Last Christmas (Book 1 in the Christmas Series)

Chapter Thirty-One

"Kenzie! Can you come here for a moment, please?" Granny's voice carried up the stairs to the sewing room.

"Yeah, give me a sec!" I called back.

Looking at the red welt still showing on my arm, I rolled my sleeve down, stopped pacing and slipped from the room to attempt to act as composed as possible. That was impossible, though. I was so jumpy the slightest creak in the stairs made me want to bolt back up them. Just the idea that Jack and his two minions could burn me despite being so far a way was terrifying and if he was getting stronger then the threat he posed was far bigger than ever before. Glancing around the living room, I was surprised that Granny wasn't waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me, like she usually did. Resting a hand on the burn on my arm I entered the kitchen to find Granny bent down in front of the washing machine, a pair of my jeans left abandoned on the counter.

"Yeah?" I asked, leaning against the doorframe. My arm was firmly resting on the mark as though to hide it from Granny despite the sleeve.

"Would you care to explain to me why this is in your pocket?" Granny said. She reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out a silver chain. I watched her pull the chain out completely, the heart shaped pendant dangling from it.

"What d'you mean?"

"I found this in your pocket when I went to put your jeans in the wash. Care to tell me why it was in there?"

"I took it off for PE since we aren't allowed to wear jewellery. Must have forgotten about it."

"You wore these jeans two weeks ago. Not only have they only just made it into the wash, but you left the pendant in the jeans for that long and didn't even notice it? How is that even possible?"

"I've been busy with the Drama thing. It's only a few days until the showcase. We've had rehearsals and I've had to do the set as well."

"That's not an excuse, Kenz. This necklace was a gift from you mum and you forgot about it like it was some piece of cheap jewellery rather than a family heirloom. Not only that, but you've been leaving your washing for me to clean up, your room's a mess and you've been neglecting your chores. I get that this showcase is important to you and that the group is relying on you to complete the backdrop, but you have to manage your other responsibilities and look after this necklace." Granny placed the necklace into my fist, prying my fingers apart to do so.

"I know, I will. Over the weekend I'll sort everything out, I promise," I said.

"Good. If you're going to stick around you're going to have to learn how to do several things at once, especially once your exams start. I know you haven't had to multi-task in the past, but now might be a good time to start."

"I will, I promise."

"Okay, I won't keep you any longer since I know you've got to finish that frame of yours. Go on, off you go. Dinner will be ready in about an hour so keep your ears open, no blasting that Music of yours till you go deaf."

"I won't," I said, laughing. With the necklace firmly grasped in my fist, I made my way back up to the sewing room, though I had no intention of working on the frame. I needed to get it done, but the whole Jack Frost ice burn incident freaked me out beyond belief and my concentration levels were pretty much non-existent.

First, I dropped the pendant on my desk, cursing myself for forgetting about it for two weeks. Granny was right about my attention or focus not being were it needed to be, especially when it came to the pendant. Mama had given it to me before I had left, one of the things I had from her that I needed to look after since it was older than Grandpa, and that was saying something. Yet I had just left it in my pocket as though it was an old pen or a receipt. I had done a lot of stupid things in the past, from dying my hair pink with paint to breaking my wrist by falling down the stairs (there was cake). This one was the worst. Accidently dying your hair and breaking your arm whilst falling down the stairs is nothing compared to almost putting a family heirloom through the washing machine. Mama would never forgive me if I did that.