Silverlake

Chapter 7

I don't remember the bell ringing, only me throwing my bag over my shoulder and racing towards the front doors. 

It was starting to get cooler out, but luckily, not cool enough to turn the rain on the pavement to ice yet, which I'm thankful for, especially when I speed all the way to Sky's. 

Her drive way's empty when I get there, so I pull over to the curb and wait. She pulled up ten minutes later, obviously, she took her time. I get out of my car, slamming my door to get her to look up.

"Hi, Reese," she sighed. She unlocked her front door and swept it open with a grand gesture before motioning me to go in first. 

The door hadn't even closed before I started asking her questions. "Was Tanner telling the truth? Are you magic? Am I? Is this really happening? Because no matter how many times I go over what he said to me, it still doesn't seem real. Not even a little bit."

"Do you want something to drink?" I stared at her incredulously. 

"No. I want you to answer the questions."

"Tanner told you the truth." She sat down her books and headed into the kitchen. "Are you sure you don't want anything?" I shook my head.

"So, you both believe it?" 

"Reese, we don't just believe it, we live it. I'd show you something if I thought that it was going to help." 

"How come I can't do anything?" I sunk against the counter. 

"You can. You just haven't noticed," she sat criss-cross on the kitchen floor next to me.

"Funny, that's exactly what Tanner said." 

"Sweetie," she started softly, "I think you should talk to your parents. They'll be able to help you understand. My dad will be home soon anyway, and I think it would be best if you just talk to your parents."

I nodded, slowly standing up off the ground. I took the ponytail out of my hair and eased my fingers through the knotted mess. Sky was up by then too, handing me my keys. Before I unlocked the front door, she surprised me by giving me a quick hug. 

"Just know that it will be okay. You're lucky to have parents who protect you. And, for the record, I'm glad you're here."

"Oh." I hugged her back, careful to not cry. "Me too."

I drove slowly back to my house. My dad was still at work, but my mom's car was in the driveway. I racked my brain for ways to start out this type of conversation. I even thought about asking my sister to fly here and figure this out with me.

Despite my best efforts to come up with a conversation starter, as soon as I walked into the living room, I lost it. 

"Honey?" My mom ran down the rest of the stairs to meet me. She rubbed circles on my back while leading me down to sit on the couch. "I thought everything was going well at school?" 

"Mom, I need to know..." I took a deep breath, "I need to know everything." She looked at me with confusion, but I knew that in the back of her mind she knew what I was getting at. "Mom. my friends are Tanner Bryant and Sky Tealer."

"Ummhmm. They seem nice." She wasn't looking at me. 

"Oh, God. They were telling the truth?" I couldn't help the tears from spilling over again. She finally looked at me, and in her eyes there was pain.

"I didn't want to tell you like this," she grabbed my hand and held it tight in hers. "What did they tell you?" 

"He said that there's magic here. That we were the reason something bad is coming. He hates me." 

"My girl, he doesn't hate you. First, we did not bring the darkness. We left to give you girls a different life style than this. We had to come back. Your dad and I didn't want to, but we didn't have a choice, and I'm so sorry we didn't tell you sooner. Don't ever think that you are the reason for any bad magic. You are light, and you're going to stop this."

"Stop this? I don't even KNOW WHAT THIS IS." She looked taken aback when I raised my voice. My dad did too. He had just walked in through the garage, and luckily that's what he walked into.

"What's going on?" He placed his hand on Mom's shoulder and gave me a worried glance.

"Apparently, I'm going to save us all from 'dark magic'." 

"Is that so?" He eased himself into the couch between my mom and me. "I'm sure you've heard the basics by now. Yeah, it's true," he flicked his wrist forward and the entire coffee table moved across the room, "and that's nothing."

"Don't scare her!" She looked at the table and it swiftly moved back into place.

"You try." They both stared at me.

"Try what?"

My mom gave me a small reassuring smile, "Anything."

I stared at the coffee table, almost daring it to move. Nothing happened. I stared at it harder, all of my feelings of hatred and annoyance and shock were now pointed at this old brown coffee table. 

It scooted back slightly as if someone had pushed it away with their foot. 

"Maybe something smaller?" I heard my dad say, but I ignored him. I wasn't going to give up. I had to prove this was true. 

"Move. Come on." I whispered to myself. I heard my dad stifle a laugh, but then, silence, and the table didn't just fly into the wall, it lifted off the ground. 

My eyes widened. The table crashed back to the floor as if it too was surprised. The leg had broken off when it fell, and I turned towards my mom, scared that she would yell at me for breaking it. 

She only laughed. 

"Magic," my dad said. He winked at me and lifted himself off of the couch. 

"I still don't understand what this means." 

"We'll teach you. Everything that you need to know is already inside of you. You are more special than you think," my mom replied.

"What about Katherine?"

"It skipped her generation. It skipped your Dad's brother too."

"You know that this sounds crazy right?" 

"It kind of is." She hugged me against her. 

"Promise me something?"

"Of course, babygirl."

"No more secrets." She kissed the top of my head.

"No more secrets."