!" I yelled, kicking off my damn jelly shoes. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a juice box from the fridge. 

"Baby?" Momma stepped into the kitchen. She tucked a loose strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. "What are you doing home?" I shrugged and climbed onto the island, still drinking my juice box. 

"I don't like school," I mumbled, finishing off my juice. I set the box down and climbed off the island and hugged Momma's waist. I had to stand on my very tip toes to reach and even then, I was cutting it short. 

Momma sighed and picked me up. She called my daddy home from work and we went to the circus together. 

I decided that skipping school could only result in something fun.

>>>

I shrugged in response to Sammy. Sure, I wanted story time. Why not? I needed something to take my mind off of Annie and Ada and this new Adeline person. 

So Sammy began. 

"In the year 1923, there was a woman named Bethany Ivanovich," Sammy said, "and she was one of Adeline's great-great-great-you-get-the-idea-great granddaughters. Bethany was with her fiancé, Bernie Lee, when Ada strode into town. She found anyone with the last name of Gavel and anyone whose family had relations to the last named Gavel and rounded them up into the local church. Before anyone could protest, Ada locked the doors and windows using magic and struck a match. She burned the whole damn place down, everyone inside of it. 

"Beth and her dear Mr. Lee were in New York City at the time of the massacre and even then, Ada spared Bethany. A week later, Bethany became Mrs. Lee. She decided that the night of her wedding was a good time to tell Bernie that Bethany was directly related to the great witch Ada. Not Adeline; Ada. That's right. Ada had one child--a son--and her son had children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and, well, Bethany Lee was one of them.

"The two had three children and their children married and had children of their own. Their son married and since then, their family had only had  sons. Finally, in 1966, they had a daughter. About fifty years later, she and her husband had a daughter. They decided to give their daughter her mother's maiden name--Lee." I drew in a breath. 

"Me," I whispered. Sammy nodded. "I . . . I'm related to Ada . . . from my momma's side?!" I knew that I was related to Ada, but I always thought that it was from my daddy's side. 

"She named you Adelaide, after both Ada and Ada's first granddaughter--Adelaide. Your middle name--Gavel--came from Ada's last name and Lee was your mother's maiden name." She reached out and pet my head. I was too stunned to even begin to protest. I stood up and walked swiftly out of my bedroom, needing time to be alone. 

I went to the bathroom and found Glitch in the empty tub, Thomason sitting on the edge of it. Thomason held a razor in his hands and Glitch had half of his head shaved. 

"The fuck . . .?" I asked, backing out of the bathroom. I didn't give either of them a chance to respond before leaving the bathroom and closing the door behind me. I went downstairs and drank whatever alcohol we had left in the house. After making sure that I was sober enough to drive, I pulled on my jacket and got in a black sedan; whether it was Alice's or Flynn's or Glitch's, I did't care. Without thinking, I drove to Propaganda for the first time in weeks.